(Read the story here .) Breaking news out of Pakistan. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated by asshole extremists just a few days before the first elections for Prime Minister in many years in the country. A suicide bomber finally took her out, after a failed attempt a few weeks ago. This truly is a tragedy for the country. She was Prime MInister twice, and did a lot of good for her country when she was leader. She was a female PM in the Muslim world, which ...

Mike Huckabee is a bigot, and he and his campaign are playing to the bigotry of the people of Iowa in order to garner support in the state. Why do I say that? In his ads running in the state, he is clearly defined as a Christian leader. Why is this bigotry? Let's turn to my friend/arch nemesis Charles Krauthammer to discover exactly why . . . Huckabee is running a very effective ad in Iowa about religion. "Faith doesn't just influence me," he says on camera, "it really defines me."...

Last week, an article was posted (I can't remember who by) stating that they were having problems with the forums. I posted that I'd continued to have problems as well, and they've persisted for me. 1)The "My Posts" list is a garbled line, as though all of them have been agregated into one nasty whole. Nothing is clickable. 2)I can't leave any comments on forum posts. My own, others, period. These problems seem to only happen while using Firefox on my laptop. IE7 seems to be work...

In Rainbows By: Radiohead Year: 207 Click here for the artists site Radiohead caused ripples in the music world with the release of their new album, hoping for the good faith of their fans to ride the success monkey. The album was released online, at whatever price you feel compelled to pay. (See the article here for more info.) While that resulted in over ten million dollars in revenue, it was also downloaded from their website nearly 20 million times. (Ye...

If there's one thing you need to know about me, I have no patience for stupidity. In fact, it's one of the most infuriating things I encounter on a regular basis. Few things will cause me to fly off on someone quicker than their foolishness. Now, usually in person, I hide this absolute contempt beneath a veneer of niceties; I maintain my cool, and keep from getting out of control. (If there's one thing I can do better than most anyone, it's keep my cool – just ask Cedarbird, because it ...

Just non-thinking (posting without reading, editing, etc. first), since it's almost more fun that way - ---- A god (small "g") who would automatically damn his children without any hope of redemption is an asshole. (Thus the small "g".) A God who truly loves his children would provide a way for EVERY. SINGLE. ONE of them to come back to him. Whether they do or not is up to them, but it doesn't change the fact that the opportunity is there for everyone. Thoughts to the contrary ...

All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone By: Explosions in the Sky Year: 2007 Click here for the artists site Rather than suffering the normal characteristics of post-rock (which were by-and-large invented and perfected by such greats as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai), the constant ebb-and-flow of pulsating melodies, building to a climax and then abating, Explosions in the Sky's newest disc creates a new breed of post-music, focusing on the melody's strength, rathe...

Coward By: Made Out of Babies Year: 2006 Click here for the artists site It seems that most female rock vocalists fall into three categories. One is the whiny, petulant voice, featured in so many pop-rock or alternative rock bands, that sounds so much like every other voice on the radio, telling you about how hard her life is, or how hot she thinks you are, ad nauseum, forever and ever amen. The second is the power vocalist, star of just about every metal ban...

Happy Thanksgiving, JU. I hope you enjoy some time with your loved ones, eating food that you don't get to eat often enough . . . I'm grateful for a lot of you. I'm grateful for your friendship, over the (almost) 2 years I've been posting on this site. You know who you are, but I'll shout out to a few (and don't be offended if you're not on the list, please) First off, to BlueDev and Cedarbird. Two finer siblings you'd never find. To those who used to post here, and with whom I ...

I sit at my station at work, hands leafing through the pages of the well-worn book once again, seeing the thick pen underlining key phrases, words that leaped out off the page and into my heart. Reds criss-crossed with blues, the occasional black or green making scant appearances, racing in ugly, hastily-drawn rays across the densely filled spaces. Only twenty pages to go. Dog-eared edges, tops all flattened out where my place had been marked, bottoms still bent to signify passages of ...

Talk, talk, talk, that's all you ever do. But you don't SAY anything.

Many articles have already been written in this vein, but I'd like to add my voice to the chorus. Thank you, veterans, for: 1)Protecting my freedoms, 2)Standing up for my country all around the world, 3)Doing your duty, and (last but certainly far from least) 4)Getting me the day off of work. For these things, I love you. -- Sometimes, I love working at a financial institution. Like today – another one of the myriad ridiculous holidays that the Fed takes. (That's ...

There has been an increase in activity, lately, by one of the supposed “religious” denizens of this fine site. (In fact, there's been a LOT of increased activity from the Religion forums in general, and a lot of mean stuff has gone down . . . oh well. That's the point of religion, isn't it? To divide and conquer? ) But this specific blogger has been especially liberal with his deletion of comments, and not just from myself. He has deleted, without provocation, and only because he di...

FIRST OFF: I understand if you don't like my comment and want to delete it; but you should either 1)give me fair warning first, or 2)tell me why you've deleted what I felt was a pertinent comment. (Hey Aeryck, I'm talking to you, ass.) ON TO THE MAIN EVENT: Earlier this morning I was listening to a local radio show, Radio From Hell, and they did a poll of some of the listeners that I found absolutely enlightening. The poll dealt with the music people had on their mp3 players, and w...