Ninja Monkie Bacchanal

Holy Shit.  Here is an interesting letter from Mike Stark:

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Oct 31, 2006

The following is a letter to NBC29 from Mike Stark, the man who was tackled for a comment he made at Senator Allen’s campaign stop in Charlottesville on Tuesday.

My name is Mike Stark. I am a law student at the University of Virginia, a marine, and a citizen journalist. Earlier today at a public event, I was attempting to ask Senator Allen a question about his sealed divorce record and his arrest in the 1970s, both of which are in the public domain. His people assaulted me, put me in a headlock, and wrestled me to the ground. Video footage is available here, from an NBC affiliate.

I demand that Senator Allen fire the staffers who beat up a constituent attempting to use his constitutional right to petition his government. I also want to know why Senator Allen would want his staffers to assault someone asking questions about matters of public record in the heat of a political campaign. Why are his divorce records sealed? Why was he arrested in the 1970s? And why did his campaign batter me when I asked him about these questions.

George Allen defends his support of the Iraq war by saying that our troops are defending the ideals America stands for. Indeed, he says our troops are defending our very freedom. What kind of country is it when a Senator’s constituent is assaulted for asking difficult and uncomfortable questions? What freedoms do we have left? Maybe we need to bring the troops home so that they can fight for freedom at George Allen’s campaign events. Demanding accountability should not be an offense worthy of assault.

I will be pressing charges against George Allen and his surrogates later today. George Allen, at any time, could have stopped the fray. All he had to do was say, “This is not how my campaign is run. Take your hands off that man.” He could have ignored my questions. Instead he and his thugs chose violence. I spent four years in the Marine Corps. I’ll be damned if I’ll let my country be taken from me by thugs that are afraid of taking responsibility for themselves.

It just isn’t the America I know and love. Somebody needs to take a stand against those that would bully and intimidate their fellow citizens. That stand begins right here, right now.

W. Michael Stark

Don’t believe him?  Let’s go to the video!

Ad #1 - Paid for by an “independent expenditure group”, but oddly, still says the Republican National Committee is responsible for its content.  It is against Rep Harold Ford in Tennessee’s US Senate Race:

Ad #2 - Found on YouTube.com:

You know what this is a picture of?  It is a Mid-Atlantic Shredding Services truck making its way up to the Cheney compound at the Naval Observatory.  Must be preparing for a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives.  And no, this picture is not a fake.

This is from Wanda the Fish:

Q: Why do ducks have big flat feet?
A: To stamp out forest fires.

Q: Why do elephants have big flat feet?
A: To stamp out flaming ducks.

I just realized that it has been several days since I have annoyed you with my fishing for cash for my online food drive.  Can’t have that, can we?  No.  So with out futher ado:

PLEASE GIVE MONEY TO MY CHARITY EFFORT.

I am trying to help feed hungry kids here folks.  It is almost the end of the month.  I am still about $200 short of my goal of raising $500.  $500 that equates to $7000 worth of food for hungry kids and families.  Each dollar donated provides 7 meals.  Our $500 will provide 3500 meals.  Here is something else to keep in mind:

• 13 million kids live in households that do not have an adequate supply of food. - United States Department of Agriculture
• 40% of all emergency shelter food recipients are children, although they represent only 25% of the U.S. population. - United States Department of Agriculture

I drink a lot of diet soda.  Granted it is sans caffiene, but I drink a lot.  Probably 40-60 ounces per day.  I switched to diet soda (mostly Diet Pepsi) about 2 years ago figuring it had to be better for me than regular soda.  After all, 100 calories and upteen grams of sugar can’t be better for me than 0 calories and 0 grams of sugar, right?  I have heard rumors for years about how maybe diet soda was not that great a choice though.  I dismissed these are internet myths and urban legends.  Google the phrase “aspartame health effects.” Aspartame is supposedly linked to blindness and hairy palms. Wait.  Nevermind.

Then I got to thinking.  And I found this:

No matter how much aspartame a person consumes, after it is eaten, aspartame absorbs into the body, where it breaks down into methanol, aspartic acid, and phenylalanine. Although all three of these metabolites naturally occur in the body, each can cause harm when consumed separately in high doses

Whoa...back the fuck up: METHANOL?!?!?  That can’t be good, right?

About 10 percent by weight of aspartame is released as methanol. In the body, methanol converts into formaldehyde and formate. Because formate can cause blindness and metabolic acidosis [Tephly and McMartin, 1984], methanol is toxic when humans consume it in large quantities. In order for the body to accumulate a significant amount of formate, a human must consume 200 to 500 mg of methanol per kg of body weight [Food and Drug Administration, 1984], an amount that corresponds to drinking 600 to 1700 cans of diet soft drink at once.

Doing the math...600 cans of diet soda is 7200 ounces at a time. Sweet! I am safe then right?

This article has investigated the health effects of consuming aspartame and has found that, in general, aspartame is safe for human use.

Ok, but what is actually in my Diet Pepsi? This stuff:

• Carbonated water
• Caramel Color
• Aspartame
• Phosphoric acid
• Potassium benzoate (see benzene)
• Natural flavors
• Citric acid

Maybe I should switch to plain old water.  Nah…

Remember, as you vote next week (I get to vote early as I will be out of town on Election Day - Woo-hoo!), keep in mind that the Congress you vote into office will either continue down the road the president has set or develop a spine.  It is your choice.

The right wing in America likes to think that the United States government was, at its inception, highly religious, specifically highly Christian, and even more specifically highly biblical. That was not true of that government or any later government—until 2000, when the fiction of the past became the reality of the present.

Bush talks evangelical talk as no other president has, including Jimmy Carter, who also talked the language of the secular Enlightenment culture that evangelists despise. Bush told various evangelical groups that he felt God had called him to run for president in 2000: “I know it won’t be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it."

BTW, the above text is from A Country Ruled by Faith by Garry Wills in the NYT’s Book Review.

Tonight, we braved the cold, rain, and snow (Yes, snow!!!) to watch our daughter march in the 2006 Mummers Day Parade.  I have no idea what is a Mummer is, so don’t ask.  Google it if you really want to know.  Anyway, this is the 82 running of this parade.  It goes rain or shine.  My little girl was fantastic.  We are so proud of her.

Nice.

In yet another egregious executive-power grab, President Bush asserted his right last week via signing statement to ignore a Congressional mandate that the next FEMA Director have at least five years of disaster response experience. You would think after the Brownie debacle during Katrina last year the President would be eager to appoint someone with qualifications exceeding Arabian horse show judge to lead the nations emergency response efforts. Sadly, no. Because, after all, his unchallenged powers as Decider-In-Chief are far more important than competence and keeping Americans safe.

The other day, I received a laptop from my office that they were going to through out.  It has Windows 2000.  I got it and put Ubuntu 6.10 on it promptly.  Check.  Now, the hard part was the wireless access.  The laptop did not have built-in wireless.  So I bought a Belkin 7010 PCMCIA card and slapped it in.  Now, those of you with older Unix laptops know that this can be an issue.  However, with a little research, I did it.  I got the wireless card to work.  In fact, I am typing this up on it now.  Of course, I had to turn the WPA off, but I think I can fix that this afternoon.  Small steps first.

Still, not a bad run boys.  Let’s get started on next season.

They beat the Tigers 4-2 in Game 5 on Friday night behind castoffs Jeff Weaver and David Eckstein and sore-shouldered Scott Rolen to wrap up their first Series title in nearly a quarter-century and 10th overall.

Cheney slips up...whoopsy!

The use of a form of torture known as waterboarding to gain information is a “no-brainer”, the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, told a radio interviewer