Veteran's Day By Father Denis

Veteran's Day
By Father Denis Edward O'Brien
USMC

It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin
is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

"I will be a warrior so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.

--- John Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson

Thank you Vets! We'd be nowhere without you.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 130 words, total size 1 kb.

I've been having a wee

I've been having a wee bit of a traffic increase over the past couple of days. Some bloggers
have been nice enough to include me in their link-whoring efforts, even
after I slagged off on them, while some others have linked to pieces
I've written because they liked them.
Well, what I don't understand is this: why is it, whenever I carefully
craft a post and spend way
too much time on it in the process, is that post ignored. Yet the ones
I whip off, that I believe are very poorly written and perhaps not so
funny, are the ones that get complimented, linked and are said to be
hilarious?
I've been blogging for over a year now and I think I've got most of the
byzantine ins and outs figured out. Except for this. This I just don't understand.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 151 words, total size 1 kb.

The Governor of The People's

The Governor of The People's Republic of Minnesota---a supposed free enterprise Republican---has just lost my vote for reelection in 2006.

Changes in the makeup of the Minnesota Legislature after
last week's election may create more of a taste for statewide
legislation banning smoking, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Wednesday that
he would sign any smoking ban that came to his desk.
Pawlenty had said earlier that he did not think such legislation would
pass, but he acknowledged that the DFL's gain of 13 seats in the
Minnesota House might alter the equation.
"We'll have to wait and see how the Legislature addresses that, but if
a bill does reach my desk I will sign it," he said.
The Republican governor's comments came after a meeting in Willmar with
DFL Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson over issues looming in the
legislative session. Johnson said the smoking ban is likely to be on
the legislative agenda but could not tell how much support there might
be for a ban -- either statewide or regionally -- in the Senate. He
added, though, that he believed if such a ban were enacted, businesses
and the hospitality industry would support a ban statewide as a "level
playing field."

This has been a hot-potato issue lately here in the Cities. This
summer, a city council member in St. Paul---a smoker---in a fit of
magnimanity decided that he shouldn't be oppressing non-smokers in bars
with his smoke. Supposedly, this was the slice through the Gordian Knot
everyone had been waiting for, because the anti-smoking Nazis had been
of the opinion that until one big city went for a ban, it wasn't worth
their time to seriously push their agenda. Bloomington, where the Mall of Gomorrah
resides, was the next to fall, then Minneapolis itself, where the city
council decided to---ahem---pass their ban in a closed session, without
allowing any business owners to speak against the ban. As you might
imagine, the hospitality industry was up in arms about these bans,
mainly because the respective city councils were sneaky and passed the
bans quickly, with little to no dissent allowed. Minneapolis and St.
Paul bar owners are up in arms because it's up to them to enforce the
ban. You try getting a drunk not to fire up when they're in their cups,
and you'll figure out that it's not an easy thing to do. But more
importantly they're worried that they'll lose the money of smokers
because they'll go to smoke-friendly suburbs to drink and eat. Yet,
Pawlenty thinks that if the entire state goes smoke free, the
hospitality industry will embrace such legislation because it will
level the playing field. Now, if you hadn't already guessed I'm a
smoker. It's a disgusting habit, I know. I'm not in denial about how
unhealthy these things are for me. I also know they smell bad, which is
why I don't fire up in other people's houses unless they give me leave
to do so, which never happens. If I'm in a situation where I don't know
if someone objects to the smoke, even in my own home, I will ask if
they do mind and if they do, well, I won't smoke. I understand people's
concerns about secondhand smoke, even if I don't necessarily agree with
the research done on the issue to date. Yet I strive to be a
considerate smoker. So do my friends who smoke. Some of them don't even
smoke in their own houses because they want their non-smoker friends to
feel comfortable there. However, I have noticed that nowadays the
reason most people want a ban on smoking isn't because of the
second-hand smoke considerations, which they really don't need to worry
about anymore. There are plenty of smoke-free bars and restaurants
around. They also don't need to worry about secondhand smoke because
smoking, indeed, has been banned in most places in Minnesota and has been since 1975. It's called the Clean Indoor Air Act and
it prohibits smokers from firing up indoors in public---and
private---places of business. It also regulates how much seating must
be available in restaurants for non-smoking sections, in bars and the
like. And it works. Take it from me: if you want a smoke, unless you're
in place with a bar you have to go outside to fire up. So, this isn't
about smokers potentially giving people cancer via secondhand smoke, as
that's already been taken care of. This is about the smell of
cigarettes, pipes and cigars. But they'll use the cover of secondhand
smoke to keep their noses from the faintest whiff of tobacco. Pawlenty
has been an interesting governor, to be sure. When he was in the
legislature, he was constantly fighting off the DFL's attempts at
socialism. He had a rep, in other words and he used that rep when he
decided to run for governor. I got the impression he was more of a
libertarian Republican, someone who was tough on terrorism, yet was
also a free-enterprise Republican, someone who believed regulation was
strangling the economy of the state. But now it seems that's not really
true. While I applauded his efforts during the bus driver's strike
earlier this year, I wasn't really crazy about the education
commissioner he appointed, who tried to overhaul all of the social
studies and history textbooks in the state school system to books that
pretty much didn't focus on anything but America, in essence, swinging
the pendulum to the other end of the spectrum. Pawlenty has proven over
time that he's got an agenda, and it's more about social conservatism
and telling me how to live than it is about less regulation. His
support of a state-wide smoking ban just proves the point.
This move isn't about anything more than playing politics: he's got an
agenda he wants passed through the legislature in the upcoming session
and he's got more DFL'ers to deal with this time around: he's throwing
them a bone to get them to cooperate on his agenda. Well, I for one,
won't stand for it. I've had it with having my rights as a smoker
consistently being thrown up for sacrifice because I'm an easy target.
After all, this is the Uber-healthy state of Minnesota: we don't do
things that are bad for ourselves so we'll tax the hell out of everyone
that does something we consider to be bad. This is also why we don't
allow anyone to sell liquor after eight o'clock on a weeknight, or at
all on Sundays, because booze is bad for them. This is why we don't
allow grocery stores to sell wine or beer, because someone
might---gasp!---get crazy over the dinner table if they don't have to
go to an actual liquor store, during the legally alloted time period,
to purchase the stuff! Well, fuck that. I may live in Minnesota, but
first and foremost I'm an American.
If I want to kill myself with booze or cigarettes I'm allowed to do so.
You can't save me from myself, assholes: it's not your right to
interfere with my personal choices, especially when I go out of my way
to make sure my behavior doesn't bother anyone else. I regulate myself.
But it's not like that matters, right? You want me to quit. You've made
that abundantly clear with your regulation: you're trying to change my
behavior by baby-stepping your rules, thinking that if you introduce
change slowly, I won't notice. Well, I've noticed and the buck stops
here, bub. I've had it with being considerate. It's turned me into
nothing but a doormat because anti-smoking Nazis assume that, since I'm
considerate, I won't mind one more tax or one more regulation on my
"bad" behavior. They think I'll just adapt my behavior to their whims,
because I'm in the minority.
Screw it. No more Mrs. Nice. If you, the State of Minnesota, want me to
adhere to your socialist regime by quitting, you'd better actually
behave as if you want me to do just that by ending your reliance on the
taxes I pay whenever I buy a pack. Would that be hard to do? Nope. I
don't think so. But we all know government has an issue with ending a
stream of income that they've come to love, so it's not like that's
gonna happen anytime in the near future. If you, the State of
Minnesota, want me to quit smoking my coffin nails, but still want me
to go to bars and restaurants because it's good for the economy, well,
you can go and take a leap off a cliff. I'll stay at home. After all,
staying home is good for my
economy. I can cook a five star meal---why do I need to go out and have
one served to me? I make a damn good martini---why do I need to go out
and pay eight bucks for a drink that costs less when I make it? I can
entertain friends with style and panache, thank you ever so much, so
why shouldn't I have more parties at home than meeting up with friends
at a bar or a restaurant? I won't buy my ciggies from your state. I'll
go to Wisconsin or Iowa and start buying them there in bulk. Or I can
buy them over the internet, and at much cheaper prices, too. If you
think I'll voluntarily send in my tax payment, like I'm supposed to do
with the sales tax on catalog purchases, you're nuts. Yet if all this
fails to convince you that my money is just as good as a non-smoker's,
I could move to a state where they don't believe in socialism, like
Texas, and take my income---and all the taxes that are derived from
it---elsewhere.
That's freedom. Freedom of choice. And Pawlenty, someone whom I
thought was all about free choice, is playing politics and has aligned
himself with people who think I shouldn't have any because I'm a bad, bad smoker!
Well, I guess he doesn't need my vote then when it comes time for him
to run for reelection in two years.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1698 words, total size 10 kb.

Ok, that last post took

Ok, that last post took TWENTY FREAKIN' MINUTES TO GO THROUGH! Let's
see if that's the average time today, or if that was just an anomaly.
I don't have all damn day long to do this stuff.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 47 words, total size 1 kb.

protein wisdom's take on the

protein wisdom's take
on the political correctness smothering Holland in the wake of Theo Van
Gogh's murder by Islamic terrorists/murderers/fuckers:

Root causes, you know. Mr Van Gogh was evidently not
sensitive enough to the rights of Muslims to dehumanize and degrade
women. And in a multicultural society, those who are so intolerant are
just asking to have their heads sawed nearly offâ€Â¦ Bill Quick
concludes: “These people are doomed. The Eurosocialist cancer has
eaten entirely the heart of Europe. And the testicles too, of
course.” Perhaps. But before all is said and done, I suspect we’ll
hear of at least a few instances where Dutch doctors are called upon to
remove pointy-tipped wooden shoes from the ass of some Imam or otherâ€Â¦

One can only hope Jeff is correct and they'll wake the fuck up sometime in the near future.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 150 words, total size 1 kb.

Robert at the Butchers: {...}I

Robert at the Butchers:

{...}I always wear a coat and tie whilst traveling. And,
although we don't dress for dinner regularly, we at least do so for
special days such as birthdays and holidays. Mark you, the trouble with
taking this stance is that people automatically assume I believe there
is no place for casual clothes. Of course, this is utter nonsense. Why,
when I'm gardening, I'll even go so far as to loosen my tie and wear
pennyloafers instead of dress shoes. Once this summer, I even took off
my jacket! Seriously, tho, the point is that there is a time for
formality (e.g., Church, my law practice, special occassions) and a
time for lack of it (e.g., ball games, pub crawls, sex). Some people
believe that we benefit by blurring this distinction. I believe just
the opposite.

Go read the whole thing. Now, Mom has relaxed about being dressed up at
family dinners and the like, because even she realizes it better to
wear the comfy pants with the elastic waistband when gorging on turkey
at Thanksgiving, but it still bugs the crap out of her whenever one of
us comes off a plane looking like casual death warmed over.
You see, she started flying back when flying was a big deal: she talks
about wearing your best outfit, replete with hats and gloves, and
treating the occasion as if it were something special. She still wears
a nice outfit when she flies, even if the hats and gloves have gone by
the wayside, and she still sighs a little sigh of disappointment
whenever her children reject her beliefs in this area.
Having been known in the past to roll off a plane dressed in a pair of
cut-offs and a ragged T-shirt, I have since rejected this line of
action. Not because I believe society is going down the toilet because
we're all a bunch of slobs, but because when I slap on warpaint and
maybe wear something that is coordinated I've realised you get better
service. It's completely a subjective thing, but if you take some care
with your appearance when flying, airline employees think you're more
important than you actually are. It's the same thing with matching
luggage: if you come to the counter with a boatload of mixmatched bags,
they won't treat you nicely. I learned this from the travel editor of
the Today
show. The minute we got matching luggage, airline employees started
treating us better. I'm completely serious, too. Even though it's
matching luggage from Target, it makes an impression. But for the rest
of Robert's post, well, as much as I can understand despising
informality, that is the culture we find ourselves in. He's fighting a
losing battle. While I would prefer being called "Mrs. Nelson" until I
give someone leave to call me "Kathy," it never happens. I practice
this in reverse and I'm forever getting wierd looks from people because
I choose not assume a first-name-basis relationship. We're in an
in-between time: that's the way I was raised, but it's not the way
people operate. I would never call any of my parents' friends by their
first names, even today, now that I'm an adult. It would just be
really, really odd
to do so, because that's what both parties---them and me---expect. Yet,
whenever I'm introduced to someone's children, well, I'm not "Mrs.
Nelson," I'm "Kathy." And, I will admit, that does bug me a bit. So,
what to do? I find myself going with the flow and avoiding the wierd
looks. The only place I've ever been where informality was not an
option was England: no one called me Ms. Nelson. It was Mrs. Nelson this, Mrs.
Nelson that. Not one single person at the hotel---from the concierge,
to the doorman, to the waiter in the restaurant---lapsed into
informality while I was there. After having everyone assume the usuage
of Ms. here in the states lest someone get offended by being
shunted into their patriarchical place, it was quite refreshing. And
just a wee bit shocking, too. I did a doubletake when I arrived at the
hotel the doorman told a bellboy to "collect Mrs. Nelson's luggage."
Now, in the States, the first thing you're told in customer service
class is never to assume anything. I could have been the husband's
mistress for all they knew, and because of their lack of knowledge,
they would refuse to treat me any better because of their refusal to
make the assumption that I was, indeed, the husband's wife. Even after
it would be made clear that I was the husband's wife, well, then it
would still be important to use "Ms." instead of "Mrs." That's just
what you're taught when you're in customer service: never make
assumptions about anything.
Problems arise when you do. For instance, one day I waited on a lady at
the coffee shop. I could tell she was over fifty. Not to be unkind
about it, but despite a head full of dyed red hair, she had the lines
to prove it. She also had two small children with her. I made the
mistake of complimenting her on her "lovely grandchildren." Whoops. She
freaked and told me off, yelling loudly that, "They're my KIDS! NOT my
GRANDCHILDREN!" Then there was the time that one of my regular
customers went off on me after I told her that she looked particularly
nice that day. And I wasn't just blowing smoke: she looked great that
day. Not like my sincerity cut it with her. "Well, Kathy, you just
never know, do you? My son killed himself, my husband's on the brink of
leaving me and my life is just shit! I may look good today, but my life
is pure hell!" See what I mean? You just can't win. Where the cashier
at Robert's Safeway made the assumption that informality was the norm,
Robert, while being quaint in his demand for formality, still made her
realize it was never a good thing to assume. For every nice person you
get in the field of customer service, there are five more who have had
the niceness beaten out of them over experiences just like the ones
I've had. Perhaps too much niceness is a bad thing: it leads people to
expect certain things that servers just have no way of knowing. I don't
know. What I do know is that there were many days I felt like adopting
the persona of a snotty French waiter and just treating everyone like
shit because then maybe then I wouldn't get my head shouted off for
being nice. Life is just different nowadays, and you have to roll with
the punches, otherwise you'll be nothing but frustrated.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1135 words, total size 7 kb.

It's just like I always

It's just like I always suspected...I'm going to purgatory!

"You have escaped damnation and made it to Purgatory, a
place where the dew of repentance washes off the stain of sin and girds
the spirit with humility. Through contrition, confession, and
satisfaction by works of righteousness, you must make your way up the
mountain. As the sins are cleansed from your soul, you will be
illuminated by the Sun of Divine Grace, and you will join other souls,
smiling and happy, upon the summit of this mountain. Before long you
will know the joys of Paradise as you ascend to the ethereal realm of
Heaven."

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
;"> ;"> ;"> ;"> ;"> ;"> ;"> ;"> ;"> ;">

Level	Score
; text-decoration: underline;">Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	High
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 2 (Lustful)	High
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 7 (Violent)	Low
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
; text-decoration: underline;">Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test
Whenever I whined when I was a kid, my parents were forever telling me
to, "offer up your suffering for the poor souls in purgatory," which
was inevitably shortened over the years to, "Offer it up!" All of the
trials I've gone through during my life have, undoubtedly, freed a few
souls from the in-between place. There had better be some quid pro quo
action going on when I make it there.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 254 words, total size 6 kb.

Fat ass is rabble rousing

Fat ass is rabble rousing again.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Director Michael Moore is planning
a sequel to "Fahrenheit 9/11," his polemic against the Bush
administration, to be released about the time of the next presidential
campaign, a spokeswoman for his distributor says. The sequel, dubbed
"Fahrenheit 9/11 and 1/2," will revisit the same issues as Moore's
earlier documentary, which he repeatedly said was aimed at swaying the
outcome of the presidential race against President Bush. "We want to
get the cameras rolling now and have it ready in two (to) three years,"
Moore told Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd. "Fifty-one percent of
the American people lacked information (in this election), and we want
to educate and enlighten them. They weren't told the truth."

In related news, a woman went after Moore with a wheel of triple-cream brie, and dared him to eat it.

The brie, packaged under the brand name Explorateur,
is roughly the size of a tricycle wheel and, depending upon the
fluctuations in the local cheese market, costs roughly $15 a pound.
According to eyewitnesses, when presented with the brie, Moore
immediately stopped preaching and his eyes took on a look of
lustfulness. Reports are unclear as to whether drool escaped his mouth
and clung to his poorly kept beard. Immediately, however, he grabbed
the wheel of brie from the woman and shoved it whole down his monstrous
gullet, waxed paper wrapping and all. According to the local medical
examiner, Moore dropped dead because, "{...}his arteries staged a full
on rebellion and Moore lost."
Authorities have ruled his death an accident and the woman was free to
go. Her name is being withheld to protect her privacy.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 290 words, total size 2 kb.

Am currently listening to this

Am currently listening to this
album and the song "World On Fire" is playing.
I'm sure you know who Sarah is. She's responsible for that "Aida" song
that was on radio overkill for a time, while everyone wondered about
her sexual orientation because she was singing about a chick. I've been
listening to her since the mid-90's, so I've been a fan for a while.
I've never seen her live, although Mr. H. tells me she's quite
impressive.
Apparently, the record company gave Sarah $150,000 to make a video for
"World on Fire." Sarah used only $15,000 for the video.Go watch and see what Sarah did with the rest of the money.

Finally.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 123 words, total size 1 kb.

...that is the question. Bridget

...that is the question.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is being released on Friday and I'm of two minds about going to see it. I can't quite decide.

Here's the trailer.

Now, I'm a big Bridget fan. I love Bridget. Yet, I must qualify and say that I adore the Bridget from the book, but not
the Bridget from the movie. How Helen Fielding managed to massacre her
own work while adapting it for the screen, I don't know. But she did.
They were two different characters entirely.
The Bridget from the book is a hapless sort of creature. She's nice
enough, and bright, if not a little slow on the uptake, but she's also
resourceful and can eventually deal with problems long after they
arise. The Bridget of the movie, well...she was someone to laugh at, rather than with.
One of the hooks of the book was that everyone had, for instance, at
one point in time or another, gotten so drunk that they'd shot their
mouth off and had regretted it the next day. Or were worried that
they'd die alone and their body would be found three weeks later, half
eaten by an Alsatian. Or that work demands would terrify them into
glugging cold sake whilst wrapped up in a comforter. Or that they'd be
caught wearing comfy panties in a romantic situation. Or that the guy
they were with would think their thighs were huge. All of the
insecurities women invariably feel or have felt were on display in the
book and humor resulted because you could relate. In the movie, well,
the insecurities weren't the high point, they seemed to be considered
silly (which, let's face it, they are, but they're still there,
nonetheless) Bridget's invariably idiotic way of working around them
was where the comedy resulted. It's a subtle difference, but it ruined
the movie for me. The Bridget of the movie was an idiot who made me
cringe rather than laugh. I couldn't find a reason to root for her,
because she was, well, so stupid.

I've read the book more times than I can count. I've only read Edge of Reason
once because I took it to London with me when I visited and my friend
Mel hadn't read it yet, so I left it for her. Although, she was rather
upset that the American edition had Bridget's weight in pounds, rather
than stones, but that's really neither here nor there. The second book
was more of the first, and it was delightful. But, I'm worried about
the movie, because I don't want the second movie to be more of the
first. Helen is back on the case with Edge
and if it's possible to massacre your own book for the movie version,
well, she'll do it. Again. And that I could not possibly stand.
Yet...Colin's in it. How could I not go and see him reprise his role as
Mark Darcy, well, I don't know. But I'm tempted to just stay at home
come Friday. Now, the question would be, am I the only one who didn't
like the first movie? And is dreading the second?

Posted by: Kathy at 12:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 536 words, total size 3 kb.

...with Blogger, that is. Over

...with Blogger, that is.
Over the past couple of days, I cannot tell you how many times I tried
to post only to have the Blogger servers crap out on me during
publishing. It's a bit frustrating when you're trying to write and post
stuff that's, you know, timely
only to have Blogger time out during the publishing of said posts.
Highly annoying. I realize beggars can't be choosers, but damnit, I've
about had it with this service. I cannot even begin to detail all the
times that this has happened. And not only in the past couple of days,
either. Yesterday, when I could get the post window to come up in the
first place, I would labor over a post, only to have it get stuck in
the publishing process. This, of course, does nothing to describe my
frustration and anger when a post completely disappears, which happens
often. What exactly does Blogger need to make this service run more
effectively? Are they not realizing there are issues with this? Is it a
cash-flow issue? It can't possibly be that. Google, which owns this
munificent service, has gone public in a big way: they've got more
moolah than they know what to do with. Apparently, it hasn't occurred
to them that they should---duh---be spending money on SERVERS! Arrrrgh.
Of course, all of this is moot if this post doesn't make it through.
Which it probably won't.
Jane! Get me OFF this crazy thing!

Posted by: Kathy at 11:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 255 words, total size 1 kb.

Expect to see this on

Expect to see this on one of the myriad CSI's sometime in the near future.

Head and Shoulders, dude. Seriously. It works.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

See? Huffing glue really can

See? Huffing glue really can make the impossible happen:

The Llamabutchers are celebrating their 1st anniversary of blogging.
Go over and YIPYIPYIP at 'em.
And on a serious note(well as serious as I'm able to get on a Saturday
morning)congratulations guys!

Posted by: Kathy at 11:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.

God Love 'Em. China, flushed

God Love 'Em.

China, flushed with pride over its booming economy and
successful Olympic bid, will add another feather to its cap when it
plays host to the fourth annual World Toilet Summit, to kick off later
this month. "We are quickening the pace of toilet construction and the
international conference is being held at a time China has already
realized unprecedented achievements," Yu Debin, deputy director of
Beijing's Bureau of Tourism told reporters on Friday. Beijing is known
for its imperial parks and ancient temples, but along with sites like
the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace the city's toilets have gained
notoriety in their own right, known more for stink than sanitation.
Most of China's public toilets are squat-style pits with no running
water, toilet paper or hand washing facilities. Officials aim to use
the summit to help change that, with workshops on such topics as
"Toilet Management and Hygiene," "Energy-Saving Measures" and "The
Humanized Toilet."

There are times, far and few between I will admit, that I just flat-out love communism.

The absurdity of it is just too sublime to ignore.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 194 words, total size 1 kb.

If you take your coffee

If you take your coffee with half and half, keep a spare can of
evaporated milk in the pantry. When you run out of half and half and
are too lazy to change out of your jammies in the morning to go and get
some, pop open that can of evaporated milk and use it. It works
wonderfully.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 68 words, total size 1 kb.

Please show this post to

Please show this post to
Dad.*
I would be very interested in knowing if he still thinks it was a good
idea to keep Christi's and my shins unbruised, while Mike's were
allowed to take a beating.
*No, my father doesn't read my blog. Mom does, but Dad thinks I'm too left wing for his tastes.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 66 words, total size 1 kb.

Brilliant. Just simply brilliant.

Brilliant. Just simply brilliant.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:43 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 12 words, total size 1 kb.

MPR is poor, right? There

MPR is poor, right?
There must be a reason why they go on air every quarter with their
beg-a-thon's, right?
This would be why they interrupt perfectly good programming with their
guilt-a-thon's, right?
Ok, so since we've established that MPR is poor, one would wonder why
they've kicked out what I would think is bou-cou bucks to advertise
their election coverage on coffee clutches. I think that's a reasonable
question, don't you?

Posted by: Kathy at 11:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 82 words, total size 1 kb.

UK's Daily Mirror front

UK's Daily Mirror
front page for today. Sorry it's a bit fuzzy, but I had to resize to
get it to a size where all people wouldn't be reaching for their
readers to see it.
I have one suggestion for the Mirror's editors: why don't you stick with reporting about coke-snorting soccer players and wife beaters and leave the important stuff to other, more reputable newspapers. I may not have agree with them anymore than I do your newspaper, but at least they have the credibility you sorely lack.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 97 words, total size 1 kb.

As in, "We will verily

As in, "We will verily praise the Lord that Qwest finally sorted our DSL issues."
As a side note: the male protagonist in the novel is a Brit, as a
result of channelling him for several hours a day, I start adopting his
accent (not too posh, but not EastEnders either)
and speech patterns. Some words and phrases that sound funny coming out
of an American mouth that I've been saying anyway: Bloody hell
Filthy little bugger
Bollocks!
Don't get your knickers in a twist
Sorted
Knackered
Gagging
Kit
Quid
Sussed
Sacked

Go here if you're in
any doubt about what these phrases actually mean.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that when an American uses any of these
words it's pretentious as hell. We don't use "bloody" as a descriptor.
We just don't. That word, in that usage, is strictly a British thing.
If you do happen to be American and happen to use that word, well, you
sound as if you a. want to become Bridget Jones or b. are watching too
much BBC America. I will admit, they have better slang than we
Americans do, but still...
It's quite pathetic really. Alas, until I can boot Paul from my head
permanently, I don't see a way out.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 219 words, total size 1 kb.