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February 23, 2004
I FREAKING HATE MONDAYS
I'll spare you the details, but it's not a good day here in CurmudgeonLand. It's a particularly bad one. Saying I'm in a bad mood is like saying OJ Simpson might be a little dangerous with a knife. The Curmudgeonness factor is all the way up to 11.
So they've got bin Laden cornered, do they? It appears that we may be finally turning our attention toward the capture of the man behind 9/11 - and forcing our "allies" in the region to do the same. Major news sources are reporting that the Pakistani military is about to launch a major offensive aimed at bin Laden's capture.
It's February 2004. The attacks came in September 2001. Don't you think it would have been appropriate to do this, oh, about 30 months ago? Oh, that's right - Bush had a personal vendetta to carry out first. Meanwhile, the avenging of 9/11 has been left incomplete. (Don't get me wrong - taking out the Taliban was a great start. But they're not bin Laden. I want that guy's head on a stick, paraded down the streets of Manhattan while his decapitated body is defiled and mutilated in a public ceremony in Washington DC on the steps of the Capitol.)
Well, kids... the cynical, machiavellian manipulation of this country's emotions by this president has begun in earnest... the Capture bin Laden Countdown is on. Wouldn't it be shocking - NOT - if the capture just happened to coincide with the US Presidential election? It would be the perfect October Surprise... and I'll bet you that's what they're doing. So just for fun, let's have a little contest, shall we? Make it a pool? Send your best guess as to when Osama bin Laden will be captured to me at: binladenwatch@hotmail.com. In about a week or so, I'll post the picks and we'll see who comes closest to calling the exact date that George Bush will orchestrate the capture of America's real enemy. My pick? October 16, 2004.
One last thing before I move on... god bless the soldiers and Marines and sailors and anyone else from the US military or intel community who will be involved in the capture of that cowardly piece of camel dung. My cynicism about this president's motives aside, I wish them all the success and the safety in the world.
Nader's an Ass, Part III Looks like Nader's no better than the Republicans when it comes to labeling his opponents. In the first press conference of his All About Me campaign, he attacked "unpatriotic" US corporations for offshoring practices. Look, I hate offshoring as much as the next guy. I think it's wrong, I think it's greedy, and I think it ought to be punishable by increasing by 20% the personal income tax rate on the CEO of any corporation that offshores skill jobs. But this BS about calling anyone who disagrees with your political position "unpatriotic" is just stupid, and it needs to stop. America's a big place, with room for lots of opinions. And even the wrong ones aren't unpatriotic.
Ah-nuld vants to be President. Ok, the guy's been governor of a state he can't even pronounce for three months... and the Constitution has been around for 215 years. But Arnold Schwarzenegger wants us to change the Constitution for him, amending it to allow foreign-born nationals to serve as President? Hey Ah-nuld? Perhaps you should see if you can balance California's budget, solve its educational crisis, deal with the gay marriage imbroglio, clean up its environment - and all without raising taxes, as you promised - before thinking about your next job. And the Republicans say that Edwards is too inexperienced to be President? He had five years in the Senate, at least! Not three months as governor!
A ManeyDigital style blog: I don't usually like the guy - I find him crusty, old, and unfunny - but this week Andy Rooney hit a winner.
#9 on my top ten favorite places list... Paris. It's a beautiful city, with wide thoroughfares and lots of old world charm and history. I'm not sure if I liked it as much as I anticipated that I would -- there's a lot of build-up to seeing Paris for the first time -- but it's still really something. It also doesn't hurt to have a wonderful hotel to stay in. Check out the Hotel Scribe.
I was there in a mild stretch in late winter, and among my favorite memories of Europe is walking the Champs-Elysees on a beautiful February morning, using the little bit of French that I remember from high school to buy stuff from street vendors, and calling my kid brother from my cell to point out that while he was inside his office in snowy DC, I was walking the Champs-Elysees in 60 degrees and shirt sleeves, with a strong French coffee in one hand and my phone in the other. (I love cell phones that work anywhere in the world!) Photo below.
So Paris makes the top ten list on sheer coolness of its reputation alone - because I can say that I've been to Paris. #8 also made quite an impression on me -- and was even higher on the "cool" factor... stay tuned.
