It just isn't working for me...

... I mean, seriously, how stupid do they think we are? Or rather, why do advertisers insist on making such stupid ads? Those stupid Stride Gum commercials DO NOT make me want to chew their gum. Honestly. Why don't they say something about the flavors they offer, or something like that. Showing me a ram knocking some ugly guy down and making him spit out his already chewed gum is not making me want to put their product in my mouth. Does it you?

And then there's those Burger King commercials where the ladies are trying to run over "the King". Or those other's with that dude wearing the big, giant "King" head. That thing is just weird, scary, bad looking. And I don't mean bad in a good way, here. I don't like it. And when Burger King was doing the Simpson's Movie ads. That DID NOT make me want to eat at BK. In fact, I don't believe I've eaten at one since they did those. The one where Homer Simpson got poked in the eye with the mic and it showed all this oozy, drippy stuff coming out of his eye. How could anyone imagine that that was the least bit appetizing? Who's the stupid one here? Me? Or the idiot who came up with that awful commercial?

Or what about the Cialis commercial where the neighbor guy pulls up every evening in the sedan and the woman is taking no notice of him every day and then he pulls up on a motorcycle one evening and she just drops her bag of groceries and throws herself on the back of his bike and he zooms her off to the roadside motel. Puh-leeze!!! Taking that Cialis didn't make him any better looking. He still had a frog face, for crying out loud. Looking at the man gave me the heebyjeebies. I don't care what kind of sexual enhancement pill he took. Nothing could induce me to go anywhere with him and certainly not jump into bed with him. Ewwww, he is just gross looking.

Or those commercials where the guy colors his hair and suddenly he's so attractive to the young woman in the bar. Oh really! Who believes that crap? And what man can color his hair at home and have it come out looking natural? I mean what man who is interested in women?

And those fast food commercials where they show their food looking so yummy. The burgers look so fresh, juicy, with a nice soft bun full of cheese, veggies, meat... why don't they go buy one from their local franchise and show it on the commercials. What ever happened to "truth in advertising"? I don't know about you guys but I have never gotten a burger from any McDonalds that looked like what they show on the television screen in their commercials.

Anyway... watched that show Wipeout this evening. It was the special "encore" presentation. It was so obviously a Sasuke ripoff. I wonder how they get away with ripping Monster 9 and TBS and g4 off like that? Or maybe they didn't. Maybe they paid them off? Eh? What do you think?
Other than that, I guess it was an okay show. The announcers were kind of lame. Didn't sound very enthusiastic, I mean. The girl down on the sidelines talking to the competitors gave it a good try, but the contestants where pretty lame too. Didn't want to work with her at all. Oh well... Wonder how long it will last? One quarter, one half, two-thirds or the season, before it gets the ax. Or is it just a summer filler show? One with only a few shows in the can? I bet that's it. I so rarely watch network TV anymore. I'm not real familiar with how they do things now days.


Anyways... that's my rant for today.

Wonder what they'll say...

... the Vatican, I mean. The Pope, specifically. NASA thinks they may have found ice on Mars. No big deal right? Space is cold, right? Why shouldn't there be ice? But what if there are tiny little micro-organisms found within that ice? What then? What will the Pope have to say about that? And for that matter, what will the heads of all the organized religions have to say about it? I refer to the Pope because I think what he has to say will have the most impact to the Christian religions, since they all sort of look to him. Anyway... one would hope that they are already getting their speeches nailed down, because its gonna be a big deal when they do find life on another planet. And I believe they will. Perhaps in my lifetime. I firmly believe that life is out there on other planets besides our own. But how does that effect what the Church has always taught about how the Earth was made, and how life began? I sincerely hope they are taking thought for this eventuality. Their flocks will need them to be strong, sincere, and truthful about this event when it does happen.

Why do we have the ability to get angry?

I mean, really, why do we need to do that? How did it evolve inside us? And do other mammals feel anger, or do we just place that label on what is really, in them, fear? Watching babies, you can plainly see that the ability to feel anger is something we are all born with. But why? What does that ability do for us? Is it something we need/needed to survive? And what about all the other "negative" emotions? What do they do for us? How did we come to have them? Why do we need them?

On the other hand, if you are a creationist, why did God form us with the ability to get angry? Why did he give us the ability to fight? To kill? Didn't Jesus teach peace? Acceptance? Turn the other cheek and all that stuff? So... why did God make us with the inborn ability to feel anger, hate, jealousy, greed, etc.?

I'm not sure what I am. And I don't see why the two are mutually exclusive. Why can't God have set us on the path to evolution? Who says that he had to just snap his fingers and make us "full blown"? None of us was there, how do we know by what method he made us? Who are we to say that evolution was not his way of making us? Yes, I know the Bible says that God made the Earth and all things on the Earth in 6 days and on the 7th day he rested. Well, who are we to say that God's days are the same length as our days? Perhaps his days are equal to a million, million of our days, who knows? Perhaps he put the "spark" into the primordial stew and began life on it's way to what we now have. Why can't it have happened that way: Say God gave up the spark and then sat back to watch what became of it. I don't have a problem with that. Then he sent his only begotten son to us when we were supposedly evolved enough to need him. What's wrong with that theory?

It could have happened that way. All things are possible with God, right? Either he is God, or he isn't God. (I use the general term "he" here for ease of writing). Either you believe that anything and everything is possible with God or you don't. How can anyone put limitations on God, or say what God did or didn't/could or couldn't do? I confess that some days I still wrestle with whether or not there is a God. But most days I come to the realization that I do believe, just not in the way organized religion would have me believe.

But back to my point: whether life appearing on this planet was sheer accident and we did evolve from sludge and are supposedly still evolving; or some all knowing, all powerful Being, which most people call God, formed us and breathed life into us. Whichever way it happened, why do we need anger, jealousy, greed, hate, irritation, annoyance? The emotions that most usually get us in trouble. Why do we need gluttony for crying out loud? Whoever thinks that is a good idea? But really, what do they do for us? I'm trying to think of something that the ability to feel anger does for me personally, and I can't. All I can think that it does for me is make me feel bad and usually get me in trouble, if I don't control it. Is that it? Do we need those things so we can struggle against them? Is that what makes us human?

Today

Kroger had Edy's no sugar added ice cream on sale... so I stocked up. I got a flavor that I would not have ordinarily purchased if it had been full price. I got a half gallon of Mint Chocolate Chip. I have to say its pretty darned good. Sort of like eating a frozen Peppermint Patty. I recommend it highly (for a change, anyway).

So, I've been wondering... Why in the world does spending 5 years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp make John McCain a foreign policy expert? Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for a person who can undergo that sort of thing and come out of it as well as Mr. McCain has, but still... how does being a prisoner of war make him an expert at anything other than how to survive and maintain one's sanity under extreme duress? (which is no small thing, I know). And how does one ask that question without sounding like one is being disrespectful of his service to our country? Making light of his travails, so to speak. Which I certainly would never do, but you get what I'm saying, right? I just don't see why he should use his experience during that war as a reason for us to believe he knows what he is doing in regards to this war.

Not that I'm saying Barack Obama would be any better or knows any more about foreign policy. I'm just saying...

Tim Russert. Wow. What a shocker. I usually caught the late edition of his Meet the Press show on MSNBC on Sundays. I somehow never seemed to wake up early enough to catch the first showing on NBC. I wonder if they will find someone to take over that show or if they will just wrap it up now. I don't think they will end the show. It's the longest running Sunday morning public affairs show in the history of television. They will have to find someone else to host it. I would hate to be that "someone". I'm betting they will rotate hosts/hostesses in and out of the spot for a good while before they pick a permanent replacement. I could be wrong but I just don't see anyone with any integrity wanting to take on that responsibility too soon after Tim's passing.

The flooding in Iowa is something else, isn't it? I can't imagine what those people must be going thru. What a terrifying experience. And we are in drought. Supposed to have gotten rain all day today and tonight and in to tomorrow. What few raindrops that fell on my house today would fit comfortably into my thimble. We are drying up and blowing away. Dust in the wind, so to speak. Has the weather always been this weird or is it just the age we live in? 24/7 cable news, Internet, instant access to information from anywhere and everywhere. Maybe that's it. Maybe it really isn't as "doomsday" as it seems. Yeah, that's it. We just never heard about droughts and floods in other places like we do now days. There, that thought makes me feel better... not.

Want to get back on my exercise program. I don't have any energy or strength. My muscles might as well be water. My legs and feet tingle and throb constantly. I wish it would stop. It's really quite annoying. I have gained back every single pound that I had lost, plus some. I am not amused. Well, will just have to try harder, won't I?

Speaking of which... sitting at this computer is not moving me forward toward my goal. Ciao.

Let me speak to you of the beauty of an orange...

... fragrant juice escaping down my chin.
Fruit of the Gods, I name you...
Spicy, honeyed, cool, yet bracing...
Enticing, refreshing,
satisfies my yearning.




What can I say? It was a really good orange. Quite tasty.

Huh? What?

War bill helps Iraqis, may ignore Katrina victims

Only in America.

Why doesn't everyone just get mad enough to march on their state houses, the White House, their congressman's local office? Sign a petition or something??? This is utterly and completely ridiculous. Damn!

Yes, we have no bananas...

Actually, we do have bananas. What we do not have is unsalted peanuts and I'd really like to have some right now. Guess the cashews will have to do. Oh well, I like them too.

John McCain smiles way too much, and he says, "my friends" too much, and he blinks his eyes too much. And when he says something he knows isn't true (or the complete truth) he does this thing where he hunches his shoulders and begins to look like an evil little spider monkey thing. I can't believe I actually wanted him to win the repugnicant nomination. I thought he would be the best of a bad lot. Perhaps even be good for the country if he won thru to the White House. Now I'm not so sure. He seems to be trying to do exactly the same things that Rove did to get Bush elected. That's scary. I had hopes that McCain would actually be honest. I know... I know... he's a politician. Honesty is so far out of their collective reach it might as well be on another planet in some universe far, far away...

It was over 100 degrees today. That's way too hot for early/mid June. But there is no "Global Warming". Its all still a "theory", really. And what do I know? I just live here. The temperature shouldn't even be getting into the 90's yet.

Barack Obama is now the Democratic nominee. I voted for Hillary in the GA primary, so... he obviously was not my first choice. I'm really angry at Hillary for the stupid way she ran her campaign. She could have won! Actually, she should have run in 2004. She and Bill miscalculated badly. And they continued miscalculating and misjudging the temperature of the electorate. I think Bill is just too old. It is my hope that he behaves himself during the general election. The last thing we need is him out there sabotaging Obama's campaign the way he did his wife's. I have hopes that Obama can really change things the way he says he wants to. I know that the President doesn't (or rather, used to not) have more power than the Congress granted him. But perhaps he will be able to hold the attention of the American people for longer than 10 seconds. Maybe he can get the populace behind him and actually affect some change for the better. I have hopes... silly me, eh?

I have been so ill this weekend. Since Friday, actually. My women's curse, you know. A really bad one this time. Hate it when that happens. You want to get up and do things and take care of business and stuff and you can't . All you can do is lay on the bed, curled around a pillow, hoping like hell that you don't start heaving. Guess I didn't have enough calcium to stave off the cramps this time. It doesn't really stop them all together, but I do find that they aren't as bad as they can be, if I make sure I get enough. Would be so much easier to get an appropriate amount of calcium if I liked milk. But I don't. Except with Oreo cookies or the Famous Amos chocolate chip and pecan cookies. Dang! Wish I hadn't thought of those. They are really good.

Dang it! There were some things I wanted to bring up on the blog. Some points that I wanted to present to everyone. I was thinking about them while I was lying in bed suffering. Only, I didn't have a notebook nearby, so didn't write them down. So of course I can't remember them now. Isn't that the way it goes?

The Elf, Kasey Kahne, won the Cup race at Pocono today. Good enough. Stupid ol Kyle Busch came in dead assed last, which made the whole thing worthwhile television, in my book. Pocono is a long, long race. The track is weird shaped and was built for open wheel racing, not stock car racing. But stock car racing is their biggest money maker. Track is just too big for open wheel race cars. There isn't much passing in stock car races there, but open wheel cars are just pathetic to watch there. Speaking of open wheel racing... I caught a bit of the IRL race in Ft. Worth, TX last night, after the Nationwide Series race in Nashville, which Brad Keselowski won. (it should be noted that it was his first ever win in one of the three major NASCAR racing series) Poor Danika didn't do so well in the IRL race. Got wrecked into, I think. I confess that I was not quite fully awake as I was watching that race, but I think she did wreck out, or her pit crew messed her up or something. Anyway... And there is a woman in drag racing who is leading the points in her division. I was thinking... wondering... how come drag racing can have successful women competitors, and now open wheel racing can have successful women competitors. In fact, the IRL has 3 women competing on a full time basis. Or, at least two. I think Sara Fischer would like to compete full time but she's running her own car and hasn't much sponsorship. (silly girl. she should have gone nascar racing when she had the chance.) Anyway... if other types of motor sports can have women who are competitive, who drive for top rank teams, why can't NASCAR? Are the powers that be in NASCAR still such Neanderthals? (no offense to any Neanderthals out there) There have been women who have tried to make it in NASCAR. Tammy Jo Kirk drove the wheels off her truck the first couple of years that NASCAR ran the Craftsman Truck Series. But she was not photogenic. She was not young. She just wanted to race. So she lost her ride eventually and moved on. There's been Elton Sawyer's wife, Shawna Robinson. She had a deal with Bam racing in Cup for about half a season. Then they canned her and hired Ken Schrader. Like as tho changing the driver was gonna make that piece of crap car of theirs run any faster. Really. Sheesh. Then there was some talk about some young girl who signed a developement deal with Richard Childress Racing a few years back, but then... you didn't hear nothing about her thereafter. There are two full time women racers in the ARCA series, Ali Owens and Gabbi DeCarlo. Both run about mid pack or just out of the top ten. I think if they had good cars they could run in the top ten. And then there's Erin Crocker. Poor Erin. I think she had what it took. I think she was a real racer... then she had an affair with her car owner, Ray Evernham, and that was that. When their relationship went out the door, so did the racing deal. I don't necessarily agree with the way the media jumped on their relationship, but still... someone should have told the young girl that it was gonna be bad for business for her to date the boss. She still races in the ARCA series sometimes, but not much of that anymore either. Anyway... just wondering about that.

Guess I will wrap it up for now. I don't suppose this post is going to cause quite the furor that my last post did. Probably a good thing, too.

See ya!

Conspiracy Theories and other things that make you go "Huh"

Let the rumors start here:

The fire at Universal Studios yesterday was allowed to burn out of control because:

1. The studio is in need of the insurance money.

2. Much like Nero, they needed the space for a new palace (movie set).

3. They wanted to distract the public from the fact that another stupid, lame, utterly unintelligent episode of the MTV Movie Awards was taping on their property.



The Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws committee met this weekend amidst a sometime racous crowd to decide the fate of the Florida and Michigan primary votes. This whole thing is so crazy, so stupid, so seemingly designed to insure a republican win in the general election later this year. How could Howard Dean be so stupid as to not see this coming? What was he thinking to be so heavy handed toward those two states to begin with? And why is it so important to protect Iowa and New Hampshire's status as "first in the nation" caucus and primary states? They don't speak for me. Why should they get to decide the nominees every election year? Why should they get all the news coverage and the influx of media attention and money every election year? Spread the wealth, eh? Highlight two different states every time, why don't they? Why can't my state of Georgia get some of that interest, some of that scrutiny. If we did, perhaps we would actually make some progress in this state as far as the politics, race relations, infrastructure... are concerned. Anyway... ya'll have all heard my rant about this before. I hope something gets done about it this time but I don't really think it will. After the election is decided everyone will forget all about this issue. We seriously need election reform in this country, tho. The DNC rules are so convoluted, confusing and downright contradictory, no one can understand them. Even the party big-wigs don't fully understand them. I'm not sure about the RNC rules, but they are probably about as confusing as the DNC rules. Anyhow... enough of that subject.



Stupid ol Kyle Busch won the NASCAR race at Dover this weekend. The powers that be in NASCAR are so concerned with having another "black hat" driver and they have decided that Kyle Busch is the guy. He's just not got the age, the gravitas, to pull it off. He just comes across as a punk, a whiner, an arrogant little pin-head. I just don't like him. Actually, it would be fair to say that I can't stand him. I root for him to hit the wall every race. Not that I want him to get hurt or anything. Despite the fact that I detest the boy and can't stand to look at him or hear his voice, and despite the fact that I always want him to hit the wall hard enough to get taken out of the race, I still wouldn't want him to get hurt. Figure that one out, why don't you? Nevertheless, the France family have decided that Kyle Busch is their "guy" this year, just like Jimmie "freekin'" Johnson was the last two years. I'll be glad when it's Tony Stewarts turn again. Or even say... a Richard Childress driver, like Jeff Burton or Kevin Harvick, or Clint Bowyer.



Why is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints considered a church and not a cult?



The statewide average for Regular unleaded gas in my state of Georgia is $3.949. The average in my local area of Augusta, GA is $3.889. My question is this: if we can no longer afford to drive to our jobs and we don't have adequate mass transit in our area and if no one is working and we all loose our jobs and can't pay our bills and can't buy groceries or video games or toilet paper or soap or any of life's little luxuries, or pay for electricity or water or home heating oil or cable TV or phone service and it all gets shut off (except for the rich folks) and then we all get thrown out of our houses and we're all living on the streets and in the woods and parks and on the sidewalks in front of our foreclosed homes... who is our government going to tax? Where are they going to get their money to pay for their healthcare and their limos and their big fine mansions and their caviar? And who are they going to tax to get the money they are sending overseas hand over fist? How are they going to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? How are they going to pay for the huge aid packages to Africa to fight AIDS and poverty and illness and starvation? And by the way... who's gonna bury us all after we've fell over dead in OUR streets from starvation, illness, lack of shelter, food, clean water? Who's gonna pay for the police to protect all of us homeless people from the thugs and gangs that want to kill us just because we might have a small scrap of food or an intact coat? Apocoliptic imaginings, you say? Maybe so... maybe no. The point is... we DON'T know. And our government is doing NOTHING about any of it!!! And NOBODY seems to care!!! You can't tell me that our dear president and his cronies didn't see this coming for the past few years. You can't tell me that someone from any of the preceeding administrations, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon... didn't know that this was in the pipeline. They just didn't care cause they didn't think it would happen in THEIR time in the White House. Well, its happening now. Time's up. Is it too late now to do anything about it? We can hope not cause one things for true: George W. Bush isn't gonna do ANYTHING about solving the problem. He's too dumb to cope with it or even to understand that there is a problem.



And Ted Kennedy is having surgery today on that recently discovered brain tumor. God keep him. Bad guy? Good guy? I think he is some of each. But no one has worked so tirelessly for his constituents than Ted Kennedy. Wish we had a Congressman to represent us here in Georgia as ardently as he represents his. I wish him well.