Saturday, 9 September 2006
Wednesday, 6 September 2006
Ooooh, daddy's so stiff! :O)
Guard families cope in two dimensions
`Flat Daddy' cutouts ease longing
Maine National Guard members in Iraq and Afghanistan are never far from the thoughts of their loved ones.But now, thanks to a popular family-support program, they're even closer.
Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.
The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.
``I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. ``The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again."
At the request of relatives, about 200 Flat Daddy and Flat Mommy photos have been enlarged and printed at the state National Guard headquarters in Augusta. The families cut out the photos, which show the Guard members from the waist up, and glue them to a $2 piece of foam board.
Sergeant First Class Barbara Claudel, the state family-support director who began the program, said the response from Guard families has been giddily enthusiastic.
``If there's something we can do to make it a little easier on the families, then that's our job and our responsibility. It brings them a little bit closer and might help them somewhere down the line," Claudel said yesterday.
``You know, this is my motto: `Deployment isn't a big thing, it's a million little things.' These families go through a lot."
Do you sometimes wonder if you belong to the same species as some Americans?
Mind you, there have been times in my family life when a cardboard Daddy might have been slightly more use than the real one was. :O)
Condi can do it too
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attempting to broaden discussion of Iraq by invoking slavery and the American Civil War said: "I'm sure there are people who thought it was a mistake to fight the Civil War to its end and to insist that the emancipation of slaves would hold."
This equating of the widespread and growing disapproval of failing American military and political tactics in Iraq with support for negro slavery in 19C America is certain to be a winning argument for the White House. Not.
Now if you say you think Bush made the wrong decision in invading Iraq, or if you think the whole venture has turned into a bloody screwed up mess, then you're no different from people who think negros should be enslaved to whites.
Love Bush and all his works or be told officially that you're inhuman scum.
Nice whoever said it, but somehow even nicer coming from a black woman who knows how many black Americans oppose the Iraq war. Perhaps she also knows that the overwhelming majority of US troops in Iraq are recruited from the poorest (and Blackest) sections of US society.
More Bushisms
President Bush said about Osama bin Laden today: “Bin Laden and his terrorists' allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. …The question is: Will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?”
On March 13th 2002 he said of Bin Laden “I just don't spend that much time on him. …[W]e haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I — I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.”
Riiiight...... So in four and a half years, bin Laden has gone from being someone on whom the president should not waste his time thinking about to as grave a threat as Lenin and Hitler. Interesting.
You know, a sentient person might conclude that either:
A) Bin Laden’s potency and influence have significantly increased over the last few years, meaning Bush’s war on terror is an abject failure;
B) Bush was full of shit and/or incompetent on March 13, 2002;
C) Bush is full of shit and/or incompetent today, September 5, 2006; or
D) All of the above.
I’m going with D.
On March 13th 2002 he said of Bin Laden “I just don't spend that much time on him. …[W]e haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I — I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.”
Riiiight...... So in four and a half years, bin Laden has gone from being someone on whom the president should not waste his time thinking about to as grave a threat as Lenin and Hitler. Interesting.
You know, a sentient person might conclude that either:
A) Bin Laden’s potency and influence have significantly increased over the last few years, meaning Bush’s war on terror is an abject failure;
B) Bush was full of shit and/or incompetent on March 13, 2002;
C) Bush is full of shit and/or incompetent today, September 5, 2006; or
D) All of the above.
I’m going with D.
Starter for 10
You stumble upon a lamp in the Blackpool sands and out pops a genie who's willing to grant you one wish. The catch is he's only able to grant one wish, that wish is removing a single person from the House of Commons. No death involved or anything; they're just relocated to a cashier's job at Asda... and a scorching case of genital herpes.
Who would you nominate?
Tuesday, 5 September 2006
Just a little reminder
President Bush today reminded Americans that the United States is a nation at war on the same day his administration proclaimed significant progress in the war on terror but said the enemy has adjusted to US defenses and that "America is safer but we are not yet safe".
Well, blow me down. Americans need reminding. Maybe he ought to mention it more often.
Oh, no. Perhaps not. Mentioning it would bring the number of servicemen and women killed to the forefront of the American mind. It might make them recall where the National Guard were when Katrina struck. It may remind them of the incredible amount of their hard earned taxes being spent every day by the military. It may remind them of his claim that the US had won the war in Iraq. And that before that they'd won the war against the Taliban and Bin Laden.
It may remind them that Bush ignored the fact that the WTC terrorists came from Saudi Arabia. It may remind them that Bin Laden is still out there, still hating America. It may remind them what a mendacious onanist they have for President.
Best keep shtum in future Georgie, then they'll never guess.
Monday, 4 September 2006
Who's the sick bastard?
A man terrorised women for 3 years, seizing them on the street, tieing them up and raping them, and stealing their shoes as mementoes of happy times. Police traced him via dna and found over 100 women's shoes in his home.
He was charged with 4 rapes and 2 attempted rapes and admitted guilt.
The Judge said this was one of the most serious sexual crimes and if found guilty by trial would have meant a minimum 35 years sentence. So he gave him 15 years.
15 years for a possible 50+ rapes.
Some justice.
Some Judge.
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