I was suprised. Yet, after considering the current state of our economy I’m not as suprised anymore.

Just a thought.

What would you do if you found youself walking down the street and it looked like two people were getting it on in a convertible? How would you react during an interview when two girls were washing the windows outside in their underwear?

It plays on many peoples most embarrassing subject: sex. Ultimately the clips end in laughter or shock, as naturally they should. In general, I hate reality TV. But this is just too funny.

I think I just became part of the problem instead of the solution. It’s okay. I’ll live.

“These are the worst of the worst,” Mr. Hannity of Fox News warned. “We seem to be letting our guard down again.”

John Yoo reportedly opined:

“Nobody wants to have a detention center for terrorists in their backyard.”

Also, the GOP’s unofficial chairman:

And Rush Limbaugh released a new edition of his Guantánamo Bay T-shirts with a new past-tense subtitle: “Club Gitmo — When America was safe.”

Basically, what fool would allow terrorists to be held in U.S. prisons? Well, it’s important to remember that there are people who kill because they feel that they have to and not for ideology already in U.S. prisons. So, arguably there are already more dangerous people than terrorists in U.S. prisons. Second, U.S. prisons already hold Jose Padilla, Richard Reed, and Zacarias Moussaoui; all sent there under Bush’s watch. So we must ask: was Bush a fool for putting these men in U.S. prisons? No.

This is probably the dumbest “issue” since the laughable claims that Obama is muslim. For most people this is a NIMBY issue. I live in Bozeman, MT. Move the detainees to Hardin, MT. I’m not sure 189 miles is still my backyard, but Hardin has been looking for a way to fill their vacant prison and this is an excellent way to do that.

Unfortunately, this is not an option. According to Montana News Station:

In a statement, Senator Jon Tester says quote ” I want to see a smart, long-term plan for those prisoners before we pay any tax dollars to move them.”  Senator Tester does not want detainees to come to Montana.

Senator Max Baucus says he wants to review plans before funding the closure. Senator Baucus says quote “I’m committed to helping folks find a solution that would the Hardin facility to use and create jobs, but filling it with Guantanamo detainees is not the right way to do it.”

Rehberg is also opposed. Why? Because he’s a Republican. Tester and Baucus are opposed because they’re Democrats that are afraid of Republicans accusing them of “importing terrorists” or whatever they pay Luntz to come up with (if I had the money I would pay him to come up with phrasing too). It’s sad really.

I told a friend last night that I thought filling Hardin with terrorists was a great idea. If they escape, where will they go? Who will they harm? Their escape requires them to travel through hundreds of miles of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, or Idaho if they’re truly stupid. Want to know how those poor little townfolk that are so endangered will react to the idea of terrorists escaping prison and fleeing law enforcement across their property? Well, what my friend said kinda sums it up:

They’re already the same color as deer.

Perhaps not the most politically correct phrase but it’s also not a sober phrase (alcohol sober). The truth is that if the terrorists escape they will be shot. If you are on someone’s property, charging them, screaming “Jihad” and “Allah,” and are wearing a prison uniform – you’re not gonna have a good time.

I guess I don’t understand why no one seems to realize this, or that we already have several terrorists in our prisons and that’s worked out just fine. Why is everyone so afraid of everything these days? Our country is too polarized. It’s sad.

House Minority Leader John Boehner demanded that Pelosi provide evidence to support her accusations.”Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He should be careful about making such assertions. The Bush administration wasn’t exactly honest. It seems that there was a lot said about Iraq that wasn’t truthful. Notably, information in Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address. Try this one:

Congress and the American people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaida. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.

The source was Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi (aka Curveball) (that’s possibly misspelled), who made this admission to avoid further torture. According to Colonel Lawrence B Wilkerson, “former chief of staff of the Department of State during the term of Secretary of State Colin Powell”:

Likewise, what I have learned is that as the administration authorized harsh interrogation in April and May of 2002–well before the Justice Department had rendered any legal opinion–its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at pre-empting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al-Qa’ida.

So furious was this effort that on one particular detainee, even when the interrogation team had reported to Cheney’s office that their detainee “was compliant” (meaning the team recommended no more torture), the VP’s office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods. The detainee had not revealed any al-Qa’ida-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, “revealed” such contacts. Of course later we learned that al-Libi revealed these contacts only to get the torture to stop.

There in fact were no such contacts. (Incidentally, al-Libi just “committed suicide” in Libya. Interestingly, several U.S. lawyers working with tortured detainees were attempting to get the Libyan government to allow them to interview al-Libi….)

Here’s a Washington Post article about his suicide that is not linked to in Wilkerson’s article.

It’s sad how hypocritical Rep. Boehner is about what Pelosi knew about what the Bush White House was actually doing. If he is going after what Pelosi knew, then perhaps we should actually disbar the 12 lawyers that worked for the Bush administration. After all, they did:

…[misuse] their license to practice law to provide legal cover for the war crime of torture.  This misuse of their license requires the bar association to disbar them or the bar will become complicit in torture.

Kevin Zeese

I guess if we’re going after everybody but those who actually approved torture this makes sense. Let’s nail Pelosi to a cross. Then we can start with the 12 attorneys who allegedly misused their law licenses. Then we can go after those who were actually responsible, and I’m not referring to those who were in the interrogation rooms physically applying the illegal techniques. I’m referring to those who approved and ordered them to be carried out.

The sooner this mess gets cleaned up the sooner we can start cleaning up the present mess – or at least prepare to clean it up in 2012.

Some might say that’s the price of convenience. Others will charge that large processed food producers should be more responsible about tracing their ingredients, testing their cooking instructions, and informing consumers of risks to eating these products. What’s shocking is that the New York Times reported that:

[A]ttempts by The New York Times to follow the directions on several brands of frozen meals, including ConAgra’s Banquet pot pies, failed to achieve the required 165-degree temperature. Some spots in the pies heated to only 140 degrees even as parts of the crust were burnt.

A ConAgra consumer hotline operator said the claims by microwave-oven manufacturers about their wattage power could not be trusted, and that any pies not heated enough should not be eaten. “We definitely want it to reach that 165-degree temperature,” she said. “It’s a safety issue.”

In 2007, the U.S.D.A.’s inspection of the ConAgra plant in Missouri found records that showed some of ConAgra’s own testing of its directions failed to achieve “an adequate lethality” in several products, including its Chicken Fried Beef Steak dinner. Even 18 minutes in a large conventional oven brought the pudding in a Kid Cuisine Chicken Breast Nuggets meal to only 142 degrees, the federal agency found.

So, now I’m not supposed to believe my owner’s manual that says my microwave is actually 1100 watts? Isn’t that illegal? I’ve always been on board the personal responsibility bandwagon, which argues that people should be responsible for what they eat. Yet, it’s disturbing that food producers are selling products that are “unpalatable” when properly cooked.

I don’t buy it. My instructions tell me to microwave for 2.5 minutes, stir, and heat for another minute (both on high). I heated for 2.5 minutes, stirred, heated for 1.5 minutes, stirred, and heated for another minute. What the heck does Heinz think they’re selling me? A dream in a box? It cost less than $3 and allows me to prolong cutting up 4 melons until later tonight. The broccoli never tastes as good as fresh broccoli, so what’s so (un)palatable?

The product is a solution to a time-related or convenience-related problem. It’s not a solution for good nutrition or excellent eating habits. Why can’t they just print the instructions for a few common wattage microwaves and tell me how to cook it so it doesn’t have harmful bacteria. If it tastes crappy it’s just a reminder that I’m eating pre-prepared food out of a plastic tray that I bought in a box and nuked for several minutes. It’s not exactly fine dining, nor is it supposed to be.

So, it appears that I have been partially wrong. Producers could do more to help me be responsible. Consumers could be smarter too (that’ll be the day). Either way, I’m going to continue to sorta-enjoy my overcooked pasta-in-a-box that I eat 2-3 times a month if I’m unlucky.

Senator Biden, how, as vice president, would you work to shrink this gap of polarization which has sprung up in Washington, which you both have spoken about here tonight?

BIDEN: Well, that’s what I’ve done my whole career, Gwen, on very, very controversial issues, from dealing with violence against women, to putting 100,000 police officers on the street, to trying to get something done about the genocide in — that was going on in Bosnia.

And I — I have been able to reach across the aisle. I think it’s fair to say that I have almost as many friends on the Republican side of the aisle as I do the Democratic side of the aisle.

Source: New York Times

In his fairness he did want to change the topic which is very common in politics and is done by everyone on both sides of the aisle because it’s the only way politicians get to say what they want. But these aren’t really controversial issues, although at times the way to solve them can be. Still, it shows that eventually everyone votes with the President.

I’ve digressed. While Specter has supported Bush about twice as much as Obama and Reid he still has his reputation as a moderate Republican and the switch can only hurt the Republicans. The last thing the party needs is to be losing their rational Senators.

But those of us that aren’t partisans are secretly cheering becuase the Republicans will probably face a filibuster proof majority. They deserve this. Especially after all those stupid Tea Parties. While those who took part in them are overwhelmingly decent people and not “right-wing extremists” (also funny – learn about left-wing extremists), the troubling aspect is that an overwhelming number of tea-partiers were cheering Bush on. “Don’t mortgage our childrens future!” “Taxed Enough Already.” Why wasn’t there anyone angry that Obama appears to just be furthering what Bush started: The Great Bank Robbery of 2008. Turns out, the Treasury actually overpaid $78 billion for TARP assets. But it’s not robbery because they gave it away for us – semantics really.

I for one am tired about hearing how corporations are too big to fail. That we have to save the idiots who got us into this mess in order to get out of this mess. I’m tired of hearing criticism of Obama that is as – and frequently more – applicable to Bush. The hypocrisy kills me. So while I’m happy the Republicans will more than likely face a spanking, I will end with some solid advice on how to revive the Republican party: don’t focus on the religious right or nutjobs because these two groups are already more than likely going to vote Republican (unless they defect to a third party) just to prevent a Democrat from gaining office. The defectors will be offset by Democrats defecting to other third parties. Anyway, here’s the idea: martyr creationism.

Creationism contradicts widely accepted scientific knowledge about plate tectonics, volcanoes, diamonds, oil, fossils, carbon-dating, and a host of other “less important” issues like the creation of the planet and universe. It’s just dumb. Please stop talking about it. It’s like saying that the cell isn’t the most basic unit of life (one of the foundations of biology), which of course is exactly what Pro-Choicers argue. While Roe v Wade provides women the right to choose (and there is the restriction of “undue burden” in the ability to obtain an abortion), there is no reason women can’t choose expediently. Permitting abortions in the first 3 months isn’t too controversial because the Republicans’ hands are tied by the Supreme Court. Taking this stance, with the disclaimer that your hands are tied, but that you are pragmatic and believe in science – specifically cell theory and evolutionary theory – might not win over religious zealots but it will win over moderates. That’s the key demographic. If you believe in rapture, then you’re limited in who you can vote for. When you’re rational, there’s no limit to who can be voted for.

This is wild speculation but I would think that moderates are also better at voting because they know candidates names and not just their party affiliation. I shudder when thinking about how many people in Montana voted for Steve Bullock instead of Tim Fox because they either didn’t know what an Attorney General was or didn’t care. I gave money to Tim Fox and Obama. My Obama money is regretful, but at the time I gave him 2 $5 donations as a way of saying: way to go man, Hillary sucks (I was one of those white males that inexplicably didn’t like her – Palin fixed that almost overnight… there’s a bizarre study of human psychology somewhere in there). The money to Tim Fox was to say: I like you and want you to win. I was so naive that I actually thought the there was no way that Fox could lose; he lost by 24,677 votes. Thanks mostly uneducated voters (there are definitely some really smart Democrats out there and I love talking with them but they’re the exception and not the rule, almost the same holds true for Republicans but it seems that uneducated Republicans are more familiar with why they believe what they believe – even if it doesn’t really make sense).

So, the Republicans need to martyr creationism for their position on abortion and move the party left. Not far left, just a little left. They can get Specter back and they can even get me. But I want some Republican-reparations for Bush. I want to see a resolution pass that denounces the Constitutional offenses Bush and Cheney most certainly committed so that we can move on, possibly to Obama. It’s virtually impossible for many of us to criticize Obama too harshly, which consequently could allow the Republicans to regain control, without something significant.

P.S. I reluctantly add that I voted for Ron Paul. If you didn’t figure out that the Ludwig von Mises Institute (Great Bank Robbery Article) is Austrian economics, which Ron Paul subscribes to, and that I don’t like either party (although I supported Obama in the Democratic primary, a late-comer to the Paul movement); well, someone else would have. There doesn’t need speculation on this. I’m not crazy about Ron Paul anymore – he let me down by not putting his name on all 50 states last November. Also, his movement is filled with people who keep talking about global banking cabal conspiracies and the one world government conspiracy. Alex Jones is all about this, I’m not. But if you have time you might grab some beer and watch his video on Bohemian Grove – it’s fun.

Environmentalists want to protect the environment. I reread a post I made about Ecuador’s Constitution. It’s about Aldo Leopold’s land ethic and Article 1 of the Ecuadorian Constitution:

“Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.  Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”

Well, today I saw a reference to Article 25 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

So, do you see the contradiction? How do we honor both at the same time? Now add a growing global population.

The best part about this is that no one can call Obama “Bo” anymore because it will be referring to the presidential dog and thus be insulting. That’s hilarious.

15. Luxembourg – $87.2 billion
14. Depository Institutions – $107.3 billion (includes commercial banks, savings banks, and credit unions.
13. Russia – $119.6 billion
12. UK – $124.2 billion
11. Insurance Companies – $126.4 billion (includes property-casualty and life insurance firms)
10. Brazil – $133.5 billion
9. Caribbean Banking Centers – $176.6 billion
8. Oil Exporters – $186.3 billion (includes Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria)
7. Other Investors – $413.2 billion (includes individuals, government-sponsored enterprises, brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts, estates, corporate and non-corporate businesses)
6. Pension Funds – $456.4 billion (includes both private and local government pension funds)
5. State and Local Governments – $522.7 billion
4. Japan – $634.8 billion
3. China (mainland) – $739.6 billion [Hong Kong - not included - holds another $71.7 billion]
2. Mutual Funds – $769.1 billion (includes money market funds, mutual funds and closed-end funds)
1. Federal Reserve and Intragovernmental Holdings – $4.806 trillion

I’m not sure where the other trillion and a half or so went.

The show – sans commercials – is 21 minutes 15 seconds.

• The intro is 30 seconds.
• The video of Conway Twitty singing played for 2 minutes 45 seconds.
• The Dust in the Wind montage went on for 30 seconds.
• The opera scene went on for 57 seconds.

So, that leaves 16 minutes 33 seconds of actual material. That’s pathetic: 4 minutes 42 seconds of bullshit.That’s 22% of the show. One out of every 5 minutes of this stupid show is crappy music. It didn’t use to be this way. Once upon a time, Family Guy did this in moderation (extreme moderation compared to tonight). It was humorous because it was unique to Family Guy; but, when this characteristic overwhelms the personality it gets old quick.

What’s even more amazing is that they took a shot at The Simpsons, saying Homer was loved more in 1993. At least the Simpsons can still come up with enough material to produce a complete show. So it goes, one show dies and another takes a tiny step up – South Park. This has always been a toss-up before because Family Guy has always held a special place in my heart (that didn’t come out right), but I’m over it. South Park’s 13th season premiere was fantastic, thank God for Matt Stone and Trey Parker.