And...stuff.

I'm answering phones this afternoon, and I'm pretty well caught up with your blog entries (even though I'm unable to comment right now due to sheer volume of entries vs. my timeline here at work), so no worries there.

And now, on with the news as I see it. Because that's all that matters in my universe, right?

Pardon the non-colorful language. I have to be articulate today because there's no telling what the intranet will do up here if I slip up and say something verboten.

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Group of "insurgents" (or something, who knows) posted in a message board that U.S. troops are to call off their search of those missing soldiers.

Anyone else feel like this is some sort of ploy to keep our soliders from discovering something ELSE during all this searching? Or am I just being paranoid? Hrm.

I hate to be an eternal pessimist, but I have a feeling that if these soldiers HAVE been captured, they're going to be used as an "example", so there's nothing our troops can do for them now if that's the case. You can't reason with that sort of violence, ya know?

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Nudist camps recruiting younger members, "luring" them with discounts.

Is anyone surprised that young people don't want to wander around naked? We're raised to be ashamed of our (perfectly normal) bodies if we're over a certain weight, and some people even go so far as to raise their children to be afraid to walk down the street for fear of being raped (*ahem*). Why would they want to wander around naked in front of a group of people who are practically strangers?

Having gotten that out of the way, I think it's great that these people are so comfortable with themselves, and I wish everyone could have that sort of self-esteem. Let's face it: the more comfortable people are with themselves, flaws and all, the less likely they are to be violent towards others in those senseless crimes that involve rape and whatnot. I mean, the world could use a little less self-loathing, and a little more self-love.

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Military blocks use of MySpace, YouTube, and other recreational sites for those serving overseas.

I can understand their reasoning, but if someone has the means to electronically keep up with their loved ones, they're not going to want to revert to writing paper letters. Then again, the article says that they can use their personal computers and networks (that kind of gives me pause...what other network would a soldier HAVE in Iraq than the one provided for them?) to access the sites, so whatever. Can you tell I'm tired today?

Sometimes when you're on the run, you don't have time to do more than send a quick comment on MySpace or something. A long email might not work for you. Same with receiving stuff. Obviously I'm biased toward the internet, but you get my meaning, right? Obviously they can live without it, but it'd be nice if they could get some sort of alternate means of fast communication, because that's what they're using it for, for the most part.

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So...WHEN are we going to be able to separate church and state? Never? Okay, I can buy that, but I don't like it.

I think Mormons are kind of weird, too, but that doesn't mean a Mormon man couldn't be a good leader. I have a good friend who's a SERIOUS Mormon, and she's really cool. I mean, people are people. Can I hit Al Sharpton? Please?

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Gore supporters hope he runs in '08.

Can I just say again: WHY IS THIS NEWS? Of COURSE people who support Gore are going to hope that he runs. A better headline/story would be, "Gore a possibility for '08...again." You know, WARN us without sounding stupid.

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The formatting on IE is a nightmare. So I'll stop now.