Stuff from all over.

I like this "summary of the day" thing. I can post my BS during the day, wrap things up in the evening, and bim-bam-boom, I'm done and on to watching more old eps of The Shield.

Anyway, on to the news (and the snark):

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First, we have a story about the current Pope's first official visit to Brazil. Why is he there? To try to stop "disaffected Catholics" from converting to evangelical religions.

Uh...maybe making some changes on the inside is a better way to keep future people from converting, rather than trying to beg back the ones who've already made up their minds. Generally, all begging or coercing will do is make someone continue on the path they've chosen, even if it's for no reason than spite.

Especially if you try to use guilt, which seems to be Catholicism's forte.

Just a thought.

From that same article:

The issue of abortion is also expected to feature, amid dismay within the Catholic Church at Mexico City's move to legalise it.


Can I applaud Mexico City for that decision? Obviously, using abortion for birth control isn't a great option, but if you conditionalize (is that a word?) the procedure, you'll have people using coat hangers in back alleys. Better to just legalize it and deal with the moral consequences on a case-by-case basis, if it even comes to that. Or just, you know, leave it alone and recognize that if someone wants to do it, it's their right.

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This is what happens when you print too much money without backing it up.

Zimbabwe's inflation rate is up to 2200%. No, not 22.00, or even 220.0...2200. That's insanity.

I don't have much else to say about that one. That percentage kind of made my heart race, like an overdue cell phone bill. Hah.

Speaking of which...

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Okay. Taken care of. Moving on.

Here's a big shocker: Bush "would veto new Iraq bill".

This is the kind of shit that happens when you have a power-hungry idiot (who's entered a pissing contest) in charge of a country. Hey - as I've said before, I call 'em like I see 'em.

This situation is the equivalent of a mom telling her son he needs to go to bed at a certain time, and that kid telling her he won't do it, because he doesn't want to be bossed around, even though everyone knows it's for his own good. The result from the lack of sleep will be crankiness, poor performance, and eventually a crash-and-burn. Oooh, that was a more astute comparison than I'd planned!

First our habeus corpus is suspended. Then the situation arises where Mistur Prezidunt decides that Congress isn't good enough to make any decisions regarding the war, and signs a document essentially saying that he doesn't have to have their approval for ANYTHING, SO THERE! Then we have rampant stupidity. Does anyone else see the correlation?

So it's come to my attention that there WAS no official document signed that gives the Prez total power over Congress. People are just saying that. Which doesn't necessarily make me feel better, but I can admit when I'm mistaken. I am, however, leaving the stuff below in, because THAT much I still feel is true.


Before you go telling me that Dubya isn't an idiot because he went to Yale, consider this: He apparently got a significant number of C's. I did jack shit this semester, and I got straight-A's. I have a friend who literally goes to class maybe twice a month (no, I'm really serious), and has a 4.0. Did I mention she's a double English/History major?

And you can buy admission into a college with enough money. I have classmates who've done so, and are merely being pushed through the engineering program at my school (which is one of the best in the country) so that the revenue from their warm bodies isn't lost. THAT'S a scary thought.

I maintain that our "commander guy" is a few IQ points away from functionally retarded. And I apologize to anyone with an IQ of 80 or below that I've offended with that statement.

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A lightning bolt was found to be the cause of the mining collapse last year.

That was a horrible thing to have happen. Hopefully they'll be a little more careful where they string their wires, so that the possibility of this happening again can be reduced a bit. Obviously, nature doesn't follow any of our laws, so I'm not assigning fault to anyone. But you can be a little more careful with the upkeep of someplace where people are going to be spending their days underground. That's all I'm sayin'.

R.I.P., guys.


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Sorry, but I have to point out something else from our esteemed leader's file: He seems to have a problem with his response time to natural disasters.

I'm not saying he should drop everything to go visit these people, but it might give them the idea that he gives a shit if he does it sooner than, oh, 5 days. Rather than bickering about the logistics of the National Guardsmen and their deployment number, he could act like a fucking human being for once and show some damned sympathy and respect for these people.

I think 5 is his "magic number" or something.

And I'm going to stop here before I say some things that cross the line from snarky/bitchy into hateful. Because that's just not appropriate, nor is it helpful.

Okay, okay...one more thing...on that link, scroll down a bit and you'll see Dubya stepping over debris. He looks like he's leaning to squeeze out a fart.

Okay, I'm done.

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AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

Chad demobilizes child soldiers!

YAY!


I do have this to snark at, though: "...The government has never knowingly signed up children into the Chadian army. It's young people who forge their birth certificates," the minister said.

Uh, right. Because it's THAT hard to tell the difference between an 8-year-old and an 18-year-old. Maybe they should institute pube checks.