This kind of makes me want to throw up.

I feel the utmost revulsion for the girls who decided on a whim to strangle their friend just to see what it felt like to commit a murder.


Don't click on that link if asphyxiation and strangulation descriptions bother you.


The speculation as to why they did it kind of pisses me off, too:

Perhaps, the judge speculated, the killers’ lack of remorse was due to some kind of “blocking mechanism or a more sinister personality defect”.

It came to light during the trial that one of the girls had killed two kittens in what the prosecution said was a trial run for a murder.

The girls’ lawyers argued that both were from troubled backgrounds. One had failed to cope with the death of her mother, and the other had become preoccupied with death and the macabre through her fascination with “Goth” culture.

So what we're saying here is that Goths are murderers. Aaaand...when someone's mother dies, if they don't cry it out to a therapist, they'll become a cold-blooded killer. And this was said by their lawyers IN DEFENSE. What the FUCK?!?

We should excuse the one girl because she's emotionally immature, and the other because she likes to wear black and listen to depressing music, right?

Um.

Sorry, guys, but even at age 16, people are generally aware of the consequences of their actions, particularly if they don't suffer from something like schizophrenia or Down's syndrome.

Listening to something super-emo like Evanescence shouldn't cause you to feel like committing a murder would be a good idea. If it did, the music likely isn't the problem.

Good morning.

How much of a fucktard do you have to be to start a fight at a Boston Pops concert?

This quote in the "story highlights" cracked me up at first because I read it wrong: Fight was at Symphony Hall; Ben Folds was guest musician

I thought it said "Ben Folds was great musician". I *just* got my eyes checked last year. I will blame it on lack of sleep.

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Blair stepping down after 10 years as Prime Minister of England.

I'm sure there are many people out there breathing a sigh of relief. I think it's funny that it coincides with our election year, but I'm not making any assumptions there. I'm interested to see who they pick next.

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GOP is apparently telling Bush that he needs to have evidence that his methods in Iraq are working by September.

This quote is an eye-roller: "The American people are war-fatigued. The American people want to know there's a way out," LaHood said.

Judging by the way people are acting in my city, you'd be hard-pressed to be able to figure out that there's a war at all. I mean, I'd like to see it end because I think it's a really fucking stupid war, motivation-wise. But I'm not like, "leave NOW OMG I CAN'T FIND NYLONS ANYWHERE!" We're NOT feeling the effects of this war anywhere but in our minds - and in the hearts of the people who've either been there or have family there. The gas shortage, contrary to popular belief, is not the result of this war. That's a whole other subject, though.

Back to the article above, here's another quote I found interesting: One source who attended the meeting, Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, told Bush that without positive results soon in Iraq, his district will be prepared for defeat.

I...uh...what's the talk about defeat? I mean, seriously. We're not fighting for anything, really. This is one of those wars where someone thought they could do something better than someone else, and the person who was supposedly doing something wrong didn't have the organization or money to fight off the advances of the person who wanted to change them. Period, end of story. The only thing we "lose" if this "war" isn't "successful" is...oh, wait. Yeah. We won't look like the BMOC anymore. Carry on, then. *rolls eyes*

Pissing contest.

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Executed man's last wish honored.

So this guy was executed yesterday. Before he died, he said his last wish was to have vegetarian pizza served to any homeless people surrounding the prison where his execution took place. The government refused because they didn't want to do any charity work (okay, you have to admit...THAT'S funny), but a bunch of people in the Nashville area donated $1200 to feed pizza to homeless people.

*gigglesnort*: "...this man [Workman] wanted to do something to point out the problems of homelessness."

What, that you can't get pizza? I think many people are aware of the problems of homelessness, and while it's great that this man used his air-time to provide some food for them, we shouldn't be treating him like a martyr.


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Al Sharpton is an idiot.

I refuse to call him "Reverend". Someone who makes comments denouncing someone else's faith does not deserve the title. I'M a better Christian than he is, and I'm Agnostic.

I couldn't finish that article after reading the statements that Al wrote to try to cover up his statement. Hi, guy, the press records everything. They may get the interpretation wrong sometimes, but there's usually someone listening and recording everything you say in public, and you can't really misinterpret "...As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that. That's a temporary situation."

Dumbass.

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In more personal news, Google Reader saved my life, y'all. No lie.

Okay, so I'm exaggerating...but it IS pretty neat. It updates with blog entries as they're made, so that you don't miss anything, and you don't have to open a shitload of windows/tabs in your browser 3 times a day to see if anyone's updated, which takes a lot of time. For someone like me, who spends too much time online as it is, this is a great way for me to be able to still read the blogs that I'm interested in, update things, and check my email, while not spending 2 or 3 hours doing it. In fact, I'm pretty well done with my morning bloggitude, and I'm about to go do some...housework! Yay!

*end public service announcement*

Just a note.

If you see anything in my posts that is listed as my opinion that you think needs to be corrected, don't hesitate to say something.

I've said it in comments, but I'll say it here for all of you guys who don't read comments (hey, I usually don't unless I'm adding something to the post myself):

I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong.

In fact, I welcome any corrections, because how the hell else am I supposed to learn anything?




When you've stopped learning, you've stopped living. I have a while yet to go, I think. :-)

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.

The Duggars

Let me preface this by saying that I have no problem, logically, with their situation. They are responsible parents, fiscally responsible people, and the family seems to function freakishly well. And if Michelle's body is holding up, and they're able to provide well for all of their children, then who's to say that they can't keep having kids? Feel free to argue with me, but I've seen evidence of families who have only one kid, or even no kids at all, and can't even keep up with their usual bills. The fact that this family of 18 (soon to be 19!) is able to do so and thrive is very impressive.

Now that that's out of the way, I have to post this photo that a friend of mine posted on her LiveJournal (Lily, new mom to Cash...great person, and a fun read). If you're easily offended, you shouldn't be on my blog, anyway, so I don't know what to tell you.




Did anyone else nearly pee themselves laughing at that picture?

Fort Dix (no dirty jokes, I promise)

I have yet to comment on the situation with the 6 Islamic radicals who decided that they were going to storm Fort Dix.


All I have to really say about it is: Thank goodness they were stupid enough to turn their jihad videos in to a photo place for conversion to DVD.


The story practically writes itself. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

Here's an article in the Concord Monitor.


I wish I had more to add, but I'm kind of speechless.


Edit: McSnee pointed something else out about the situation that I can't stop giggling about. And I quote:

So, yesterday the big news was that we had won a MASSIVE VICTORY in the GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, arresting terrorists who were ready to STRIKE RIGHT HERE IN THE U.S.

Now, it's certainly a good thing that these guys are off the street. But let's not overestimate the potential impact here.

First off, these guys apparently made a video of themselves chanting jihadist slogans and firing weapons into the air, and then took it to a photo shop to have the video converted to DVD. So, already, we should be clued into the fact that these guys are not very bright.

Second, what was their plan? The five of them were going to attack Fort Dix. Fort Dix, for those of you not paying attention, is a military base. It is, in fact, a military base where they train soldiers to fight insurgents in Iraq. I don't know how many soldiers are on this base at any given time, but I'd say it's a safe bet that there are, at a bare minimum, several hundred and probably more likely several thousand. I'd be further willing to bet that quite a few of them are armed at all times.

Now, again: it's great that we got these guys, and they probably could have done some damage. But let's not blow this out of proportion. Five or six guys against a well-armed Army training camp? Probably not gonna stand much of a chance.

... Then again, if you voted for George Bush, maybe these guys do seem like terrorist masterminds.

LOL. Seriously, guys. THAT made me giggle.

More tidbits.

Archaeologists think they've found King Herod's tomb. The archaeological geek in me is going "SQUEE!"

And I have "King Herod's Song" stuck in my head...So you are the Christ, yes, the great Jesus Christ...prove to me that you're no fool: walk across my swimming pool!

Sorry. I have no snark for that. I just thought it was neat.

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Cheney will visit the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf. Why? To try to convince them to "help" us "tame" Iraq. The areas surrounding Iraq are mostly Sunni (as opposed to "sunny", but I guess that's true, too), a stark contrast to the Shiite sect in Iraq, which makes up about 60% of the total population of the country.

Methinks this is another tactic to stay in Iraq as long as possible.

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The White House is bickering with Kansas over the amount of response by National Guard Members in relation to Iraq. Of course they are.

Whether there's a shortage of Guard members or not, the fact remains that situations like Iraq are NOT what the U.S. National Guard was formed for. It's not the Iraqi National Guard, is it? The Mexican National Guard? Nope. UNITED STATES. Why the hell are we sending them to Iraq to fight this stupid war when there are things over here that they could be helping with?

Our country's troubles don't stop just because there's a war elsewhere. Jackasses.

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More proof that the UN is pretty useless. Basically, the story is that Russia and China are rumored to have traded weapons with Darfur illegally. Wah, right? The only people who seem to have a problem with this are the ones in the UN. Call me naive, but a group that doesn't seem to do anything but slow things to a crawl when they're not sure what's going on should probably not be calling the shots where weapons are concerned. I call that a recipe for disaster.



And that's all I've got for now. The Shield comes on in a few minutes. I love that show. Vic is my freakin' TV hero.