EP-RANTS!

So just why did America go to war with Iraq, anyways? While some conservatives are jumping for joy, declaring victory over this MidEast country, it's still a bloody mess, and America's troops still continue to die as a result of the chaos that's been unleashed. THE FIRST REASON was something to do with WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION . So far, these weapons have not been found. In a Reuters-Yahoo news story recycled by the Daily Kos , is this recent entry: (Paul) Wolfowitz, seen as one of the most hawkish figures in the Bush administration's policy on Iraq, said President Saddam Hussein's alleged cache of chemical, biological and possibly nuclear weapons was merely one of several reasons behind the decision to go to war. "For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on," Wolfowitz was quoted as saying in Vanity Fair magazine's July issue. No chem...

My good friend Tom Sagehorn sent me an essay by Eric C. Bauman that expresses pretty close to what I feel about the Republicans these days. I'm not a big fan of Gray Davis, but I give him a lot credit for hiring this guy. REPUBLICANS ON A RAMPAGE - I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE! By Eric C. Bauman, Chair, Los Angeles County Democratic Party Newt Gingrich taught the Republican Party one thing: there's no need to play by the rules when it comes to political warfare, and they learned that lesson well. -Can't beat Bill Clinton: Impeach him! -Can't beat Al Gore: Steal the election! -Can't win a majority in the House: Redraw the districts - after the fact! -Can't confirm right-wing judges: Rewrite the rules of the Senate! -Want to hold a war: Make up the facts to get popular support! -Can't beat Gray Davis: Recall him! Republican guerrilla warfare - the list of examples goes on-and-on. The Party of virtue, ...

More thoughts about the Good Doctor, Ugly Parallels, and Fanatics The Howard Dean momentum continues to grow like a bedload of rambunctious bunnies. Looking on the web, I see more and more BLOGS dedicated to the cause of the Howard Dean campaign, multiplying in rapid succession, one after another. The Meetup.com phenomenon is well-documented in various media, including a semi-recent Newsweek article that discussed how the Dean campaign somehow found themselves with with thousands of volunteers because of this special internet resource. Meetup isn't a really a political group, per se, but an organizational tool for groups of people that like to share their special interests- be gardening, diabetes, witchcraft, music, politics or something entirely. In the Meetup universe, Howard Dean is a virtual rockstar! Almost 26,000 people have volunteered to help Dean with the election, while his closest competition at Meetup, Senator John Kerry has just over 1,200 volunteers. ...

Remembering June Carter Cash I was very sad to learn that June Carter Cash passed away. Earlier this week, she had heart surgery, and her husband Johnny Cash asked her friends to pray for her recovery. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, and she's now left the mortal world for something bigger. I am major fan of both June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash. Their music had always been around for as long as I remember, but I really embraced it on a big scale about six years ago, grabbing every recording by them that I could afford. As a child, I remember hearing them sing together, thinking this was one of the oddest musical duos around- Johnny with the distinctive deep voice, and June with a funny little Southern voice. To me, I thought their singing styles were such polar opposites, but that was exactly what made their harmonies so interesting. Johnny was the super-talented singer-songwriter whose music transcended the boundaries of pop music. Johnny Cash often se...

You thought Florida had problems? Just wait...... There's an interesting article in today's New York Times on high tech ballot boxes. (If you haven't already registered with NY Times to access these pages, just do it- it's free!) "To Register Doubts, Press Here" by Sam Lubel http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/15/technology/circuits/15vote.html?8cir One paragraph in particular stuck out for me: "Mike Kernell, a longtime Tennessee state assemblyman from Memphis and a technology enthusiast, is concerned about future elections because the new machines are harder to get a look at. 'We used to be able to check the machines and see if they'd been tampered with,' he said. 'It is now almost impossible.' Mr. Kernell wonders whether he will have to hire a computer programmer in his next race to make sure the machines are working smoothly and haven't been tampered with. 'We've hit a brick wall,' he said." Of ...

Mother's Day was NOT invented by Hallmark! Did you know Mother's Day began as a call by women to end war in 1870? As it turns out, Julia Ward Howe, author of the song "The Battle Hymm of the Repubic", was an anti-war activist that was truly ahead of her time. Following tremendous losses of the Civil War, she sent out a proclamation, for a special "Mother's Day," declaring: "Arise, then women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of tears! We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience." You can all about the history of this American holiday at: http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/mothersday/

Today, I stumbled across three little pieces of information I just had to share: 1) Strangest Spam of the Day! From: charles.murschell@egy.com Date: Fri May 9, 2003 8:31:52 PM US/Pacific Subject: Need Reliable Vendor p ehh Greetings, We need a vendor who can offer immediate supply. I'm offering $5,000. US dollars just for referring a vender which is (Actually RELIABLE in providing the below equipment) Contact details of vendor required, including name and phone #. If they turn out to be reliable in supplying the below equipment I'll immediately pay you $5,000. We prefer to work with vendor in the Boston/New York area. 1. The mind warper generation 4 Dimensional Warp Generator # 52 4350a series wrist watch with z60 or better memory adapter. If in stock the AMD Dimensional Warp Generator module containing the GRC79 induction motor, two I80200 warp stabilizers, 256GB of SRAM, and two Analog Devices isolinear modules, This unit also has a menu driven GUI accessib...