RIP Dimebag 1966-2004
Sad sad news hit me this morning when I got my regular upload of the news before work. Damage plan was playing in a Ohio venue and a gunner attacked Dime and company killing Dime and 3 others before a officer nearby killed the shooter. Crazy world we live in when people cant even get over a band splitting up.
I can only wonder how my lil brother is taking this since he actually has met dime and gone to his house down here in Dallas and dime was a major inspiration to him when he played in a heavy metal band until 2 years ago.
I guess the only smile that I can have from the whole situation was the streaker that popped in on Anderson Cooper on CNN while they were talking to a live reporter at the location in Ohio. About 20 seconds of naked dude running around screaming dimebag gave me a chuckle. I’m sure Dime was doing the same.
I'm Back
Sorry to my readers I've been travelling on business, buying my house,
and just plain stuck in a state of writerblocken hehe.
Good news is.
It's over!
Yo Nader! If we need to put a picture next to Irony it would be yours.
Why? Becuase for a man who may have tilted the results against Kerry to
come out and challenge voting results and say they were altered in favor
of Bush is just we'll Ironic. Not that it's a bad thing and I'd like to
see Bush come under some jailtime for rigging the vote in some fashion.
Course he's blind to what went on of course but hey the buck is supposed
to stop at the White House.
Speaking of bucks. How the hell do 7 american hunters get ambushed by a
Laotian in the woods. I mean come on if he shoots your buddy and he
falls over dead you sit there with your mouth open, try to debate with
the guy, or how about just showing the guy an example why those bullets
were designed to take down a 400 pound buck. I'm sorry about those that
died and I hope the guy get what's coming to him but as a former
military guy and a person that's been out hunting if someone shoots at
me I'm damn shure shooting back if it does not kill me.
More on these bucks. Specifically the 5 trillion of them Bush inherited
from Clinton in 2001. How the hell do you go from a 5 trillion surplus
to 8 trillion deficit? What the hell did we spend 13 trillion dollars
on here? Did that radio system in your back cost that much to develop?
I'd go get my money back since it was so obvious during the debates and
it sure did not look comfortable. Tell me we designed and outfitted a
fleet of submersible air craft cariers that can also be attached to a
giant robot and warp through space. I sure as hell wont be visiting
Europe soon with my dollar only being worth 69 cents over there. Not
much here I can buy for 69 cents either.
Passing the Global Test
Below is a commentary written by my friend Todd. It's got a very good message on how passing the Global Test which President Bush tries to say is giving up our security to the whims of other nations.
Passing the Global Test
In the first presidential debate of the 2004 campaign season between the Democratic challenger John F. Kerry and the incumbent candidate George W. Bush, Senator Kerry made the comment that “if and when you have to preemptively strike a nation, you do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.” President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney seized the quote as a sign of weakness by John Kerry, and if he were to be elected it would signal a return to a pre-9/11 mentality of defensive posturing and indecision. This is a complete distortion of not only what Senator Kerry’s comments truly meant, but a political tactic of playing on American fears. Running around the country telling the American people that voting for Kerry/Edwards is voting for another terrorist attack is a perfect example of the standard philosophical ploy of toying with individual emotions to control the masses that Karl Rove has become an expert at doing. John Kerry’s statement deals with legitimacy when it comes to utilizing military power to exert influence across the globe. If war is the only option available, then you must not only justify and marshal full support for your actions to your allies and your citizens, but you do not mislead them, and you provide a blueprint of the plan of action to win the war and the peace. None of these objectives were met in taking the United States of America to war in Iraq.
I believe there was a litmus test created between October 18th and 29th in the fall of 1962. Another senator from Massachusetts was the sitting president of the United States. Like Senator Kerry, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a war hero who understood that morality, strong alliances, and overall leadership by example was the diplomatic way to deal with international crisis. No other president in our nation’s history felt such a daunting task as Kennedy did in October of ’62, with Cuba installing nuclear weapons on the United States’ doorstep. The choices Kennedy faced were to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Cuba as advised by the majority of his generals, or to exercise patience with strong diplomacy and rhetoric directed at Russian Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev. President Kennedy faced a global test during this time period. If he were to launch a nuclear strike against Cuba, a retaliatory nuclear strike was certain by the U.S.S.R. against major U.S. cities. Had George W. Bush been President in 1962, there would have been no negotiation, no litmus test, no exercising of patience, and no diplomacy. Nuclear war would have taken place based on the actions President Bush made in the buildup to the war in Iraq. History would have been completely different. Kennedy exercised patience while evidence was built to show the world exactly what the communists were doing. By providing justification to the United Nations and working the diplomatic back channels, coupled with a strong naval blockade of Cuba and incredibly strong rhetoric by the U.S. Commander-in-Chief directed toward the Soviet Republic, World War III was averted.
A global test is nothing to make fun of. Instead, it is something to be proud of. As the lone remaining super power in the world we have a moral obligation to not only lead
by example, but as we hold other nations accountable for their action, we too must be held accountable. We cannot disband alliances that were held together for generations to act militarily on hunches and gut feelings against other sovereign nations. Alliances are the key to defeating terrorism. We cannot go it alone or arm twist nations to join an alliance under the pretext that we know what is best for the world. No one, not even Senator Kerry, disagrees that Saddam was a horrible dictator that deserved his own personal place in hell. But it does not dismiss the fact that the Iraq war was a diversion from the real war on terror and the campaign to capture or destroy members of Al-Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden himself. There is something to be said for a president who asks the right questions, creates thought provoking debate, exercises patience, and pounds his chest as if to dare a country to test the will of the American people. This constitutes passing a global test. This particular test served one former senator from Massachusetts well and saved the world from a catastrophic disaster. If given the opportunity, John F. Kerry can restore the faith the world has lost in American leadership and morality. Had George W. Bush been the Commander-in-Chief in 1962, history would have told a completely different story.
CNN.com - Bush cousins launch pro-Kerry Web site - Oct 25, 2004
An interesting story about some of president Bush's cousins who have setup a pro Kerry website. They were quoted saying that they dont agree with many of his policies from things like the enviroment and the war in Iraq.
The website is http://www.bushrelativesforkerry.com enjoy!
President Bush, you are responsible
"Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush, you are responsible"
An open letter from the wife of a soldier who lost his leg in Iraq.
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Oct. 13, 2004 | Dear President Bush and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld,
My husband, David Pettigrew, lost his right leg in Iraq on July 7, 2003. During a night patrol with his unit in the Army's 4th Infantry Division, an RPG round struck his Bradley fighting vehicle. The armor-penetrating round -- which, according to faulty U.S. intelligence, the enemy wasn't even supposed to have -- tore straight through his leg and lodged in the opposite wall of the vehicle.
The next two months of my life were spent at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, at my husband's side in Ward 57. We were in the same room where Pvt. Jessica Lynch had gotten some treatment.
I knew what would follow when our troops went to invade Iraq. I knew that the facts did not add up, but my husband went to do his duty, even though he believed in no reason for going other than to fulfill his oath to follow the orders of his commanders. I have a degree in political science. I am the daughter of an Air Force officer. I knew the ramifications of occupying a hostile foreign country. I simply do not understand how the two of you, our president and commander in chief and our secretary of defense, did not have the same information that I had. Now, Iraq is a mess.
Secretary Rumsfeld, my husband and I met you at Walter Reed. You asked my husband only three questions and asked none of me. It wasn't even a conversation. You wanted to know how David got hurt, whether anyone else was hurt with him, and whether his unit got the guys that did it. You did not ask if David needed anything or if there was anything that you could do to help. Both Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, and Anthony J. Principi, the secretary of veterans affairs, gave David their cards and instructed him to call if there was anything he needed and was not getting. But you were simply speechless. You were in a hurry. It seemed like you almost didn't care. It seemed like you only wanted to know whether the military forces were being efficient.
My husband David is a very friendly person and a very good speaker. Even if he felt any kind of hard feeling toward you then, Secretary Rumsfeld, he didn't show it. But it was a very off-putting encounter, and I know he was somewhat out of sorts about it. Everyone else he's talked to about what happened to him has asked all sorts of follow-up questions because it was remarkable that he didn't die. They gave him 13 pints of blood between when he got hurt and when he was evacuated to the field hospital -- that's an incredible amount of blood to lose in 40 minutes.
I'm not sure the American public understands that our soldiers are being maimed over there. People hear about our soldiers being wounded, but they're being maimed: They've lost an eye or an arm or a leg. David and I couldn't feel sorry for ourselves over David's injury -- because the guy in the room next to him in the ICU had lost both legs and arms and was permanently blinded.
Under the military way of life and thought, a commander is responsible for errors that occur under his command whether he knew about them or not. Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush, you are responsible for the inaccurate intelligence assessments, inadequate troop strength, Iraqi prisoner abuses, inadequate logistical support for U.S. forces, and fraudulent contracting billing for the Iraq reconstruction. And you should care about every combat death or injury that occurs.
Your behavior has been inexcusable. You have been dishonest about the support the troops weren't getting and about what's happening on the ground in Iraq. I only have one vote. And my husband, David, is so disheartened that he feels his vote will not even matter. He has no faith left in our current government. I want all those who voted for you, President Bush, or who failed to vote, to realize that your actions led to my husband's terrible injury, as well as those of all the dutiful men and women who fulfilled your demands and have been maimed or killed in Iraq as a result of the administration's miscalculations and poor judgment.
I ask anyone else reading this who wants to know how the military community feels about this administration to take my words to heart. There is a reason why many lieutenants in the 4th Infantry Division have resigned their commissions. Many of them got out; they wanted no part of it. I'm sorry, but if soldiers think they're doing the right thing, carrying out a mission that's valuable and necessary, they don't leave. They go back and serve their second tour.
Polls in Colorado, my state, open on Oct. 18. I hope Americans don't wait until Nov. 2. I hope they vote early and often -- in every election. I hope all Americans exercise their responsibility and their right to hold you, Mr. President and Secretary Rumsfeld, accountable for your actions and the events that have resulted.
-- Ann Pettigrew, Colorado
Equal Pay for Equal Work
It's a known fact that women get less pay than men do in most jobs for the same amount of work. Why is that.
Most companies frown on employees talking about wages between eachother. In fact most managers are uncomfortable talking pay with the employees they manage. Some companies have threatened retribution to employees who have attempted to solicit information from their peers.
Myth: It's improper to discuss wages between employees.
Fact: This is one of those corporate atmosphere attitudes that management tend to let sit over employees so they're not inclined to discuss it. Yes if someone said it's none of your business then that's that. However some employees would be more than happy to discuss it.
Myth: Your company could fire you for discussing wages with other workers.
Fact: It's freedom of speech my friend. If they fire you for such a thing you can just get about any civil rights lawyer to get you a early retirement. Dont be dissuaded by others saying it's illegal or you can be fired. It's this exact line of thinking that has let the situation get as bad as it is now.
I once mentioned that I expected to make 25 dollars a hour at my new position and several of my coworkers, some who had been there less time I had been popped off with "You're not making that already" however when I confronted my boss he said I'm right where I should be. Should I believe him?
So if people want equal pay then you need to break the "dont talk about it" stigma and get people talking about it. If your bosses try to say you cant talk about it theen say it would be a violation of your free speech rights and go about your business. And if you know you're getting paid less for the same work I have two words for you Lawsuit. If you know for a fact that someone is getting paid more and be sure of this then a judge can force your employer to produce pay records which I'm sure would be very embarassing.
Not doing these things and you'll have to wait until 2050 to get equal pay.
Still Undecided Read This
Many are probably undecided about the election. If you are I ask that you read this article about Bush and the man he is. You may have to enter a username and password notregistered99/notregistered. I ask that you read the article and learn about this man you may have elected to office 4 years ago. Certain religious types may see it as proof that Bush is the man they want in office. It is also my belief that other religious types may see it as someone they dont want in office. But to everyone I would like to remind them of JonesTown and people like David Koresh. Two groups and both with individuals who claimed to be the devine messenger of God.
It's good to have a religious person in office. However it's not good to have one that refuses to be questioned becuase he either believes God told him to do it or that he's doing it in the faith of serving god. God may have been trying to tell Bush to not attack Iraq through other advisers but these are the same people he now ignores. Much in the same way as the story of the man on top of a house that was flooded and was in danger of drowning. God sends 3 boats to save him and he refuses all three becuase he said god will save him and he eventually drowns. Only to find out later when he asked God about it is told about the 3 boats he's sent. How many more boats will Bush ignore in office if he's elected to a second term?
Please pass this on to as many you feel like.
