Another Candidate

Posting for the heck of it

I haven't abandoned this blog, but I just haven't been excited about anything enough to do justice to what I feel is needed to be said. It isn't that there isn't anything to write about, just that there seems to be too much to write about, and not enough passion about it to finish what has been started. So, just to let folks know that Rev Jim is still alive and well, here is an endorsement, of sorts:

Issues come to front at Iowa Caucus

One time underdog Mike Huckabee, and relative newcomer Barak Obama won their respective party's nomination for President in Iowa. What does this mean? Not much, and certainly not as much weight the news services put on it. The winning candidates may get more finance for their campaigns because of their victories, but in the overall view, Iowa doesn't represent the nation's views on the issues. In fact, the result of the caucus isn't even representative of how Iowa voters feel, as only 20% of Iowa voters participate in the caucuses.
Personally I don't care about the outcome in Iowa. I have little interest in any of the candidates running in either party. The best that can be said about them is that they are very good at talking around the issues. Surely they all have plans, but they refuse to explain how they can implement these plans as President, if, indeed, they find themselves in office.
According to the wonderful humor and satire site, The Onion the real issue is:

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters
If the video doesn't appear, please click here

That time of the year

I'm never serious about making resolutions. I know I'm going to break them, so they are usually resolutions that won't hurt me if I do break them. By the same token, if I keep them, they won't help me much either.
That being said, here are some resolutions for Lift That Torch, Ring That Bell:

1. Lighten up. I have become so humorless on this blog that even when I'm trying to be funny, people take me seriously.
2. Post more photos. Photography pertains to freedom of expression, they make people happy, and there is a site in the Czech Republic that sells HP M415 cameras that has a link to my site, respecting the terms of my copyright limitations. I have recieved quite a few hits from that site, so I should do more of this:

Copyright (C)2007 by James Grady, Jr All original photos on this site were captured on a Hewlett-Packard HP M415 Digital Camera.

3. Plug other peoples' blogs more often. I don't always agree with these bloggers, but the blogosphere would be very boring if we all agreed. And, it would be very bland without them. Here are some blogs that I visit regularly: Rantings of a Sandmonkey
The Will To Exist
Coyote Blog
Whatever the current name of Jenn's Blog is.
Interdisciplinary World
There are more I like to visit. Some of them post even less often than I do but I have them all listed on my links list on the side bar.

4. Post more often.
5. But don't post irrelevent drivel just to post. Damn it's friggin' cold here!

Okay I already broke that one, but I needed an excuse to post that smiley.
I think I'll stop while I think I'm ahead.
Happy New Year Everyone!!!

No Comment

Political Correctness deemed bad for children

So you think Dennis Kucinich is the right man for the White House? Or maybe Ron Paul is your choice? Do you honestly believe that Rosie O'Donnell is right about 9-11? Chances are you watched too much Sesame Street.
According to this article in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, the show that was known for spreading the message of political correctness to youngsters has been deemed "suitable for adults only."
That is the warning printed on the packaging of the new DVD release of the first two seasons of the venerated PBS children's program. The PC police have pointed out several problems with the show that they did not notice as children. Oh my God, were they actually drinking whole milk? Why was Oscar the Grouch's obvious depression untreated? These are questions that would never cross the mind of the four year old watching the show, but it was right there on the television! Never mind that the characters were imaginary, or that they were portrayed by puppets, but a gay couple like Bert and Ernie living in a decrepit apartment sends the wrong message, according to the PC police. They should know, they grew up watching the show and look at them now.
So, whether it's an oxymoron or a self-fulfilling prophecy, the message to liberals now is don't let your children grow up to be like you.
Or, as Tyler Grey of Radar Online writes:

Why, Gen-X'er, did you become a flannel-wearing faux liberal, trusting (in theory) of the good will of your Socialistically like-minded fellow citizens but actually rendered cynical by a much grimmer reality you encountered in adult life?

Sesame Street. It totally f***ed you up.

I gotta get me one of these!

From the "Oddee" blog.

Glamour Girl

Because I felt the need to post a picture on this blog. I present Clansi, a cat who knows how to pose.

This also gives me the opportunity to recommend Riotcats, a photo blog with a clever and humorous twist for cat lovers.
While I'm on the subject of humor, I will remind the readers, that if you don't like what you read on my blog, I recommend you use The Pornolizer, with the warning that it is for mature audiences only. Try it, you'll like it.

An alternative translation

Before

The following is a summary of the highlights of Osama Bin Ladin's latest video-taped speech, as translated, poorly, by our own Sheik Aywan Yobudi:
After

One morning I woke up and discovered I had grey hair. As the world's most feared terrorist leader, I begain feeling as if I no longer had control over the jihad. I felt like I was getting too old, and for three years I lacked the confidence to make new videos.
Then, I discovered Just For Men. I used it, and after only five minutes, the gray was gone. My confidence returned, and I could score chicks again. In fact I am so confident that I have decided to announce my candidacy for the office of the President of the United States.
"What," you ask, "can Osama do for me as President?"
I will tell you what I can do for you as President:
Your Congress has not done as they have promised and removed the American armed forces from Iraq. As President, I will make sure that Congress keeps their promise, and then I will have their feet and hands removed before I have them stoned and their heads removed...
Your economy is failing, with a class separation between the rich and the poor. As President, I will make sure there is no class separation among the dhimmis. I will take all the money and give it to the Wahadi Sect of Islam, and to the jihad, and I will keep the rest...
Taxes are making you poor, but, remember, as dhimmis you can not own property or a business, and you may keep only enough money to keep yourself fed, so you will not have to worry about taxes if I am President...
In America, you have crime caused by the partaking of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and scantily clad women. As your President, I will invoke Sharia Law, and there will be no partaking of alcohol, tobacco, or drugs, and there will be no scantily clad women except for those I wish for myself...
In America you have no choices--you have to be all that you can be. As your President, I can offer you many choices...
You can convert to the Wahadi Sect of Islam and live and die in the Glory of Allah...
You can convert to Islam as a heretic and die by Sharia Law, which means you will have your hands and feet removed, then you will be stoned, then you will be hanged, then you will be stoned again, then you will have your head removed, and then you will be stoned one more time...
You can be as you are and live in the dirt and in servitude as dhimmis...
Or you can remain as you are and refuse dhimmi status and be infidels, which means you will be stoned and then you...oh, you know what it means.
So, as your President I will be the only one who can help America find its way...
Thank-you, good night, and Death to America.
Oh, and remember--it's Osama not Obama.

With Great Respect to the late Gilda Radner

Introducing my guest blogger, Emily Litella

What's all this fuss about Al Kali in Iraq? Isn't the Al Kali Shrine the guys wearing fez's who drive those little cars around in circles in the parades? Certainly they do good for folds with the Shrine Circus and the money they raise for charity, but what are they doing in Iraq, anyway? Perhaps they thought that a circus would help them lift their spirits, but I don't see where a circus would do enough to solve the problems in the Middle East,
anyway. Some people are traumatized by clowns, and the people of Iraq are traumatized enough anyway without having clowns around to traumatize them more.
I don't understand why we need to send troops to get rid of Al Kali in Iraq. It's not like they have weapons or anything. They just have squirt guns and those guns with the little flags that pop out and say "bang!" All we have to do is tell them to leave and they'll probably go somewhere else anyway. If the people in Iraq don't want Al Kali there, all they have to do is...
Eh? Al Qaeda in Iraq?

Never mind!

Distracted

I was going to post something about Barry Cooper and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. That is in the works, but not today. I was loading some music onto my
mp3 player, and ripping some cds I borrowed from the library, and while listening to the music, I found myself watching, in utter fascination, the video images generated by the Windows Media Player in "Battery: Randomization" mode. I had never seen this before, so I just couldn't break away long enough to write anything important. You see, this is a brand new computer, courtesy of my Mom and Dad as a Christmas gift, and it is one sweet machine, so this is the first time I've used Windows XP at home.
It's almost like watching a lava lamp. I know...I should get a life.

No Dignity

Saddam had requested that he face death by a firing squad, which would have been more fitting for a deposed head of state, in his view, than a hanging. However, that would have been too much of a reward for the dictator who murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people, and committed horrendous atrocities against the people of Kuwait. He did not deserve to die with dignity.
On a lighter note, Freaking News a website for creative photoshop has this funny "endorsement" picture, submitted to the site by "Keb:"