usonia

Well, I had my corned beef and cabbage dinner today with carrots and potatoes. That's one of my favorite meals and it was great. I also went to an early happy hour and was surprised that it wasn't very busy. That was fine with me as I can do without a drunken crowd. I had a couple of beers. They weren't green and they weren't Irish (they were Canadian) but I got to spend a little time with some good friends and you truly can't ask for much more than that!

I wonder why the interviewer never asked the general about the question of 'moral waviers'? So us gay boys aren't good enough for the military, but hey, you felons are a-ok. Here's a snippet from an article in the NY times: The number of waivers granted to Army recruits with criminal backgrounds has grown about 65 percent in the last three years, increasing to 8,129 in 2006 from 4,918 in 2003, Department of Defense records show. During that time, the Army has employed a variety of tactics to expand its diminishing pool of recruits. It has offered larger enlistment cash bonuses, allowed more high school dropouts and applicants with low scores on its aptitude test to join, and loosened weight and age restrictions. It has also increased the number of so-called “moral waivers” to recruits with criminal pasts, even as the total number of recruits dropped slightly. The sharpest increase was in waivers for serious misdemeanors, which make up the bulk of all the Army’s moral waivers. These include aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and vehicular homicide.

oh my.

I don't really have a story to tell other than a friend of mine who bought a new Trailblazer disliked the idea of Onstar so much that he disconnected the cable to the antenna to make sure it couldn't transmit or receive anything. I'm not sure of my feelings about the whole thing. I guess what bothers me is that I don't know for sure what info is being sent back and forth and when it happens. The potential for abuse is huge but I don't know whether it is something to be concerned about right now.

Now that I think about it, I can see a logical basis for it. The Amish are a very closed community and their numbers aren't large in any given area. So, the hazards of too much inbreeding is very real. If they brought in some outside DNA, it would be a benefit to their community.

Seriously? I've never heard anything like this and I grew up near an area where there were a lot of Amish.

It wasn't a matter of if, but a simple matter of when this would happen. I'm not at all shocked. I'm more angry at the way the whole 'Patriot Act' (Don't you just love it when they come up with a name like that considering what the law really means. It makes me want to puke.) was passed with the lawmakers not bothering to fully understand what they were passing.

It isn't so much the concept of a god that bothers people nearly as much as the concept of religion. I personally believe that religion has been the cause of most of the misery of mankind through out the ages. Everybody has the right to believe whatever they want and I'm ok with that. It's when they start acting on their beliefs in ways that affect me that I get hostile. Now that doesn't mean that I don't believe in some greater power or something out there somewhere that created the universe. I don't know the answer to that question and regardless of whatever conclusion that I come to on the topic, I would never expect anyone else to think the way I do. About the only religious groups I have any respect for are the Amish. I may personally find their way of life illogical, but they believe what they want and leave everybody else alone. That's the way it should be and we'd all be better off for it.

You know, I've never understood how the special prosecutor investigating Whitewater ever ended up asking any questions about Clinton's affair in the first place. That was quite a leap. I know there will be those that disagree, but the bottom line in Clinton's mess was nothing more than a personal issue that shouldn't have been anybody's business except him and his wife. The Scooter Libby issue on the other hand, may lead back to why we went to war in Iraq in the first place which is orders of magnitude more serious than a bj.

Yep, my electric blanket is warming up the bed. It's gonna be a cold one tonight. March is a weird month. It's the transition between winter and spring. Winter doesn't want to go without a fight, but spring always wins and those little crocus flowers won't be held back. I can't wait to see 'em.

If you must resort to name calling and/or inflammatory comments to make a point, you have nothing to say to me. Ann Coulter, among many other political talking heads, fit in this category in my opinion. However, to me, the far more disturbing thing about this whole situation, is the fact that she continues to get attention from the media. Is it that there are so many media outlets now that they grasp on to anything to fill up the time? What happened to actual news? I swear, day by day, I find it more and more difficult to care what is happening around me. The institutions that are supposed to maintain a level of intelligence and civility in society are no where to be found.

On Sunday morning, I was watching abc's 'This Week' and during the roundtable discussion George Stephanopoulos asked George Will some question and mentioned Ann Coulter. I can't say for sure because I wasn't recording it so I couldn't go back and listen to it again, but I swear George Will said 'The less said about him, the better'. Now if he did say 'him', I'm sure it was a slip of the tongue, but it still made me laugh.

I was walking out of the mall today and driving past me was a current generation, sliver Malibu sedan with a black, fake convertible top!! What is wrong with people???

I don't like milk chocolate. I prefer dark chocolate, but I like the almonds so what I need is am almond joy covered in dark chocolate or a mounds with almonds. Nothing is ever easy.

It has sort of an unhappy, evil look from the front and yet, I like it very much. I especially like the interior. It's perfect for this car.

I almost feel stupid for saying this because I know you already know it. You'll know when it is appropriate to tell them and you may never feel the time is right but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you were pretending to be a horn dog and dating women to fool people, that would be a lie. Simply not sharing something about yourself is not a lie. Everybody has a different experience. I told my family and I don't regret having done it, but I didn't handle it in a good way and it did change things between us. My father was very old school and I never expected him to take it well, and he didn't. It became one of those things that was never mentioned again between us. My 2nd oldest brother is still an odd situation but we get along well. My mom, my 3 sisters and my oldest brother were supportive in their own way, but like I said, things were different afterwards. Not bad, just different and it's still sometimes awkward. I have to admit that a large part of the situation is my fault. I'm not comfortable going home so I don't do it often. I purposely keep a distance between my family and myself and that isn't all because of the gay issue. A large part of it is just my nature and I'm convinced it would be the same way even if I was straight, but that's a story for a different time.

I guess I have the opposite situation. I came out to my parents many years ago and ever since then it has shut down nearly all conversation about anything personal. I guess they were afraid of what I might say if they brought anything up. So, when I go back home, the conversation typically consists of a question about how work is going and how my car is running. Beyond that, we sit and watch television. Needless to say, I don't go home much.

The only thing I ever did was smoke pot a few times way back in college. It made me feel paranoid so I didn't care much for it. I never had the desire to try anything else so I don't understand what the attraction is for any mind altering substance. Even drinking alcohol, I can only have one or two before I start to feel buzzed and that's my limit. I hate the feeling of a hangover so that alone keeps me inline with alcohol.

I don't know what to think about this. I've never attempted suicide and I don't personally know of anyone who has either so I don't think that is a major thing for me. However, when I saw the ad, I have to admit I didn't find it funny and it left me with a weird feeling. The message of the commercial was lost on me. All I could remember was the little robot jumping off the bridge (even if it was in a dream) and I kept thinking, why would they put that in a car commercial?

No. 5 is alive!

Yep, I did that drive too. It is definitely something to experience. Beyond that, California has so many things to see, it would be near impossible to suggest something useful without knowing what your interests are.

I agree with all of the comments about the inconveniences and hassles of winter, but still I like it. Maybe I'm just making up excuses and justifications for it because I have to endure it too but in the same way that nature takes a rest in winter and rejuvinates itself in the spring, that's what it feels like it does for me. Living in an area where there are definite seasons, makes me more keenly aware of the passage of time and it makes me appreciate spring all the more when it arrives.

I may be wrong but I think I read somewhere that basically anybody can submit the name of anybody for consideration to the Nobel committee. That doesn't mean that the person nominated would necessarily be considered by the commitee.

The Commodore SS is a nice looking blandmobile, just like the Monaro/GTO. I'm not talking about the performance aspects of the car and it does have a nice interior, but if the G8 is just going to be this car with a Pontiac grille, I'm totally underwhelmed.

No fuzzy dice or baton rack in the back window?