Random Thoughts

1.  I'm still stewing over the republican debate from like 2 weeks ago - you know, the one where Gingrich got all bent out of whack because the moderator was asking him about whether he actually asked his second wife for an open marriage?  Yeah.  That one.  In his 'answer' he said that he didn't think it was a valid question to ask.  I'm sorry, but if you ever mention "defending the sanctity of marriage" as one of your tenets for becoming president, then yes, you asking your second wife for an open marriage is a perfectly valid question to ask.  We'll ignore the fact that you have been married 3 times*, and admitted to cheating on 2 of the three.  Which, by the way, degrade the sanctity of marriage much more than allowing homosexual persons to get married.
* I don't care if you get divorced, I don't think it makes you a bad person, nor do I think you should be punished for it, but again, I'm just using the republican talking point against them.

2.  Let's ignore the whole Stop Online Piracy Act (as it is currently off the table), but if SOPA had passed, I'm sure you'd be able to get my blog shut down for me posting a picture that has been passed around Facebook (not to mention that Facebook would be shut down) for the last couple of weeks.  The picture I'm talking about is of course this one:   

3.  Where the hell can I get myself a shit load of Girl Scout cookies? Because I have never wanted to support them more than I do right now.

4.  Sorry my blog has been so political recently (besides, I figure if you're reading my blog, it really isn't for my entries on republican candidates, but then, you probably also aren't reading this thing for my rapier wit.  Perhaps I shall distract you with a picture of my diabetic cat (a cat, whose blood sugar was at 61 this evening so we didn't give him a shot).  Yes, that will do, sugar cat, that will do.

A bit behind the times

So...Boehner says that we need to reduce the national debt by spending a lot less and not making any more money. Isn't that a bit like deciding to fix your family budget by cutting out food and not asking for a pay raise at work?

Furthermore, if the Republican plan is to fix the debt problem just long enough to get a new president, aren't they just setting up THEIR president. I mean, isn't the goal to make sure that we have a Republican as president in 2012? In which case, why would you want to make sure that they're going to have to be the bad guy when they have to raise taxes? Wouldn't it make more sense to let the current president raise taxes so that it can be used against him during the gubernatorial election?

I'm just saying that congress is making less and less sense. But then politics is made up of two words - poly meaning 'many' and ticks meaning 'blood sucking parasites'...Or, even better, if con is the opposite of pro, what's the opposite of progress?

Council

The other night the City of Austin Council approved a measure to lengthen the time frame for when people have to feed the parking meters downtown. Specifically the meters are going from 8-5 M-F to 8-midnight M-Sa.

Considering how many people would drive downtown to party on Friday and then take a cab home (doing the responsible thing), it would not surprise me in the least if we see a sudden jump in number of DUIs because people will be driving home on Friday night so that they don't get a parking ticket on Saturday morning.

Of course, if they had changed the rule to be 8-midnight M-F and 6pm-midnight on Saturday, I would be rooting them on and in agreement.

Though, I guess council said that they'd be willing to talk about a parking pass of some sort so you would be able to park downtown at a meter without having to worry about getting a parking ticket if you took a taxi home instead of driving. So that's good, at least.

Pedophiles

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but for whatever reason, it set me off again.

Why does it seem like I'm the only person down here (being Texas) that thinks those stupid window stickers parents put on their cars here are stupid? These window stickers usually contain the child's name, the sport they partake in, their jersey number, and the school where they play this sport. Plus if you follow the vehicle in question to their house, you now have the address of the potential victim.

I mean really, it surprises me there aren't more reports of kids being kidnapped.

irksome

it really irks me when I'm watching Last Comic Standing and one of the comics does a bit that has been done by others far greater and far better.

The show we watched tonight had 2 such instances. One where Natasha (looking much like a little girl who decided to play dress up in Betty White's closet) did a joke that had already been told earlier this year and aired on TV. It was a bit about how reality TV competitions are out of control and the final two will decide who was the top six that will decide which 5 are going home or some such.

the second instance was where Greg decided to recite the last verse of Lazyboy's "Underwear goes inside the pants" song. Practically verbatim. Which, fine, I get that he was the one that did the speaking part on the song, and that the song was released 6 years ago, but still. It's been done.

The only bright spot thus far (we have 20 minutes left to go) was Tom Papa who is the host on the Marriage Ref ("men are like sick bears from Chernobyl...")

Documentaries

I really need to stop watching documentaries because they make me sad about the state of the world (heck, even Idiocracy made me sad about the future of the world).

Recently the ones we've been watching have revolved around the big guy picking on the little guy; and with a husband who is a Linux nerd, there's always a conversation about evil corporations. We just watched Food, Inc. and of course one portion of the documentary is about how many corporations there are that package our food. There aren't many. Just like there aren't many electronics corporations, or car corporations. And it's all because capitalism breeds monopolies. Not to say that all organic pasture fed stuff is 100% sustainable at the current levels of consumption of meat and dairy, but still, we can make choices to do better. Just like how we make the conscious choice to not use Microsoft or Apple products at home (though I'm sure both corporations are getting kickbacks from the technologies that we have purchased, so even though our computers don't run their OS's, we're still effectively paying them for the pleasure of not using their systems). Of course making the choice to go localvore is probably a bit more expensive at the onset than the using an Open Source OS, but in the end it might end up being healthier for us.

Also, I gotta remember to grow more spinach, less beets. And I think I'm going to need some fruit trees. Maybe for good measure we should just move off the grid and grow all of our own food...though I'd probably end up becoming vegetarian if that was the case--I just don't think I could kill my own food.

OH! and patenting seeds, and human genes is just downright wrong. How long until we start patenting having children? or every food we eat? This apple is now brought to you by Apple (insert Apple logo sticker on said apple).

Silliness

After having a conversation at work today in which we talked about "OMG! SURPRZE! Baby in ur pantz!" and whether people were "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob" (keeping in mind that the gender ratio was still 60-40 in favor of the guys), I decided that I would post about something most decidedly NOT silly.

And what is decidedly NOT silly is the fact that in regards to the Haiti earthquake and the relief efforts it seems as if some people are forgetting that children are not dogs. While they may be cute, and cuddly and fit well in a kennel; small children do not qualify as dogs and therefore you shouldn't just walk around a disaster-ravaged country picking up children all willy-nilly regardless of whether said children have parents who are still alive*. Children still qualify as people and perhaps, instead of transporting them out of the country (without the benefit of having a picture taken, being microchipped, and placed on a national website for the lost...wait, damn, that was the dogs!), one should attempt to help the country itself so that it may one day be able to take care of its own children. Besides, how big of a leap is it from "They're helping our children by taking them to a different country!" to "They're stealing our babies!"? And then where would we be? Somewhere not good. That's where.

*Oh great, now I have this silly scenario running through my head and it's totally like the scene in Old School where Vaughn, Wilson, and Farrell are 'kidnapping' the fraternity recruits and they go for the guy with his wife in the parking lot of the grocery store where they get the guy, then promise the wife that he'll be home before midnight and ultimately take all the snack foods that were just purchased, while this poor lady, who doesn't know what hit her, just stands there quietly freaking out.

Also, I read about the top brass in the military wanting to do away with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which I'm fine with, but are the people in the trenches okay with that? I mean it's been fairly recently that women have been allowed in the "trenches" and there are accounts of that not going so well (like here). Do I think that it's going to go any better with gays being allowed to be open about their sexual orientation? Not unless said person is a woman. I guess I could ask all the military and ex-military people I have as friends on facebook, but that would require work...and the assumption that those guys would actually respond (yeah, I'm sorely lacking on knowing any women in the military). But I do wonder...

Seriously

I had a post all planned out this afternoon. But, since I can't blog at work, I totally forgot what it was that I was going to blog about.

Something, I'm sure about the Typhus Fever that was discovered in downtown Austin this weekend. As they were saying on the radio, "Isn't that the Zombie Disease?" It does have zombie-like symptoms--gangrenous sores and the smell of rotting flesh.

OH! from having to look up the link to the local paper for the Typhus, I remembered what it was that I was going to bitch about: Dog rescue groups. Again.

Okay, this one isn't so much about a breed specific rescue as much as it's about a soldier who was off in Afghanistan when his wife and he decided to get a divorce. The wife moved out of state and in the ensuing divorce settlement, custody of the dog was awarded to the husband. The wife, though, decides she doesn't like this, so she gives the dog to a dog rescue group. When the dog rescue group is contacted and told that the dog was given to them by a person who no longer owned the dog and therefore the dog should have never been given to them in the first place, they have the audacity to tell the rightful owner he can't have the dog because he doesn't meet the requirements that they have for placing a dog with him. BUT IT'S HIS DOG! This isn't like he's coming in to get a new dog, it isn't like the dog is going to be living in squalor, and it isn't like the dog won't be taken care of (in fact it sounds as if the guy meets all the requirements the SPCA would set forth for any dog adopted from any humane society). Hell, they shouldn't have ever seen the dog in the first place if they ex-wife had done the grown up thing instead of acting like a 2-year old. It's just straight up a rescue group who is throwing their weight around because they can. They obviously have their heads up their asses. Of course, since they said they wouldn't give him his dog back, he sued them, and now they won't let him even see the dog unless he agrees to drop the charges. I have an idea--how about they give him the dog back? That would probably get him to drop the charges as well. Another case of people having their heads so far up their asses they can't make a logical decision.

On Steroids

Who CARES if MLB is totally jacked on the roids? Point is, I don't want congress wasting my tax dollars on finding out whether Tejada, A-Rod, the Rocket or any of the other idjits did roids. If congress is REALLY that concerned about who did roids when, then they need to make the athletes themselves pay to have drug tests done before every game and if they've done roids, then they're out. no second chances, no "but I didn't know!", nothing. Own up to it boys. Actually figure out what you're shooting up into your arm. Because really, in this economy, I want my tax dollars to go to something more worthwhile...even if that is paying for sex eduation for koalas in antarctica.

On the Economy

Okay, so...I have this theory.

The reason why the economy keeps going down instead of stagnating or going back up is because they keep telling us it's bad. And that it's going to get worse. So then, what do most people do if they're told things are going to go from bad to worse? They start stockpiling. This includes things such as money.

The plus: people are finally saving money.
The drawback: it means the economy is going to keep spiraling because people aren't buying shit any more.

Today our assistant city manager was telling us that sales tax revenue went down in the last 13 months. Well, yeah. No shit. You gave us pay raises that didn't even equal inflation so now we're effectively making less, which means we can't spend it on stuff. No wonder the sales revenue went down. But of course this mostly means that there's a good possibility that we won't get pay raises next year. Which makes us buy even less shit now because we're now going to try to save our money. Which will make the sales revenue go down even further.

See what a vicious cycle it is?

What they need to do instead? Tell us that they're optimistic that next year is going to be better and they're trying their darndest to make sure we get pay raises. Yes, it may be a bit Pollyannaish, but that's kinda the point isn't it? Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Which brings me to the next random step of my Financial Independence thing. Step 6: Keep track of every penny that comes in and every penny that goes out. Track what you spend it on to see trends. Not that you'll necessarily cut anything, but usually just knowing that you have a weakness for soda from the vending machine may make you buy that $2.29 twelve pack instead of paying $9 for the same amount.

On Healthcare

I figured out a solution to the problem of health care. Get rid of it. All of it. Everyone has to pay for everything out of their own pocket. If the government wants to set up some form of FLEXTRA like account in which they put the amount of money you put in for Medicare and the amount you pay for health care in an interest bearing savings account that you can only use for medical stuffs and when you die, whatever is left over goes back to the feds, that's fine. They can do that. This way you get rid of the middle man who takes a cut of the pie and who still refuses to pay for your chemotherapy treatment because it's a "non-standard treatment for cancer".

The problem with the system now is that people with colds are going to the ER because the ER has to treat you, with or without insurance, while a doctor's office can refuse service if you don't have health care.

Which comes to another solution. Let the doctors (or their offices) set an amount that they're willing to take in cold hard cash right now for services rendered (most doctors have to wait months for the health care system to pay them so having the payment NOW is probably a good thing). That way, if you don't have health care you at least know you can go to the doctor's office. Yeah, sure you have to pay $50 for a visit instead of the $20 the health care junkies pay, but you at least don't have to pay the $300 ER visit fee (or whatever the hell it is).

Yet another option: Low cost health clinics set up specifically for people without insurance and they charge on a sliding scale based on how much you make. And hell, the Feds can pour some money into that if they want (let's go for a socialized setting in which each of us that has healthcare pays $1 extra, and that $1 goes to the low cost health clinic to help keep their costs down). That way, those of us who have insurance can still go to the doctor that only accepts insurance and get an appointment that day.

hmm, but this doesn't cover medications. And lord knows how many medications we're all on. Well, okay the FLEXTRA like account would cover medications. But the low cost clinic wouldn't cover it. Well, the first thing that doctors could stop doing would be to stop prescribing medications to fix the side effects of the other medications we're on...

Meh, let's worry about that problem when we get to it.

Allergens

Stupid Texas and its Stupid allergens..

Graphic courtesy of the Central Texas Allergy and Asthma Center.

Presidential Pets

According to various sources, the Obamas are looking into getting a rescue dog. Which is awesome. I'm just wondering why I had to go to the BBC to find that out as opposed to our own free press.

I suspect it has something to do with if the press says "Adopt a shelter dog!" then all those breeders will get angry. But hey, it'd at least be responsible for the press to say "Adopt a shelter dog!" if not only because it's been proven that when a specific breed is in the eye of the public, EVERYONE has to have one. It happens when presidents get pets (especially if their public rating numbers are high--so the Obamas getting a dog before getting to the White House is going to be MUCH more influencial than say Bush getting a dog right now), it happens when movies come out starring our furry friends (didn't Dalmatian demand double when 101 Dalmations came out?--the live action movie, not the cartoon), it even happens when there are news reports about specific breeds.

So, here's your public announcement for the day: If you're going to adopt a pet, please, please, please think about adopting a rescue. If you want a specific breed, good news! they have these things called 'breed specific rescues' which means you can get a pure bred pet that is a rescue.

And yes, I know what you're going to say--rescues are damaged goods. But there's no guarantee that the pure breed you're going to get is going to be any better than a rescue. As with all things that come from sexual reproduction, it's really all a crap shoot.

A different point of view

The other night, at Lon and Daniella's, we had a conversation about a previous blog I had written...As such, I feel it is only fitting to post another blog about a different TV show which, on occasion, annoys me because of the "listen to me because I am the almighty boob-tube" vibe it sometimes sends out. Please note that CSI:Miami always annoys me--but this is because of the bad acting and for no other reason than that.

[sarcasm]
Dear Fox (and trust me, I KNOW how weird this is going to sound),

Thank you for your pro-choice views (or shall we call them pro-abortion views? as we all know that's what they really are) that have recently been expressed on your hit TV show, House. I just don't know what I would do if I did not have the most rude, angry, and generally high-as-a-kite 'doctor' telling me at every turn that babies (or 'fetuses' as he likes to call them) are the devil and need to be destroyed post haste.

I can think of at least 4 episodes in which he actively has lobbied the woman in question to destroy "the parasite". In 2 of those cases, the pregnancy was not life threatening to the mother. In one case it was life threatening until the team of doctors figured out what was causing the problem, and even then, he still advocated abortion over surgery. And in the last case, the mother chose (Ah free will, thy art a loathsome bitch) to continue her pregnancy even though it meant that she was going to die. Naturally, she must have been insane. I am so glad to see that he has never suggested to any of these pregnant women that they should keep the baby, or explore a different option. You know, such as adoption.

And onto to my next point: Religion.

I understand that House thinks he is God (and I mean, who doesn't?). This is why I think it is so awesome that he ridicules everyone for their personal religious views. He has so far ridiculed Catholic Nuns...and Hasidic Jews....and Agnostics. Oh, whoops, my mistake, he hasn't yet made fun of any Agnostics. Or Atheists. Or Buddhists, Hindus, Hare Krishnas, Scientologists, or non-denominational Christians. So I guess he's only an ass to the ones that you can tell on the outside are of strong religious conviction. Besides, we all know that the reason the world is at the point it is now (on the track to hedonism and hell) is because of the Catholic Nuns and Hasidic Jews.

Love much,
Katina

[/sarcasm]

Dear CBS,

Thank you for your pro-life stance. I do not know what I would do without you to tell me what to think and feel.

I uttered the above phrase no less than 3 times while watching your latest installment of CSI: Miami (starring the red-headed step child that is David Caruso). It was the episode in which you brought up, no less than 3 times, that the murder victim was pregnant and how could they have killed her off. Those Bastards! Never mind the fact that her baby was the love child between the lady and her brother. Hey, only in Florida, right? Oh you tried to cover it up by saying he was her step brother and their parents got married when the kids were 18, but I see your true biblical stance.

And, so, I felt the need to let you know just how refreshing it is to see such a view expressed on your show. I figure it must have something to do with the governor of the state in which this show takes place being related to the current president. But, what do I know?

Once again, thanks for your refreshing and progressive stance on women's rights.

Love much,
Katina

[/sarcasm]

Dear Capital One,

If you like your customers, and I'm sure you do, then I suggest the following improvements to your organization:

1. Do not send an email to the people that have recently gotten a loan from you stating "If you do not sign up for automatic payments through our website RIGHT NOW you will DIE. And there will be DOOM. And the world will come to an end and will will point our fingers and stare at you" when you have not yet sent them a letter telling them the important information needed (account number, monthly payment) to set up their online payments.
2. If you have already sent out said letter with the pertinent information, make sure that your website will allow them to set up said automatic payments as soon as they get the letter. As of right now we are unable to set up automatic payments because the website says that our loan does not exist. We, however, know it is because the system has not yet been updated with the all so important information of "these people got a loan, they should start making payments soon"

Thank you for your consideration.

Love much,
Katina

Deep Thoughts

Sorry, another Dog Rant coming up.

I recently joined a breed specific rescue group (I walk dogs boarded at the Vet clinic on Saturday mornings). One of the email posts we recently got was about 6 dogs (of a specific breed) at a shelter and "they need our help right now because they are at a kill shelter!" and I think to myself "what makes these ones more important?"

I also have heard stories of the Katrina Disaster and the breed specific rescue groups were basically told "sure, you can have these 5 whatevers, but you have to take these 3 other mutts" and a bunch of the groups thought this was unfair. And again I ask myself "what makes one breed any better than another?"

I have heard stories from the foster families of the rescue group who have had to pass off certain dogs because they didn't get along with everyone in the family (whether it's children or other dogs or the husband or whatever). And I just think "wow, this family could have spent their time fostering a different dog of a different breed with better results, but instead of saving the little mutt on doggie death row who is a really good dog and gets along with everyone he meets, they instead had to waste their time fostering a dog that ended up starting fights with the other dogs in the house and ultimately had to be put down because of wounds (from said fights). Yeah, this breed specific thing makes perfect sense."

Of course, at the same time, every time a breed specific rescue group comes and picks up a dog from a shelter, that obviously opens a kennel for a different dog, so they do help, but still, I think we need more dog rescue groups...especially groups that don't care about which breed, and just care about the personality.

Nothing in particular

I watched the Britney Spears VMA performance the other night (it's almost like MTV wants people to talk about it since they put it up on their website). I swear I watched through laced fingers over my eyes and kept saying "oh, that poor girl..." But then I comfort myself by remembering that she went out later and probably flashed her lady bits to the paparazzi...which is precisely what happens when you wear a mini-skirt and no underwear.

Speaking of no underwear, the sorority intern has left (okay, she left a long time ago), and I'm sure it was a sad, sad day for all the guys I work with.

Also, I would like to warn everyone who actually did read David's blog to know that his wife isn't as mean as he makes her out to be...unless she's very Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. Which, I guess could be the case...I mean, she did tell us that she broke her cell phone because she threw it at the wall she was so angry once. But I swear that was a one time thing. And if you met Bond, you'd know what I was talking about.

Yesterday, my supervisor informed me that one of the customers I've been working with over the last week says that I don't know what I'm doing. Said customer then went on to insult my supervisor as well. Not very smart. See if we help you next time you have a question about the models--maybe I'll just play the "but I'm a girl!!! my brain's too small! I don't understand! I need to go get a pedicure and a purse dog. L8r!" card and my supervisor will play the "I don't speak English" card. And then where will you be Mr. I-don't-have-a-brain? This is about as smart as telling your waiter that he's horrible and you're not giving him a tip. Utterly stupid.

I also went and hung out with Miss Sarah and Yam for about 2 hours. Basically I sat on my ass and talked to Miss Sarah while she actually did things like laundry and feed and change the baby. She claims that she just likes having someone to talk to who doesn't crap their pants. My response, naturally, is "how does she know I DON'T crap my pants?"

Breed Bans

So, I read C-Bone's blog today. and it kinda made me sad. I mean, I KNOW there are a lot of people that want breed specific bans on dogs. But it still makes me sad.

At one point in his blog, he mentions the whole "seeing some 100-lb woman walk around with a 'death' dog that she can't control because she doesn't have enough strength to do so" thing. Which...sure, but at the same time, it sounds like he really should be advocating dog SIZE bans. Any dog that weighs 60 lbs or more is going to be able to drag a 100-lb person wherever it wants to go. Just because it can. And any dog can bite, maul, or kill.

(Disclaimer: Yes I realize this is a pro-pit bull site; I'm using it, however, to prove that all dogs bite--NOT that pit bulls don't bite.)

(Other Disclaimer: I play devil's advocate--I don't want a pit bull, or even a pit-bull looking dog. This has nothing to do with the breed's reputation, or personality but with the fact that I think the dogs are ugly. That's not to say that I wouldn't get a pit bull mix--but it would have to be cuter. And generally, 'cuter' means 'more hound like face'...so less boxy head, more elongated snout.)

However, I do advocate people being given a test before they get a dog to see what type of dog they're qualified to own (currently there are tests used to make sure that if you're a couch potato you don't get a dog that will require a 3 mile jog daily). And I do advocate bite rules and vicious dog laws. But a over-all breed ban? not so much. And as I've said before, get yer damn pets fixed!

This is very similar to the Columbine thing--Was it the music, the clothes or the individual? Me? I think it's the individual.

Le sigh

Shawn made me take down my rants. For fear they would result in someone getting fired. BOOOOOO!!!!! Down with the censorship, man! What? do you work for the Gov'mint or something? BOOOO.....HISSSSSSSS.

But this may have just got him to actually read my blog (look up: doubtful) so he can at least know what I'm writing about and tell me when I've overstepped my bounds.