It's not that I don't want to ...

Blog, that is. I'm just overly busy this week. I think today was the last of the crazy days. Don't you just hate it when life gets in the way of sitting in front of a computer (in the basement) for hours on end?

Kancho Wednesday!

I know Wednesday is "hump day" - which would seem to make it a perfect time to lighten up things with the game of KANCHO! Let's be ahead of the curve on this one; we'll start a trend. I hear-by declare this the first KANCHO WEDNESDAY!!!

Now, go goose somebody.

This just in

I just saw a story on Fox News where a father assaulted the car-jacker that took his car with his one year-old baby in it. It happened in court. Perhaps I didn't get enough sleep last night, but I swear to GOD the story brought a tear to my eye. What a good daddy. Unfortunately the guy is being charged with assault. BOO HISS.

Thinking fast on my feet/a quiz

I went to the doctor this morning. During the exam, it was brought that on my medical history, I admitted to having occasionally suffered from a bit of (how should I put this delicately) inconsistency of routine.

To the question "How is it now? We could do an anal exam..." I responded with which of the following?

A) Yes, could you please, especially since I brought my 3 year-old son with me and he might find it interesting.

B) Perhaps we could schedule that in for another time?

C) All cured! No problems.

And now for a "culture" post

OMG - but I'm cracking up. Ever hear of a game called Kancho? Well, go and learn ... I'll be here waiting for your reaction. Go.


I think I found this from a link on Cold Fury

THIS drives me crazy

From Rochelle Riley's editorial from this morning (Detroit Free Press) typos not mine:

Yet with the all of the apologizing, we fail to recognize the larger problem - that the legacy of slavery still haunts this country and until a single presidential administration or a single Congress has the courage to finally face that ghost head on, we will never get over race - not in Washington, not in Detroit, not in America, not in the lifetimes of grandchildren yet unborn.

A presidential apology?? That's the magic ticket? And, the apology by a man 140 years AFTER the end of slavery - has any relevance? You know, if someone came looking for me, and told me that I owned an apology to them because my great- great- great grandpa had once done a relative of HIS wrong- I could probably laugh over that one for a week. "But", the person would argue, "the affront and humiliation done by your great-great-great grandpa affected us for years onward. It affected our standing in the community, and we were unable to get good jobs."

Yet still - it would have nothing to do with me. There comes, with the passing of time, a point when things are just no longer relevant. The black middle class is one of the fastest growing demographics. My city is almost completely controlled by blacks- they have been the Mayors and the members of city council. They are the police commissioner and the police force. They are largely the business owners.

But, according to Riley, an apology is needed. You know, let's have our government debate this for a few weeks. They can draft, and redraft versions. Then they can all get dressed up and "present" the apology the World. That would be a fine use of governmental time and money.

It seems, some are more concerned with the symbolic gestures. Often totally empty, symbolic gestures. The truth of the matter, is that slavery was eliminated - and the cost was blood. Afterwards, blacks slowly fought for their rights, and eventually arrived in the position that they are in today; where they can be, and achieve, anything with enough hard work. The realities of the situation are not enough. She wants a symbolic gesture.

I want answers

barbie
Originally uploaded by Carinroz.

And, I want them now. WHAT was going on, moments ago, before I entered this room? Ken is smiling a bit too much. And THREE women? I'm just appalled.

And yes, this was how I found them. How come every barbie doll in my house is always naked?

A poll

Greatest TV shows. I'm vacillating on whether to say limit it to hour- long shows or not, because I find the non-sitcom question more interesting.

Here are mine, off the top of my head:

Star Trek
Star Trek; TNG
X-Files
Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Cuba - tropical paradise for Canadians

Unless, of course, you get jailed during your trip:

[the] immigration employees in Holguín considered that there was an error in the date printed in the passport, and then denied her access to the rest of Cuban territory. In the middle of a confrontation that resulted, four officials came in and removed Ross from the room by force. ' ' I began to shout so that the other foreigners would realize what was occurring', she said.
They started to strike me and two uniformed women began to treat in a vulgar fashion. I then threw myself on the floor in order to defend myself."

Ross was not allowed to drink water or use the restroom for five hours. At 11 p.m. she was transferred by airplane to Havana to be processed. Ross was imprisoned for five days before being able to leave the island. The $500 that she took for vacation were retained by officials, and she also had pay for all ' ' services received' ': $16 daily for the jail stay, $12 for the food that she never ate, and $42 for round trip transportation to the airport.

And for the record, the "jail" was NOT part of the Gitmo "gulag", although she might have preferred that.


For the record, Canada is the leading tourist market for Cuba.

H/t: Babalu Blog

Speaking of Supersize Me

Jeff Harrell has more interesting tidbits on the movie's filmaker, Morgan Spurlock, and his new project. Go read now.

You know, fat-man Moore has taught a whole generation of self-styled documentary makers that you start your project with an agenda, and go from there.

PS- catblogging, I'm supposed to be Buffy/catblogging. I'll never learn.

Oprah, Queen of the World, victim

PLEASE LORD GIVE ME THE STRENGTH. A feel the need to fisk. Duct tape your head, if necessary:


Oprah Winfrey may be the world's most powerful celebrity, as well as the reigning Queen of Daytime, but apparently those titles hold little sway with Hermes.

Oh, please tell me what horrible indignity has occured to poor, helpless Oprah


The luxury goods retailer has issued a red-faced apology after refusing the talk-show host entry to one of its Paris boutiques last week.

Do tell ... this MUST be horrible. I'm thinking black-face, and Sambo comments. Perhaps someone confused Orpah with the common help?

According to a statement from Hermes, Winfrey and "an entourage" tried to enter the Hermes boutique on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore at about 6:45 p.m. on June 14.

You are shitting me.

Though the store's normal closing time is 6:30 p.m., many high-end retailers routinely make exceptions for celebrities and other VIPs. However, according to Hermes, the boutique was in the midst of setting up "a private public relations event" at the time Winfrey stopped by.

Ok, and the problem was...? Oprah didn't get treated LIKE A NORMAL PERSON DID SHE? OH, THE INHUMANITY. THE HUMILIATION.

"Hermes regrets not having been able to welcome Madame Oprah Winfrey and the people accompanying her to give them all the attention and service that Hermes is committed to giving each of its clients in the world," said the statement. "Hermes expresses its sincere regrets for any misunderstanding that these circumstances could have caused."

Well, at least they are contrite ...


However, Gayle King, a pal of Winfrey's, who was with her at the time of the incident, disputes Hermes' version of events.

"People were in the store and they were shopping. Oprah was at the door and she was not allowed into the store," King told Entertainment Tonight. "Oprah describes it herself as 'one of the most humiliating moments of her life.' "

One of the MOST humiliating moments? I can understand - I mean, Queen Oprah shouldn't have to abide by things such as "closing time", or be inconvenienced by a business setting up a private event. Restrictions such as those are for us commoners. Note to Gayle King - I'm sure you are unaware since the rich and famous have special rights and privileges, but stores normally lock the doors at closing time- barring new guests from entering- but allowing those already IN the store to finish-up their shopping. Since I'm feeling so illuminating at the moment - restaurants do the SAME THING! You can actually GO to a restaurant, see people still INSIDE eating, but the joint is closed, and they won't let you in! Just wacky, isn't it?

Not that Winfrey is letting the incident keep her down.

WHEW! Thank God she is able to pick herself up and keep on, keeping on.


"She's really okay," King said. "Her position is, 'I will shop where people appreciate my business, and I don't believe that any longer includes Hermes.' "

Oh, and she will devote an hour of her show to blasting the company.


Winfrey's Chicago-based Harpo Productions confirmed that the daytime diva canceled a recent order for one of Hermes' Birkin bags following the incident. The exclusive purses can cost as much as $6,500 and Winfrey reportedly already owns a dozen of them.

Well, fuck me. A $6,500 purse, and Oprah's upset (and humiliated) that she wasn't treated like a queen so she could go drop another 7 grand on a fucking purse.


Winfrey also informed Robert Chavez, the American president of Hermes, that she would no longer be patronizing his stores.


Meanwhile, though The Oprah Winfrey Show is currently on hiatus, a spokesperson for the show confirmed that Winfrey plans to devote a show to her "Crash moment" in September. Crash, which stars Don Cheadle and is currently in theaters, paints a bleak picture of racial intolerance.

I'll have my hanky handy. Can we expect Jessie there too?

Last week, Winfrey was named number one on Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100, up from her 2004 standing of number three. Her 12-month earnings were estimated at a hefty $225 million.

Poor, poor Oprah


And that would buy a lot of bags. Too bad, Hermes.

WHATEVER. Hermes loses a bit of my sympathy by apologizing to Oprah.

Rove

File it under brings up the Rove Kerfuffle, with the CNN trumpeting:

Democrats said Thursday that White House adviser Karl Rove should either apologize or resign for accusing liberals of wanting "therapy and understanding" for the September 11 attackers, escalating partisan rancor that threatens to consume Washington.

You know, this is just to stupid to even address. STFU kinda sums up the entirety of how I feel about those Democrats. Italics for those literal deconstructionists.

Supreme Court decision

Detroit went through this years ago. Way back in 1981. I remember one of my neighbors was a dedicated protester for the cause. 4200 people lost their homes in Poletown. The plan?

In 1981, General Motors and the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck collaborated in a grand plan to bring industry back to what was perceived as a dying city, to add to the two cities' tax coffers and to keep the automotive business centered in Detroit

Homes, businesses, churches, and a hospital were all in the way. In the end, Colman Young and GM won out, and the residential neighborhood was replaced by an industrial landscape. Some say the Poletown incident set the precedent for imminent domain abuses to spread across the country. In 2004, more than 20 years after the destruction of Poletown, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the seizure of the land unlawful.

Supersize Me/counterpoint

Now, I saw the movie, and many aspects of it bugged me. So, what do I read this morning at NRO? Lopez interviewing a woman who made a movie debunking the movie's claims. She says:

I heard about Super Size Me on Good Morning America about mid-March of 2004 and was amazed that people were actually being bamboozled by director Morgan Spurlock of The Con Production Company. Even without seeing the film I could tell from the clips and the description by Spurlock that this was nothing more than junk science masquerading as legitimate scientific discovery. I had been looking into the issue of junk science through the site www.junkscience.com and felt that Super Size Me should not be allowed to exist without a proper counterpoint to it's blatant propagandizing and shoddy scientific methodology. Other than that, I wanted to lose ten pounds.

Soso Whaley went on her own 30-day McDonald's diet - and lost ten pounds. AND, cut her cholesterol. It really cutes to the quick of the argument when she says:

Spurlock asks where "personal responsibility ends and corporate responsibility begins" at the start of his film. As far as I'm concerned personal responsibility for your own life never ends. Besides I don't need some corporation to be "responsible" for me and my.

Spurlock would like to blame big corporations for the health ills of our country ... Whaley puts the responsibility right where it belongs - on the lifter of the fork.

Summer reading list?

Is it trash romance or serious fiction? Political? Historical? Any new titles out there I should check out?

The Angry Arab

Anyone ever see this ?--->The Angry Arab News Service

I know, you're right

I'm a sucky blogger this week (so far.) But, I've been busy. I'm gonna go read my National Review right now, maybe I'll have something interesting to say later.

Don't bet money on it, though.

teeth day

Me. A dentist drill. That about sums up my day.

Hey, though, I just read that they found that scout out West. Yea, for that!

Today is super fun day

Bla bla bla bal tired bla bla bla bla cracked tooth bla bla bla bla Monday bla bla bla bla dentist tomorrow, anticipating hours in the chair bla bla bla bla Pistons down in the series bla bla bla bla.

Expect even better posts tomorrow!

All leading up to the first ever BUFFY FRIDAY!

NOW I get it

The catblogging thing. I'm gonna start doing it. Every friday, Is this blog on? is going to be ALL cats, ALL day.

I tried that "content" thing, and it just isn't working for me.

If I had a sitemeter, it probably would have left "work" around noonish.

UPDATE

Perhaps it's just the the iPod controlling my mind- but I think friday's might be devoted to all things Buffy (see below). You know, the cat thing is kinda played.

I have to be honest

I just finished downloading Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "Once more with Feeling." Shut up, I don't care what you think.

Besides, if you all had such great taste in TV shows, I wouldn't be accosted with such abominations as "Fear Factor" or "Survivor."

Personal note/celebration

For the first time, in over 11 years, I am neither pregnant, nursing, or changing diapers (much of the time, I was doing all three.) My youngest has finally figured out the potty thing, and I am SO FRICKEN HAPPY.

Who wants my cloth diapers?

Link du jour

And on the menu today, we have the ever illuminating Victor David Hanson:

Free-thinking Arabs refute all the premises of Western Leftists who claim that colonialism, racism, and exploitation have created terrorists, hold back Arab development, and are the backdrops to this war.

Indeed, it is far worse than that: Our own fundamentalist Left is in lockstep with Wahhabist reductionism — in its similar instinctive distrust of Western culture. Both blame the United States and excuse culpability on the part of Islamists. The more left-wing the Westerner, the more tolerant he is of right-wing Islamic extremism; the more liberal the Arab, the more likely he is to agree with conservative Westerners about the real source of Middle Eastern pathology.

The constant? A global distrust of Western-style liberalism and preference for deductive absolutism. So burn down a mosque in Zimbabwe, murder innocent Palestinians in Bethlehem in 2002, arrest Christians in Saudi Arabia, or slaughter Africans in Dafur, and both the Western Left and the Middle East's hard Right won't say a word. No such violence resonates with America's diverse critics as much as a false story of a flushed Koran — precisely because the gripe is not about the lives of real people, but the psychological hurts, angst, and warped ideology of those who in their various ways don't like the United States.

Much more, so read the whole thing.

Yea, I'd want to live there...

Found this on puppyblender, which I rarely read. Far be it from ME to repost what he has posted - but I just couldn't let this one pass.

U2 frontman BONO was horrified during a visit to Ethiopia, when he saw local women pelting a breast-feeding aid worker with stones.

I had to re-read it a few times - but the Ethiopian women were throwing stones at a nursing mom, and her baby, because she was exposing her breast. Throwing stones.

Come on, Bono, lecture us some more about what we should do for Africa.

Oh, the inhumanity

The Canadians are ragging on us again. Why can't they just love us?? The mayor of Mitchieville recounts another horrifying tale of prisoner abuse.

Mystery code for the day

71
102

B-B-B-Ben WALLACE!

Tomato plants revisted

You guys are NOT going to believe what I discovered this morning. My fence was ON THE GROUND, again. One of my 5 gallon containers was gone (leaving the tell-tale circle of dead grass on my lawn.) Being the superlative detective that I am - I was hot on the trail and within minuets had RECOVERED the missing plant.

Yes it was. RIGHT in my back-door neighbor's yard.

YES IT WAS. My container. My tomato. Even the damn tomato cage.

I took my plant back, put the fence up as best as I could (hoping that the catmint and marjoram and basil and lavender it landed on were not pulverized into oblivion) and then used a BIKE lock to keep that fence up on the post.

I would say that I have beaten her this time, but that would just invite trouble, wouldn't it?

I'm a hussy

If you quote me, you'll end up on my blogroll. New addition today. see if you can find it.

Update: AND, if you said you were going to add me, and then never did - you get deleted. As one has been. Bastard.

UGH

There is no middle ground. If you are not with the "pull the tube" crowd, you are a crazedfundamentalistconspiracytheoryirrational spinner.

here and here (see comments in second link for what I"m referring to.)

I swear - unless you totally buy Michael Shiavo's version/view, you are WRONG WRONG WRONG. They argue this from the most closeminded position.

1) I don't know what happened to Terri (Edit), but it appears fishy to me.

2) I don't know what her brain function was - and I don't think anyone else debating this (in the blogsphere) knew either. That was why people were arguing for further testing. A few tests would have settled a lot. It might have eased a lot of pain on the part of the parents.

3) I didn't think an autopsy would show much either way, and neither did many (informed) people on the "save Terry" side of the argument.

4) You can't prove a negative. No evidence of abuse doesn't mean she wasn't abused TEN YEARS AGO. Just like Jacko got off - doesn't mean he didn't do it. Who expected there to be a sign of any sort of physical abuse???

5) A lot of her brain wasn't there? We KNEW THAT. I don't believe I've ever read, though, that they can test a DEAD BRAIN for brain function.

Is this spin? No, I'm not saying my case was supported. I'm not saying anything other than - the autopsy didn't do much to change my opinion. Yet, I'm labeled a nutcase. You know - whatever.

Good point

Mark Steyn in The Washington Times:

    Why would a human-rights organization want to trivialize the murder of millions in totalitarian death camps by comparing them with a nondeath camp that flatters every aspect of the inmates' culture? If Gitmo's a gulag, what words are left for the systemic rape practiced by the butchers of Darfur? Or is it because they've so exhausted the extremes of their vocabulary on Guantanamo that the world's progressives have so little to say about real horrors like Sudan?

This isn't exactly bringing up last week's topic - because here I'm bringing up the issue that if Gitmo is a Gulag- what are the prisons of Cuba? To what do you compare the crimes in Zimbabwe? It is not as if I am unconcerned with instances of human rights abuse perpetrated by the US- it is just that I see an almost total indifference, by the American Left - and the World- to horrors on such a grander scale.

I mean, cripes. Pee splashed on a Koran. A woman invaded a prisoner's "space." Tell me why I should be concerned?

H/t -Karol at Alarming News.

Barbara Walters

I was going to rant on about this, but I've decided all I want to say can be summed up with the following:

GET OVER IT.

Piss in a bottle is art, yet a nursing mom makes people uncomfortable.

Lordy. What the fark is wrong with people?

No comment NOW comment

There will be no comment on a particular subject which I have never mentioned on this blog. Go somewhere else.

The Jackson trial is EXACTLY why I don't trust the American Legal system to "try" the Gitmo guys. Or OBL, if that day comes, Allah be praised.

Who's responsible for terrorism?

Well, Michael Moore would say Terrorism sprouted from the head of Karl Rove and BushHitlerCheneyHalliburton, but Egyptian writer Sayyid Al-Qimni has a different opinion:

"We let terrorism grow and flourish when we allowed Islamist thought to infilirate our media and schools... Terrorism grew when we allowed the Islamists to plant in the minds of Egyptian Muslims [the concept] that citizenship and patriotism are reprehensible innovations, and this is because the Islamists do not recognize [individual] countries, for they are the Islamic nation of la ilaha illa 'llah ['There is no God but Allah'], wherever they may be. The issue of the ideology of hatred got out of hand when we allowed the [Egyptian] Fatwa Authority to decide in matters outside its jurisdiction...

"This cancer spread when we allowed them to steal the souls of our children... The virus thrived when we allowed the current of hatred to be directed against the very interests of the people, when we charged the souls with the current of hatred for the advanced Western countries to the point where our peoples now hate everything associated with the West - even freedom, dignity and democracy - instead of hating those Islamic sheikhs and armed militias who have dragged our honor in the mud for the whole world to see."

Also interesting- on the situation of Muslim women: :

"As for the Muslim woman, she is consigned to wretched slavery. According to the foremost of [Koranic] exegetes Al-Razi(2)... she is like a prisoner in a man's possession.

"[Sheikh Yousef] Al-Qaradhawi explained on Al-Jazeera... 'The woman is subject to more restrictions [than the man] ...because the man is not a [source of] temptation as is the woman, who is required to cover her hair, bosom, and neck and to wear [clothing] that is neither transparent nor tight-fitting...'

"[Muslim] women have surrendered their minds and spirits and believe that these are religious duties that are obligatory for them, to such an extent that women academics from Al-Azhar [University] accused the author of these lines of apostasy when I spoke about the rights to which they are entitled by virtue of their being full-fledged citizens just like men.

The highest criticism, though, is when he discusses the Muslim thought control:

"There is a barrier separating the [Muslim's] mind from the real world around him, so that he falls into a state of constant hallucination and, as a result, loses the capacity to distinguish between good and evil. He only recognizes the value of halal and haram [i.e., permissible vs. prohibited] according to the Islamic point of view. Muslims are burdened with many repressive restrictions... Freedom of thought and expression are fenced in by Islamic restrictions ..."

Interesting stuff, albeit a tad heavy for a Monday morning.

I gotta go, I have gardening to do.

H/t: jihad watch

I'm a MOM!

Of about 150 baby praying mantis! Hatched this am, and now happily hunting in my garden (we already saw one of these babies catch an ANT- sniff, sniff, I was so proud.) In this picture, one is standing on the edge of the tupperware container I kept the cocoon in.

DSC00286
Originally uploaded by Carinroz.

Detroit's mayor

I don't want to bore all with my blather about our awful mayor, but since I am a CITIZEN JOURNALIST I just can't keep quiet.

Detroit's Mayor is the son of US House Representative Calroyn Cheek's Kilpatrick (Michigan's 13th district). Perhaps that is how an education major from a second rate college was able to become the nation's youngest Mayor (he was elected at the tender age of 31). To be fair, he also has a J.D. from from Detroit College of lawa, but now-a-days, who doesn't have a law degree? He doesn't appear to ever have practiced law, at least I saw no reference anywhere. I searched for his qualifications, but was unable to find anything other than 4 years as a middle school teacher on his resume, and a stint in the Michigan house of Representatives.

I am too disgusted to write the details, but see here for examples of how a mayor of a financially strapped, decayed city lives and conducts business. What galls most is the sense of entitlement. During a business trip to Vegas, the Mayor took his wife and family. But, his wife, once there, complained that the suite supplied by the Casino wasn't big enough. Mr. Mayor went into his "do you know who I am" act, and demanded better accommodations.

You know, when my husband travels, the kids and I don't go with him. You see, functions such as that, are called VACATIONS. We save up money for them, hubby takes time off, and we go.

Kwame has given himself the title of "America's first hip-hop mayor." Well, go below and read a fine "hip-hop" song and decide for yourself whether or not this is a good thing. His re-election slogan is "Re-elect OUR Boy." what does he mean by "our" boy? He means, your buddy, your friend. Your homie. Let me not be coy here - Kwame is hinting that he is the only one black enough to be mayor of Detroit. All those other "black folks" aren't looking out for you homies out there; most likely they are simply fronts for white people. You heard me. WHITE PEOPLE. His re-election campaign is nothing but good, old fashioned, race baiting. Funny, when the voting public in Detroit is 85% black, and has had black mayors since 1973 (Oh, did I mention that Kwame wanted to be a mayor ever since he met Coleman Young - Detroit's finest example of cronyism and corruption? Kwame must have patterned his administration after that one.)

I could go on and on about the charges that Kwame accepted bribes in exchange for meetings. And, stories where Kwame wasn't interested in projects, unless they were lead by black people (unless, of course, it involved expensive Casinos and family vacations.)

To end this overly long rant - I leave you with the idea of Public Service. A mayor is supposed to be a public servant. You are supposed to be an advocate for the city. Instead, the crown of "Mayor of Detroit" has been, to this man, a passport to take what he wants, as to act as if he were P. Diddy. I don't want P. Diddy as a mayor.

Pop culture is filth(y)/content warning

The following fine bit of prose is by 50 Cent and is in the top 10. So, all you "Ho's" out there- this is for you .


Just a lil bit


[Verse 1]
Damn baby all I need is a lil bit
A lil bit of this, a lil bit of that
Get it crackin' in the club when you hear this shit
Drop it like its hot, get to workin' that back
Go shake that thang, yeah work that thang
Let me see it go up and down
Rotate that thang, I wanna touch that thang
Can you make it go round and round
I step up in the club, I'm like who you with
G-Unit in the house, yeah thats my clique
Yeah I'm young, but a nigga from the old school
On the dance floor, a nigga doin' old moves
I don't give a fuck, I do what I wan' do
I hit your ass up, boy I done warned you
Better listen, when I talk, nigga don't trip
Yo' heat in the car, mine's in this bitch
I ain't tryna beef, I'm tryna get my drink on
Got my diamonds, my fitted, and my mink on
I'ma kick it at the bar till its time to go
Then I'ma get shorty here and I'ma let her know

[Chorus]
All a nigga really need is a lil bit
Not a lot baby girl just a lil bit
We can head to the crib in a lil bit
I can show ya how I live in a lil bit
I wanna unbutton your pants just a lil bit
Take 'em off and pull 'em down a lil bit
Get to kissin' and touchin' a lil bit
Get to lickin' and (*edited*) a lil bit

[Verse 2]
This is 50, comin' out your stereos
Hard to tell though, cause I switched the flow
Eyes a lil low, cause I twist the dro'
Pockets on ??? cause I move the O's
My neck, my wrist, my ears is froze
Come get ya bitch, she on me dawg
She musta heard about the dough
Now captain come on and save a hoe
I get it crunk in the club, I'm off the chain
Number one on the chart, all the time mayn
When the kid in the house, I turn it out
Keep the dance floor packed, thats without a doubt
And shorty shake that thang like a pro mayn
She back it up on me I'm like oh mayn
I get close enough to her so I know she can hear
System thumpin', party jumpin', I said loud and clear

[Chorus]
All a nigga really need is a lil bit
Not a lot baby girl just a lil bit
We can head to the crib in a lil bit
I can show ya how I live in a lil bit
I wanna unbutton your pants just a lil bit
Take 'em off and pull 'em down a lil bit
Get to kissin' and touchin' a lil bit
Get to lickin' and (*edited*) a lil bit

[Bridge]
Baby you got me feelin' right (ya heard me)
My mama gone, you can spend the night (ya heard me)
I ain't playin', I'ma tryna (*edited*) tonight (ya heard me)
Clothes off, face down, x up, c'mon

[Chorus x2]
All a nigga really need is a lil bit
Not a lot baby girl just a lil bit
We can head to the crib in a lil bit
I can show ya how I live in a lil bit
I wanna unbutton your pants just a lil bit
Take 'em off and pull 'em down a lil bit
Get to kissin' and touchin' a lil bit
Get to lickin' and (*edited*) a lil bit

The immortal words ...

... of Natan Sharansky regarding the recent kerfuffle of Amnesty International :

"typical, unfortunately," for a group that refuses to distinguish "between democracies where there are sometimes serious violations of human rights and dictatorships where no human rights exist at all."

THAT's what I'm saying ...

I know, I know ... new subject.

Natalee Holloway

I dunno about you, but I don't ever ever EVER plan on allowing my children to go on "Spring Break." The MTV Spring Break stuff convinced me years ago.

While my heart goes out to this family, and I'm not -in any way- suggesting that they brought this on themselves, I just can help but wonder what is going through the heads of parents when they send their underage, highly irresponsible (as most are now-a-days) children to foreign lands.

Koran Flushing, vol 100058379895

I know, I know, I'm beating this to death. This blog hasn't turned into all-Koran/all-Gitmo, but I have been waiting for a certain blogger to comment. My patience has been rewarded:

For what it's worth, I don't care at all if they're flushing Korans down the toilet. We don't whine when Muslims confiscate Bibles and destroy them, which is SOP in Saudi Arabia, and as far as I'm concerned, if Islam is really this perverted, valuing worthless paper so highly and human beings so little, then Islam needs to change.
Where is it written that the civilized West has to be tolerant and the barbaric Muslim world gets to do as it pleases? Even the most hardcore, tongue-talking charismatic Christians would refrain from rioting over the mistreatment of paper. Grow up, Muslims.
There is a rumor that Al Qaeda has suitcase nukes, and that the reason they don't use them is that they think Bush will destroy their holy sites, notably that big cube in Mecca. Given their obsession with pampering a mere book, it's not hard to believe.
Look at the difference between the U.S. and the Muslim world. Here, people get upset when the government refuses to fund a photo exhibit featuring a shot of a cross immersed in urine. There, you can be killed for peeing on a book.
It's particularly funny, given that a very high percentage of fanatical Muslims are illiterate and have no idea what's inside the book they're protecting.

Yes, it was worth the wait.

Sleeper movies

Just occurred to me - a list of sleeper movies that you enjoyed.

Space Cowboys
Second Hand Lions

The real Gulag/update

It's JUST like life at Gitma. The similarities are uncanny! (From Anne Applebaum's Gulag: A History):

Until 1956, Shifrin and his fellow prisoners worked ten-hour days, seven days a week. Thereafter the work load was reduced to six days. Prisoners who attempted to escape, and were shot and killed some distance from the camp, were left to rot (though their index fingers were severed for purposes of fingerprint identification). The bodies of those shot close to camp were placed near the gate to terrorize and deter other inmates who might be contemplating escape...

I was going to write a post about the ACTUAL Gulog, but Rusty's done a fine fine job ( much better than I could have). You should, of course, read his post. But, in case you don't, I do want to highlight this bit:

Cageprisoners.com, an openly pro-jihadist website cloaked in a civil-libertarian dressing, documents the alleged abuses of 6 Bahraini prisoners of Camp X-Ray in this PDF document. Most of the allegations are nothing more than common prison horror stories, much worse could be seen in any prison inspired movie, but some of them do include the allegations of abuse by interrogators (including death threats), mishandling of the Koran, and the story of a guard who overeacted to one of the prisoners for religious reasons.

It jumped out at me, because Kel used Cageprisoners.com in one of her arguments. Not every considers them an "unbiased" source.

Update
Val, at Babalu blog has his own little rant regarding what life in a "modern day gulag" looks like - one ignored by AI:

Some have their arms wrapped in refrigerator coils which are powered 24/7, rendering such pain that the use of their limbs is forever atrophied. Others have cables clamped to their testicles and the other ends connected to car batteries, destroying not only their bodies, but their manhood, or, if they be lucky enough to ever be released from their hell, their ability to create a family.

Of course, go read what Val says - he's got his own little message for Amnesty International. It's in bold.

By the numbers

68,000 people have been detained since 9/11.

There have been 324 allegations of abuse. That comes out to .47%.

Of those allegations, 100 that have been substantiated. That comes out to .147%.

Life at Gitmo

While NOT accusing us of flushing Korans, some detainees say things such as this:

“Americans are very kind people,” one English-challenged detainee said in the March 4 paper. “If people say there is mistreatment in Cuba with the detainees, those type speaking are wrong, they treat us like a Muslim not a detainee.”
“I’m in good health and have good facilities of eating, drinking, living, and playing,” remarked another. “The food is good, the bedrooms are clean and the health care is very good.

Of course, these are probably LIES put out by Bush, Rummy, and Cheney. Halliburton might even be involved, who knows? If you didn't believe that, there is probably little chance you will believe this:

In a February 16 Gitmo dispatch, an American Forces Press Service report described the treatment of Camp Delta’s roughly 520 detainees from about 40 nations. Troublemakers wear prison-style orange jumpsuits and mainly are confined to rudimentary accommodations. But those who follow camp rules wear white outfits and exercise seven to nine hours daily, often playing soccer and volleyball. In quieter moments, “chess, checkers and playing cards are the most requested items,” Rhem wrote. As for reading, “A security official explained Agatha Christie books in Arabic are very popular and that camp officials are working to get copies of Harry Potter books in Arabic.”
Detainees eat culturally sensitive meals and follow arrows painted on dorm floors to face Mecca. “Prayer calls are broadcast over loudspeakers five times a day,” Rhem added.

Of course, as Leo as pointed out, all the prisoners in Gitmo are innocent and are merely there because their heathen (oops, that's not culturally sensitive, now is it?) under-the-thrall-of-American-Empirialism Muslim brothers were bribed by soldiers to turn warm bodies. So I don't really know how one would approach the following :

Among 167 detainees freed from Guantanamo, the Pentagon has identified “about 12” who have resumed terrorist operations. Last October, two Chinese engineers were kidnapped in Pakistan. “Former detainee Abdullah Mahsud, their reputed leader, ordered the kidnapping,” the report states.
“Another released detainee assassinated an Afghan judge,” the document continues. “Several former GTMO detainees have been killed in combat with U.S. soldiers and Coalition forces.”

That is troubling, but I'm sure if we put our heads together we could come up with a reasonable explanation. How about this:American mistreatment in Gitmo DROVE them to these later acts of violence. They were innocent little goat herders, but a year in Gitmo turned them into vapid jihadists. Yes. That's the ticket.