Is This Blog On? version 2.0

Well, at least it is a saga in my mind. There is a house down the block with a double lot. About a year ago, a family with two kids moved in. I have seen these children a grand total of TWICE in the year. And, one of those times, the kids were walking from the car to the house. I think that’s kind of strange. There are still two cars in the driveway, so divorce would appear not to be the reason the children, and the wife I might add, are NEVER outside.

One day, I was walking by, and I could have SWORN the side window’s curtain was pushed aside, and a woman was waving at me. The curtains are always drawn on all the windows, front and side, another fact which I think is really strange.

As I mentioned, the house sits on a double lot (oh, the things I could do with a double lot.) This man (I say man, since he is the only member of the family I ever see), had decided to take only minimal care of the exterior of his house; no flowers and often the grass is two weeks behind in lawn mowing. To make matters worse, he had a beautiful tree smack dab in the middle of the lot. He didn’t cut it down, he just cut all the upper branches off, leaving the trunk and lower limbs there as a mockery of it’s former elegance.

To continue with this – he isn’t very friendly. My “hello’s” often get met with a cold stare. Once, he was speaking with a friend of mine from church, a very attractive black woman. She was soliciting votes for an upcoming election at the time – and he was pretty gregarious with her. She introduced me to him, and his reaction was odd. Forced politeness. . The man, himself, is black, so I’m going to make the leap that he’s a racist. If he is a racist (I have a feel for these things), he’s going to be disappointed in my friend, she is married to a white man.

To review; cold, possibly racist man, who doesn’t take care of the exterior of his nice house, and doesn’t allow his wife or children outside. PLUS, he has a dog, which in only occasionally allows outside to be chained up (when he moved in there was a fence, which he has haphazardly taken down.)

Last night, though, I learned one more piece to this puzzle. He’s a preacher! Oh, my mind is going a thousand miles a minute now.

There is no way I’m gonna run the Chicago Marathon, Ana! LOL. Cheer from the sidelines, I can do that.

I might try to do a half-marathon here in Detroit (in the fall.) But, since the surgery, I’ve had a hard time getting my “run” back on. I just haven’t been able to build up my strength and endurance to the point that I can enjoy my runs.

I thought I would post this right up top, instead of buried in comments. I was pretty much offline all weekend.

I I just got an email sending me to this site. History book titles include the following :

Between Borders: Essays on Chicana/Mexicana History by Adelaida de Castillo
Cinco de Mayo: A Symbol of Mexican National Resistance by R. Cabello-Argandoña
The Druglord by Peter Neissa
Mexican Los Angeles by Antonio Ríos-Bustamante
Oscar Zeta Acosta: Love and Riot in Los Angeles by Roger Moore
Regions of La Raza by Antonio Ríos-Bustamante

They don’t sound like books I read. How the heck did I get subscribed to this email list?

A PS 3 game being developed, Mercenaries2: World in Flames, uses Venezuela as it’s setting for an oil dispute with a “power hungary tyrant.” From GameSpot :

Supporters of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of American policy, are not amused. “[Mercenaries 2] sends a message to Americans: You have a danger next door, here in Latin America, and action must be taken,” said lawmaker Gabriela Ramirez. “It’s a justification for an imperialist aggression.” Ramirez also said that Mercenaries 2 could be banned from the country by laws intended to protect children from violent games.

Chavez isn’t actually in the game, but those loyal to him believe the game intends to mar his image and that of the country by portraying it as a war-torn battle zone mired in chaos.

“I think the US government knows how to prepare campaigns of psychological terror so they can make things happen later,” said Venezuelan congressman Ismael Garcia.

This isn’t the first time game designers’ pursuit of realistic situations has angered a foreign government. Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon 2 was called “propaganda” by a government-run newspaper in North Korea. “This may be just a game to them now,” the article read, “but a war will not be a game for them later. In war, they will only face miserable defeat and gruesome deaths.” Ubisoft’s development went on as planned, and North Korea eventually banned the game.

Problem is, this game isn’t being developed by the US government. Ubisoft’s headquarters is in France, and it’s CEO is a man named Yves Guillemot. Not exactly a member of the Bushitler/Rovian propaganda machine. But, even more shocking to me than the assertion that the US government is using video games in a modern day version of Goebbels weekly articles for Das Reich, is the thought that they actually have video games in North Korea. They don’t have lights but they have Playstations?

Regardless, the idea that children would have their image of Venezuela and Chavez marred by a video game would have a bit more validity if the kids could 1) locate Venezuela on a map, and 2) match up the unnamed “power hungary tyrant” character with Chavez. Given that one-third of American (or, excuse me, United Stater) kids can’t locate Louisiana on a map, even after a major disaster, I’m betting that the numbers who can find Venezuela might be in the single digits.

And, if you work for Reuters, you can have a far reach.

Every so often I get an email from Amazon, suggesting a few books I may be interested in buying. Yesterday, I got a note saying that since I had bought a book by Peter Schweizer, I might now be interested in buying Bill Bennett’s new book America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I).

Why yes, I would be interested in that book. I thought as I grinned to myself at the prospect of buying yet another conservative book from that bastion of liberalism, Amazon.

I eagerly clicked on the link, anxious to see how the hordes of faux “reviewers” had trashed the book. But, surprisingly, the link didn’t take me to the Bennett book. Instead,it took me to the Amazon welcome page. The other links on the email worked correctly, but not the Bennett book. Is this JUST a conspiracy involving Amazon commie workers? Or is there also a connection with Opes Dei? Should I keep my eyes open for an albino?

Perhaps I should just get a grip, and assume the numnuts at Amazon made an innocent mistake.

Nah.

My assertion has been that here is a sizable portion of our society who are simply too stupid to be allowed to vote. A survey was taken in which the respondents were asked about 9/11:

In the telephone survey of 1200 individuals, just 47% agreed that “the 9/11 attacks were thoroughly investigated and that any speculation about US government involvement is nonsense.” Almost as many, 45%, indicated they were more likely to agree “that so many unanswered questions about 9/11 remain that Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success.”

Forty-five percent?!? Conspiracy nuts used to exist on both ends of the political extremes, but this study seems to suggest that the monkeys are in charge of the zoo on the liberal side of the isle:

This rough balance in opinions is itself a striking finding. It suggests that doubts about the officials accounts of 9/11, far from representing an extreme fringe position, have become a standard component of anti-establishment attitudes.

When asked specificially if they thought there had been a government coverup of evidence that contradicts the official story, the results were again not far from an even split, with 48% rejecting the idea of a deliberate coverup and 42% supporting it. Belief in a coverup was the majority position among Democrats, 18-29 year olds, and a few other groups.

If you think 9/11 was an American plot, or that the US government was in any way involved, you are probably too stupid to be allowed to vote. Possibly, your driving privileges should be revoked as well. And, Lord, PLEASE don’t breed.

Update: Malkin does a good wrap-up on the Macbeth story. Anyone who believed his claims that he killed 200 innocent people, or attacked a mosque filled with people praying, or that he “took out” children who threw rocks at the troops can be added to my list of people who shouldn’t vote.

But, really, what would you expect?

I like the title of his blog-post: Dixie Chicks Learn the Difference Between Censorship and Capitalism.

I thought Iran only wanted nuclear power?

Today, Iran has mastered the entire nuclear fuel cycle, from start to finish, thanks to young Iranian scientists,” the president said in a speech in the southwestern border town of Khorramshahr.
“The enemies are looking to plot and want to create differences among Iranians to stop us getting our rights,” Ahmadinejad said.
“But if they do the slightest damage to the Iranian people, if they commit the slightest aggression, they will receive an historic slap.”

Oh, don’t worry, I know the drill. This is simply more Bushitler/Rovian bedwetting. We have more to fear from “the Bushies” than we do Ahmadinejad. As for the JOOOOOS, well, they can take care of themselves, thankyouverymuch.. Did I forget anything?