Shouldn't the punishment fit the crime?

"Israel is in "all-out war" with Hamas, the nation's defense minister said Monday as Israeli jets continued to hammer targets in Gaza and the Palestinian death toll reportedly topped 300."

"The attacks also have wounded about 650 people, the sources said."

"One of the strikes killed an Israeli at a construction site in Ashkelon, 6 miles (10 kilometers) north of Gaza, and wounded eight others, a hospital spokeswoman said. The Israeli fatality is the second since the airstrikes began Saturday."

"An Israeli strike early Monday hit the Jabalya refugee camp, leaving five children dead in a home that was damaged when a nearby mosque was hit, said Dr. Mu'awiya Hassanein. The Israeli military had no immediate comment."

excerpts from an article by CNN

Hamas, in its idiocy, shoots rockets at Israel and kills one person. Israel, in its over-adrenalized fedupness (if that is a word), bombs the piss out of Gaza killing hundreds, children included.

Going by the numbers, Palestine kills 2 and Israel kills 300. Overkill, no?

But why did Hamas think that shooting rockets at Israel was a good idea? Did they expect this time to be different?

Idiots, the lot of them.

Lying to ourselves

Under Unesco standards, a country can be declared free of illiteracy if 96% of its population over the age of 15 can read and write.

Is someone HIV free if 96% of the virus is gone?

Does a country have no unemployment if 4% of the population is unemployed?

Choreography

Choreography -

c.1789, from Fr. chorégraphie, coined from Gk. khoreia "dance" + graphein "to write." Choreograph (v.) is from 1943.

If this is true then Laban was the first (and only?) choreographer.

The Perfect Name

Could his name be any better?

Where did all those people's money go?

Well, Bernard made off with their billions.

ha, ha, ha.

What the Fuck? File # 17-f

First US face transplant complete

Surgeons at a clinic in a Cleveland, Ohio, have performed America's first almost-total face transplant.

Chevron...

could do a lot more.



Maybe put all this money



they are spending on their new ad campaign

and put it towards research into renewable sources of energy.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi is my hero

An interesting scene

"Three blind men, each one as old and bent as a caricature of Father Time, move slowly up the street where foreigners' hotels are concentrated. Each one holds a corner of an undyed cotton sheet. A small, sighted boy, about 6, holds the front corner in one hand, pulling them along; in the other hand, the boy holds up a kerosene lantern. The old men are singing an unearthly melody, words I don't understand. Passers-by toss coins into the cloth."

jewel heist

I'd wear a dress for that kind of money.

Four armed robbers -- two of them men disguised as women -- walked into a luxury jewelry store in Paris and swiped an estimated €80 million (U.S. $101 million) in jewels, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

Makes you wonder though if this was some kind of an inside job - >

"The same shop was robbed of millions of euros worth of jewelry just 14 months ago, in October 2007."

Also makes you wonder why the robbers felt the need to wear dresses. How did that figure into the plan? Maybe shock and awe? Maybe we should have gone into Iraq with an army in drag and the whole mess would already be cleaned up. Never underestimate the power of a good outfit.

surplus

Obama's organization retains some $30 million after his successful presidential bid.

Can I get my $100 back?

Well, maybe it's better than being a McCain supporter now. That money went nowhere.

fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again

Dec 3, 2008

(CNN) — A Florida congresswoman – convinced she was being prank-called by a Barack Obama sound-alike – hung up on the actual president-elect Wednesday.

Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was told by an aide that Obama wanted to speak with her. According to a statement released by her office, the Republican congresswoman cut off the caller, telling him she thought “this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks.” She then hung up.

Obama’s future White House chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel – a fellow congressman – then called her to let her know she’d actually been speaking with the future commander-in-chief. Ros-Lehtinen, convinced the call was another hoax, hung up on him, too.

Finally, an aide told Ros-Lehtinen she had an urgent call from Chairman Howard Berman, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Still suspicious, Ros-Lehtinen urged the California Democrat to recount a story only both of them would know.

Berman passed the test — and told her she had, in fact, hung up on President-elect Obama.

Thai protesters shut down airport

How come we couldn't/didn't do this in protest to Bush and his terrible administration? to the war in Iraq?

Excerpts-
"Flights from Thailand's international airport have been suspended after hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed the building outside Bangkok."

"We will stay until the government steps down. This government is not legitimate," retired university lecturer Sunthorn Kaewlai told the Reuters news agency."

We certainly have changed, as a people, since the founding days of our country -
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure. - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Where was I in the run up to the war? Well, I attended one protest. Maybe I should ask how come I couldn't/didn't do that?

Miami judge rules against Florida gay adoption ban

Excerpts below

A judge on Tuesday ruled that a strict Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children is unconstitutional, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.

The state presented experts who claimed there was a higher incidence of drug and alcohol abuse among gay couples, that they were more unstable than heterosexual unions and that the children of gay couples suffer a societal stigma.

Organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association all support permitting same-sex couples to adopt.

"Everywhere in the law where children are affected, the standard must always be what is in the best interest of the child," said Stemberger, an attorney in Orlando. "What is stunning to me is that when it comes to dealing with gays, that standard goes out the window. Children do better with a mother and a father."

If that is true, Stemberger should be campaigning to prevent divorce, which has been proven to be a leading cause of single parenthood. John Stemberger should also campaign to make it illegal for parents to die, another leading cause of single parenthood. Maybe the courts could find single parents and force them into relationships. Maybe give out eHarmony or Match.com accounts to single parents at tax payers' expense.

2 degrees from Condi Rice

It's a strange world. The people pictured from left are Soye Kim, Joshua Klein, Condolezza Rice, Robert Battey and Lawrence Wallace. This quintet plays as often as every other week. You might recognize the woman on the piano. But the man on the left with the violin, Joshua Klein, was lucky enough to have gone to school (Webb and F.C.D.S) with me.

The Electoral College must Die

Texas: 34 electoral votes and 23,904,380 citizens -> 703,070 citizens per electoral vote
Florida: 34 electoral votes and 18,251,243 -> 675,972 citizens per electoral vote
California: 55 electoral votes and 36,553,215 citizens -> 664,604 citizens per electoral vote

at the other end of the spectrum

Wyoming: 3 electoral votes and 522,830 citizens -> 174,277 citizens per electoral vote
District of Columbia: 3 electoral votes and 588,292 citizens -> 196,097 citizens per electoral vote
Vermont: 3 electoral votes and 621, 254 citizens -> 207, 085 citizens per electoral vote

Is this fair? I thought democracy was based on one person, one vote. But by this system a vote in Wyoming is worth roughly 4x that of a vote in Texas and roughly 3.8x that of a vote in California. I ask again - is this fair?

Why do we have the electoral college?

Grant Griffin is a Moron

From an AP article on race threats.

Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, expressed similar sentiments: "I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change."

"If you had real change it would involve all the members of (Obama's) church being deported," he said.

I wish Grant would get deported.

Obama

Obama Obama Obama!!

Oh!!Bama!!

The 3 Phases of Creation

The number 3 rears its beautiful head again.

Improvisation implies a knowledge of relationship between elements and a desire to create something with those elements outside or different from the elements themselves.

Experimentation, the step before improvisation, also implies a knowledge of elements but less of a desire to create something outside of or different from those elements. Experimentation is the use of/ investigation into the elements to discover their possible relationships.

The step before experimentation is exploration - the discovery of the elements themselves.

Borrowing Money

France is borrowing money to shore up its banks.
Italy too. England, the USA, and Germany also.
Iceland has gone under. Guess they didn't borrow soon enough.
Japan and South Korea are also borrowing money.

From whom are all these countries borrowing to stay afloat?

The Saudis? Russia? The Chinese? Kim Jong Il, illin' and chillin' like a villian above the DMZ?

Too little, Too late

Cheney experiences abnormal heart rhythm.