Miscellaneous: March 2006 Archives

You have to listen to this. Trust me, it will cheer up your day.

Will Ferrell - Bush on Global Warming on Transbuddha

Feeling Old?

I got this in an email this morning and got a kick out of it.

1974:Long hair 2004:Longing for hair

1974: KEG
2004: EKG

1974:Acid rock
2004:Acid reflux

1974: Moving to California because it's cool
2004: Moving to California because it's warm

1974:Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
2004:Trying NOT to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor

1974: Seeds and stems
2004: Roughage

1974:Hoping for a BMW
2004:Hoping for a BM

1974: The Grateful Dead
2004: Dr. Kevorkian

1974:Going to a new, hip joint
2004:Receiving a new hip joint

1974: Rolling Stones
2004: Kidney Stones

1974: Being called into the principal's office
2004: Calling the principal's office

1974: Screw the system
2004: Upgrade the system

1974:Disco
2004:Costco

1974: Parents begging you to get your hair cut
2004: Children begging you to get their heads shaved

1974: Passing the drivers' test
2004: Passing the vision test

1974:Whatever
2004:Depends

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things.

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1986!

They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic

The CD was introduced the year they were born.

They have always had an answering machine.

They have always had cable.

They cannot fathom not having a remote control

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.

They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

They never heard: "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel", or "de plane, Boss, de plane".

They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.

McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

...to DEPRESSION and SUICIDE.

Easier said than done.

A report on mental health has revealed that a quarter of young gay or bisexual men in Northern Ireland have attempted suicide.

Nearly two-thirds considered killing themselves and 30% self harmed, according to the survey, which was carried out over three years by the Rainbow Project in Belfast. (source)

I can relate. I can really relate, more than I’m comfortable sharing this issue in my life on this blog.

Okay... “hate” is too strong a word. My dentist today was Romanian, and she wasn’t bad. But the results were not what I expected.

I arrived twenty minutes early to get all the paper work out of the way. I was then taken to the examination room where she was to start the procedure of extracting the tooth. She determined the tooth was too inflamed to do anything. I complained that there was a growth in my mouth that was bothering me and causing more pain. She examined it and determined that it was an abscess caused by all the infection. She offered to lance it and drain it, which totally grossed me out. I said, “Hell no... not in this lifetime!” That kind of lost her, but there was a translator there who conveyed my exact feelings. She also wasn’t sure about the implant. She said the infection had most likely damaged bone tissue - the same tissue that would accept the implant. So, it looks like if I do get an implant, it could be months away - just as you said Mary. I'm wondering if I should start taking calcium tablets.

She told me that she would not do the extraction until the infection had been controlled. She prescribed 875mg Amoxicillin tablets. She also said that if I would come back in a week, they would set up an appointment with the doctor who would be doing the implant, along with the extraction. He would take the case from here on out. That sounded better to me, so I will see him Saturday, April 1st (April Fools Day). At least I won’t be pushed around from one dentist to another.

She asked what I was taking to control the pain. I told her this really super heavy duty dose of Motrin. She said, “That won’t touch this kind of pain.” I said, “You are right. It’s doing nothing.” She wrote me a prescription of Vicodin with Acetaminophen and told me that it would probably turn everything off. So, I guess that’s for bedtime.

So, I have a week to deal with this, but she indicated that the pain should subside when the infection starts subsiding. Fun! Fun!

In less than two hours, I will be in a surgical facility. I’m not looking forward to it.

A couple of weeks ago, I broke a tooth. At the time, it was a mild discomfort. I favored it while eating, trying to avoid it. Over time, it gradually got worse. A few days ago, I went to my dentist, who took an X-ray. He said he could see the fracture, but wanted to send me to another dentist for a second opinion. That took three extra days. The day before I was to see this other dentist (yesterday morning), I called his office. I told them that I realized that I wasn’t going to see the dentist until Friday, but I needed something for pain. I explained that it was constantly hurting and that that morning, I tasted something awful in my mouth. On closer inspection, the tooth was oozing blood.

When I told her that, she told me that had to see me that day. Within two hours, I was in their office. The doctor came in, looked at me, and said, “I can see you are in pain.” My response, “I’ll pay you $100 right now for two Percocets.” He laughed and said, “Well, let’s see what’s going on.” I said, “I’m totally serious.”

He took an X-ray and as he was looking at the X-ray, I could hear him say to himself, “Oh Man!”. Then, he took my pain seriously. He turned and said to me, “Let’s get the pain controlled and then we’ll talk.” He asked an office assistant for a “topical” to help with the pain and also a “syringe”. Then he said, “You know what, forget the topical. This tissue to too red hot to touch with a topical. Just bring the syringe.” He got ready and told me to grab tight to the chair and told me that it would be painful because he was going into tissue that was highly inflamed. I did as he said. And he was right. It hurt like hell. He said, “I’m going as slow as I can and being as gentle as I can.” I said as well as I could, “Just do the fucking thing!”

He finished, and the pain started leaving after two minutes. After five minutes, I felt so much better. He then told me that the tooth was heavily fractured and could not be saved. He referred me to an oral surgeon and made the appointment for me today at 11:15. Unfortunately, this involves a highly visible tooth - one of my front teeth. So, he’s sending me to an oral surgeon that has a lab right there. The hope is that they can do the extraction and fit me with something temporary while they make something permanent. It will be an implant that will go right into the jaw. Before that can happen, the tooth will be extracted and the infection will have to be dealt with.

I have no idea what shape I will be in after this is done, but it’s fair to say that I will be on some heavy drug (narcotics) after this is over. It doesn’t matter to me if it shuts my brain down. I’ll just sleep. I’ll deal with the crappy feeling later of drug withdrawal. I have a disciplined mind. It will be no problem for me.

I hate dentists.

LONDON (AP) - Humphrey, the stray cat who wandered into No. 10 Downing St., and lived with two British prime ministers before being evicted by Tony Blair, has died. He was about 18.

Blair’s office said late Sunday that Humphrey died last week at the home of a civil servant who had adopted him.

The black-and-white stray wandered into Downing Street in 1989 when it was occupied by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He was named in honor of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Machiavellian civil servant in the sitcom “Yes, Minister.”

He remained under Thatcher’s successor, John Major, but moved shortly after Blair took office in 1997, prompting a Conservative lawmaker to ask in the House of Commons for assurances the feline was still alive. [...]

In his heyday, Humphrey appeared regularly in the media, and once narrowly avoiding being squashed under the wheels of former President Clinton’s bulletproof car. (source)

Related Articles
Purr-n-Fur Famous Felines
Cats In Charge

“The comments bring to the forefront a longstanding bigotry, and the bigotry often translates into violence in our communities,” said graduate student Emmaia Gelman, 31. She was among a dozen demonstrators organized by a group called Irish Queers, who hoisted a sign that read, “Troops Out, Queers in,” a reference to military groups participating in the parade.

Efforts to let Irish gays march under their own banner date to 1991, when an ILGO application was first rejected by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the group that organizes the parade. Instead, 35 ILGO members were sprayed with beer and insults as they marched with a Manhattan division of the Hibernians and then-Mayor David Dinkins. It was the group’s last parade appearance.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who marched in Friday’s parade, declined to comment on the dispute, although he had earlier urged the Hibernians to change their stance. (source)

Well, at least we are on par with prostitutes now. I guess that’s a step up from being compared to a pedophile (trying to look on the “up” side of it all).

As for Mayor Bloomberg, you are what you support. If he really thought that the parade should be inclusive, he shouldn’t have endorsed the parade with his participation.

I really do expect too much out of politicians, don’t I? This does make me ashamed to be Irish though.

It’s scary. Legislators, particularly conservative ones, love to talk about how the country is in danger from “activist judges”. I’ve come to the conclusion that any judge who rules against what you think is labeled an “activist judge”.

So with this, I’m wondering what to do with an “activist Legislature”? Pretty scare stuff. But hey, we’re still free to say and think what we believe without being killed. Right?

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she and former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor have been the targets of death threats from the “irrational fringe” of society, people apparently spurred by Republican criticism of the high court.

Ginsburg revealed in a speech in South Africa last month that she and O’Connor were threatened a year ago by someone who called on the Internet for the immediate “patriotic” killing of the justices.

Security concerns among judges have been growing.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter joked earlier this year that Justice John Paul Stevens should be poisoned. Over the past few months O’Connor has complained that criticism, mainly by Republicans, has threatened judicial independence to deal with difficult issues like gay marriage.

Worry is not limited to the Supreme Court. Three quarters of the nation’s 2,200 federal judges have asked for government-paid home security systems, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said this week.

Ginsburg said the Web threat was apparently prompted by proposals in Congress, filed by Republicans, that tell judges to stop relying on foreign laws or court decisions.

“It is disquieting that they have attracted sizable support. And one not-so-small concern - they fuel the irrational fringe,” she said in a speech posted online by the court earlier this month and first reported Wednesday by LegalTimes.com. (source)

After the buzz over the wonderful film Brokeback Mountain, Brad Pitt said recently that he would love to add a gay character to his resume. Because he feels it would be an illuminating experience for his acting soul? Probably not. But he already has Angelina on his arm, and now he desperately wants an Oscar addition to his mantel. The man wants it all. (source)

But who cares? I used to think that Brad Pitt was pretty hot. But I am over him now. I think as an actor, he is very overrated. Whatever “gay” movie he produces, it would definitely be on my list of movies that have to wait for my viewing until it came out on cable. I suppose what really bothers me about Brad telling his agent to look for a gay movie is that he wants to add the “gay movie” notch to his list of movies. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? He should want to do the movie for it’s content - which may happen to have gay content. And the real test in all of this for Brad will be for me to see how uncomfortable he will be playing gay. Can he do it well enough for me to not even realize that this is a straight actor playing a gay part? Probably not.

In Brokeback, I would have actually redone the gay sex scenes. They were too nervous. In real life, they would have been nervous under the circumstances of first discovering their gayness. But that’s not what I picked up from the scene. I picked up that the actors were thinking and processing their actions too much. They were thinking, “I’ve got to make this look like a convincing gay love scene.” It failed, and my mind was processing, “...boy, they are really uncomfortable filming this scene.”

Of course, I could have offered to coach Jake or Heath and show them how it’s done.

We had a wonderful day today. I got up around 7:00 and Kent joined a bit later. We went out for bagels and came home.

This afternoon, we ran some errands. I wanted to check out this new health club close to the mall that we go to quite a bit. It’s brand new and at least twice the size of the one we belong to now. It’s really nice inside with lost of room. I especially like the locker room. Not having to fight for space will be nice. There are good points and bad points. It’s easier for me to get to from work. Aside from the registration fee of $150, it’s half the monthly price of the health club I belong to now. So, it makes a lot of sense that I would change.

The down side is that Kent will not leave the health club we are at now. It makes no sense for him to do so. Our current one is closer to his work. If he changed, he would basically just not have time to ever go. So the down side is that we would never go together.

It’s not such a bid deal I suppose. We usually go separately anyway since we work in different directions. And when we do see each other there, we do our own thing anyway. We usually meet up at home.

It’s a strange feeling I have about leaving the health club I’m at now. I’ve been there for 8 years, so I guess I’m attached to the one I belong to now, if that makes sense.

On other issues.... I’m waiting for the Oscars to come on. I have a feeling that gay themes are going to be very prevalent tonight. It should be interesting.

And I’m still trying to figure out what to do about my cousin’s wedding. It’s a moral dilemma for me. More on that later.... maybe.

I'm wondering if I'm getting addicted to Williams Sonoma. They are really into making these unbelievable cooking sauces that are to die for. Tonight we had chicken with rice in this Indian sauce. Their finishing sauces are awesome also.

Oh... and our orchid has decided to bloom after three years of doing nothing but sending out roots. I wonder if that’s a sign?

I’ve been following the story of Jay Bennish, the social studies teacher who has been placed on paid leave while his situation blows over. The day after President Bush’s State of the Union address, Bennish made the following statements to his students in regards to the President’s address:

Sounds a lot like the things that Adolf Hitler used to say. We’re the only ones who are right, everyone else is backward, and our job is to conquer the world. I’m not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same, obviously they’re not. But there are some eerie similarities to the tones that they use. I’m not in any way implying that you should agree with me. What I’m trying to get you to do is to think, right, about these issues more in depth.

As David Lane, Bennish’s attorney stated, “His whole goal is to fire these kids up, and you have to take some extreme positions to fire these kids up. Let them debate it.”

The entire incident came about because student Sean Allen kept asking Bennish leading questions about his opinion, all the while recording the conversation. Allen, then played the tape for his father, and later took the tape to the talk radio station KHOW. I wonder about Mr. Allen’s motives. Surely, if he disagreed with Mr. Bennish, he could have talked to him about it, or at least a school official, without venting in such a public venue as talk radio. So I wonder if Mr. Allen is not looking for attention for himself. Whatever his motives, because of all the publicity this has caused, Mr. Bennish has been placed on paid leave. He may lose his job over it. The school board is expected to make its’ decision within a week.

But the real issue here is not being talked about. The fact is, as a teacher, Mr. Bennish was doing exactly what a teacher should be doing. That is, engaging his students and teaching them to think for themselves. That is what is getting lost.

And this is really what is wrong with America today. Ninety percent of the American population cannot come to a rational conclusion on any given issue. It’s true. This is exactly what got me into hot water last week on this blog (I’m not going to relive the experience, so relax). I voice an opinion. You may not like it. You may not agree with it. But I’m not going to just believe what people tell me and say, “Well, ok. I believe that too then.”

Think about the issues. Work through the logic. Then, decide for yourself what you believe and be ready to back it up. If every American did that, Congress and the President would not be able to pull half the crap that they get away with every damn week.

You can argue whether Mr. Bennish gave ample air time to opposing views. He was merely stating his views and had apparently thought a great deal about them. I’m not saying that because I happen to agree with him. I believe that he was trying to get his students to learn how to think and to debate the issues. That in itself is a process. You actually do have to train the mind how to think. College training accomplishes some of that, if you have the right teachers.

I had teachers in college who were very tough and would actually hand me back a paper that I turned in with all kinds of red marks on it. Most of them asked, “Why?”, after I came to some conclusion. One English professor finally told me, “You need to learn how to think. Your mind is nothing but mush.” Yes, it hurt my feelings. But after I got over feeling sorry for myself, I said, “That bastard! I’ll show him that my mind is not made of mush!” That was the beginning for me. And today, if he were alive and I had the opportunity to tell “that bastard” what I thought of him, I would simply say, “Thank you. Thank you for opening up the world for me.”

There were others who did this along the way. Today, I take nothing I read for truth. You can’t. The media prints pretty much everything they get and print it as fact. They do virtually no investigative reporting anymore. They are more interested in how much friction they will cause and that influences what they will write and what slant they put on the story. If you want to really know what’s going on, you have to take the time to do your own research and get your own facts. And then, come to your own conclusion.

That is what Mr. Bennish was doing. The fallout from this could be considerable. Colorado Education Association general counsel Marti Houser said Friday, “If a student is egging a teacher on in a classroom, making comments about Bush or something like that, to try to get the teacher to say something, I can tell you, based on a case like this, after what everybody’s read, I truly believe 80 percent of teachers out there would avoid even any kind of a comment like the plague.” That’s a shame, but that’s reality.

As for Mr. Bennish, he is hoping to keep his job, will not speak to anyone, and has had his phone disconnected. If he loses his job, he has hinted that he may file a law suit.

As for student Sean Allen, he is thinking about transferring schools because he is afraid of reprisals. Perhaps he should have thought of that before going on talk radio? Or, maybe Mr. Allen has not yet learned to think through an issue before making a decision?

Welcome to America.

Chilling classroom discussion is bad because many kids have no other opportunity to weigh opposing viewpoints, Houser said.

Jody Dosher, who heads the CEA chapter in the Cherry Creek School District, where Bennish teaches, said the case affects teachers beyond social studies. For example, teachers could come under fire for comments on evolution, sex education or abortion, or for assigning a controversial book in a literature course.

“Would I be nervous right now . . . going into a class tomorrow? Yeah, I probably would, and that’s probably the biggest scare right now,” said Dosher, a special education and social studies teacher on leave to head the union chapter. “Hopefully it will die down here pretty quickly.”

Dosher said teachers are concerned that Bennish was secretly taped by a student.

“That kind of caused a panic,” Dosher said. “That’s probably been the biggest piece of the discussion going on.”

Taping classes is legal, Dosher told teachers in an e-mail after consulting Houser.

Bennish’s attorney, David Lane, said his client’s comments were protected by the First Amendment “because it’s on topic, it’s part of the course curriculum.”

Lane said the class was designed to examine social, economic, religious and political aspects of geography.

“Contrary to what right-wing talk radio would want the country to believe, the First Amendment does apply to teachers in the classroom as long as what they’re saying is consistent with school policy and is within the curriculum,” said Lane. (source)

Other sources used
The Seattle Times: Education: Teacher put on leave for Bush remarks
The News Observer: Teacher likens Bush, Hitler
ABC News: Controversial Teacher Sues for First Amendment Rights

Just a thought... but I wonder what they would do if every single gay couple in America filed joint tax returns (where it was beneficial for them to do so), AND refused to pay the penalties.

They can’t lock us all up. Just a thought. Gandhi would have loved this.

(Washington) The Internal Revenue Service has begun warning tax preparers, businesses and state governments that same-sex couples legally married in Massachusetts or registered as domestic partners in states such as California and New Jersey must file separate income tax forms.

Tax returns this year must be filed by April 17.

Citing the so-called Federal Defense of Marriage Act the IRS says that the US government does not recognize anything other than legally married opposite-sex couples.

The law allows straight couples who are married to divide their incomes when they file jointly, usually meaning a lower tax rate. (source)

I received this in my email this morning and thought I would share it with all of you.

Message from John Cleese To the citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (excepting Kansas, which she does not fancy). Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up “aluminium,” and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘favour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix “ize” will be replaced by the suffix “ise.” You will learn that the suffix ‘burgh’ is pronounced ‘burra’; you may elect to respell Pittsburgh as ‘Pittsberg’ if you find you simply can’t cope with correct pronunciation. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up “vocabulary”). Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

2. There is no such thing as “US English.” We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of “-ize.”

3. You will relearn your original national anthem, “God Save The Queen”, but only after fully carrying out Task #1 (see above).