I just saw an article on MSN a few minutes ago. Apparently the opponents of Arizona’s new immigration law are crying for an “Arizona Boycott”. They’re trying to get a tourism boycott underway, and apparently some events and what not have already canceled their upcoming reservations as a result. Hell, even AriZona tea is getting in on it by proudly and loudly proclaiming that, despite the name, the tea is made in New York.

The purpose of all this hullabaloo? Apparently it’s an attempt to show the state of Arizona what everyone else thinks by crippling their economy.

Okay, seriously, what the hell people? All the law allows is for law enforcement to question individuals if they have reason to believe they are illegal immigrants and ask for documentation. What the hell is wrong with that? Frankly, I think it’s a wonderful law and may help agents ferret out the illegal immigrants hiding in plain sight and track them down easier.

I think it’s pathetically humorous that people across the country are getting their knickers in a twist over Arizona’s move when most don’t even have to deal with half the shit they do. The border security in Arizona is hardly up to scratch. Human trafficking and illegal immigration is rife there and this new law is an attempt to give agencies another tool to deal with it. I say bravo Gov. Jan Brewer, you’re doing what needs to be done. The people who are complaining aren’t stopping to think about how these illegal activities affect the communities there, or the danger that people involved in these activities undergo. Do you know how many illegal aliens are found DEAD in the deserts of Arizona every year? These people who illegally crossed, tried to hike through miles and miles of scorching heat for days on end, armed only with the water and food they can carry, an amount that is not nearly enough to last them the duration in that sweltering heat?

And what of the human traffickers and drug runners? How do you think they run their operations? By the book? Hardly! They sneak people in anyway they can, no matter the conditions they have to endure. And the supplies they use? Just ask the victims of theft, burglary, and vandalism – the residents of the communities near a border how they get those supplies. They can tell you easily. Those abandoned cars smack in the middle of the desert don’t get there on their own. I’ve seen this stuff happen here in New Mexico, and our border is more heavily patrolled and secured then Arizona’s. So seriously, this boycott is nothing but the childish reaction of people who can’t be bothered to actually stop and think about a situation properly.

On top of all this, the irony is, the boycott will actually hurt the hotel, tourism, dinning, and transportation trades more before it’ll hurt anyone else. That’s right, the local hotels, convention centers, taxi cab services, fast food joints, and restaurants will feel the burn long before life insurance agencies, hospitals, ect feel it. Those trades also happen to be the trades that unskilled laborers can find employment in easier too. So, in effect, the ones most hurt by the boycott will be the very same ones who the opponents of the new law are supposedly trying to help. Now that’s irony for you.

I had a late night yesterday and didn’t go to bed until about 8 o’clock this morning. As a result, my day got started very late today. When I opened my main email account I was bombarded with the typical spam and adverts. “Store X has a sale on diamond engagement rings“, “buy viagra real cheap from us”, the usual.

Mixed in were news updates and one headline shocked me to the core: Singer Michael Jackson dead at 50. I’ve spent the past hour and a half reading over every single news article I can find and it’s still not sinking in. Michael Jackson is dead? It’s so surreal. He had an extensive physical to prepare for the tour, and it was reported that he was in perfect health. And yet today he is dead due to cardiac arrest.

Michael Jackson was one of my mother’s favorite artists. Growing up, I remember listening to and loving his music as well. “Thriller” was a wonderful song, but to be honest, I really loved the performance in the music video. “Billie Jean” remained my favorite Michael Jackson song of all time. To this day I honestly don’t know what to think about the molestation charges. What I do know is that Michael Jackson was a talented artist whose music I’ve loved since I was a child. The world has definitely lost a very talented artist and performer today and already the world seems a little duller.

Getting to work yesterday proved to be a bit of a chore. First I couldn’t find my house keys then when I finally get out on the road I am stuck behind this rude person who drives slow when I can’t pass than deliberately speeds up when I can pass. To make matters worse, when I got to Vado to get to the interstate I found my way barred by State Police and DOT (department of transportation).

Apparently, something had happened up on the interstate and they weren’t letting anyone pass, not even to go to the frontage road. I ended up having to back track to highway 48, from there I traveled to Berino and took a road that connected to the frontage that ran along I-10. I thought I was in the clear, just travel the frontage road until I get to the Anthony, NM exit and get on the interstate there. I thought wrong. Didn’t even travel thirty seconds on the frontage road before I had to slam my brakes on because traffic had come to a grinding stop. Looks like everyone else thought about going on the frontage as well; traffic had backed up from the Anthony, NM/Chaparral, NM (“The Gap”) exit.

The reason they hadn’t been letting anyone get on the frontage road in Vado was because they had closed down that section of the interstate and were forcing I-10 traffic onto the frontage road. Since the line was continuing to back up beyond the Berino exit and I had no intention of sitting there inching along every few minutes I and a few other vehicles decided to off-road a bit. There was a road up ahead, that no one but a few locals were daring to turn onto since it wasn’t marked, and instead of waiting patiently till we got to it, a few other drivers and myself drove through the weeds and bramble on the side of the road to get to it ASAP.

I honestly couldn’t remember where it dumped me out, but after a while I was very glad I took it. Turned out it eventually dumped me onto the road that runs by the newly built Pic Quick out in Anthony – boy is that franchise taking over New Mexico, there’s like seven in Las Cruces alone – and that road connects to the street leading to freeway entrance. No problems getting on the freeway there, so glad too, because the detour cost me thirty minutes.

I vowed to watch the news that evening at 10pm to see what had caused the closure and I honestly wish I didn’t. The news was completely and utterly depressing. The death toll in Juarez, Mexico continues to rise, with over 300 homicides (read: executions), and despite the heavy military presence now the death tolls still rise and citizens honestly expect things to get worse before it gets better. I’ve known about the murders happening in Juarez for a while now, kind of hard to ignore since it is the city bordering the city I work in, but hearing about it and seeing bodies covered by tarps in the streets on the news makes it much worse.

On top of that, I found out that the reason that I-10 was closed down was because state police were investigating an accident that occurred near the Anthony, NM exit. I remember seeing the flashing lights from where I was driving, but I didn’t stay stuck in the parking lot of a frontage road, so I can’t describe what it looked like. According to the Sun News and Channel 7 news, at about 12:40 p.m., a woman driving a GMC Envoy SUV headed West on Interstate 10 tried to make a u-turn by driving onto the median and merging into the traffic on I-10 East. The driver smashed head on into a man driving a Toyota Camry. The man died on the scene and the woman was taken to a hospital in El Paso, TX with serious injuries.

Then there was the story about another stabbing (or was it a shooting?) in the three block radius known as the Devil’s Triangle in El Paso, TX; some workers who were trapped in a collapsed shaft in Las Cruces, NM; and a teacher in trouble for cussing at stupid students. Oh, and let’s not forget that the ringleaders of a kidnapping ring were identified and also charged with a murder and there was an update on this woman who had a deadly standoff with officers when they tried to issue her a warrant. Seems like there is absolutely nothing but bad and horrible news these days.

Now I remember why I rarely watch the newscasts anymore. No news is definately good news.

Saturday night, when I was at the 24hr computer lab/laundromat all night, I was bombarded by regurgitated discussion regarding the Republican convention, Obama, McCain, and Gustav. You see, the television was left on and since I’ve been rather apathetic to what’s going on in the world lately I thought it would do me some good to listen to the news instead of turning it off or switching it to Cartoon Network. I was there all night after all and Adult Swim equals anime! But I digress.

That evening, when they weren’t harping on politics the news kept returning to hurricane Gustav. They predicted it was going to be bad, very bad. It was going to be stronger than Katrina, it was bordering on a category 5 hurricane already, evacuations were underway, officials were better prepared this time around. Over and over it, but the message was clear, Gustav was baaad news and was going to cause more damage, but hopefully claim less lives, than Katrina.

Have you, by any chance, seen or read the latest news on Gustav today? It’s been downgraded to a category 2 hurricane. Sure there is a strong possibility of flood damage since waves are crashing over the barricades but this is certainly no where near as bad as Katrina. What the hell was with all the hype? Seriously, just listening to the anchors would have been enough to send folks into a panic.

I’m not trying to say that Gustav isn’t bad at all and that the concern was unwarranted. Quite the contrary, I’m glad the evacuations and precautions proved adequate and went well. I cannot, however, help but feel that the media completely played up the severity of the storm and harped on the whole affair in order to gain ratings.

That’s what disgusts me.

According to this article from Las Cruces Sun News, the IRS began issuing the Economic Stimulus payments to qualifying tax payers on Monday, well ahead of the scheduled began date listed on the IRS website. If you selected the option to have your refund direct deposited on your 2007 tax return, your stimulus check may have already been deposited! If you opted to have yours sent to you via paper check, have no fear, the IRS will begin to mail those on May 9th.

If, however, you’re like me and opted for direct deposits, here’s a quick break down of when you can expect to receive yours. If your social security ends with…

• 00 to 20: expect to have your economic stimulus payment deposited by Friday.
• 21 to 75: Expect yours by May 9th
• 76 to 99: can expect theirs by May 16th

This, no doubt, comes as great relief to many folks. I know I for one am ecstatic about this. Of course there are always those who have to find something to nitpick over:

Retiree May Faren, though, said she is not pleased with the payments.

“I think (the government) should have kept the money to help the country get back on its feet,” said Faren, 82. “I don’t think it’s worth sending it out.”

Faren said she planned to donate her money, possibly to help St. Genevieve’s Catholic Church in Las Cruces buy new pews.

Oh yes, because new church pews is just what the doctor ordered. I mean honestly, the woman says the money should have gone towards helping the country get back up on its feet (Isn’t that what this Economic Stimulus payment is about anyway?) then in the next breathe talks about donating it to a church so they can buy new pews. Talk about a frivolous expense. Lady, if you’re so concerned about the state of our economy and country why not donate that money to a more worthy cause. Orahpans, battered women, abused and abandoned pets, diseases, humanitarian efforts – all of these are much better than frigging pews.

ETA:
Because this fits in so well with what I was talking about here.

I just read a news article that was published on Friday on MSN under the peculiar news category. Apparently a hair stylist shot her client after the client complained about the hair cut!

Lauren Newton, 28, was getting her hair cut Thursday at the home of Monique Reed when the two began to argue about the style, police said.

“She (Reed) went to the bedroom, got a gun, fired a shot in the ceiling,” Police Chief James Blyth said. Newton, who was trying to flee with her sister, was then shot in the lower back, he said. [...]

What’s probably even stranger than this story is the fact that, when I read this article, I immediately thought it would make a perfect episode from the Shinigami’s Cup at the end of Bleach episodes. Seriously! Just change some facts, and couldn’t you see this being one of those skits? Maybe something like…

Ayasegawa Yumichika opens up a beauty shop (now I know you can picture that!) that features beautiful and elegant Seagull lighting fixtures and plush seating that looks better suited to a noble’s home. Abarai Renji is one of his first customers and is naturally rather dubious about this experiance.

Yumichika decides Renji’s current hairstyle is just not beautiful enough and comes up with a new and elaborate hairstyle for Renji. Naturally, it’s a work of art and exceptionally beautiful since Yumi is the one who designed it. But Renji is less than pleased and thinks the new style isn’t “manly” enough for him or maybe that he looks like “a fruity idiot”. Being the bigmouth idiot that he is, Renji of course then complains about it disparagingly. Yumichika than gets that scary anime look, where everything turns dark and his eyes glint evilly (ala Yachiru maybe?) and pulls out his zanpaktou.

Cut to the outside of the beauty shop and Ikkaku and Kenpachi are sipping sake calmly when all of a sudden you hear Yumichika’s voice calmly say: sake (bloom), Fuji Kujaku, and Renji’s bloodcurdling screams. Naturally Ikkaku and Kenpachi are not at all perturbed or worried about Renji and keep drinking calmly. Maybe even one or both of them make a comment like “Renji’s an idiot” or “He hasn’t gotten any smarter”.

Can’t you just see that as a possible skit? I think my love of Bleach and especially my love of the crazy 11th Division is starting to show.

Has anybody been following this story? I just found it not that long ago in my headlines.

The bodies of four adults and two children have been found by US police in a house in Memphis, Tennessee.

Three more children, including a 10-month-old baby, were critically injured and taken to hospital.

The victims had been shot, and at least one of the children had been stabbed, police said. All the children involved were under the age of 12, police said.

Police forced their way into the house after alerted by a relative who called round in the evening but got no answer.

They found some of the dead in the living room while others were found in bedrooms.

Police have not given many details and have not whether they think the killer is among the dead or remains at large.

“We just don’t know the motive or cause of death, but we do have four adults and two children [dead],” Memphis police Lt Jerry Guin told the Commercial Appeal newspaper. source

I’m horribly confused. It says six dead in the house and that they found three more. But in the next breath they say four adults are dead and two kids. So which is it? Which is the actual death toll? Hell, does anyone understand what exactly is going on here?!

This keeps making me think of Rob Zombie’s “House of a 1000 Corpses”. Just the way they keep uncovering more bodies, ya know? If you’ve ever heard the song, or watched the movie for that matter, you’ll get what I mean. They stumbled on this quite by accident I’m gathering, and more bodies are cropping up.

I just want to know how they knew to go to the house, that there really was something seriously wrong and not paranoid family members worrying over nothing, and what tipped the family off to begin with. They have to have their suspicions already!

If you’re having a bad or slow day I’m sure this will give you a laugh, or two, maybe even three:

Two Australian robbers thought they were hauling away a big sack of cash from the Cuckoo Restaurant, but it turned out to be bread rolls — and one of them accidentally shot the other in the buttocks during the heist. continue reading the article

First, they robbed a place call “Cuckoo” That alone is good for laugh. But to make it worse, they stole bread instead of the money of accident and in the process one thief shoots his comrade in the rear. Not the brightest pair of thieves, that’s for sure. All they needed was one more accomplice and you could have dubbed them the three stooges.

Now tell me that didn’t give you laugh!

Yup, you read that right. According his son, Omar bin Laden, Osama Bin Laden is “very sorry” for the attacks that he orchestrated on September 11, 2001. His son goes on to say that he’s also a very kind man and father as well.

Yeah, you have to read this to believe it.

Okay, sure, maybe he’s a kind man and a good father….to those that know him. Because hey, sociopaths aren’t necessarily scary to those not close to them. But he’s sorry? Sure, I buy that. By the way, did I tell you I have swamp land in Phoenix, Arizona up for sale? Real cheap too! It’s a steal I tell you.

All joking aside, one thought keeps ringing in my head. He’s Sorry?! Sorry? I’m sorry you don’t get to plan the heartless and cruel murder of nearly 3,000 people and then turn around, years later, and say you’re “very sorry”. That’s just not how it works.

In all honesty I highly suspect that Osama bin Laden didn’t say this at all, rather his son is putting words in his mouth to take the sting out of his controversial marriage.

Your thoughts?

Yeah, neither can I. Or rather, I really, really don’t want to. I had this huge rat run over my feet while I was on guard one night at the community college in Anthony and it took every once of will power not to grab my flashlight and try beating the crap out of the thing. It was the biggest one I’d ever seen, and those teeth were just vicious looking, and the fact that it had been trying to bite one of the workers didn’t help my self-defense mode any. Now Uruguayan scientists have announced that they found fossil evidence of a rodent that lived in the wooded areas of South America 4mya. And this sucker was 2,000lbs too!

A herbivore, the beast may have been a contemporary, and possibly prey, of saber-toothed cats — a prehistoric version of Tom and Jerry.

For those afraid of rodents, forget hopping on a chair. Its huge skull, more than 20 inches (50 centimeters) long, suggested a beast more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) long and weighing between 1,700 and 3,000 pounds (750 and 1,350 kilograms).

Although British newspapers variously described it as a mouse or a rat, researchers say the animal, named Josephoartigasia monesi, actually was more closely related to a guinea pig or porcupine. Read the rest

Pretty cool though, right? At least this fossil discovery doesn’t have the name of the company funding the dig attached to it.

[edit] fixed the link. ^^; woopsie!

Yup, that’s right. Roswell, New Mexico is no longer the main destination for extraterrestrials visiting planet Earth, their new destination hot spot seems to be Stephenville, Texas:

In this farming community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

More about UFO’s in Texas

Do you think they really saw a UFO or is this a small town’s attempt to become famous? It’s not unheard of for a small and otherwise unknown town to do something extreme for attention, just take a look at T or C, New Mexico.

Do UFO’s and extraterrestrials (aliens) exist? Personally I think it’s absurd to think we are the only planet with living life forms on it. We have found evidence that life once existed on other planets in our solar system and there are millions and millions of other galaxies out there with who knows how many solar systems in them. Is it beyond possible that there are other beings out there traversing space?

Finally a parent who isn’t afraid to be a parent:

After finding alcohol in her son’s car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old’s misdeed with everyone — by placing an ad in the local newspaper.

The ad reads: “OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.”

The rest…

I’m sure her son probably thinks she’s the world’s meanest mom, but really, if I had been in his shows the selling of my car would have been the least of my worries. I know my mom would have yelled at me until I was deaf and then turned me over her knee and tanned my hide. How embarrassing to be spanked at that age right? She’d have done it though.

I’m glad the mom did what she did, and I like the method she used. A little public humiliation for the kid just might teach him a lesson.

I’m seriously thinking some people watched Weekend at Bernie’s just one too many times here:

NEW YORK – Two men wheeled a dead man through the streets in an office chair to a check-cashing store Tuesday and tried to cash his Social Security check before being arrested on fraud charges, police said.

David J. Dalaia and James O’Hare pushed Virgilio Cintron’s body from the Manhattan apartment that O’Hare and Cintron shared to Pay-O-Matic, about a block away, spokesman Paul Browne said witnesses told police.

Read the rest of the bizarre story

I guess you could say that this shows how greedy people really are. They’ll drag a dead guy around with them and try to collect his money.

It’s funny as hell when you try to picture it in your head though.

Yeah, I couldn’t really believe it either and had to check out the news article myself in case I somehow misread it. Sadly I didn’t:

NEW ORLEANS – Hurricane Katrina’s victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering — including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion.

The total number — $3,014,170,389,176,410 — is the dollar figure so far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

Read the rest of the baloney

I get that the levees were not built right, I understand that aid was slow in coming. I sympathize with these people who lost everything, but there is a limit and I feel that these people have reached that limit and are just now playing the “woe is me” card. I mean really, Your STATE officials did a piss-poor job of making preparations and evacuating everyone but you feel you have the right to sue the FEDERAL government for such an outlandish amount that you would actually jeopardize our country’s economy?

Would you like a side of “get real” to go with that “are you fucking stupid”?

I mean really, if you want to nitpick this shit to death the victims are just as much at fault here as everyone else. After all, it’s a well known fact that if you build a house in Tornado Alley there is a real possibility you may come home to find your house in pieces after it’s been hit by a twister. If you choose to live in California you have to accept that an earthquake can occur and destroy everything you’ve worked for. Likewise if you choose to live near the coasts you can get hit by hurricanes and if you live by a river you can get be flooded. These are facts and they are risks you choose to take when you choose to live in one of these areas. While yes there is responsibility for the areas to be made safe to live in, there is of course the plain and simple fact that you are living in a dangerous area and Mother Nature doesn’t give a damn about how much you paid for your home.

So perhaps I’m a complete and utter bitch for thinking this person, and others suing for outlandish amounts, are off their rockers and don’t deserve a penny after this stunt, but hey, I never did claim to be nice. Right now I’m not seeing a victim, all I see is someone trying to milk this for all its worth.

You know, when a friend told me she had to get a payday loan recently in order to make her credit card payments and then proceeded to tell me about this sale at Neiman Marcus, of all places, that she just had to go to I began to really worry about her. Blond moment is not a harsh enough phrase to describe that moment in her life.

When I logged out of my Hotmail account a few minutes ago and was greeted with this headline: Clinton Gets Surprise Win…in NH I began to reconsider the current mental state of the denizens of the United States of America as a whole, but specifically the people in New Hampshire. Is there something in the water over there?

Apparently Hillary (or Hillbot as Mari calls her) has the women to thank for this surprising win. Exit polls showed that the majority of women who turned out voted for Clinton over Obama.

I feel embarrassed for these members of my sex and feel the need to ask them: Do you need me to call a snow plowing/shoveling service for you? There seems to be a lot of snow building up over there.

There seems to be a rash of authoritative female figures in the news recently and not because they might have done something of such wonder, such as donating thousands of dollars to help those diagnosed with mesothelioma either. Rather, there seem to be a few causing quite a bit of mayhem by doing and saying outlandish things. But are they being outlandish and “scandalous” or are they perhaps victims of their sex and circumstance?

Take for example, the news anchor who made the lynch Tiger Woods comment. They were talking about what new up and coming golfers should do to get ahead and it was brought up that Tiger Woods was who they needed to focus on. One anchor made the comment that they could always take him into a back alley and lynch him. It was clearly meant to be a joke, no different than saying they could jump him in a back alley, but a small amount of people took offense and called in. Yeah it was a tasteless comment but certainly not something to call foul on. Not to mention, I’ve heard much worse coming from the mouth of Terry Bradshaw, but he’s not out giving apologies.

Then there is all the fuss over the Arlington, Oregon mayor’s myspace page. Apparently before she took office she posed for pictures atop the town’s firetruck in her underwear and the pictures were still available on her Myspace page which has greatly offended people in Arlington. Since nothing is hanging out per say it’s no different than her posing in a bathing suit. Truth be told, while I think pictures of that sort aren’t very smart when you’re a public figure I have to say I don’t think they’re all that offensive, not to mention, I don’t see anyone raising a fuss when male police chiefs, mayors, presidents, vice presidents, senators, and representatives take pictures with Hooters girls, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, the Lakers cheerleaders, women in bikinis, known prostitutes, or showgirls. People just roll their eyes or nudge each other with knowing winks. The men can be clad in their swim trunks or business attire and it’s just over looked. But let a female mayor do something of a similar nature and it’s worth considering having a representative look into her actions. Talk about a double standard.

Can women hold a spot in the limelight without being held to more exacting and rigid standards than their male counterparts?

I was beginning to rant and rave on a comment I left on mcangeli’s blog so I felt it was best to return to my own blog and let it all out. When I turned twenty-one I was considered a full adult in our government’s eye, and yet, by hitting adulthood I wasn’t granted any magical abilities but I was loaded with a butt load of responsibility. Frankly, by the time I turned 21 I was already getting jaded. I saw how hard I worked to earn a paycheck and how much the government deducted. When I better understood how much of my money is going to Social Security and the fact that statistics have shown I will never get to cash in on it in my due time I saw red. Hey, the government is essentially screwing me over here! I saw my bosses getting praise, perks and the easy life while I did the work, and I realized that even though certain things are against the law and you can bitch and get them taken care of, half the time the fall out just isn’t worth it. Welcome to the real world where ideals don’t mean jack.

Now, Hilary Clinton, who seems to think that because her and Bill have a matching set of wedding rings she has “experiance”, knows what she’s doing, and will bring change to this nation. As I mentioned in the comments on mcangeli’s blog, Hilary has clearly just fallen off the turnip truck yesterday if she thinks the people of this nation are deliberately choosing not to get health care rather than buying it and she believes that mandating all “adults” to buy heath care or pay a stiff fine will alleviate this problem. Even if it were true that the people of this country weren’t buying health care when they needed it, what right does the government have to force it’s people to buy it? This country is starting to sound very scary to me.

Hi, Hillary Rodham Clinton, I have a news flash for you darling. The people of this country are not boycotting health insurance because they think it’s foul, in fact most people I know think having health insurance is a wonderful thing and would sleep easier if they had it. The reason so many people don’t have it is because, plain and simple, they can’t afford it. So how if fining people who can’t afford it going to do any good? Are you really such a cold hearted and selfish person as to force people to choose between food on the table or buying something they can’t afford in order to avoid extravagant fines and time behind bars?

Perhaps it’s because she comes from a well to do background and has more money than she can spend that she just can’t grasp the concept of not being able to afford something. Honestly, if it’s a choice between being able to put food on the table, a roof over one’s head, have electricity and running water or buy health insurance, well gee, guess what I’m going to pick. I mean after all, what good does health care do if I’m broke and living on the streets? Will the hospital take me? Honestly Clinton, I’m trying to see this from your point of view but I just can’t get my head that far up my ass.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, anybody is better than Clinton to run this country. As someone who is an “adult” and who does not have health insurance because it is just out of her price range I really would hate to see this politician who has no grasp or understanding of the people who make up her country in charge for four years.

Thank you and good night.

This year, Toys for Tots has fallen a little short of their goal and are desperately trying to raise funds and gather up a few more donations in order to make sure that no kids go without this holiday season. There is a very simple way to help the Marines gather up the last few toys for the kiddos before the holiday season is completely gone. Head on over to Month2Month.com and send a free ecard. When all of their cards have been sent Month2Month will donate $50,000 to Toys for Tots:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:

Bill Grein
Marine Toys for Tots
V: 703-640-9433
F: 703-640-0917
wjgrein@toysfortots.org

http://www.toysfortots.org

Steven Marcus
Month2Month.com
V: 914-933-2638
F: 501-325-9147
smarcus@month2month.com

http://www.month2month.com

Marines Toys for Tots Needs Last Minute Help
Quantico, VA. December 21, 2007 / PR Newswire – The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is making a nationwide last minute appeal for more toys. Since time is critical as they go into their toy distribution phase this weekend the Foundation is encouraging people to make cash contributions because it allows them to purchase the toys they need to fill in gaps and match the remaining needs.
One novel way to get cash immediately into the hands of the Marines is to send lots of holiday eCards to everyone you know. Month2Month.com, a free eCard website has agreed to contribute up to $50,000 when their cards are sent and received.
Bill Grein, Vice President for Marines Toys for Tots, said: “Cash contributions are critical for us at this time because we can purchase the toys we need and can place them where they are needed most at the last minute. It will help us close a gap in many areas where the economy, toy recalls and even bad weather have caused us to come short of our goals so far. We urge everyone to take advantage of this wonderful offer from Month2Month.”
John Aslanian, CEO of Month2Month.com said: “We are expecting to have 1 million cards sent in the next few days that could result in a contribution of up to $50,000. We know that for some the economy might be putting a crimp in their generosity. But what this can do is to save them the cost of buying cards and the postage. We are asking everyone to send these cards, even if they already sent other cards, to help make this a merry Christmas and happy holiday for many more needy children.”

Month2Month.com cards are all produced by top-notch artists working in a loft studio just outside of New York City. The cards show great care in design and detail and often take weeks or months to complete. They are all professionally animated often requiring hundreds of frames to get the motion to look smooth and flowing. Month2Month.com is a privately held online greeting company founded in 2005. The site offers free high quality online greeting cards and can be found at http://www.month2month.com.
This year marks the 60th anniversary for the Toys for Tots tradition of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. In 2006, Toys for Tots delivered more than 19.2 million toys to over 7.6 million children.

Here's where to get the month2month free eCards! It’s never too late to help.

On January 1, 2008 a new tax will go into affect throughout the state of Texas. This tax, which has been dubbed the “Pole Tax” will force establishments to charge their patrons an extra $5 per person levy which will undoubtedly result in the raising, and in some cases establishing, of cover charges. The new tax is estimated to raise $40 million dollars annually, all of which will go to aiding rape victims.

For the establishments that cater to a more…er…”sophisticated” crowd adding an additional $5 to a cover charge that can be anywhere from $15 to $30 already won’t mean much, but the smaller establishments that charge a substantially smaller cover charge (under $10) will find this hard to chew and will no doubt lose some customers over this. You can read the full article here.

It goes without saying that some chains and establishments are fighting this, and here are the two main reasons:

• Unfair and unequal amount that infringes on the first amendment right that will subsequently force some to close their doors.
• Unjust linkage of businesses to sex crimes.

Now I am a bit of a feminist and I will readily admit to considering strip clubs to be degrading to women. But I have also been of the mind that a person is free to do what they want with their body, and if it pleases them, then go for it.

Now while there certainly is a correlation with strip dives and abuse I wouldn’t go so far as to say that strip clubs are the sole reason that women are raped and that is indeed what this sort of tax implies by targeting only strip dives. Initially the lawmakers wanted to target conventions and concerts as well, but didn’t like the thought of lumping family friendly entertainment with adult entertainment.

So instead they wrote up a broad tax that targets the red light district.

In their lawsuit, the clubs said nude dancing is protected by the First Amendment and the state can’t selectively tax it, even if it is conduct some may find offensive.

Besides, they argued, the tax is so broad it could apply to concerts by performers like Madonna or Britney Spears who wear low-cut tops. Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University, said the Texas tax goes too far.

“It seems clear legislators are targeting strip clubs because they’re unpopular,” Turley said. “Laws like this would expose any unpopular industry to punitive taxes. It could be abortion clinics.”

Turley brings up a very good point. Several years ago, during Rob Zombie’s first tour as a solo artist, he held a concert in El Paso, TX and during this concert there were nude dancers on stage. Due to the broadness of the tax, Zombie’s performance, if done again, would be taxable under this new law. But he’s a performer giving a concert and there starts yet another battle. Can a law be applied selectively?

Where do you stand on this pole tax? Do you think it’s fair or justified? Does it unfairly link strip joints with sex crimes?

Since Monday, every time I checked the news blogs, databases, and feeds I’ve been hearing about the British teacher who allowed children to name a teddy bear Muhammad and was being tried for insulting Islam in Sudan. Today, a verdict was reached on the Muhammad teddy bear case, and although she got a light sentence there is still a lot of outrage about the incident.

The teacher, a British woman in Sudan by the name of Gillian Gibbons, had the children bring a teddy bear to school and the children decided to name it Muhammad. They each had to take it home at one point and keep a diary on the experiance. However, Islam regards the prophet Muhammad in the highest regard and disdains images made of him, even highly favorable ones, as it leads to idolatry in their belief. Gibbons was charged with insulting Islam and could have possibly received 5 months in jail or 40 lashes along with a fine. Instead she was convicted on a lesser charge and will only have to spend 15 days in jail instead and will be deported back to Britain upon release.

Many are calling this an outrage, with even the White House issuing a statement to that affect, but what many people are failing to see here is that what this woman did, whether unintentional or not, was breaking the law. In the United States, it doesn’t matter whether you’re from Jamaica, South Carolina, or France, if you break the law, whether knowingly or unknowingly, you have broken the law and will be held accountable. Your willful and knowingly breaking of the law will naturally accord you a harsher sentence and likewise, if you made the transgression in error it will be taken into account. That is what happened in this case, she unknowingly broke the law, the judge in the Sudan court took this into account and gave her a much lighter sentence. Since this made world news he could hardly let her walk away without sending out the message that foreigners will be given diplomatic immunity in their country to do what ever they so please.

To address the second popular point that people keep bringing up: “it was such a trivial matter and no offense was obviously intended”. The aforementioned statement is made when we judge another culture by our standards. Their beliefs and idols are not the same to us and in their opinion, insulting Muhammad is a high crime. Likewise, if a woman from China came to the US, had the children write in a diary why the president of the United States deserves to be murdered, she too would find herself up on charges in a flash. What, it’s not the same thing? The naming of a teddy bear after a holy figure and perpetuating the murder of a president? But by the Sudanese beliefs it is on the same level, that’s the point I’m trying to make here. This was a huge affront to their culture and beliefs, and she got a punishment that they felt fit the crime. End of story.

What people need to realize is that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, who your leader is, and what your beliefs and intentions are when you’re in another country. When you are in another country you play by their rules and you dance to their tune. If you want to step foot in another country you need to check your country’s privileges at the door and get ready to live in another country, because honey, you aren’t in Kansas anymore.