I found this site again...
http://www.politicalcompass.org/
I'm
Economic Left/Right: -2.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.44
What are you?
***Edit***
And my hubby is
Economic Left/Right: -7.63
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.36
{grin} I love that my hubby is further left than I am.
Friday, February 25, 2005
What? You don't read binary?
01001001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01101110 01100100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101110 01111001 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100010 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00111111 00100000 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01110011 01101111 00100000 01100111 01101100 01100001 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01000110 01110010 01101001 01100100 01100001 01111001 00101110 00100000 00100000 01001000 01101111 01110000 01100101 01100110 01110101 01101100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110111 01100101 01100101 01101011 00100000 01001010 00100000 00100110 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101100 01100101 01100001 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110000 01100001 01100011 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01100101 00111011 00100000 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01110111 01101001 01110011 01100101 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01110100 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110011 01100011 01110010 01100101 01110111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101100 01110010 01100101 01100001 01100100 01111001 00101110 00100000 00100000 01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01100100 01100001 01111001 01110011 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01100101 01100001 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110 00100000 00100000 00101010 01110011 01101001 01100111 01101000 00101010 00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100100 01110010 01101001 01101110 01101011 00101110 00100000 00100000
Thursday, February 24, 2005
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
wow, okay, not to get all political, but this actually made me laugh out loud, so I thought I'd pass it along.
Rush Limbaugh singing
(it really is amazingly well done)
Rush Limbaugh singing
(it really is amazingly well done)
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
I like facts.
I'd like to see a website/book that is dedicated to doing nothing BUT listing claims and facts like this.
CLAIM: “I don’t think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 5/16/02
FACT: On August 6, 2001, the President personally “received a one-and-a-half page briefing advising him that Osama bin Laden was capable of a major strike against the US, and that the plot could include the hijacking of an American airplane.” In July 2001, the Administration was also told that terrorists had explored using airplanes as missiles. [Source: NBC, 9/10/02; LA Times, 9/27/01]
CLAIM: In May 2002, Rice held a press conference to defend the Administration from new revelations that the President had been explicitly warned about an al Qaeda threat to airlines in August 2001. She “suggested that Bush had requested the briefing because of his keen concern about elevated terrorist threat levels that summer.” [Source: Washington Post, 3/25/04]
FACT: According to the CIA, the briefing “was not requested by President Bush.” As commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste disclosed, “the CIA informed the panel that the author of the briefing does not recall such a request from Bush and that the idea to compile the briefing came from within the CIA.” [Source: Washington Post, 3/25/04]
CLAIM: “In June and July when the threat spikes were so high…we were at battle stations.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: “Documents indicate that before Sept. 11, Ashcroft did not give terrorism top billing in his strategic plans for the Justice Department, which includes the FBI. A draft of Ashcroft’s ‘Strategic Plan’ from Aug. 9, 2001, does not put fighting terrorism as one of the department’s seven goals, ranking it as a sub-goal beneath gun violence and drugs. By contrast, in April 2000, Ashcroft’s predecessor, Janet Reno, called terrorism ‘the most challenging threat in the criminal justice area.’” Meanwhile, the Bush Administration decided to terminate “a highly classified program to monitor Al Qaeda suspects in the United States.” [Source: Washington Post, 3/22/04; Newsweek, 3/21/04]
CLAIM: “The fact of the matter is [that] the administration focused on this before 9/11.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: President Bush and Vice President Cheney’s counterterrorism task force, which was created in May, never convened one single meeting. The President himself admitted that “I didn’t feel the sense of urgency” about terrorism before 9/11. [Source: Washington Post, 1/20/02; Bob Woodward’s “Bush at War”]
CLAIM: “Our [pre-9/11 NSPD] plan called for military options to attack al Qaeda and Taliban leadership, ground forces and other targets — taking the fight to the enemy where he lived.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: 9/11 Commissioner Gorelick: “There is nothing in the NSPD that came out that we could find that had an invasion plan, a military plan.” Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage: “Right.” Gorelick: “Is it true, as Dr. Rice said, ‘Our plan called for military options to attack Al Qaida and Taliban leadership’?” Armitage: “No, I think that was amended after the horror of 9/11.” [Source: 9/11 Commission testimony, 3/24/04]
Condi Rice on Pre-9/11 Counterterrorism Funding
CLAIM: “The president increased counterterrorism funding several-fold” before 9/11. – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/24/04
FACT: According to internal government documents, the first full Bush budget for FY2003 “did not endorse F.B.I. requests for $58 million for 149 new counterterrorism field agents, 200 intelligence analysts and 54 additional translators” and “proposed a $65 million cut for the program that gives state and local counterterrorism grants.” Newsweek noted the Administration “vetoed a request to divert $800 million from missile defense into counterterrorism.” [Source: New York Times, 2/28/04; Newsweek, 5/27/02]
Richard Clarke’s Concerns
CLAIM: “Richard Clarke had plenty of opportunities to tell us in the administration that he thought the war on terrorism was moving in the wrong direction and he chose not to.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: Clarke sent a memo to Rice principals on 1/24/01 marked “urgent” asking for a Cabinet-level meeting to deal with an impending al Qaeda attack. The White House acknowledges this, but says “principals did not need to have a formal meeting to discuss the threat.” No meeting occurred until one week before 9/11. [Source: CBS 60 Minutes, 3/24/04; White House Press Release, 3/21/04
CLAIM: “No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: “On January 25th, 2001, Clarke forwarded his December 2000 strategy paper and a copy of his 1998 Delenda plan to the new national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.” – 9/11 Commission staff report, 3/24/04
Response to 9/11
CLAIM: “The president launched an aggressive response after 9/11.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: “In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows. The papers show that Ashcroft ranked counterterrorism efforts as a lower priority than his predecessor did, and that he resisted FBI requests for more counterterrorism funding before and immediately after the attacks.” [Source: Washington Post, 3/22/04]
9/11 and Iraq Invasion Plans
CLAIM: “Not a single National Security Council principal at that meeting recommended to the president going after Iraq. The president thought about it. The next day he told me Iraq is to the side.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: According to the Washington Post, “six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush signed a 2-and-a-half-page document marked ‘TOP SECRET’” that “directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq.” This is corroborated by a CBS News, which reported on 9/4/02 that five hours after the 9/11 attacks, “Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq.” [Source: Washington Post, 1/12/03. CBS News, 9/4/02]
Iraq and WMD
CLAIM: “It’s not as if anybody believes that Saddam Hussein was without weapons of mass destruction.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/18/04
FACT: The Bush Administration’s top weapons inspector David Kay “resigned his post in January, saying he did not believe banned stockpiles existed before the invasion” and has urged the Bush Administration to “come clean” about misleading America about the WMD threat. [Source: Chicago Tribune, 3/24/04; UK Guardian, 3/3/04]
9/11-al Qaeda-Iraq Link
CLAIM: “The president returned to the White House and called me in and said, I’ve learned from George Tenet that there is no evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.” – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: If this is true, then why did the President and Vice President repeatedly claim Saddam Hussein was directly connected to 9/11? President Bush sent a letter to Congress on 3/19/03 saying that the Iraq war was permitted specifically under legislation that authorized force against “nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11.” Similarly, Vice President Cheney said on 9/14/03 that “It is not surprising that people make that connection” between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks, and said “we don’t know” if there is a connection. [Source: BBC, 9/14/03]
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
I thought this made some excellent points...
Would love to hear what you, my friends, think about it.
Wednesday, 16 February 2005
Hypocrisy
Topic: State Of The Union
The Indy Voice has been pondering the inaugural address given by our President. I see shadows of the truth and much hypocrisy in statements like this,
"For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
...All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors."
The large division that has been created between the liberals and conservatives over Iraq has been needless and almost a simple matter of miscommunication. The ideologies and foreign polices that George W. Bush is promoting are extremely similar to those of the 1960's liberals in their quest against communism vis-a-vis the domino theory. Liberals in the 1960's were the hawks that the conservatives railed against.
Conservatism once stood for prudence and practicality, not conflict based upon an ideology. When the liberals that stood firmly with the President following 9/11 broke from him, they did so not based on an ideology but rather because it was the pragmatic thing to do. Liberals were not decrying the use of violence in all its forms nor were they railing against war based on philosophy of dovishness. Liberals have and were trying to say that Iraq was a country that the United States should be concerned with but not a country that we should war with. Iraq posed no threat through either intent or ability to the security of the United States. Liberals knew it then definitively and now the rest of the world knows it unequivocally. Liberals are and were trying to say that we need to take a practical approach to defeating terrorism. Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia do and did pose more of a significant threat to the security of the United States than Iraq. Liberals have lately been promoting a foreign policy reminiscent of the main street conservatives.
The first step that a main street conservative would take in defeating terrorism is to understand the implications of the actions our country has taken in the world. Take a good look at our country in the mirror and ask if you like what you see. Think about a country of 5% of the total world population militarily dominating and extending into areas of the world that even the Romans could not justify or maintain. Ask yourself if its either hypocritical or important to maintain a foreign policy of allying with tyrannical kingdoms like Saudi Arabia for the sake of oil.
The next step that a main street conservative would take is to understand our enemy. We should ask why someone would die in a suicidal act against our country. The answer, if we do attempt to ask the question, is of incomparable significance. People do not take upon a mission of certain death because the don't like McDonalds, women without head coverings, apple pie or freedom. They decide to die because they believe that our actions and policies have directly led to their suffering and through their death they may be able to instigate a resolution. Courage would be admitting to ourselves that there may be some truth to that. Changing would not condone their behavior but it would make us a people willing to question themselves and a nation strong enough to face the implications of the answer.
The answer is that we can never let violence, injustice, hypocrisy and hatred breathe. That means that when we see injustice, whether at our hands, a terrorists or a kingdom that sells us oil, we need to raise a wall of impenetrability against it. It also means sacrifice, patience and resolve. When it becomes tempting to act just like those that perpetrate violence for political ends we need to pledge that we will exhaust every alternative first. That will require facing the hard realities that we have been avoiding for some time. This is the essence of the division between the modern day conservatives and liberals. Words are empty. Strength lies in accepting complicity for our actions and defying injustice and hypocrisy no matter whose flag it's flying under.
Posted by The Indy Voice
Hypocrisy
Topic: State Of The Union
The Indy Voice has been pondering the inaugural address given by our President. I see shadows of the truth and much hypocrisy in statements like this,
"For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
...All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors."
The large division that has been created between the liberals and conservatives over Iraq has been needless and almost a simple matter of miscommunication. The ideologies and foreign polices that George W. Bush is promoting are extremely similar to those of the 1960's liberals in their quest against communism vis-a-vis the domino theory. Liberals in the 1960's were the hawks that the conservatives railed against.
Conservatism once stood for prudence and practicality, not conflict based upon an ideology. When the liberals that stood firmly with the President following 9/11 broke from him, they did so not based on an ideology but rather because it was the pragmatic thing to do. Liberals were not decrying the use of violence in all its forms nor were they railing against war based on philosophy of dovishness. Liberals have and were trying to say that Iraq was a country that the United States should be concerned with but not a country that we should war with. Iraq posed no threat through either intent or ability to the security of the United States. Liberals knew it then definitively and now the rest of the world knows it unequivocally. Liberals are and were trying to say that we need to take a practical approach to defeating terrorism. Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia do and did pose more of a significant threat to the security of the United States than Iraq. Liberals have lately been promoting a foreign policy reminiscent of the main street conservatives.
The first step that a main street conservative would take in defeating terrorism is to understand the implications of the actions our country has taken in the world. Take a good look at our country in the mirror and ask if you like what you see. Think about a country of 5% of the total world population militarily dominating and extending into areas of the world that even the Romans could not justify or maintain. Ask yourself if its either hypocritical or important to maintain a foreign policy of allying with tyrannical kingdoms like Saudi Arabia for the sake of oil.
The next step that a main street conservative would take is to understand our enemy. We should ask why someone would die in a suicidal act against our country. The answer, if we do attempt to ask the question, is of incomparable significance. People do not take upon a mission of certain death because the don't like McDonalds, women without head coverings, apple pie or freedom. They decide to die because they believe that our actions and policies have directly led to their suffering and through their death they may be able to instigate a resolution. Courage would be admitting to ourselves that there may be some truth to that. Changing would not condone their behavior but it would make us a people willing to question themselves and a nation strong enough to face the implications of the answer.
The answer is that we can never let violence, injustice, hypocrisy and hatred breathe. That means that when we see injustice, whether at our hands, a terrorists or a kingdom that sells us oil, we need to raise a wall of impenetrability against it. It also means sacrifice, patience and resolve. When it becomes tempting to act just like those that perpetrate violence for political ends we need to pledge that we will exhaust every alternative first. That will require facing the hard realities that we have been avoiding for some time. This is the essence of the division between the modern day conservatives and liberals. Words are empty. Strength lies in accepting complicity for our actions and defying injustice and hypocrisy no matter whose flag it's flying under.
Posted by The Indy Voice
Sunday, February 20, 2005
pillow talk
I have a love-hate relationship with our mattress. It's a firm one with a memory-foam-type stuff pillowtop. I find it wonderfully comfy... but it has a dark side.
Sheets don't stay on.
We use a mattress pad, because otherwise I get all sweaty being up against a mattress that doesn't breathe well - but that doesn't seem to make a difference. Getting those stretchy things that clip on to keep your sheets on your mattress only delayed the inevitable. It's a very thick mattress; I've gotten two or three DEEP POCKET sheets - which again, only delay the inevitable. It only comes up on one side... at the moment, the side I'm sleeping on. (J & I switched recently) I can't wait until we move and I can rearrange the bedroom so that I can GET to all the corners more easily - I'm just doomed to have to pull the sheets back over to my side of the bed and tuck the corners down daily. I'm curious as to why it's only this one corner? It doesn't come up on any other corner...
Sheets don't stay on.
We use a mattress pad, because otherwise I get all sweaty being up against a mattress that doesn't breathe well - but that doesn't seem to make a difference. Getting those stretchy things that clip on to keep your sheets on your mattress only delayed the inevitable. It's a very thick mattress; I've gotten two or three DEEP POCKET sheets - which again, only delay the inevitable. It only comes up on one side... at the moment, the side I'm sleeping on. (J & I switched recently) I can't wait until we move and I can rearrange the bedroom so that I can GET to all the corners more easily - I'm just doomed to have to pull the sheets back over to my side of the bed and tuck the corners down daily. I'm curious as to why it's only this one corner? It doesn't come up on any other corner...
Saturday, February 19, 2005
J knows me so well...
He thought I'd find this interesting. I do. It's absolutely amazing. Go read it yourself:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html
Friday, February 18, 2005
I forgot my mantra!
Wow, the last several days I've been trying to motivate myself, and I might as well be trying to move a recalcitrant elephant with a crowbar. (No fat jokes, please.) Part of the problem is probably lack of sleep. It's hard to have much energy when you're in a mental fog. The sad thing is, I can't really blame it on the kids - I just need to go to bed earlier!
Today I decided to let Moira and Christian watch Fantasia; hopefully the downtime I get will recharge my patience batteries, as they're dead at the moment, and I don't need to take it out on the kids.
I have all sorts of things I want (and need) to do; let's see if I can get my motor cranked. Anybody got good suggestions on jumpstarting?
Today I decided to let Moira and Christian watch Fantasia; hopefully the downtime I get will recharge my patience batteries, as they're dead at the moment, and I don't need to take it out on the kids.
I have all sorts of things I want (and need) to do; let's see if I can get my motor cranked. Anybody got good suggestions on jumpstarting?
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
out of the blue 2 am M update:
101.3 and throwing up. Not a fun way to spend the night, poor thing.
***Edit***
And 104.3 is not a fun way to spend the afternoon.
***Edit***
And 104.3 is not a fun way to spend the afternoon.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Ok I admit it... here is the REAL reason I have trouble relaxing:
A guilty conscience.
My list of things to do/projects to start and/or finish keeps getting longer every day. Here's a taste of what I'm talking about:
set up my webpages
set up webpages for the kids
sort thru box of pictures, pictures on hard drive, etc. & organize all into albums & start scrapbooks for births, wedding
sort thru and organize all our belongings, pack so we can move and then have garage sale & set up new house with everything in its place
enter all our books into the Delicious Library program
teach myself mandolin (gotta find instruction book)
start practicing piano again
teach myself French (and German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Gaelic, Welsh... I think there were more but I can't remember them right now)
learn to dance
set up budget that includes renters insurance, life insurance policies, college funds, saving for a house, travel (particularly to Matthew & Erin's wedding)...
plant garden (herbs, tomatoes, corn, green beans, okra, peppers, zuchinni, squash, etc.)
clean up my parents' pool so we can all use it this summer
clean up property in Havana so we can build a house out there at some point
wash cars (inside too)
set up sewing machine so I can get started on my sewing projects (clothing, quilts, etc.)
lose 100 lbs
make more felt cutouts for the kids' felt storyboard wall
learn woodworking
practice my pottery skills, make a set of dishes for home use
learn how to make icing roses (make more decorative cakes)
find and finish corkboard made out of corks from wine I've drunk
make photo album presents for J's mom & grandparents
that's all I could think of in five minutes or so. I'm sure there's more. I need to win the lottery - if time is money, then money helps create time... either that or I need 40 hours in every day. Maybe both. OOOH, I know what - I can clone myself. That way J can have one of me, my parents can have one of me, the kids can have one of me, one of me can go travel, one of me can work, one of me can study (okay, several of me can study)....
My list of things to do/projects to start and/or finish keeps getting longer every day. Here's a taste of what I'm talking about:
set up my webpages
set up webpages for the kids
sort thru box of pictures, pictures on hard drive, etc. & organize all into albums & start scrapbooks for births, wedding
sort thru and organize all our belongings, pack so we can move and then have garage sale & set up new house with everything in its place
enter all our books into the Delicious Library program
teach myself mandolin (gotta find instruction book)
start practicing piano again
teach myself French (and German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Gaelic, Welsh... I think there were more but I can't remember them right now)
learn to dance
set up budget that includes renters insurance, life insurance policies, college funds, saving for a house, travel (particularly to Matthew & Erin's wedding)...
plant garden (herbs, tomatoes, corn, green beans, okra, peppers, zuchinni, squash, etc.)
clean up my parents' pool so we can all use it this summer
clean up property in Havana so we can build a house out there at some point
wash cars (inside too)
set up sewing machine so I can get started on my sewing projects (clothing, quilts, etc.)
lose 100 lbs
make more felt cutouts for the kids' felt storyboard wall
learn woodworking
practice my pottery skills, make a set of dishes for home use
learn how to make icing roses (make more decorative cakes)
find and finish corkboard made out of corks from wine I've drunk
make photo album presents for J's mom & grandparents
that's all I could think of in five minutes or so. I'm sure there's more. I need to win the lottery - if time is money, then money helps create time... either that or I need 40 hours in every day. Maybe both. OOOH, I know what - I can clone myself. That way J can have one of me, my parents can have one of me, the kids can have one of me, one of me can go travel, one of me can work, one of me can study (okay, several of me can study)....
Monday, February 14, 2005
And people wonder why I can't relax...
It's because I have these spawn of Shelob living in the stuff in my garage. For the curious, this is a lovely example of a female Heteropoda venatoria, otherwise known as a Huntsman spider.
Her body was as big as my thumb, and her legspan made her total size bigger than my palm. And she was FAST.
I'm looking forward to moving.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)