I am getting so ass tired of people with immature political views who go around yankerin' and yammerin' "the country is going down the drain because of the Republicans," "the country is going down the drain because of the George Bush," etc. etc. These people are the lemmings of American society who have allowed them to be influenced by one point of view. I'm no fan of Shrub, but I have seen the country go down the drain since the second presidency of Slick Willy Clinton. Clinton was not a bad president, but he is the one who made not being accountable in style... "What is "is"?" etc., etc., coming up with totally whacked out implausible conspiracy theories about this and that. My favorite one is that Pres. Bush ordered the levies protecting that wetland swamp where New Orleans is situated blown up because he hates black people (Spike Lee came up with that gem)...just like the gem brought up one congressman several years ago said that the sharks which make their home in the Atlantic Ocean still instinctively know the ship routes where the black slaves were transported from Africa as the blood of blacks was spilled along the way.

Did Jessica Simpson EVER have a voice? Or talent, for that matter?

NEW YORK - (AP) Talk about bad timing. At the start of a media blitz to support her new album, "A Public Affair," Jessica Simpson is on vocal rest. "It is true that she has indeed lost her voice," Simpson's publicist, Rob Shuter, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "She's been ordered to rest. ... She can talk, she can croak out a few sentences. She sounds a little off, but, you know, she can't sing."

Simpson, 26, fell ill Friday and has "a strain, a bruise on her vocal cord," Shuter told the AP. She canceled a planned appearance on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" this week but was to appear on MTV's "Total Request Live" on Tuesday afternoon to promote the album — but not sing, Shuter said. Simpson hopes her condition improves by Friday, when she is scheduled to perform on NBC's "Today" show, he said. "She's trying," Shuter said. "Everybody is hoping and keeping their fingers crossed."

Now I'm really going to come off as a heartless dweeb with no sense of propriety:

Remember the old "Dr. Pepper" jingle? ("I'm a Pepper. He's a pepper. She's a pepper. We're a pepper. Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too? Dr. Pepper") Being subject to all of the one year memorials for Hurricane Katrina it occurred to me that we could be done with it all if everyone would just sing at the top of their voices, "I'm a victim. He's a victim. She's a victim. We're a victim. Wouldn't you like to be a victim too?"

These days EVERYONE loves to be a victim. A victim of racial or sexual discrimination. A victim of this and a victim of that. What happened to the America that just sucked it up? Huh? You never hear those of the Depression/World War II era bitchin' and moanin' how bad they had it. They dealt with their misery and just went on living productive lives no matter what crap life had thrown at them. It comes down to these people just need to get their shit together and rebuild than spending all of the time and energy complaining how bad they had it. Other parts of the country have had their disasters (granted, not with the magnitude of Katrina).

NEW ORLEANS - Bells tolled in this shattered city Tuesday morning, marking the moment one year earlier when New Orleans' levees buckled and unleashed a torrent of water that ripped homes from their foundations and sent tens of thousands of residents into an uncertain exile.

I have always argued that Xanax (a widely prescribed tranquilizer) needs to be added to the water supply in addition to a copious amount of Prozac (a widely prescribed antidepressant). In one day how there could be so many airplane passenger incidents in this terrible new world is beyond me (from the Associated Press):

_A college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina contained dynamite, authorities said, in one of six security incidents Friday that caused U.S. flights to be diverted, evacuated or searched. Federal authorities were investigating why the student, who got off the Continental plane in Houston before it continued to Newark, N.J., had the explosive residue, FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said. She said the student did not appear to be connected to terrorism. Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said the man told authorities he works in mining and often handles explosives. Longoria said federal officials were investigating whether the explanation was true. In Houston, the dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Flight 52 landed at about 6 a.m. Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said a bomb-sniffing dog "had a hit" on explosive residue during a further search.

In other incidents:

_An American Airlines flight from England to Chicago was forced to land in Bangor, Maine, in response to an unspecified threat, authorities said. Passengers deplaned and were led to a holding area, said airport manager Rebecca Hupp. The jetliner was on the tarmac with its engines shut off.

_A US Airways jet was diverted to Oklahoma City after a federal air marshal subdued a disruptive passenger who had pushed a flight attendant, the FBI said.

_A Continental Airlines flight from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Bakersfield, Calif., was held in El Paso, one of its scheduled stops, after the crew discovered a missing panel in the lavatory, authorities said.

_A utility knife was found on a vacant passenger seat of a US Airways flight traveling from Philadelphia to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, state police said.

_An Aer Lingus flight from New York to Dublin was evacuated Friday morning during a scheduled stopover in western Ireland following a bomb threat that turned out to be unfounded, officials said.

Pilots and flight attendants are now trained to view passengers who appear to be crazy as potential terrorists, Breslin said. But even if a disruptive passenger isn't a terrorist, "who knows what kind of havoc he could wreak on a closed pressurized tube at 39,000 feet?" he said.

In Oklahoma City, the passenger who pushed the flight attendant on the US Airways flight was taken into custody after the plane landed at Will Rogers World Airport, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. He was undergoing a mental evaluation, and authorities had yet to determine what criminal charges he might face. The twin-engine jet returned to flight three hours later on its trip from Phoenix to Charlotte, N.C.

Back in Texas, the crew of Continental Airlines Flight 2258 discovered a missing panel in the lavatory, and passengers were being screened and interviewed upon landing in El Paso, the TSA's Amy von Walter said.

Genuine listening means
suspending memory,
desire, and judgement
for a few moments at least,
and existing for the other person.

Michael P. Nichols

I actually saw someone on television with a worse name than mine!

Suwat Thamronsrisakul

He's the chief of police with the Thailand Immigration Service and was featured in a news conference with Thai authorities regarding the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey.

In light of the terrorist plot to blow up airliners in Great Britain, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff was on Bill O'Reilly's show tonight. What rubbish that Americans have now to be put through more security screenings when our territorial borders are being compromised by millions upon millions of illegal Mexicans citizens.
I submitted the following note to the show:

Watching Homeland Secretary Chertoff spin out of control was downright frightening. All of the reverse engineering of homemade terrorist bombs and heightened airport security screenings don't mean a hill of beans until the borders with Mexico (and Canada) are sealed air tight. Chertoff's empty words are nothing but window dressing on the Bush administration's failure to uphold U.S. laws and protect its citizens since our rude wakeup call of September 11th. Mr. Chertoff, you can fool some of the people some of the time, not all of the people all of the time.

Ivars Bezdechi
San Diego, CA

A web site called SustainLane.com each year puts America's 50 largest cities into a natural disaster index with its Sustainable U.S. City Ranking.

At the top of the list are cities relatively immune to the brunt of nature. Near the bottom are those in the cross hairs of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis or some other force to be reckoned with. Note my commentaries after the city names.

This year's list (*=tie):

1. Mesa, AZ* / Never mind that you can FRY
1. Milwaukee, WI* / Never mind that you can FREEZE TO DEATH
3. Cleveland, OH* / Never mind that you can be SHOT TO DEATH
3. El Paso, TX* / Never mind that you can FRY
3. Phoenix, AZ* / Never mind that you can FRY
3. Tucson, AZ* / Never mind that you can FRY
7. Colorado Springs, CO
8. Detroit, MI / Never mind that you can be robbed and killed by gangs
8. Fresno, CA
8. Minneapolis, MN / Never mind that you can FREEZE TO DEATH
8. Philadelphia, PA / Never mind that you can FREEZE TO DEATH
12. Chicago, IL / Never mind that you can FREEZE TO DEATH
13. Denver, CO
14. Albuquerque, NM / Never mind that you can FRY
15. Las Vegas, NV / Never mind that you can FRY
16. San Antonio, TX / Never mind that you can FRY
17. Nashville, TN
18. Atlanta, GA
19. Omaha, NE
20. Austin, TX
21. Kansas City, MO
22. Arlington, TX
22. Dallas, TX
22. Fort Worth, TX
25. Indianapolis, IN
26. Louisville, KY
27. Washington, DC / Never mind that you can be robbed and killed by gangs
28. Baltimore, MD / Never mind that you can be robbed and killed by gangs
29. Charlotte, NC
30. Portland, OR / Never mind that you are taxed to death and have moss grow on you
31. San Diego, CA / Perfection!
32. Boston, MA*
32. Jacksonville, FL*
32. New York, NY*
35. Memphis, TN*
35. Seattle, WA*
35. Virginia Beach, VA* / You are in the same city as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson
38. Sacramento, CA
39. Columbus, OH*
39. Oklahoma City, OK*
39. Tulsa, OK*
42. Long Beach, CA
43. Houston, TX*
43. Los Angeles, CA* / Never mind that you can be robbed and killed by gangs
45. San Jose, CA
46. Honolulu, HI
47. San Francisco, CA
48. Oakland, CA
49. New Orleans, LA
50. Miami, FL

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sent President Vaira Vike-Freiberga a letter in which she expresses concern over plans to ban the sale of Coca-Cola in Latvia’s schools. Vike-Freiberga’s spokeswoman, Aiva Rozenberga, said the letter has been passed on to the Latvian Health Ministry with a request to provide an opinion. In her letter, Albright criticizes the decision for singling out a single producer – the U.S. company Coca-Cola. The draft provisions, announced at a meeting of state secretaries, would prohibit selling schoolchildren drinks containing unnatural coloring, sweeteners, preservatives, caffeine and amino acids.

Gosh, could Madeleine Quarterbright now that she is out of office be in the pocketbook of Coca-Cola Corporation? Nahhhhhh.... All Democrats are upstanding individuals who NEVER EVER compromise themselves to major corporate interests when they are out of office...or even in office. Democrats are ALWAYS for the common man and NEVER compromise their ethics....only Republicans would sell out themselves.

At least so many of my far left Democrat lemming friends would try to convince me....