http://www.insanityshop.net Over 50. Overweight. Really Pissed Off. Wed, 04 Oct 2006 07:11:43 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Working my way back into doing this, after such a long silence. Funny, how computer meltdowns, hurricane aftermaths (even over a year after the event itself), and general family madness can rob you of the energy to sit down and write. I've missed it. I've been struggling with my ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=147 Bush and the NeoCons are intent on doing everything they can to deepen and expand the madness that's going on in the Middle East.  I have thoughts about that and I have a bunch of interesting references to point to on the subject.  It's a critically important subject, but I ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=146 As a follow-up to yesterday's grumbling about my computer, also known as "that which is about to be tossed from the second floor window", I offer this ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=145 (Entirely personal rant begins) I hate breaking promises to myself. When I started this site, I made what I thought to be a reasonable deal with Self (of whom I've written before): We'd not be stupid and assume that we could post multiple times daily, or even once a day. A hard ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=144  It's one of those things I probably shouldn't be doing. I wake up in the wee hours of the morning, always the time of day (night?) when I'm most susceptable to those kind of "gray" feelings, and I wander back to the infernal device to check my email and take a ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=143 There are things I just can't find the right words for, you know?  I feel a rant coming on, but right now, I'm a little too sick to my stomach to express myself clearly - at least at any length. I just found the time to sit down and read the ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=142 We knew all along, of course, that Arlen Specter (R-PA) wouldn't really try to do anything about the Administration's domestic spying program, despite his blustering pretense that he was going to force Bush and his gang to be accountable to the people. After all, he's one of them. This is, ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=139 Sometimes, Kinky Friedman is the most profound thinker in America: "The only thing wrong with Southern Baptists is that they don't hold 'em under long enough." Via AnimaMundi.  http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=138 Oh, damn it to hell... All right, a little geography lesson for those of you who aren't from Louisiana: First off, we're a little different than every other state in that we don't have "counties".  We have "parishes", a convention held over via a state constitution based on the Napoleanic Code. ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=137 I get into regular arguments with friends who are on "our side of the fence" politically and socially, mainly over their constant moaning about how America is "losing it" and how we might all have to move to Canada or the UK or somewhere else. If you don't know this ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=135 In today's New York Times' Op-Ed page, Paul Krugman nails the intent and dangers of the Bush administration so eloquently that I can't think of much to constructively add. Everybody and his brother in the blogging community (I refuse to use the -sphere word) is quoting the thing in its ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=134  ... and then I finished reading it. Thanks from New Orleans, Timmay. Link.  http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=133 So, here I am, collecting links - more depressing and/or infuriating stories about how we're being royally screwed by the powers that be. And it just hits me that I can't do it tonight. I just needed something to make me smile.  A few random searches on YouTube, and I come across ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=132 All right, this is going to be very difficult, so you'll have to pay close attention.  It's important. The internet is a series of tubes. Yes, you read that correctly. It's a series of tubes, and when those tubes get full, your mail can't get through. Now, at this point, I need ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=131  Once upon a time, I wouldn't miss an episode of the wonderful TechTV flagship program, The Screen Savers. No, I'm not going to provide a link, because when Paul Allen sold the little cable network, their programming became game-oriented, "cool youth" obsessed - and pointless and boring. Megan Morrone was a ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=129  Thanks to DJ Allyn from Grouchy's Liberaltopia for posting this.  He's exactly right, of course: The main hold that the Republican Party has on this country is their amazingly effective use of fear - fear of what we (the 'bad people') would do, should we be allowed into power again. For ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=128  I'm so glad someone said this.  One of the things that's been worrying me for a long time is how liberals/progressives/wingnuts-like-me tend to rely so heavily on the label of "incompetent" in their critiques of President Bushit. This is a serious mistake, and it's going to cost us this year ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=127  Seymore Hersh has an excellent article on the struggle between Bush and the military over his obvious intentions with regard to Iran. It's well worth reading the whole piece. It should go without saying at this point, but it still bears repeating: Bush needs war. What stands out most profoundly, for ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=126  ...and the video from the last item, of course, got me to looking for more Shatner stuff on YouTube. Which led me to this parody of one of my favorite movies, Se7en, with Shatner playing pretty much all of the roles. If I got a box with that in it...    http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=125  I needed this, after several days of dealing with a thousand little system dings, all precipitated by installing the newest version of Java's Runtime Environment. I'm not blaming Java - somewhere along the line, I probably screwed something up, and had to pay the price. Big price, by the way.  Four ... http://www.insanityshop.net/?p=124