Category: Rambling

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Update (Fri, 6/29): The anonymous contributor who wrote the bit about Nancy Benoit’s death seems to have spoken at last. He claims it was all a coincidence, so apparently I was wrong. But, was I? I still think that this contributor, whoever he or she is, is going to get a visit by Stamford police, once they’ve tracked the person down. At the very least, I feel they’ll get a statement from the person. If it goes further than that, we’ll find out.

I know I said I’d speak more about the Veep today, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Now, I’m not a professional wrestling watching guy. I’ve only seen it a few times, and really haven’t liked what I’ve seen. Steroid slurping guys beating each over the head, all for a pre-determined outcome just doesn’t do it for me. However, I can’t get past that many of them seem to have died because of what they do.

The latest death of a wrestler is that of Chris Benoit. This thing is a mystery like I’ve never seen. On the surface, it seems simple. Guy takes steroids, alcohol, and maybe drugs. Gets angry, or mentally diseased, kills wife and son, and then hangs himself. Simple, right? Case in the bag, right? Maybe not so much.

It’s now been revealed in the media (and anyone with a working knowledge of Wikipedia can look this up themselves), someone altered his Wikipedia article at 12:01am on Monday, 14 hours before the bodies were found. This is either the biggest the world has ever seen, or somebody else knows what’s going on. Now, I’m not going to second guess the police, but if someone did have knowledge of these deaths, the Stamford (, CT, where the posting took place from) police need to find out who it is. Even if it was just a coincidence, somebody in Stamford just found themselves in between a rock and a tight place. And no, it cannot have been Benoit who did it, as he hails from, and was found dead in, Georgia.

What with his doctor’s (who prescribed him testosterone) office being raided, and the new wife of Benoit’s wife’s ex-husband found dead 10 days before the Benoit family (though this is one that is more acceptable as a coincidence), the mystery just gets deeper. I think that we may find out someone knew something was wrong with the Benoit family. How much they knew, I can’t tell.

In all of this, I feel most sorry for the son, who has a severe medical condition, and which reportedly had his parents fighting over how to treat him. The son hardly deserved for his life to be cut short. It is a shame. Obviously, unless we find out something else, I don’t really feel sorry for Benoit.

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I’ve heard this story before, but now that I see what seems to be all the details, I now think more than ever that this place is a disgusting example of bad horrible health care.

The subject of tonight’s entry is the Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital of Los Angeles, California. The incident in particular I speak of concerns Edith Isabel Rodriguez, who died in the hospital last month while pleading with the hospital staff for help with pain in her stomach. She had apparently been previously seen by doctors, who diagnosed her with gallstones, gave her a prescription, and sent her on her merry way. However, this time was different, and to save the easily woozy their lunch, I’ll continue on the flip side.

Continue reading →

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No, I’m not talking about WWI or WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq 1, Bosnia, Afghanistan, or Iraq 2. I don’t mean the Cold War, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, or the French and Indian War. I’m talking about the war between Mac and PC. Or rather, those who would fight in that war.

Mac – Hi, I’m a a Mac.
PC – And I’m a PC.
Me – And I’m starting not to care anymore.

Nothing against Apple, or the plethora of PC manufacturers. They’re not the strike troops in this war. No, it’s the users. Those who use PC and Macs, Windows and Mac OS (and occasionally popping up, Linux) are the ones who are getting to me. Now, I’m not talking about the average PC or Mac user. They, I think, are rather unaffected, and perhaps unaware of this war. No, it’s the fanboys and girls I’m talking about. See, I cannot go into a message board topic related to Mac or PC these days without seeing an argument inevitably erupt. It’s always the same, circular argument that nobody ever wins, because there can be no winner in this war. Yet, somehow, the fanpeople will argue as though they think they can win coverts. It’s starting to piss me off.

Yea, yea, I know. I can stay away from the topics. I just want to know why they start in the first place? Why must a simple question turn into a debate about which platform is better? Who cares? Just answer the question or get out. I don’t think think the original poster wants your rhetoric.

The latest argument I’m seeing involves the pricing between Mac and PC. I’ve seen it before, and I’ve actually taken some time to research. The fact is, you are paying for what you’re getting with Mac, just as you would with a PC. Mac just tends not to use some of the cheapo parts that you see in some of the lower-end PCs, so they end up being a bit more in cost. Now, I agree that Apple will never get some of the average joe web, email, and office suite users that PC gets, because those people simply just don’t need the extra power gotten out of the Mac. Yes, they are going to pay for that decision not to dish out more when the PC breaks faster. Though, from what I hear, some of the Mac components are getting worse in quality these days, so they might end of seeing breaks too.

No, I’m not a Mac-fanboy, but nor am I a PC-fanboy. I use both on a daily basis; Mac for video and audio editing, and some photo editing, and my own PC for other things. I like them both, and think that both have strengths and weaknesses. I am just starting to get sick of the arguments. Cut it out, fan-people, and grow up. There’s more to life than blindly defending your system of choice. Just accept that both pros and cons, and the world might be a little better for the wear. On the other hand, as long as the fan-person war continues, I don’t see a bright spot on the horizon.

In the process of making this post, I came up with an idea for a video. Probably already done, but I need to put my spin on it. I’ll keep you all updated.

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William Arkin is not on the top of my like list right now. A week ago on his blog, he called the troops mercenaries. Check it out:

But it is the United States, and the recent NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary – oops sorry, volunteer – force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.

The notion of dirty work is that, like laundry, it is something that has to be done but no one else wants to do it. But Iraq is not dirty work: it is not some necessary endeavor; the people just don’t believe that anymore.

The hell? That is just disgraceful. Now, I’m for free speech. You’ve may have read my entry defending people’s right to free speech to bash our dear President, even calling for his impeachment, during war time. Bash the President, Congress, administration, Rummy, DoD, the military as an institution, and even the (convicted) bad apples in our armed forces, but to group all our men and women serving overseas and label them as people who kill for money, I think is just wrong.

Yes, Arkin has his right to say this, but I just think the characterization is wrong, plain wrong, and disgraceful, and will only hurt him. So, his calls them mercenaries. Gets a lot of flack for it? What does he do then? Claims it was to promote debate.

I intentionally chose to criticize the military and used the word to incite and call into question their presumption that the public had a duty to support them. The public has duties, but not to the American military.

Mmm, I’m not sure about that. What the American public doesn’t have a duty to support is any member of the military that would bring disgrace to this country, as some have, and they have been rightly punished for doing so. However, the vast majority are good people, over there risking their lives, and whether or not this war is right or wrong is irrelevant to that fact. They choose to enlist, yes, but not where they go. Unless they’re doing something wrong, they deserve our support.

It was seem that most of his original article was about some troops who are angry that people who may support the troops don’t necessarily support the war. That I have a problem with, and I recently wrote about it. On the other hand, Arkin could have written his article without that inflammatory language, and still have gotten his point across. To end, and get my own point across, I’ll share one comment I particularly likeed on his latest entry:

Mr Arkin – My gripe with you is the same one that I have with most self-centered individuals…it’s not what you did; it’s how you did it. You could have written the same article and made the same points without insulting the American troops or our intelligence. But then you probably wouldn’t have seen your name all over the TV screen, would you? And in your mind, even bad press is good press; isn’t it? Well, congrats on that one. I’m sure your Mom must be proud.

Jose Garza, commenter, Demonization and Responsibility

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O’Reilly is more or less saying you can’t bash Bush just because he’s a sitting President during wartime. He’s getting into a debate with a representative from Congress that talking about impeaching Bush is hurting the country. That it’s diverting attention from the real problem, Islamic extremists. Ugh. Read my entry from two times ago, since I don’t feel like explaining it again. But, I could easily say that calling for impeachment of Clinton was diverting attention from the real problems of uniting Europe after the fall of Communism, working on healthcare, and all of that. It is a person’s right to speak out if it’s not causing harm to people or calling for harm, or harming the country. Simply calling for impeachment (which I don’t think should happen, and never will, Democrats in power or not) is not causing harm.

So, this is probably going to be the process of things when I start reading Culture Warrior. I can see it now. But hey, at least I’ll update more often…maybe.

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Ridiculous. Apparently, Pat Robertson, that crazy old televangelist, is also a prophet. For this year’s predictions, he’s claimed that God has told him that terrorists will attack the U.S. this year. Not only that, but he’s also narrowed down a part of the year…sometime after September. He says that it will be a mass killing, and will affect millions.

This guy is a nutjob. Anyone else claiming that God speaks to them would be labeled a wacko or worse. Yet, as far as I’m aware, Robertson’s program The 700 Club gets tons of viewers. That’s a lot of men, women, and children being influenced by a guy who’s said a lot of crazy things, including the thing about Ariel Sharon’s illness being caused by God in response to the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, that the Pacific Northwest would be hit by a Tsunami, that his program has healed people (as in miracles), and that he can steer hurricanes.

I consider this man nothing more than a racist (against Muslims and Hindus), sexist (against feminism), homophobic psychopath who is guided by his own business interests. He’s greedy, insincere, and in my mind, is not a true Christian. His words are hurtful to a vast number of people (including our dear President, since Robertson also apparently thinks denominations such as the Methodists are the Antichrist), and it makes me go bonkers to think that this guy still has any programs on the air. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that ABC Family would be a lot better off without his show.

He seems to have something new, and more offensive every year, and he keeps coming back for more. It makes me sick to think that many people probably take his word as gospel. If he continues this kind of behavior, he’ll find himself increasingly isolated. After the Sharon thing, he’s already found himself partially sundered by his closest non-Christian ally, Israel. If this happens, I certainly won’t be weeping.

You’re a mean one, Mr. Robertson.

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If there’s anything I hate just as much as people trying to shove religion down someone’s throat, or people who are closed-minded to other ways of living one’s life, it’s people who are closed-minded to the fact that people may have a faith…which I suppose is a subset of the second thing I hate.

On one of the forums I help run, there was recently a debate over whether God exists. As always, these things never come to a conclusion, usually go in circles forty times over, and end up going rotten with the one or two people who get into a fight, although this one did not. Now, this entry isn’t about what I think about the issue (if you’re that curious, I’m somewhere between agnostic and athiest), but about the way people respond to the issue.

Usually, on one extreme, you have the full-fledged bible-thumping believers who make it their mission to preach everywhere they can. Then you have the people who don’t believe, never have believed, never will believe, and scorn those who do believe. Finally, you have everyone else somewhere in the middle. The person in question was somewhere closer to the latter extreme. He called those who believed “fools.” Now, I understand it’s his opinion, but I don’t think anyone who believes in God or attends church should be scorned as such. Doing so is just as bad as a bible-thumper telling someone they’ll rot in hell unless they accept Jesus Christ as their savior.

Luckily, most people are not like either extreme. They’ll respect someone’s choice to follow or not follow a faith. However, people who preach and/or scorn people for their beliefs bugs the living daylights out of me. Debate is good. Scorn is not, and only leads to problems further down the road. I was happy to see that the topic in question lasted without many problems, a first for that type of discussion on that forum.

Remember, tolerance and healthy debate. Not scorn.

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Well, I was going to write a long-winded entry about Katrina, but I think this guy’s entry pretty much sums it up for me. Small amount of profanity, so be warned.

I think the screw-ups are not limited to the federal government, as much as some people would like to think. There were problems from all levels of government, including the hundreds of NO buses sitting there doing nothing. Apparently, Nagin says there were no drivers, but surely, some of the buses could have been rounded up?

Another side I’m a bit angry at are these people who think they’re made of steel and can survive every hurricane. Do they not read? This thing was predicted to land as a Cat 5. It ended up being a Cat 4, but regardless, no matter how strong your leeves are, if you can get out, GET OUT. That should not be a question for these kinds of storms.

Katrina also showed that racism indeed in still rampant in that part of the country. The amount of stories I read by black citizens who were barred (mostly by police) from leaving the city is astonishing. I meant to post up a link to a recent story citing the reason the authorities didn’t allow some people to leave because they feared crime in other neighborhoods, but I’m having trouble finding it now. I’ll post it up next time, since I’ll hopefully have found it by then. Apart from any during-Katrina immorality, the city’s Lower 9th Ward, among other sections, still has yet to be rebuilt, meaning thousands are stranded in other cities…still! A year later!

So I’m not viewing all this in a pessimistic way, at least the resolve of those who have returned to NOLA couldn’t be shattered by the hurricane. It is good that the historic city was not completely lost in the storm. I have hope that it will return to its former prosperity, albeit gradually (even if I do think that remaining on that pile of sand is not too wise for what could happen in the not-too-distant future if another storm hits).

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Here is it, the one day for the next 100 years that people with Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia fear the most. They of course have nothing to fear if the real number is actually 616, but that’s difficult to tell.

Anyway, I post because, if you don’t know, some people are not taking the day sitting down. That’s right! The little hamlet of Hell, Michigan is partying today! See the story at CNN. That’s it for now, but perhaps something meatier later today.