5:30p
Remember, remember the 28th of September
The Lying, the Treason, the Plot
I can think of no Reason,
why this horrible Treason,
Should ever be FORGOT.

9:01a
I love people that have support the troops magnets on their foreign cars or their SUVs.
How about supporting the troops and American jobs - how about driving an American car...How about not driving a gas-guzzler? How about cutting America's dependency on foreign oil? or oil altogether? I heard on NPR (that's National Public Radio), that Ford's Model T got 25 - 30 miles to the gallon in 1908. 1908! Fuck! You're telling me, Big Car Companies, that you can't improve fuel economy in 100 years? that we actually get fewer miles per gallon? (Also, the model T could run on gasoline and ethanol- what a concept!)

9:09a
"Can you give me the number where you think you need to transfer me." No, ma'am I don't think that I need to transfer you, I know I do. And after that bitchy comment, I know I need to transfer you even more.

10:13a
www.bodywall.com - the essence of cool. don spiderman gloves and shoes and climb this wall. use it for strength training and stretching. due out in mid 2007 for $3333 USD...cool cool cool.

I still haven't been to the gym. But Jen has assured me that we will go tonight to kick off our NEW SCHEDULE. (because she started her job and all today). Our new schedule consists (partly) of getting up at the asscrack of dawn, (no really, the asscrack) shower, breakfast, send Jen to work, housework (yes housework), send me to work, come home, housework, jen gets home, GYM. I'll let you know if it happens like that tonight. Check and check on everything up to "send me to work."

12:45p
Stupid stupid project. They don't have anything for us to do in this dept so they are piling crap from other departments on us. For instance. The company fucked up one of its relationships with one of its multi-million dollar clients. That client wanted us to fix the problem. This in turn meant that little step-child customer support had to call, not our clients, but consumers of our client - and tell them their gift card was on the way. Question: Multi million dollar client is on the line - do you really want underpaid temps handling it?

2:47p
This day is going by ridiculously slow. Meanwhile the House and Senate are debating a bill that would legalize torture and gut Habeas. Which means, if the government doesn't like you, they'll just "detain" you forever. Understand now why I quoted V for Vendetta? Are you waking up America? No? Fuck, just go back to sleep.

3:11p
Pair this with the $385 million contract awarded to a halliburton subsidiary to build detention center -

"the contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs."

Might those "new programs" be the mass detention of immigrants and political dissidents that could be termed enemy combatants under this new legislation? Why else build "detention centers" that can accomodate 3 million? Where else are you going to come up with 3 million new detainees?

Read this. http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=eed74d9d44c30493706fe03f4c9b3a77

3:39p
If someone can explain to me how legalizing torture is going to stem the spread of teh jihadist movement- that'd be great.

4:16p
And then there's this:

Survey by Pew Research Center-
"Do you think the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can ofen be justified, sometimes be justified, rarely be justified or never be justified?"

here's the breakdown of those that said often and sometimes:

Total Public - 46%
Total Catholics - 56%
White Protestant - 49%
White Evangelicals - 49%
Secular - 35%

So who has moral authority again? Note: Fully 21% of catholics support torture "often" - how heartning.

4:27p
Training tomorrow at 9, should go for about 4 hours. No updating, tomorrow, until after that.

4:41pCheck out the HRC's new campain - Even pop superstar P!NK is talking about it!
http://www.hrc.org/snapshot

4:52p
Remeber that torture bill from earlier - yeah it passed in the Senate. YOu know what else it means? It means that the government can decide that you are an enemy combatant - then it can whisk you away "disappear" you. You will not be charged. You will not be tried. You will be tortured. You will be held indefinitely. Your family will not know where you are or why you've been taken. Is this starting to sound familiar?

5:03p
Via Ariela - So you want to learn Japanese http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/

5:07p
I'd like to go home now - CSPAN to watch.

9:26a
More training will start in a few minutes, oh joy. I would just like to point out that I have now been here for three weeks and I am still being trained. During that time, the full-timers have been very busy (at times) - and I have been twiddling my thumbs - just think what I could have been doing if I had been trained, oh, three weeks ago.

9:35a
Coworker - "Has that cold still got you down?" Me - "uh no..." Me in my head - "what cold?"

10:06a
MS has a guest post again today - from the fantastic fun at gosh-shoe -

"Anyway, Lesser Bossman (LBM) asked me what I did over the weekend and I explained to her with great joy that I saw Jackass and what a fantastic cinematic adventure it was. She got this horrified look on her face and immediately scrambled in to her best friend a.k.a. boss' office to share the distressing news. They proceeded to talk about how awful that was for the next ten minutes - and quite loudly, too, as though I was not just twenty feet away. "How telling," Bossman said, and LBM agreed with a loud noise of disgust. "I wish we would have known that before," and "Who would have guessed?" flowed from the office, along with some other very terrible comments. I became rather offended and walked up to LBM and said, "What, so you guys think you're better than me? Is that it?" So LBM did some good damage control, trying to convince me that it was all in good fun, but Bossman. . . well, she hasn't looked at me the same since that time. Granted, she doesn't look at me very often, or even speak to me, really, so I guess it's not that big of a deal. You know what? I'm proud that I liked that movie, and glad that I'm not so old and boring that I can't enjoy blatant stupidity for what it is - FUCKING FUNNY. Yeah. If I have to hear one more person complain about how expensive a daily parking permit is, I will fly into the hallway and give them ten thousand parking permit cuts (which are much, much worse than paper cuts) and scream to them that they are paying for the sins of those that came before them. "Don't park on campus then," I'll yell as I slice into their skin. "If it's too expensive, then don't come here! Do you really think that if you complain loud enough, I'll just lower the price? Jesus!""

(as always, names have been changed for their own protection.)

10:10p
Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann had another scorcher last night, some excerpts:

"The Bush Administration did not try to get Osama Bin Laden before 9/11.

The Bush Administration ignored all the evidence gathered by its predecessors.

The Bush Administration did not understand the Daily Briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined To
Strike in U.S."

The Bush Administration… did… not… try.—"
--------------------------
"Disney was first to sell-out its corporate reputation, with "The Path to 9/11."

Of that company's crimes against truth one needs to say little. Simply put: someone there enabled an Authoritarian zealot to belch out Mr. Bush's new and improved history.

The basic plot-line was this: because he was distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Bill Clinton failed to prevent 9/11.

The most curious and in some ways the most infuriating aspect of this slapdash theory, is that the Right Wingers who have advocated it – who try to sneak it into our collective consciousness through entertainment, or who sandbag Mr. Clinton with it at news interview – have simply skipped past its most glaring flaw.

Had it been true that Clinton had been distracted from the hunt for Bin laden in 1998 because of the Lewinsky nonsense – why did these same people not applaud him for having bombed Bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan and Sudan on August 20 th of that year? For mentioning Bin Laden by name as he did so?

That day, Republican Senator Grams of Minnesota invoked the movie "Wag The Dog."

Republican Senator Coats of Indiana questioned Mr. Clinton's judgment.

Republican Senator Ashcroft of Missouri – the future Attorney General –echoed Coats.

Even Republican Senator Arlen Specter questioned the timing.

And of course, were it true Clinton had been "distracted" by the Lewinsky witch-hunt – who on earth conducted the Lewinsky witch-hunt? Who turned the political discourse of this nation on its head for two years?

Who corrupted the political media?

Who made it impossible for us to even bring back on the air, the counter-terrorism analysts like Dr. Richard Haass, and James Dunegan, who had warned, at this very hour, on this very network, in early 1998, of cells from the Middle East who sought to attack us, here?

Who preempted them…in order to strange us with the trivia that was…"All Monica All The Time"?
Who distracted whom?
---------------
"Thus was it left for the previous President to say what so many of us have felt; what so many of us have given you a pass for in the months and even the years after the attack:

You did not try.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your predecessor.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your own people.
Then you blamed your predecessor.
That would be the textbook definition …. Sir, of cowardice.

To enforce the lies of the present, it is necessary to erase the truths of the past.

That was one of the great mechanical realities Eric Blair – writing as George Orwell – gave us in the novel "1984."

The great philosophical reality he gave us, Mr. Bush, may sound as familiar to you, as it has lately begun to sound familiar to me.

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power….

"Power is not a means; it is an end.

"One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

The object of persecution, is persecution. The object of torture, is torture. The object of power….is power."
---------------
"The "free pass" has been withdrawn, Mr. Bush…

You did not act to prevent 9/11.

We do not know what you have done, to prevent another 9/11.
You have failed us – then leveraged that failure, to justify a purposeless war in Iraq which will have, all too soon, claimed more American lives than did 9/11.

You have failed us anew in Afghanistan.

And you have now tried to hide your failures, by blaming your predecessor.

And now you exploit your failure, to rationalize brazen torture – which doesn't work anyway; which one condemns our soldiers to water-boarding; which only humiliates our country further in the world; and which no true American would every condone, let alone advocate. And there it is, sir:

Are yours the actions of a true American?

I'm Keith Olbermann, good night, and good luck."

The transcript does not do it justice – watch at crooks and liars.com.

10:26a
No training yet.

10:53a
In other news, I warmed up some mashed potatoes that I had left over from Outback on Friday night - what I failed to realize was that I had some sour cream on them. When I warmed them up, the sour cream got extremely hot, while the rest got hot (but not scorchingly so). Long story short, horribly burned my tongue on the super heated potatoes and it hurts.

11:07a
Compliments of Ariela - http://cu.nniling.us/c84.html just go. (safe for work, despite the URL) Other notable ones include: http://cu.nniling.us/c151.html , http://cu.nniling.us/c150.html , http://cu.nniling.us/c146.html , and http://cu.nniling.us/c140.html

11:45a
Go here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14975282/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/ look to the left at the vertical banner and (BREAK: I hate it when someone sneezes and no one says "bless you" and then that person says, annoyed "god bless me?" and then you want to slap them) check out the covers for the international version of Newsweek and then look at the cover FOR THE SAME WEEK in the United States. I hate American media.

12:43p
I heard a rumor that we'll be training this afternoon, ick.

2:01p
Back from lunch - I heard that Rhonda is going to listen into my calls tomorrow morning...someone tell me why that is necessary? I've been here for three weeks and I was here last year, I think I know the ropes...

2:25p
The good news about training - Joyce (who's doing the training) gets done with lunch at 2:30p, Rhonda leaves at 4:30 - they are not going to leave just one full-timer on the phone, thus training cannot last longer than 2hrs. Hooray.

4:20p
From V for Vendetta:
"Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someones death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.
4:32p
I would like to go home now. 58min remain. 15 interactions.

4:41p
HAHAHA
You've all heard that key conclusions of the classified NIE report were leaked on Friday - basically, all the intelligence agencies concluded that the Iraq war had made us all less safe and was contributing to the war on terror.

The bush administration said that that conclusion was only one small piece of the whole report and actually the war on terror had made us safer and that those who questioned that assertion were "naive and mistaken." (apparently he didn't listen in to the military men that testified at the democrat hearing on national security, that the war in Iraq was making things worse. That's four Major Generals, two Colonels and a Major.)

Democrats demanded the release of the report to prove it. So bush declassified some of it. Guess what?

"We also assess that the global jihadist movement—which includes al- Qa'ida, affiliated and independent terrorist groups, and emerging networks and cells—is spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts"

"If this trend continues, threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide"

"e Iraq conflict has become the "cause celebre" for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight. "

Way to go sir, I don't feel naive and mistaken. I think you better wake the fuck up and take a look outside at reality. You dragged us into a war on the pretense that they were behind 9/11 (OH YES YOU DID) and that they had weapons of mass destruction (LIE), and now it has cost the lives of nearly 3000 of our service members and almost 20,000 wounded - not to mention the over 40,000 Iraqi civilians that have been killed. You dragged us into this war and it has not made us safer.

This war has tarnished our reputation on a national stage, made torturers of US citizens, made detainees of US citizens, stripped the rights attached to the Geneva Convention and gutted Habeas Corpus.

And for what?

5:05p
Note: The declassified sections only constitute about 10% of the total report - if Bush thinks that these are the sections that vindicate him - he is insane. I want to know what's in the other 26 pages that was too bad (for Bush) to declassify.

5:12p
The low on thursday - 39 degrees.

9:26a
More training will start in a few minutes, oh joy. I would just like to point out that I have now been here for three weeks and I am still being trained. During that time, the full-timers have been very busy (at times) - and I have been twiddling my thumbs - just think what I could have been doing if I had been trained, oh, three weeks ago.

9:35a
Coworker - "Has that cold still got you down?" Me - "uh no..." Me in my head - "what cold?"

10:06a
MS has a guest post again today - from the fantastic fun at gosh-shoe -

"Anyway, Lesser Bossman (LBM) asked me what I did over the weekend and I explained to her with great joy that I saw Jackass and what a fantastic cinematic adventure it was. She got this horrified look on her face and immediately scrambled in to her best friend a.k.a. boss' office to share the distressing news. They proceeded to talk about how awful that was for the next ten minutes - and quite loudly, too, as though I was not just twenty feet away. "How telling," Bossman said, and LBM agreed with a loud noise of disgust. "I wish we would have known that before," and "Who would have guessed?" flowed from the office, along with some other very terrible comments. I became rather offended and walked up to LBM and said, "What, so you guys think you're better than me? Is that it?" So LBM did some good damage control, trying to convince me that it was all in good fun, but Bossman. . . well, she hasn't looked at me the same since that time. Granted, she doesn't look at me very often, or even speak to me, really, so I guess it's not that big of a deal. You know what? I'm proud that I liked that movie, and glad that I'm not so old and boring that I can't enjoy blatant stupidity for what it is - FUCKING FUNNY. Yeah. If I have to hear one more person complain about how expensive a daily parking permit is, I will fly into the hallway and give them ten thousand parking permit cuts (which are much, much worse than paper cuts) and scream to them that they are paying for the sins of those that came before them. "Don't park on campus then," I'll yell as I slice into their skin. "If it's too expensive, then don't come here! Do you really think that if you complain loud enough, I'll just lower the price? Jesus!""

(as always, names have been changed for their own protection.)

10:10p
Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann had another scorcher last night, some excerpts:

"The Bush Administration did not try to get Osama Bin Laden before 9/11.

The Bush Administration ignored all the evidence gathered by its predecessors.

The Bush Administration did not understand the Daily Briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined To
Strike in U.S."

The Bush Administration… did… not… try.—"
--------------------------
"Disney was first to sell-out its corporate reputation, with "The Path to 9/11."

Of that company's crimes against truth one needs to say little. Simply put: someone there enabled an Authoritarian zealot to belch out Mr. Bush's new and improved history.

The basic plot-line was this: because he was distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Bill Clinton failed to prevent 9/11.

The most curious and in some ways the most infuriating aspect of this slapdash theory, is that the Right Wingers who have advocated it – who try to sneak it into our collective consciousness through entertainment, or who sandbag Mr. Clinton with it at news interview – have simply skipped past its most glaring flaw.

Had it been true that Clinton had been distracted from the hunt for Bin laden in 1998 because of the Lewinsky nonsense – why did these same people not applaud him for having bombed Bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan and Sudan on August 20 th of that year? For mentioning Bin Laden by name as he did so?

That day, Republican Senator Grams of Minnesota invoked the movie "Wag The Dog."

Republican Senator Coats of Indiana questioned Mr. Clinton's judgment.

Republican Senator Ashcroft of Missouri – the future Attorney General –echoed Coats.

Even Republican Senator Arlen Specter questioned the timing.

And of course, were it true Clinton had been "distracted" by the Lewinsky witch-hunt – who on earth conducted the Lewinsky witch-hunt? Who turned the political discourse of this nation on its head for two years?

Who corrupted the political media?

Who made it impossible for us to even bring back on the air, the counter-terrorism analysts like Dr. Richard Haass, and James Dunegan, who had warned, at this very hour, on this very network, in early 1998, of cells from the Middle East who sought to attack us, here?

Who preempted them…in order to strange us with the trivia that was…"All Monica All The Time"?
Who distracted whom?
---------------
"Thus was it left for the previous President to say what so many of us have felt; what so many of us have given you a pass for in the months and even the years after the attack:

You did not try.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your predecessor.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your own people.
Then you blamed your predecessor.
That would be the textbook definition …. Sir, of cowardice.

To enforce the lies of the present, it is necessary to erase the truths of the past.

That was one of the great mechanical realities Eric Blair – writing as George Orwell – gave us in the novel "1984."

The great philosophical reality he gave us, Mr. Bush, may sound as familiar to you, as it has lately begun to sound familiar to me.

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power….

"Power is not a means; it is an end.

"One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

The object of persecution, is persecution. The object of torture, is torture. The object of power….is power."
---------------
"The "free pass" has been withdrawn, Mr. Bush…

You did not act to prevent 9/11.

We do not know what you have done, to prevent another 9/11.
You have failed us – then leveraged that failure, to justify a purposeless war in Iraq which will have, all too soon, claimed more American lives than did 9/11.

You have failed us anew in Afghanistan.

And you have now tried to hide your failures, by blaming your predecessor.

And now you exploit your failure, to rationalize brazen torture – which doesn't work anyway; which one condemns our soldiers to water-boarding; which only humiliates our country further in the world; and which no true American would every condone, let alone advocate. And there it is, sir:

Are yours the actions of a true American?

I'm Keith Olbermann, good night, and good luck."

The transcript does not do it justice – watch at crooks and liars.com.

10:26a
No training yet.

10:53a
In other news, I warmed up some mashed potatoes that I had left over from Outback on Friday night - what I failed to realize was that I had some sour cream on them. When I warmed them up, the sour cream got extremely hot, while the rest got hot (but not scorchingly so). Long story short, horribly burned my tongue on the super heated potatoes and it hurts.

11:07a
Compliments of Ariela - http://cu.nniling.us/c84.html just go. (safe for work, despite the URL) Other notable ones include: http://cu.nniling.us/c151.html , http://cu.nniling.us/c150.html , http://cu.nniling.us/c146.html , and http://cu.nniling.us/c140.html

11:45a
Go here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14975282/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/ look to the left at the vertical banner and (BREAK: I hate it when someone sneezes and no one says "bless you" and then that person says, annoyed "god bless me?" and then you want to slap them) check out the covers for the international version of Newsweek and then look at the cover FOR THE SAME WEEK in the United States. I hate American media.

12:43p
I heard a rumor that we'll be training this afternoon, ick.

2:01p
Back from lunch - I heard that Rhonda is going to listen into my calls tomorrow morning...someone tell me why that is necessary? I've been here for three weeks and I was here last year, I think I know the ropes...

2:25p
The good news about training - Joyce (who's doing the training) gets done with lunch at 2:30p, Rhonda leaves at 4:30 - they are not going to leave just one full-timer on the phone, thus training cannot last longer than 2hrs. Hooray.

4:20p
From V for Vendetta:
"Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someones death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.
4:32p
I would like to go home now. 58min remain. 15 interactions.

4:41p
HAHAHA
You've all heard that key conclusions of the classified NIE report were leaked on Friday - basically, all the intelligence agencies concluded that the Iraq war had made us all less safe and was contributing to the war on terror.

The bush administration said that that conclusion was only one small piece of the whole report and actually the war on terror had made us safer and that those who questioned that assertion were "naive and mistaken." (apparently he didn't listen in to the military men that testified at the democrat hearing on national security, that the war in Iraq was making things worse. That's four Major Generals, two Colonels and a Major.)

Democrats demanded the release of the report to prove it. So bush declassified some of it. Guess what?

"We also assess that the global jihadist movement—which includes al- Qa’ida, affiliated and independent terrorist groups, and emerging networks and cells—is spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts"

"If this trend continues, threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide"

"e Iraq conflict has become the “cause celebre” for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight. "

Way to go sir, I don't feel naive and mistaken. I think you better wake the fuck up and take a look outside at reality. You dragged us into a war on the pretense that they were behind 9/11 (OH YES YOU DID) and that they had weapons of mass destruction (LIE), and now it has cost the lives of nearly 3000 of our service members and almost 20,000 wounded - not to mention the over 40,000 Iraqi civilians that have been killed. You dragged us into this war and it has not made us safer.

This war has tarnished our reputation on a national stage, made torturers of US citizens, made detainees of US citizens, stripped the rights attached to the Geneva Convention and gutted Habeas Corpus.

And for what?

5:05p
Note: The declassified sections only constitute about 10% of the total report - if Bush thinks that these are the sections that vindicate him - he is insane. I want to know what's in the other 26 pages that was too bad (for Bush) to declassify.

5:12p
The low on thursday - 39 degrees.

9:12a
Mondays are poo.

9:32a
Guess what I didn't do this weekend. Laundry. But I did do some dishes and now the rest of them are sitting in neat little piles in the kitchen just waiting to be done. But the silverware is done....

9:43a
One of my coworker's is practically looking over my shoulder- thus no updating.

11:13a
And we're back.

11:22a
I was just given a "packing project," - to do in my spare time. They've finally realized that they have too many temps and not enough work so everyone is bringing us little side projects...I can just see them toiling away in their cubes, their heads pop up and look around expectantly "we have a temp," they say, "i'll just pile this nasty little project that i haven't wanted to do on their heads..." thanks alot. this one wasn't that bad. it involved assembling boxes, putting that squishy smiley face man in the box with a brief explanation "have no fear, captain smiley is here" in the box, tape, tape, label and fin. thrilling, i know.

12:26p
Ok, this day, unfortunately just got WAAAYYY more complicated than it needed to be. As you know, Jen has been driving me to work because our other car is kaput. Fortunately, her grandfather was able to fix it and now it is sitting there for us in T-ville. We were going to go get it tonight, and then we remembered that Jen has a meeting at her company at 6 - so we thought ok, Jen will pick me up, we'll both go to the meeting, I'll hang out and read a book in the car and then we'll go to t-ville. fantastic. but then, her company calls her up and says, oh yeah, we want you to go to dinner with some managemnt types after the meeting --completely oblivious to the concept that maybe she already had some obligation. in this case, me. therefore, not only can we not go get the car tonight, but i have to find a ride home. not only all of that, but because we are not getting the car tonight, and we can't get it tomorrow (prior commitment), so that gets us to wednesday (Jen's first day!) with only one car. now, jen's aunt has said that she'd bring the car down on thursday - but that still leaves wednesday and thursday when we have only one car and wildly different hours. fun Fun FUN. awesome. Thanks alot jen's company, hereafter known as jen's fucking company (JFC). also, do we have to drive jen's aunt back to t-ville on thursday, i mean really, grey's anatomy is on. gah!

12:54p
Also, it's rumored that facebook might sell out to yahoo for $1 billion. kiss your privacy settings goodbye.
http://www.forbes.com/digitalentertainment/2006/09/21/myspace-facebook-youtube-tech-media-cx_rr_0921facebook.html?boxes=popstories&boxes=custom

12:56p
Car for Wednesday and Thursday = solved. Jen's sister inexplicably has decided to help us out by going with Jen to pick up the car tomorrow. like whoa.

1:14p
Ride home tonight = solved. My cousin Heather is a hero and has agreed to come and get me.

2:15p
As previously discussed, we have a product that is similar to cash and accepted virtually everywhere, if you don't use the entire face value, you get cash back for it, and you can deposit it into your bank account. Now, the highest denomination that you can purchase is $100 - except someone has been passing large number of $500 and $1000 fakes. From what I've heard, they are flawless, and banks don't know what to do with them, they look legit - so they accept them. That's what happens when you have a paper product that acts like cash and doesn't have a lot of security features. You know what I would do with a $500 something something? SPEND IT.

2:27p
Carl has introduced me to a new rap song that's in his head and he hates it because it is "stupid." Excerpted lyrics below:
"Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Noodle Soup
Wit A Soda On The Side"

and

"Young B, Webstar And GTOT
Doin Our Thing.
It Comes Naturally
We Gettin, So We FlyAs Can Be
So All Ya'll Wack
Lables Stop Tryina Sign Me"

Listen Young B, no one's trying to sign you. Actually they probably are, and you're going to make a LOT of money on your incredibly pointless song. The different verses in no way relate to the other versus or the chorus, I am at a loss.

2:54p
Thankfully, more training has been postponed until tomorrow.

2:57p
Things are going to get interesting over in the House later this week. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter today to Speaker Hastert outlining the Democrats plan to "actively resist adjournment" at the end of the week unless five demans are met. These demands are as follows:

1) "Congress must pass legislation to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations"
2) "have a straight up or down vote on increasing the minimum wage, free from the usual Republican efforts to attach tax cuts for the wealthiest few that doom these bills. Democrats will not support a Congressional pay raise until we give 7 million American workers a raise"
3) "give the Secretary of Health and Human Services the authority to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices for seniors and people with disabilities."
4) "restore the massive cuts in college tuition assistance imposed by the Congress and expand the size and availability of Pell Grants"
5) "rolling back tax breaks for Big Oil and investing the savings in alternative fuels to achieve energy independence"

"Therefore, until Congress passes legislation that meets the real needs of the American people, House Democrats will actively resist adjournment."

The democrats are standing up, show them some love at actblue.com and get out and vote come November.

3:02p
I just remembered that I saw Former President Bill Clinton's interview on fox news this weekend. He was outstanding and he trounced them for asking loaded, biased questions. basically he spanked them and then rode them like bad bad ponies. about bin laden "i tried, i tried and failed, but at least i tried." watch it.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/24/fox-clinton-interview-part-1-osama-bin-laden/#more-10485

3:35p
I would like to go home now. 1hr 55min remain. 21 interactions.

4:32p
I would like to go home now. 1hr 3min remain. 23 interactions.

4:59p
I would like to go home now. 31min remain. 24 interactions.

9a
FRIDAY!

10:48a
Training sucks. The woman supposed to be trainings is probably the most air-headed person I have ever met, and I knew a lot of cheerleaders in highschool. She bounces around without any semblance of a "lesson plan", generally just confusing people. people like me. and anyone else with ears.

11:15a
I just ate my lunch because i was that hungry - I don't really have lunch until 1 - and then I won't have anything to eat. sad.

12:16p
UPDATE: If you want to submit a funny work story, you should email me at jalynnx3@gmail.com.

1:11p
Who thinks ariela should just give it up and come home?

1:41p
Really, go to consumerist.com: "An unprecedented miracle of good fortune has occurred, similar in scope to jumping out of an airplane only to land in the missionary position with Angelina Jolie, then finding that a naked skydiving Salma Hayek has drifted down to land upon your face. Reader Steve has had not one, not two, but three excellent customer service experiences in the last three days."

Also, I've just been told that there is some sort of "super cell" storm system that is swirling over Chicago, it could reach hurricane mile and hour winds and should be arriving in St. Louis (to meet up with another storm - currently over Kansas City) sometime this evening.... And there's a tornado warning for our office's location - I'll let you know if we get blown away.

2:24p
I just heard one of my coworkers tell a caller something that is grossly and blatantly wrong. I strongly dislike this guy - and he signs off early, which sucks for the two of us that remain online, because it really sucks to get that 10 minute call at 5:29p.

2:54p
People hate the new phone tree. People like me. and everyone else.

3:01p
I would like to go home now. 2hr 29min remain. 10 interactions.

4:36p
I would like to go home now. 54min remain. 12 interactions.

12:21p
I've been training since I got here this morning. And by training, I mean that for three hours I sat with the new guy (Shane) and listened in while he took calls. three calls in three hours. What at excellent use of my time. It's cool though, Shane's a nice guy - we agree on many issues, so the time wasn't wasted for me.

12:27p
Here's a story from a guest (if you have any stories that you should like to share with the cubeworld, please email me):

MS is still at Gosh-shoe:

We just had a fire drill. Yes, a fire drill - complete with roll call, clipboards, people walking around in bright orange vests with flashlights and First Aid kits . . . it was just like grade school. We all had to line up along the fence in the parking lot - just like grade school!

Should I:
a) feel comforted by the thought that the institution of which I am an employee cares about my personal safety, and the safety of my co-workers.

b) feel patronized, as the institution of which I am an employee does not trust me and my co-workers to exit the building on our own, based on our own finely-tuned survival instincts, should we smell smoke/hear a fire alarm/see flames.

c) look at the situation as a fine opportunity to escape the dreary office environment, if only for fifteen minutes, and enjoy the great outdoors - as well as the feeling that I'm in some strange alternate reality, where people with a great sense of self-importance get to share their ridiculous behavior with everyone in the building.

I told her c) was her best bet. Any time out of the cube and in the real/natural world is time well spent.

2:10p
Sizeasy allows you to compare the size of objects with other standard objects - for if you have trouble visualizing how big that new ipod is. (note: don't buy an ipod. i had two. they both broke. fuckers.)

2:38p
Note: In a change from usual - it's hotter than hell in here today. It didn't help that I wore a sweater. Not that my sweater is long enough, or my pants small enough - thus I feel as if my ass is hanging out...

2:38p
This is from the lovely Ms. Katie - I can't vouch for it at all because we don't have the necessary components to view video - especially youtube - much to my chagrin. here it is though, I am assured it is quite good.


2:52p
Here's some more entertainment: Optical Illusions

3:57p
Other odd fruits to try :

the naturally occurring Mangosteen - from wiki "The fragrant fruit is sweet and creamy, citrusy with a touch of peach flavor." "The outer shell of the fruit is rather hard, typically 4-6 cm in diameter. Cutting through the shell, one finds an edible fruit shaped like a peeled tangerine but bright white, about 3-5 cm in diameter, nested in a deep red outer pod."

the strange Ugli fruit (also called uniq fruit)- grapefruit crossed with tangerine, it has an"unsightly appearance of its rough, wrinkly greenish-yellow skin, wrapped loosely around the orange pulpy citrus inside."

isn't nature odd? (even if it doesn't occur in nature, at least it wasn't created, it was just crossed which happens alot.)

4:16p
Yay! my ya was online and will be online in the future so I can chat with her (via Gmail - gmail remains unblocked by company software - haha). Also, I'm ready to go home. 1hr 13min remain. 15 interactions.

4:26p
More on the impending war with Iran - via Raw Story - "Senior intel official: Pentagon moves to second-stage planning for Iran strike option"


highlights:
"'Late this winter, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sought to remove the nuclear option from the evolving war plans for Iran without success' the former intelligence official said."

"In the past, only the Air Force had endorsed the contingency, saying that it could carry out the mission of destroying, or at least significantly delaying, Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon."

"With allegations of a plan in place and contingency scenarios in play, several military and intelligence experts see this as proof of a secret White House order to proceed with military action."

One wonders why this is an issue. Isn't a nuclear North Korea more worrisome than a non-nuclear Iran? How about a nuclear Pakistan? No? Instead we are going to break a 61-year old prohibition against using nuclear weapons on a nation that does not have nuclear weapons? We are going in risk the wrath of the rest of the nuclear world - including North Korea and Pakistan - how easy would it be for either of those countries to see some nuclear material to a terrorist group? And how easy would it be for that terrorist group to deliver that material to Israel, or the US? Given a nuclear attack on their or our soil, is it really so inconceivable that missiles with nuclear warheads just start flying? If it's ok for us to use the bomb, why can't Pakistan and India settle their differences the same way? what's to stop the breaking of a ban on nuclear weapons in the Mideast from starting a global nuclear conflagration? oh right, just Bush. we are fucked. if we bomb Iran with nuclear weapons, I'm done. I'm leaving and i advise everyone else to come with me.

4:38p
Meanwhile, allegedly, Rove has been promising an "October surprise" - something that will deliver the mid-term election....what could it be? a new terrorist attack? trotting out Osama (finally)? bombing (another) sovereign country? the world may never know, oh wait, we will. in October.

4:40p
Also, I have been informed that the reason we have not heard from our beloved Sage is because she has lacked That Which She Holds Most Dear - but she will send out a chronicle with or without That Which She Holds Most Dear, sometime this week or next - I will keep you posted. I know that I have missed her as much as everyone else, and I expect her next missive to be long and hilarious.

4:56p
This is crap. The Geneva Convention does not need to be clarified. Here it is real simple-like. Don't torture. That includes aggressive interrogations techniques (like waterboarding) - that's torture and those American citizens doing it, are torturers. Also, as any psych student can tell you, TORTURE DOESN'T WORK - people will say anything to make pain stop, they'll even make shit up, how does made up shit help fight terrorism. short answer? it doesn't.

5:01p
Hmm. Surprise surprise, the goverment is in bed with Big Oil: "
Suits Say US Impeded Audits for Oil Leases who's not surprised? oh yeah, me.

5:09p
Here's an excerpt from an email that my boss three bosses up sent out today:

"Just some thoughts to pin to each person's radar screen…..Everyone one of you is a jewel on the team…you are priceless!!!. Please continue to shine and service brilliantly everyday with every interaction….
All the best!"

And then there was some clip art: unfortunately I cannot get it to come in here with me, but lets just say that it is a stylized clip art diamond. yeah. that's where i work.

5:12p
I WOULD LIKE TO GO HOME NOW.

9:46a
Oh Wednesday, how I do enjoy hump day...so guess what I didn't do last night? If you said laundry, dishes and the gym, you would be correct. I suppose I'll do those things tonight (maybe), in between getting a haircut and picking up a birthday present for my dad. Instead of doing the aforementioned things, we fell asleep shortly after dinner - and you know what, it felt damn good. With the weather cooling off, and the window open, it was quite chilly in the apartment - allowing us to snuggle all the more deeply under the covers. I love the fall and winter for exactly that reason.

10:10a
My eyes get so tired so quickly from staring at a computer screen all day long.

10:26a
I hate stupid people that cannot follow simple instructions and/or people who do not listen to the answer when they ask a question.

10:50a
You can only play so much text twist at one time.

10:55a
The only good thing about tomorrow is that it's another casual day, bringing this week's casual days to 60% of the week. Because if I have to be here, I'd rather be here in jeans. Unrelated note: maybe bscoot will cut my hair tonight...

11:57a
I'm a hungry bear.

12:14p
Ohhhh... supposedly we're going to be having some "heavy duty" training after lunch today. What does this mean? It means I'll be offline and bored out of my mind.

12:52p
I would like to go home now. 5hr 37min remain. 12 interactions.

2:04p
Apparently Gosh-shoe is falling apart without me. MS. reports that bossman has tried to setup an "intervention" between two warring staffers. MS opines that a cage match might be more appropriate... here's what I say "ha ha ha, ha, ha."

3:18p
Training sucks and is completely useless - in the manner that they are going about it. Today, they taught me things I already know and walked me through things they trained me on last week. I don't mind that they are being stupid (it's all the same to me, and only annoys me a little), so it's their money that they're blowing. It's my third week here and I've done almost nothing.

3:34p
This is great. Great great great great great great. Why does the media not cover this stuff? Why are democrats always labled as spineless and infighting? How about dedicated, brilliant and clever? An excerpt (but read the whole thing - and watch the video):

Mr. Durbin: Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. Reid: I will be happy to yield for a question.

Mr. Durbin: Can the Senator refresh my memory? Was Mr. Bremmer the recipient of a gold medal or something from the President? Didn't he receive some high decoration or medal for his performance in Iraq?

Mr. Reid: The answer is, yes, he received that. I assume one would expect that from somebody who had a throne while he was over there.

Mr. Durbin: Isn't it also true that George Tenet, who was responsible for the intelligence that was so bad that led us into the war in Iraq, got a medal from the President the same day?

Mr. Reid: That is true.

Mr. Durbin: Did Michael Brown with FEMA receive a gold medal from the White House before he was dismissed?

Mr. Reid: I don't think he did. Even though he was doing a heck of a job, I don't think he obtained a medal from the White House.

Mr. Durbin: Apparently, these gold medals were being awarded for incompetence. They missed Mr. Brown, but they did give one to Mr. Bremmer. Will the Senator yield for another question?

Mr. Reid: I will be happy to.

Mr. Durbin: I am trying to recall the exact number -- it was in the billions of dollars -- that we gave to the President for the reconstruction of Iraq; is that not true?

Mr. Reid: It started out at $18 billion. But as the Senator from Illinois will remember, part of that money, stacks of one-hundred-dollar bills, was used by some of the contractors who were sent over there to play football games -- some of these same people.

Mr. Durbin: It is also true, is it not, that the Democratic policy conference has been holding hearings -- in fact, I think it is the only agency on the Hill holding hearings -- on this waste and abuse, this profiteering and corruption at the expense of American taxpayers and even, equally important -- more importantly -- at the expense of our troops?

Mr. Reid: I say to my friend, this war is approaching 3 1/2 years, and there has not been a single congressional oversight hearing on the conduct of the war. This war has now cost us, the American taxpayers, about $325 billion. There has not been a single congressional oversight hearing on the war.

Schapap - right in the face. If the republicans did something like this, we'd hear about it all the live-long day. Instead of coverage, from CNN: Chavez calls Bush 'devil' - oh well crap, i was hoping for some inane story like coverage of the holloway disappearance, the latest in teh jon benet case (how fast did that disappear) or something equally unworthy of mention - let alone coverage day after day.

For once CNN gets it right - cover a story that's important on an international stage. Another world leader called the president of the United States, a "devil" and commenting that "And it smells of sulfur still today." Funny, he said what we're all thinking. But more importantly, CNN actually covers it. whoa.

Chavez also accused the U.S. government of having a double standard, protecting terrorists when it suits its leaders. A good point. How about Pakistan? do we protect them? do we give them money? yep and yep. did they just sign a peace agreement with pro-taliban militants? sure did! and Iraq - they didn't have any terrorists before we went in and fucked up their country. now they have lots. lucky us. did we destroy all their stuff and now we're rebuilding what we broke. of course, because we're so generous.

but back to my point, the only news outlet covering the Democrats pointedly clever acts in Congress is the Huffington Post (a decided progressive publication.)

* I stand corrected, Dailykos also has it. But no one is really trumpeting it. And they should!

3:59p
I just had the unmistakable, but also inexplicable taste of beer in my mouth - i SWEAR i have not been drinking.

4:11p
I've just been informed that next week is 100% casual days.

5:02p
My phone officially sucks - it randomly drops calls, eats texts messages and loses missed calls and voicemails. When am I up for another one again?

5:13p
I'm ready to go home now. 17min. 18 interactions.

11:33a
So I just got done training (again) at my computer with the new guy. (I'm not annoyed at him, he's very nice) I am annoyed because while training him, I couldn't be updating of doing anything online. On the other hand, there was human interaction with a real live person...and he had interesting stories - having been in the air force and all. Shane is ex-military, a single dad, hasn't voted in 10 years because he thinks that the government should genuinely help people and it doesn't -it's broken. I like him...maybe I'll even convince him to vote. When given the choice between tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber, vote for the party that ideally is for helping people and social equality as opposed to the one that helps corporations and the little guy be screwed.

12:21p
The whole "team" has just been informed that though we are allowed to use the internet while at work, we shouldn't play games, look at porn, gamble or chat. I don't need to do the first three, though sometimes games are necessary, but by god I WILL CHAT!

12:38p
So, last night did i do dishes or laundry or get my haircut? No, no and no. What did i do? Well, I watched Jen get her hair cut and then I watched her play video games for a little while, and then I played games for a little while and then I went to bed. And you know what? It was way better than doing dishes or laundry. Maybe tonight....and maybe I/We'll go to the gym tonight. You know, the one we've been members at for two months. It's like taking out a $50 bill and burning it.

12:42p
BJ fucker just emailed me to tell me how to do my job, again. He can really suck my metaphorical dick, because I could care less - also, I know what he told me, and it's fairly likely that he's confusing me with someone else with initials similar to mine. fucker.

2:15p
MMMmmm...lunch. So here's the plan for tonight, groceries so we can eat, laundry so we can wear clean clothes and gym so we can look even better than we already do. Also, my heater is once again on.

2:32p
http://www.dea.gov/programs/forensicsci/microgram/mg0806/mg0806.html This is a newsletter put out by the DEA and catalogues the various and assorted ways that drug dealers hide and distribute their goods.

2:55pm
Oh and there was a military coup in Thailand today: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Reuters_Possible_military_coup_in_Thailand_0919.html

3:12p
I would like to go home now. 2hr 28min remain. 17 interactions.

4:18p
I would like to go home now. 1hr 12min remain. 19 interactions.

4:36p
"so your giftcards, they don't have to have a value, right? they can just be clipped on your shirt like a badge, correct?" umm noooooooooooo. what?!

Police State

police state
Originally uploaded by riley27.

9a
I start a little bit later from now until October 13th - when maybe, maybe I can get to that 7:00 - 3:30 schedule. But for now, I come in at 9 and leave at 5:30. It's not too bad, I get to sleep a little later, and rush hour traffic is mostly over - though it's all going to get very interesting on the 27th when Jen starts work at 8am and we have only one car. I suppose I could drive her to work, keep the car, drive home at 5:30 and come back to pick her up at 8...hopefully her grandfather will fix the car- before things become really problematic.

9:37a
We had a good weekend. I didn't do any of the things I said I was going to do...like laundry or dishes. See, they are both so imposing, I don't even know where to start - and there's better things to be doing - like watching movies, and football, and laying the fuck around. Weekends are for playing right? Add to the to-do list, unpacking, organizing, grocery shopping, going to the gym (!) etc. I just don't want to.

10:06
FYI: Reese's pumpkins are back in stores. Stock up now.

10:17a
Carl is out today -> car trouble. Fortunately Monday's are always extremely slow.

11:01a
It's 11:01a on monday morning and I want to go

11:12a
I just found my new boss looking at/reviewing spreadsheets of reports that i did last year. That's right, spreadsheets that I made last year for peak. Tell me again why they didn't hire me? Also, our phone system is down, so people can call in, but we can't transfer them to where they need to go.

11:33a
I hate looking to see that I have a new message in my Inbox, only to find, disappointingly that it is spam that has made it past my filter.

12:13p
Ih the midst of complete Republican civil war, we can perhaps begin to dream about taking back the Senate, along with the house. Taking back Congress is a huge and necessary step needed to check Bush's usurped powers. It will be the last chance to stop him, before he does whatever the hell he wants. After mid-terms, he will have no motivation to listen to anyone - not any voice of reason. Stop him now, or we're fucked. It's that simple.

12:19p
How does one hold onto $100 in our product for 55 years? Do you have any idea how much that $100 was worth 55 years ago? Answer: $775.

Imagine if you had put that into, even a savings account? Answer: $508

Don't you feel bad now? How about now: Placed into the stock market, with a rate of return at 10%, that $100 would now be worth $18,905. (or, $2438 in 1950 dollars).

Who just keeps a $100 lying around, invest that shit, cash that shit, use that shit.

12:30p
From Time magazine "The first message was routine enough: a "Prepare to Deploy" order sent through naval communications channels to a submarine, an Aegis-class cruiser, two minesweepers and two mine hunters. The orders didn't actually command the ships out of port; they just said to be ready to move by Oct. 1."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1535817,00.html

Anybody NOT think that we're going to war with Iran right before mid-term elections? Oh and then there's this nugget: "Chavez and Ahmadinejad cement their alliance."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2363447,00.html Great, two oil giants cementing their relationship - nothing to be worried about no no, because we just found all that oil in the Gulf, which by the way, the US government and people may not get any royalties because of a tiny little loophole, that the oil companies are going to shoulder their way through. How much in royalties? you say. $1.5 billion, I say. They get $1.5 billion dollars and get to much a bajillion dollars selling that oil back to the American people. Did I mention that the oil is in publicly owned waters? Yep, sure is. The big oil companies get to take some of our stuff, avoid paying for it, and then sell our stuff back to us at a greatly inflated price. How nice. PS: Chavez wants on the UN Security Council - Iran is backing him.

Remember how they touted this discovery as helping us relieve our dependence on foreign oil? Well here's some hard numbers - they say that they can eventually get 3-15 barrels out. Americans use about 20 million barrels a day, that's 7.3 billion barrels a year. So even if we can get the full 15 billion out, it'll be gone in two years. So much for energy independence.

Also, Daniel Akts of the NYT says "Anything that reinforces the role of fossil fuels — particularly oil — as the industrial world's primary energy source is bad, not good. Anything that prolongs the life of the internal combustion engine is a negative, not a positive. Anything that makes it cheaper to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is cause for mourning rather than celebration." And he's right - we need to be pouring money into alternative forms of fuel. That's the only way to cut our dependence on foreign oil. Defend America - don't be foreign oil. It seems so simple. Don't support terrorism abroad. OK - stop buying oil that funds governments that support terrorism. To do that, we have to invest in alternative fuels. Ta da.

Oh, there's more: instead of plastering your SUV with magnetic yellow ribbons that say support the troops. Why don't you support the troops by getting out of your gas-guzzling SUV and into a vehicle that makes full use of the gas it consumes? Why don't you support our troops and use less oil - didn't you know? that's why we went to war in Iraq - or so says our Sec of Defense....because of high gas prices, you know how we can get lower gas prices? cut demand - then gas will be fucking cheap, they won't be able to get rid of it. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/17/rumsfeld-gas-prices/

2:43p
I'd like to go home now. 2hr 47min. 18 interactions.

2:51p
Ok, so now facebook really does highlight the changes you've made to your profile?

3:01p
Here's an uplifting headline: "US Resorting to 'Collective Punishment' in Iraq" http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0918-02.htm Note: Collective punishment is specifically prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention, Part III, Section 33. "No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited." So I guess we decided to throw that one out.

Along with this one, Fourth Geneva Convention, Part III, Section 27: "Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity. Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault."

And this is how: "In an indication of just how bad fears have become, one international official told me of reports among his staff that a 15-year-old girl had been beheaded and a dog's head sewn on her body in its place; and of a young child who had had his hands drilled and bolted together before being killed. Whether or not the reports are accurate, the staff took them as fact. It seems in this climate of fear, no act is so barbaric it can't be believed. " http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/09/sun.03.html

3:12p
Remember when we talked about how scary Diebold machines were and how it took roughly three minutes to install malicious code that allowed one candidate to "steal" votes from another? Ok, well it gets worse, apparently the key to the lock that locks up the machine, is the same key that opens hotel mini-bars - keys that are widely available on the Internet. Fantastic. http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/18/135828/718

3:48p
This is just creepy: "Film Shows Youths Training to Fight for Jesus" - "Speaking in tongues, weeping for salvation, praying for an end to abortion and worshipping a picture of President Bush -- these are some of the activities at Pastor Becky Fischer's Bible camp in North Dakota, "Kids on Fire," subject of the provocative new documentary, "Jesus Camp."" http://rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FWNT%2Fprint%3Fid%3D2455343

4:28p
In a speech today, ex-VP Gore called for an end to payroll taxes.

"For the last fourteen years," he claimed, "I have advocated the elimination of all payroll taxes -- including those for social security and unemployment compensation -- and the replacement of that revenue in the form of pollution taxes, principally on CO2."

More power to him. Take tax burden off of working American's and make big corporations clean up their own mess.... Mr. Gore has not ruled out a run in 2008.

4:49pm
I would like to go home now. 41min remain. 23 interactions.

8:22a
FRIDAY!!

9:06a
How is it that lots of people know me by name here, and I have no idea who they are?

9:33a
Game Stop is the best thing ever. Jen and I have crossed over to the dark side and bought "Dynasty Warriors 4," "Tony Hawke," "Women's Tennis," "NCAA Basketball," and "James Bond." We expect to add "X-men" and soccer to our collection soon.

10:16a
New favorite random things website: consumerist.com. Go there for horror stories of companies and their customer relations.

10:18a
I may have said this already, but if the war on terror is a "struggle for civilization" as Bush said in a recent speech...why don't we have 500,000 troops over there? Why are they not over-trained and over-equipped? Why is there no draft to ensure that they have enough backup? Why are taxes not higher to pay for all of the things they need to fight for our very civilization? If the war on terror is like fighting the Nazis, where's the conviction? Where are the sacrifices on the homefront?

UPDATE: Ok, I didn't see this earlier, but Jon Stewart covers this http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/13/jon-stewart-reaches-out-to-the-president-while-little-richard-gives-us-the-low-down/

11:27a
I have sunk to new lows, I am reading the strategy guide for "DW4."

12:58p
"It must be easier to go to the moon!" the man exclaimed. Um, "I can't really say, sir." I said.

1:28p
Boy that got the job that I interviewed for just came over to tell me something that I already knew. 1) He was telling the wrong person, there are 3 people here with similar initials and he was mistaken about it being me. 2) I know that marketing calls go to a specific person, I learned that the first day that I was here last year. Let's get something straight BR, I've been here longer than you.

1:38p
They're digging a moat around Baghdad. Nuff said. Ok, wait, there's more: ok, they are digging a moat and setting up checkpoints to limit access to the city. Isn't the problem that there are already rebels in the city? I mean, yeah, you're essentialy locking them up, by locking them in, but won't they wreak havoc while they're in there? And really, how hard is it going to be for the rebels that blend into society to move freely about or be resupplied. Someone somewhere said that a great campaign ad would be a picture of Baghdad before the invasion, sans moat - and one after complete with destruction and rubble.

1:48p
This is wild - http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Courses/anphys/1999/Rice/Rice.htm - These coral reef fish can change their sex at will. Becoming male or female or both.

Meanwhile, did I mention the moat?

2:38p
Meanwhile, this is what passes for journalism these days. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/washington/13diplo.html?ex=1315800000&en=8a9b8de2bb84ed70&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

2:57p
Check this: http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html

4:17p
Freedom beckons in just 13min

8:07a
Thursdays are ok. Especially when it's nice and cool and the sun is breaking through the clouds. It is made a little less happy/hopeful when you pull up to your office and it looks as if a cloud has descended and is just hanging out - seriously,visibility dropped to about 100ft. Jen and I thought that something was seriously wrong (the fog combined with the curious lack of traffic on the hwy)- like the Sham-Hex campus had burned down. However, when I checked the weather this morning, it said that there would be areas of dense fog, one just happens to be centered over work - it's a little bit of a downer.

9:43a
How come when the Democrats disagree with the Bush Administration, they are "squabbling" or "bickering", but when Republicans disagree with the Administration they are "blocking" "rebelling" or "standing in opposition"?

Note: This http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/13/princeton_researcher.htmlis why we should have paper ballots or machines that print out a receipt. If you can access, alter and replace the software in these things to change the outcome of an election UNUTTERABLY, in inside of "a few minute"...oh I don't know, something seems very wrong with that.

10:21a
Slow work day - the whole gang is here, though Rhonda and Joyce are both hyped up on Vicodin. At least I am a human answering machine no longer. Trouble though- today after lunch (I've been told), I will have the pleasure of finally getting trained on one of the three systems we use. It's expected to take 3 hours and I expect that it will be excruciating. Trouble is, I think that I pretty much already know what they are going to train me on from watching people work ALL LAST WEEK. Training has been terrible this year. Last year, it may have lasted two weeks, and I may have bitched about it every day, but at least I knew my shit. This year, all I need is for someone to show me how the systems work but also give me a refresher course on all the things we had to learn last year, in addition to anything that might have changed. This has not happened yet, and it annoys the fuck out of me.

10:39a
Luna bars look and taste like regular granola bar and pack a hefty helping of vitamins and nutrients. CLIF bars (same parent company) look and taste like a pile of dog poop and pack a hefty helping of vitamins and nutrients. Tell me again why when I had the option I picked eight Luna bars and two Clif bars? ...back to eating me pile of poo.

10:45a
Our dear President kindly shared his reading list for the summer:

Quick Red Fox
The Dreadful Lemon Sky
Challenger Park
After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro's Regime and Cuba's Next Leader
Flashman at the Charge
Finding Fish: A Memoir
Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different
The Bridge at Andau
Flash for Freedom Mayflower : A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Through a Glass, Darkly : A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
The Messenger
The Places in Between
Beach Road
Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power
Polio: An American Story
The Stranger
Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural
Promised Land, Crusader State Cinnamon Skin: Travis McGee Mysteries
Macbeth
Hamlet

Note that it includes Camus's novel "The Stranger" and two "Shakespeares." Does anyone actually believe this guy? Are we actually supposed to believe that a man that couldn't be bothered to read a Presidential Daily Briefing could actually work his way through 25 books in three months - in between all that brush clearing, bike riding, and varmint shooting. A president that can't get a sentence out without stuttering, stammering, getting confused or mangling the English horribly is reading Macbeth and Hamlet. Please.

Here's my reading list, and I'm a voracious reader with nothing to do during the summer, especially not, oh, running the country or anything (though I did work from 9a-5p, just about everyday)

1984
Brave New World
Fight Club
Watership Down
Freakonomics
Holy Blood, Holy Grail
How Soccer Explains the World
Sun Tzu's Art of War
The Zombie Survival Guide
Written on the Body
Bushwhacked

Ok, so to sum up, I, reading at 100 pages an hour, working full time was only able to complete 11 volumes that did not really include "deep" material. Our president, while running the country, managed to complete 25 very hard works. Something is not quiet right here.

Ok, so one book that was on my reading list that was not on dear Georgie's that maybe should have been: Sun Tzu's Art of War. Here's a good article, telling you why.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0913-24.htm

12:21p
Jen came to meet me for lunch! And did I mention that it is a perfect day outside? 74 degrees and sunny, with a gentle, yet refreshing breeze. Perfect. And Jen is a superhero for coming to have lunch with me, especially since she drops me off and picks me up everyday too, because the other car is currently kaput. Her grandfather thinks it's something with the heater core and when we added a gallon of water to the engine coolant tank, it immediately came out of the bottom of the car from somewhere. Not good at all.

12:28p
Funny how gas prices were really fucking high at the beginning of August ($2.93- in MO) and now they have steadily dropped falling almost a dollar to date. In Jackson, MO, you can get gas for $2.01. Expect gas prices to keep falling or stay low all the way until mid-term elections.

1:01p
3hr 29min remain. Eleven interactions.

3:02p
Well time was moving really fast there for awhile (working on a special project), but now it has slowed to a standstill again. 1hr 28min remain.

4:02p
My boss just had me train. I'm working off of knowledge that is one-year old. Real smart.

8:40a
Wow - two days after you got no sleep is worse than the day after you got no sleep. The alarm went off this morning and I almost cried. My eyes were burning when I got up, and now they are distinctl unhappy about the contacts in them. I really was going to go to bed early last night, but then I got bogged down applying for that job at Gosh-Shoe. I hate online applications processes - I have a resume! I have a cover letter! Why do I have to manually re-enter all of this information? But, it is done. And then I was distracted by Jen playing Dynasty Warriors until late. When we looked up it was quarter to 12a - and we were not in bed yet. I don't recommend staying up late three days in a row, or two days - unless you can sleep it off the next day. Not possible with stupid stupid work.

9:05a
7hr 25min remain.

9:28a
The internet just crashed here (well, several minutes ago - and it's back up), and because the phones are all run VoIP, we can't take any calls. Note: I broke down and am using the space heater provided - it was that or wear my coat.

9:51a
Dune 7 and 8 have been announced and Dune 7 has been released.

9:53a
"Dean slams RNC-funded 'Fun With Guns' event at university in letter to Mehlman" http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Dean_slams_RNCfunded_Fun_With_Guns_0912.html
Can you indeed have fun with guns? yes. should you really be sponsoring an event that has kids use paintball guns to shoot cardboard cutouts of Democrats? hmmm...maybe not. I wonder if it would be considered a threat to the security of the aforementioned Democrat leaders? I mean, aren't they putting out a hit list and calling for action? This strikes me as inciting violence.

Now, I'm all for shooting guns. It is, in fact, fun. I'm even for putting a picture of someone that you are annoyed with on a target (or a dartboard). But when the leader of a National Party does it as a campaign event, at best it is crass and at worst it is an invitation for violence. What's next "Sniper Fun with Guns"? Come to the event and you can simulate the shooting of a Democrat leader with a sniper rifle? That's not a campaign event, that's a terrorist training camp.

12:25p
My boss just broke my desk by sitting on it. Broke, right off of the cubical wall where it connects. All my shit, went, everywhere. This in addition to the fact that it is just me and Carl today. Rhonda still out. Joyce has chicken pox. Now I get to play human answering machine - this day actually, cannot get any worse.

12:29p
The fixing the desk took one look at the construction of the cube and said "something is radically wrong here." Great.

1:07p
I am a human answering machine.

1:10p
They have now completely removed my desk. There is a gaping hole where I used to sit.

1:35p
One wonders where I will sit tomorrow...is this day over yet? 2hr 55min remain.

1:55p
Oh oh. They put a new desk in.

3:00p
Back at my desk, and I am no longer a human answering machine. My new cubemate is very talkative.

4:16p
14min to freedom.

7:50a
The only thing worse than a Monday is coming in to work early on a Tuesday with only 4 hours of sleep under your belt and having your boss practically run over to you and ask "so are you up for a challenge this morning?"

8:05a
Fortunately the "challenge" was averted. It seems that a coworker called in sick, my boss, who would normally back the coworker up on the phone lines was going to be in an interview, and her boss was out today too. What did this mean for me? All the calls coming in were going to be routed to me, no matter what the person needed - 90% of it, I would not be able to handle. Lucky for me, bossman's interview was cancelled abruptly.

8:35a
You know you've been playing too many video games when not only do you dream about them, but scenes from the game are just behind your every thought and you see the "life bar" over people in real life. I think people that overdose on the Sims experience this.

9:06a
So the car that I'm driving...it broke. The inside of the windshield steams up to the point where you cannot see out of it and steam pours from the air vents along with a sickly sweet smell. Meanwhile the "overheating gauge" registers nothing. I'm told that there's something wrong with the heat core - hopefully Jen's grandfather can fix the thing or we are going to become a one car household, and I'm just not sure how that's going to work. But I'll worry about it if Jen's g-pa can't fix the problem

10:52a
5hrs and 38 minutes remain. 11 calls.

10:56a
I've just been informed that after lunch, I'm back to listening into calls - I can expect this to go on from 12-1:15 when the woman I'll be listening into will go to lunch. praise be. sucks that they're taking me off the phone, I had just dialed up air America...

11:05a
Taking lunch at 11a is stupid, so, I'm not going to. See, you want to take lunch as late as possible so that the rest of the day is shorter. If I took lunch now, I would be done by noon and then have four and a half uninterrupted hours in front of me. If I take it at noon, then I only have 3.5. See how 3.5 seems so much less than 4.5?

In other news, I need a haircut, like whoa. I hate it when it is just short of being long enough to tie back, but long enough that it's all up in my business (said in a complete white accent <- this one's for your janine). anyway, i gotta call me a bscoot. But not tonight because I am ungodly tired and plan on going straight to bed with a minor detour for dinner.

Hey Rachel Ray - here's another down and dirty 15-minute meal for ya:

cook turkey burger on george forman
apply salsa con queso to bun
add burger
consume

did I say 15 minutes? I meant three.

Speaking of food, Fast Food Nation is being made into a movie, it promises to be full of "there's shit in the meat" goodness.

11:19a
SLAM DUNK! Jen passed her last exam - she is now available for all of you financial planning needs. Do you have your exit buddy? Proceed to your dream location. (Note: Still seeing images from Dynasty Warriors: Xtreme Legends behind my eyes.)

1:03p
I never cease to be amused by the simple fact that I wear combat boots to work every day. What will I do with my bonus money this year?

1:33p
I commented on 9/11 yesterday, Keith Olbermann did it much much better -
"When those who dissent are told time and time again — as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus — that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American… When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"… look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me: Who has left this hole in the ground? We have not forgotten, Mr. President. You have. May this country forgive you."

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/11/keith-olbermanns-special-commnet-on-bush-who-has-left-this-hole-in-the-ground-we-have-not-forgotten-mr-president-you-have-may-this-country-forgive-you/

1:43p
When I was here last year and I used to draw smiley faces/unhappy faces/frowny faces for Carl, because we sit next to each other and I'm a goof. I was just informed that he kept one of them for a very long time after I left hanging on his wall. I'm sure that he loves that I am back to draw him new ones.

2:51p
It looks like my exile into listening-to-calls land was brief today. Mercifully.

Al Franken: God Spoke - coming soon to theatres near you, watch the trailer:
http://movies.aol.com/movie/al-franken-god-spoke/25820/trailer

2:53p
Twenty "interactions." 2hr 37min remain

They are changing my schedule on me - and I was just getting used to getting up early. So instead of starting at 8a and leaving at 4:30p, I'll be coming in it 9a and leaving at 5:30p - yuck. If I have my way when peak starts, I'll be coming it at 7a and leaving by 3:30p, now that would be ideal. It's much easier to run errands/do chores when it's still light out, because when the sun goes down, all I want to do is relax.

Tonight is all about relaxing. Relaxing and celebrating. Relaxing, celebrating, drinking a bottle of wine....and going to bed. I think I've had eight hours of sleep in the last two nights combined, I really am looking forward to a full eight hours-in one night. I was doing ok there, about 20 minutes ago, but now my eyelids are heavy and my eyeballs are tired of my contacts.

3:46p
44 minutes remain.

**Congratulations to Katie and Kristen and their recent Engagement**

8:12a
Mondays suck.

8:59a
So they say I'll start taking some calls today, if that becomes the case, then I will be able to do more extensive blogging. Returning to our comments on all things political and/or cool.

9:16a
I changed my desktop to the picture of the gummy bears conspiracy to topple the government (I wonder if that sentence will trigger any alarms . . . remember when Adventures was tagged by the US Senate Sergeant-At-Arms? yeah.)

12:40p
I am now on the phone. Two calls down, (by the end of peak), several thousand to go.

1:07p
I should really be working on my cover letter for that job at Gosh-shoe...unfortunately, I really really hate to write cover letters. So, I'm not going to right now, I'll do it...later. Just like I did laundry this weekend, just like we drove the car to T-ville, just like I dropped off my paystub on Saturday, and just like we did all those pesky dishes that just keep piling up.

Who has heard of the Nintendo Wii? The Wii is Nintendo's seventh generation game console...it looks positively fascinating. Instead of a controller a la PS2 or Xbox it has a remote-looking device. It has the standard up, down, left right button cross along with A and B buttons, similar to the NES controller. The really cool thing about it though, is that instead of hitting a button to swing (a bat, sword, whatever) you swing the whole thing. Attach the "nunchuk" controller and you can cause movement with your left hand while firing/swinging with your right hand - completely independent of one another. Slip the remote into the "gun carrier" and you have a gun (think: duck hunt - but more rifley) for your first person shooters. It looks fucking cool. You could actually get off your butt and move around the room while playing - add a treadmill for some serious action (pain?), if anything it will keep your butt from going numb and maybe ward off what I like to call claw hand. (claw hand being the phenomenon of holding the controller for to long and not using your pinky and/or ring finger for hours - pry the controller away and your hand remains in the same position. At any rate at $250 it doesn't seem like such a bad investment -- you can also download any Nintendo game ever made through the online vault. I think we'll get one. and a big tv. and a PS3. when we have money. alot of money.

1:22p
Note: I keep wanting to say "Gosh-shoe parking - this is Jalynn."

1:30p
3.00 hours to go!

1:40p
(compliments Boingboing)
Ok, this is wild. This chef prints pictures of food with edible, food-based ink on edible paper. The menu is edible - you can break off parts of it to have a taste of the steak. He is completely crazy in his approach to food. He plans on purchasing an intense laser in order to cook food from the inside out, creating perhaps - inside out bread. (BREAK: I suddenly got an intense desire for popcorn. END BREAK) here's the link http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/technology/circuits/03chef.html?ex=1265432400&en=c53038354929b519&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland and here's some pictures of some of his unique items http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2704 including: Popcorn flavored packing material. champagne and scallops, sushi on paper, raccoon road kill, edible literature, squash ice cream pellets, doughnut soup - and others for which you have to see the pictures.

1:48p
Ok, enough fun and games (for now), time to get down to serious business. Today is the anniversary of the WTC attacks...I don't really know what is especially significant about the fact that it is the five year anniversary...Sept 11th was a tragic day in american history and those affected by the tragedy should be honored every year, not some arbitrary number or years - nor should the event become a political circus. There should be no fear mongering, no partisan political speeches, no dramatic photo ops - but instead, heartfelt remembrances of the dead.

If we truly wanted to honor the dead of 9/11, we would offer our full support to those that were affected by their deaths and by assisting those who tried to save them. They lied saying the air was safe and no thousands suffer decreased lung capacity. They lied about who was responsible and now thousands are dead. They lied and a sovereign country lies in ruin. They lied and the outpouring of goodwill from the rest of the world evaporated. They continue to lie about 9/11, they continue to lie about the civil war in Iraq, they continue to lie about the threat of a nuclear Iran, and they continue to spread lies about anyone who opposes them- degrading them, demonizing them, and calling them traitors. Mr. Bush, your wars in the Middle East is not WWIII, Al-Qaeda is not the Nazi War Machine and you are not a power unto yourself. America is a land of laws, Mr. Bush, and a land of freedom. We will not live in fear and we will not give up our freedoms.

On this day of remembrance, I stand up and say this is not right, this is not just, this is not the American way. Not in my name.

2:19p
Last night ABC/Disney aired "The Path to 9/11" marketed as "the story of exactly what happened". The disclaimer reads that it is a "dramatization ....not a documentary" and contains "fictionalized scenes." However, it also says that it is based on the 9/11 Commission Report. Hmm, what could be the problem with showing a highly controversial docu-drama on the anniversary of the worst terrorist event in US history? Oh I don't know, is it crass? is it bound to confound fact and fiction? is it purely partisan? is it CRASS? I can see a documentary being made about the event - documentaries often allow a new angle on an event, maybe something your haven't considered before. They encourage dialogue and can be one way to memorialize and remember people. why why why would you make a drama, based on 9/11, but containing fictionalized scenes, time compression, scenes that flat-out contradict the 9/11 Commission Report, and air in on 9/11. in what world is this okay? in what world is it ok to blame something on a previous administration when that administration handed it to you and you sat on it while you went on vacation. in what world is it ok to completely edit out the scene of our president looking completely befuddled, when we were under attack? in what world do you fictionalize a tragic event, and just make up shit? in what world, do you run it without commercial interruption? in what world, do you offer it as a free download on iTunes? in what world do you send if off to a bunch of school children as educational materials?

In a fucked up world. To date, prominent Democrats and American Airlines (defamed in PT9/11) have threatened legal action. I hope they spank ABC/Disney. And I hope that a majority of Americans recognize PT9/11 for what it is, a giant pile of shit. I hope those Americans lash back at the party that so clearly engineered this. I hope they stand up and say ENOUGH. (like JLo-right Janine) I hope those Americans boycott the corporations that financed this and throw the politicians who condoned it out of office. I hope that there is a great swell of anger rising up from the blue states and the red states that will sweep this government clean and shine light into all of our country's dirty corners. We can be a great nation again.

(and shame on the BBC for airing this pile of shit in Britain)

3:09p
It's actually much less stressful being on the phone than sitting through training - bossman seems content to let us do whatever online as long as we are "ready" to take calls.

3:18p
The ultimate in secured/apocalyptic living: http://ultimatesecurehome.com/secure_home.htm

3:38p
Less than an hour, less than an hour!

4:11p
Less than a half hour, less than a half hour! (14 interactions today. my computer tells me so.)