Total idiocy

Sometimes I wonder how some people get elected to the spots they are.

Republican State Representative Debra Maggert of Hendersonville, TN stated in an email to a Vanderbilt University Masters student, "We also have seen evidence that homosexual couples prey on young males and have, in some instances, adopted them in order to have unfretted access to subject them to a life of molestation and sexual abuse",

I want to know what kind of crack she is smoking. Where do people get these ideas? I would equate this to people saying that just cause you are a Catholic Priest your a pedophile. Which is wrong. Look, I don't see any problem with gay people being able to adopt. And with people like this saying these things, it going to be harder and harder to get children out of foster care. Don't we want our children to be in healthy, loving, and caring environment. A homosexual couple can do the just as well if not better then most heterosexual couples. We want those kids in healthy homes, and why would you deny them that if the couple, either heterosexual or homosexual, fit the criteria.

Link to the Email exchange between Rep Maggert and The Vanderbilt Masters student via Out and About.

Some Morning funniness

I lost interest in Saturday Night live many years ago. I did watch after Dana Carvey left but I think that SNL died after him.

Anyway Natalie Portman was on there not log ago and this clip from the show floored me.

This Clip is a very well done animation of the Muppets doing the original Matrix trailer. Awesome

ADAPT Protest Day 2

This morning, after I got to work, I grabbed a copy of the Nashville City Paper to read while I drank my coffee. A picture on the cover showed some Metro Police officers carrying a guy off to be arrested.

The article proceeded to say that there were a bunch of protestors headed by an organization called ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today). They were protesting the state cuts in the home health budget. The lack of Home Health programs means that some of these disabled people will need to be put into nursing homes. Seems like a pretty good cause to me. I'm not sure I would want to be put in to a nursing home if I had a choice not to be. I used to work EMS and we did a lot of convalescent runs. We transported mostly nursing home patients. I saw how some looked and how some were treated. I saw how the place look and how the people acted around the patients. That alone would keep me from wanting to be placed in to one

On my bus ride home from work we passed right near the Capitol building and the protestors were out there again. So I jumped off the bus to go see what was happening. I got over there at approximately 4:35pm. They were just starting to arrest the people that where blocking Charlotte Ave. About 20 or 30 people it seemed, most in wheelchairs, where in the crosswalk between the capitol and the Legislative Plaza. Another 200 or 300 people were lined up on the sidewalk yelling and chanting at the cops that were arresting people. In the picture below they had to get an EMS spineboard to get this guy off the street.

So who is ADAPT?. Before today I had never heard of them. They fight to keep disabled people from being "locked away" in a nursing homes. They want the disabled out in the community where they get real support. After watching this video on their site and my prior experiences in nursing homes this seem like a good cause.I have seen examples of families putting people in nursing home because they have become an inconvenience to their lives. People who can and are willing to do as much as they can yet they are cast to the care of someone else because someone doesn't want to be bothered. These cuts in home health will make the program smaller and will require some of these people to be put in nursing homes when it is not necessary. Good for them. I am glad they are out there.

There has been a lot of talk around about how they are disrupting the flow of business and that sitting in the street and getting arrested won't help their cause. That this act of civil disobedience does nothing. Well it does. It brought local news coverage and has hopefully opened some eyes to what the state government is trying to do. I knew nothing about this until today and because of this I support their cause.

Give them hell. Sit in the roads. Cause traffic jams. And wake up the people.













More pictures at my buzznet site.

Tennessean.com slideshow of previous days protest.

Tennesse Independant Media Article

On Isaac Hayes and South Park..

Stan : "Why would God let Kenny die, Chef? Why? Kenny's my friend. Why can't God take someone else's friend?"
Chef : "Stan, sometimes God takes those closest to us, because it makes him feel better about himself. He is a very vengeful God, Stan. He's all pissed off about something we did thousands of years ago. He just can't get over it, so he doesn't care who he takes. Children, puppies, it don't matter to him, so long as it makes us sad. Do you understand?"
Stan : "But then, why does God give us anything to start with?"
Chef : "Well, look at it this way: if you want to make a baby cry, first you give it a lollipop. Then you take it away. If you never give it a lollipop to begin with, then you would have nothin' to cry about. That's like God, who gives us life and love and help just so that he can tear it all away and make us cry, so he can drink the sweet milk of our tears. You see, it's our tears, Stan, that give God his great power."
Stan : "I thank I understand."

Pretty scathing and I bet some Christians may take offence. And you said it Mr Hayes. So why are you now just leaving the cast of South Park. Is it cause they offended you and your beliefs? In you statement you said: "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends, and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years I cannot support a show that disrespect those beliefs and practices". Hmmmmm after looking at he above quote I would have to say you being hypocritical Mr. Hayes.

From Matt Stone:

"In 10 years and more than 150 episodes Isaac never had a problem with the
show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews. He got a sudden case
of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show. To bring
the civil rights struggle into this is just a non sequitur. Of course, we will
release Isaac from his contract and we wish him well."

You got it right, as always Mr. Stone.

Last Weekend

It has been a while since I took a nice relaxing weekend to do something nice. So last weekend I took off to Pickett State Park near Jamestown, TN. This is one of my favorite spots to go camping and hiking here in Tennessee. I frequent Big South Fork National Recreation Area simply for the fact it's not as crowded as the Smokies can be and it is a lot closer.

So We left Thursday night just as the bad weather was hitting here. It rained pretty much the whole way and we arrived just after the thunderstorms hit there. There where lots of small tree branches on the ground. So that first night we just relaxed and listened to what SEC basketball games we could on the radio. We rented a cabin, that's pictured above, that was nice had a pretty good little kitchen with some random pots, pans and utensils. Oddly enough there was a flour sifter in the cabinets. Not sure why.

So Friday morning after eating breakfast we took off and walked around some of the trails that encircle the Lake that is there. Its a nice small man made lake that they stock with trout. There is a trail that takes you across a land bridge to an island. Pretty cool. That area is known for it arches and land bridges. Big South fork has a bunch. Most of the rest of the day was left to listening to what ever SEC basketball game I could find. Some other friends showed up late Friday night. The weather was beautiful that day. I could not have picked a better weekend to go.

Saturday was another wonderful day. We went and explored the trails that lead to another natural bridge that was not over any water. It was a large rock formation that was about 40 or so feet above the ground. It was fairly thin at the top. It would not have taken much to topple off that (see more pictures here). After walking through a shit load of downed trees we came up to a set of stairs that lead down to a trail that went around a rock. It was about 40 or 50 stairs down. But once I cleared the rock I saw one of the most beautiful rock faces I have seen in the area. It was a "cave" called Hazard Cave. The rock face was about 80 feet up or so. As you followed the trail down you could feel a sudden temperature and humidity drop. Kind of nice since it was fairly humid that day. Near one ed was a cave that was maybe 20 feet tall and about 200 feet back. We hung out down there a little while and then went to another rock face that was maybe a 1/4 mile a way which was not nearly as impressive. The rest of the day we hung out at the cabin relaxing, reading and napping.

Sunday we packed up and took off for home. On the way back we stopped at Highland Manor Winery just outside of Jamestown, TN. It says its the oldest winery in Tennessee. We browsed the store and tasted some wine. I bought 3 bottles of wine from there, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a White Riesling and a wine they called the Highland sunset. It's a sweet, grape juice tasting table wine. Actually all there wines where table wines. Tennessee isn't known for it wonderful wine country. Although all the wines they made were very good. The lady working in there said that they have a new lake that is stocked with fish. Would be nice to buy a bottle of wine and picnic out there. Maybe I'll do that my next trip up that way.

Over all it was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip. My legs where have been sore since then but it was all worth it. This week at work is going to be very busy. It was a nice needed moral booster.

There are alot more pictures on my buzznet site.

The Future and Cow Poo....

A Japanese agricultural engineering Team lead by Sakae Shibusawa at the Tokyo University of Agriculture successfully extracted .042oz (1.4ml)of gasoline for 3.5oz (100gm) of Cow Poo. They used an unspecified metal catalyst, 30 atm's of pressure, and heated it to 527 Degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius). I bet that was stinky.

So just imagine all that Cattle that we raise in the US. And just imagine all the Poo they produce. It's major disposal problem but if they can make this commercially available in the next 5 years like they plan not only would it help alleviate some of the imports of gasoline that we presently have but can also be another source of income that the cattle farmers can get. Combine this with the Ethanol thing I keep seeing on TV now and this may be a very good start to getting ourselves off foreign oil dependence.

Now how cool is that?

Katrina and Bush....What we all Knew Anyway...

From the AP:

"My gut tells me ... This is a bad one and a big one," then-federal
disaster chief Michael Brown told the final government-wide briefing the day
before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.

.....

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the video "confirms what
we have suspected all along, that this Administration did anything they can to
hide what really happened." He said the administration "systematically misled
the American people."

......

"I'm concerned about ... Their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a
catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

.......

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, a critic of the administration's Katrina
response, had a different take after watching the footage from an AP reporter's
camera. "I have kind a sinking feeling in my gut right now," Nagin said. "I was
listening to what people were saying -- they didn't know, so therefore it was an
issue of a learning curve. You know, from this tape it looks like everybody was
fully aware."

.....

Some of the footage and transcripts from briefings Aug. 25-31 conflicts
with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to
deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina
response.

.....

One snippet captures a missed opportunity on Aug. 28 for the government to
have dispatched active-duty military troops to the region to augment the
National Guard.

Chertoff: "Are there any DOD assets that might be available? Have we
reached out to them?"

Brown: "We have DOD assets over here at EOC (emergency operations center).
They are fully engaged. And we are having those discussions with them now."

Chertoff: "Good job."

In fact, active duty troops weren't dispatched until days after the storm.
And many states' National Guards had yet to be deployed to the region despite
offers of assistance, and it took days before the Pentagon deployed active-duty
personnel to help overwhelmed Guardsmen.

Wow... all I can say is Wow. Most of us knew there where failures in the federal response yet where where told different. This proves that the present administration is doing nothing but misleading us, which we should all already know, but this solidifies it. After seeing this how in the world can anyone even listen to any of the Bullshit that the Government spokes people give us and believe it. I really hope the Press stands up on this like they did with the reporting of the Hurricane.


Here is the proof, see for your self:

Watch the Briefing Video via NY Times

Beware the Ides of March

So today is March 1st. My Birthday. I was born 31 years ago on a Naval Base on the Island of Guam. I only lived there a year so I don't remember it but I have seen pictures of it. Maybe someday I'll get to go back.

So today is also Ash Wednesday. For all you Christian types it Recoup day from Fat Tuesday since we all know you have to get all your debatchery done before Lent.

In 1954 The US made the biggest ever nuclear explosion up to that time on Bikini Island.

So I share my birthday with a few interesting people like:

Frederic Chopin Musical Composer
Glenn Miller Musician
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Yitzhak Rabin of Isreal
Mr. Day-O himself Harry Belafonte
Roger Daltrey of The Who
Face From the A-Team, Dirk Benedict
Actor Alan Thicke
Woo Hoo Daisy Duke, Catherine Bach
Opie, Ron Howard
Mr Time Out, Chris Webber
And last but not least fucking Zack for Saved By The Bell, Mark-Paul Gosselaar

Pretty cool except for Zack and Alan Thicke.

Anyway I amtrudgeo tredge through my day...

And yes I know the Ides of March is the 15th, Julius Caesar's assassination day.