I don't think any of us, anywhere, need to read a transcript featuring Bush and his views on the war. I think what he wants us all to think and believe will be associated with him for a very long time. Sometimes, I hear some reporter politely try to pull a little clarity, but since it's polite or worded in a certain ways... It's still an avoidable obstacle.
I love it when reporters stick it to him. I'm not asking for asking for a tarring and a feathing (though I admit, I'd enjoy it)... I would like that every once in a while, when I watch the news, for someone to FRICKEN stick a pointy stick type of question to candy coating, evasive subjects. When I find I'm having a hard time getting the info I need, when someone is purposefully beating around bushes or whatever it is they choose to do... I get a bit testy and I do give them a jab or two. Who has time to dissect bullshit? (not that we need to) Good news or horrid, get to the point and be realistic. Like this exchange:
QUESTION: Mr. President, the Iraq Study Group described the situation in Iraq as grave and deteriorating. You said that the increase in attacks is unsettling. That will convince many people that you're still in denial about how bad things are in Iraq and question your sincerity about changing course.
BUSH: It's bad in Iraq. That help?
(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: Why did it take others to say it before you've been willing to acknowledge it to the world?
BUSH: You know, in all due respect, I've been saying it a lot. I understand how tough it is, and I've been telling the American people how tough it is. And they know how tough it is.
From: President Bush and Prime Minister Blair Hold a News Conference (Washingtonpost.com)
I understand that some would say what he said wasn't appropriate or could have been phrased better but we've all seen, time after time, that if you ask George a sugar coated question, you'll get a sugar coated answer.
If journalists fear invitations to these conferences as much as they do having their amendments stripped of them, then perhaps it's time to ask colleagues to ask them as well.
What books did you love as a child?
Submitted by hearts.
The pokey little puppy.
I also had a collection of Disney books I liked.
I also read the masterpieces: how to eat fried worms and rascal.
My mom used to read parts of King/Straub's The Talisman.
I also had a nice kids dictionary I enjoyed.
I also like this hat. It's one of the first things i got for myself when I thought I landed a job I'd still have today! :p
What's one thing you regret not doing?
Submitted by Mr. Nice.
I should have stuck to my guns and left my hometown after graduating. Staying here, being here, has caused more personal damage than it has done any good. It's difficult to get a job in my field, for even basic jobs, I compete with people who have more experience than I have. All of the jobs I've had since graduating in 2005 have been temporary and barring one -- low pay. The time between jobs have dulled certain skills and I even feel lacking in other areas. The tech field moves extremely quickly and without remorse. You learn certain tricks and ways and when you're looking for a position, everyone wants something brand new or are striving to maintain some legacy system that's untaught because it was said to be antiquated.
Then there are the companies that serve the Govn't here. Not only is there no headway or immediate response either way, but the requirements (again) ask for clearances and experience with things only used by other govn't/defence agencies. Some of those inbetween aforementioned examples and positions want someone with 5 to 10 years of experience. One position didn't want telecommuters, which confused me momenatilly because it also required a clearance -- do people really think they can do jobs that require a certain amount of discretion and sensitivity with hi class information can be done from the den? I guess!
I get apporached by spam companies, insurance companies, and sketchy sales agencies. It's against every fiber in my being to do or be any of the above. I don't coerse anyone into anything I wouldn't want to be coersed into myself and still I wouldn't do it. These might be costly acts of rejection but when I feel personally uncomfortable doing something, I get stressed and upset and consequently I end up inadvertantly taking it out on myself with tension headaches.
I can and wouldn't mind working as a barista, in some bookshop, an electronics store, or any other semi interesting retail environment. But there I compete with cheaper and younger labor. Which has left me sending out resumes and getting used to and depressed by the silence I get in return. I love my family, I know they love me. By wanting to be close with them, I feel I've caused them as much difficulty as I have myself.
Are you a re-gifter? Have you ever re-gifted?
Submitted by Sandals.
No, that's tacky. I appreciate what I'm given or I try my best to. We all get those gifts that make you blink unintentionally but it's the thought... Not only that, people put a lot of time, effort, and money into the act of giving. It really is a big to them to give you something that they think you'll really like.
When I was little, 5 or 6, I wrapped up old stuff in the house because I wanted to participate in giving people something and getting that reaction from them... Being the age I am now, shopping for people is difficult. Unless others made you a list or dropped some hints, it's a stressful thing to go out and put yourself in that persons mindset.
I just wish I had access to clay. It's easier for me to make people gifts than to buy them. Trust me, I've worked with clay long enough that what I give as a gift is never tucked away or put in a closet.
I don't watch Maury Povich... When I worked in TV, I had to, to an extent, just to insure the recording was alright. Sometimes I did chuckle at the topics but some years after the fact, after watching a topic he airs on a regular basis, I wonder if satan himself as anything on him.
Chubby, dangerously overweight babies... This is what he focused on his show today. Kids that out ate my daily consumption in one single meal. Parents who were oblivious that they were causing harm, who could not or will not say no, guardians who, imho might be called opportunists. To air a problem is one thing, issues need voices and sometimes people need to know things others have lived through. If it were a case that these kids were pica, or had a mental impairment (which they might have) that prohibits them from feeling satiated thusly binging to fill an unending hunger (which is actually documented, I forget the name of the syndrome) -- I would have thought to post anything on Maury or the people on the show...
BUT...
When the mothers come on blubbering that they can't say no, they can't -not- make their kid a platter of 12 waffles, 6 sausages, 3 scrambled eggs, and half a loaf of toast (and trust me, for letting it go on, they're no saints ). When, while crying to an audience of endless people watch clips of these kids are playing where they bingle on an endless smorgasboard of ribs, mac and cheese, and anything else there heart desires, while dressed without shirts or in skimpy clothes while their stomachs hang out... When the host shows updates of the others he's shown in the past, who have never found treatment, never improved, and have increased in size and health problems. You gotta admit that Mr. Povich doesn't have the best intentions for his guests. I don't think he ever has... And when a kids health, life is at stake and he sits there obliviously parading these people in the way he does -- exaserbating the problem... You have to admit that he's got to be one of the most vile, opportunistic, and manipulative men that ever had a show bearing their own moniker.
But this isn't news... It's not new or novel or anything any of us didn't already know (unless you haven't ever seen it and if so, good for you). It's just a commentary on aiding and abetting people with problems and their urge to exploit them.
What's the most klutzy thing you've ever done?
Submitted by Jecka.
It was a moment meant for kodak and it happened more than once.
Actually, I have had many klutzy moments and they're all pretty comical... They compare to any klutzy comical moments seen on TV! But this one makes people giggle.
In my dorm room, I stored my food on my closet shelves because if you don't, you get "friends" in the winter. One of the things I love more than anything is pancakes. I love them, I miss them when I don't have them, I will have them for dinner when I want... There's no end to the affliction. One evening, I was reaching for something on the shelf (I'm 5'4", everything and most shelves I need stuff off of is taller than me. Anyways, one thing knocked over another and sent a box of bisquick mix falling. I went to catch it, got clonked on the head with a can of something, threw the box back in the air, yelped, the box hit the ceiling and exploded... Pancake mix covered a decent radius of the room, coated me and I caught the box again and slammed it on a near-by counter. More mix flew up, oh the fun.
It was about 1am, most on my side of the hall were asleep and I went to my RA's room for a vacuum or access to the janitors closet. I knocked on her door, covered from head to toe in pancake mix. My RA, Vicky said "Bobbo, what the hell happened to you?" and started laughing. I didn't get that vacuum, but I did get a broom and swept what I could up.
Ah, what the hell, here's some more!
A day before or after that, at the house my sister and I rented, I wanted to get something from the candy jar we had on the top of a cabinet that was high off the ground. This was a trip I made countless times. Hand on counter, boost up, grab cabinet and stand on counter. This time, I was halfway kneeling on the counter and grabbed for a little more cupboard support... *shhhinckt!* The top half of the cupboard came unanchored and fell off the wall! In a effort to put it back I shoved but it was much too heavy for such an awkward position... Then from the jarring, the doors flew open and cans started flying out and pelting me on my head, in my face... It's raining groceries! I hear something slide forward and see the huge old thick candy jar (the thing was 20lbs without candy) come forward. The lid fall off and hit me on the head... That hurt! Then the entire jar falls off and smacks me on the head. I begin to feel weak and start screaming "HELP! OH MY GOD, HELP!" My sister and our house guest came and slowly, carefully extricated me from the storm of falling foodstuffs and from the cabinet itself! I had so many lumps on my head my sister made me stay up until she was sure I didn't have a concussion (she's a nurse). We all laughed over the luck I had that week. I looked like hell!
I also once incorrectly hit a curb while speeding down a road on my mountain bike and ended up bleeding, with road rash down most of the left side of my body... but I feel that's a bit more or a common biking occurrence, no?
Who's the hardest person to shop for on your holiday list?
-EVERYONE!-
bah humbug!
Finish this sentence: "What in the world was I thinking when I...?"
Submitted by jammin15.
What in the world was I thinking when I finished this sentence...?
hahaha... some of lifes great mysteries will never be solved.
I'm up late again. I'm not really tired, but I want to go to sleep soon.
The other day, I had two job postings sent to me. One is local, another is about 45 minutes away... And not really bus-accessible at all! The one local posting sent me a link asking what I would like to get paid and I asked for $1 and change less than their max pay rate amount. I kind of asked for a lot, but nothing I'm not worth. I've done jobs similar to this, but not exclusively like this... It would be like "specializing" and I do home it's exclusive to what I think it's specialized to. The previous job (call center) I had similar to this made me twitch. I had calls from every possible category and department housed in that building. It quite literally was too much to handle at times! I was hired thinking I'd take calls within a given realm, but it wasn't so. I strive to do everything I do well, I like knowing all that I can know and the random barrage that required a knowledge of everything freaked me out. A coworker told me once to 'wing it' and that's not something I do. If someone asks or expects something of me, I give them what they need.
I'm upset because our soon departing governor purposed a plan to take a heavy ax to health care. He wants hospitals and nursing homes to close, other hospitals to 'merge' and reduce their combined beds to half, and more maniacal crap. So, we're to be happy and complacent that he wants to save the state a few hundred million dollars while compromising health care? (while supposedly bringing in a few hundred million in aid -- to aid over populated hospitals, rest homes, ect?) Come 'em! If politicians want to impress us by being savvy and cost effective, they need to start with their own take home pay! What's especially ironic is that one of the hospitals that are being asked to merge and downsize and FIRE half their staff recently broke ground of a new pediatric center. (my sister works there as a nurse and tends for 5 or more patients a day -- thats not being 'overextended' is it?) KUDOS GEORGE PATAKI! thanks for screwing New York State over ONCE AGAIN. Voxxers, pass on the word that this man is not the one to elect to run for the presidency. Sure, he acts and looks like a boy scout, but he's been great at running our state into the ground.
