It's good to see so many peeps in love. It makes my blackened, shriveled up heart pulse a little. Anyway since I read (e:Robin)'s post that mentioned the Beach Boys song, I found one of my favorite Beach Boys tracks and decided to share. Brian Wilson could write the hell out of some pop songs!

You're So Good To Me

You're kinda small
And you're such a doll
I'm glad you're mine
You're so good to me
How come you are

You take my hand
And you understand
When I get in a bad mood
You're so good to me
And I love it, love it

You're my baby
Oh yeah
Don't mean maybe
Oh yeah

I know your eyes
Are not on the guys
When we're apart
You're so true to me
How come you are

And every night
You hold me so tight
When I kiss you goodbye
You're so good to me
And I love it, love it

You're my baby
Oh yeah
Don't mean maybe
Oh yeah

You're my baby
Oh yeah
Don't mean maybe
Oh yeah

You're my baby
Oh yeah
Don't mean maybe
Oh yeah

You're my baby

The perfect something is out there. It could be the perfect job, the perfect relationship, the perfect whatever.....it is all out there for you to capture.

However....it may not be what you previously thought. Don't be the person who has a specific thing in mind, expecting THAT is what you are looking for. The perfect something could creep up on you at any moment, and it could catch you completely off guard. What is perfect for you, no matter what it is, could be something that you never would think could be so right. Keep your eyes and ears open.

Finally, don't be afraid to get into a situation you aren't comfortable with. Don't let something like fear to get between you and that perfect something. Anything that is worth attaining will require you to give more of yourself, to become someone different and better.

Good luck!

PS - Pet therapy or BJ's needed. Help!

PPS - (e:Ajay) was right. I was trying to get a rise out of you all. =D

Here is a story our beloved liberal press will never give us. THIS IS FUCKING SHAMEFUL. Liberals love terror! =D



US author lauds suicide bombers
David Nason, New York correspondent
November 19, 2005

ONE of the greatest living US writers has praised terrorists as "very brave people" and used drug culture slang to describe the "amazing high" suicide bombers must feel before blowing themselves up.

Kurt Vonnegut, author of the 1969 anti-war classic Slaughterhouse Five, made the provocative remarks during an interview in New York for his new book, Man Without a Country, a collection of writings critical of US President George W. Bush.

Vonnegut, 83, has been a strong opponent of Mr Bush and the US-led war in Iraq, but until now has stopped short of defending terrorism.

But in discussing his views with The Weekend Australian, Vonnegut said it was "sweet and honourable" to die for what you believe in, and rejected the idea that terrorists were motivated by twisted religious beliefs.

"They are dying for their own self-respect," he said. "It's a terrible thing to deprive someone of their self-respect. It's like your culture is nothing, your race is nothing, you're nothing."

Asked if he thought of terrorists as soldiers, Vonnegut, a decorated World War II veteran, said: "I regard them as very brave people, yes."

He equated the actions of suicide bombers with US president Harry Truman's 1945 decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

On the Iraq war, he said: "What George Bush and his gang did not realise was that people fight back."

Vonnegut suggested suicide bombers must feel an "amazing high". He said: "You would know death is going to be painless, so the anticipation - it must be an amazing high."

Vonnegut's comments are sharply at odds with his reputation as a peace activist and his distinguished war service. He served in the US 106th Division and was captured by German forces at the Battle of the Bulge.

Taken to Dresden and held with other POWs in a disused abattoir, Vonnegut witnessed the appalling events of February 13-14, 1945, when 800 RAF Lancaster bombers firebombed the city, killing an estimated 100,000 civilians.

The experience inspired his book Slaughterhouse Five - the title of the novel coming from the barracks he was assigned in the POW camp. The book became an international bestseller and made Vonnegut a luminary of the US literary left.

But since Mr Bush was elected, Vonnegut's criticisms of US policy have become more and more impassioned.

In 2002, he was widely criticised for saying there was too much talk about the 9/11 attacks and not enough about "the crooks on Wall Street and in big corporations", whose conduct had been more destructive.

The following year he wrote that the US was hated around the world "because our corporations have been the principal deliverers and imposers of new technologies and economic schemes that have wrecked the self-respect, the cultures of men, women and children in so many other societies".

But Vonnegut's latest comments are likely to make many people wonder if old age has finally caught up with a grand old man of American letters.

In a 1998 interview with ABC's John Miller, Osama bin Laden said that America's withdrawal from Somalia had emboldened his burgeoning al Qaida force and encouraged him to plan new attacks:

"Our people realized more than before that the American soldier is a paper tiger that runs in defeat after a few blows," the terror chief recalled. "America forgot all about the hoopla and media propaganda and left dragging their corpses and their shameful defeat."

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Yes, let's follow the liberal strategy again and run away. Given the obvious emboldened nature of the terrorist after they see US forces pulled out of Somalia, WHAT DO YOU THINK THEIR RESPONSE WILL BE IF WE LEAVE IRAQ?

But...then again...who cares about the terrorists - they can't do us any harm! We don't need to pay attention to global terrorism, and we don't need to fight it! Halliburton!!!! Wal*Mart!!! Republican oligarchy!!! Yes those are the true enemies we need to face!!

Silly silly silly silly...I pray that for the safety of us and our families we never have a liberal President again.

While many of you libs are hopelessly clinging to the lies and propaganda spewed by your media and politicians (yes, let's call Fox "Faux News" while posting articles from the rabidly anti-american Independent) ....here is Zarqawi in his own words, banking on your spinelessness and unwillingness to fight back against his merry band of Islamofascists.

"The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam-and how they ran and left their agents-is noteworthy. Because of that, we must be ready starting now, before events overtake us, and before we are surprised by the conspiracies of the Americans and the United Nations and their plans to fill the void behind them. We must take the initiative and impose a fait accompli upon our enemies, instead of the enemy imposing one on us, wherein our lot would be to merely resist their schemes."

I got my paycheck recently, and you know what it said? $115. That's right, that's all they paid me for TWO WEEKS of work (I wasn't in every day, but still). Not only that, but they haven't been giving me my copy of the sent timesheet, so I do not have the (FACTUAL) information that will get me my money. I am shaking I am so pissed off. I am a very dangerous man today. God help the poor asshole who dares to argue with me about this shit.

Jason

I'll stealth ninja post like (e:Joshua) did. He's away from home for the first time in a while, which gives me precious alone time. Sometimes I like to be alone and enjoy the blissful silence, pondering various things without having to be interrupted to speak. I'll write briefly about what is on my wicked mind:

1) My profession - I think I'm not doing what I'm meant to do.

2) I'm not living up to my potential. I can and will do better someday soon.

3) I look at the world around me and I see so many people who just don't give a shit, and that is horribly bothersome. I know I don't agree with everyone here politically, and that's fine - but I'm thinking of "giving a shit" in more broad terms.

4) I'm thinking of tits and ass - a whole locker full of women and myself.

5) Rhonda - I had a dream about her recently. I regret ever being so nasty to her when I de-friended her. That wasn't like me at all. I never thought anything I could say to her would get a reaction - I thought she didn't care about me at all, which is why I felt our friendship was so hopeless. I wish I could tell her that I'm sorry and that of course I cared about her being sick. God if only she knew how much I cared. I felt hurt, and I bited back....HARD. If there is one re-do I want in life, it is that situation. The rest of it I can live with.

6) I love dogs, very much. If I could handle it I would love to be a dog owner one day. Owner doesn't even sound right to me - I've known dogs who were better friends than most humans. So, I wish I could be a friend to a dog. I'll never forget when I was in Philly and my soul was destroyed, 2 dogs came and sat next to me. They knew how bad I felt and they consoled me, laying their heads on my lap and refusing to leave. I then realized how dogs care as much about us as we care about them. Dogs are awesome!

7) I'm thinking about how I like to make people happy, but I have been a self absorbed asshole, an utter failure in that respect. I've been soaking it all in, like those crusty Floridians when they go to the beach.

8) We have another Democrat mayor. Yay. We also have more Democrat county legistlators. This area will continue to fuck itself over until we stop taxing and spending our way to oblivion. Decades of Democrat fiscal and social policy has left this area in utter ruin, and we just float along demanding our social. Tell me this - how many more people have to leave the area, how many jobs have to fly the coop, how many older folks have to be squeezed out of their homes for people to understand something has to change? Do you want your family and friends to stay here? Do you want to be able to get a decent job? Based on the way people voted I think they embrace the idea of Buffalo becoming a ghost town. More taxes, please!

Jason

I thought I wouldn't be able to get to my voting station today, as I have to go to dart league at 7, but I'm happy to hear that the polling stations will be open until 9 PM. I'll have you all know that Jerry and I are currently in 1st place and the only remaining undefeated team. Tonight we play against a supposedly very good team so we have to bring our A game. It's not good enough for me to just scrape by with a victory, I demand domination. Hopefully we will be able to win quickly so I can make it to the Unitarian Universalist Church to cast my vote.

I still do not know who I am going to vote for, but I know for sure I am voting NO on Prop 1. I'll do my best to explain why as succinctly as possible. The way I understand it, Prop 1 will shift more budget power away from the Governor and towards the legislature, Silver and Bruno in particular. The Governor proposes a budget and the Legislature ratifies it. If Prop 1 passes, after a certain amount of time passes without a ratified budget the legislature can implement a "default" budget with a certain percentage increase in State spending, while the legislature decides what the "real" budget will be. In effect this renders the Governor's proposed budget irrelevant and frees the legislature to impose as much increased spending and tax increases as they please (we can safely assume this would be the case, as our State government spends like a bunch of trophy wives). The legislature can just ignore the Governor's budget and stall until the deadline passes. Proponents of Prop 1 say that a vote against Prop 1 is a vote against reform, and that is utter rubbish. WE CAN DO BETTER, AND WE SHOULD EXPECT OUR REPRESENTATIVES TO ENACT REAL REFORM. Please, say NO to Prop 1 and let's pressure our State government to come up with better solutions - we deserve it!

At work today 3 different people bummed smokes from me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against sharing - I live with my twin and I've been sharing everything as long as I've been alive. These people at work refuse to buy their own smokes, saying they're trying to quit, and as soon as I show up with a pack they crowd around my desk with their hands out. Either you're a smoker and you're buying cigs, or you're not a smoker (or trying to quit) and you're not buying cigs. Don't half ass it, telling me you can't let me bum one because you're trying to quit, and 20 minutes later show up at my desk asking me for a handout. I can't afford a 4 person smoking habit. I'm at my wit's end about this because it happens so frequently. Either buy your own, or take your commitment to stop smoking seriously!

Jason

Only in the sense that the French are the loudest critics of how we handle radical Islam, saying they are smarter and safer than we are, that their methods of dealing with the world are far superior to anyone else's. They can't even handle radical Islam in their own country - so why the hell would anyone who cares about National Security listen to them? Remember this is the country that took all of TWO WEEKS to decide their country wasn't worth fighting for in the past. When it comes to fighting terror or dealing with global security issues, we should politely tell France to shut up and let the grown-ups handle it.

More on this later, I have work to do.

Jason

From Yahoo:

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WHY PARIS IS BURNING - by Amir Taheri

AS THE night falls, the "troubles" start — and the pattern is always the same.

Bands of youths in balaclavas start by setting fire to parked cars, break shop windows with baseball bats, wreck public telephones and ransack cinemas, libraries and schools. When the police arrive on the scene, the rioters attack them with stones, knives and baseball bats.

The police respond by firing tear-gas grenades and, on occasions, blank shots in the air. Sometimes the youths fire back — with real bullets.

These scenes are not from the West Bank but from 20 French cities, mostly close to Paris, that have been plunged into a European version of the intifada that at the time of writing appears beyond control.

The troubles first began in Clichy-sous-Bois, an underprivileged suburb east of Paris, a week ago. France's bombastic interior minister, Nicholas Sarkozy, responded by sending over 400 heavily armed policemen to "impose the laws of the republic," and promised to crush "the louts and hooligans" within the day. Within a few days, however, it had dawned on anyone who wanted to know that this was no "outburst by criminal elements" that could be handled with a mixture of braggadocio and batons.

By Monday, everyone in Paris was speaking of "an unprecedented crisis." Both Sarkozy and his boss, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, had to cancel foreign trips to deal with the riots.

How did it all start? The accepted account is that sometime last week, a group of young boys in Clichy engaged in one of their favorite sports: stealing parts of parked cars.

Normally, nothing dramatic would have happened, as the police have not been present in that suburb for years.

The poblem came when one of the inhabitants, a female busybody, telephoned the police and reported the thieving spree taking place just opposite her building. The police were thus obliged to do something — which meant entering a city that, as noted, had been a no-go area for them.

Once the police arrived on the scene, the youths — who had been reigning over Clichy pretty unmolested for years — got really angry. A brief chase took place in the street, and two of the youths, who were not actually chased by the police, sought refuge in a cordoned-off area housing a power pylon. Both were electrocuted.

Once news of their deaths was out, Clichy was all up in arms.

With cries of "God is great," bands of youths armed with whatever they could get hold of went on a rampage and forced the police to flee.

The French authorities could not allow a band of youths to expel the police from French territory. So they hit back — sending in Special Forces, known as the CRS, with armored cars and tough rules of engagement.

Within hours, the original cause of the incidents was forgotten and the issue jelled around a demand by the representatives of the rioters that the French police leave the "occupied territories." By midweek, the riots had spread to three of the provinces neighboring Paris, with a population of 5.5 million.

But who lives in the affected areas? In Clichy itself, more than 80 percent of the inhabitants are Muslim immigrants or their children, mostly from Arab and black Africa. In other affected towns, the Muslim immigrant community accounts for 30 percent to 60 percent of the population. But these are not the only figures that matter. Average unemployment in the affected areas is estimated at around 30 percent and, when it comes to young would-be workers, reaches 60 percent.

In these suburban towns, built in the 1950s in imitation of the Soviet social housing of the Stalinist era, people live in crammed conditions, sometimes several generations in a tiny apartment, and see "real French life" only on television.

The French used to flatter themselves for the success of their policy of assimilation, which was supposed to turn immigrants from any background into "proper Frenchmen" within a generation at most.

That policy worked as long as immigrants came to France in drips and drops and thus could merge into a much larger mainstream. Assimilation, however, cannot work when in most schools in the affected areas, fewer than 20 percent of the pupils are native French speakers.

France has also lost another powerful mechanism for assimilation: the obligatory military service abolished in the 1990s.

As the number of immigrants and their descendants increases in a particular locality, more and more of its native French inhabitants leave for "calmer places," thus making assimilation still more difficult.

In some areas, it is possible for an immigrant or his descendants to spend a whole life without ever encountering the need to speak French, let alone familiarize himself with any aspect of the famous French culture.

The result is often alienation. And that, in turn, gives radical Islamists an opportunity to propagate their message of religious and cultural apartheid.

Some are even calling for the areas where Muslims form a majority of the population to be reorganized on the basis of the "millet" system of the Ottoman Empire: Each religious community (millet) would enjoy the right to organize its social, cultural and educational life in accordance with its religious beliefs.

In parts of France, a de facto millet system is already in place. In these areas, all women are obliged to wear the standardized Islamist "hijab" while most men grow their beards to the length prescribed by the sheiks.

The radicals have managed to chase away French shopkeepers selling alcohol and pork products, forced "places of sin," such as dancing halls, cinemas and theaters, to close down, and seized control of much of the local administration.

A reporter who spent last weekend in Clichy and its neighboring towns of Bondy, Aulnay-sous-Bois and Bobigny heard a single overarching message: The French authorities should keep out.

"All we demand is to be left alone," said Mouloud Dahmani, one of the local "emirs" engaged in negotiations to persuade the French to withdraw the police and allow a committee of sheiks, mostly from the Muslim Brotherhood, to negotiate an end to the hostilities.

President Jacques Chirac and Premier de Villepin are especially sore because they had believed that their opposition to the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003 would give France a heroic image in the Muslim community.

That illusion has now been shattered — and the Chirac administration, already passing through a deepening political crisis, appears to be clueless about how to cope with what the Parisian daily France Soir has called a "ticking time bomb."

It is now clear that a good portion of France's Muslims not only refuse to assimilate into "the superior French culture," but firmly believe that Islam offers the highest forms of life to which all mankind should aspire.

So what is the solution? One solution, offered by Gilles Kepel, an adviser to Chirac on Islamic affairs, is the creation of "a new Andalusia" in which Christians and Muslims would live side by side and cooperate to create a new cultural synthesis.

The problem with Kepel's vision, however, is that it does not address the important issue of political power. Who will rule this new Andalusia: Muslims or the largely secularist Frenchmen?

Suddenly, French politics has become worth watching again, even though for the wrong reasons.

Amir Taheri, editor of the French quarterly "Politique internationale," is a member of Benador Associates.