State of the Union Drinking Game

You'll be good and blitzed 30 minutes into the speech tonight. Come on and play!

State of the Union Drinking Game 2006.

Poll Indicates 51% of Americans Are Dumber Than the Other 49%

At least it seems that way to me.

After all, a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll indicates 51% of Americans approve of the Bush Administration's practice of wiretapping domestic communications between American citizens and people suspected of being involved with al-Qaeda. That's wiretapping without a warrant. That means more than half of those polled trust the government to listen in on their private conversations without the consent of a judge; a judge who would protect their rights by demanding the government show just cause with reasoned arguments and evidence.

What is most infuriating about those who are willing to trade a little liberty for safety, are those who disparage anyone who speaks against them. Demanding that due process of law be followed does not make one a sympathizer with Islamic terrorists. My argument is not that the wiretapping should not take place but rather that the rule of law must apply.

This administration is clearly making a a power grab. Vice-President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld had to sit idly by in the Ford administration and watch the power of the presidency erode after Watergate but here they are 30 years later to correct the problem. Suddenly this presdient can authorize wiretaps without warrants and lock up American citizens without due process if he finds them to be "enemy combatants".

FISA was written for just this situation. That frightened and slim majority that approves of the government listeneing in on their communication deserve to lose the freedom they are giving up. Their blind trust in this administration to do the right thing will come back to haunt them when these powers are expanded even further.

Remember... They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Hubbard McDonalds Mini-Sized My Order

In an obvious attempt to help me with my New Year's goal of losing some weight, the drive thru window crew at the Hubbard McDonalds mini-sized my order. With only my best interests at heart they chose not to include the French fries I ordered and instead gave me nothing with my cheeseburger.

This particular McDonalds has a bit of a reputation for treating your order as more of a suggestion rather than a true statement of what you want to eat. Sometimes you get the fries, sometime you don't. Sometimes you order the double cheeseburger and you get the single. It all depends on who is working the window. Maybe some of the staff is on better drugs than the rest. Who knows? They also seem to enjoy letting cars stack up in the drive thru lane, sort of testing the customer's hunger by seeing how long you will wait in line for your two all beef patties before driving off in a fit of drive thru rage.

It's petty to use the world's most powerful communications mechanism to complain about crappy service at the world's largest fast food joint but this particular location really deserves it. For an outfit that is in the business of selling cheeseburgers and fries, they seem to have a hard time getting both items into the bag. And don't get me started on the damn barbecue sauce for the McNuggets. How could it be that hard to remember when it's printed on the little screen next to the window? Joe Pesce had it right in "Lethal Weapon 2".

I could be overlooking the obvious. It could very well be that Forrest Gump is managing the place. To paraphrase; "the drive thru lane is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get."

Oh well, I shouldn't eat there anyway. After watching "Super Size Me" I should probably just go eat a grape.

Jim Petro Ads are Nauseating

What's the deal with Jim Petro's television ads? In one entitled "From the Heart", he opens the political ad with the question, "What does God expect of us?" Are you kidding? Shouldn't his question be, "What do the voters expect from me?" The camera slowly pans over his baptism certificate, I guess so we know he's a Christian and then over the Bible, again so we know he's a Christian. He states that he's pro-life and that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. That last bit practically screams, AND NOT BETWEEN A MAN AND A MAN.

Jim Petro and subtlety have never been properly introduced.

After watching this, I guess it's fair to say that if elected, Jim will be reading his Bible, keeping homosexuals from being married and protecting all life. Forget the job drain, high murder rates in Northeast Ohio or the seemingly endless stories of corruption in Colombus while he was Attorney Genral. Those problems will just take care of themselves.

I can see this coming election is going to be dirty and not just on the national level. The race for Governor here in Ohio should provide us all with some amusement. In fact, a look here shows that there may already be some fund raising issues with Mr. Petro.

New Bit From the Geniuses at Jib-Jab

Check out this new animation from the guys at Jib-Jab. It's as enjoyable as the one from the election. Thanks to Uncle Mike for the link.

Casey Jones is One Tough Monkey to Work For

I don't know who Debbie is or what she did, but the owners of the Casey Jones Convenient Store didn't like her very much. How do I know? because they put up the above sign and they have left it up for months. That's right, months.

I've had a lot of terrible jobs and I was even fired once but it didn't make anyone so happy that they put it up on a sign in lights.

This proud display of Northeast Ohio redneck revenge can be seen as you travel north on State Route 7 from Hubbard to Brookfield.