from Sam's Archive: How to Destroy the Earth

Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.

You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.

Fools.

The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily. So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do NOT think this will be easy.

This is not a guide for wusses whose aim is merely to wipe out humanity. I (Sam Hughes) can in no way guarantee the complete extinction of the human race via any of these methods, real or imaginary. Humanity is wily and resourceful, and many of the methods outlined below will take many years to even become available, let alone implement, by which time mankind may well have spread to other planets; indeed, other star systems. If total human genocide is your ultimate goal, you are reading the wrong document. There are far more efficient ways of doing this, many which are available and feasible RIGHT NOW. Nor is this a guide for those wanting to annihilate everything from single-celled life upwards, render Earth uninhabitable or simply conquer it. These are trivial goals in comparison.

This is a guide for those who do not want the Earth to be there anymore.
Mission statement

For the purposes of what I hope to be a technically and scientifically accurate document, I will define our goal thus: by any means necessary, to render the Earth into a form in which it may no longer be considered a planet. Such forms include, but are most definitely not limited to: two or more planets; any number of smaller asteroids; a quantum singularity; a dust cloud.

Hah, at last good practical information. Mad they called me. Fools, I'll Destroy Them All! BWA-HA-HA-HAAA!

Poem Of the Day

A Bird Came Down The Walk by Emily Dickinson

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,--
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, splashless, as they swim.

via The Map Room: A Post-Invasion Map of Baghdad

Swissinfo has a story about a Swiss cartographer who’s put out a post-occupation, up-to-date map of Baghdad. The map is an update of a 2002 edition, but now includes such landmarks as bombed-out infrastructure and other changes since the invasion

Rohweder, who has never been to Baghdad, based the latest version on his 2002 edition and on satellite photos and images. But he needed a co-worker on site to do the fieldwork.

The page is mostly in German, but the maps look quite usable. Nice bit of work.

via remembering rebecca

Steven Levy wonders why the blogosphere is dominated by men. I confess that I'm frustrated that anyone has taken Levy's column seriously. Men do not dominate the blogosphere. Levy might legitimately have asked "Why does the media point almost exclusively to weblogs created by men", or "Why do the male bloggers most often referenced by media, primarily reference weblogs maintained by other men?" But neither of those situations has anything to do with the composition of the blogosphere. There are whole clusters composed of women linking mainly to other women, and lots of mixed blogrolls, besides. Truth is, whichever weblog you first find will lead you to other, similar, weblogs (all of which link to others like them) and from that you will come to a completely erroneous conclusion about the composition of the weblog universe.

She continues with an astute series of observations that totally invert the question.

As does Chris Clarke in this bit of serious whimsy X marks the chromosome on Creek Running North.

And Pinko Feminist Hellcat has her say here.

The whole issue is clearly a you get it or you don't sort of thing. And as most of us with the weaker Y chromosome have discovered, somethings truly are beyond our limited frame of understanding. As Lovin' Spoonful have it "It's like tryin' to tell a stranger 'bout rock-n-roll."

from North Country Times: San Diego diocese denies funeral rites to gay man who owned bar and dance club

And this would be the milk of human kindness you've been telling me about, Father? The love of the church for the least of the flock. It's so nice to see Christian charity in action during such a difficult time for the departed's family and friends. Aren't you people the ones who granted even Benito Mussolini the last rites and burial in consecrated ground? Jesus would be so proud of you fellows.

via Chaos Theory: Food for thought.

Original Post
Comments from Chaos Theory
My blatherings in response

1. write every day.
(Or close enough, anyway. Assuming I'm home on the weekends and anyone else is posting on the weekends.)
I'M TRYING, OK GET OFF MY CASE! Sheesh, disappear from the blogosphere for a mere 8 months and all you hear are complaints. The idea.

2. if you think you're a good writer, write twice a day.
I not going to let that stop me from multiple posts. Sorry to disappoint you all

3. don't be afraid to do anything. in fact if you're afraid of something, do it. then do it again. and again.
Superb advice. Now to actually do it

4. cuss like a sailor.
Fuck yes!

5. don't tell your mom, your work, your friends, the people you want to date, or the people you want to work for about your blog. if they find out and you'd rather they didn't read it, ask them nicely to grant you your privacy.
(At this point I don't really...though a few have known in the past. I don't think any of them cared about this site though.
There won't be anything here they haven't already heard straight out of my mouth.

6. have comments. don't be upset if no one writes in your comments for a long time. eventually they'll write in there. if people start acting mean in your comments, ask them to stop, they probably will.
Hell, even comments from wingnuts, freepers and other assorted nutjobs give me a thrill.

7. have an email address clearly displayed on your blog. sometimes people want to tell you that you rock in private.
(Okay, I don't do that one, but I have my reasons for this- random retards used to write me, and I don't want to encourage that behavior. The smart people can actually find where the hell my e-mail is mentioned on this thing and use it if they want, but I don't want to make it easy.)
My email link is in plain view, if you look for it.

8. Don't worry very much about the design of your blog. image is a fakeout.
To a point. But for pity's sake, make it easy for your readers to actually read. No blue on black, please.

9. use Blogger. it's easy, it's free; and because they are owned by Google, your blog will get spidered better, you will show up in more search results, and more people will end up at your blog. besides, all the other blogging software & alternatives pretty much suck.
(I beg to differ. Besides, Blogger tends to cock up a fair amount, or so I see on others' blogs.)
I like Blogger, but I'm cheap and not all that interested in being fancy

10. use spellcheck unless you're completely totally keeping it real. but even then you might want to use it if you think you wrote something really good.
(Actually, I just spell right the first time. I won a spelling bee once. Hee.)
I spel reel goud to, but please USE THE SPELLCHECKER.

11. say exactly what you want to say no matter what it looks like on the screen. then say something else. then keep going. and when you're done, re-read it, and edit it and hit publish and forget about it.
This one is gonna be hard to learn for me. I suffer badly from rewrite-itis, often till the piece is dead and lifeless on the floor.

12. link like crazy. link anyone who links you, link your favorites, link your friends. dont be a prude. linking is what separates bloggers from apes. and especially link if you're trying to prove a point and someone else said it first. it lends credibility even if you're full of shit.
(I have reasons for not sticking a direct "links to everyone" blogroll on this site directly so everyone can find me via their stats. If you post something particularly good, you get a direct link, but I don't do direct "this blog is kewl" sidebar stuff. Go check the bloglines or the nibelung links on the left if you really want to know where to go.)
Learning this one as we speak. Gotta do it all the time. Yes sir. Will do it.Right away. Yess sir.

13. if you haven't written about sex, religion, and politics in a week you're probably playing it too safe, which means you probably fucked up on #5, in which case start a second blog and keep your big mouth shut about it this time.
Do I write about anything else? Well, maybe aliens stalking the halls of Congress but that's politics, religion, AND sex, right?

14. remember: nobody cares which N*synch member you are, what State you are, which Party of Five kid you are, or which Weezer song you are. the second you put one of those things on your blog you need to delete your blog and try out for the marching band. Similarly, nobody gives a shit what the weather is like in your town, nobody wants you to change their cursor into a butterfly, nobody wants to vote on whether your blog is hot or not, and nobody gives a rat ass what song you're listening to. write something Real for you, about you, every day.
(Guilty! (mp3 link there) I even did a weather bitch today! But at least I try to only post funny test results.)
Get a grip. Be silly! Not everything in life is as serious as a case of anal warts. Let us have some fun here. But writing something real everyday is absolutely right.

15. Don't be afraid if you think something has been said before. it has. and better. big whoop. say it anyway using your own words as honestly as you can. just let it out.
This is a major problem for me. I'm always wrestling big time with this one.

16. get Site Meter and make it available for everyone to see. if you're embarrassed that not a lot of people are clicking over to your page, dont be embarrassed by the number, be embarrassed that you actually give a crap about hits to your gay blog. it really is just a blog. and hits really dont mean anything. you want Site Meter, though, to see who is linking you so you can thank them and so you can link them back. Similarly, use Technorati, but don't obsess. write.
(No thanks. I really don't want to know how many people view the site. I know, I'm the only person who doesn't want to know this, but dammit, knowing exactly how many view the place would either make me depressed or give me stage fright, and I LIKE not knowing, thank you.)
I have to agree. I DON'T CARE. I DON"T CARE IF YOU BIG MEANIES ARE READING OR NOT! SO THERE!

17. people like pictures. use them. save them to your own server. or use Blogger's free service. if you dont know how to do it, learn. also get a Buzznet account. several things will happen once you start blogging, one of them is you will learn new things. That's a good thing.
(Okay, now I'm feeling cranky that the picture button isn't working, because I would be posting MORE pictures right NOW instead of responding to this...)
Working on it. Jaysoos, one more damn thing to do....

18. before you hit Save as Draft or Publish Post, select all and copy your masterpiece. you are using a computer and the internet, shit can happen. no need to lose a good post.
AMEN!

19. push the envelope in what you're writing about and how you're saying it. be more and more honest. get to the root of things. start at the root of things and get deeper. dig. think out loud. keep typing. keep going. eventually you'll find a little treasure chest. every time you blog this can happen if you let it.
Check back in six months.

20. change your style. mimic people. write beautiful lies. dream in public. kiss and tell. finger and tell. cry scream fight sing fuck and don't be afraid to be funny. the easiest thing to do is whine when you write. Don't be lazy. audblog at least once a week.
(Er... I don't get what the heck he's talking about for half of these. But I don't audblog here because I tried it while on vacation on another site and people told me they had NO idea what I'd been saying. Apparently I talk too fast. So there won't be audblogs here.)
Most of this is great, standard writing mantra stuff. But I have no interest at all in the concept of audblogs. I blather too much verbally as it is.

21. write open letters. make lists. call people out on their bullshit. lead by example. invent and reinvent yourself. start by writing about what happened to you today. for example today i told a hot girl how wonderfully hot she is.
(Today I went to the gym for a really long time. Fascinating, eh?)
Gee, I have a swell cat. Does that count?

22. when in doubt review something. There's not enough reviews on blogs. review a movie you just saw, a tv show, a cd, a kiss you just got, a restaurant, a hike you just took, anything.
(Always fun.)
Coming soon to a blog near you...Reviews...And the crowd goes wild.

23. constantly write about the town that you live in.
(And once again, I'D BE DOING THAT IF THE DAMN PICTURE BUTTON WAS WORKING RIGHT NOW!)
Oh yes, My Precious, we'll show them, won't we. Teach them to be mean to us, will we, Have they got anything in their pocketses?

24. out yourself. tell your secrets. you can always delete them later.
(Ever hear of web archive and Google cache? I think not.)
HAH! So much as fart on the interthingie and it will echo down the Hall of Ages.

25. Don't use your real name. Don't write about your work unless you don't care about getting fired.
(Well, I don't use my last name on here. My first name is practically Jane Doe in sheer genericness, so who gives a damn. And I don't write about my job here 'cause there wouldn't be much to say.)
I do use my own first name 'cause everyone knows me by my middle name. Thanks Mom and Dad.

26. Don't be afraid to come across as an asswipe. own your asswipeness.
(No problem there.)
I am such a spectacular special asswipe that I revel in the glory of it

27. nobody likes poems. Don't put your poems on your blog. not even if they're incredible. especially if they're incredible. odds are they're not incredible. bad poems are funny sometimes though, so fine, put your dumb poems on there. whatever.
(No need to worry.)
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! Commit wanton versification. It won't make you go blind. Leave poetry everywhere. Revel in it.

28. tell us about your friends.
(Eh, not so much.)
Why, then you'll just want some for yourself.

29. Don't apologize about not blogging. nobody cares. just start blogging again.
(Hee.)
See #1.

30. read tons of blogs and leave nice comments.
(Got that down.)
Another hard one. I'm a lurker. Read LOTS of blogs. Don't leave comments. Imposter syndrome strikes again.

via Whiskey Bar: Scenes From the Cultural Revolution

The utter ridiculousness of David Horowitz exposed, in all his Stalinist grandeur.

Update:
More on Horowitz's desperate efforts at an auto oral podectomy.

Poem Of the Day

The Echoing Green by William Blake.

The sun does arise,
And make happy the skies;
The merry bells ring
To welcome the spring;
The skylark and thrush,
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around
To the bell's cheerful sound,
While our sports shall be seen
On the Echoing Green.

Old John with white hair,
Does laugh away care,
Sitting under the oak,
Among the old folk.
They laugh at our play,
And soon they all say:
'Such, such were the joys
When we all, girls and boys,
In our youth time were seen
On the Echoing Green.'

Till the little ones, weary,
No more can be merry;
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end.
Round the laps of their mothers
Many sisters and brother,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest,
And sport no more seen
On the darkening Green.

How White Trashy Are You?

Take this test to see what I was complaining about a few posts ago.

I am 19% White Trash.

I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

Patron Saints Index

At last, don't guess at which Saint has jurisdiction over appendicitis, baseball, or scroffula, get hard real time information. Be sure. Don't waste those prayers.

ANDRE NORTON (1912-2005)

One of the most important influences in my life has passed away. Miss
Andre Norton had died.

Her Beastmaster books were the first books I ever read where the hero was
a Native American. Until then I honestly thought only whites could be
heroes in book. It was a revelation. I know this may seem like a trivial
matter in this day of diversity awareness, but in the late fifties heroes
in YA books were white, middle class and male. Miss Norton's Hosteen Storm
helped changed that in SF and Fantasy.

Dane Thorson of the Solar Queen was as real to me as my family. He was my
brother in many ways. I read those books over and over again to experience
a place where a frightened smart kid could find himself and be accepted
for who and what he was without having to be ashamed of what he was not.

And the WitchWorld trio showed me a place where intelligence and difference
worked to bring friends together. Problems had to solved, not run over by
force. I often daydreamed of my own WitchWorld adventures with my friends
Ann and John as boon companions on epic quests.

I find it hard to imagine a world where there will be no more Witch World,
Solar Queen or Beastmaster novels. Miss Norton's books literally saved my
life as a teenager. Growing up mixed race, non-athletic, and
hyperintelligent in a town that valued none of those things was very
difficult. But her misfit heroes and heroines showed me a world where the
intelligent prevailed, where brain often bested brawn, and where
difference did not equal dismissal.

I thank her with all my heart for that.

I will miss you, Alice Mary Norton.


The obituary in her hometown paper.

Obituary for Miss Andre Norton posted on the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America website

The New York Times: Andre Norton Dies at 93; a Master of Science Fiction

via the Middlewesterner: A meditation on cats, redemption and apocalypse

A thoughtful bit of musing on the qualities of mercy and the varieties of the hands of God.

Bush reveals details of new Social Security plan




Logan 5 and Jessica 6 joined President Bush at a townhall meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, to finally unveil the details of Bush's plan to save Social Security. Under the new scheme, family members would begin receiving benefits when the primary provider reaches age 30.

Science Made Stupid

Just the thing for that brother in law who keeps arguing with you about evolution just being a "theory."

Which Horseman of the Apocalypse are you?

The test correctly shows that I AM DEATH. Fear my wrath, you fools and varlets of the blogosphere!

Have A Nice Day!




Congratulation. You are Death, the Grim Reaper

Class seeks to rid kids of Appalachian accents

I grew up speaking Appalachian Mountain English (Northern Dialect), but as the Arkansas hillbilly singer Don Williams says,

"I was smart and I could choose,
Learned to talk like the man
On the 6 o'clock news."

My grammar, vocabulary, and usage, both spoken and written, are better than 90% of Americans thanks to wonderful elementary school teachers who
made English usage so natural that I don't have to think about it. Yet if I lapsed into my native born accent, even using proper grammar, folks'd think I was crazy, stupid or an easy mark.

We "smart" kids were told by our teachers that to get ahead in the 'outside' we had to talk, dress and move like everyone else. So we did that. But it was at a high cost. Many of us still feel that we will be "outed" as a hillbilly at any moment.

It's amazing to me in this day of pervasive PC that it's still ok in polite company to make fun of mountain folk. I've lost track of the number of times at university social functions where I've had to bite my tongue on hearing Ms. Important Feminist-Scholar or Dr. Allknowing Righteous-Cause or Dean Milk the Alumni complain about how dumb, ignorant, and stupid the people who staff this university are.

I'm sure you can imagine the look on the face of Herr Dr. Pompous Philosophy-Professor when I offered to tell a joke about his rural Eastern European ancestors similar in tone to the one he had just made about the residents of one of our local small towns. He was appalled at MY insensitivity.

We're nothing but damn ignorant hillbillies, you understand. And because I could pass as someone 'from New York', he hadn't known I was a dumb ignorant hillbilly as well. And that's sad. Sad that I felt the need to pass in the first place. Sad that I tried to pass. And truly sad that the ass still didn't get it.

But ultimately what is most sad is that Mountain English is beautiful. Its sounds define my home, my youth, and my family. Its usage and colloquiallisms are marvelous fun. And its formalities are elegant in a way that contemporary English seems afraid of being.

If you want to give your next fantasy novel some spark, study the LANGUAGE in mountain tales and songs, not just the stories themselves.

If you want to see/hear a good example of Mountain English rent the film Sergeant York with Gary Cooper. Cooper's accent itself is a bit off, but the supporting players like Walter Brennan and the script writer got it right. The scenes in Alvin's home valley are so true that they make me homesick for that vanished place where I grew up.

And if you're interested in seeing how a really talented writer uses this language, pick up one of Richard Russo's upstate New York novels. (Nobody's Fool, Empire Falls) He renders small town northern Mountain English better than anyone I've ever come across. Not just the vocabulary usage that most writers seem to focus on, but he gets the even more critical rhythm of the speech right as well.

Unsophisticated we hillbillies might be, but we hain't dumb, no matter what some fool teacher may think.

Bah Humbug, Scrooge, The Ghosts Lied to You!

I truly hate this time of year. All the forced jollity, the commercial bonhomme, the insipidness of the music, and the false once-a-year concern for "Christian" values all combine to make me ill. I am filled with so much bile against my fellow humans, I fear for the health of my liver at Xmas time.

I am what I would describe as a secular Taoist, a observer of the lifestyle of Taoism without any belief in the supernatural aspects thereof. I haven't been a Christian for many years now. I left the faith in my teens after an argument over evolution with the minister of my family's church. Can't say that I've missed it much, nor do I spend much time looking over my shoulder for the iron fist of God out to smite my sinful ass.

But the dominant culture of these United States, being largely derived from a candy-ass bizarro version of Protestant Christianity, insists on inflicting this Xmas stuff on me.

If I have to hear the blasted Little Drummer Boy one more time while out shopping for a book I swear that I'll tear out my own eardrums. And who out there can deny that the playing of the Barking Dogs doing Jingle Bells should be a crime punishable under the Geneva Convention? Or that the wanton infliction of 24/7 Xmas music warrants the mass fire bombing of radio stations all across the country? And please, please, won't someone kill Troy before he can skreech again?

And what's with this insanity of every show on TV being some sort of Xmas special, beginning right after Halloween and continuing on for the next 8 weeks? What happened to Chaunukah, Yule, Solstice, and Kwanzaa? Suddenly everyone in in America is expected to be interested in the artificially fixed date of birth of the 'miraculously' conceived child of the God of some of the Americans. It is a puzzle.

I mean the idea of most of the folks on sitcoms commenting on (Ch)Xmas is obscene to begin with. Raymond, whom everyone DOES NOT love, by the way, is even more obnoxious when he remembers that this is the time of year that he's supposed to be nice and for some reason goes out of character and is. Right. Or the folks on Will and Grace will smirkingly remind us to be happy and Gay. It is to retch. Or the kids on South Park will ask Santa NOT to kill Kenny. All in the spirit of the season.

And how many times do we have to save bloody Bedford Falls, find the missing Rudolph, and listen to Bing Crosby dream of a White (preferably segregated) Christmas? Or, horror of horrors, why must we glimpse, even briefly, the spectacle of Jim Carrey in Grinch drag gnawing on every piece of scenery in sight? It's only a short while until we'll have Survivor: Arctic Ice Cap to suffer through as well, I predict.

We also have the all singing all dancing parade of the International Has-Been Pop-Stars Xmas Specials to live through. I daresay that most of them wouldn't know a good old fashioned Christian ethic if the damned thing bit them on the bum. Kenny G playing the love theme from Handel's Messiah. Andy (I Left My Talent in Sheboygan) Williams tottering across the stage and singing I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Now there's a threat that will keep me up nights.

Don't get me wrong. I do know people for whom Christmas is a source of genuine joy and religious wonder. To them I say good for you. Enjoy the season.

My former Mother-in-Law was one such person. It was great to see the happiness Christmas brought to her life. Her faith had not been buried by the excesses of the American Xmas celebration. Yes she bought gifts for everyone, often going to great lengths to find something special, but to her this was just a part of the observance of a day most holy.

Which makes the overall cultural Xmas even more offensive in my eyes.

Give me a good Yule log, a nice drum circle and a ritual sacrifice or two. Ah, that would be a Solstice gift to remember!

Till then thankfully, we have the antics of the killer Robot Santa on Futurama or there would be no hope at all during this season.

Cool Yule to you all.

Blessed Be!

"'I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority.'
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02"

Open Question to Mr Bush

You have presided over two of the worst intelligence failures in history, your Secretary of Defense completely failed to plan for the occupation of Iraq, your White House staff committed a federal offense in 'outing' a CIA agent, your budget team lied to the US Congress about the cost of your Medicare bill, can you explain why, Mr. President, has no one lost their job in your administration?

The world is just plain bat shit fucked up wacky.

Bush is a coward, a liar, a business failure, a religious bigot, a lousy parent, a paranoid and people love him.

His family made its wealth by acting as the US bankers for the Nazis.

The guy has either squandered every oportunity or been a failure at every task he's taken on in life.

His daughters are spoiled brat rich kids who counted on their daddy's state cops to let them off on their many little drinking adventures.

He was a legacy admit to Yale and only got out with a 'gentleman's C' because of some suspicious modifications on his transcript.

His daddy used his power to keep him out of Viet Nam service and he couldn't even be bothered to show up to the monthly guard training.

He was an "indifferent" at the Harvard MBA school in the mid 70's. He was a legacy admit there as well.

He ran two oil exploration companies into the ground in West Texas during the 80's. (Money for the businesses came from Dad's CIA cronies.) He probably was involved in at least one instance of serious insider trading violations when he warned a friend to sell out of Hardin the day before an announcement was made of another dry hole.

THINK ABOUT IT. BUSH COULDN"T EVEN FIND OIL IN MIDLAND TEXAS!!!!!

His big business claim to fame is the Texas Rangers deal where a 'family friend' lent him $850,000 for a share in the ball team. The real team management used Bush's name and 'connections' to coerce the town of Arlington into building a stadium for
the team AT PUBLIC EXPENSE. The baseball team didn't even have to pay rent on the stadium for the first 10 years. The taxpayers in this town of 100,000 or so will be paying off the bonds for the next 75 years.

Oh, and the other owners rewarded Bush by buying him out on a basis that had his 2.5% ownership reflecting a 25% actual ownership worth. He walked away with a cool $27 million without having risked dime one in personal resources.

Funny, I seem to recall that one of the charges in Whitewater had to do with the Clintons having a $500,000 business LOSS without any personal financial exposure. Strange. But I digress.

He claims to have been a highly effective governor of Texas. Maybe so. But the Governor of Texas actually has LESS power over state operationsthan the Lt Governor. The Lt Gov manages the executive branch and oversees most legislation and financial/budget bills. The Governer manages the prisons, state cops, judicial appointments, the schools, and some regulatory agencies.

His much touted No Child Left Behind program in Houston was recently outed as a total sham and a disaster for the kids who are forced to be part of it.

His two campaigns for the governor's mansion were models of bigotry, invective and coded racism.

Gov. Bush, as arbitor of pardons, cheerfully (his word) executed over 100 persons, including a mentally challenged man who couldn't even describe his crime at trial, a woman who had been a model prisoner, minister, and manager of rehab programs while on the inside and another mentally challenged man whose only language was French and who had a defense lawyer that neither spoke the language nor could be bothered to stay awake during the trial.

I think of Bush as being the most successful serial killer in US history.

So why are we so surprised he has been such a disaster as president?

Of course, my opinion/research on these matters has no weight or validity since, unlike such noted intellects as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, or Ann Coulter no one pays me to fart my meaningless unfounded opinions into the collective
media wind.

SHEEESH!!!! And I wonder why I'm being driven mad by all this?!?!?