:: it's a scary world: rants from a chemically imbalanced mind ::

:: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 ::

if you haven't heard about the hubbub surrounding the pledge of allegiance, go HERE and educate yourself quickly.... because it is going to be water cooler topic number one until bush gets his way..... and before you start blasting me, here's my view on the whole thing - i couldn't give a shit less one way or the other. so there ya go. in a nutshell, a us court declared the pledge of allegiance unconstitutional today because of the phrase "one nation under God" .... more precisely, the phrase "under God". unfortunately, i can see both sides clear as a bell.... it IS the pledge of allegiance. we were ALL brought up reciting it to the point of being able to actually sleep WHILE reciting it.... it's an accepted norm in most of our lives.... me, i'm an agnostic. roughly translated, that means i couldn't give a shit less one way or the other whether "god" exists or not (i couldn't give a shit less about a lot in the world when you get right down to it.... though you couldn't tell with all the analyzing and writing about the world around me i do.....) ... let him live his life and let me live mine... in PEACE...... so really, the phrase "under god" doesn't grip my shorts or anything. it's just something you say.... now on the other hand, if you want to get REALLY literal (like republicans are fond of doing), our forefathers DID GUARANTEE us "separation of church and state". now, UNDER GOD doesn't sound like separation of church and state to me, kids. not a DAMN bit. as a matter of fact, it sounds like somebody's aborted attempt after the fact to undermine the phrase "separation of church and state".... like, some right wing wacko christian freak back in colonial times... so, who wrote the pledge anyway? hold on. checking. HOLY SHIT! forGET it, kids. i just shifted my stance in mid-editorial. damn i hate when that happens. uh, do we have any guesses as to who actually wrote the pledge????? no? here, a freebie - the entire article. and my advice is read it and read it WELL. be informed or be made a fool of.


The Pledge of Allegiance, attributed to socialist editor and clergyman Francis Bellamy, was first published in 1892 in The Youth's Companion, a children's magazine where he worked. The pledge was meant to echo the sentiments and ideals of Bellamy's cousin, Edward Bellamy, an author of ``Looking Backward'' and other socialist utopian novels, according to pledge expert John Baer. Bellamy crafted it as a resonating oration to bolster the idea that the middle class could fashion a planned political and social economy, equitable for all, Baer said. After a proclamation by President Benjamin Harrison, the pledge was first used in public schools on Oct. 12, 1892 during Columbus Day observances.

The original wording was: ``I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.''

The pledge has been changed a few times since. For Flag Day in 1924, ``the flag of the United States of America'' was officially adopted as a substitution for the phrase ``my flag.''

In 1954, the words ``under God'' were added, after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's service organization, and other religious leaders who sermonized that the pledge needed to be distinguished from similar orations used by ``godless communists.''

The prospect of atomic war between world superpowers so moved President Dwight D. Eisenhower that he directed Congress to add the two small but controversial words.

``From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and every rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty,'' Eisenhower wrote at the time.

In 1988, the elder George Bush made the pledge a presidential campaign issue after Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis vetoed a bill requiring teachers to recite the pledge. Some Republicans sought to require a recital in Congress, but House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, soon casually and voluntarily started a morning recital.

The Senate began reciting the Pledge on June 24, 1999, after passing a resolution at the urging of Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H.

There is some protocol when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Uniformed military personnel face the flag and give the military salute. Civilians stand at attention or place the right hand over the heart. Men traditionally remove their hats.

Baer, author of ``The Pledge of Allegiance: A Centennial History,'' said more modifications can be expected. ``It's about time for another change to take place in the pledge. It's a living document,'' Baer said.
- Associated Press

i'm sorry but after that, fuck the pledge. added in 1954 by the fucking knights of columbus?!?!?! it's the catholics again!??! is it just me or can all evil events be traced to the fucking pope and his cronies?!?!?! jesus h christ. because of GODLESS COMMUNISTS?!?! no goddamned wonder dubya is so heated up about this! more of that antiquated fucking cold-war mentality from his waste of a father! now i'm irritated. how dare george bush waste the nation's time with the trivial bullshit! uptight asshole.
 

:: Shaman 6/26/2002 08:36:31 PM [+] ::
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okay, just heard stern dedicated his morning show today to some "fuck cosby" material. for the record, been there, said that. :)
 

:: Shaman 6/24/2002 08:04:32 PM [+] ::
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Bill Cosby has chastised the news media for helping to popularize MTV's reality series The Osbournes. In an interview due to air on Access Hollywood tonight (Thursday), Cosby, addressing the news media, remarks: "All of you need to stop with this Ozzy Osbourne. ... This is a sad, sad family. It is a sad case. The children are sad and the parents are sad. And this is not entertainment." Cosby compares the attention being showered on the addled rocker and his family with that bestowed on the '60s' music curiosity Tiny Tim. "It's like laughing at Tiny Tim," he says, "And I don't like to look at things like that."

uh.... SHUT THE FUCK UP, BILL!! not every family in the world can be the sick, syrupy, "we love to hug each other whenever we walk into a room", touchy-feely twisted family (that DOESN'T exist, might i add!) that you falsely portrayed for years on tv. christ. stick to jell-o commercials and things of that ilk and leave reality to the rest of us. THEY are the societal norm MUCH more than your "cosby family" was. don't get me wrong - i love bill cosby... think he's a VERY funny man.... i just don't think he has a very firm grip on what reality is actually like..... having a few tens of millions of dollars tends to do that to you.... oh - and bill - if you don't like the show, TURN THE FUCKIN' CHANNEL! hell, that's what i always do whenever i see the cosbys.................

and on a SIMILAR note:

Some 496,000 kids tuned into Nickelodeon's Tuesday-night telecast of the special My Family Is Different, despite claims by the Washington-based Traditional Values Coalition that "millions of children were exposed" as a result of the telecast to the "abnormal lifestyle" of gay couples who are raising children. According to figures released by Nielsen Research Wednesday, 60 percent of the show's 1.6 million viewers were over the age of 30. Another Washington-based family-values group, released a statement Wednesday headed: "Nickelodeon Is No Longer a Safe Place for America's Children." In view of the show's demographics, Washington Post TV columnist Lisa De Moraes said today (Thursday), "it appears that if Nickelodeon is not a safe place because of this telecast, it's not a safe place for adults."

oh look! its a bunch of moral dinosaurs who need to hurry up and die! extinct thyselves, mortals! get used to the fact that there are a LOT of gay people in the world today, eat your wheaties and shut the fuck up. WHY are so many uptight, sexually befuddled adults SO concerned with what adults do with other consenting adults?!?! i just do NOT get it and i never will. it's my theory that the world will finally be at peace when every adult in the world starts minding their OWN business and stops shoving their own moral imperative into the lives of others. but i'm not stupid - i know that will NOT happen in my lifetime. too bad. it might not be such a bad planet then.
 

:: Shaman 6/22/2002 09:00:04 AM [+] ::
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now THIS is an auction dammit! oh, but what i would give to own THE captain's chair............ sigh........ but at those prices, forget it...... hell, i could probably buy SHATNER for that kind of money!
 

:: Shaman 6/18/2002 07:45:28 AM [+] ::
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and verily, my children, the world of radio TREMBLED!!!! if you haven't heard yet (and why would you unless you were IN radio), congress has gotten sick of clear channel and all the other radio mega-conglomerates trying to push them around with their PACs etc and are about to go after deregulation..... WOOHOO!! maybe radio ISN'T dead yet... just real real sick..... and maybe congress is the cure.... yea, and maybe monkey's will fly out my ass tonight..... but i can at least hope now.... expect to see the news hit msnbc and places of that ilk in the next few days..... but in the long run, what this MAY force companies to do is to divest themselves of HUNDREDS of radio stations that they know own (and corrupt)... possibly the best thing to happen to radio since the invention of the fm dial...... because deregulation was the SINGLE worst thing to happen to radio in HISTORY, kids.... it didn't result in "more competition", like we were told it would. it resulted in STAGNANT radio stations, vanilla formats that you can hear on twenty different stations (all owned by the same company) as you drive across the nation and so on and so on..... it was the death of radio. well, maybe there's hope left.... we shall see... we shall see.
 

:: Shaman 6/17/2002 04:30:07 PM [+] ::
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thought for the day, courtesy of mr lou reed:

jesus died for somebody's sins. but not mine.
 

:: Shaman 6/05/2002 03:04:08 PM [+] ::
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oh my goodness.... and the government goes on trial... at least for all intents and purposes.... see, dubya, if you'd JUST done what you promised us - found osama and terminated him - none of this would have ever come to fruition or have been known... probably.....but no, you can't even get that much right..... and i thought your FATHER was stupid.....
 

:: Shaman 6/03/2002 11:56:22 PM [+] ::
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oh shit. what the HELL is the big dumb texan gonna do NOW..... those sound like the words of a man whose made up his mind to do something but isn't ready to share it because he KNOWS it's wrong......... i told ya - he's gonna get us all killed if we're not careful.
 

:: Shaman 6/02/2002 09:26:07 AM [+] ::
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time for some random observations and commentary......

first up, (aGAIN!), the catholic church..... the wall street journal has an interesting article here which poses an (at least to ME!) easily answered question......... the headline bullet is WSJ: No Clear Reason In Priest Abuse! okay, here's your answer, sparky - they were sick, horny, fuct up and twisted soulless bastards. next question, you over-analyzing dorks.

here's one of my FAVorite stories from this past week - Airlines Try Another Price Hike..... JEsus christ, people! are you INTENTIONALLY trying to drive your businesses into the ground?!!? and have you checked to see what northwestern airlines is going to do? they HAVE pretty much screwed up every other attempt at a price hike in the past six months by not going along with it.......

while at the same time, THIS inbreed wants the gov't to RELAX airport security! holy shit! you couldn't stop it the first time with your version of "security"!!! what the hell makes you think anybody gives a flying rat's ass what YOU and your CORPORATE WHORE CRONIES want!!! AGGGHHHH!!! it's not wonder i stay pissed off with people like that breathing the planet's oxygen!! hell, you don't even need to read the actual story, the picture at the top of the byline says it all.....

and last but not least, the foremost reason i will NEVER move to louisville.... i don't like the size of the town (too DAMN big!) but i could get used to it, i'm sure.... i'm not a big fan of the setup of the road/highway/interstate system there but again, i'm sure i'd get used to driving like i'm in the indy 500 everyday..... but i will NEVER nor would i EVER want to get used to TOTAL STRANGERS walking up to my car with a change laden bucket hitting me up for donations!!! GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY! who came up with THIS incredibly intrusive, "almost a carjack but not quite" idea!?!?! do NOT get me wrong - i'm all for kid's charities..... charities which benefit kids are the ONLY charities you will EVER see me donate to..... i may not be the biggest fan of having a bunch of them actually AROUND me, but (as cliched as it may be) they ARE the future.... and when i'm dead, i know that in an inverted 'my girl'-ish way i'll live on thru my daughter via the things i teach her and the traits i transfer to her........... but my GOD! okay, i've somewhat gotten off track here.... see, in louisville every year (it's actually year round but the heaviest concentration seems to be in may/june), there is a HUGE saint judes crusade for children drive..... well, apparently one of the ways they collect is by putting firemen, police, volunteers, etc at EVERY major intersection and road in the entire CITY! (it's a damned big city.... at least compared to lexington) you can't drive ANYWHERE without having somebody walk up to your car with an outstretched bucket!!! STOP IT!! the year is 2002! carjackings and weird shit happen everyday! at least once every two days, i'll be at some light waiting never so patiently for the bitch light to change and inevitably some schmuck walks up to my car and i jump straight up when i catch them in my peripheral vision! i HATE being startled!! just stop it! hell, i'll give ten more bucks if you'll just knock it off! apparently, this IS an issue for some.... a year or so ago, i remember them KNOCKING on your window if you had it rolled up!! now they're not allowed to actually touch your car or knock on the window to get your attention..... or so i'm told.... doesn't matter. i just wish they'd stick to telemarketing and telethons. again, don't get me wrong - st judes crusade is a MORE than worthwhile charity to donate to and i recommend it highly if you live in kentucky or lower indiana (the money pretty much stays in that region).....
 

:: Shaman 6/01/2002 11:02:57 AM [+] ::
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