Potpourri

Random things on my mind today....

According to the new Pope, he prayed that he wouldn't be the one elected. So we finally found something he's got in common with American Catholics.

Another little tidbit about what this guy has been doing for the last 24 years: He has been the director of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I just learned this weekend what the previous, less PC name of this office was. Take a guess. Anyone? Anyone? You won't believe it.

The Inquisition.

So the Catholic Church never actually got rid of the Inquisition, they just gave it a softer name. Nice.
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This hasn't been a good week for trains. The problems with Amtrak's Acela couldn't come at a worse time, what with Bush trying to destroy it on behalf of his auto and oil buddies. This kind of press we don't need. Looks like Congress will protect it in the end though, so I'm not too worried.

And this morning's wreck in Japan was just horrible. It is one of those things that people like my brother will point to as an example of how unsafe trains are, despite the fact that more people will die in the next hour from car crashes than will all year from train wrecks. What it should tell us is that we need to make sure that all rail lines in this country have modern signal safety upgrades that make these kind of accidents highly unlikely.
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If they allow John Bolton (who thinks the UN should be destroyed) to be the UN Ambassador, then the next Democrat president should be allowed to name Jane Fonda as Secretary of Defense. Makes as much sense. Check out the video John Bolton: In His Own Words at truthout.org. See what we mean?

Democrats are finally united against one of the many fucked up things our ass-hole prez is trying to pull. If you live in a state with any Republican Senators contact them right away and tell them to vote against this insane man.
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Oh, and something the media isn't highlighting enough on the issue of the judicial filibusters the wingnuts are trying to end is this: The Dems have threatened filibusters on a total of ten Bush appointees, and have let 205 get confirmed. Doesn't take a genius to see that comes out to over a 95% confirmation rate. Compare that to the 90s, the right wingers blocked over 40 Clinton nominations just at the appellate level! And we on the left are the ones that get accused of being obstructionists. Ass-holes.
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Something I've been wanting to know lately. When I go to public restrooms and use the urinals I notice that most other guys flush before using it. What is up with that? Is there some secret I don't know about? Maybe someone can explain this to me. If it is to make sure there is no one else's urine in the bowl before hand, why? What the fuck is the danger of a little of your piss mixing with someone else's? Will it explode like one of those grade school volcano projects? Is it that they think they're pee is better than everybody else's and they don't want to contaminate it before they send it on its way to the treatment plant? So confusing. I feel like I'm being left out of some sort of secret club. Is it just me who finds this weird? Seems like a waste of water to me. I'm just sayin'....