vituperation

March 21, 2003

Amid stories of Saddam Hussein and sons injured or killed in the opening salvo of fighting, stories of Iraqi troops surrendering, stories of Iraqi citizens cheering as the Marines tear down portraits of Saddam Hussein, and stories of Iraqis chanting “Ameriki! Ameriki!”, CNN managed to find a picture for their front page -

- that makes it look as though an American soldier has the barrel of his M-16 pressed against the forehead of a helpless and bound Iraqi prisoner.

Speaking of war issues, I have something to share:

I’m all for people protesting things they don’t like, whether I agree with them or not. For example, PETA annoys the hell out of me, but I believe in their right to spout inflammatory shit as long as they break no laws and injure no people. I believe in the right of citizens in America to protest the current war effort, no matter what my opinion on the matter is.

That said, war protesters who force themselves to vomit in the street -

In a unique form of opposition, some protesters at the Federal Building Thursday staged a “vomit in,'’ by heaving on the sidewalks and plaza areas in the back and front of the building to show that the war in Iraq made them sick, according to a spokesman. (source)

- to prove a point are just plain fucking morons.

I get a stunning number of hits on another site of mine by people Googling “Fat men in pants”.

It makes one wonder, doesn’t it?

The spud got sick last week, and missed a couple of days of school. Her first day back, she was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast while I packed my lunch.

“Spud,” I said, “you need to get your mom to write you a note for school because you were absent.”

Turning to me and speaking slowly (after all, I am a grownup and therefore lacking the life knowledge of the all-knowing teen) she said, “No. I don’t. Mom checked me out of school.”

“But don’t you need a note for at least yesterday?”

The spud sighed in the longsuffering manner she effects when dealing with idiots like her parents.

“No,” she said. She sounded patronizing. “I told you, mom checked me out.”

“When I was a kid, we had to have a note. You’re sure you don’t need one?”

“I’m sure!”

This is what we got in the mail yesterday.:

Sometimes I think I enjoy this parenting thing just a little too much.

And now, a contest. This one’s a little different, in that you could win one, two, or even three prizes. The prizes are: a bumper sticker stating "Your village called. They want their idiot back.", a Great Smoky Mountains snow globe (with two black bears on a seesaw in it!), and the hardback version of the book The Observatory.

The contest is this: pictured below are three well-known men whom I think were separated at birth. All you have to do is tell me who they are. Monday afternoon at 5:00 CST I’ll select one from all the correct entries and, based on the number correct in that entry, will send that person the same number of prizes (of my choosing).

If you want to take a shot, email me and let me know. Make sure the subject of your email is “3GUYS” or it will be discarded. One entry per person, please.

Good luck, and have a terrific weekend.