Two Tid-bits
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Ani DiFranco
HEALTH CARE ? SOARING COSTS ARE COSTING COMPANIES: The chairman and chief executive of General Motors Corporation, the company that provides "health insurance for more people than any other private employer in the nation," has pointed a finger at rising health care costs to explain why "American manufacturers are losing their ability to compete in the global market place." Speaking in Chicago over the weekend, CEO G. Richard Wagoner, Jr. provided extensive evidence of the effect that soaring medical bills were having on "his company's bottom line" and announced he is launching a campaign to entreat legislators to pay attention to a very serious problem that endangers both future generations and future economies. Wagoner is not only concerned for his company; the cost of health care is "ultimately threatening the viability of most U.S. firms." But as Sean McAlinden of the Center for Automotive Research stated, "GM is the canary in the coal mine for Medicare and everyone else."

WAL-MART ? CHILDREN OF THE SAW: In January, Wal-Mart secretly settled federal charges that it violated child labor laws more than 20 times in three states, including allegedly allowing workers under age 18 operate dangerous machinery like cardboard balers and chain saws. It's no wonder the deal was kept under wraps. Wal-Mart was forced to pay just $135,540 ? about .000055 percent of the retailer's annual revenue ? to settle the charges. Moreover, the agreement includes a promise by the Labor Department to give Wal-Mart 15 days' notice before the department investigates any other "wage and hour" accusations, like failure to pay minimum wage or overtime. John R. Fraser, the government's top wage official under the first President Bush and President Bill Clinton, told the New York Times the 15-day notice was "very unusual," saying it "appears to put Wal-Mart in a privileged position that to my knowledge no other employer has."

~~

Perhaps Ani is making me feel more militant than normal but this is simply outrageous. Health Care is becoming so expensive that even Corporate America is starting to feel it, and on top of that, Wal-Mart will now be given a head's up on all future labor investigations.

Why don't they just send us all to the poor house now and get it over with?

Another World Event and Another Book
Mood:  lazy
I don?t know about you but if I hear Boulevard of Broken Dreams one more time I?m going to hunt Billie Joe down myself and go ape on him.

And North Korea? With the nuke? That?s just lovely. Splendid, in fact. Especially since we?ve done thing at all to give anyone in the world reason for worry. G-dub is just a stand-up guy. Maybe Kim Jung Il is lonely as Parker and Stone suggest, but he?s certainly not stupid. Iraq is a bit of a mess. It looks like Iran is next. Can we really in all seriousness consider North Korea as target number three? It's doubtful.

Okay, that?s enough politics. I?m reading a great book right now called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. The link will tell you what it?s about better than I can, but I can't tell you how much I?m enjoying it right now.

Year of Wonders
It seems like whenever I report the news I get hostile and sarcastic, so I'm going to try to ease off a little bit.

My good friend Joy recently suggested that we should start a mini book club where we recommend books to each other and report back. I thought it sounded great so I gave her Year of Wonders and told her how fantastic it was.

Her reponse? Why not post it here so that more than us can benefit from these recommendations? Why not, indeed?

So, I've add the link to my Book Recommendations and if you read further, I'll tell you what the book is about. It's set during the Middle Ages in England and it's about this tiny little town that goes through a bout of the plague.

A good portion of the towns-folk die, but the narrator (a maid who works for the town preacher) survives and relates to the reader in the most beautiful language the story of this doomed town.

So there you have it. My first book review. Joy, you're up!

Money, Money, Money
Mood:  don't ask
From the American Progress Report:

A look at this week's Inaugural festivities by the numbers:

$40 million: Cost of Bush inaugural ball festivities, not counting security costs.

$2,000: Amount FDR spent on the inaugural in 1945?about $20,000 in today's dollars.

$20,000: Cost of yellow roses purchased for inaugural festivities by D.C.'s Ritz Carlton.

200: Number of Humvees outfitted with top-of-the-line armor for troops in Iraq that could have been purchased with the amount of money blown on the inauguration.

$10,000: Price of an inaugural package at the Fairmont Hotel, which includes a Beluga caviar and Dom Perignon reception, a chauffeured Rolls Royce and two actors posing as "faux" Secret Service agents, complete with black sunglasses and cufflink walkie-talkies.

400: Pounds of lobster provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the exclusive Mandarin Oriental hotel.

3,000: Number of "Laura Bush Cowboy cookies" provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the Mandarin hotel.

$1: Amount per guest President Carter spent on snacks for guests at his inaugural parties. To stick to a tight budget, he served pretzels, peanuts, crackers and cheese and had cash bars.

22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.

1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.

$15,000: The down payment to rent a fur coat paid by one gala attendee who didn't want the hassle of schlepping her own through the airport.

$200,500: Price of a room package at D.C.'s Mandarin Oriental, including presidential suite, chauffeured Mercedes limo and outfits from Neiman Marcus.

2,500: Number of U.S. troops used to stand guard as President Bush takes his oath of office

26,000: Number of Kevlar vests for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be purchased for $40 million.

$290: Bonus that could go to each American solider serving in Iraq, if inauguration funds were used for that purpose.

$6.3 million: Amount contributed by the finance and investment industry, which works out to be 25 percent of all the money collected.

$17 million: Amount of money the White House is forcing the cash-strapped city of Washington, D.C., to pony up for inauguration security.

9: Percentage of D.C. residents who voted for Bush in 2004.

66: Percentage of Americans who think this over-the-top inauguration should have been scaled back.

~~

I guess money is no object when you've got political capital to spend.

Oh, Jesus.
Mood:  d'oh
Now Playing: jazz
Here's a little pick-me-up from the Washington Post:

Iraqis Die In Errant Bombing By U.S.
Toll Is Disputed; Rebels Kill Sunni

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, January 9, 2005; Page A01

BAGHDAD, Jan. 8 -- A U.S. warplane mistakenly dropped a 500-pound bomb Saturday on a house in a village near the northern city of Mosul, killing several Iraqis, according to witnesses and the U.S. military.

South of Baghdad, meanwhile, insurgents abducted and killed a Sunni Muslim official as he returned from a trip to try to persuade a Shiite Muslim leader to support a delay in Iraq's scheduled Jan. 30 elections.

The airstrike, by an F-16 fighter jet early Saturday on the village of Aaytha, 30 miles south of Mosul, was part of "a cordon and search operation to capture an anti-Iraqi force cell leader," the military said in a statement. The satellite-guided bomb struck a house that "was not the intended target. . . . The intended target was another location nearby."

The statement said five people were killed and that the military "deeply regretted the loss of possibly innocent lives." The owner of the house told news services that the bomb killed 14 people, including seven children.

~~

I won't force you to read more, however, if you're interested, you can find the rest of the article here.

My favorite part of this article is in the last paragraph above: 'The statement said five people were killed and that the military "deeply regretted the loss of possibly innocent lives."'

Okay, the people who died? Not the people we were trying to kill and yet, even in death they are guilty until proven innocent.

Over 100,000 Iraqis have died since this war began, making our losses pale in comparisson. And yet, we're running out of troops. Helen in my office has a son who's with one of the local police departments. He and his fellow officers have started shipping their old bullet proof vests to soldiers they know over there.

Did you hear that? USED bullet proof vests. What the hell have we come to when the citizens of a country are taking better care of our soldiers than our government?

If I think about this too much I get upset so I'll move on.

It looks like Brad and Jen are caput and I must say, "Boo!" You crazy kids don't have to pack it in just yet, do you? Come on! Think of the fans! We need you! Who are we going to look up to when you're gone? It's like Tom and Nicole all over again.

::sniff::

Headlines!
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: The traffic outside my window
I thought it would be fun to take another look at the headlines. Last time I think I did the New York Times, today, we'll use the BBC. Here we go!

* Emergency declared in Peru town *
Peru declares a state of emergency in an Andean region where army reservists have seized a police station.
~~Well, isn't that nice. Trouble in Latin America. Again.

* Protests in Argentina over blaze *
Relatives of some of the 177 people killed in a nightclub fire in Buenos Aires hold protests outside a morgue.
~~See comment above.

* New Year 'massacre' in Colombia *
Suspected left-wing rebels in Colombia kill 17 people, including children, at a New Year's Eve party, police say.
~~I'm sure the countless U.S. empowered military dictators who've trampled over the faceless masses in Latin America have nothing whatsoever to do with the tremendous violence that still plagues these countries. Right?

* Car bomb attack kills 19 Iraqis *
At least 19 Iraqis - 18 of them National Guardsmen - are killed in a car bomb explosion, the US military says.
~~Someone said something interesting to me last week. We were talking about natural disaster aid v. man-made disaster aid (i.e. tsunami relief v. relief for the genocide in the Darfur region in the Sudan) and he said, "And what about the genocide of Iraqis? They seem to be pretty expendable" "Huh," I said. "Good point." The person who said this to me was my boss, a lifelong Republican who recently voted for Kerry.

* Israelis launch new raid in Gaza *
Israeli forces launch a new incursion in northern Gaza as militants fire more rockets over the border.
~~This is just great. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians will ever win this war. At best they'll blow each other up. At worst, this conflict will last another thousand years. And I for one am a trifle frustrated with the U.S. position of carte blanche support of Israel. They have both committed untold atrocities and as long as this support continues the U.S. will continue to gain Muslim enemies.

And there you have it. The world is one big steaming pile of shite. Happy Freaking New Year.

Gross
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Miles Davis
Can someone please buy Winona a bra? Because ick, okay? We don?t need to be seeing that much droopage. And while we?re on the subject, can someone tell me who would purposely leave the house dressed like this? Hideous isn?t a strong enough word.

New Year's Resolution
I must admit that I am fairly content with my life. Work is crazy busy but the flip side is that I bring home a good amount of bacon and we have pans to cook it in and plates to eat it off of. Married life is working out great. We get along for the most part and I feel fairly confident that we?ll continue to do so for the next 50-75 years or so. Our apartment, though small, works great for us and I don?t see us moving for a while. I?ve put on a little weight since the wedding, but nothing major and I don?t have time to work out. We?ll probably start doing yoga again in the spring and that will take care of a little of it.

The one area that I?d like to see some improvement in is my writing. We had some computer problems earlier this year and that pretty much made it necessary for me to quit writing until they were taken care of. And, let?s be realistic. I?m not a professional writer so I can?t write every single day of the week. But, my best writing tends to flow early in the morning, just after I?ve gotten up. Weekends are obviously the best time for this since those are the only days when I don?t have anything else going on.

There are 52 weeks in a year and I?d like my resolution to be that at least HALF of those weekend mornings are spent writing. So 26 days a year (I know it doesn?t sound like a lot, but it?s a starting point) I will spend the morning writing. It doesn?t matter what, as long as my fingers are connecting with the keyboard.

The best part about this plan? It doesn?t start until tomorrow.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Smarty-pants Commentators
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: Barenaked Ladies
A few of the comments about the Immaculate Conception post left me scratching my head. After twelve years of Catholic school you?d think I?d remember that the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary?s conception, but nope. Once I?d been told, of course, it all came back to me. Thanks for setting me straight, folks.

Yay!
Mood:  a-ok
I received this from Vicks this morning:

Hi guys,

Thanks for the worried letters of concern, regarding the Thailand earthquake. For those of you who are loosing sleep - I'm fortunately fine!! For the rest of you who don't seem to be aware (including my family - yeah mum - where's your worried email!?!?!?!)

We were in Bangkok when the quake hit in the morning. and felt a sustained rocking for at least 10 mins - which seems like a long time! No damage. We just felt the force.

I've managed to see the news and read the papers and it's devastated such huge areas, especially the Tsunami. I'm thanking my lucky stars and my heart goes out to all of those affected.

This was my first chance to get to a comp and all is well. The weather here is just perfect. The sea is beautiful and the bungalow and resort is ace. As for the rest of the stuff - ace!!!! Off elephant trekkiing tomoz, then some snorking and lots more things! Woo hoo!!!

I'll let you all know when I get back. Happy New Year to you all!

Vickie xoxoxoxoxox