Ultranormal

Category: current events

  • Post Traumatic Patriotism Overload

    Is anyone else tired of commercials that try to play to our sense of patriotism? Whether it’s the big 4 automakers asking us to “Keep America Rolling” by going into amazing amounts of debt to buy their overpriced, under-tested vehicles? Is it the low-budget mail order companies offering us crappy plastic flags for our cars, lapels or other “smooth surfaces”?

    Patriotism is not spending money. It’s not being a good little consumer. It’s not listening to some skinny, snobby Canadian chick sing God Bless America.

    When will Bush stop telling us to keep spending and start telling us what isn’t going to be the same? When will he corral the voices in his administration? It seems the leaks come from all over, and even the spokespeople can’t keep their stories straight. I with they would stop sending Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft out to play bad cop while the President keeps talking about the “evil ones”, which makes this sound like a video game and not a war.

  • I’m not into chest-thumping, but

    I’m not into chest-thumping, but wow. This editorial is rather enlightening.

  • In case you forgot… Digital

    In case you forgot… Digital Journalist has a special issue: Seeing the Horror. Some amazing images, but not for the faint of heart.

  • Schoolboy Crush

    I like Tony Blair. No, not that way, you perv. He seems like a good leader, temperate, intelligent and savvy when it comes to dealing with difficult situations. Plus, he has a great way with words (something I wish he could teach our guy). After the IRA start disarming, he said, “This is the day we were told would never happen. I hope we can be forgiven for indulging in hope. It is in short enough supply.” Short, sweet and to the point.

  • Good morning, sunshine.

    Good morning, sunshine. How does it feel to wake up and realize (finally) that your entire world has changed and will never be the same? It’s taken almost a month, but it’s finally sunk in. The stock options I had such faith in 18 months ago are worth about a third what they were then, and there’s very little light at the end of the rainbow. Still, I’m better off than the folks who bet the farm on a startup that’s now just a memory.

    The old reliable stuff like TV, football, movies and entertainment in general doesn’t have the draw it once did. CNN’s the order of the day, and the news isn’t good.

    They say that we’re in a national state of shock/mourning. They’re right. I’m shocked. I’m mourning our national lost innocence. We’re so short-sighted, and have even shorter memories. I think I now know what the country felt like on in December of 1963, a month after President Kennedy was assassinated. Lost, wandering, watching the news and not believing it.

    I can’t believe that anthrax is a real threat, and that the Postal Service won’t spend the money to test its employees. That just doesn’t seem right. I can’t believe that we can bomb a country with almost pinpoint accuracy, yet we can’t get airport security right.

    Maybe I’m on the road to recovery, and I’m grappling with denial. I hope things turn out. I hope “they” figure out everything, and get it under control. But mostly, I look at my little boy and pray that he’ll be ok, and that that blue envelope with the powder in it wasn’t what it could be. I pray that those two sheriff’s deputies who came and got it really tested it instead of just throwing it away, and that the test comes back saying it was just correcting fluid, or sand, or something other than what it could be.

  • Oh, and I forgot one

    Oh, and I forgot one for Dave’s list: When Good Muslims Go Bad – still on the “Bad Fox Special” theme.

    And here’s the worst one I can think of, to the tune of that old camp song: “Hello Mullah. Hello Osama. You ‘ttacked us, so we bombed ya! Hope we catch ya. Hope we kill ya. That’s what you get for bein’ evil.” It works with the rhythm… got some rhyming problems. But, that’s ok. I’m still proud of it.

  • Yes, I’m still waiting on

    Yes, I’m still waiting on people to give me data that I can then manipulate and build things with. I’m waiting on things to be installed so I can use them. I’m waiting on people to figure out that they have a job to do and then do it. In the meantime, I’m using my mad webSkills © to build fabulous philanthropic things that will benefit mankind. Can I tell you what they are? Well, I’d rather not because I’m trying to be humble about the whole thing. But, it’s SO hard when it’s this cool. You know? I want to show everyone what I did (am doing – it’s not QUITE finished yet) and say, “See, ain’t this neat?” But, I’ll be good and save it.

    On a completely different note, I hate the networks. Their handling of their “entertainment” has been pretty sad so far. Case in point: NBC’s Third Watch ran a two hour docu-weepy about firefighters. Now, if it was called “Dateline” or “an NBC News Special”, that would be fine. But, they’re using the country’s pain, and these firefighters experiences as an advertisement for their crappy show. To make matters worse, the shows premiere next week actually has the balls to cover the days of 9/10 and 9/11 from their fictional characters points of view. I can’t believe it. I’m in shock that NBC could think that this is a good idea. West Wing’s tolerance info-mercial was bad enough. Now, they have to go and do this? I may never watch NBC again.

    Which bring up another TV point: Why don’t I care about the new season? There are three shows I watch with any enthusiasm now: The West Wing, Once and Again and That 70’s Show. Everything else could get cancelled and I wouldn’t care. I couldn’t sit through last week’s Survivor. I hate ER now. Maybe it’s because I crave news. Maybe I just don’t feel the need to be “entertained” by fiction as much now. I’d much rather watch a concert or a sporting event. I think it’s that nothing the networks could come up with could be as moving or traumatic as what’s been happening. In their attempts to recover they’re only making it worse.

  • Best line of the day,

    Best line of the day, courtesy of Tom the Dancing Bug, “Will the enemy please identify itself? We’ve got some planes we’d like to use.”

  • I find myself shaking my

    I find myself shaking my head a lot these days. I shake it when I hear of more anthrax cases popping up, when some idiot on the local news talks about things he knows nothing about, when people think that when the war in Afghanistan ends that the terrorism will stop. I’m just here shaking my head wondering how it came to this and not finding any answers.

  • I’m not sure how I

    I’m not sure how I feel about this… If you go to CNN.com you can watch a live nightscope shot of the bombing in Afghanistan. I think it’s a little morbid to show bombs falling live on the web 24-hours a day. Is it?