Bulletin Board of Bad Behavior

Count me out. Sloths don't climb 15,000 foot active volcanos.

Not even if the Brazilian womens volleyball were having a naked party up there with midgets carrying fishbowls of cocaine and an open bar.

There won't be any midgets? Damnation.

I would do it if the sloth's scenario was happening...

Of course I voted, Sloth! I always vote, and by now you should easily recall that we both voted for Nader. No use in denying it now.

Hello Tommy good to have you back.

Sara thanks for the moveon news. I had heard of that organization before.

On this note, I happened to come across a young man at the bus stop today who had just come back from Iraq. I didn't know this at first, though. All I knew was the guy was just a little too angry and high strung. For example, his first question to me was "Is the bitch coming soon?" - (bitch obviously meaning the bus). He then proceeded to expound on several topics, always with a lot of anger behind everything he was saying and using the 'f' word a lot. I found it a bit disconcerting, even frightening. We got on the bus, and he continued talking to me. Everyone could hear him. An older man with greying hair who was obviously old enough to remember Vietnam firsthand said something like "you're just doing your job". At one point the young man said "Some people say they don't agree with what I did over there. I say 'so what, I don't agree with the fact you didn't help that homeless person over there' - fuck you." All I could say was "Well, if you have a job to do, you do it."

In retrospect I think that guy was truly on the edge of madness. He had only begun to try to put the shards of his personality back together and adjust to calmer civilian life. He just seemed like the slightest thing would set him off in a violent rage. He said he heard of someone who was M.I.A. over there, "name was Sherman" and gave the number of infantry division of the guy, as though I should know him somehow.

I felt a little guilty and oh...ungratefully lucky at the wide expanse between him with all his violence in his head and me calmly catching the bus, excited to have checked out a Blondie book from the library.

I don't know, all I can say is, it really brought home to me like never before, we've got another Vietnam on our hands.
And Bush is wrong. There's a lot of things going on over there that we don't even hear about.

Brett, from what I understand about the kinds of things you like to do, I think you and Tommy could really kick ass climbing that thing. Go for it, guys, godspeed ye both. Then you could both write a story about it for Paxacidus! I'm siding with Sloth on this one...I'd rather watch 12 hours of T.V. and eat meat than do that.

Another thing that young man said on the bus..."It's better than them coming over here, and they will. Don't worry, they will."

Today's paper makes mention of the kind of bombs/equipment used in recent anti-U.S. attacks in Iraq and the fact that these most likely originated outside Iraq, pointing to Al-Qaida or Hezbollah.

If I wrote a $50 check to Dean's campaign, would that help anything?

Sorry Mark, I don't think it would. Dean will lose.

I have never despised anyone, but I'm starting to learn how:

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The U.S. death toll in Iraq has surpassed the number of American soldiers killed during the first three years of the Vietnam War, the brutal Cold War conflict that cast a shadow over U.S. affairs for more than a generation.

A Reuters analysis of Defense Department statistics showed on Thursday that the Vietnam War, which the Army says officially began on Dec. 11, 1961, produced a combined 392 fatal casualties from 1962 through 1964, when American troop levels in Indochina stood at just over 17,000.

By comparison, a roadside bomb attack that killed a soldier in Baghdad on Wednesday brought to 397 the tally of American dead in Iraq, where U.S. forces number about 130,000 troops -- the same number reached in Vietnam by October 1965.

The untold tale of this war is injuries. Does anybody know how many? Thousands I think.

Here is a link to the known caualties.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/f ... asualties/

These are the friends you will never meet.

Most of them joined the military for college money or because there were no jobs available in their state.

No kidding about the injuries. Due to the greater technology there are a lot more injured soldiers this time around than in previous wars. In other words, these people would have died in previous wars but now they come back as amputees or with other really serious injuries. I read an article about this hospital in New York that is where many of them end up when they come home and the hospital is so swamped they are having to tell other types of patients they have to go elsewhere. This hospital dealt with soldiers from previous wars as well. They were saying they can keep pace with it for awhile, but if the current numbers of injured soldiers keeps up, it will start to change what the hospital is.

And here's another reason:

"Bush is now pushing Congress to approve one of the biggest spending bills in its history -- 820 billion dollars.

These provisions, and others, were added at the last minute by top Republican negotiators. The final bill was first shared with Democrats the day they were leaving for Thanksgiving (Tues., Nov. 25th), in an obvious attempt to force an immediate vote, sight unseen.

Instead, Congress is returning for a special session next week. The House is expected to vote on the bill on Monday, December 8th. The Senate is being asked to approve it on Tuesday the 9th.

Giveaways in the bill include:

Allowing media giants to monopolize even more local media outlets than before. Companies like Fox that have bought more outlets than current law allows would now be allowed to keep them. In fact, this bill raises the limit to just the amount that Fox needs. (Washington Post, 11/30/03)

Rolling back rules requiring that people be paid for overtime. Eight million hard-working families count on these fair compensation rules. "

I'm just cutting and pasting from an email that I got from moveon.org. I haven't looked up anything on this, but it gives a source so we'll see. Does anybody know more info on this?

Well, I haven't heard that that one has passed, yet, but frankly I don't want to know...I read some stuff in the paper today that was as much or more disturbing, about the new Bush administration plan being to come up with some "unifying" thing like a new moon space program...

Health care???? Education???? DEFICIT?!?!?!?!
ANYBODY HOME???