Bad Luck Barack

You know, I'm starting to feel really sorry for Obama.

First there was the Wikileaks cable release. I get the feeling that in his heart of hearts Obama really wanted to congratulate Assange and Wikileaks and support their good work... but, unfortunately, he (or rather "The Obama Administration") has no choice but to denounce the leaks.

Then the surprisingly under-reported "Palestine Papers" were released by Al Jazeera.  They showed, among other things, that even when Palestinian negotiators offered to kiss the ground the Israeli negotiators walked on after licking their shoes clean, Israel said "No dice!". In an ideal world, these papers would be a club to beat the two sides over the head with, to try and force the sides to come up with something they can agree on. However, this is the real world, so he could only say "Shame on you Al Jazeera for leaking these confidential documents".

And now we have Egypt. As the situation stands at the time of writing, Egyptions, be they Muslim, Christian, secular or other, are getting closer and closer to ousting their dictator of 30 years. Normally this would be a no brainer, but Egypt holds a special place in the Middle East as the only Arab nation to have declared peace on Israel, and due to it's friendly relationship with the US. So Obama can't come out and say, "Go you good things! Take democracy if they won't give it to you!" - instead he has to urge the President/Dictator Mubarak to "move towards meaningful change".

There's a reason he looks more tired and sad each time I see him on the teev. Poor guy, he just wanted to save the world from the neo-republicans, and who can blame him?

Marilyn Monday

Did you miss me kids? Want me to promise never to leave you again? Poor diddums. Here's some Marilyn Monday to distract you.

Yes, I know it's Tuesday... Monday was a public holiday!

Hope y'all enjoy today's skimpy summery theme.

Desserts not quite Just, but Justified

So this old dude (58) is staying at a campground and he gets pissed off at other campers playing "loud music" at night. He goes over to, presumably, politely ask them to turn the music down, but doesn't see anyone. What he does see is an unlocked car with a handbag on the front seat. What he also sees is some dookie. Human dookie. Of course, he does what you or I would do - scoops up the poo and puts it in the handbag.

Despite him not finding anyone to complain to, he was spotted and beaten up. Turns out he was beaten pretty badly, knocked unconscious then kicked and punched in the face while he was on the ground. He ended up with a concussion and needing stitches. Police say they believe the 20 year old man charged with the assault broke "up to 4" knuckled during the attack, and his 21 year old girl friend has also been charged.

Now, I'm not going to say that the guy deserved to be kicked and punched in the face while he was passed out. But for christs sake, you can't put human feces in someone's handbag just because you're pretty sure they're the person who is indirectly pissing you off! I really hope he's facing charges for putting the poo in the bag to begin with - I'd like to think there is some legal protection between me and scat-slinging nut-jobs.

Creating Cravings

I'm not sure if I've discussed my P use before so I'll reiterate the situ as a background to this particular rant. I don't like P, I'll generally say no if I'm offered it, and I'll never EVER buy it. I find it makes me feel ok for a wee bit, then like there is a black hole where my stomach used to be for up to several days.

I've had a friend ruin her life with the stuff - lose her son, work as a prostitute, rip off a dealer and go underground, get knocked up by a cook and now has to live by his rules or get a punch in the face - luckily one of the rules is no P, unluckily she's already lost her front teeth at his hand. I've had friends use it for a period and suffer few ill affects other than (counter intuitively) gaining weight by staying up all night watching films and snacking. I've had other friends who take the stuff recreationally, staying up all night to hang out or work.

As someone who enjoys drugs, P holds no appeal for me. It isn't inherently fun like LSD, E or K. It doesn't make life more enjoyable like marijuana. It's terribly expensive and the effects are short-lived. And, of course, the addiction factor. Give me ritalin any day!

Having explained all this, you now have context for my assertion that for even people like myself, who will say no when offered P, experience cravings when shown an image of a full pipe. There are plenty about, such as the one below by Martin Sykes which accompanied this article in today's Herald. I've seen pics like this all over the place, from the Listener to the TV news, used to illustrate a piece on P.

I don't have any studies to back my view up, just my own reaction. But do we really need a study to prove that a P smoker, when they come across a photo like the below, wants a pipe? Sure, meth heads always want a pipe, but such visual stimulus helps to translate craving into action.

Given that we want to help, support and encourage anyone trying to quit P, I think it's unnecessary and irresponsible to have these tantalising pictures liberally littered throughout the media.

Too little research, too late

So AP last week played catch up and ran this story about Whoonga, which we've discussed earlier.

In a marked contrast to the Aljazeera and ABC News stories I found (links in original post), as well as the information supplied by Project Whoonga, Associated Press leads with the assertion that "there's no evidence that any ingredient of the AIDS drug cocktail is addictive or does anything to enhance the marijuana high. Whoonga smokers may be fooling themselves into believing the AIDS drugs are giving them a high, when it's really some other ingredient, says Dr. Njabulo Mabaso, an AIDS expert."

I'm wondering what makes Dr Mabaso, an AIDS expert, the person to get your information off about the addictiveness and effects of Whoonga?

Given that ABC's Nightline and Aljazeera have done their own investigative journalism and met dealers, addicts, their families and the people who are trying to help them rather than just asking an "AIDS expert" (whatever that means), and given that the information they have received all agrees that Whoonga is physically addictive and has definite effects over and above a marijuana high, I think you need to not swallow everything you hear like Marie Antoinette's cake and dig a little deeper.

Poor work, Donna Bryson. Poor, poor work.

Thanks, Justin, but sexy never went anywhere

Dear Modern Celebrities,

This is what sexy really is. This photo is so sexy I flick my screen to something else when I think a workmate is glancing over.

Sexy is not showing more flesh than a butchers.

Kind regards,
Sgt Pepper.

Without Due Respect

So pretty much the whole world agrees that the Vietnam War was unjustified and immoral.

It was also unwinnable, due in part to the historical prescedent of the Vietnamese people and their goal during the "war" - to stick it out 'till the Yanks got bored and went home, not to "win".

Now we all know I'm not one to get offended easily. However, Herald writer John McCrystal using the Survivor tagline - "outwit, outplay and outlast" - as a description for the Vietnamese "strategy" during the war strikes me as lazy and disrespectful.

Vietnam didn't want a war over whether they were "communist" or not - they just wanted to not be ruled by foreign powers anymore. So when good ol' Uncle Sam decided that was bad for the world and sent troops in, the Vietnamese did what they've done for over 1,000 years in the face of occupation - wait it out and fight where you can. Given the horrors Vietnam endured, I think it's unnecessarily glib to chuck a pop culture reference in there. To compare the Vietnamese struggle for meaningful independence with the self-promotional orgy of self-centered whining that is Survivor is an insult.

Marilyn Monday

It's another Marilyn Monday! For the first time ever, actually on a Monday.

I'm sticking with the theme of things Marilyn put in her mouth. She has such a pretty mouth.

Bowie makes it Better

Anyone else look at this pic and think "Say hello to my little friend..." ?

Also, I am sick, hence the quietness. Hopefully things will pick up with Marilyn Monday! Until then, enjoy my happy place:



The appropriate level of worry over your privacy is: Blackwatch Plaid!

This, ladies and gents, is why you don't believe the man. ESPECIALLY when he is trying to make civil liberties defenders look like paranoid creeps.

You know all those new airport full-body scanners which privacy advocates fretted over, only to have their concernes dismissed like the opinion of a four year old? The ones which supposedly had so many fail-safes built in to protect privacy that you were better off there than in your own bedroom with the curtains closed?

Yeah, well, turns out they weren't so fool-proof after all. Technology blog Gizmodo published 100 scans after thoughtfully editing out any identifying features, to demonstrate the vulnerability of such technology and undeniably prove that all of us concerned about privacy aren't just paranoiacs with delusions of importance.

The scans were sourced from a courthouse in Orlando, Florida, where, Gizmodo reported, US marshalls had improperly stored the images. No explination has been given as to why the scans were in the hands of the courthouse or US marshalls, surprisingly (hah).

Now this IS a bit of a tough issue as we all agree that it is important to ensure safety in the air, and nobody wants airport delays to get longer. Some would argue that no far is too far, since human lives are worth more than any inconveniences or privacy concerns. Others would retort that no such security is required on trains or buses, and that methods such as the body scans leave an unnecessary amount of information about the traveller in unknown hands. Where do I stand? I think the scans are stink, but I also think it's stink of the US to require fingerprints and iris scans (do they need DNA too?) of all incoming travellers. I don't have an answer as to how to try to ensure security without them but I'd like to think the full body scans aren't it - at least not in the way they are currently done.

Just a little bit of Natural Selection

So in Britain, France, Canada, the US and here in good ol NZ, school kids are getting "high" from strangling themselves.

While it's hard to confirm the details, it appears that there have been three related fatalities of kids aged 11-13 - two of them last week.

Information on how to strangle oneself for fun is being passed around via txt and word of mouth. The coroner ruled in September that the benefits of warning parents of the phenomenon outweighed the danger of copycat behaviour and revealed the method of death of the (possible) first fatality.

I'm sorry, but how fucking dumb do you have to be to strangle yourself for kicks? Auto-erotic asphyxiation is one thing, but making yourself pass out by depriving the brain of oxygen on its own merits is just moronic.

My god, if kids want to get high that much maybe we should hand out ritalin or that fake weed stuff you can get at the dairy or something.

I think the main thing to remember here is that kids are really stupid and that they need to be talked to like adults about this sort of thing. No more of the hysterical lies about how one ecstasy pill will cause your insides to melt - it's time to start giving our kids the full information they need to make good decisions. Giving people with diminished decision-making capabilities (children and teenagers) incomplete or incorrect information is setting them up to fail.

The mother of the first fatality said their research had since revealed her son fitted the profile of someone at risk of playing the choking game - he was a high achiever, a homebody, played by the rules, did not engage in illegal activities such as underage drug and alcohol use and was in the vulnerable age group, the median age being 13 years. Sorry lady but I think if your son accidentally killed himself trying to get a buzz then I doubt he didn't drink or use any drugs - either that or you had scared him so badly with your misinformation about drugs and booze (though you could have easily believed the lies yourself) that he turned to something even more dangerous to fulfill that ubiquitous human desire - to get fucked up.

Things just keep getting better!

Adding to my yay-overload at the thought of My Gal running for US President is the news that Donald Trump is once again talking about throwing his hat in the ring.

If he runs, it will "most likely" be as a Republican. Wow, big surprise eh!

Could the Republican Primary race BE any more entertaining than The Don vs The Pitbull in Lipstick?

Here's how I think it'll go.

Donald goes on Larry King to announce he'll run for Republican Nominee. Denies inappropriate touching or any sort of special relationship with Larry, despite technicians "forgetting" to tell Don and Lar the camera is on and images of Larry stroking Donald's hair lovingly are beamed out across the world.

Sarah Palin finds this highly amusing.

First Donald is hurt...

Then angry.



[Then orange]

Sarah says "Sorry Don, but the thought of you as President of the United States is ridic... ridic... just plain ol' stupid!"

Now Donald is REALLY mad. "At least I know that Africa isn't a country, you stupid whore!"



"What did you say?"

"I said, you're a stupid whore and your baby is a retard. You're a national embarassment and your TV show stinks. Mine is WAY better."

Sarah decides to take the high road, attacking The Don to her supporters in massive rallies. "He's orange and his hair is awful! He's a stinky old wanker."

"AND he's got a teeny tiny little winky!"

This is too much for The Don, who threatens to kill Sarah, her retarded baby, her slutty daughter and her slutty daughter's probably retarded baby. Cries of protest from disability advocates and teenage mothers are drowned out by the sound of hundreds of thousands of Americans baying for blood.

So Sarah does the only thing a responsible Alaskan would do - goes on a killing spree! After finishing off Don and her retarded/slutty children, she takes out Obama and Hillary... and Condoleezza for good measure.

And the world is saved from commies, pinkos, abortionists, evolutionists, scientists, skeptics and traitors. Yay! Sarah says, "That's ok guys."

"Love ya!"



Marilyn Monday!

Yes, I know it's Friday. But I won't be online on Monday so it's time for the inugural Marilyn Monday already!

Try and guess what today's theme is?