* I stand corrected

I Googled myself today, because it had been a while and the last time I did that I found out I had been published. Today I found out that I was on the prop crew for Beauty and the Beast - which is a total lie; I don't do props.

Anyway, I get called Mr. in e-mails rather frequently due to the non-gender-specific name "Ali" (short for Alison, but don't tell anyone). My response has always been: "yeah, cuz there are a whole lot of Muslim Norwegians".

Apparently, the Scandinavian surname doesn't make as much of a difference as I thought, because in 1915 a woman (Edna) married an "Ali Mostrom" (born c.1888 in Clinton, IA) and I just don't think this was a lesbian marriage.

So, I stand corrected. Thanks Google.

* Torture?

I am reminded today of former President Clinton's carefully chosen words regarding sex and the hullabaloo that surrounded them. However, today this idea of carefully chosen words is being applied to torture.

According to CNN.com CIA Chief Porter Goss says that the CIA doesn't do torture, but that some of the CIA "interrogation" techniques would be prevented by the ban on torture that recently passed in the Senate.

Now, here I thought that torture was "cruel, inhumane or degrading" treatment of people (that's quoted from the bill, btw). How do you define torture Chief Goss?

I also greatly appreciate the quote by Goss: "This agency does not do torture. Torture does not work". The sarcastic side of me says, in response, "We know, because we've tried".

"Door Twarts Quick Exit for Bush"

Now, I try really hard to respect President Bush as the elected leader of our country, even though he drives me mad (with purposeful choice of the word "mad" due to it's implications of both "angry" and "insane"). However, this is just hilarious.

In an article that totally reinforces my desire to pay more attention to BBC for online news, we are told that something finally prevented Bush from evading the press: a door.

Kind of like a zombie, now that I think about it.

Thanks Peace Chicken.

Cool Hippie Movement Least Likely to Make a Dent

It's been around since the mid-90s...
There are commercials...
There are protests...
There's a website...

It's... Buy Nothing Day! When? November 25 (yes, folks, the Day After Thanksgiving)!

Now, I love this idea due to my personal disdain and boycott of the commercial circus that is shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Plus, I am indeed dramatic enough to think dressing up like a zombie and wandering around oh, let's say, Walmart would be a blast. However, as stated by CBS in the 1997 Wall Street Journal article: "Buy Nothing Day 'is in opposition to the current economic policy in the United States'". Not to mention that it seems to be a favorite "holiday" of the masses.

So, Mr. Lasn, I applaud the idea, but I just don't think it will make a dent on our society any time soon.

* God loves vegetarians

So, despite what most of my relatives inexplicably believe, I never went through that vegetarian phase; I never read The Jungle, never learned to cook with tofu, never stopped eating beef. However...

After listening to NPR this evening I have to admit:
Mad Cow Disease
Foot in Mouth (sheep)
Bird Flu (poultry)

Maybe God is trying to tell us we should stop eating animals. Or maybe, since there hasn't been any pig diseases, it's like the anti-Old Testament and pigs really aren't as unclean as we were made to believe. Either way, I am going to go along my merry way eating burgers and Thanksgiving turkey and ham and all the other delicious animals I regularly consume and ignore the signs, but it does make me wonder.

* What happened to Iowa?

I have now at least twice, within a week, seen Iowa on CNN. This is odd; typically the only thing to get Iowa on the news is every four years at caucus time. Now we had crazy tornadoes in November and convicted murders escaping from a maximum security prison - within a week of one another. So, again I ask: what happened to Iowa?

Blog Against Racism

So, I stumbled across this call by Creek Running North for a Blog Against Racism Day. I can get down like that, so if anyone is reading this:

Mark your Calendars and Blog Against Racism on December 1.

* Here goes...

I just realize that it has been about three months since I blogged.

Now, sure, this site is mostly just fun with a little bit of my random philosophizing, but after reading a post by Drew Miller I figure I owe it to my gender to become a more active member of the blogosphere... or at least to spend more time on the internet finding random things to play with (see my Cat Person post).

Either way, now that I am between jobs I can spend more time checking out the news and reading blogs and just generally philosophizing.

So, for at least the next six weeks, here goes...

Cat person

So, while randomly following the network of links on the blogosphere I found Bitch PhD and well, the thing that I just couldn't pass up was this totally cute cat. Maybe it's because I am a cat person or because I am really easily ammused. I don't know, but I totally had to share.