I was about a month away from being born when the Jonestown suicides took place. It's very hard to find good news footage online - although there have been several documentaries made - showing the 'shantytown' and its people. It never ceases to amaze me how, over and over throughout history, those perceived as leaders can use lies, fear, and hypocrisy (and more often than none, force, when things go awry for them) as their means of influence to gain and maintain power. It's hypnotic in nature, a psychological drug, if you will. And it subterfuge lies in the pretense that there is a great cause of good to be achieved. There are variations on this theme throughout history - from slavery to the Holocaust to the modern day cults we've seen on the news recently. This theme was even woven into the threads of the Republican party's campaign (that's a whole 'nother blog, though).
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the mass suicides of Jonestown, where 900 people committed suicide, on the bequest of Jim Jones. No one really knows what he told all of those people to convince them to drink cyanide laced water, but for months its inhabitants had been held hostage, forced to attend 'classes', and basically brainwashed. Their leader preached a good agenda about social change, but really was not much more than a paranoid (and dare I say fascist) power-monger.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
An 'Early in the Morning' WTF?!?!?
From the AP:
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch court convicted two men Wednesday for attempting to infect 14 victims with HIV in a bizarre sex case. The Groningen District Court found the two guilty of severe assault for injecting semiconscious men with HIV-infected blood at sex parties between January 2006 and May 2007. Peter M., 49, who was also convicted of rape, was sentenced to nine years in prison and Hans J., 39, received a five-year sentence. Under Dutch privacy laws, the surnames of convicted criminals are not released.Prosecutors said they would appeal for higher sentences. "By committing these acts, (Peter M.) has shown himself to have a serious lack of respect for the rights of others," the three-judge panel's written ruling said. "While he knew from his own experience what far-reaching consequences are tied to an infection with HIV, he repeatedly attempted to bring this same hurt to others." Prosecutors had argued that the two men, along with a third who was acquitted of major charges, had drugged the 14 victims and intentionally infected them. But in Wednesday's ruling, judges said while the victims all had HIV, it could not be proven that they were infected by the injections because they willingly took part in orgies where gay men had unprotected sex. The judges also said allegations the victims were given GHB, known as a "date rape" drug, were also unproven. The suspects were not charged with attempted murder since Dutch courts have held that HIV is a chronic illness rather than an inevitably fatal one.
Aside from the heinousness of this crude and ghastly ish..but not to minimize it at all....
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch court convicted two men Wednesday for attempting to infect 14 victims with HIV in a bizarre sex case. The Groningen District Court found the two guilty of severe assault for injecting semiconscious men with HIV-infected blood at sex parties between January 2006 and May 2007. Peter M., 49, who was also convicted of rape, was sentenced to nine years in prison and Hans J., 39, received a five-year sentence. Under Dutch privacy laws, the surnames of convicted criminals are not released.Prosecutors said they would appeal for higher sentences. "By committing these acts, (Peter M.) has shown himself to have a serious lack of respect for the rights of others," the three-judge panel's written ruling said. "While he knew from his own experience what far-reaching consequences are tied to an infection with HIV, he repeatedly attempted to bring this same hurt to others." Prosecutors had argued that the two men, along with a third who was acquitted of major charges, had drugged the 14 victims and intentionally infected them. But in Wednesday's ruling, judges said while the victims all had HIV, it could not be proven that they were infected by the injections because they willingly took part in orgies where gay men had unprotected sex. The judges also said allegations the victims were given GHB, known as a "date rape" drug, were also unproven. The suspects were not charged with attempted murder since Dutch courts have held that HIV is a chronic illness rather than an inevitably fatal one.
I always saw Europe and very progressive on issues such as this. I mean, their handling of health care and birth control (and protection) is what has, in part, contributed to their HIV numbers remaining low (although there are reports that the numbers are higher than predicted due to undertesting). But, their court system needs to be upgraded. Screw not listing surnames - tangent: I wonder if convicted felons can vote there after release? - but let's upgrade a crime such as this to attempted murder and realize that HIV is not a chronic illness. I'm thinking that they consider it such because 1.) of the relatively few cases that have surfaced there (compared to the U.S.) and 2.) their health care system is complete and competent enough so that those infected can seek and get treatment to slow the progression of the virus, and 3) cultural differences in how illnesses and perceived and treated.
Either way, they need to throw these bastards in jail for life. There is a special place in Hell for this kind of stuff.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Is it possible....
That Bush and his administration can possibly do more damage during his last 60 days in office than they have in the past 8 years?? It appears so......
Paulson snuck in a clause in his bailout plan that nixed Section 382. Basically, this now allows companies to purchase failing companies and get a tax break for doing so. What does that mean? These failing corporate giants can use the $700 billion (read: Taxpayer's money) to buy up failing companies (which are probably also getting relief) and get a TAX BREAK for it. Blame your congressman/woman? Nope. The Treasury Department (read: Paulson) put this little caviat in there when nobody was looking. It's all about 'interpretation' of those little laws..... Sounds a little illegal to me. Hmmmm.....
Bush is rushing to open up lands as close at 5 miles from the Grand Canyon for.....Uranium Mining! (Which will make Palin's call to 'drill, baby, drill', seem like singing 'ring around the rosey'). Congress is screaming no and Bush is going for the kill (no pun intended). "The proposed BLM rule would not only reject the House's emergency withdrawal of over 1 million acres of federal land near Grand Canyon National Park from new uranium mining, but also eliminate the provisions that allow Congress to make such withdrawals in the future." So, to all of those who live in, oh, I'd say 3500 miles of the Grand Canyon.....you might be effed! Royally! To the residents of Pheonix and LA.....now would probably be a good time to stock up on bottled water - unless you want to drink the bright yellow water that will be flowing through your sinks soon. What a hot shitty mess this is.
Oh, and you can complain all you want. But don't do it on the phone, over your email, or in a blog! Why? Bush is trying to take the Patriot act to a whole new level. He wants to pass a madate that will allow state and local law enforcement agencies to snoop around and collect "intelligence" (that's an oxymoron) on people, EVEN IF IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS! For all those who wanted to call Obama a socialist, well, way to go. You get an "L"! Because your current president (whom you probably voted for) is single handedly implementing policies that are attacking and undermining the Constitution at every angle. And he's making every effort to make sure that they are permanent.
Is there any way we can get him out NOW??????
Paulson snuck in a clause in his bailout plan that nixed Section 382. Basically, this now allows companies to purchase failing companies and get a tax break for doing so. What does that mean? These failing corporate giants can use the $700 billion (read: Taxpayer's money) to buy up failing companies (which are probably also getting relief) and get a TAX BREAK for it. Blame your congressman/woman? Nope. The Treasury Department (read: Paulson) put this little caviat in there when nobody was looking. It's all about 'interpretation' of those little laws..... Sounds a little illegal to me. Hmmmm.....
Bush is rushing to open up lands as close at 5 miles from the Grand Canyon for.....Uranium Mining! (Which will make Palin's call to 'drill, baby, drill', seem like singing 'ring around the rosey'). Congress is screaming no and Bush is going for the kill (no pun intended). "The proposed BLM rule would not only reject the House's emergency withdrawal of over 1 million acres of federal land near Grand Canyon National Park from new uranium mining, but also eliminate the provisions that allow Congress to make such withdrawals in the future." So, to all of those who live in, oh, I'd say 3500 miles of the Grand Canyon.....you might be effed! Royally! To the residents of Pheonix and LA.....now would probably be a good time to stock up on bottled water - unless you want to drink the bright yellow water that will be flowing through your sinks soon. What a hot shitty mess this is.
Oh, and you can complain all you want. But don't do it on the phone, over your email, or in a blog! Why? Bush is trying to take the Patriot act to a whole new level. He wants to pass a madate that will allow state and local law enforcement agencies to snoop around and collect "intelligence" (that's an oxymoron) on people, EVEN IF IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS! For all those who wanted to call Obama a socialist, well, way to go. You get an "L"! Because your current president (whom you probably voted for) is single handedly implementing policies that are attacking and undermining the Constitution at every angle. And he's making every effort to make sure that they are permanent.
Is there any way we can get him out NOW??????
Babysitting
I am officially too old for roommates. I might as well claim them as dependents. Seriously. The amount of nonsense is absolutely recockulous. Out of the three of us that originally moved into the townhome together, two of us remain. Since we moved in five years ago, we have had several nomadic roommates, whose short-lived stints with us have caused me more wrinkles and gray hair then almost 30 years of school. Generally they were all nice; they weren't horrible people, and proved to be good company....at times.
But as the oldest one in the house, and the one who apparantely has the most 'life experience'...and by 'life experience' I mean knowledge how to change a light bulb, nail a hammer in the wall, shovel snow, jump start a car, clean up after myself, clean kitchens and bathrooms thoroughly, and.....well, you get the point.
My life has been anything but boring since living at 324. From dealing with crises such as 'the washing machine won't spin' - because you put 384 lbs of clothes in it at one time, to 'I blew a fuse and can't reset it' - because you have two 125 watt bulbs in sockets (on the same circuit) that specify no more than 40 watts, I feel that I've been putting out unneccessary fires since day one. But such is the price, I guess, for saving money that I really don't have. (Seriously, I would pay $800 to live alone if I actually got a real salary as a grad student).
Ugh, my headache is coming back. So I'll just leave you with a few stories.....
1. So our unofficial roommate is Frank. He doesn't pay rent, he evades the IRS, and he generally upholds none of our household duties. He shows up every winter, will eat any food that is left out, and might leave a parting gift (careful - those aren't sprinkles!). Yes, Frank is our resident mouse. Who we love dearly, but encourage to stay with the neighbors as much as possible. So, when I warn you that leaving fresh bread in the cabinet is a ill-advised, take my word for it. We've gotten to know Frank quite well over the years, and we know his games. While you [unnamed roommate] were totally disgusted that Frank found his way to your loaf of bread and tunnelled a whole through the middle so that when you held it up you could see straight through, I was secretly laughing my ass off! And this is where I took out the "I told you so" banner, and waved it high.
2. "Wooooow....what are you doing? How do you do that?" [question from unnamed roommate two upon seeing me drill holes in the wall to hang the valence rod for the curtain]
3. Steel wool should not be used to clean a flat top stove. Raise your hand if you knew this. [unnamed roommate three, put down your hand].
4. A classic. Our house is old and large, and as such, heats unevenly. So, the roommies upstairs use space heaters. However, because space heaters suck up energy - although they are somehoe cost efficient in our house - the roomies have to coordinate activities. In other words, you can't have the hairdryer, microwave, paper shredder, and vibrator all on at the same time, or a massive fuse will be blown. So, the roommates have had all winter to practice this. After about two months of trial and error, they seemed to finally have gotten it right.
So, one weekend, I had 'company'. 'Grown folk company' to be exact. For those of you who are slow, ask someone else. Anyhoo.....without putting all the details of my once-in-a-blue-moon escapades on here, I'm in the basement with 'company' when I hear what I think is a knock on the door. Now, mind you, I warned my roommates that the basement would be inaccessable for about two days (the finished basement serves as my room, and you have to pass through the main area to get to the hallway leading to the washer and dryer....along with the FUSE BOX). No problem, everyone agreed. Everyone could wait to do laundry, and everyone promised to treat the light sockets with dignity and respect and not eff things up. In fact, everyone was quite enthusiastic about why the basement was going to be off limits (hey, ladies is pimps, too!). So, I was very confused as to why I hear what began as a slight rapping and eventually turned into a clear, decisive (and bold) knock on my door at 11 p.m. and a voice pleading 'I'm so sorry.....we blew a fuse.' WTF?!?!? Flag on the play!!!!!
And then there was dark....for the rest of the weekend.
This is my incentive for graduating.
But as the oldest one in the house, and the one who apparantely has the most 'life experience'...and by 'life experience' I mean knowledge how to change a light bulb, nail a hammer in the wall, shovel snow, jump start a car, clean up after myself, clean kitchens and bathrooms thoroughly, and.....well, you get the point.
My life has been anything but boring since living at 324. From dealing with crises such as 'the washing machine won't spin' - because you put 384 lbs of clothes in it at one time, to 'I blew a fuse and can't reset it' - because you have two 125 watt bulbs in sockets (on the same circuit) that specify no more than 40 watts, I feel that I've been putting out unneccessary fires since day one. But such is the price, I guess, for saving money that I really don't have. (Seriously, I would pay $800 to live alone if I actually got a real salary as a grad student).
Ugh, my headache is coming back. So I'll just leave you with a few stories.....
1. So our unofficial roommate is Frank. He doesn't pay rent, he evades the IRS, and he generally upholds none of our household duties. He shows up every winter, will eat any food that is left out, and might leave a parting gift (careful - those aren't sprinkles!). Yes, Frank is our resident mouse. Who we love dearly, but encourage to stay with the neighbors as much as possible. So, when I warn you that leaving fresh bread in the cabinet is a ill-advised, take my word for it. We've gotten to know Frank quite well over the years, and we know his games. While you [unnamed roommate] were totally disgusted that Frank found his way to your loaf of bread and tunnelled a whole through the middle so that when you held it up you could see straight through, I was secretly laughing my ass off! And this is where I took out the "I told you so" banner, and waved it high.
2. "Wooooow....what are you doing? How do you do that?" [question from unnamed roommate two upon seeing me drill holes in the wall to hang the valence rod for the curtain]
3. Steel wool should not be used to clean a flat top stove. Raise your hand if you knew this. [unnamed roommate three, put down your hand].
4. A classic. Our house is old and large, and as such, heats unevenly. So, the roommies upstairs use space heaters. However, because space heaters suck up energy - although they are somehoe cost efficient in our house - the roomies have to coordinate activities. In other words, you can't have the hairdryer, microwave, paper shredder, and vibrator all on at the same time, or a massive fuse will be blown. So, the roommates have had all winter to practice this. After about two months of trial and error, they seemed to finally have gotten it right.
So, one weekend, I had 'company'. 'Grown folk company' to be exact. For those of you who are slow, ask someone else. Anyhoo.....without putting all the details of my once-in-a-blue-moon escapades on here, I'm in the basement with 'company' when I hear what I think is a knock on the door. Now, mind you, I warned my roommates that the basement would be inaccessable for about two days (the finished basement serves as my room, and you have to pass through the main area to get to the hallway leading to the washer and dryer....along with the FUSE BOX). No problem, everyone agreed. Everyone could wait to do laundry, and everyone promised to treat the light sockets with dignity and respect and not eff things up. In fact, everyone was quite enthusiastic about why the basement was going to be off limits (hey, ladies is pimps, too!). So, I was very confused as to why I hear what began as a slight rapping and eventually turned into a clear, decisive (and bold) knock on my door at 11 p.m. and a voice pleading 'I'm so sorry.....we blew a fuse.' WTF?!?!? Flag on the play!!!!!
And then there was dark....for the rest of the weekend.
This is my incentive for graduating.
This is where it begins.....
So I was inspired by a friend to start my own blog - thanks Antoine - dang you and your brown bag. LOL.
Somewhere in the past 30 years, I lost my brain-mouth filter, so I usually am the one to say what everyone is secretly thinking. I'm not a mean person - I just don't sugar coat.
So in lieu of driving my friends and lab-mates crazy with the continuous stream of thoughts that are always rattling around in my cranium, a blog seems to be a good idea. And seeing that I don't have any aspirations to run for political office (as of now), a blog seems to be a great idea! (And just in case I do conjure that notion up one day, I'm sure this can be erased just like those pictures of Palin's daughter pregnant earlier this year with Trig disappeared from the Alaska state website!) Although, the downside to this is that I will probably spend inordinant amounts of time adding and updating - time that should be spent conducting experiments, reading papers, and trying to graduate! We'll see how that goes.
Somewhere in the past 30 years, I lost my brain-mouth filter, so I usually am the one to say what everyone is secretly thinking. I'm not a mean person - I just don't sugar coat.
So in lieu of driving my friends and lab-mates crazy with the continuous stream of thoughts that are always rattling around in my cranium, a blog seems to be a good idea. And seeing that I don't have any aspirations to run for political office (as of now), a blog seems to be a great idea! (And just in case I do conjure that notion up one day, I'm sure this can be erased just like those pictures of Palin's daughter pregnant earlier this year with Trig disappeared from the Alaska state website!) Although, the downside to this is that I will probably spend inordinant amounts of time adding and updating - time that should be spent conducting experiments, reading papers, and trying to graduate! We'll see how that goes.
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