drewmckinney.net

When I come across people wearing meat on their head intended for a lizard to eat, I’m really, really glad that the internets exist.

The Grope-inator got bitch-slapped on his ballot measures and I’m very happy with the results. Californians did not need this special election, did not want this special election, and they showed their feelings by voting negatively to the asinine measures that the actor backed. I’m still unsure of how he got elected in the first place but this and his recent approval-rating speak volumes of how people will react when he tries to get re-elected next year. Goodbye Grope-inator, can’t say that I’ll miss you.

Also, New Jersey and Virginia got new Democrat Governors which will be putting the GOP in a tight spot come election time 2006. Hats off to Tim Kaine (Virginia) who was able to defeat his opponent despite said opponent’s dirty trickery and last-minute campain visits from GWB.

Too bad about Texas banning same-sex marriages. I fail to see how who you fuck has anything to do with the courts but there you have it. They’re not the only state to do this though so those of us that are interested in human-rights and equality for all still have an uphill battle that won’t end anytime soon. With all the assholes in the world I really don’t understand why people want to waste their time and resources on outlawing what people do in a bedroom, especially since it doesn’t affect anyone except those that are in the bedroom and if it really bothers you than you should pull your goddamned eyes away and spy on your own life. Damn, this issue really burns me.

Enough of all that, 2006 is going to be an interesting year for politics and I’m ready for the wild ride ahead. Money is going to be changing hands faster than it can be recorded into ledgers while PR consultants kick out the jams and show us pictures of smiling devils that kiss babies and shake hands. Blood is in the water and the sharks can smell it.

It looks like the Republican monster is getting desperate. The Republican Governor’s Association has now stooped so low as to use misleading robo-calls to show their support for candidate Jerry Kilgore, who is running for Governor of Virginia.

I often discuss politics and at some point during the conversation someone will say that a person’s individual vote doesn’t count, that there is no point in going to cast your vote because the decision has already been made. If this were true then the RGA wouldn’t be willing to violate federal laws to get their man in.

Thirteen electoral votes (based on the 2000 census) might not seem like a big deal but it’s pretty substantial and the Republicans obviously want to hold onto the state, leading me to believe that an individual’s vote is VERY important.

Politics is a dirty business and I’m not saying that the Democrats are some sort of shining example that would never use misleading tactics to get a vote. All I want is for people to go to the polls and let their voice be heard regardless of which party they vote for.

The game is on and we must all play…

Via [dailykos]

Earlier during the week I posted about how Vanilla Coke was getting the axe in the UK and I asked how we could get rid of it over here. The wait is over according the BBC in their article Coke Ditches Three Flavours in the US. Aw yeah. Not only is the vile liquid going to be eradicated from our soil but Coke is also giving us Diet Cherry Coke, which I’ve been wanting for years. Regular Cherry Coke is fine and all but I have to worry about my girly figure (diet soda is probably unhealthy due to the chemicals used to replace sugar but at least we’ll look good).

Take THAT Jessica! Your precious Vanilla Coke will be no more, mua ha ha ha! Seriously though, Jessica seems very nice and I wish her all the best in her search for a replacement beverage.

The United States Senate is hard at work again, making sure they screw everyone in the country but themselves. The Washington Post is reporting that $54 billion will be saved through 2010 because of cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, student loans and other programs.

When I was a lad of eight years old or so my family went through a bit of a rough period. My dad had to close his three retail stores due to what he called “Regan-omics” and the only job he could find was through the church (I grew up LDS) at some meat-processing plant. The job didn’t pay very much and certainly wasn’t enough to feed a family of five so food stamps was the answer. I don’t know how it is these days to apply for food stamps but back then it was a real time-sucker and the process was slow. There was a bit of a gap from when he got his last paycheck to when the food stamps would arrive so he did what any other family-provider would do. He sold his blood.

My father sold his blood so that he could have a little money to buy some food for his family. He didn’t get very much money, only enough to buy a crate of oranges, which he’d decided was the best buy out of his options because they were a good source of Vitamin C. My eyes are watering as I write this memory. Perhaps I’m crying because my dad is gone now and I miss him. Perhaps it’s because my heart breaks everytime I think how much my dad sacrificed for his family and never asked for more than a peanut butter sandwich to take with him to work.

The food stamps eventually arrived and we were very grateful. Eating nothing but oranges for a week sure plays havoc on the ol’ intestinal tract. We would have died without those crummy food stamps because a person can only give so much blood and I don’t think my dad had any more to give.

We of course qualified for other things such as free lunch at school and Medicaid for my sick mother and government-sponsored cheese (which, contrary to what everyone always says about it, didn’t taste all that bad). My family wouldn’t have been able to survive without these programs and there are thousands of families across America right now that depend on these programs as well.

Please, please go the polls and express your dismay by voting these useless people out of their six-figure jobs. They are not representing you or your friends or family and the only way for the madness to stop is by voting in good candidates and holding them accountable for their actions.

The price of citrus is high but it should never have to be paid for in blood.

Yes, I have MySpace. And Friendster. And Tribe.net. And Orkut. I’m tired of them all. I don’t even know why I bother having space at these places because they cause me nothing but frustration. I’m going to stick with regular “old” email and instant messaging to keep in touch with all of my friends. Honestly, do people actually keep in contact with the 478 “friends” that they have listed in their friendster profile? I have definitely signed out of Friendster for the last time, well, I didn’t really sign out but it crashed my web browser for the last time. Good riddance. While I “get” the idea of what Friendster is trying to do I really don’t feel a need to show the world how cool I am by the amount of friends listed in my profile.

I get tired of logging in to one of these sites only to have garganutan pop-ups cover my content. This is with pop-up blocking enabled so don’t email me back with things like “Dude, you need to switch to Firefox.” Firefox is great and all but it’s not my default browser anymore and I don’t see it becoming that anytime in the near future. I absolutely recommend (and install) Firefox for home users that are using Windows but it doesn’t work nearly as well on my ibook as Safari does. So there. Weird, I just had a feeling…I felt a thousand mouse-gestures were suddenly silenced as their owners hands gripped keyboards and banged out useless words of bile that told me I should be more L337 and use Firefox…words like “Noob” and “Crapple” and “Pokemon” were sprinkled liberally throughout these messages…

My point was, I’m tired of these so-called social networks so I’m going to quit visiting them as of today. If you have a burning desire to know how cool I am then you can send me an email and I’ll tell you.

Earlier today I found on the BBC that Coke will be halting sales of Vanilla Coke in the UK. I think this is wonderful news for our brethren across the pond. Vanilla Coke has got to be one of the most vile substances that has ever crossed my lips (this coming from a guy that was made to take cod liver oil every morning before school) and I say good riddance. Now, what do we need to do to get rid of it over here?

Have you seen the new commercials for some wet toilet paper product by Charmin? We’re first treated to some cartoon bear that’s taking a crap in the woods and wanting to clean himself with a brush. Then we see some disembodied human hand spread toothpaste of all things onto the back of another hand. We are shown how the toothpaste just smears when wiped off with regular toilet paper but is removed without haste once one of these adult baby wipes is deployed. Why they chose to equate oral hygiene with dirty butts is beyond me but now I’m very wary of any toothpaste that tries to enter my oral cavity. Blecch.