Official Announcement: Brutally Honest RETURNS next week!

Wow, it’s almost the end of January already! Some of you were probably wondering where I’ve been and when I’ll be bringing back the rants. Well let’s take care of that speculation.

The weekly Brutally Honest Column will be returning with all-new articles on Monday, January 29^th. I’ll probably have them up on the previous Sunday, but I’m keeping with my tradition of a midnight Sunday deadline. One serious change that I’ll have to implement will be the shuffling of the archive files to a new server. Hey, I’ve been at this for over TEN YEARS now. That’s a lot of articles to write. This move may cause some confusion so please bear with me on the changes.

By the way, don’t expect too many changes to the general layout of the website. I kind of like the newspaper-style format that I’ve developed so I’ll be sticking with it. I’m also toying with the idea of providing more than just quotes in each article. There may be quotes, or there may be a brief summary or links to related websites for further information. It’s been a little hard to find relevant freedom-friendly quotes this past year when one of my source websites shut down, so I gotta go with the changes.

The Brutally Honest Audio Rants will be return on Wednesday, January 31^st. As with this past year, I’ll have the transcripts up at the blog page, but I really and seriously hope that you would listen to the rants instead of just reading about them… especially those of you with broadband access! I spend time and effort and energy to cobble together some really good music and audio clips that cannot be brought over to the transcripts and it would be helpful if people could listen in when possible. Those with dial-up, I can understand. Remember, I was a dial-up person for the longest time as well.

I’ve been toying with the idea of recording these rants in MP3 format, but right now I’ll have to stick with RealAudio format unless I can find a server that will allow me to upload a 15 or 20mb audio file.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I haven’t come back sooner. After all, this will be AFTER the State of the Union speech, and I normally do rants and articles about that. Well I got a new computer and I’ve been spending the past two weeks – which normally would have been spent on getting Brutally Honest restarted – getting everything shuffled over to the new system. And it wasn’t easy either. In fact, I’ve been documenting one of my bigger points of aggravation and I’ll have it available at the Brutally Tech weblog in the next few days.

So, fun stuff coming up this week. I hope everyone had a great month, and I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and calling them as I see them. (By the way, if you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to leave comments here.)

So she's running..

So Hillary Rodham Clinton, the banshee, has decided to end the speculations of liberals and conservatives and FINALLY decided to toss her hat into the presidential ring for 2008.

Well, don’t expect me to jump up and down on this news, although I’m sure some of my liberal friends are having a few coital peaks about it.

But you know who would really be having some coital peaks right now? The conservatives and neo-conservatives.

Oh these guys have been just WAITING for her to run for office just so they can use all of the information collected about her when she was the First Lady. All of the rumors about her antics, all of the tirades that she allegedly had, her failed health care initiative, everything that was put into books during the 1990’s… all of that is now fair game. PLUS her husband’s antics are once again open for discussion. Rehash? Absolutely! Any vulnerability that can be exploited is fair game in 21^st Century politics. That’s the lesson from Fox News and Ann Coulter and the rest of the crowd.

Listen, I’m not overly excited about Hillary running because I happen to think that she’s WORSE than her husband. I can’t get excited about someone who thinks that NOBODY should be in the hallways when she’s around. I actually get CONCERNED about someone with that kind of attitude. It’s bad enough that we have men who act like Caesar, whether it is Julius (Reagan), Claudius (Bush Senior), Caligula (Clinton), or Nero (Bush Junior)… the last thing this country needs is a Prima Donna queen bitch running it, and that’s what I see in Hillary.

Maybe I’m being too idealistic, but I think that the kind of female leader we would need is someone from ABC’s short-lived series “Commander-In-Chief”. A leader that leads without being authoritarian. Those kinds of leaders DO exist. The problem is that they aren’t ambitious. They don’t actively SEEK the roles put before them. They just do what they need to do and that’s it. But then again, I’m both a libertarian and a supporter of the Fair Tax, so I’m idealistic anyway.

Is “No Problem” a Problem?

Here's an interesting question that I'm hoping people will think long and hard about…

The folks in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's "Vent" section somehow think that saying "no problem" is something of a social faux pas when using it in response to some polite praise. For instance…

"Thank you for helping me with this problem. I really appreciate it."

"No problem."

Or something like…

"Thank you for slaving over a hot stove to cook that meal. It was great!"

"No problem."

Apparently to some people, saying "no problem" in response to polite praise is like saying to those people "bite me".

Now I deal with customer service calls all of the time. I say "no problem" when people thank me for helping them out of a tight situation, which is pretty much what I do. For me "no problem" is short for "it's really no extra effort needed to resolve this problem of yours because this is what I do for a living. My whole purpose of drawing a paycheck is to help answer your questions and get you through this kind of a problem."

But I can understand why some folks would feel like saying "no problem" is sort of a brush-off. Honest gratitude is something of a rarity nowadays. Trying to get people to simply say "thank you" is pretty much a hassle. The least we can do is to acknowledge that gratitude with something more than just a casual statement like "no problem".

I'm going to try to refrain from saying "no problem" and instead respond with a polite "you're welcome" or some other social nicety and see if there's a difference. Probably won't be, but I'm just curious if anyone else has any thought on this.

What do you think? Is saying "no problem" a brush-off, a turn-off, or a kiss-off? Please post your replies in the comments section.

Klingons in the White House!

I kid you not, there are KLINGONS in the White House!

KLINGONS that pretend to be VULCANS!

Set course for the planet Uranus (aka Washington DC) and check this video clip out courtesy of YouTube.



I'm reminded of the old parody song "Star Trekkin..."

There's Klingons on the starboard bow,
starboard bow, starboard bow,
there's Klingons on the starboard bow,
scrape 'em off Jim!

Bush's Iraq Speech

Junior hasn’t learned a damn thing!

That’s the impression I got watching Bush Junior address the nation last night about what he wants to do with Iraq. He didn’t try to sell the American people that there’s a “new course” or a “new direction”. He basically said, “mistakes were made, blame me for them, but I’m sending in more troops and we’re going to do whatever it takes to knock off the violence there.”

In other words… “stay the course”… with more troops, both on our side and on the Iraqis. Oh, and it’s not going to be easy, and people are going to die, but we gotta keep going. Boil those twenty minutes down and that's what you get.

And of course he invoked 9/11… AGAIN! He invoked the same pattern of fear-mongering that has slowly pissed away his credibility with the masses.

Junior basically carried on like it was business as usual. He acted as if the Republicans were still in charge in the Congress and ready to rubber-stamp his plans into place.

He wasn't trying to SELL us the idea of sticking with his program. He was DICTATING it to us. He was TELLING us what the course of action will be, as if we do not have any kind of a say in it.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He still has that dwindling number of conservative and neo-conservative mentalities that are eager to kiss his ass and worship him. He still has his attack dogs in the talk show circuit. He still has his inner circle, although that got dwindled down somewhat with his cheerleader Harriet Meyers leaving and him having to dump “Zen-Master Rummy” right after the election. As long as he has his worshipers, he'll continue to act like Caesar.

Some of that time and effort of the past week should have been spent preparing a better address. There were some good elements to it, and at least he understands that THERE ARE problems that need to be resolved. But the American people need to know that (1) we’re not going to be there forever, continually throwing good soldiers into harm’s way and (2) what those conditions are that will let us know that this WILL come to an end. We don't need a timetable, we just need to know what the conditions are!

And dammit, LAY OFF THE 9/11 CRAP! The next time our President invokes 9/11, it had damn well better be to announce that we FOUND AND KILLED Osama! Nothing less will suffice. We avenged Pearl Harbor and then moved on. We didn't use it as an excuse to start the Cold War. The same thing applies here.

Yes, we need to finish what we started in Iraq. We need to clean up the mess that we helped to create. But somewhere in the course of that clean-up we have to come to the realization that THERE HAS to be an ending! Whether you agree or disagree with why we went over there or why we're still there now, you have to admit that at some point WE MUST bring our soldiers home! If sending more troops allows that reality to happen sooner rather than later, then by all means do it.

THAT is what Junior should have been selling to the American people. But he didn't do that! He simply DICTATED what the course of action will be, without any kind of bright side to it all, and then expects us to simply go along. If he is wondering why nobody's buying it, he has only himself to blame.

Someone once said that the definition of stupidity is doing the exact same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Whoever came up with that definition should not only be doing the speechwriting for the White House, but they should also be in on that “inner circle” so they can be REMINDED of it.

Moralists strike again!

Someone I know is getting robbed.

I say “getting” and not “got” because it is still going on.

The people who are robbing her first struck in broad daylight. They acted with complete impunity, because for the most part they have it, and they know it. They attacked this woman, they held her for ransom, and they are still in the process of taking everything she has and everything she owns.

You may have heard of this woman. The robbery certainly made the national wire services, although nobody outside of yours truly will be willing to call it such.

This woman’s name is Melissa Wolf, although you may know her by her real name, which I won’t give out of respect. And the only reason why nobody outside of yours truly will call this action against her a robbery is because the criminals in this case are those in the local government in Georgia.

Melissa was charged this past week with running a house of prostitution… supposedly from her own multi-million dollar house in Gwinnett County. That’s not all she was charged with, though. She is also accused of “conspiracy to possess cocaine”, which is about as bogus of a charge as you can manufacture.

But this is where the truly criminal activity comes in, because by charging her with “conspiracy to possess cocaine”, the local prosecutor can invoke federal RICO laws to STEAL HER PROPERTY! Everything she has, everything she owns, all of it would belong to the county, to be sold or used at THEIR discretion.

Now I have met Melissa several times in the past, and I even interviewed her for my online radio program back in 2000. She is a former Penthouse centerfold model as well as a feature dancer (yes, she’s a stripper). I cannot say whether or not she offered her “services”, but the prices being offered by the prosecutor seemed to be more fiction than fact. $10,000 for sexual services? The person who has that much money on hand doesn’t need to pay $10,000 for that kind of service! I’d have a better time believing that a person blew $10,000 for some satisfaction at the now-defunct Gold Club (another victim of government theft) than in the “private services” of a feature dancer who would certainly be experienced enough to know better than to make such an offer!

Oh but I suppose that doesn’t matter, does it? She’s a centerfold model! She’s a stripper! In the eyes of the freedom-hating moralists, that instantly makes her guilty of just about ANYTHING!

So why pick on her? Why target her and her friends and anyone else associated with her?

Three words: FOLLOW THE MONEY!

Melissa lives in a nice house in a very nice section of Gwinnett County, and it is valued supposedly at over a million dollars. That’s a nice chunk of resale change for any county official who finds himself or herself a little short on tax revenue. And that doesn’t count the money that could be made selling off any cars she may have, any of the furnishings, electronics, and jewelry inside that house.

And all the county has to do to get away with this criminal act is to make the charges against Melissa and her associates stick. All they need is a plea bargain from someone. That’s all that it takes. That’s why the prosecutors are now going after some other folks too. They’re fishing for a witness. They want someone to get on the stand and say that everything Melissa is accused of is true, and then all of that property and all of that money is theirs to plunder. And that’s what it’s really all about. It’s about using the law to STEAL someone’s property.

The truth of the matter is that Melissa and her associates and anyone else brought in on this are getting victimized by the government. They are getting ROBBED by the government. In a county full of so-called “Christians” that CLAIM to respect the Ten Commandments, their own government officials are GUILTY of blatantly and maliciously violating TWO of those Commandments. “Thou shall not steal” and “Thou shall not covet thy neighbors goods.” We’ll have to figure out if they’re also guilty of bearing false witnesses, most notably with the “conspiracy to possess cocaine” crap.

But even if by some chance Melissa manages to avoid a conviction and keeps her property, she still has to deal with the fact that everyone now knows her real name. Whatever privacy she would have been able to enjoy afterwards has pretty much been eliminated. There is a reason why entertainers, be they mainstream or adult, have stage names. It is to give them a modicum of privacy; which is needed especially when you’re exposing other parts of yourself that most folks do not normally do. I know most “common folk” don’t understand that, but I’ve met entertainers – models, dancers, and actresses – and some of them are my friends, and I understand their concerns about privacy. And to have your REAL name and your REAL address plastered for all the world to see is about as exposed as you can get.

Saddam Hussein is DEAD! Bye-Bye Saddam!

As I’m putting fingers to keyboard, the world is still reeling over the news that it has awaited for years now...

Saddam Hussein is dead.

For years Saddam Hussein was thumbing his nose at the world. No matter who his enemy of the time was, no matter how badly he was beaten, as long as he breathed air and as long as he held even the slightest measure of power in that country, he won. And he let everyone know about that!

When Iraq got their asses kicked by Iran, it didn’t matter because HE was still alive and still in charge. When he was killing his own people, it didn’t matter WHO he pissed off afterwards because HE was still alive and still in charge. When the US forces kicked Iraq out of Kuwait, it didn’t matter how badly the Iraqi forces lost or how humbled they were in battle, because HE was still alive and still in charge. Even when our bombs were raining on his head and our soldiers killed his evil hellspawn sons, it didn’t matter as long as Saddam was still breathing air and holding even the smallest modicum of power.

It was all about HIM! It was ALL about the survival of Saddam Hussein and HIS continued rein of power in that country! Every single human being in the country could be killed and it wouldn't matter as long as he could crawl out of his bunkers and thumb his nose at us and proclaim that "he won." Why? Because he was still breathing air!

And the Baath party officials and the Sunnis certainly played up on it, because as long as people were hating HIM, they themselves were safe. They backed Saddam, and Saddam rewarded that loyalty.

Well guess what? A couple of years ago I was glad to report that we took away Saddam’s freedom as an early Christmas present. Now we get to mark the end of 2006 with the end of Saddam Hussien’s life.

No more excuses. No more escapes. No more body doubles. No more hiding in spider-hole shelters. No more thumbing his nose at the world. Saddam was EXECUTED at 6am Baghdad time, December 30, 2006!

Saddam wasn’t even shot by a firing squad. He died by HANGING like a common citizen would be executed. Only fair since Saddam was never a military officer to begin with, even though he liked to dress up as one. He also liked to dress up as a holy figure, but nobody ever called him Imam. He probably had a whole closet of costumes. Boy Scout, Fireman, French Maid…. We’ll never know, of course, because we bombed all his palaces to crap.

Actually hanging was too good for him, especially for the crimes that he committed, including those that he will never have to stand trail for now. Yes, like many other criminals, Saddam will NEVER face justice for the bulk of crimes that he has committed. Given all of those crimes, by all rights Saddam should have been exposed to the same nerve gas he inflicted on the Kurds, then getting blown to pieces by a Scud missile full if markings left by the survivors of all those he bombed in the Gulf War. And even THAT wouldn’t be enough!

But, no, we’re dealing with “civilized justice”… or at least as civilized as can be in that part of the world. We can only execute him once, so let’s just be happy with it.

I was actually surprised that they would finish the trial and find him guilty in the first place. There seems to be this trend of bad guys dying before serving their sentence. Ken Lay died before he could go to prison and suddenly HIS conviction got expunged. Slobodan Milosevic died before he could be found guilty of genocide. I think just getting to that guilty verdict was a miracle in and of itself, never mind sentencing Saddam to DEATH and never mind getting him TO the gallows to be hanged.

And I’m actually BOTHERED by the editors at the New York Times who decided to nit-pick about Saddam’s trial, calling it a travesty and a mockery of justice. No, the mockery of justice was allowing him to either live or to still hold power after the Gulf War! The mockery was allowing this self-centered thug with a mustache to live long enough to have a sham of a trial to begin with. The mockery was allowing him to continue to pretend that he still carried any kind of weight or authority after he was captured and was put on trial.

Well that’s over with. Saddam Hussein is no more. He is a memory.

And that’s the message that should hopefully sink into the head of the people who have been praying and hoping for his return to power: IT’S OVER! Saddam will NEVER come back to power. He’s finally DEAD, like his two evil hellspawn kids are DEAD. Saddam was not a “holy warrior” any more than our dufus in the White House is a “holy warrior”. And Saddam certainly did not die as a martyr. He died a coward, because that’s what he was. He was a gutless bully coward who couldn’t do anything without his bodyguards and army. This was a man who vowed to fight to the death and to kill himself instead of being captured… only to be captured by US forces with a gun that wasn’t even fired. That’s not a “holy warrior”. That’s a gutless bully coward.

And if by some chance there is a hereafter where cosmic justice does what mortal justice cannot, there is no doubt that Saddam is being rewarded for his crimes by eternal torment; double that of his hellspawn sons; five time that inflicted on his terrorist “friends” Abu Abbas and Abu Nidal; and a thousand times that inflicted on his lackeys and henchmen. May Saddam know nothing but pain and misery for all that he inflicted and all that is inflicted in his name both past, present, and future. And may the survivors of those that he caused evil finally know peace and be allowed to heal so they can move beyond their pain.

An old saying suggests I not speak ill of the dead, but obviously I cannot do that. I will, however, wrap up this little rant by saying something that is good of the gutless bully coward formerly of Baghdad.

Saddam Hussein is dead…
GOOD!

The REAL Naughty List

And you thought Santa only had to deal with ONE "naughty" list...

"....let's see... what else is on that list...

• There's a hostile takeover bid by a megabank, a mega-toystore, a mega-telecom, two courier companies, and a mega-airline....
• Alberto Gonzales still wants you to hand over any and all means used to see who is naughty and who is nice...
• The ACLU is suing you for invasion of privacy and are demanding that you stop using any and all means to see who is naughty and who is nice...
• PETA is suing you for still using reindeer...
• Microsoft wants to talk with you about making Vista work...
• Apple wants to talk with you about NOT talking with Microsoft...
• And Fox News is accusing you of helping destroy Christmas."

The Healer?

Former President Gerald Ford died this week. He was the first President who was not elected to office, having taken over first for Vice President Spiro Agnew and then a year later for President Richard Nixon after their respective scandals forced them out of office.

The media and politicians are both quick to say that "he healed a troubled nation" as President, but I have to seriously question that assertion.

YES Ford said that our long running "nightmare" was over, meaning the abomination that was the Nixon White House. There was a lot that Nixon did that really pissed just about everyone off, and getting out before he could be actually impeached was probably the best thing he ever did.

But did Ford REALLY "heal" a nation simply by saying it was over with? Or did he take part in one final insult, one final slap in the face on the American people, by pardoning Nixon for his actions?

I happen to think that it was a mistake for Ford to pardon Nixon, and although we'll never really know the truth, I wouldn't be the least surprised if that pardon was part of some agreement to allow Nixon to step down instead of being impeached and facing possible criminal charges. It certainly beats the current assertion that Nixon gave up "for the good of the nation".

Or maybe that's just the political cynic in me.

Anyway, aside from him pardoning Nixon, there's really only one other thing that Gerald Ford was known for… and that was to give Chevy Chase plenty of comedic material for a brand new show at the time called "Saturday Night Live". Given the number of headaches caused by that position by both Ford's predecessors and his successors, if all you're really known for is giving some comedian some pratfall material, then you're pretty much ahead of the curve.

It's just a pity we couldn't get a chance to see what Ford could do with four years as an elected President. (Then again, maybe we would have if he didn't let Nixon walk.)

Trump, Rosie, Hypocrisy, and BS

It REALLY must be a slow news day for this to even be an issue…

Okay, we have Miss USA getting caught partying up too hard in New York City. Someone accuses her of doing drugs, partying around with Travis Barker from Blink 182, some smooching with Miss Teen USA, and then there’s a drug test and supposedly she failed it. Uh-oh… not good!

Is she dethroned? Nope! Instead of getting fired by Donald Trump, she gets a second chance. Because, supposedly, "The Donald" doesn’t like to do firings… even though it’s what he’s known for. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already trademarked the saying "You’re Fired".

Hmm… he doesn’t like saying those two words? You know, someone should tell that to his former right-hand girl Carolyn Kepcher… he gave her the infamous "two words" a few months ago simply for not being at his beck and call. I’m sure she’d have a good chuckle at that statement… when she’s not busting her butt over at Microsoft that is.

Anyway, "The Donald" decides to give Tara Conner a second chance. She gets to join Bob Ney, Mark Foley, and Mel Gibson in the great absolver known as REHAB! Soon all will be forgiven and her sins will be washed clean!

Yeah, and if you buy that then I’ve got a few more to sell you…not to mention there’s that Nigerian prince looking to unload a few million with your help.

YES we’re skeptical of the whole rehab line! Who wouldn’t be? It’s getting played more times than songs featuring Timberland! There are people who truly need help, who have dug themselves into a ditch so far that they become a danger to themselves. But partying too hard and sleeping around and making an ass out of yourself, in and of itself, is not a sign that person needs rehab. It just means that you need to get your act together, which is pretty normal for young adults who are out on their own.

Okay, so Trump played Santa and Tara shed her crocodile tears showing how grateful she is over this second chance.

But then Trump take offense to something that Rosie O’Donnell says on "The View" about how Trump really isn’t the paragon of virtue and morality he portrays himself to be. He’s threatening to sue her, she’s calling him names, he’s insulting her, they’re both pretty much making asses out of themselves.

And all the while this is going on, it comes out that another young blonde beauty queen named Katie Rees (a.k.a. Miss Nevada) is shown in some dated photos of her out partying hard in some club, getting drunk, kissing it up with guys and girls and… dare I say it… EXPOSING HER JANETS! And without the jewel-encrusted pasties no less! Anyway, those are the photos making the rounds on the Internet… albeit CENSORED or with some STUPID WATERMARK all over them. (No I won’t link to those pages because I’m disappointed with the idiots who stepped all over those images with their censoring crap. Use Google if you’re that hard-up for the pics.)

Does SHE get a second chance? NO! THEY FIRED HER! They dethrone her because she EXPOSED HER JANETS!

So let’s see if I get this straight… Miss USA does drugs, gets drunk, and fools around… two of three things which are ILLEGAL (she’s still not old enough to legally drink)… and she gets a second chance. Miss Nevada (or at least she was) DOESN’T do drugs, but is seen in photos from THREE YEARS AGO when she was flashing flesh amongst friends, and she GETS FIRED!

I gotta call BS on that! BS AND HYPOCRISY! A POX on their houses!

And don’t get me started on the whole mess with Vanessa Williams, which no doubt is the precedence used for this BLATANT HYPOCRISY! It was a crock and travesty what they did to her then and it’s a continued travesty that it is being used today! The people behind that should be bitch-slapped and then shipped back to Iran where they came from!

This is precisely the kind of moralistic dysfunction that is messing things up in society, and it’s also one of the key reasons why people just don’t give a care about pageants anymore! We will actually give MORE LEEWAY for someone who breaks the law as long as she doesn’t show certain parts of the anatomy, and that’s screwed up!

Trump and company have set a new precedence… do drugs, you get a second chance as long as you do the whole rehab game… but show a certain body part, and you’re CURSED!

But of course you’re not going to hear Rosie or any of her supporters expose THAT hypocrisy! Oh no! They’d much rather go after "The Donald" and his personal life and the personal lives of his family than to stir up THAT kind of trouble. Heaven forbid they may actually have to pick a fight with the moralists!