Ok, how can I NOT link to a post dissing Michael Moore? Especially when it's on a site subtitled "The Ranting and Raving of a Mean-Spirited Republican"?
Being a Mean-Spirited Republican myself, I think Michael Moore is a Big Fat Idiot. (Gee, that sounds familiar....wonder where I heard it?)
Remember my motto...Liberals are stupid.
Well, I was checking out who else had linked to Across, Beyond, Through for the Showcase, and it was Pieto, The Smarter Cop, who has a great blog. So I bookmarked it, and am putting his link in my blogroll. Check him out.
My first vote in the week's New Blog showcase goes to......
(Probably my only vote, because of that vote-dilution thing, but we'll see....)
UPDATE: See how fuzzy-headed all those 12-hour days made me? I totally forgot I meant to vote for THIS entry....
See what happens when I have a day off? I spend the day blogging (taking time out for meals, of course) instead of doing laundry, paying my bills, or returning the shoes that just don't fit right--all those thing that have been patiently waiting until I have a day off so I can avoid doing them.
Thanks to Frank I have discovered Jamie McDonald and will be putting him on my blogroll because of this* post.
Any man who uses proper punctuation ability as a guide for choosing the correct woman would have my vote for President.
* the link's not working so I copied and pasted it:
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Long agoMy roommate Jim once asked me what I looked for in a girl other than the obvious (Catholic). I never really liked the whole blonde vs brunette paradigm or even stating a preference for tall or short, so instead I said flippantly, "I want a girl who knows the difference between Y-O-U-R and Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E."
And I ended up with a beautiful blonde who's working as an editor.
To all my Loyal Readers: If you have not already, please bookmark this site. It is the Symantec Security listing of email hoaxes.
My best friend forwarded me this email this morning:
We may have a problem.... see instructions below.
Chuck LangenfeldUnfortunately, a virus has been passed on to me by a contact. My address
book WAS infected.
Since you are in my address book, there is a good chance you will find
it in your computer too. The virus (called jdbgmgr.exe) is not
detected by Norton or McAfee antivirus systems. The virus sits quietly
for 14 days before damaging the system. It is sent automatically by
messenger and by the address book, whether or not you sent e-mail to your contacts.
Here's how to check for the virus and how to get rid of it:YOU MUST DO THIS.
1. Go to start, Find or search option.
2. In the file folder option, type the name jdbgmgr.exe
3. Be sure you search your C: drive and all subfolders and any other
drives you may have.
4. Click "find now"
5. The Virus has a Teddy Bear icon with the name jdbgmgr.exe DO NOT OPEN
IT!
6. Go to Edit (on the menu bar) and choose "select all" to highlight the
file without opening it.
7. Now go to File (on the menu bar) and select delete. It will then go to
the Recycle Bin.
8. IF YOU FIND THE VIRUS YOU MUST CONTACT ALL THE PEOPLE IN YOUR
ADDRESS BOOK, SO THEY CAN ERADICATE IT IN THEIR OWN ADDRESS BOOKS.To Do This:
a) Open a new e-mail message
b) Click the icon of the address book next to the "TO"
c) Highlight every name and add to "BCC" (which means blind copy)
d) Copy this message and paste to e-mail
Ciao, Donna
Of course I checked Symantec before I did anything, and emailed my friend that it was a hoax, but not before she had deleted the file.
It is very sad that some people have nothing better to do than to sit around and think up these terrorist plots.
I know, it sounds kind of strong to call an email hoax a terrorist plot, but the only point of this kind of email is to scare somebody, which is really the point of terrorism--to scare all the people who weren't killed outright in the attack; to scare us into taking actions that might not be in our best interests in the long term, because of the fear of the consequences of NOT acting to prevent imminent and future damage to ourselves and our property. (Do I hear you murmuring "Patriot Act"? I thought so...).
We need to always think before we react blindly to a perceived threat. Granted, sometimes instinct takes over--the old "fight or flight" reaction that Mother Nature programmed into our wiring--but there are degrees of threat and degrees of available reaction time to that threat, and we need to always use any time we have, even if it is only seconds, to give our brains a chance to analyze the response mechanisms and override them if necessary.
Maybe it is easier for me, because I have to to do this on a daily basis. You see, I suffer from Panic Disorder.
I had my first Panic Attack at age 12, at the top of an escalator in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. At the time, I had no idea what it was that I was really experiencing, so from that moment on I avoided escalators. As the years went on, the list of things to be avoided grew. (This is one reason why I love the movie "What about Bob?" and the elevator scene in particular--my terror of everyday life experiences depicted in accurate, yet humorous, terms). Eventually I became completely agoraphobia as my world shrank to the safety of my home. I couldn't hold a job because I couldn't leave my parents' house. I developed LOTS of hobbies that could be done without going outside, such as baking, needlework, reading, and watching television.
Then, one night, while curled up in my favorite comfy chair, watching TV and embroidering, I had a panic attack. And as I sat there, trying to figure out just what it was that was so terrifying (my chair? my chair is not scary, it is my favorite chair; the embroidery? I embroidered all the time without injury to myself; the television? puh...leeze) it occurred to me that maybe there was NOTHING to be afraid of.
That didn't stop the panic attacks, of course, and in a way it made them worse since now the fear shifted to internal foci for the fear (I'm having a heart attack, I'm having a stroke, I'm dying here and no one is noticing) rather than external ones (I am afraid of riding in a car, I must avoid cars to avoid the fear). But it DID make me seek medical treatment for the heart attack/stroke/imminent death, and that eventually resulted in an accurate diagnosis, treatment, and an ability to function the way "normal" people do, including finding a job, owning a car, and paying taxes.
I still have panic attacks. They still scare the heck out of me. I still find myself in the ER convinced I am dying at least once a year. However, fear doesn't scare me the way it used to, which is probably why I took some time to see if that email was legitimate before franticly deleting that "suspicious" file and emailing everyone in my address book.
FDR said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
If he were alive today, I think he would add: "and, if you are a Palestinian, Buck the Marine."
Ok, I'm done channeling Bill Whittle.