Hurricanes and the price of gas.
I've noticed lately that gas prices seem to rise no matter what the news and/or weather outlook is. Hurricane Dennis is supposed to hit the area of the gulf where the oil rigs are, and prices rise. Yep, I get that it makes sense. We may see a drop in the national reserves, and it's the middle of summer. Then the storm doesn't hit nearly as many rigs, and it's at a much reduced intensity. Prices should fall right? At least stabilize, right? WRONG. I then read that because everyone was evacuated, the prices will keep right on rising, even though they are able to get back to work a full day or more quicker than expected. I thought the pre-emptive rise in cost was to counterbalance this work stoppage! Then the next day it's "Prices rise on Hurrican Emily fears." BS. That storm is/was and always has been headed for the Yucatan peninsula then back into the gulf (nowhere near the previously mentioned rigs) and then towards northeastern Mexico/extreme southeastern Texas. What's the moral of the story? I'm not sure there are any morals when it comes to oil. I sure hope that this proclaimed alternative fuel research ol' GW is so amped about comes into play before I'm too old to care.

I Hate Passive aggressive/PC Office Politics

You know those little emails you get from someone..."Is this problem still happening?" You can hear the emphasis on the word still as clear as if it were yelled from a tower using a bullhorn...but it's typed very nicely, very correctly. "Are you going to take care of that?" or "Do you need me to help you?". These would be fine if these type of people weren't raging fucktards who think they're smarter than you because they've got four to six months more seniority.

Now, you may be thinking, what if they are innocent comments? Ohhhhhh nooooo. They most definitely aren't. When they do come to you and talk AT you, you can hear the fake just dripping off their words. It's disgusting. I propose that we just say what we mean. No lift in our pitch to feign concern, no lightening our volume to seem non-threatening, no jargon, no buzzwords, and no BS. Just ask me, "Hey, you gonna do this or do I have to?", "Did you fix this yet?" or maybe "Do you even know how to do it?", even a "Hey, 'tard....Is that gonna take all week?". At least I could respect your honesty.

I also hate that everything some people do every single day of their pathetic little existence is to try to make themselves look good at the expense of others. STOP THAT. It's sad, and desperate. Let your work show off your ability. Stop relying on setting others up for failure so you can come in and shine. It's usually on the back of someone else's work because you were too busy screwing around scheming to actually get the work done. If you would have worked that hard on doing well at your job, you wouldn't need to use these tactics.

When someone figures you out, you look not only unethical and immoral, but you're exposed as a completely worthless waste of space. Good luck regaining any respect. Idiot.

Why aren't today's young professional sports stars better citizens?

I was reading the news that The Tennessee Titans first round pick Adam "Pac Man" Jones (who BTW has the second dumbest nickname in sports ever, behind only "He Hate Me") was arrested on assault and vandalism charges. The charges were leveled after a nightclub fight. Okay, we've all been a little too rowdy in a bar once or twice. The guy is a young man, and it happens.

Then I read the reason the fight broke out. The owner of the bar testified that he asked two of Jones' friends to leave because "they were smoking drugs". WHAT?!? You were just drafted by an NFL team in the first round. That means HUGE money for playing a game that you probably love, and at the very least beats a 9-5 somewhere in the "real world". Yet you would jeopardize that by hanging out with people who would be brazen enough to smoke pot (I'm assuming it was marijuana) in a semi public place. Then instead of thanking the man for not calling the cops to arrest their dumb asses, you grab the man by the shirt and punch him and break his necklace. Wow. Just Wow. What a role model. What a citizen. What an ass.

To Mr. Jones and all the other athletes who aren't living up to the expectations placed on public figures: Please realize that you are one of a very few privileged people who get paid anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to play a game. With that privilege comes responsibility. You have to play that game in front of the public, and that's not a bad thing. Without that public you have no career. You have a responsibility to live better than your friends who may not be in the public eye. At the very least you owe that sports franchise, they've paid you to not only play a game to the best of your ability, but to not become a liability to them on or off the field.

Take a good look around and look at all your peers (and their are many) who are starting organizations to help children, or golf tournaments with proceeds going to charity, even simple visits to a hospital or fan event. For that matter the guys who are starting companies and employing people are being much better citizens than those who would flaunt their money and perceived position by acting like a common street thug.

Everyone wants Liberty....even the Muslims. Go figure.

This article should be read to every "extremist" and "Hardline [insert religion here]" before they spout off that the people they are "defending" want the government to control every aspect of their lives.

We all want the same things out of life. The right to choose our path. Think "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." No one wants their government to become intertwined in every little thing they do, except of course the governments themselves.

From the Associated Press:

Palestinian Poet Lashes Out at Militants

By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer

It's been a hot summer on the Palestinian arts scene: gunmen broke up the concert of a popular West Bank singer after he refused to limit his repertoire to political songs, and a Hamas-run town banned a music festival to prevent mingling of the sexes.
Now, Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish is striking back, saying fanatics have no right to deprive Palestinians of beauty in their lives. "There are Taliban-type elements in our society, and this is a very dangerous sign," Darwish told a gathering of artists and intellectuals this week.
It's not just an argument over artistic freedom, but over whether a future Palestinian state will be a theocracy or a pluralistic democracy.
Compared to other Arab societies, the Palestinians were once largely secular and tolerant of Western customs, even with Islam as the majority religion. Many Palestinians have strong ties with the West, including relatives living abroad or years spent studying in foreign universities.
However, more than four years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting have led some Palestinians to seek solace in religion or return to tradition, also a reflection of a regional trend.
Islamic fundamentalists, meanwhile, have become increasingly assertive. The militant Hamas group scored several victories in local elections in recent months, and expects to pull even with Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah movement in future parliamentary elections.
In the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, Hamas won local elections earlier this year with promises of better government services, but also with assurances it would not impose its religious beliefs. However, two weeks ago, Hamas banned a one-day music festival in town, arguing that the mingling of men and women at such an event was "haram," or forbidden by Islam.
Mustafa Sabri, spokesman for the Qalqiliya municipality, said the ban was democratic because it reflected the wish of the majority.
"We are not like the Taliban," Sabri said, referring to the Islamic fundamentalists who enforced harsh religious laws during their rule of Afghanistan. "But we respect them (the Taliban) because they chose something suitable for their people."
Mohannad Ghneim, 30, an ambulance driver from Qalqiliya who had hoped to attend the concerts, said he fears Hamas will increasingly try to meddle in his life. "Today, they ban a concert. Tomorrow they might ban satellite TV," he said.
Last week, music lovers got another jolt when gunmen broke up the concert of popular singer Amar Hassan at An Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus. Hassan shot to local fame last year after he came in second in a Lebanese TV version of "American Idol," a competition of aspiring artists in which fans vote for their favorites.
Before the Nablus show, militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades came to Hassan's hotel room. They told him he must sing only political songs, and cut love songs from his repertoire. The Al Aqsa gunmen, who have ties to Fatah, told Hassan that light-hearted entertainment is forbidden as long as Israel occupies the West Bank.
Hassan said he ignored the demands, and started his concert before a crowd of 6,000. During his show, dozens of gunmen and hundreds of protesters rallied outside the university's walls. Gunmen fired in the air and threw stun grenades, eventually forcing Hassan to break off the performance. As concertgoers left the campus, the protesters barged in, throwing chairs and scuffling with those leaving.
Hassan said in an interview Tuesday that he would not be silenced. "These people (the militants) don't want us to be happy.They want us to sit in the ruins and cry," he said. "We will wage a creative war against them, with more poems, more art, more singing."
A local Al Aqsa leader, Ahmed Al-Taki, said the group will continue to ban concerts.
On Monday, Darwish, a Palestinian cultural icon who has eloquently described his people's struggle for independence, rallied to Hassan's side, inviting him to a meeting with Palestinian intellectuals and artists in Ramallah. Darwish told participants "we all have to resist" attempts to restrict artists.
Darwish's comments were published Tuesday in the Palestinian newspaper Al Ayyam. The reclusive poet, who lives in Ramallah, was not available for comment.
The concerts in Qalqiliya and Nablus had been part of an attempt to restore a sense of normalcy after more than four years of fighting, said organizer Iman Hamouri. The summer concert series began in 1994, but was suspended during the Palestinian intefadeh.
Hassan Khader, a cultural affairs commentator for Al Ayyam, said Hamas is powerful enough now to impose its beliefs, but that he believes such attempts will eventually backfire at the polling booth. "If Hamas wants to be a political power, it can't force people to adopt its ideology," he said.