Last updated 6-28-2022
Back to the front!
You will do what I say, when I say
Back to the front!
You will die when I say you must die!
Back to the front!
You coward! You servant! You blind man!
Could it be? Could the American people, and members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, finally be waking up to the possibility that the Resident rushed into the Illegal War, alienating this nation's allies and shunning the opinion of the world community, forfeiting the lives of numerous Americans (the figure increases daily) and even more Iraqis, in the name of prying non-existent weapons of mass destruction from a mad tyrant? I'll put the senators' feelings more bluntly than they would: now we need to determine whether intelligence screwed the White House, or the White House screwed us. Someone was either negligent or dishonest. We must discover which, and ensure that such a chain of events never happens again. If we employ Dubya's policy of pre-emptive strikes but base it on faulty or misinterpreted intelligence, the world will quickly get tired of the immature United States of America bombing first and justifying later.
I've said a hundred times that Hussein was a nasty guy. We can't go around knocking dictators from their pedestals without direct cause, however, and the U.S. is obviously not broadly interested in removing tyrants for humanitarian purposes. If it were, there are plenty of nations in Africa we should have started with first, plenty of despots with higher body counts and probably the same number of WMD. So, if we didn't attack Iraq to save it from Saddam Hussein, and there weren't really any weapons of mass destruction, then why did we start the fight?
The Dubya administration obviously has difficulty differentiating between having had WMD in the past, which Iraq clearly did, and possessing them now. The U.S. has had chemical weapons, too, but allegedly no longer holds a stockpile of these. Should a coalition of the killing decide to bomb and invade us because someone decides that we might not have eliminated all of it?
In other Dubya news, it's rather discouraging to see him and the Pope taking the same side in the war against homosexual marriages. A monogamous gay couple should have the same rights and responsibilities as a monogamous straight couple. Anyone arguing against that, whatever his alleged reasons and justifications, should admit to wanting to discriminate, for that's what they're doing; they're saying that one set of rules applies to one group, and a different set applies to another.
Saw Metallica on the Summer Sanitarium tour last month, and they were awesome. I'm sure some of their early fans would disagree and say that things went downhill once the so-called Black Album came out, and that St. Anger only made them angry, but... :::shrug::: I like the album and thought they rocked as hard as ever onstage. The opening acts (Mudvayne, the Deftones, Linkin Park, and Limp Bizkit) were all interchangeable to me: just a lot of loud guitars and yelling. Oh, well. The triple bill last Friday (Iron Maiden, Motörhead, and Dio) distributed the cool and the cred much more equitably. Of course, the Martin Rivas Three rocked CBGB when they played there. I'd forgotten what a wonderful vibe that place has, not having seen a show there in ages; it's all the better now that CB's doesn't reek of smoke!
It's occurred to me lately that not only am I called upon to help my friends and relatives with their computer problems, but I also have to help the friends and relatives of my friends and relatives with their computer problems, too! Heh-heh...
Ugh, spelling and grammar and punctuation seems to be getting worse and worse as the months go by. I'm noticing more and more instances of words being pluralized by adding an apostrophe and an 's,' as in "word's" instead of the correct "words." Are people really that stupid? You use an apostrophe to denote possession (like "Andy's frustration") or to indicate a contraction (i.e., "it is" = "it's"). Bad enough that I see it in handwritten notes and in E-mails and on IRC, but it's cropping up more and more frequently on signs and in print and online advertisements. How long until such errors start creeping into the New York Times or the next Simon & Schuster-published bestseller? And what's with the growing use of the phrase 'take a decision?' It was always 'make a decision' until very recently. Harrumph.
Got back to Philly twice last month, first with Rÿcha/Kelli (after we'd done the Aquarium in Camden, NJ) and then alone the morning before the Maiden show. It was great to walk along South Street for the first time in over fourteen years, but going back into the legendary Zipperhead just underscored the fact that I'm older and not a punker in the eyes of the nipple-pierced new-school set. Not that I need their assent. ;P Did seem like they didn't know what to make of me in the shop, though.
Ah, I've finally gotten around to reading "The Lord of the Rings." In fact, I finished it 'bout 45 minutes ago. I have to say, I'm impressed! I'm even going to give "The Hobbit" another try, despite my marked disinterest with the book back in the 10th grade. Heh. Anyway, I'm now really looking forward to the third movie...
When our receptionist quit without notice in early June, Dawn (our vice-president) and I agreed that I, not she, would be the manager for the new receptionist. Yesika, a sales administration manager, and I interviewed a few young women, and we hired Nicole towards the end of June. And we picked well! Nicole has done an amazing job organizing the reception area and the supply cabinet, and she is very personable. So of course she's leaving this month, after spending less than eight weeks with us, because she's been offered a full scholarship to go to school in New York. D'oh! Well, I and my co-workers wish her all the best, for she's earned it; now I have to find another new receptionist...
I've gotten feedback, of sorts, from two of you regarding the
album's title. So, I don't know... I'm torn between Flaming Panties and
Blond on Blonde, but that's this week. Maybe I'll come up with something else next
week. Anyway, I want to settle on a name soon, so I can start thinking about artwork.
Anyone want to do some for me?
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A (webmaster@andersensilva.com)
Last updated 6-28-2022
