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The Bedbug Letter
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| | I really love the verbal construction of "not [x]" as opposed to "[opposite of X]," as in, for instance, "His concerns are not invalid" as opposed to "His concerns are valid." They mean the same thing on the surface, but the connotation is different(and the former sounds more elegant IMO). I can't explain HOW the connotation differs, but it's very much like porn--I know it when I see it. | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment   |
| Looking for a good vid to post to Facebook as a "newbie intro to where I was this weekend" (Tribal Forces) I found this:
The song is Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend," which works really well in this context and with this pairing. 'Cause you can totally picture Jack being this whiny and juvenile. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | Huh. | | Time: | 11:39 am |
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| What I knew: A woman I was friendly with in college, Leslie Stefanson, has been involved with James Spader for several years now. What I didn't know: They have a baby!
I wish I remember if she'd ever mentioned him back then...that'd be pretty funny if she had been a fangirl or something. She might well have been, I don't really remember that sort of thing. It's just weird. Nice for her, clearly, and I'm glad she's happy because she was a very nice person, just...weird. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Not like I did anything other than crop and resize, but still...
Doctor Who Magazine had a countdown of Doctor Who's saddest deaths (from the whole run, not just Nine and Ten), number one being Astrid Peth's from "Voyage of the Damned," and one of the "Top 20 Tearjerkers" being Bannakaffalatta's death from the same ep. And those both were sad and I ADORED Bannakaffalatta ("Bannakaffalatta--CYBORG!") But I think Foon's death, also from VOTD, was much, much sadder than them both.
You've got this adorable couple who are nuts about one another, and even when they hit a situation that could've been a huge crazy fight Morvin just laughs off the absurdity of it all and hugs Foon and says he loves her. And then they're crossing a rickety bridge to try to escape the Hosts (robot angels who've been programmed to kill everyone on the ship), and a section goes out from under Morvin's foot and he falls into the Nuclear Storm Drive to his death. Foon breaks down and asks, over and over again, "How will I go on without him?" She's so devastated she can barely function, so the Doctor begins crossing the bridge without her--promising that he'll be back--to bring over the Sonic Screwdriver. That's sad enough. And THEN, when the Doctor is on the other side of the bridge, one Host who survived the Hosts vs Passengers beatdown minutes before is still functional and descends to the bridge and is heading toward the Doctor and the others who've already crossed. Then, out of nowhere, Foon runs up behind the Host with a rope, lassos him and says "You're coming with me!" and jumps off the bridge, sacrificing herself to destroy the Host and save the rest of the group.
C'mon. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| This weekend, Rush Limbaugh accused Democrats of using fear to push their agenda. Let's see...
"Higher taxes will put many small-business owners out of business!"
"Welfare is bleeding this country dry!"
"School shootings will keep happening if we don't put the Ten Commandments back in our nation's classrooms!"
"If we legalize gay marriages, churches will be forced to perform them or they'll get charged with hate crimes!"
"Comprehensive sex education leads to even more teenage pregnancies and STDs!"
"We'll eventually have another 9/11 if we leave Iraq too soon!"
"If we teach children that humans evolved from animals, then they'll act like animals!"
"Al Qaeda is celebrating the election of Barack Hussein Obama!"
"Allowing openly gay people to serve in the military means our service members will always have to wonder if their teammates are ogling them or going to make passes at them!"
"All those Gitmo detainees will go back to being terrorists if we release them!"
And I haven't even gotten to the fringe stuff like "If the ACLU had its way, you'd get arrested for praying in public!"
I can't come up with something incisive or pithy to say here, but then again, I don't think I need to. | | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Tags: | movies | | Time: | 09:58 pm | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/goth_boy/silly.gif) silly |
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| For ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bitchygrrl and redfirecracker: The 5 Most Unintentionally Gay Horror Movies
BTW, anyone who saw MBV3D besides RF (whom I saw it with): Did Kerr Smith totally look like an FTM or was I projecting? Between the actor's relative shortness, the so-perfectly-sculpted-it-didn't-look-real facial hair, and the perfectly smooth porcelain skin, I was TOTALLY thinking the big secret was not who was the killer but who was smuggling a vagina. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/10/stimulus.package.debate/index.html
Republican John McCain calls the bailout "generational theft," a transfer of wealth from future generations to today's leaders.
This coming from the man who was prepared to stay in Iraq for a few more decades, meaning he was happy to pass on a whole lotta debt to future generations when it would go to his babies.
I'm big enough to admit that I don't know enough about economics to have a serious conversation about the particulars of the bill. However, I DO know that while passing on astronomical debt to our kids isn't a great idea, there doesn't seem to be a BETTER idea at this point, and we have to do something--passing along a bunch of jobless parents without homes to our kids isn't a particularly good idea either. If people don't like where the money is going, or think that a different approach is warranted (McCain and some other Repubs are advocating tax cuts), so be it. But if anyone's main objection is how much debt it would leave behind, I'd say point missed. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Live365 channels are now advertising the CIA (specifically the "National Clandestine Service").
I didn't know the CIA ever advertised, and if they did I would've thought they'd do it in college newspapers, with referrals from grad programs in the relevant sciences, stuff like that...not all willy-nilly to people listening to That 70's Channel. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| I had reason to look up this clip, so I thought I'd share if any of you need a good, heartwarming cry. The clip is of Derek Redmond, a runner who, during his race in the 1992 Olympics, snapped a hamstring and fell. He stumbles along for a few yards, and then his father runs onto the track, puts an arm around him, and helps him toward the finish line.
If just reading that description didn't at least make you a little mushy, honestly, I can't imagine what would. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| | The IRS permits members of the clergy to claim exemptions for their housing. At the time of Warren's audit the amount claimed had to be "reasonable"--it shouldn't exceed the fair market value for the rental of the home. That 1996 audit concluded that Warren was deducting more than that--the IRS said he owed it $55,300. Warren challenged the IRS in tax court, arguing that his housing exemption should be unlimited.</p> The facts were simple: in 1993 Warren deducted $77,663, his entire Saddleback Church salary that year, as a housing expense--and paid no taxes at all on that salary. In addition, he claimed a deduction for his mortgage expenses--even though they had been covered by the salary. He made similar claims in subsequent tax returns.
Full story is here, but the long and short of it is that Congress ended up passing the Clergy Housing Allowance Clarification Act of 2002.
This reminds me of the work of Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa who initiated inquiries into the finances of 6 "prosperity Gospel" preachers whose lifestyles seem to contradict the claims of being non-profit (and thus deserving tax-exempt status). One of the preachers, I THINK Creflo Dollar but I'm not positive, actually argued, with a straight face, that the inquiry was a violation of church/state separation. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| Woman Says Anti-Abortion Nurse Removed IUD Without Permission, Then Lectured Her
( For when the link dies )
I'll reiterate the comment I made in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) antitheism:
[This story] just floored me--this health-care "professional," in her attempt to say the removal had been a total accident, admitted that on several occasions, the same thing had happened. So, she's a horrible woman who thinks it's acceptable to mess with other womens' uteruses (uteri?), or she's a complete incompetent (with pretty horrible co-workers as well).
I am no expert on these matters, BTW, but AFAIK, a small tug would not pull out an IUD. The cervical os--the aperture that leads into the uterus--is strong. By nature, it stays shut, and WANTS to stay shut. So a "tug" would not bring out almost any IUD, let alone those of several different women, out of the uterus. You'd have to PULL, very hard.
And holy effing CRAP that must've hurt.
I forgot to add "And if this actually happened, I hope both this woman and the clinic get nailed and nailed hard." | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
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If you can't tell (it took me a minute), the grey thing is a shoe, with flying action lines. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| This speech is fantastic. "We will restore science to its rightful place"--YES!! THANK YOU!!!
We will not sacrifice our ideals for our safety. THANK YOU!!!
The U.S. is a friend to everyone who seeks peace. THANK YOU!!!
He just lumped fascism and Communism together. BOOOO!!!!!
HE MENTIONED NONBELIEVERS!!!!! Holy crap! And then he talked about god over and over but I expected nothing different.
OK, that was amazing. If his Presidency is half as good as that speech, we're in for a good eight years. His explicit outreach to the rest of the world, home run. His embrace of old ideals enacted in new ways, home run. I hope this works.
ETA: Never thought I'd say this, but that benediction was great. That little man was so cute. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
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The Bedbug Letter
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