Sunday, October 28, 2001
How about this brouhaha between the post office union and the post master general?
Seems the former wants the anthrax-contaminated facility in NYC (Morgan - the largest in Manhattan) shut down and cleaned and all workers tested; the latter is relying on the Center for Disease Control's advice that the facility (w/the contaminated mail sorter, um, "roped-off") is safe.
Jeepers. You'd think the "big brains" would want to err on the side of caution in the face of a bioterrorist attack - at least that's what they did for Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court.
So, why the different approach in New York?
1) Most of the workers are black. That's right; I'm saying the postmaster general and the CDC are playing the race card. There's obviously an imbalance in how lives are being valued, here, and if you don't like that opinion, you can kiss Uncle Chuckle's ass. Just kidding. Yuk, yuk!
Put yourself in those workers' shoes (and don't forget the p.o. deaths from inhalation anthrax). Still feel like going to work?? Antibiotics don't begin to cover all the risks...
2) Closing down the largest postal facility in NYC loses big bucks. The money card is also being played.
3) If NYC shuts down, any subsequent site affected by anthrax gets shut down (and they're going to have to start testing widely, soon) . So the image card is also at stake.
[ And lest we forget the question of scope, 400+ Capitol Hill workers, and 17,000 postal workers and others are on antibiotics; 68 _tons_ of mail from Washington is being shipped to Ohio for electron beam sterilization. ]
Did I mention that the inhalation form of anthrax kills 90% of its victims? [Reuters, 10/23]
When the president declared war on evil, apparently domestic bullshit from health officials and civil servants wasn't included under that umbrella!
Yuk, yuk, yuk!
What else is pissing off Uncle Chuckles today? Glad you asked...
The anti-terrorist bill signed into law by Bush goes WAY the hell too far. Item: federal law enforcement is now allowed to conduct house searches w/o the knowledge of the occupants. If someone w/ power and/or influence ever wanted to screw with a political enemy, it can potentially be "laundered" this way. Then there are some "clown quotes" of the week.
Deborah Willhite, vp of postal service governmental relationships: "They (dead postal workers) need your prayers; they don't need your curiosity"
(context of press conference: in other words, stop asking me questions about anthrax and the post office I don't want to answer)
"You know who you are - go to DC General (hospital) and pick up some Cipro"
(to large-volume bulk mail customers who had visited the Brentwood facility)
"...wash your hands..."
Mayor Anthony Williams of Washington, on CNN 10/22/01, ~10:15 am:
"...the public has not been targeted."
Motherf**ker, please.
The anthrax letters are being mailed from _mailboxes_. People receive mail and go to post offices.
De facto targeting of the public? You make the call.
Big boos for the cable news networks.
On 10/23/01 (House Reform Subcomittee hearing), when Dennis Kucinich started asking Tommy Thomson about possible missing smallpox virus from U.S. stocks, CNN, MSNBC and FOX all cut away from the hearings. You make the call.
[Not that anything was missed; on CSPAN, it could be seen that portion of the hearing was quickly, um, curtailed.]
I feel a Stephen King moment coming on.
In closing, Uncle Chuckles has three words for you:
Eleuthera Quebec Amsterdam
Just kidding. Yuk, yuk, yuk!
Thank you! What a wonderful crowd! G'night, everybody!
Sunday, October 21, 2001
Booty
Call
"Hmmm. Looks like someone's being waved home!"
--- Trojan Man
In "Unexpected", the fifth episode from the new Trek series "Enterprise", the chief engineer encounters the mother of all "first dates":
Synopsis:
Trip is impregnated with an alien baby.
When Trip is dispatched to assist an alien ship with its power source problems, he is delighted to have a friendly encounter with one of the ship's female engineers. But after discovering that their special moment has resulted in his becoming pregnant, he realizes he's had an unwitting experience with alien sex. Archer and his crew must then try and return the rapidly growing alien baby to its mother.
Let's see if I can make the take-home lesson simple:
When a female alien starts switching her behind like it's going to fall off, and announces "let's play a game", a follow-up question is mandatory: "what is this game normally called?".
Here, her response would most precisely have been translated as "Somebody's about to get knocked-up".
That's an automatic "Gee, it's half-past Mickey's nose! Time to get back to the ship..."
TPTB seem to be wringing some dry humor out of the Vulcan character, sub-commander T'Pol. Her mild chastisement of Trip in sick bay was quite funny ("...you couldn't wait three days until you returned to the ship...").
I also hope a bit in the series opener becomes a running joke (group photo taken over T'Pol's mild protestations --- Captain: "Make sure a copy of that gets to Vulcan high command.").
In The
News
Hungarian Scientists Claim To Have
Found Traces Of Life On Mars: [*]
U.S. postal workers trying to avoid anthrax exposure.
Japan Mad Cow Cases: [*]
U.S. Ban on Japanese Beef: [*]
Sweden's First Mad Cow Cases Found: [*]
Variant CJD Highly Infectious?: [*]
Soy. The Other Protein.
EyeSite:
Digital artist Larry Carlson
Saturday, October 13, 2001
On My
Mind
I believe the cable news networks are failing the viewership. The recent anthrax cases _should_ dominate the news, but prior to that, cable was going 24/7 with "Attack on America", allowing virtually no coverage of other events. That's absurd. Keeping the information throttle high and narrow is terribly short-sighted.
In The
News
Genetic Modification Taints Native Corn
In Mexico: [*] This event is of the type that gene-tech swore wouldn't happen. Are companies going to have to turn to indoor hydroponics in the near-future to ensure pure strains of crops?
Quantum State Teleportation??: [*] Don't think of "Star Trek"-type transportation; but humongously powerful computers are on the horizon
Teen Fainting Game: [*]
Along with alcohol abuse, drug abuse, hazing and the on-going threat of death from crazed classmates, etc., choking-out people makes the short list. Something is seriously wrong on the teen brain front, and it may _well_ be something in the water...
Hollywood Helping Out Pentagon?: [*]
The military confers with screenwriters to help with response to possible terrorist scenarios. I might talk to the terrorists (and some criminals) already in jail --- we're going to have to think outside the box with this one...
Jet Li on wushu [*] and
philosophy [*]
I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of Jet's ideas mirrored my
own. It really is a small world after all.
Is That Dog Laughing?: [*] Once, a Japanese woman convinced me to tell one of her dogs a joke (I came up with one that centered around "hands" "guilt" and "Alpo"). If you've ever been fortunate enough to see a dog crack-up w/laughter to the point of falling against a wall, raise your...hand.
This was many years after a dog saved my life by pulling a "Lassie" (coming to me, barking, then rapidly backing up, repeating the process). If not for that "mutt", I would have been hit by a car going more than 70 miles per hour down a 25 mph side street.
Don't get me started on cats - and I mean that in the best possible sense.
[ I've got some cat stories that'll knock your socks off... ]
The 900 Club (extremely fat people): [*]
Humans can't take in calories via osmosis; ever see a 600 lb. homeless person? Initiation processes (brain/appetite/enabler) at the root of this phenomena prompt a Yo!Zone follow-up.
EyeSite:
dengdeng
(turn your volume up)
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