"The City On The Edge Of Forever"

Today is my dads 53rd birthday, just wanted to wish him happy birthday, although I know he wont read this post probably.

Last night I received a proposition to move into John Cortrights huge home over on Lakeview Avenue. It would have been my, John Andrews, and Joy. In the end however, as spacious as it may be, we just couldnt afford what it would cost to heat the place in the winter time. Oh well.

Peter (FYE manager) just informed me that their has been a formal lawsuit posted against cell one (which I signed onto two weeks ago at Honest Johns), and it looks like we actually have a chance. Here's a clipping from the compost urinal

220 People Sign Falconer Man's Petition
Local advertisements for Cellular One boast ''local sales and customer service,'' but a Falconer business owner and more than 220 of his customers have received little response to their common cell-phone problems when they called for help.

thats all i can post, because the fucking post journal wants to charge you 5.95 a month to view it online. And the Buffalo News is absolutely free. I think not.

ROBOTS

Well, this is certainly freaky if you put any clout whatsoever in sciencefiction books and movies. Japan has a robot which will house sit for you while you are away. It comes equipped with a digital camera infared sensors and a videophone. Straight from Yahoo-

TOKYO - Worried about leaving your house empty while you go on vacation? Japan has the answer: a house-sitter robot armed with a digital camera, infrared sensors and a videophone.
Stores across Japan started taking orders on Thursday for the Roborior — a watermelon-sized eyeball on wheels that glows purple, blue and orange — continuing the country's love affair with gadgets.

Roborior can function as interior decor, but also as a virtual guard dog that can sense break-ins using infrared sensors, notify homeowners by calling their cellular phones, and send the owner's cell phone videos from its digital camera.

It debuted in department stores this week, but supplies are limited. The robot is on display in a half-dozen shops, though many more are taking orders.

"We've had robots before that were just toys, but the Roborior can actually be put to practical use in the home," said Takako Sakata, a spokeswoman for the department store chain Takashimaya.

Such technology doesn't come cheaply. Takashimaya will sell the machines, developed by Japanese robot maker Tmsuk Co. Ltd. and electronics company Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., for $2,600 each.

"We received a lot of inquiries after the demonstrations," Sakata said. "Our initial plan is to sell 2,000 robots."

Tmsuk has already produced a four-legged security robot called Banryu, which is about the size of a large dog and sells for $18,000.

great.

Those Crazy Christians

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested on-air that American operatives assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."

We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club."

"We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

Chavez has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of President Bush' accusing the United States of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him. U.S. officials have called the accusations ridiculous.

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson said. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

Robertson, 75, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, accused the United States of failing to act when Chavez was briefly overthrown in 2002.

Electronic pages and a message to a Robertson spokeswoman were not immediately returned Monday evening.

Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier of oil to the United States. The
CIA' estimates that U.S. markets absorb almost 59 percent of Venezuela's total exports.
Venezuela's government has demanded in the past that the United States crack down on Cuban and Venezuelan "terrorists" in Florida who they say are conspiring against Chavez.

Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

kill children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians. sign me up pat!

The order in which he states those horrific deads is baffling to me. Does he mean it is worse to become a lesbian than kill your children? Well, if you read Pats bible,...yeah.

OPERATION: AMERICAN DESECRATION

BOISE, Idaho -
President Bush, defending his Iraq war policy in the face of anti-war opposition and slumping approval ratings, says pulling out before the mission is complete would dishonor the memory of all the Americans who fought and died in pursuit of freedom.

"A policy of retreat and isolation will not bring us safety," Bush said Monday in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Salt Lake City. Repeatedly citing the Sept. 11 attacks, he said, "The only way to defend our citizens where we live is to go after the terrorists where they live."

Bush noted the U.S. military death toll — more than 2,000 killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

"Each of these men and women left grieving families and loved ones back home. Each of these heroes left a legacy that will allow generations of their fellow Americans to enjoy the blessings of liberty. And each of these Americans have brought the hope of freedom to millions who have not known it," Bush said, as if speaking to Cindy Sheehan, the California anti-war activist whose son Casey was killed in Iraq.

"We owe them something. We will finish the task that they gave their lives for ... by staying on the offensive against the terrorists, and building strong allies in Afghanistan and Iraq that will help us win and fight — fight and win the war on terror."

Recent polls have shown growing public dissatisfaction with the president's handling of the war in Iraq in the face of a persistent insurgency and the mounting U.S. death toll. An AP-Ipsos poll taken earlier this month showed that the percentage of Americans who approve of Bush's handling of Iraq — a number that had been hovering in the low- to mid-40s most of the year — dipped to 38 percent.

Some lawmakers from both parties are urging Bush to set a timetable for withdrawal, or at least lay out a strategy for leaving.

Sen. Russ Feingold D-Wis., who last week called for a Dec. 31, 2006, timetable for completing the mission, criticized Bush's speech as "more of the same sloganeering."

"We need the president to be clear about the remaining U.S. military mission in Iraq, and we need a target date," Feingold said in a statement.

Monday's speech was the first of two Bush will deliver this week in an effort to build support for the conflict by reaffirming his commitment to help Iraq transition from tyranny to democracy and urging the public's patience with his policy. The second speech comes Wednesday when he speaks to military families in Nampa, Idaho.

After Monday's speech, Bush and his wife, Laura, flew to Donnelly, Idaho, where he was to spend Tuesday out of public view at the Tamarack Resort in the mountains 100 miles north of Boise.

Several demonstrations against U.S. involvement in Iraq were planned to coincide with Bush's visit. They included a lunchtime rally Tuesday at a park across from the Idaho Statehouse, where members of the Idaho Peace Coalition were to dedicate 1,866 white-cross memorials — one for every U.S. soldier who has died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
Bush spoke Monday hours before the Iraqi parliament failed to meet its second deadline for approving a draft constitution. Bush applauded their efforts and praised as courageous steps the Israeli government has taken by removing settlements in the Gaza and parts of the northern
West Bank. Bush said both would lead to greater stability in the Middle East, and more security for America.

The White House released a statement later that said in part: "The progress made over the past week has been impressive, with consensus reached on most provisions through debate, dialogue and compromise. This is the essence of democracy, which is difficult and often slow, but leads to durable agreements, brokered by representatives that reflect the interests and values of free people."

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Well, thats all the real news for now. I'm sure I will have some inane babble to spew forth at you all shortly however.

one of these days, I'm going to cut you into a million pieces

~Oz