Archive for February, 2006
Ocean Management
Tuesday, February 28th, 2006For oh, let’s see, three or four years now (you’d think I would know this more clearly but oy, kids drain your brain) I’ve owned/operated/directed Ocean Management, LLC.– a consulting company that applies some mind-body research to business environments.
The Ocean Method, which I researched and put together works by removing unconscious emotional barriers to success. Anyway, my normal website has been down and out for some time now due to extraordinary technical difficulties. (The programming is intricate and difficult to host. Sigh.) In the meantime, I’ve thrown together a small website (two pages–that’s really, really small) at Google Pages: You can find it at Melissa.Clouthier.
Speaking of, I’m about 90% finished with Phase I of DrClouthier.com. Go check it out and tell me what you think!
Microsoft I-Pod Parody
Monday, February 27th, 2006I got this link from Seth Godin. It’s so true, it’s not even funny. In fact, I kinda cried inside as I watched it.
The real problem? The loquacity doesn’t end with the packaging. Nothing about Microsoft is simple. Not one thing. Inane error messages taunt you–”Does this mean that my computer is dying?” Stupid multiple steps to fix anything irritate–”Do I have to be a programmer to fix this?” It functions, yes. But ease and beauty?
Buwahahaha!
UAE Censors Boing Boing & Michelle Malkin
Monday, February 27th, 2006Those open-minded “moderates” over there are censoring two rather mainstream American blogs. Shocking. See Boing Boing here. See Michelle’s view here.
Post-Partum Hemorrhage Stopped by Wetsuit Device
Monday, February 27th, 2006Interesting implications for any abdominal hemorrhaging. Read more here.
Optimism Increases Health
Monday, February 27th, 2006Depending on who you are, this could be good news or bad news. For the curmudgeons among us, they can add dying to their lists of “one more crappy thing that will happen to me”. For the optimistic–they will literally get the last laugh. For those sick of the Polly Annas, at least you’ll be out of your misery soon.
D’Haene at My Space
Sunday, February 26th, 2006How small is the world? Really, really, really small. Today I received a note in my MySpace account from a guy I went to High School with — Bobby D’Haene. He was smart, funny, a great musician, theatrical (literally: the lead in Oliver Twist and other local theatre productions), and a nice person. Well, he endured my insufferable shyness and put me on the ticket with him and some other friends to run for Student Government. He won, I lost. Oh well…. But I was a Student Senator anyway. I can’t remember his job. See, that Bob? Your “bold inititatives” didn’t even stick to one of your most loyal supporters. Anyway, while I could live the rest of my life without being in contact with most of my High School classmates, it was a joy to hear from him and see that he is still rockin’. (And drinkin’ and livin’ hard by his own account. Could a true rocker be any other way?)
Rock on D’Haene!
Anti-semitism: Jews as the Canaries in the World Mine
Sunday, February 26th, 2006I will keep coming back to this over and over and over. The Europeans view Jews as the biggest threat to peace? Yes 75% in the Netherlands do, 69% in Austria do, and 65% in Germany do–don’t worry France only lags a little bit: 59% of their enlightened citizens view Jews as a menace.
Will Europe actually see the truth and stop scapegoating the Jews? Doubtful. Very, very doubtful. Glenn Reynolds still holds out hope for Europe. I don’t.
Again, I say to the Jews outside Israel and the U.S.: RUN! Now is the time to leave. Five years from now may be too late. Get out while you can still make money on your business, while you the economy is good and you can get a job.
Interestingly, the poll that Mark Steyn quotes from doesn’t say how many people in the U.S. view Jews as “the biggest threat to world peace”–probably because the poll was funded by the European Commission. But I’m curious. For me and my neighbors, I’d think the question is patently absurd on the face of it. It seems racist to even put forth the question. If even 10% of our population believes that, I’m alarmed.
Can you imagine: The greatest threat to world peace:
- The United States of America
- Israel and All Jews
- Communist countries
- China
- Iran
- The European Union (Heavens no!)
- Islamic Countries
- Al Queada
Some might view philosophies or religions as more threatening than actual countries. I know I would.
The fact that anti-semitism is getting more blatant, more bald and vicious scares me. Why? Why? Why would a secular country mind about a tiny percentage of the population? Why would a little Middle Eastern country get so much attention?
Do you know the answer?
Ports Away…Enemies Within Our Gates?
Saturday, February 25th, 2006Have you noticed my silence about the ports being run by the UAE issue? With everyone screaming about it, and seemingly so little solid information to be had about it, I have refrained from entering the melee.
Well. The two arguments seem to be thus:
- The UAE aided and abetted the criminals who terrorized us. They are Islamic. They have every reason to allow money, arms, and very bad things into the heart of the enemy–US. Therefore, no company with Islamic Middle Eastern ties should ever be allowed to handle such a sensitive position–ever. Or until the war against the Islamist is won–if ever.
- The UAE has been a loyal ally to the West in the War on Terror. By allowing this business deal to go forth we demonstrate that we are against Terrorists in particular and not Muslims in general. The business deal was between the British and the UAE and we have no legal reason to stand in its way. And, the U.S. will make lots of money. People who are against this deal are xenophobic simpletons.
What was my first reaction? Alarm. Why? Because, like every other American, I get the sneaking suspician that for most of the world of Islam the notion of a “moderate” is like the notion of a “conservative” in Rhode Island or Massachusetts–even the most “moderate” is extreme by anyone else’s definition.
What was my second reaction? (And this came quickly on the heels of the first.) Dismay. Why was I hearing about this deal from Chuck Anti-War Schumer first? It stinks. What was his motivation? He has been very consistent about his position about the War on Terror–against it. Against the troops. Against any security measures. Against Bush. Ahhhh, there we are. Bush wants the deal. Schumer is against Bush. But that doesn’t necessarily make the deal bad. In fact, since I trust Bush more than I’ll ever trust Schumer, it makes me rethink my first reaction.
What was my third reaction? Anger. Will this President and Administration EVER take a strong position and L-E-A-D? Oh yes, the War on Terror and all that. The lilly-livered Harriet Miers decision. The knee-jerk airline security decision. The budget and debt and gluttonous pigginess legislation and NOT ONE veto. And now he would veto legislation that would stop the port deal? Is he kidding? No, he’s not. That’s one thing about G.W.: he means what he says.
Meanwhile, back at the liberal ranch, the talking heads and pundits and know-better-than you newscasters refuse, REFUSE, to report news. Most people, unless they have the internet, have yet to see the “offending” cartoons. The news has become one big propaganda tool–for the enemy. No fires in Paris seen–and it’s still not over. No defense of Denmark–a liberal minded democratic country, who by the way, is our ally. Oh, that’s right, our ally….so an American liberal’s enemy. Because Bush is BAD!
And then, our civil liberties are being chipped away at one peck at a time. Like the Noonan piece–it feels like being in a communist republic to get on a plane these days. The utter nonsense of TERRORIZING common citizens by bureaucratic boobs. ARGGGGH! I always go back to High School, the microcosm of the world that it was, where the Pinkertons would give the common kid without a yellow hall pass shit for having to go the bathroom while the known drug dealers and wastoids were let be because the Pinkertons were scared of them!
Yup, we’ll be in a safe U.S.A.: safe from litter, safe from smoke, safe from nail files, safe from HURT FEELINGS, but we will be a wide open book for every half-baked Islamic, Neonazi, White-Supremist, fill-in-the-blank CRAZY LOON because “everyone is beautiful in his own way”. In short, we’ll be EUROPE.
So back to the port deal. How do I feel? I feel like the President needs to give ALL the information. EVERY LAST BIT OF IT. I think the press needs to check for accuracy. I think that Congress must verify.
Then, the stupid, pick-any rules that are torturing (oh, it’s torture by any liberal’s definition) common Americans need to be thrown out–NOW!
Americans need to see that we are safer–the statistics. Plots thwarted. They need to see Osama CAUGHT NOW! I don’t give a flying flip if it will make life hard with Pakistan. Bin Laden must be strung up.
Americans need to see their government stand up for freedom of speech. The President needs to unequivocally condemn the actions of terrorizing Islamofascists. His courage will again put the presses equivocating in stark contrast.
America must appear SO STRONG that when the idea of a UAE company working in our ports doesn’t offend common sense, but rather causes people to pause and look at the facts rationally.
There is a good reason the American people, myself included, question this deal and it is not because I’m xenophobic. I’m government-phobic. I’m law-phobic. I’m bureaucrat-phobic. I do not trust anyone in our government right now to do anything but what is good for them politically. Our safety seems a distant dream.
The big, bloated, ponderous, layered, removed, rarified, self-loving, self-indulgent, out-of-touch, morally bankrupt, thing we call government in the U.S. disgusts me. I had really hoped the Republicans would do it different. I had hoped.
My biggest problem? It’s not trusting the UAE. In fact, I’m pretty sure how much to trust them. It’s trusting my elected officials to make sure the bureaucrats point their multitudinous weapons where they should be pointed–and that’s not at the average American citizen.
Whether this Port Deal goes through or not, the fact remains: Washington elites including and especially the Press trust and protect Islamic madmen more than the average citizen. Enough is enough.
Happiness Is… Two Kinds of Icecream? No, Being Conservative Silly!
Friday, February 24th, 2006George Will reports about why conservative, southern, sunshine state people are happy and thus? more conservative. Even if you disagree with his sociological analysis, his interpretation is funny–and laughing makes me happy.
But, then, conscientious liberals cannot enjoy automobiles because there is global warming to worry about, and the perils of corporate-driven consumerism, which is the handmaiden of bourgeoisie materialism. And high-powered cars (how many liberals drive Corvettes?) are metaphors (for America’s reckless foreign policy, for machismo rampant, etc.). And then there is — was — all that rustic beauty paved over for highways. (And for those giant parking lots at exurban mega-churches. The less said about them the better.) And automobiles discourage the egalitarian enjoyment of mass transit. And automobiles, by facilitating suburban sprawl, deny sprawl’s victims — that word must make an appearance in liberal laments; and lament is what liberals do — the uplifting communitarian experience of high-density living. And automobiles . . .
You see? Liberalism is a complicated and exacting, not to say grim and scolding, creed. And not one conducive to happiness.
Church Organizations
Friday, February 24th, 2006Can change happen in todays heirarchial religious institutions? Are the commoners capable of contributing to the whole? Hmmmm…..
I have more thoughts since I was raised in a quazi-cult, or at least a very obsessive weird Evangelical Sect. But I’ll write more on that later.
HT: Instapundit
