My Sick Mind

WASHINGTON — Exxon Mobil Corp. gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in an effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming, the Union of Concerned Scientists asserted Wednesday. Anyone who has seen the film Jurassic Park will remember the scene where the dinosaurs first escape into the park, after Newman breaks down the computer system and shuts down the power. As the dinosaurs (not necessarily from the Jurassic Period) roam the park eating people and each other, Dr. Ian Malcolm, the mathemetician of the group, played by Jeff Goldblum , says quietly to himself, "I really hate being right all the time." When I read the first paragraph of the news story I posted at the top, I said (quietly) to myself, "I really hate being right all the time." Well, not necessarily all the time, since that would take all the mystery out of life, but some things are just too obvious to be anything but rotten to the core; and thi...

As we know , I bristle at hypocrisy. I find it in so many places, that I accidentally bristle when I don't mean to. Then, I find myself apologizing to the person in line behind be, as they accidentally brush up against my bristle. Anyway, the bristling hypocrisy to which I refer is the video going around of the Saddam Hussein hanging . It's all over Google , and it's corporate little brother YouTube . Where's the hypocrisy, you ask? The hypocrisy lies in the fact that the YouTube has an anti-nudity policy. They have this Community , and a subsequent Code of Conduct . Here is what they deem as their Code: Don't Cross the Line Here are some common-sense rules that will help you steer clear of trouble: YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content . If this describes your video, even if it's a video of yourself, don't post it on YouTube. Don't post videos showing dangerous or illegal acts , like animal abuse or bomb making. Real ...

I was planning to take today off, out of respect for our National Day of Mourning , but I figured that a 3-day weekend was enough. It’s a shame that our federal government didn’t feel the same. Former President Gerald Ford died last Tuesday. It took a week to organize a National Day of Mourning? I suppose we couldn’t mourn properly on a Saturday or Sunday, especially when there’s a Tuesday after a holiday coming up. Beyond the seriousness of the event, it strikes me as a scheme cooked up by a bunch of people who specialize in them. It must be nice to be able to vote yourself a pay raise and organize a four-day holiday for yourself. I’m in the wrong line of work. Speaking of which… College football coaches appear to be in the right line of work. Pardon me for thinking straight, but it strikes me as odd that an organization (the NCAA ) who would have such stringent rules prohibiting athletes from accepting anything as meager as a suit of clothes would allow the coach...

For a lot of people, numbers are important. I'm not just talking about numbers in general, but those even sorts of numbers. Tenth anniversary, Twenty-fifth reunion, first annual ... junk like that. Usually, it has something to do with a celebration. Whatever the reason, the twelfth, third or forty-second anniversaries aren't as important. Turn 40 years old, and people start hanging black crosses on your desk. At 41, you're a forgotten man. That's what makes it so odd that our president is just not figuring out that the war in Iraq is kind of a big deal, and maybe he needs to re-think his approach. One headline said, "Time to reflect as death toll reaches 3,000" . Another told us that U.S. Peace Groups have begun to rally now that the toll has reached that milestone number. "We must bear witness to this tragic milestone, even though many people are already beginning their celebrations of the new year," the group United for Peace and Justice said on ...