Christian

"That may not rub well with other elite groups, such as business interests and the military."

I find this hard to believe as Bush is probably even more in-line with and buddy/buddy with the business elite than any president other than Regan.

And, we all know how much Bush loves to fall back on his nigh-invulnerable army now that America doesn't have anything else going for it on the world scene.

It's not like the executive branch really ever did anything other than protect and promote the interests of the power elite.

As far as I could see the provisions only stood to put people's attention more on the govt. and take even more attention away from the corporations.

It's not like Bush needs it anyway though, as it certainly hasn't slowed him down from illegally reinstituting COINTELPRO (which existed long before Patriot Acts, I might add).

Here's what I think, there's nothing in the Patriot Act that other presidencies haven't been in the act of doing for years, illegally and in semi-secret. All the Patriot Act did was make those things legal and erode away at the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

OK, that's not good for govt. interests, as now it shows the American people, "Hey, here's what we can do. It's all on paper and legal. We can take your civil liberties away at any time."

Now, the American people really didn't rebel to the point of anything that would've been considered SANE, but still, isn't it better to do these things in secret without having them listed on a piece of paper where bothersome nuisance people can get involved in the govt.'s business?

Jesus is known as the shepherd of men though.

How can a father and a son and a ghost all be the same person?! It's like a bad red-neck joke! :lol:

Well, it depends on what cosmology you're talking about whether the Holy Trinity is all one or not. I took it from the "Hellblazer" mythos that Jesus and God were seperate beings....I take it that Jenkins is Catholic though? Not positive.

And, was John actually addressing the "shepherd" at the end of "How to Play with Fire"?

I thought it that John was addressing God, but that it was a seperate character than the "shepherd".

The "shepherd" seemed to be on John's side but trying to make him see God's side of everything. I took the end of "How to Play with Fire" sort of as John rejecting what the "shepherd" had told him.

"They're both the same figure. If I recall correctly (it's been a while since I read the issues in question), when John first meets him, he's in the guise of the shepherd, who doesn't change appearance until he's leaving, when he just fades away, as shown in the "glowing head" panel.

St Apathy Posted Today, 06:05 PM

Okay, so later on, does he appear as the bearded fortuneteller or as the guy with the glowing head? "

To be technical, aren't those characters actually Jesus and not God?

I have very little doubt (after seeing the stories where it was used) that had Carey chosen to use John's perspective as much as Delano and Ennis, this run on the book would've been second only to the near-perfection of Delano's in my eyes.

"The Dead Zone" bored me to tears, but I'll mark that as personal taste.

I already explained about "The Stand".

I considered "Salem's Lot", but there's nothing to it. It's an ok read, but I wouldn't recommend anyone going out of their way to find it.

"Dark Towers" never appealed to me, I usually don't even think about them, but lots of people love them.

"Green Mile" was under a different pen name, so I didn't consider it. It's a great read though.

Never read "Everything's Eventual".

I concede to "Different Seasons". That should've been on my list.

"Nightmares and Dreamscapes" is really quite awful, besides having an awesome title.

BUT:

Tommyknockers? Dear lord, no! Where do I even begin on that over-sized piece of crap?! It was the first sign that editors had stopped bothering with King.

200 pages about menstruation! What the fuck was that about??? And all leading up that ending?! Fuck!

One of the only books that I finished and not only wanted my money back, but wanted an apology for wasting that much of my time! Anne Rice's "The Mummy" surely being the other.

Truthfully, I'm not even sure that Nixon's was this low. I think Nixon's approval rating was lower after he took America off the gold standard than during Watergate, actually. I'm not really positive about any of this.

I'm pretty sure I read that Bush's approval rating hit the all-time low for any president (well, as far as we know) at one point, but started to go up a little bit due to some economic issues; and that his daddy had the all-time low until that point.

I guess you're right that he still has 3 more years to go, so he better play the game as much as possible right now.

I really, really dread what may occur in his final year when he just doesn't give a damn and it's too late for anyone to really do anything about him.

How did I miss the rest of this discussion?

"Here some info about the boyfriend: He tends to flirt with other girls. Wednesday morning, two people informed me about that and once putting that and me seeing him with his arms around another girl back in Sept., just the stuff I need to reveal when April(the girl I've been talking about) and I go to the counceller's office tomorrow or Monday."

Look, here's the deal....why care anymore? Time to let it go! She said she didn't ever want to be with you. I say she's a girl and she doesn't know what she wants, but fuck, it's how she feels and you've got to respect that. Let it go.

If she gets hurt, well, that's her pain to deal with, not yours! She hurt you, let her live her own life. That's the guy she chose, nothing you can do about it.

Do you think she's going to appreciate this guy who wants her butting into her personal life? No, she's going to get pissed! You're setting yourself up for a whole hell of a world of more pain here, trust me!

You think you're doing the right thing (Hell, it probably is from your perspecitve, my perspective), but she's not going to see it that way. Best to break it off at this point and move on.

Does this sound cruel? Maybe. Sometimes it's better to be cruel, for everyone, in the long run....but especially for you, and now is the time to do for you. You don't want to be a third wheel, you don't want to get in between two lovers, the only place this can lead is to you getting hurt. Don't get caught up in an affair that's never going to go anywhere. You'll end up regretting it more in the long run.

No good can come out of you continuing in all of this after she has already made her opinion/feelings known to you.

OK, here's personal experience from an old man.

When I was in high school, I had this unhealthy fixation with another girl. She was so damn hot, I wanted her so badly! But I was afraid to talk to her, couldn't even approach her, if she was around me, I felt the need to leave.

How did I notice her so much? She was friends with some of my friends, including one of my closest buddies who knew I had a huge crush on her. He decided to introduce me to her.

We ended up really hitting it off. We talked on the phone for hours every night, wrote me flirtatious letters, and was really giving the impression that she was very interested and ready to start dating me.

She finally sort of took the initiative and really asked me out. We were going to go downtown and just hang out, the two of us. But then, she changed her plans and she wanted her best friend (a guy I really couldn't stand) and my buddy to come along. It was sort of crushing, but I thought "Ok, we can have fun and I can show her what kind of person I am outside school".

Only things didn't work out that way. I knew something was wrong when I met up with them to catch a bus, she was pretty well ignoring me and acting totally different towards me. I could barely get her to talk to me.

At the end of the day, she reveals that this guy she was interested in who got put in a mental institution was getting out and that she was going to start dating him!

Man, I was totally crushed.

The smart thing for me to do would've probably have been to stay friends with her and wait to see what was happening in her relationship, but fuck that! She led me on, and I wasn't in the mood to get treated like a shadow after being so close to her, or listen to her talk about some other guy. I went off on her and decided never to speak with her again.

It took me a long time to get over her. It was hard. But, I spent a lot more days without seeing her, talking to her than I spent talking to her, seeing her.

In the end, I just moved on and didn't look back because there was nothing there.

I never thought I'd be able to, never thought there'd be anyone else, but as I got older, there were more women! Hell, there were a few better women! Love changed it's whole meaning to me as I got older. You'll never forget this girl, but the feelings you have for her will die, and that will be a good thing, as new stronger feelings will grow from this for someone even better.

Relationships, love, crushes....they hurt like fucking hell! I've been screwed around by so many more women since then, so much worse. Women I did date, women I loved, women I did spend long amounts of time with....I ask myself every day if it's worth it. I don't know....I think probably not. But I think we'd go nuts if we never got into a serious relationship, just to experience it firsthand. It's an important part of living.

Sure, Godzilla isn't as creepy or scary as those other monsters and he's usually been portrayed as the hero after his 3rd or 4th movie, but he could use his radioactive breath to kill those other monsters and then eat them!

"I think time - as in - when you give your time to something/someone - is the best expression of caring/love there is. One of the most expensive gifts one could give, too."

Wow! Very well said! I agree that giving of yourself: your mind, your emotions, your body, your time.... these are the most precious and the best gifts in the world. Worth far more than any gold or silver or comic books (heh)! These gifts will never go away. You may not remember what your wife bought you for Christmas 5 years ago, or maybe she bought you a nice shirt that ripped, whatever. In 5 years, you're still going to have, remember, treasure what she smelled like, what her voice sounded like, her words, the feel of her body....

Ah! I've found a nice example! Here's a link:

http://rfis1.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent...es/woman161.jpg

Yeah, Gina is nice. That's your example.

I'm having trouble coming up with names....let me look around the 'net for pictures. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post anything, as I'm not sure I know how!

Samantha from "Bewitched", I forget her name right now, I really like her.

I'm having a hard time coming up with names you'd know, because the perfect example would be Terri.

"And the Q is right, get some nice shoes Christian. Be kind to your feet.

I didnt know about the fetish. I never thought of it that way...."

1.I wear my docker's dress shoes all the time. But, if I'm dressed up really nice for something really important, then I need the patent leather shoes, and those are the ones that hurt my feet. Right now, I can't afford good leather dress shoes, and for the amount of time I wear them I figure I can stand putting some bandages on my feet and having some soreness for the night.

2.I never understood feet fetishes....

But, yeah, sexy boots do look might nice on a woman.

And, thigh high stockings...yeah....I can see that, but mostly because the woman I want to be wearing them has meaty thighs, and....OK, I'd better stop.

Fishnet stockings....Oh god!

Garter belts....Oh god!

Sexy belts in general.....Oh god!

I must go from this thread now and never return! :lol:

Yeah, I purposely leave "The Stand" off my lists and try to ignore it.

I know that every other person alive loved it, but I actually could not finish the damn thing! It went on and on and on.....

Sorry.

....and gets hit by cars while jogging....

The Mist is a short story, not an actual novel.

Is "Christine" the one about the damn car?! God, no! Avoid that one!

I think he even wrote a damn short story about all trucks in the world coming alive in that same collection with The Mist....Damn!

Read "IT", "Needful Things", "The Shining", "Dolores Claiborne", or "Carrie"

If you want to read any of his short fiction, the only collection that's really worth buying is "The Nightshift".

The rest of King's work ranges from dull to embarrassing.

Isn't that usually reserved for works of genius instead of run of the mill movies that most people will have forgotten about by next year?

I found a follow-up to that very story in my E-mail box tonite!

"Seek Records on Pentagon Lists of Peace Activists and War Opponents

Washington, D.C.

The Partnership for Civil Justice, a civil rights litigation firm, today filed a Freedom of Information Request, on behalf of the antiwar group the ANSWER Coalition, and also on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild, after learning that the Department of Defense (DOD) is maintaining a database of identified Athreats@ that includes information on protests and political activists who oppose the war. Defense officials responded to reports of the database on Tuesday by saying that the Pentagon has a right to maintain information to help protect military installations. One of the database listings was a major anti-war protest on March 19, 2005 identified in the Pentagon=s records as taking place at Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles.

A confidential DOD document, according to NBC News, indicates in-depth domestic surveillance such as the specific monitoring of vehicles and specific individuals from one protest to another. The database lists 1,500 "suspicious incidents" around the country over a 10-month period, including four dozen anti-war meetings or protests.

The Partnership for Civil Justice has for years filed litigation challenging unlawful government tactics that infringe on the First Amendment rights of protesters, including peace activists and war opponents. AFree speech is now considered a threat by the Pentagon. The exposure of the >threat incident= database containing information on protests and political activists makes clear that the U.S. military is spying on civilians in the United States who oppose the war in Iraq and U.S. militarism. The Department of Defense=s assertion that it is keeping this list to protect military bases is belied by its collecting and maintaining information on the anti-war protest in downtown Los Angeles as well as activities on campuses and organizing meetings across the country. The >threat= that the Pentagon is protecting against is a powerful mass movement of opposition to the U.S. war drive,@ said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice and co-chair of the NLG Mass Defense Committee.

The FOIA request asks for information maintained by the Pentagon including in its Talon database system on protests and political activists. The request includes data and documents relating to the Hollywood and Vine demonstration, the ANSWER Coalition which organized the March 19, 2005 Los Angeles anti-war demonstration, and the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive bar association that has worked to defend the rights of protestors and to challenge illegal and unconstitutional police practices.

“The Pentagon and other government agencies are routinely violating the First Amendment rights of people in the United States who are coming together to demand an end to the criminal war and occupation in Iraq. No amount of government intimidation can stop the antiwar movement, now that opposition to the war has become a majority sentiment,” stated Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition.

The Partnership=s litigation has successfully challenged illegal domestic spying and unconstitutional government policies designed to discourage lawful dissent. The Partnership for Civil Justice also on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild, first exposed the use of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces against political dissenters, and revealed that the District of Columbia police department has been carrying out an illegal ongoing domestic spying operation in which officers are sent on long-term assignments to pose as political activists. PCJ=s First Amendment litigation has been featured on NOW with Bill Moyers and in the movie Unconstitutional.

Founded in 1937 as the first racially integrated national bar association, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States, with more than 200 chapters. The Guild has a long history of representing individuals who the government has deemed a threat to national security. Guild members defended FBI-targeted individuals and helped expose illegal FBI and CIA surveillance, infiltration and disruption tactics (COINTELPRO) that the U.S. Senate AChurch Commission@ hearings detailed in 1975-76 and which led to enactment of the Freedom of Information Act and other specific limitations on federal investigative power."

Finished "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (by:Kim Deitch) last night. Really good read. It was haunting and funny at the same time. The ending just kind of came and went though, that's the only complaint.

It's about Waldo the Talking Cat, a cartoon cat from the 1930s who was alive and could be seen by the creators who worked on his cartoon. They described him as an "evil cat". After they smoked from a certain pipe, they'd be able to see into Waldo's cartoon world, which gave them inspiration for their cartoons.

Bad things happen to those who mess with Waldo's cartoon, but maybe Waldo isn't really evil after all.....

The story follows the people who were involved in the creation of Waldo's cartoons.

It also talks about the way Disney changed the face and creativity of those early cartoons.

Final Grade: A

"psychedelic yet somehow distinguished

Heh. I'm seeing vampire hippy aristocrats "

:lol: Which is pretty much how looked in the film, with those little glasses.

If hicks can make the list, then....

#1-Neo-Cons :)

Good call, Lou. I just realized that Pumpkinhead didn't make the list. That was a damn good movie!

"Godzilla on Monster Island"....that was that really trippy one about that little kid who's picked on at school who ends up having hallucinations that he's on Monster Island, and Godzilla has a son. That was just trippy!

Damn! Talk about an appropriate thread here in Michigan!

The snow seems too wet and loose for snowmen, but who knows?

I'm stuck indoors today, but it looks really beautiful outside.

Josh, this article:

"Is the Pentagon spying on Americans?

Secret database obtained by NBC News tracks ‘suspicious’ domestic groups"

They seemed to be acting totally shocked and surprised that something like that could be occuring, so I made my totally sarcastic and scathing remark.

It doesn't really matter anymore. He's in office for the long-haul and won't get another shot. Sure, his approval rating could continue to tank, but he's already hit an all-time low, so it really doesn't matter from here.

NO! Not Roseanne! Yikes!

If you mean that she got a TV role even though she's really fat, yeah, that's true, but they wanted a woman to play an average lower-middle class American mother.

If you're asking me if I find her attractive.....NO! She's VERY large and not pretty.

I don't really remember what Delta Burke looked like.

Moving to darker themes, as you'd expect of me.

This one is a Villanelle, a damn fine one if I must say so myself, as these are really complicated things to write.

A Prayer and A Hope

He does not want to die.

Stuck in this bed of pain all day and all night,

As a hero, he wants to fly.

He reads a comic which, as a present, his mother did buy.

Last night was his twelfth birthday.

He does not want to die.

He rolls onto his side, not wanting to see his mother cry.

He knows he cannot fight even one more year.

As a hero, he wants to fly.

Watch him punch the villain, oh my!

He rescues the girl and receives a kiss.

He does not want to die.

Hands on his hips, and on his face a smile so sly.

The good guy must always win in the end.

As a hero, he wants to fly.

He is forcefully pulled down from on high.

His breath comes slower and slower, in ragged gasps.

He does not want to die.

As a hero, he wants to fly….

This is my newest poem (I usually don't write poems anymore), and I'm quite fond of it. I'll probably actually bother to send this one out to one of the Socialist magazines.

An Open Letter to Bush Concerning Cocaine and Oil

Mr. Bush,

Did they nail you to a cross?

Bleeding blood, cleansing the poor, huddled masses.

No flag large enough to cover you.

Throw out Bubba’s erotica,

While fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American way

Just like Nietzsche’s ubermensch.

A wedding band for every girl over 18,

Family values come first.

With both parents working 52 hours a week,

6 million children going undernourished,

And how many Iraqi babies dead? Protection for the People.

A death penalty for underage non-violent criminal offenders,

We’ll start in Texas! Kill off everyone too lazy to work in wage slavery.

Mr. Bush,

Did they spread vicious lies about you?

Painting you as another Nixon? And you are not a crook!

Lies about Iraq? About 9/11? About the war on terror?

Lies about Halliburton? And Hugo Chavez? And your very humanity?

As I walk down your streets at night, past the suburban insulated houses;

I see TVs blaring, tuned into news, spreading falsehoods:

Iraqi death counts, unemployment, Social Security, out of control oil prices,

Don’t they know CAFTA makes good business sense? Plus, nukes in Iran.

Find the new Shah. He’ll be dancing to our rhythm.

Pray for God to lead you into and out of another pipeline like Afghanistan.

Mr. Bush,

Your daddy was a businessman. His business cocaine, terror, and WMDs.

In the service of the CIA, birth from the womb of a trans-national or two.

Doing the job. Class warfare. An economic miracle in Nicaragua.

He bled red, white, and blue….but mostly white.

He wasn’t in bed with Barbara. He screwed the Earth and the Third World.

Bled her dry. You’re a survivor of a full-term abortion..

So much like your daddy. Another neocon with his neo-concentration camps.

Except you’re bleeding black, Mr. Bush. You’re bleeding black.

Conditioned to fear the Phantom Menace,

Your New World Order looks too much like the old,

Channeling the spirit of Reagan on the ouiji board.

So, farewell Mr. Bush. Good riddance from the people of the world.

We’re done buying into your Free Market, and we won’t miss you.

This is another poem from college, a subject many people on this Forum can share:

Thus Spake Anubis

“Can you tell me a true story?

Can you tell me a tale of youth?”

Oh yes, I remember a day,

A day in the third grade,

And I remember it well.

In this grade I wrote a short story,

I believe the first I ever did write,

About my dog who had died-

Died the day before on her birthday.

The how’s, what’s, and who’s do not matter,

Suffice to say I was sad and in mourning.

This much I dare say is the truth.

Running in the woods beside the school,

Woods that we were not permitted to use,

I began to wonder about my dog:

After all, she was no longer mine

Nor the Earth’s, and I’d never known

Where she had gone, where she was.

Why could she no longer be mine?

Wonder of wonders! Before my eyes

I found her to be in front of me!

She was jubilant and nudged me with her nose,

And off we ran-

Oh how we ran, into the fields so bright

-and we were both happy in our time.

Time enough to say ‘good-bye’.

I walked down to those woods, and stared,

For many a day. So much to see.

But no dog to see; no glistening coat, no perfect form.

Although, once I saw a ghost of a tail; black against light

And I shivered, for I knew not to follow-

The time for tears had ended.

That is the truth I have to tell

Except I don’t remember

That it ever happened. It must not be true.

It must have been just a Dream,

A Dream in the woods….

And I have no more tales to tell.