I can't stop smiling. Those who have lost their lives in this fight must be looking down at the Iraqis from Heaven today, knowing that they did not die in vain.

I agree totally with Dirty Harry and Roger Simon about Geraldo Rivera. Watching his reporting today gave me a new-found respect for the man, especially watching him tear up over the body of the innocent woman who did nothing but vote for the freedom of her own country.

I'm so proud of every single one of our servicemen, of our President, of the Iraqis who protected voters and of course the Iraqis who voted despite the threat of terrorism. I don't understand how the likes of John Kerry can still be so negative in the face of Iraqis dancing and singing in their polling places as they achieve a goal many of them couldn't imagine just a few years ago. I had my doubts about John Kerry before, but today they were confirmed, the man doesn't love his country or freedom or the troops, he loves himself and he loves the idea of being in power. He is a sick, despicable, bastard and he deserves to be shipped of to North Korea to live under crazy Kim for a few years until he appreciates his freedom and his country. And anyone else who refuses to admit that this was a wonderful thing deserves the same fate.

In a country where just a few years ago people had no hope of freedom, no hope of deciding their own fates, there was a first step today towards freedom and democracy. And they chose freedom despite their very lives being threatened, they chose to defy those who would scare them back into oppression, they brought their children with them to bear witness...Anyone who doesn't see this as a huge leap forward for the people of Iraq, for freedom in general and for humankind as a whole...well, you'll face your judgement one day. If you can't put your politics aside today then you're a pretty shitty person.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Vice President Dick Cheney raised eyebrows on Friday for wearing an olive-drab parka, hiking boots and knit ski cap to represent the United States at a solemn ceremony remembering the liberation of Auschwitz.

Other leaders at the event in Poland on Thursday marking the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, wore dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots.

Oh you mean the leader of France, the country that rolled over and played dead for the Nazi's and then turned around and helped them in their war effort...or Russia, the country that only got into the war because Hitler played them like fools and went back on their mutual agreement not to attack each other??

I'm fairly certain Cheney doesn't give a damn about what these idiots are saying but I think it's pathetic. So he's not the best dressed guy in the audience, at least he's representing a country that BEAT DOWN the Nazis, you know those guys who were doing all the killing there at Auschwitz.

Don't worry though, I'm gonna be okay. I'd rather not talk about it for now, but rest assured I'm in good hands from my doctor to my hunny to my family to my friends.

In short, the notion that America is in a war for freedom over tyranny has elicited bipartisan snickering and guffawing. In the wake of Bush's inaugural, the chorus of complaints intensified. And understandably so, given the fact that his address was the most forceful articulation of his "freedom" vision to date.

But before the cackles could reach their crescendo, the naysayers hit an inconvenient snag. Musab al-Zarqawi, the "prince" of Al-Qaida in Iraq, appointed by Osama Bin Laden, came out and agreed with President Bush. "We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," Zarqawi declared in a statement. "Democracy is also based on the right to choose your religion," he said, and that is "against the rule of God."

You can almost hear Cohen and Buchanan snapping their pencils "Darn it, stop stepping on my message!"

...

Unfortunately, we live in a world where a bunch of antidemocratic and homicidal zealots can make life dangerous for all of us. "Not our fight," the president's critics seem to say. But if they're wrong, thousands or millions could die as a result. And, like it or not, that fight is in Iraq right now.

For the first time in a hard-fought, bloody, and at times metaphysically depressing couple of years, it looks like there's cause for optimism there. Indications are that turnout will be high in Sunday's elections. Sunni leaders now say they want a role in constructing the new constitution. Zarqawi's prized bomb-making lieutenant was captured, and interim Prime Minister Allawi is gaining support.

But the best news from Iraq in a while is Zarqawi's forceful and forthright rejection of democracy and freedom as a principle. He doesn't want a more "authentic" democracy, he wants to kill it. This alone gives Iraqis, particularly the Sunnis he claims to represent, a stark choice: Accept the painful but promising path of elections, or side with the man most responsible for the car-bombings of mosques and markets, who would replace Saddam's nationalist totalitarianism for a new religious one ruled by foreigners like him and Bin Laden. Given that choice, who can doubt the Iraqis will vote with their hearts and ballots for what's behind Curtain No. 1.

The whole thing is definitely worth reading. Not that I think people who subscribe to the blame America first doctrine will "get" it from this one article. Gotta keep hammering away...

P.S. This picture's for you Dave Munger! Or...your friend ;)

Obviously I've never liked John Kerry but until today I thought he at least had some decency in him...a smattering of it at least...Now, I'd just like to vomit on his shoes. The fact that that man came as close as he did to becoming MY President makes me so sick to my stomach that there are no words. I spent the last 10 minutes of the film just crying, thinking about what those POWs had to go through and how John Kerry isn't even man enough to admit today that what he did was wrong. How the hell does that sick twisted son of a bitch sleep at night?

And to the people who supported him...honestly...you guys need to take a long hard look at yourself. Liberals constantly claim to have so much respect for the truth but the FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. Your nominee is a bald-faced LIAR. He LIED. He went before the Senate and told the made-up stories of men who never had the honor of wearing a US Military uniform and who never went anywhere NEAR the battlefields of Vietnam because they were too self-absorbed and self-righteous to do anything for their country except spew lies and spit at the men who DID sacrifice. Does that make you feel good? Knowing that that's what you voted for? But of course I'm sure you don't believe me, because you want to continue to live in your little fairytale world where only Republicans/conservatives can lie and Democrats are all angels (even though your hero Clinton was caught in a lie...oh right but that's okay because it was about his personal life, you're allowed to lie about that).

Sorry. I'm a little emotional right now. Angry. Still can't believe what I just saw.

The inauguration put me in a really good mood =) The Bush family is probably the best looking first family since the Kennedy's. And Lynn Cheney looks amazing too...loved her since I saw her introduce VP Cheney in Riverside over the summer.

Thank GOD tomorrow is Friday. And it's even a half day for me because I get to go visit my doctor again. Time for more tests >< In response to Mr. Extreme...no my doctor hasn't given me any medication for the time being, I'm supposed to stick with ibuprofen when I need it and I'm supposed to join a gym (which I have yet to do...thinking about the Windsor Pullati thing, anyone have any suggestions?). If it turns out I have something frightening like rheumatoid arthritis/lupus I will undoubtedly be put on medication and finding a job that offers healthcare will be that much more crucial to my job hunt. On the other hand it could be a viral infection in my lungs, in which case I'm not sure if medication would help...my inner ear infections haunted me for quite a few years because there was no way of getting rid of them except for time. Then on the other hand it could be all in my head in which case I need to find myself a good psychotherapist. Or maybe once I quit this job and find a new one all my ailments will suddenly disappear...cause maybe it's just being stuck in a crappy office environment for 9+ hours a day without being allowed to leave and breathe fresh air and soak up some socal sunlight. Who knows?

Someday soon I'll start commenting on politics again. Lately I've just been reading a lot of articles and nodding in agreement but can't find the energy to put my own spin on it. I'd like to get out of this rut ASAP but I'm not sure how. I really think all my problems will be solved when I secure new employment so if any of you miss the old Joyce rants...find me a new job!! ;)

That's all for now, time to veg out in front of the TV for another hour and a half or so until I can go home to my obese kitty.

On another note, in light of the department of education paying that guy to promote "No Child Left Behind" I wonder if the DOD is paying the makers of 24...If not they should be =) Those guys are definitely doing a good job explaining exactly why we need to be on offense and not on defense.

Catharsis.

I don't know what's wrong with me, I never do. Paul says I give up on life too easily, and he's right. In fact, before him I was even more ready to give up. Is it sad that he's the only thing that makes me feel tomorrow is worth surviving through? The only thing that makes me wonder if maybe the future is worth living.

When I was in New York with Helen last March I told her how I really feel about life, thinking maybe it wasn't just me. But of course, it is just me. Just me and my buddy Henry. She said it was morbid, and I didn't take it as an insult because it is. I am thankful, though, that there is now something in my life that makes me look forward to tomorrow instead of viewing it as a burden I'm forced to suffer through, like a rat in this giant wheel we call life.

Baby steps.

I guess it's just one of those things where you never really know if you've got it licked or not. Maybe it's still there, the perpetual monkey on my back. Or maybe it's gone and this is just "normal" - whatever that means. Having never been "normal" I'm not sure what it feels like. So many maybe's. Maybe all my joint pains are just a new manifestation of my f*ed up mental state. I didn't think about that until just now.

Let's accept, for purposes of discussion, that such appearances are as important as the Left tells us and for the very reasons they say. Then let's consider their behavior in light of that concern.

We all know -- and the Left is part of the "we" here -- that America is consistently the most generous nation in the world using any measuring yardstick. And aside from the Left's disingenuous criticisms of President Bush for not reacting quickly, sympathetically, and forcefully enough, they know we will be abundantly philanthropic toward the tsunami victims, in both our public and private capacities.

Well, if it's appearances they are concerned with, especially as they relate to convincing Muslims of the world of our benevolence, then can someone tell me why on earth they all lined up to condemn President Bush and the United States for being stingy? There is scarcely any possibility that their orchestrated condemnation of Bush and America as stingy didn't do immeasurably more damage to our relationship with Muslims than anything President Bush did in the days immediately following the disaster.

What's the lesson here? It is that the Left's goal is not to show America cares or to curry favor with the Muslim world, but to discredit President Bush and Republicans.

And while we're on the subject of wooing Muslims to believe in American benevolence, how do we explain the Democrats' public flailing of President Bush's Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales for internal legal memos that addressed the legal scope of torture against enemy combatant prisoners and detainees? These people know that Mr. Gonzales was not condoning torture even against this barbaric enemy. And they know how specious are their claims that these memos created a climate conducive to "Abu Ghraibs." Yet they are clearly implying otherwise in public hearings that will be heard loudly and clearly throughout the Muslim world and probably used as a terrorist recruiting tool. Again, nothing must interfere with their mission to discredit the Bush administration.

How about the Democrats' formal objection to certification of the presidential election results? They know that there was no widespread voter fraud by the GOP. But even if they deny that, many of them, including Barack Obama, have admitted that whatever irregularities may have occurred, there weren't enough to have altered the outcome of the election. Yet they are engaged now, as they were in 2000, in publicly undermining the integrity and reputation of our electoral system, based on trumped up, absurd, conspiracy theories of voter fraud with no substantiating evidence. Here again, they are dragging this nation through the mud for base partisan gain.

In other news I just found out one of my friend's cats died =( He was just a kitten too. Poor thing had FIP and now I'm all paranoid for Taz. I should take her to a vet for her obesity problem anyway.

Of course, I'm too broke to afford a trip to the vet. Must..stop...now...or I'll start bitching again.

My brand new select comfort, sleep number bed arrived yesterday and Paul had it all set up before I got home =) No more morning back pain courtesy of my lovely mommy and daddy!

One more miscellaneous thing...my parents want to transfer my stock-trust-account-thingy into my name (without their names on it) and have put me in charge of figuring out how to do that. Anyone? =)

I've been watching/reading a lot of the tsunami coverage which I'm sure everyone is well aware of...I found this organization which (according to the Better Business Bureau) uses 98 cents of every dollar donated towards actual programs and not administrative costs/fundraising...it's called AmeriCares.Org so please please donate whatever you can.

It really irks me how a lot of liberals can't even give the President props in areas where he obviously deserves them. Take this girl who is a friend of a friend:

great to know US is donating so much money to help out... even though it feels like the government is donating so much for a reputation and pride... all for the wrong reasons.

isnt it funny how we're the first to say.. we gotta help! and also the first to say... let's bomb the living shit out of them!

you think bush would have been as genorous if he was asked to donate fuel instead of money? hehehe.

Her ignorance is really quite sickening, she is clearly a product of liberal dickheaded professors...First of all the US (government and private) is and has been the number one donor for charitable causes throughout the world. President Bush increased the amount of money given to the UN AIDS program (increased from the Clinton years). To say that we are donating simply for "reputation and pride" is completely daft and ignorant. Liberals just love to think the worst of America and Americans...why don't they just move to France (which by the by, gives 7 times LESS per capita then America does). I know I'm not being very articulate right now but I hope my irritation is showing. Americans are THE most generous people on the face of the planet and not only do we not get any recognition for it, we get accused of being stingy and of doing it just for show. That is just stupid and people who say things like that should take a long hard look at themselves and what kind of charitable things they themselves are doing. Americans don't donate money for recognition but we CERTAINLY don't do it to be chastised and told we are stingy and doing it just for our "reputation."

Now, I work in fundraising myself and I can tell all you retarded half-wit liberals out there that Republicans (and *gasp* those evil CEO's) give a buttload of money to charitable causes all the time while the lefty liberal Hollywood celebrities just attend charity events for FREE and essentially STEAL money from these charitable organizations by taking up the seat of someone who might actually PAY to be there.

Also, that little "first to bomb the living shit out of them" comment...again...shows her ignorance. We may have bombed Iraq (in order to remove Saddam Hussein's murderous, brutal regime) but we are also there rebuilding their broken country (which was by the way not in great shape before we started bombing thanks to that thug Saddam). Did we bomb Germany and Japan? And uh...what kind of shape are they in now? And thanks to which country? That's right: America.

I wish liberals would actually look at the facts and figures before spouting their mouths off. And for the girl who commented about how the government gave $1 billion when Florida had the hurricanes, I'm not sure if she's aware of this but Florida is a state within the United States, which means that Florida actually is the US government's responsibility whereas SE Asia is not. Seriously, do liberals not get simple things like that?

Okay, I'm done with my little rant now. I have one on Britney Spears coming up later. I'm going to just end with this link to AmeriCares.Org. Because America cares about all those tsunami victims and despite being called stingy warmongers we will continue to care about those suffering in all parts of the world and we will continue to give and to help.

Update: I found this quote on RWN and it's much more articulate than my rambling mess.

"We are six percent or less of the world's population, yet we give almost half. We are a very small number of people, relatively speaking, and we carry the weight of a dozen countries. Secondly, we maintain a military structure that keeps the peace of the world.....Who is in the Indian Ocean with the aircraft carriers, helicopters, skilled personal? No one has the infrastructure in the world, we spend almost half a trillion dollars a year on our military structure, which is essentially the fire department of the planet and is it always at the disposal of people hit in a national disaster.....Incidentally on food aid, we five 60% of all the food aid in the world. It is simply irresponsible to talk about the U.S. as anything other than the most generous nation on the planet." -- Charles Krauthammer