Strained...
Since I moved back to Rhode Island, the frequency of my blogging has been tenuous at best. I've vented about a few things that have stressed me out, but on the whole I have been out of it and I haven't explained why this is to anyone.

Seeing that this is supposed to be a news blog, occasionally littered with some amusing antidotes, I don't feel that this is the right forum to air all of my personal frustrations. I doubt that those who read this blog on a regular basis would even be interested in reading them, and those that read it would probably call me an idiot for getting myself into certain situations that I'm embroiled in right now.

As it stands right now, I am broke, unemployed, and I might not have any consistant online access soon. That can't be the biggest of my worries, because I soon might have to wonder if I can take a shower on a regular basis, have the ability to cook for myself, and wonder everyday if I'm going to still own my car and whether or not it has been keyed, vandalized, or burglarized. I would like to say that updating Loaded Mouth is high on my list of corcerns, but I can't. I've got a lot of shit to worry about right now.

These situations have been causing their fair share of depression, and I guess that's to be expected. Getting slapped with a $1400 bill because you broke your lease to move back home only to realize that your standad of living is going to drop considerably unless you shack up with your parents for a longer amount of time then you originally imagined will cause depression. I'm 25 years old and can live on my own, I never planned on living in this is house for an extended period of time again. Being here, broke and unemployed, makes me think of myself as being a failure, and depression comes with that feeling.

To top all of that of with worse news for the website, I might not have consistent online access for a while. I love to research and write, and I am constantly trying to improve my writing, hoping that I give other people a different prospective with which to view current affairs, but I fear that I might not be able to do this soon, and I don't know when I can continue. I'm going to give it my best shot, though.

Matt will continue to make posts to the blog, but Loaded Mouth is my baby and I can't expect him to shoulder the whole load.

I can only take things day by day right now and hope for the best. Unfourantely, I might be posting links to a tip jar soon.

Random notes
I haven't had too much time to post blog entries lately. Sigh.

I had a laugh from the Jim Rome radio show today. Usually, when the hosts on sports talk ready turn to politics, I cringe. But, to paraphrase Rome's views on Bush's reasons for going to war, "He's [Saddam] got his finger on the button! He's gonna do it! We have to go after him!, we have to get him, we have to... Just kidding." Anyone who listens to sports talk knows that Republican views can dominate those airwaves if the topic turns to politics, so the fact that a big host like Jim Rome is cracking on Bush, basically calling him a liar, goes to show that mainstream opinion is turning against the shrub. It's about damn time.

Buzzflash is good enough to provide us with a list of Bush lies about the war in Iraq. Be sure to send the link to your favorite journalist and ask them why the media is only grilling him on 16 little words. There's more words to go after now, baby. If an article from today's edition of Salon is any indication, Bush's honeymoon with the press is finally over. Maybe the press will finally start holding this man accountable for his statements, and subsequent actions. On that topic, seeing this exchange between the press and new White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan makes me smile.

The House has voted 400-21 against the FCC's measure to increase consolidation of the major media. Yay!

A general comment about Indymedia: lately, they have been the only news sources where you can find stories about who is protesting against the government, where, and how large of a group they are. In the past couple of months, there have been protests against Bush's fundraising events in different states, and we haven't even heard a peep about this in the paper or on the boob tube. To take other left wing websites to task, I haven't seen them print these stories, either. Indymedia is just a great resource to tell you what people like you and I are doing.

Newsblast!
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) lobbies for the repeal or revision of the USA Patriot Act after seeing claims of civil rights abuses against muslim prisoners in a recent report from the Department of Justice. For example: "The dozens of reported abuses include a claim by a Muslim prisoner that he was ordered to 'remove his shirt so that the officer could use it to shine his shoes'' and a report by another inmate who said a prison doctor told him, 'If I was in charge, I would execute every one of you...because of the crimes you all did.'"

Indymedia Montreal reports on the Canadian government's attempts to deport Palestinian refugees back to the Middle East.

Another former Army official has warned the US about how dangerous and radioactive the use of depleted uranium ammunition is. When will the government start listening?

While going to take his license test, an 85 year old California man crashes into the DMV building. He, uhm.. Failed.

In Louisville, KY, 900 pople gather at a bowling alley for Lebowski Fest. The article includes a picture of Jeff Dowd, who the Dude's character was based off of, bowling. He kinda looks like some geek dressed up like the Dude...

Bush doesn't think we need an ozone layer
I don't even see how positions like this can be defended. The Bush administration is seeking to trash a treaty that protects the ozone layer, thus helping the human population of this planet be protected from the radiation given off by the sun. The threaty, Montreal Protocol, which had the support of the Reagan administration back in 1987 when it was conceived, phases out the use of chemicals that can damage the ozone layer.

But Bush wants the use of methyl bromide, what the Independent says is, "the greatest attacker of ozone left in industrialised countries," to increase threefold. This chemical, because it is so damaging, is supposed to be phased out from industrial use.

What's so important about this chemical? It's a pesticide that the Bush administration wants to defend the use of methyl bromide so golf courses can use it to tend to their lands, among other things. The Bush administration also wants to exploit a loophole in the Montreal Protocol to increase the usage of this damaging chemical.

What's the human cost of the US tending to its golf courses with methyl bromide? Scientists think that adherence to the Montreal Protocol will prevent 2 million cancer cases a year in the US and Europe alone.

Does Bush even understand what he is doing? And with his administration supporting actions from US industry that will cause thousands, if not millions of people to suffer and maybe die from cancer, can anybody question why the rest of the world seems to despise the US?

RIAA opens up a new front in the war on file sharing
The RIAA is making good on its promise to sue people who share files, getting 871 federal subpoenas and going at a rate of getting 75 new subpoenas each day.

They are filing subpoenas against file sharers who have as little as 8 files shared on their systems.

Of course, they still can't release a good album. But, by golly, they will find a way to make money from their business! Why produce a good product that people would buy, and thus the record companies would make profit from, when you can shake people down for their pocket change? It's the American way!

Let me be upfront about this: I personally hope that RIAA-affilated labels of out of business. I'm sick of their whining and bitching and pissing and moaning about how they are losing so much money when they market Britney Spears, Justin Timberfuck, Limp Suckit, Metaliccunt, any "star" from Amercan fuckin Idol, Linkin Suck, Godsmacksuck, Slipsuck, Disturbed(suck), Jessica Whoreson, Christina Hookerlara,etc. If this is the music that you are marketing and are complaining about losing money when people like me don't buy it, you deserve to go out of business. Maybe you are losing money because the country is in a recession, people are out of work and don't have a lot of money to spend, and you're releasing shitty albums by shitty bands usually for $18-20 a pop. Ever factor that into your business equation, you fucking nitwits?

If you are afraid of getting a smack down from the record labels who wouldn't know what good music was if it crawled up their leg and fucked them in the ass, use an anonymous proxy server.

More hard-hitting news from the New York Times
Here's a headline I ran across on the New York Times website for a Reuters article: "Bush Predicts That His Tax Cuts Will Soon Produce More Jobs". Wow. Let's have a headline that says what Bush predicts, but not what actually happens! Thanks guys, I'm sure you'll get a Pulitzer for this one! And the NY Times is supposedly the biggest example of liberal media for those who believe in that myth.

While being littered with quotes from Bush, the article does not quote a Democrat. In fact, in only mentions the Democrat arguments once, and the next paragraph is a rebuttal from Bush. This is supposed to be fair, balanced, and unbiased reporting?

The final paragraph quotes Bush (again): "I urge Congress to make spending discipline a priority, so that we can cut the deficit in half over the next five years." The article neglects to mention that spending has done nothing but grow during his tenure.

I can't believe that this is what passes for journalism in the 21st century. NY Times should try to save face with a footnote about the author. Since we don't actually know who the author of this story is, I have the perfect footnote: "The New York Times will identify the author of this story once his lips have been surgically removed from the President's ass."