forwarded email that i will never respond to again because the answers are here

1. LIVING ARRANGEMENT?
inside the house.

2. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING NOW?
the cryptonomicon and this other book who's title escapes me about the history of western civilization.

3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
My mouse. although there is also a pen and a brush.

4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
uh.. i dunno, twister? i don't play a lot of board games.

5. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
digifoto, CA?

6a. FAVORITE SMELLS?
do people really sit down and think about what they like to smell?

6b. LEAST FAVORITE SMELLS?
i dunno. i suppose the usual... anything in the area of defecation, rotting or decaying i suppose.

7. FAVORITE SOUND?
unzipping of pants? i dunno. i don't give this sort of thing a lot of thought, honestly.

8. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
the worst? i dunno... i guess dehydration and famine while having to watch your children die? i've had a pretty sheltered life, i'm not sure what the *worst* feeling in the world would be. ask someone who's suffered more.

9. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKEUP IN THE MORNING?
still alive? ok then.

10. FAVORITE COLOR?
i don't want to be unfair to the other colors by picking a favorite.

11. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE?
i don't usually answer the phone, the machine catches it.

12. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?
i'm not breeding.

13. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN LIFE?
To crush your enemies, drive them before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST?
depends on who's asking.

19.WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
83 mazda glc, fuel burning.

20. IF YOU COULD MEET ONE PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE?
i would be lonely.

21. FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK?
i am not an alcoholic. i resent that. martini's are clear, like water. there's nothing wrong with drinking alone. leave me alone!

22. WHAT IS YOUR ZODIAC SIGN?
aquarius

23. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI?
yes, why, are they bad for you? are they poisonous? what an odd question to ask...

24. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB YOU WANTED WHAT WOULD IT BE?
being god. even if you do nothing, people still praise your name!

25. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR?
clear. any other color i wanted i'd just do...

26. EVER BEEN IN LOVE?
my husband assures me that i have.

27. IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL?
i don't see any glass? what glass? where?

28. FAVORITE MOVIES:
braincandy, midnight in the garden of good and evil, silence of the lambs. this is not a fair question. i can't possibly remember all of the movies that i love.

28a. FAVORITE MUSICIANS/GROUPS:
uhh.. damn. i dunno. love spirals downwards, radiohead, depeche mode, massive attack, delerium and countless others

29. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS?
wouldn't i have to? if i were typing with my fingers on the wrong keys, no one would be able to tell what i was typing, right?

30. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
the stuffed bodies of my ex's

31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER?
you know, they've all been so good to me.

32. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH?
mud wrestling

33. SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.
you paint a mean ass.

34. PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
i only sent this back to the people that it came from. i suppose one of them might tell me to shut up.

35. PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
myself. i'm no longer talking to me.

even when he's good, he's bad

The New York Times reported today that President Bush insists on compelling California to include ethanol in all gasoline in preference to MTBE or other oxygenate substances designed to reduce air pollution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/12/politics/12ETHA.html

There are several potential problems with this, including the facts that this move will increase prices by 5 cents a gallon and that environmentalists state that there are now cheaper and better ways to reduce exhaust emissions than ethanol. Most analysts today conclude that the whole gasahol movement is driven by the need to support corn prices and keep up the demand for corn, with very little benefit to either the environment or to the public. Remember, if farmers divert corn supplies to expensive ethanol production, they will increase the price of food corn that is used not just for human consumption but also as feed for farm animals. This increases the price of all food. Interestingly, some of the supporters of the president's latest pronouncement include Democratic Senators Tom Daschle and Tom Harkin. Now why would these guys promote the same agenda as the Prez? Hint: they harken from South Dakota and Iowa, where the corn is grown from which the ethanol is made...

But probably the biggest and most troubling problem is that this will benefit, big time, one of the largest ethanol producers, the infamous Archer Daniels Midland corporation, which, purely by coincidence of course, is one of the largest Republican and Bush campaign contributors.

You all remember ADM, the "Supermarket to the World", which in 1996 or so was convicted of price fixing and subject to the largest penalty ever (at the time). The price fixing of lysine and citric acid drove up the cost of all food and lined the pockets of their stockholders at our expense. At the time of that $100 million fine, it left ADM with a mere BILLION dollars in cash and a 30% increase in the stock price. Tough penalty. If my fading memory serves me correctly, the very next year they were convicted of an identical crime in Europe.

You can read about the US price fixing conviction...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/october96/adm_10-15.html

http://www.assetpub.com/archive/ps/97-01psdec_jan/dec-jan97PS12.html

They finally caught up with the executives themselves and convicted them of their criminal conduct...

http://www.infoshop.org/news4/adm_nailed.html

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/1997/February97/084crm.htm

They've also been slammed by the usual OSHA violations and the like...

http://www.osha.gov/media/oshnews/jan00/trade-20000119.html

Let's face it. These guys are crooks. Convicted felons. BAD corporate citizens. They don't give a crap about fair markets, consumers, their employees... all they care about is stockholder profits. So why do we keep tossing bones in their direction? President Bush appears to have an agenda that he does not even attempt to conceal: to punish California for not supporting him and his policies, to benefit rich corporations at the expense of the consumer and the environment (and in this case it is fair to state that these are EVIL corporations), and to promote the old fashioned Washington tradition of corporate welfare in exchange for campaign contributions. The sad part is the Daschle and Harkin have joined his ranks.

Guess they really are all cut out of the same cloth.

Verdi
(posted by charlotte)

Sometimes I get really annoyed when the blog goes down. But it's back up now, so I'll stop complainin'