Chase wouldn't lower my credit card interest rate today.

And when relating the story to a family member today, I couldn't help but be reminded of this scene from Fight Club.

And after seeing that again, I've found inner peace.

If you get Fight Club, then you'll get this post. If not, well then, just bask in the beauty of controlled implosions. No actual buildings were harmed in the making of the film.

Beckham. Travolta. Cruise. Posh. Spice Girls. Planes. Movies. WTF?

Sorry for the title. It looks like some blatant sploggery, but the post is done and the clever title is nowhere to be found.

Current inertia has really reduced the amount of posting here, and writing anywhere else, and I find it a bit inexplicable, other than the drastic reduction in free time, and my refusal to abandon time with my family. that said, it's inexplicable that I'm not sleeping and actually posting, but I missed my niece's radio debut on last week, and needed to stay up late this week to hear her on the air. My first attempt at recording the stream has failed miserably, and to record a whole six hours looks like it will eat up a significant amount of hard drive space. But she sounded great, and I'm quite proud, not just that she's on the air, but that she stayed focused enough and worked hard enough to get this far. Focus is not easy for anyone anymore. Distractions seem to run the world. Shutting them off long enough to get something done is a feat that I find impressive.

Ok…so back to distractions, while listening to her show, I've been skipping around the Internets and found some individual pieces of information that add to a greater whole.

Item A

Victoria Beckham To Play Alien Bride In Scientology Film

Plus Item B

John Travolta offers to fly Spice Force One

Equals Conclusion C

Those Scientologists really loves them some Beckhams. I don't follow that close but I didn't think the Church of Hubbard had nabbed Posh and David yet, but come on. The Tom Cruise bankrolled movie that is not yet listed on IMDB.com and has been turned down by every studio is titled The Thetan. Can't we just go back to simpler, more innocent Hollywood? These developments would be significantly less creepy if this was just an outrageous lie constructed to bang Mrs. Beckham. Which this is obviously not, we're talking Cruise and Travolta here. I long to hear casting couch stories when I hear stuff like this. If I go to a hotel in the Los Angeles area will there be a copy of Dianetics in the night table?

If George Steinbrenner was this persistent maybe he would have landed David Ortiz years ago and saved himself some grief. You know, Air Force One is pretty cool plane, too, I hear, Travolta's not trying to fly that one, but with the President's approval rating lower than his college GPA plus his shoe size, I guess he's no trophy.

Super-Awesome Disregard.

I read Max Barry's books, actually just Jennifer Government so far. Sometimes I read what he writes online. Often I enjoy it.

Here's his recent post on DirecTV's blatant disregard for people on the Do Not Call list. It cannot be driven home enough how super awesome a post it is.

See what I did in that last sentence. I made like 12-15 (it was so many I just gave up counting) words into a link. I try to never do that. It lessens readability. Today that doesn't concern me. Reducing the linked text to just “recent post” or blatant disregard” are not things I care about today. I don't know why. I just figure it best to be upfront and honest about it.

Kissinger of Death

The president and vice president often meet with Henry Kissinger as an adviser. They do this in person, I would suppose so they can all compare hands and see whose hands have the most blood on them. Then they talk about the merits of certain brands of soap for removal of said blood. Unless of course they like to leave the dried blood on sometimes to remind their underlings of their unchecked power. This from CBS News:

Woodward also reports that the president and vice president often meet with Henry Kissinger, who was President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, as an adviser. Says Woodward, “Now what’s Kissinger’s advice? In Iraq, he declared very simply, ‘Victory is the only meaningful exit strategy.'” Woodward adds. “This is so fascinating. Kissinger’s fighting the Vietnam War again because, in his view, the problem in Vietnam was we lost our will.”

Quite disturbing.

And I'm ashamed that both New Jersey Democrats, Lautenberg and Menendez both supported the Torture Bill. Thanks guys. When's Ned Lamont moving to New Jersey?

Fear and Loathing Lacking at ESPN

Sadly I am removing the link to the columns of Hunter S. Thompson located at the ESPN web site. Rather than continuing to allow free access to the dear man's words and wit (and sometimes, bile), one must be an ESPN Insider to access the content. However, his final column for ESPN still remains public.

I understand the business of paid subscription web sites, but I don't understand why this particular content, which certainly expands beyond the sports world, is locked up. A fan of the author may not be a sports fan, but when dealing with a talent like Hunter S. Thompson, he could make an article about coupon clipping, pocket lint, or (insert dullest possible thing you can imagine here) a worthy read.

ESPN, you suck.

Oh, and in case you missed it earlier, here's the link to the Hunter S. Thompson entry at Wikipedia.

Mahalo.

More Fat for the Hogs

Rush Limbaugh has the rocks to charge people $49.95 to donate a 1 year subscription to his web site and newsletter. Considering that he's going to be doing the content anyway for people who subscribe to it, basically he's war profiteering under the guise of charity. Nice job, Fatty.

Ultra-conservative to insane viewpoints are one thing. Doctor shopping for prescription drugs is another. But please, oh please give me one good reason why I shouldn't send troops some non-perishable food that no matter the trans fat content will taste infinitely better than rations, or perhaps the much reuested clean underwear and socks (Mom wasn't kidding when she said to always make sure you have clean underwear. Particularly when you're thousands of miles from home and finding a laundromat not your top priority.), but instead give them access to a web site, since the guys on the front line need to know how you think Clinton is still responsible for today's problems. Because that's exactly what they need when they're picking up pieces of debris off the ground to weld on to their humvees. You know, the one's that use the armor.

I heard about this on Howard Stern this morning, and then read more online. I visited Rush's site hoping that it was already taken down with an apology for letting greed get in the way of charity. Perhaps if Mr. Limbaugh owned an oil company or weapons manufacturer this would not have happened. But since he doesn't he aparently needed some kind of way to cash in.

I noticed he wasn't on the air this afternoon. Hopefully someone was trying to talk some sense into him about this. There's no picture in this post because I don't want to look at him. But here's the obligatory link to his “Adopt a Soldier” program.

And here's a couple e-mail addresses that are attached to the site. In case you want to send “fan mail”:

eibcollection@rushlimbaugh.com

memberservice@rushlimbaugh.com