Sunday, August 24, 2003
Here's a good lead-in to another of my pet peeves. I was at Lowes today to buy some stuff to make a screen for my basement window. My original plan was to just get some Fiberglas screen and tack it in place with some thin strips of wood. After getting to Lowes and looking around, I notice that actual screening materials are pretty cheap. I needed some screen ($4), about 10 feet of screen frame ($5), four frame corners ($1), a screening tool ($2) and a 25 foot package of spline to hold the screen cloth in the frame. And here things got interesting. They had three sizes of spline near the screen frames; .125, .140 and .170 inches. And of course there's no info on which to use. So now it's off to find the ghost clerk.
I walk up and down the aisles and finally find some guy working in hardware the next aisle over. Naturally it's his first day on the job and he is clueless. He says there's a guy over yonder who could help -- naturally there's no one to be found over yonder. I finally find a guy stacking lumber and he says he knows about the screening stuff -- it's his department.
He says you need to use 5/16s inch spline. I told him they were all in decimals and tried to convert from 5/16s to decimals as we walked along. I rapidly realized that .170 was no where near 5/16s. We got there and I mentioned that none of the splines I could find were that large. He said, you're right, you use the .140 one. He picked up a package and put it against the frame and said "see, it's the correct one" and then I pointed out he picked up a .125 package. He said, "yeah, either one -- it's up to you." I told him I was asking for help because I didn't know which to use. I asked if there was some else who worked this department. And he told me he was the one who was the "expert." -- sigh -- Finally he said there was another guy who could probably tell us and we went over there. Naturally this expert says to use the 1point40 stuff -- but any of it will work pretty good. At that point I walked away and decided to take my chances with the $3 package of .140 stuff.
Yesterday I went to a local market to buy some groceries. One of the items I bought were frozen egg noodles from a local restaurant. I take my stuff to the counter and the cashier asks "what's the deal with these?" and holds up the noodles. I ask her what she means. She asks what's the big deal about these noodles. By this time I'm thoroughly confused and ask her "pardon me -- what do you mean?" She says why are they frozen, what's so special about these noodles, do you keep them frozen, why are you buying them, blah, blah, blah. I say, they're frozen because I got them out of the freezer that you guys keep them in because the package says "KEEP FROZEN" on it and just check me out already. Then she asks a few more questions about the noodles and then asks why I'm wearing a hat that says, "Born Again Pagan" and what's a PA-GAN anyway? I tell her, "it's people who eat frozen noodles" and grab my groceries and thankfully exit.
This all emphasizes something about so many stores these days. What the hell ever happened to service. Unfortunately, I happen to know. It's all in cost these days. If one store can sell something for 3.14159% cheaper than another everyone is going to go to the cheaper store. It doesn't matter that there is one attendant in the entire building (which are rapidly overtaking airplane hangers in size) and he just started yesterday. The old-timer that had 2 months of experience and knew the difference between a hammer and a saw has moved off to some other minimum wage job where they're also treated like dirt. The store is so afraid of being caught having more than one attendant for every zillion customers, that they schedule practically by the minute. You get to work the 12:45pm to 13:50 rush and then get a vacation from 13:51 until the 16:15 rush when you get to work another 89 minutes, but not however in the same area as you did yesterday -- they wouldn't want you to get too familiar with the products so you might accidentally help a customer find something instead of using the standard, "if we have it, it's over there" line.
I really don't want to do my shopping in a vast warehouse of mountains of stuff that gets rearranged every month with shelves that are so high they give you vertigo to look up at them and the only clerk you can see is the one who is just getting off duty or has just turned off the light in the cash register row you just stepped into carrying your priceless merchandise (and I don't mean valuable -- I mean they don't have price tags on them) that you wandered aimlessly trying to find and finally did find in the row past the row they said that if they had them, they be in there. Am I really asking too much?
2fers: http://www.lowes.com and http://www.walmart.com/
I walk up and down the aisles and finally find some guy working in hardware the next aisle over. Naturally it's his first day on the job and he is clueless. He says there's a guy over yonder who could help -- naturally there's no one to be found over yonder. I finally find a guy stacking lumber and he says he knows about the screening stuff -- it's his department.
He says you need to use 5/16s inch spline. I told him they were all in decimals and tried to convert from 5/16s to decimals as we walked along. I rapidly realized that .170 was no where near 5/16s. We got there and I mentioned that none of the splines I could find were that large. He said, you're right, you use the .140 one. He picked up a package and put it against the frame and said "see, it's the correct one" and then I pointed out he picked up a .125 package. He said, "yeah, either one -- it's up to you." I told him I was asking for help because I didn't know which to use. I asked if there was some else who worked this department. And he told me he was the one who was the "expert." -- sigh -- Finally he said there was another guy who could probably tell us and we went over there. Naturally this expert says to use the 1point40 stuff -- but any of it will work pretty good. At that point I walked away and decided to take my chances with the $3 package of .140 stuff.
Yesterday I went to a local market to buy some groceries. One of the items I bought were frozen egg noodles from a local restaurant. I take my stuff to the counter and the cashier asks "what's the deal with these?" and holds up the noodles. I ask her what she means. She asks what's the big deal about these noodles. By this time I'm thoroughly confused and ask her "pardon me -- what do you mean?" She says why are they frozen, what's so special about these noodles, do you keep them frozen, why are you buying them, blah, blah, blah. I say, they're frozen because I got them out of the freezer that you guys keep them in because the package says "KEEP FROZEN" on it and just check me out already. Then she asks a few more questions about the noodles and then asks why I'm wearing a hat that says, "Born Again Pagan" and what's a PA-GAN anyway? I tell her, "it's people who eat frozen noodles" and grab my groceries and thankfully exit.
This all emphasizes something about so many stores these days. What the hell ever happened to service. Unfortunately, I happen to know. It's all in cost these days. If one store can sell something for 3.14159% cheaper than another everyone is going to go to the cheaper store. It doesn't matter that there is one attendant in the entire building (which are rapidly overtaking airplane hangers in size) and he just started yesterday. The old-timer that had 2 months of experience and knew the difference between a hammer and a saw has moved off to some other minimum wage job where they're also treated like dirt. The store is so afraid of being caught having more than one attendant for every zillion customers, that they schedule practically by the minute. You get to work the 12:45pm to 13:50 rush and then get a vacation from 13:51 until the 16:15 rush when you get to work another 89 minutes, but not however in the same area as you did yesterday -- they wouldn't want you to get too familiar with the products so you might accidentally help a customer find something instead of using the standard, "if we have it, it's over there" line.
I really don't want to do my shopping in a vast warehouse of mountains of stuff that gets rearranged every month with shelves that are so high they give you vertigo to look up at them and the only clerk you can see is the one who is just getting off duty or has just turned off the light in the cash register row you just stepped into carrying your priceless merchandise (and I don't mean valuable -- I mean they don't have price tags on them) that you wandered aimlessly trying to find and finally did find in the row past the row they said that if they had them, they be in there. Am I really asking too much?
2fers: http://www.lowes.com and http://www.walmart.com/
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
I finally read one letter too far. Today's local paper had yet another religious whacko whining about gay marriages. The writer called them disease ridden, immoral scabs on society -- well not the scabs part, but they were thinking it. They keep bringing up that "my god says it's wrong" stuff. Oh puh-leeze.
I think right now is a good time for all religious types to keep a low profile and reflect on just how much crap in the world can be traced back to one god or another. Between Jews, Moslems, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and the list goes on, they seem to want to kill a whole lot of folks. The middle east is a powder keg with mindless infants playing with matches sitting on top and tossing them at each other. The catholics have so many skeletons rattling in their closet, that they can't even get the door shut anymore. The christians have so many bad-hair born-again preachers whose pulpit is entwined with their wallet and their minds are running on empty, it should be embarrassing to be seen near one.
All that crap going on and you want to raise hell because two guys or two gals want to live with one another -- what the hell's the matter -- is that too peaceful for you? I don't get it. Would being gay be more acceptable if they drove car bombs into 7-11s or blew up scared kids at abortion clinics? What is it about two gay people dedicating their lives to each other that scares the right so much?
The funny thing is that a lot of the gay stereotypes are correct. They do tend to be better educated, better paid, more intelligent, more physically fit, and of course have a better fashion sense. Would you really be happier with a mullet haired beer-drinking idiot and his pit bull and rusty Ford parked on the lawn than two gay guys with a nicely landscaped lawn and color coordinated drapes in the window?
When gays start banding together wearing Gucci white robes with matching torches threatening to hang (neatly of course) the next heterosexual who walks down the street, then I'll worry. For now, I'd be much happier with a nice quiet gay couple next door instead of the drunk, rock and roll playing, fire burning, dog chasing, noise making, beer drinking heterosexuals I'm stuck with.
2fers: http://www.ngltf.org/ and http://www.catholic.org/
I think right now is a good time for all religious types to keep a low profile and reflect on just how much crap in the world can be traced back to one god or another. Between Jews, Moslems, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and the list goes on, they seem to want to kill a whole lot of folks. The middle east is a powder keg with mindless infants playing with matches sitting on top and tossing them at each other. The catholics have so many skeletons rattling in their closet, that they can't even get the door shut anymore. The christians have so many bad-hair born-again preachers whose pulpit is entwined with their wallet and their minds are running on empty, it should be embarrassing to be seen near one.
All that crap going on and you want to raise hell because two guys or two gals want to live with one another -- what the hell's the matter -- is that too peaceful for you? I don't get it. Would being gay be more acceptable if they drove car bombs into 7-11s or blew up scared kids at abortion clinics? What is it about two gay people dedicating their lives to each other that scares the right so much?
The funny thing is that a lot of the gay stereotypes are correct. They do tend to be better educated, better paid, more intelligent, more physically fit, and of course have a better fashion sense. Would you really be happier with a mullet haired beer-drinking idiot and his pit bull and rusty Ford parked on the lawn than two gay guys with a nicely landscaped lawn and color coordinated drapes in the window?
When gays start banding together wearing Gucci white robes with matching torches threatening to hang (neatly of course) the next heterosexual who walks down the street, then I'll worry. For now, I'd be much happier with a nice quiet gay couple next door instead of the drunk, rock and roll playing, fire burning, dog chasing, noise making, beer drinking heterosexuals I'm stuck with.
2fers: http://www.ngltf.org/ and http://www.catholic.org/
Saturday, August 16, 2003
Lawns suck! I finally got the back yard mowed (most of it anyway). Yesterday I did the front. I mowed and then yanked the weeds from the sidewalks and driveway and then got out the old weedwacker and trimmed around the house and the edges of the pavement and the trees and poles and what-have-you.
The back yard is another story. It's mostly mowed now except for a patch near the house. When I moved here a year ago it was bare mud with an occasional weed. Now it's about half weed, half grass. These weeds are supposed to be chicory. They grow about an inch an hour and end up with a pretty blue flower on top after a couple of weeks of being ignored. I'll pull a bunch up after a rain. I tried before a rain and the roots stay in the ground and regrow as soon as I turn my back on them. If it's been raining, I can get a lot of the root along with the plant -- and what a root. Some are almost an inch in diameter and several inches to a foot long. They are fading away, but very slowly. At least now I can recognize grass in the area. And let's face it, scrawny weeds with pretty blue flowers beat dry stinky mud any day.
Oh, I use one of those old-fashioned non-powered reel mowers from Scots. It does a pretty good job assuming you don't let the grass grow too tall, it isn't too wet and you don't have a lot of twigs. A teeny-tiny twig will stop it cold. But it's pretty nice overall. Nice and quiet, no gas and exhaust to worry about it. It's light - I can carry it in one hand up and down to the basement with no hassle. All-in-all a good deal. It's pretty relaxing to use. No fighting with a pull start or worrying about running over a toe.
Weeds in the cracks of the driveway drive me nuts though. How the hell do you kill the little buggers? I've poured on weed killer that has so many warnings on it I keep looking for EPA helicopters to land in my yard and cart me and it away while bundled up in blue tox-suits ala X-Files. When I pull them up, you can almost catch the new ones peeking out as I turn away and toss the weeds away. Cajoling, watering, fertilizing, and playing Barry Manilow music has all not helped my grass grow one little bit. But the weeds? I run them over, pour oil and weedkiller on them, pull them out, scuff them, and there, in the middle of barren concrete and blacktop in the full sun with nary a sprinkler around, they keep coming back hale and hearty.
I figure I have a couple of options. I could tear out all the soil and replace it with green asphalt or Astroturf, but I figure the weeds would come on up through whatever coating I can come up with. Another choice would be to just plant it over with shrubs and wild flowers and say it's a freeform garden. On the other hand, maybe if I start to fertilize and water the weeds and otherwise cultivate them like a lawn, they will die off and follow my grass into oblivion.
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/ and http://www.turfoutlet.com/
The back yard is another story. It's mostly mowed now except for a patch near the house. When I moved here a year ago it was bare mud with an occasional weed. Now it's about half weed, half grass. These weeds are supposed to be chicory. They grow about an inch an hour and end up with a pretty blue flower on top after a couple of weeks of being ignored. I'll pull a bunch up after a rain. I tried before a rain and the roots stay in the ground and regrow as soon as I turn my back on them. If it's been raining, I can get a lot of the root along with the plant -- and what a root. Some are almost an inch in diameter and several inches to a foot long. They are fading away, but very slowly. At least now I can recognize grass in the area. And let's face it, scrawny weeds with pretty blue flowers beat dry stinky mud any day.
Oh, I use one of those old-fashioned non-powered reel mowers from Scots. It does a pretty good job assuming you don't let the grass grow too tall, it isn't too wet and you don't have a lot of twigs. A teeny-tiny twig will stop it cold. But it's pretty nice overall. Nice and quiet, no gas and exhaust to worry about it. It's light - I can carry it in one hand up and down to the basement with no hassle. All-in-all a good deal. It's pretty relaxing to use. No fighting with a pull start or worrying about running over a toe.
Weeds in the cracks of the driveway drive me nuts though. How the hell do you kill the little buggers? I've poured on weed killer that has so many warnings on it I keep looking for EPA helicopters to land in my yard and cart me and it away while bundled up in blue tox-suits ala X-Files. When I pull them up, you can almost catch the new ones peeking out as I turn away and toss the weeds away. Cajoling, watering, fertilizing, and playing Barry Manilow music has all not helped my grass grow one little bit. But the weeds? I run them over, pour oil and weedkiller on them, pull them out, scuff them, and there, in the middle of barren concrete and blacktop in the full sun with nary a sprinkler around, they keep coming back hale and hearty.
I figure I have a couple of options. I could tear out all the soil and replace it with green asphalt or Astroturf, but I figure the weeds would come on up through whatever coating I can come up with. Another choice would be to just plant it over with shrubs and wild flowers and say it's a freeform garden. On the other hand, maybe if I start to fertilize and water the weeds and otherwise cultivate them like a lawn, they will die off and follow my grass into oblivion.
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/ and http://www.turfoutlet.com/
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Today I spent most (55 minutes) of my lunch hour on another futile mission. I recently went on a short vacation and filled out the US Postal Service form for holding mail. There's a block on it for the date to restart delivery and a bigger block to check that says "Hold until picked up" and with an extra note that says "you need to understand that the mail will not be delivered until it is personally picked up." And I put a big check mark in it. I put the form in the mailbox before I left and sure enough no mail was delivered. OK - today I go to pick up the undelivered mail. The post office is clear across town from where I work and takes me almost 25 minutes to get to. Then I wait in line for about 10 minutes more while the lady in front of me jaws with the post office worker. Finally I get to the line and ask for mail. She asks for my driver's license which I give to her and she asks if it has my current address -- I tell her on the back. Naturally when she looks she uses the wrong address. I tell her and she wanders off to check for my mail. Guess what? Yep - it's being delivered. (At least it was delivered and it all just fit into my mailbox this time.)
Last week I ordered an LCD monitor from Dell. When selecting the delivery type, I chose the slower ground delivery. I wanted it to come by UPS instead of by air. The next day I call for a UPS shipping number -- they tell me Airborne Express - rats! I get the tracking number and call Airborne and tell them to hold the package for pickup at their office since I'm not home during the day. They say OK we will. I get home and there's a message on my answering machine saying my package is being held for me at their office and I can come and pick it up. I double-check the Airborne website that night before going to bed and sure enough, it shows the package as being held for pick up. (you can see where this is going, right?)
The next morning I get up an hour early and make the 14 mile trip to Airborne. I get there and the package is being delivered. I have to admit I went off at the clerk behind the counter. This is about the third time this same exact thing has happened. I make the 28 mile round trip just to be told -- oops, it's not here, it's being delivered. And then end up making the 28 mile round trip again. So that afternoon I call Airborne -- again -- and ask if the package is there for my pickup this evening. They say it is. I ask again -- can you physically see it? and they insist it's there. 28 miles later I finally have my monitor at home. sigh....
2fers: http://www.ups.com/ and http://www.mbe.com/
Last week I ordered an LCD monitor from Dell. When selecting the delivery type, I chose the slower ground delivery. I wanted it to come by UPS instead of by air. The next day I call for a UPS shipping number -- they tell me Airborne Express - rats! I get the tracking number and call Airborne and tell them to hold the package for pickup at their office since I'm not home during the day. They say OK we will. I get home and there's a message on my answering machine saying my package is being held for me at their office and I can come and pick it up. I double-check the Airborne website that night before going to bed and sure enough, it shows the package as being held for pick up. (you can see where this is going, right?)
The next morning I get up an hour early and make the 14 mile trip to Airborne. I get there and the package is being delivered. I have to admit I went off at the clerk behind the counter. This is about the third time this same exact thing has happened. I make the 28 mile round trip just to be told -- oops, it's not here, it's being delivered. And then end up making the 28 mile round trip again. So that afternoon I call Airborne -- again -- and ask if the package is there for my pickup this evening. They say it is. I ask again -- can you physically see it? and they insist it's there. 28 miles later I finally have my monitor at home. sigh....
2fers: http://www.ups.com/ and http://www.mbe.com/
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Bitch and moan time again. I just finished doing some grocery shopping. Why do people get so stupid in grocery stores? Here's just a few of latest. The vertical freezers full of frozen food. You know the ones, with glass fronts? Glass that one can see through? Why is it so many stand there with the door open trying to figure out what to buy? Close the damn door! You're melting my pizza rolls!
And when they do finally figure out which $1 frozen pizza to buy -- they change their mind about 3 aisles over -- and then leave the frozen pizza on the shelf next to the canned corn. Speaking of corn -- why go through all the hassle of blocking the corn on the cob display shucking corn?? If they were charging by the pound I could understand, but they're not. It's 8 for $2 or whatever -- corn husk or not. I don't have all day to waste while you peel your corn so it will dry out sooner.
BTW, I'm really glad I'm old enough to enjoy the $2 box of generic toasted oat rings as much as the $4 box of Cheerios. Not that all generic cereals taste good, but most do.
Oh - and the buy one get another free bakery goods -- I hate that! I'm single, OK? (the way I complain what do you expect?) I don't need two bags of 24 rolls or two pumpkin pies. I just want one. As it is I usually have to feed 3 or 4 of the dozen I buy to the squirrels anyway. So not only am I wasting the 2 or 3 I don't eat, but I also have to pay for the second bag or other whatever it is they're giving you "free."
And would it really hurt to have a clerk or two roaming the aisles -- so you can ask them about prices that stores don't put on their products!! You're running a grocery store, not a guessing game -- put PRICES on stuff. At least mark the shelf someplace near the item. I hate when you buy some little bit of weird mishappen herb and when you get to the checkout line, it ends up being $34.50 a pound and then you have to tell the checkout person you don't want it and they give you that dirty look like why did you take it if you didn't want it and who would pay that much for some weird little herb anyway and I don't want to stand here and push keys and get hassled by pissed off customers who can't find what they want because the store doesn't want to pay enough to hire help who actually care about what they're doing and know that a banana is code 4355 and not have to peruse a list of junk the size of the King James bible looking for whatever odd number belongs to the fruit that they forget to stick on which when they do stick on, you can't get off without leaving a thin paste of god-knows what kind of glue that after years of eating apples and pears will gum up your insides and cause who-knows what brand of interrectal cancer all because the stupid store can't be bothered to hire enough help.
Sheesh -- I told you I just finished shopping.
And why do they always double-bag with those flimsy ass plastic bags? You buy a carton of milk and the bagger will stuff it into two plastic bags and then tie the top so tight you have to use a table saw at home just to open the stupid bag. And why is it so hard to open a plastic bag, but it will slice open as soon as you look at it leaving veggies and candy bars hidden in the dark deep recesses of the trunk where you don't find them until the hottest day of the summer when you toss your white shirt in the trunk right on top of a month old moldy molten candy bar.
2fers: http://www.kroger.com/ and http://www.wm.com/
And when they do finally figure out which $1 frozen pizza to buy -- they change their mind about 3 aisles over -- and then leave the frozen pizza on the shelf next to the canned corn. Speaking of corn -- why go through all the hassle of blocking the corn on the cob display shucking corn?? If they were charging by the pound I could understand, but they're not. It's 8 for $2 or whatever -- corn husk or not. I don't have all day to waste while you peel your corn so it will dry out sooner.
BTW, I'm really glad I'm old enough to enjoy the $2 box of generic toasted oat rings as much as the $4 box of Cheerios. Not that all generic cereals taste good, but most do.
Oh - and the buy one get another free bakery goods -- I hate that! I'm single, OK? (the way I complain what do you expect?) I don't need two bags of 24 rolls or two pumpkin pies. I just want one. As it is I usually have to feed 3 or 4 of the dozen I buy to the squirrels anyway. So not only am I wasting the 2 or 3 I don't eat, but I also have to pay for the second bag or other whatever it is they're giving you "free."
And would it really hurt to have a clerk or two roaming the aisles -- so you can ask them about prices that stores don't put on their products!! You're running a grocery store, not a guessing game -- put PRICES on stuff. At least mark the shelf someplace near the item. I hate when you buy some little bit of weird mishappen herb and when you get to the checkout line, it ends up being $34.50 a pound and then you have to tell the checkout person you don't want it and they give you that dirty look like why did you take it if you didn't want it and who would pay that much for some weird little herb anyway and I don't want to stand here and push keys and get hassled by pissed off customers who can't find what they want because the store doesn't want to pay enough to hire help who actually care about what they're doing and know that a banana is code 4355 and not have to peruse a list of junk the size of the King James bible looking for whatever odd number belongs to the fruit that they forget to stick on which when they do stick on, you can't get off without leaving a thin paste of god-knows what kind of glue that after years of eating apples and pears will gum up your insides and cause who-knows what brand of interrectal cancer all because the stupid store can't be bothered to hire enough help.
Sheesh -- I told you I just finished shopping.
And why do they always double-bag with those flimsy ass plastic bags? You buy a carton of milk and the bagger will stuff it into two plastic bags and then tie the top so tight you have to use a table saw at home just to open the stupid bag. And why is it so hard to open a plastic bag, but it will slice open as soon as you look at it leaving veggies and candy bars hidden in the dark deep recesses of the trunk where you don't find them until the hottest day of the summer when you toss your white shirt in the trunk right on top of a month old moldy molten candy bar.
2fers: http://www.kroger.com/ and http://www.wm.com/
Saturday, August 02, 2003
Does this have Orwellian overones or what - "Office of Homeland Security" or how about "The Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices" or maybe "Total Information Awareness". What about this line -
How do you feel about the phrase
I can remember one of the reasons going to war in Afghanistan (remember that place? - there's still 10,000 G.I.s there) was to get rid of the Taliban who had let the religious right run rampant. In Saudi Arabia (remember that place? fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 wild bunch were from there) a recent fire caused the loss of life of several children because going outside [out of the burning buildings] without a head covering would be against the "law" according to the relgious police. It kinda makes you think doesn't it?
I'm also more than a bit worried about the old pope. He's extorting his minions to make sure that they don't allow civil law to over ride their religious teachings. Remember that if you happen to live in a state or city where the head of state is a catholic -- that head of state is toying with the hell and damnation of excommunication if they don't make you live the way the pope wants you to live. And of course, we all know that the Roman Catholic heirarchy has a lock on moral living.
By the way, do you suppose that the weapons of mass destruction have been sunk in the Gulf of Tonkin?
2fers: http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/USA/GulfTonkin.html and http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Dossier/1112-96/column3.html
"I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman, and I think we ought to codify that one way or the other." When asked his views of homosexuality on Wednesday, Bush said "we're all sinners," but McClellan said this should not be interpreted as a belief that homosexuality was a sin.
How do you feel about the phrase
"Hadd offences carry specific penalties, set by the Koran and by the prophet Mohammed. These include unlawful sexual intercourse (outside marriage); false accusation of unlawful intercourse; the drinking of alcohol; theft; and highway robbery. Sexual offences carry a penalty of stoning to death or flogging while theft is punished with cutting off a hand. "
I can remember one of the reasons going to war in Afghanistan (remember that place? - there's still 10,000 G.I.s there) was to get rid of the Taliban who had let the religious right run rampant. In Saudi Arabia (remember that place? fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 wild bunch were from there) a recent fire caused the loss of life of several children because going outside [out of the burning buildings] without a head covering would be against the "law" according to the relgious police. It kinda makes you think doesn't it?
I'm also more than a bit worried about the old pope. He's extorting his minions to make sure that they don't allow civil law to over ride their religious teachings. Remember that if you happen to live in a state or city where the head of state is a catholic -- that head of state is toying with the hell and damnation of excommunication if they don't make you live the way the pope wants you to live. And of course, we all know that the Roman Catholic heirarchy has a lock on moral living.
By the way, do you suppose that the weapons of mass destruction have been sunk in the Gulf of Tonkin?
2fers: http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/USA/GulfTonkin.html and http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Dossier/1112-96/column3.html
