Blogging on Meds

Unfortunately this story is true.  From cnn.com:

A millionaire who inflicted years of abuse on two Indonesian housekeepers held as virtual slaves in her Long Island mansion was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison.

The victims testified that they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, and forced to climb stairs and take freezing showers as punishment. One victim was forced to eat dozens of chili peppers and then was forced to eat her own vomit when she couldn’t keep the peppers down, prosecutors said.

So this rich bitch Varsha Sabhnani from Long Island (who used to be a fatty BTW) keeps and abuses slaves, (well she paid their families a whole $100 a month), for 5 years, and she gets 11 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.  The two  victims are trying to get about $1 million in back pay, and the defense has the audacity to counter with $200k.

Referencing Sabhnani’s charitable works, her defense attorney called her “a woman who spent a lifetime doing good deeds.”  She herself said, “I was brought to this Earth to help people who are in need.”

She obviously sounds like a bleeding-heart liberal, who’s main crime was hiring and helping illegal immigrants.  Those two jobs could have belonged to honest, hard-working Americans, who obviously would not have required such discipline.  The only solution I see to this problem is stricter immigration policies, so vote McCain in ‘08.

The only pic I could find of the L platform, but it sort of works.

I ran across an interesting story from the New York City News Service a while ago. Basically it says what most New Yorkers could easily guess; the Bedford Ave. stop off of the L Train is the number one spot in the city for Missed Connections postings on Craigslist. These things are my new favorite reads, (as a spectator only, I’ve not fallen to those depths of desperation yet). Sometimes the shit on them is too good:

“You were tall, dark and handsome - plain and simple - in a blue cowboy-style shirt, short running shorts and flip-flops…

“I was scruffy, blue cap, green shirt, jeans, reading some steinbeck.”

“You had a beard , thin and kinda tall, great clothes, and talking on your phone…”

These posts really narrow it down for Williamsburg, eh?

I knew a dude who used to basically search every spot he’d visited the day before on there every day at work. He definitely found himself alot and would actually date chicks off of it. Shit boggles my mind.

That trend will go great with this one, from AFP:

“One in four adults living in New York City has the virus that causes genital herpes.”

Yup.

Last night I attended (snuck into) Hillary’s speech at Baruch College (go CUNY).  I expected it to be a concession speech, and it sure sounded like one at first, with her congratulating Obama and talking about her long journey across America.  However, when she said she would “make no decisions tonight” I was a little surprised.  The girl next to me who I spilled wine on said, “All we need to do is convert some super delegates and we have it,” and I kinda wondered which campaign was actually high on hope.

Really though, what would Hillary gain from conceding before Denver?  Obama does not have a mandate from voters, so if something actually happened where super delegates moved over to her, the nomination could still be hers.  Slim odds, but she can do math, so I don’t see her conceding without a VP spot secured.

(Kanye in egg, flanked by space sluts)

This isn’t a show review, I’m just professing my love for this city.

At 9:45 pm last night I was bummed because I was stuck downtown for work, at some shitty show I didn’t need to be at but had to meet with a promoter for, my allergies were on fire, I was starving, I had homework to do, and I was going to miss seeing Negative Approach play out in Brooklyn.

At 9:55 pm I got a text from Ray to come to a party, so I hopped in a cab and figured I’d make the best of the night, or at least get angry drunk.
At 10:00 pm I got another text telling me to hurry, as Kanye was about to go on.  Kanye?

At 10:05 pm I bullshitted my way  through security, and walked up a red carpet into a giant space under the Queensboro Bridge, built around its arches with huge ceilings that had a Burton-era Batman feel, only filled with 1500 hip dudes and hot chicks with glow necklaces on.  Grabbed two giant bourbons from the open bar, and walked up front to watch Kanye West perform 45 minutes of greatness.  He spent 90% of the time sitting in a futuristic egg chair with his LED shades on, and had a dance team of super hot naked chicks with space helmets on through half the set. My mood had officially been altered, and it wasn’t the bourbon.

I’ve spent time in every major city in the western world, and New York City is the only one where, on a Wednesday night -in a timespan of 20 minutes- you can go from angry- “I’m about to get all Grand Theft Auto on someone”-dude to ecstatic-”I don’t deserve this good of a life”-guy.

Sure, I’ll take 5 minutes off from writing the worst research paper of my life to keep the McCain ball rolling…

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but yesterday in Colorado, Senator McCain said he has an energy policy “which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

Sounds about right.  Most people would agree that oil has something to do with why we are in Iraq right now, and would like to see a change so it doesn’t happen again.  Way to talk straight John.

But, today he had to backtrack, saying “No, no, I was talking about that we had fought the Gulf War for several reasons.”

Oh okay, makes more sense.  When most people today talk about conflict in the Middle East, they are totally referring to Operation Desert Storm.  Really, why should he need to clarify?  Silly over-sensitive GOPers getting upset because they thought he was being honest about something…

At least 9 people died today when a plane crashed in a residential area of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is certainly an event worthy of attention in a country where hundreds died in plane crashes in August and October of 2007. However it is important to note that another 100 planes would have to crash with similar fatalities today, just to equal the amount of people in Congo who will die today from malnutrition and disease.
That’s right, over 1000 people a day die in Congo, and it gets worse.

(more…)

Zimbabwean Government officials raided two hotels in Harare today. One housed the MDC’s headquarters, the other housed journalists. At least four foreign journalists have been arrested, one of them Barry Bearak of the New York Times.

Whether or not Mugabe is even going to bother with a fake run-off election at this point seems up in the air. Dictatorship might be fine for him, which is no surprise considering the man once said this:

“Hitler has only one objective: justice for his people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people and their rights over their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.”

The U.S. State Department is calling for the immediate release of American citizens. Zimbabweans it seems are going to be fucked for another 30 years.

This morning, Zimbabwe’s state-run (aka Mugabe-run) newspaper The Herald said that neither Mugabe nor challenger Morgan Tsvangirai captured enough votes in last month’s presidential election to avoid a runoff.

Strangely enough, this morning  Tsvangirai’s MDC (Movement for Democratic Change not Millions of Dead Cops) Party announced that they had captured 50.3% of the vote; enough to send Mugabe packing.

From NY Times:

A Zimbabwean businessman with close links to the ruling party, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the nation’s military and intelligence chiefs discussed several options with the president after the vote appeared to go badly. These included the outright rigging of the election, going to a runoff and even the “elimination” of Mr. Tsvangirai.

I’d say look out for the truckloads of machetes once results get released, but knowing Mugabe, he will probably just round up all the MDC people and bulldoze them.

Rainy season is just about on us, and there is little time left to get that spring jacket. If an urban Aragorn with a Cold War hangover is the look you are going for, then these Soviet-era parkas will kill it on the streets of your favorite city. If you and a friend each get one, they can be combined to make a tent. Just think, you can have a picnic in Union Square during a downpour while all the ronmin are forced to nap down in the subway.

Also, if you are worried you might get into a situation where you may wind up being shivved, Nihon Uni (no link) just came out with this lightweight and washable knife-proof shirt. Who doesn’t like not getting stabbed? From engadget.

“This is a complex case man.  A lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of interested parties.” - Jeffery “The Dude” Lebowski

The CEO of Stanley Inc., (one of the companies whose employees breached candidate’s passports), may have donated money to Lieberman and Clinton, but now it turns out that the CEO of Analysis Corp., (the other company that did the same), is actually a foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign.

So, either everyone is fucking around snooping on each other here,  or this whole thing isn’t actually political. It might just be an example of even high-level politicians having their civil liberties trampled by the pseudo police-state they work for.

Either way, it’s giving me a headache.

Joe Franics is either the biggest douche bag or biggest genius ever, I can’t decide.

The founder of Girls Gone Wild brought Ashley Alexandra Dupre’s body into America’s home for $29.95* before Eliot Spitzer dropped  tens of thousands on her.

In looking into that story, (i.e. looking for naked pictures of the chick), I stumbled upon the Meet Joe Francis website.  A true gem of the web.

There are pages and pages of ridiculous shit there, including and 18 page autobiography about how sweet and sexy his life is and a FAQ.  I skimmed through about 10% of it and found these quality quotes:

“If life is a ride, which it surely is, then mine has got to be the balls-out wildest roller coaster in the park.”

“I remember being in bed with Tara Reid one night when she asked ‘How does it feel to have sex with an A-list movie star?’”

“The whole Spring Break experience was infused with a sense of fun and freedom that I found absolutely exhilarating. And more to the point, it was infused with naked breasts! They were everywhere! And what man doesn’t love breasts? Tan, firm, real, 19-year-old breasts? ”

“I love girls. In a lot of ways, girls are like cats (and I love cats, too): They’re clever, they’re independent and they come to you on their own terms.”

Q: Have you ever had your heart broken?
A: Sure, but it helps ease the pain when you get as much as I’ve gotten in my life.

If you are bored and want to examine the inner workings of a millionaire ape,  check it out.

*29.95 for the first film, after which you will be subscribed to GGW and your credit card will be charged $49.95 per month for the rest of your life because you are too embarrassed to call the credit card company and cancel. 

John was right. Looks like Passport-Gate is just getting started.

Turns out, Clinton’s passport records were breached along with Obama’s. Looks like that rules out inter-democratic black ops. Who do you think Cheney is gonna get to take the fall for this one?

UPDATE: As Ray just commented, McCain’s was breached too.  This shit is unfolding faster than my internet connection can keep up with.  Maybe Ralph Nader is behind this.

Everyone knew it was coming…

CNN just reported on an audio recording reported to be Bin Laden, released today.

Luckily, he doesn’t try to weigh in on the election this time, and instead scolds Europe for its involvement in Afghanistan, and calls for more “reckoning” for the cartoons of Mohammed published three years ago in Denmark, which he said violated “the etiquettes of dispute and fighting.”

Ramming planes into buildings filled with civilians is the very definition of etiquette right?

No mention of Iraq, and bringing up old shit?  Is this dude even still alive?

With Iraq’s five-year anniversary passing today, the war is finally getting some face time in the press, albeit via G.W.’s insistence that the world is a far better place than it was five years ago. Sure, hundreds of thousands of dead people, (but one of them is Saddam!!), and a busted economy are awesome! He’s right though, we as Americans ARE safer. Safer than Iraqis.

With 60% of Americans ready to see a timetable for withdrawal without preconditions, and both Clinton and Obama ready to give them one, it seems likely that regardless of how the surge is working, the Dems should be able to take the White House. However there is historical precedent to perhaps cause some worry.

America found itself in a similar situation 108 years ago in the Philippines. We were forcibly occupying a country for “their own good,” despite unpopularity at home and an insurgency fighting a guerilla war on the ground. 1900 was an election year, with McKinley facing the anti-imperialist William Jennings Bryan. (more…)

As the sun rises on what is sure to be another week of intense competition for the hearts of Democrats, I can’t help but cringe at the thought of what low blows and long shots are going to be coming out of the Obama and Clinton camps, (luckily this morning’s headline on CNN.com is still a gnarly picture of Chuck Manson). Maybe Team Hill will leak info on some questionable comments made by Barak’s barber, or Obama will call for the release of all of Clinton’s pap smear results for the last 20 years.

The fact is, I am sitting here watching two candidates -both of whom I like, neither of whom I love- tear each other apart over ridiculous shit, causing me to like both of them less and less. Meanwhile, John McCain is running around the globe acting like the next leader of the free world, getting nothing but love from anybody, (except the foot-in-mouth Times).

We’ve discussed our concerns over this here before, and we’ve all held our breath at the hints of a joint ticket, but here’s an idea: Why don’t these two just agree -on the record- that whoever has the most delegates by Denver is President, and whoever has the second most is VP? Guaranteed joint ticket, with the possibility for both to keep trying to convince us they should be on the top. This would force them to lay off the nastiness and name calling, and -god forbid- maybe start articulating some policy proposals.

It would break Rush Limbaugh’s “heart” too.

Just a thought.