amid all the bad news, a nice guy finished first...

another onslaught of depressing news these days...

the government is giving oil and gas companies a free pass on taking from federal public lands and not paying for what they take. federal lands, i.e. owned by taxpayers, being exploited again. so not only are we going to give these companies our shit for free, but then they are going to charge high prices to "line their pockets" (as heather wilson likes to say) for us to get access to the oil and gas which we gave them, for free. and before you get in a hizzy and blame only the bush administration for this...take a look at when a bunch of it started. sounds like a hell of a deal to me...hooray for a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

fema strikes again...katrina victims still living in hotels will lose those rooms as the government stops paying for them. but if they want, they can move into empty mud-filled delapitated trailors the government set up for them in arkansas. or the government will give them "rent assistance", which i am guessing will amount to about 1/3 of what it actually costs to find housing for a family. and i thought brownie got fired...

the media is up in arms over the white house not immediately going uber-public with the news that cheney accidentally shot a hunting partner. somewhere lost in all this is the fact that a 78 year old man was hit with shot in the face, neck and chest...and our main concern is not whether this man's condition (which by the way, he is no longer in intensive care) will be life-threatening, but why the members of the white house didnt run to the press immediately while their friend lay in the hospital. where was this indignation from the media when it mattered?

saddam is on hunger strike. i have no response to that.

and now the good news...

an american speed skater took home the gold in the 500...and what did mr. cheeks do with the money ($25,000) the olympic committee delivered to him for his gold-medal winning skate? he immediately announced in his press conference following the race that every penny would be donated to refugees in dafur, and then asked his sponsors to better that donation. of course nbc is still slow getting to this story...but what do you expect, i mean, we still haven't heard all there is to hear about michelle kwan. this guy should be getting all the press in this country now...he is what an olympic athlete should be. congrats cheeks...and thanks for restoring some little bit of my hope for humanity.

i am afraid of growing old, i am afraid to die...but it's something i must do.