The Urban Grind

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

The Urban Grind has moved. The new address is www.theurbangrindblog.com. I won't be adding new posts here any more. They'll be at my new site.

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'm still here.

Let's just say my transition from Blogger to Wordpress hasn't been as smooth as I would have liked. No. Actually, it's been a royal pain in the you-know-what. It started when I manually tried to download Wordpress then did something wrong. I signed up with a hosting company that offered this installation tool called "Fantastico," so I figured I'd try again using Fantastico. It didn't work the first time, so I in a new sub-directory.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I think that having Wordpress in a sub directory is what got me into trouble. My first host didn't pick up on this, and couldn't figure out how to import from Blogger to Wordpress. He finally got the month of March, but nothing else. It also didn't help that their tech support wasn't available by phone, but only via instant messenger. At this point, you all may be wondering what the heck I was thinking. I guess I just got carried away, and it seemed like a good deal. But today, I decided to switch hosts. This company actually has people that answer the phone right away, and who know what they're talking about.

My new domain name will be www.theurbangrindblog.com. So if you could all please update your blogrolls accordingly, that would be great.

Thanks, and happy blogging!

Hey everyone,

This is just to let you all know that I've decided to upgrade from Blogger, since it can be a pain. I've decided to go with Wordpress.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how the transition is going.

Originally, Karol decided to get some people together to visit Jessica and Lisa who were guest bartending at the Overlook Lounge. But it turned out to be a very fun blogger get together. It was nice seeing Karol, Dawn, F Train, Ace of Spades, Ari, Daily Lunch, Ivan Lenin, Ken, Mary, and Judith.

I also got to meet Dorian Davis, and Scott from Slantpoint for the first time, which was nice. It's good to be able to attach a live person to a blog.

The funniest part of the evening was when I was speaking with Ken about his rather graphic post on oral sex, and how women should return the favor -- every last step of the way. (Oy! I don't believe I'm evening writing this!) And by "every last step of the way" I mean -----------------------------------------------------sw------g.
Ken, Scott and F Train were all in strong agreement about the importance of this last step. And needless to say, they had quite a laugh at my shyness. Scott even asked me "just how much of a conservative are you?" Then they discussed how certain foods men eat fit into the equation. When I asked them how they knew this, they were quick to say that it wasn't from first hand experience, but rather from Playboy, Maxim and Glamour. Actually, I think it was Judith that mentioned Glamour.

It seems I also gave Ivan Lenin quite a laugh. We were talking about drinking. I told him I was done after not even a whole beer. So he asked me why. I said because I'm not much of a drinker, and when he asked why not, I told him that alcohol gives me a sore throat and cold the next day. He then said "ah, you just need to drink a beer and you'll be all better." Then he asked "what does excite you?" And I said "sushi." Then he asked if drink sake. So I told him flat out that I always drink the dumpling sauce. He laughed so hard he had to take off his glasses. But hey, dumpling sauce sometimes has sake in it! And I'm also a salt lover. Some people like sweets, I have a salty tooth! And you know what else? Salt is fine if you don't have a problem with high blood pressure. Mine is actually quite low, so there.

In an effort to counterract international pressure over the death penalty, U.S. has withdrawn from the Vienna Convention Protocol. This happened as a result of the International Criminal Court of Justice ordering new hearings for fifty one Mexican death row inmates on the grounds that they weren't told they could contact Mexican diplomats for help.

I say, good!

So what if Mexico gets angry? Maybe then they'll think twice about encouraging their people to come here illegally to begin with.

In terms of the rest of the world as well, so what?

Being a Superpower has its privileges.

Now if only we could throw the U.N. out of our country and stop giving them money, that would be even better.

No way!

Via Al-Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration would accept a political role for the Lebanese group Hizbollah if it disarmed, U.S. officials said on Thursday, a stance they said was not new but reflected recognition of the political clout of the militant Shi'ite Muslim organization.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice carefully avoided the stock U.S. phrase that Hizbollah is a terrorist organization in remarks to reporters, two days after Hizbollah showed its political power by drawing hundreds of thousands of people to central Beirut for a pro-Syria rally.

But she insisted that "the American view of Hizbollah has not changed" and other U.S. officials were quick to call the group a terrorist organization.

Yeah right. There's no way on G-d's earth they'll disarm. They might just pretend to do so. Either that, or they'll outsource it to some new group which they'll claim not to be involved with.

Koffi Annan is also going on about how the U.N. must accept Hezbollah.

Well what I'd like to know is, what the heck is there for the U.N. NOT to accept being that they're in bed with every rogue regime in the world.

Annan said the world needs to accept that in every society different groups may hold different views.

Yes, Koffi, there are different groups of people who hold different views. And there's always more than one side to a story. But so what? That still doesn't make one view, or one side of story as valid as the other. Intelligent, civilized people use their brains to determine what's valid, and what has no merit. In short, they, gasp, make value judgements.

But then again, I forgot, liberals aren't supposed to be judgemental. We're not supposed to view the killing of innocents as cruel and barbaric, but rather a valid political statement or a little quirk of a difference that makes us all unique, blah blah blah.

Condoleeza Rice believes that Al Qaida will use our porous Southern border to try and sneak into the U.S.

In terms of her recent trip to Mexico, she said the following:

"We and the Mexicans have a robust dialogue about border security, and I believe we're going to continue to have that," she said. "This is not a matter of pointing fingers. This is a matter of really trying to get the best possible coordination and work that we can so that there's safety for citizens in both countries, on both sides of the border."

Well I for one, have no problem pointing the finger, or giving the finger to/at -- Mexico. First off for encouraging their citizens to break our laws. Secondly for dumping their poor and criminals on us. Why on earth we need to have a dialoge with Mexico about closing up our borders is beyond me (not that I'll ever live to see the day when such a thing happens). We should just do it. But instead, we're kissing Vicente Fox's tukhas (behind).

So obviously, Condi is opposed to the Minutemen who are set to patrol the Arizona/Mexico border:

She said Washington does not support vigilante groups that are recruiting volunteers to patrol the border for undocumented Mexican crossers.

"Undocumented crossers" my foot! She either can't or won't address the problem by its real name.

Anyway, Condi is not the only one opposed to the Minutemen. The ACLU is getting in on the action as well.

They're going to be on those poor Minutemen like static cling to make sure they don't violate the civil rights of the illegals. If they see anything they don't like, they'll be on hand, ready, willing and able to file civil suits.

And aside from harassing the Minutemen, they've filed suit to block the U.S. Bureau of Land Management from leasing to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a site where more than 100 Mormon handcart pioneers died.

Oy, the only civil liberties this group seems to care about is those of hoodlums, Nazi skinheads, pedophiles, terrorists, and lawbreakers. And they are just plain hostile to any religion.

Judge George Greer (that paragon of impartiality) has ruled against Florida's Department of Children and Families, who wanted a 60-day delay to investigate allegations of Terri's abuse at the hands of her guardian, Michael Schiavo, on the grounds that

"it appears to be brought for the purpose of circumventing the court's final judgment ... in violation of the separation of powers doctrine."

This judge is just dying to see Terri dead!

Fortunately, a California businessman, Robert Herring Sr., the founder of electronics firm HERCO Technology and founder of WEALTHTV is offering Michael Schiavo one million dollars, if he will give up guardianship of Terri.

If Mike Schiavo agrees to transfer the legal right to decide all of Terri's current and future medical decisions to Terri's parents, then Mr. Herring will pay Mr. Schiavo the amount of $1 million (subject to court approval of Terri's parents as her conservators or guardians)."

I just hope Judge Greer doesn't overrule this as well.

Now I'm not a violent person, but if this was my daughter, I would take out a contract on that scumbag husband Michael Schiavo, and the judge. After all, the law in this case is completely failing Terri and her family.

Today we're helping Rick Santorum by donating here.

To view Polipundit's post, click here.

That's according to this article.

Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.

"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.

I remember during that time hearing Saddam's relatives saying that the Americans must have drugged him...that he wouldn't have come out of that rat hole without a fight. I guess they were on to something:

He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a room on the second floor. Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting."

Now I just wonder if Saddam really even looked that ratty, or if that was also for show.

On another note, Saddam's trial is due to take place some time before October, which is when Iraq is set to vote on a constitution.

Doctors are now envisioning the possibility of growing new teeth, and coaxing existing teeth to repair themselves, through the use of stem cells and gene therapy.

Other techniques being explored involve using stem cells, which have the potential to become any type of cell or tissue. In one study being presented at the meeting, researchers successfully extracted stem cells from the pulp of adult teeth, Smith said. The next step is to examine whether it's possible to use these teeth to regenerate new dental tissue, he said.

Other research being unveiled describes tests of different approaches to select stem cells from pulp, and all shows "different degrees of success," Smith said.

But it looks like we have years to go.

Two Republican lawmakers, Senator Mel Martinez and Rep. David Weldon introduced the Incapacitated Person's Legal Protection Act, which would give Schiavo, and other disable people the same legal protections as death row inmates. This bill would give the Schindler family access to the federal court to argue for the life of their daughter Terri.

Let's hope this finally thwarts her scumbag husband's efforts to kill her.

Not to be overly dramatic, but that's what it seems like to me lately.

Italy is all in a huff over the death of their intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, and they want answers from the U.S. They are demanding we take responsibility, whatever that's supposed to mean.

So, I guess, to be nice about it, the U.S. is conducting an investigation into this whole affair. Granted, it's unfortunate that the Italian agent was killed, especially while defending the anti-American, anti-war communist Sgrena. I just hope this doesn't turn into another Ilario Pantano case with our soldiers being threatened with the death penalty.

On another note, Al Reuters is reporting that a British man was recently shot and killed in Afghanistan. No word yet on who killed him or why. The only point I could see for reporting this bit of news is so that the MSM can subtlely turn people against our troops, and our effort in Iraq.

Looks like this former protegee of Jesse Helms has balls, which worries the New York Times

I just hope he manages to hold on to them and stick to his guns.

Lachrybits

This is another brand new blog that looks very interesting.

Enjoy!

Hat Tip: Ron

It's Republican Walter Moore, who's running for the position of Mayor of Los Angeles. Part of his platform will be fighting illegal immigration from Mexico:

On one of his Web site ads, he says, "My name is Walter Moore and I'm running for mayor, and you know what? I don't speak Spanish, and I don't intend to learn."

Right on!

For a more detailed look at Moore's platform, click here.

Too bad there aren't more politicians like this man.

Playgirl editor-in-chief Michele Zipp!

As she puts it:

“The Democrats of the Sixties were all about making love and not war while a war-loving Republican is a man who would fight, bleed, sacrifice, and die for his country. Could you imagine what that very same man would do for his wife in the bedroom?” asks Zipp.