IRAQ has given its first warning to the West that it does possess weapons of mass destruction and that President Saddam Hussein would be prepared to use them if his regime was threatened.

Like any of us ever doubted that he had them, or that he would use them?

The remarks were a complete contradiction of the official Iraqi position. Baghdad has insisted repeatedly that it no longer has chemical, biological or nuclear weapons nor medium-range missiles.

Isn’t Baghdad full of contradictions, all the time?

Speaking in an interview with al-Quds al-Arabi, a London-based Arabic newspaper, an unnamed senior Iraqi official said that Iraq had used chemical weapons during the war with Iran and would use them again if necessary.

There ya have it, straight from the horses mouth.

Happy Turkey Day!

Go thank someone!

As you know (if you read my blog, or check out my boycott list regularly), I recently called for a boycott of Germany. Well, I have changed my position somewhat.

I still think they need to end all trade with Iraq until this whole “mess” is straightened out, BUT, I do believe they no longer need to be boycotted because of it.

Germany will provide Israel with Patriot anti-missile systems, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was quoted Tuesday as saying, indicating that Germany wants to help Israel defend against any Iraqi attack if war erupts in the Middle East.

They also added:

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday softened his opposition to a war on Iraq after patching up relations with Bush at a NATO summit, making plain that Germany would serve as a staging area for US forces in any invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

If they will be so kind as to supply missiles and provide a staging area for our troops, then I guess I shouldn’t boycott them any longer.

*Please Note: Germany now holds the record for the SHORTEST boycott on my list (22 days).

First we have this interesting article:

Salem School shut down after students get rashes again.

Educators closed the school on Monday after 17 students were sent to area emergency rooms to be treated for rashes that officials believe may be linked to the school. Officials said most of the children’s symptoms cleared up by the time they got to the hospitals, WTIC-TV reported.

Then of course, we have this one:

East Texas schools close as illness spreads.

High student absence rates associated with a flulike illness spreading in East Texas have prompted several small districts to shut down. In the North Lamar Independent School District, about 95 miles northeast of Dallas, the Thanksgiving holiday began early after hundreds of students got sick. “We had 417 students out yesterday and sent 67 more home,” Superintendent James Dawson told The Paris News on Tuesday. The trend has apparently reached Tyler, where St. Gregory Catholic Elementary School on Monday closed after reporting 28 percent, or 101 students, absent out of 359 students, said Principal Kathy Harry.

It’s all just a little bit odd if you ask me.

Not all “walls” are made of stone or brick.

One paragraph states: “Foreign companies, including Websense and Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Microsoft have reportedly provided important technology which helps the Chinese authorities censor the Internet. Nortel Networks along with some other international firms are reported to be providing China with the technology which will help it shift from filtering content at the international gateway level to filtering content of individual computers, in homes, Internet cafes, universities and businesses.”

It’s progress I tell ya… (cough)

A top official for the Miss World pageant on Saturday blamed the international media for overplaying reports of rioting in Nigeria, which led to the event being moved from the Nigerian capital Abuja to London.

I guess it had nothing to do with the HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE being killed.

Red Cross officials said on Saturday about 200 people had been killed, more than 500 injured and some 4 500 driven from their homes.

Any school district which chooses to expel a student simply because of their “zero tolerance policy” rather than investigating incidents and determining their intent, is total crap and should be closed.

When 9-year-old Jonathan Cross dressed up in his duck-hunting outfit for his school’s Camouflage Day this week, he never dreamed his love for the sport would backfire on him.

Now, get this. As part of their SPIRIT WEEK, they have Camouflage Day. Great idea, if your TOTAL IDIOTS.

Covered from head to toe in his gear, the fourth-grader was “a very happy camper,” according to his mother, excited to show off his new hunting boots, hat, mesh face mask, shirt, bib, pants and boots.

Of course that would change because rather than allow school officials to use their BRAIN to figure things out, they now use a flow chart, if this then that.

Jonathan had been dropped off by his mother and was waiting with other early arrivers in the lunchroom before being dispatched to class. It was in the lunchroom that he felt something in his pocket. When he took it out to see what it was, he realized it was a shotgun shell, as did a teacher who caught a glimpse. The boy was brought to the principal’s office, and because of the school’s zero-tolerance policy for weapons and explosive devices, officials say they had no choice but to suspend him for five days, even if there was no intent to use the device.

Even if there was no intent to use the device. Okay, I understand now.

“A shotgun shell is considered an explosive,” said Cathy Dunbar, the school’s assistant principal. “We do have some discretion for the number of days [for suspension]. We kind of go with five. … It’s not like we really wanted to come down hard on him. We didn’t.”

Then why did you?

My “Zero Tolerance” idea: Let’s do random searches. Yes, you heard me. Random searches of the ADMINISTRATORS and TEACHERS. Any of them found with nail files, scissors, letter openers, ball point pens, cigarette lighters, or anything else which could be used as a “weapon or explosive device”, should be sent home for FIVE DAYS without pay. This includes the janitors who use fertilizer. You heard me. The only way to make zero tolerance stop is to make it APPLY TO EVERYONE, with ZERO EXCEPTIONS.

The FBI is investigating whether the Saudi Arabian government?using the bank account of the wife of a senior Saudi diplomat?sent tens of thousands of dollars to two Saudi students in the United States who provided assistance to two of the September 11 hijackers, according to law-enforcement sources.

To those of us with ANY BRAIN whatsoever, this is not “anything new”. Whether this even happened, intentionally or not, does not matter, we all know, SAUDI ARABIA supports terrorists. (You know they do). I am sure they filter BILLIONS of dollars to the terrorists just to keep them from attacking the SAUDI’S!

Come on people, open your eyes.

Being the responsible homeowners we should be, we have been working on making our house more livable. We have a three bedroom, 2 and a half bath, split level in a nice community, and we were thinking of converting the garage into a big family room, to accomodate our three boys and all their “schtuff”.

We decided to prioritize the items we needed to get done, take one thing at a time, and hopefully complete our projects by Christmas. Our projects included many things, the first of which (while the walls were not finished) was to get an electrician out here to add electrical outlets to the garage. We have a pool that we are filling in (a whole different story) so getting electrical to the garage is a very simple task. Take the 220 line that runs from the breaker panel out to the pool and redirect the lines to power the 7 plugs (to keep it up to code when completed) in the new room. Sounds simple doesn’t it?

NOT SO SIMPLE. The electrician came out last week and gave me an estimate of $250 for the work. Not bad at all. We changed our plans for now, but still decided to move ahead with the electrical, since I could use the garage as a woodshop for the time being. We called the electrician (R & L Electrical) on Monday, and after a brief conversation made the VERBAL appointment for today at 9:00 am. That was a bit early for us, but considering that most people start early, it was fine with us. Today came, 9 am came, and went. Ten o’clock came… and went… Around 11 Gidget called to find out what happened. They said they would page the electrician. About noon, I decided to call, and they paged him again. He called back a few minutes later, and speaking to Gidget told her that I must have mis-understood him (although I repeated the appointment information on Monday to confirm that the time was okay with Gidget). Gidget told him that she heard the time as well, and he told her, “I know how we can handle this. You can find someone else to do the work”. and he HUNG UP on her.

When I finished what I was doing (I do work from home you know) I called him back at the number he called us from. He answered the phone. I told him I was calling to find out what the problem was, and he told me, “Mr. Barrett, like I told your wife, I have nothing more to say on this”, and he HUNG UP on me. I called the main number (as I was still puzzled as to why the attitude was started in the first place), and they told me that he told them to tell us, “to find someone else to do the work”, and, yes, you guessed it, they HUNG UP on me, AGAIN…

I am still puzzled as to why he got in a huff, as we just wanted to make sure he was coming out (what if we had things we needed to get done today), and if not, then re-schedule, since we do need the work done. Gidget thinks he has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t want to admit it. It could be. The point is, we asked for an estimate, we got one, we made the appointment, and they failed to come out. Then, when questioned about the scheduling, they took a VERY OFFENSIVE stance. (I bet they got a nice big job, so they could care less about the little $250 job out here).

After the whole incident, I searched online for R&L Electrical, and the electrician by name, on the internet, with no results. I searched the GA Secretary Of State’s contractor license validation site, with no results. I am sure the company is licensed though, at least I hope so, since Gidget hired them for a different project about 10 years ago, and they did areally good job.

I guess the moral of this story is do those searches BEFORE you make the appointment, and don’t go on past experience if that experience was a decade before. I guess the keyword here is RESPECT. I really could care less if he had better things come up. I really could care less if he had just called and cancelled. I do care that he was rude on the phone (twice) and the entire company seems to be that way.

I guess the moral of this entry is that I wanted to make sure if someone does a search for R&L Electrical in Douglasville, Georiga in the future, they get a response to their search and know what unprofessional conduct they exhibit now.

If you are an electrician, LICENSED, in the Douglasville area, drop me a line, I have a quick and painless job for you that pays about $250 for the job and you can start immediately.

See, even some Canadians have trouble with Canadians.

Opposition MPs called on Prime Minister Jean Chretien to fire a top aide Thursday after she reportedly referred to U.S. President George W. Bush as “a moron.” “Does one good friend treat another by calling its leader a moron?” Alliance MP Jason Kenney asked during question period.

“They should not be playing cute about it,” he said. “They should be making a direct apology to the United States government . . . ”

My sentiments exactly.