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Wednesday, June 30, 2004
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Coca-Cola C2: Best Low Carb Soda Ever (the rest of them were crap)
I have tried C2. C2 has half the sugar, carbohydrates and calories of regular colas. I think it tastes almost undistinguishable from the regular coke. There is a very slight aftertaste, due to the aspartame. But to get rid of the diet coke taste and make it taste more like regular coke, I heard they put in half artificial sweetner, half sugar. I think this is a really good combination and that it will generate success for Coca-Cola. I give C2 gets two thumbs up.
Past Things
In the past two years, The Coca-Cola Company has introduced four new products in the cola category - Vanilla Coke (2002), Diet Vanilla Coke (2002), Diet Coke with Lemon (2001), and, most recently, Diet Coke with Lime (2004). I think Vanilla coke was a really good move for Coke too. Even though it is loaded with even more sugar than Coke, it tastes great. I have never gotten into the lemony Coke.
Some Random Info on Coke
The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company. Along with Coca-Cola, the Company markets four of the world's top five soft drink brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite, and a wide range of other beverages, including diet and light soft drinks, waters, juices and juice drinks, teas, coffees and sports drinks. Through the world's largest distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate exceeding 1 billion servings each day.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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Monday, June 28, 2004
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Company Slogan: Death to you all!
"Giving it your all... then working harder" is a slogan on a slideshow that runs repeatedly on the TV's in the Generation Support Building at the plant. But does this slogan mean anything? Is it even possible? I say, "No, what they are asking is impossible". Consider this:
Giving it your all would mean working at 100% of your capacity to work. Working more than your theoretical maximum would mean death; the human body cannot take such work. Also, think of lunch breaks and the necessary time one spends staring at a monitor or updating one's blog. Both of those would add up to about 60%. Thus, on a given day, I do about 40% of my maximum capacity.
If I "gave it my all" I would operate at maximum, thus having no lunch, no starting at a monitor, and no blog breaks. I would not leave for the bathroom either. Doing this for 9 hours would be very harsh on one's body. Thus, working harder than "giving it your all" would be so strenuous on one's body, the strain would cause one's body to fail. If every day you worked harder than the previous day, and on the first day you gave it your all, worked very close to 100%, you would eventually die or go insane. Thus I must conclude that the nuclear power plant I work at wants to promote insanity in its workers. I cannot really make much of why they would want to kill us, other than it makes upper management's job much easier when it comes to layoff's.
So next time before creating some ridiculus statement and displaying it on many monitors for your employees to see, think about what will happen if some guy with free time reads too deeply into it.
Disclaimer: The above is completly satire and should not be taken literally.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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7:59:00 AM. |
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Corporate SPAM Blocking
Entergy currently gets about half a million SPAM messages a day. Almost all of them are currently being blocked. I have not seen a single SPAM message since I got here. Whatever blocking program they are using is awesome! It is much better than the crappy little InboxCop program I use. I all know of Entergy's SPAM blocking is what they use is called the SPAM Prevention engine and it is part of the Internet Mail Relay Project. It would be so nice if whatever they are using was released to the public for free. Of course, if they did, spammers would have better access to it to figure out how to get around its protection...
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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7:35:00 AM. |
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Thursday, June 24, 2004
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A Compliment
Okay, this has got to be the strangest compliment I have heard. Even stranger than a compliment my roommate got freshman year who was told by a girl at a club that he had nice sideburns.
All of the people on my row the appartment complex are great people, but my girlfriend is the only one of them that went to college. One day before I was here she went to a bar with a few of the guys on my row. At that bar some guy came up to her and they talked about their jobs. The guy then said (now imagine this is a really southern voice) "You talk smart". lol. sigh... Louisiana...
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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8:30:00 AM. |
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Wednesday, June 23, 2004
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Microwave Power, Reality?
Scientists from Europe and Japan will be meeting to discuss further research in having satellites collect solar energy and beam it to receivers on earth in the form of a laser. *thoughts of James Bond movies come to mind* This way, there are no clouds to block the sun, and no nighttime. However, there is a loss in energy as the energy is converted to a laser beam, then an additional loss as it is converted back to energy on Earth. Furthermore, this form of energy is not cost efficient, so no power companies would be interested in using it. I think it is great that Europe and Japan are interested in this power. They can spend all the money researching it and if anything actually gets developed, we can copy it.
Currently, America is more focused on developing cold fusion and hydrogen power. Cold Fusion still needs some work. Decreasing the cost of muons would help, since they have to be created in particle accelerators. For hydrogen power, if it is ever created, it would go hand in hand with nuclear power. Nuclear reactors create large amounts of hydrogen, but since there is no need for it, it is not collected. Hydrogen is also needed for fuel cells, so there would be an even greater need for nuclear reactors since they are currently the most cost effective way to create hydrogen.
Source: Wired
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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3:46:00 PM. |
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Saw many things in the plant Monday and Tuesday
I got to shadow I&C and FIN (Instrumentation and Control, Fix It Now, respectively, both are departments that do maintenance) Monday and Tuesday, respectively. It was cool. They take really long breaks and get to play with gadgets.
I&C
At I&C I got to see many things inside the plant. I followed them around as they repaired or calibrated stuff. On the way to calibrate the radiation detector in the off gas system, I got to go through the reactor building. That thing is huge. Since all air is sucked into the plant so that there would not be any radiation leaking to the public, I had to pass through two airlocks to get there. Once inside the reactor building, it was cool to see that all the floors were of a metal mesh of squares. The trip from spent fuel containment to the top of the reactor building to see the bridge was really far; there was huge number of stairs to climb. At the top of the reactor building next to the bridge, I got to see the top of the insulation that is on top of the drywell which is above the nuclear reactor. I also got to see the reactor building's dome from the underside, which was something I doubt I would ever get to see. I also got to see the generator and see the walls that surrounded the turbine (the turbine is radioactive, had to be surrounded by concrete walls). I got to watch them repair a radiation detector and calibrate some instrumentation in the control room.
FIN
The guys I shadowed in FIN did mainly outdoor stuff. In December a pH detector failed that was related to the condenser, the result was that the water became extremely acidic, the control read 7 and the pH was 3. Anyways, there was a leak and I got to see the metal mesh floor that it ate through. They fixed the control in December and everything works now, but requires maintenance every so often. I also got to see the plant's sewage treatment area and a low level radioactive waste containment building. The plant got struck by lightning on Saturday while Kristy and I were visiting St. Francisville, so we might of actually seen the lightning strike, being so close to the plant, but we had no idea that it hit something. The lightning struck a device on the pools that clean the water pumped in from the Mississippi so it can be used in the coolant towers. The device was fine (really, it was) but some other part had to be replaced on the pool. I just dropped by the FIN office again today and apparently there was another lightning strike this morning. Two circuits had to be replaced.
I have photos of everything I saw, but they are about 1 meg each so I will not put them up here due to the fact that my server space is very low.
Kristy is going to Pittsburg tomorrow for a conference and staying until Sunday so I am going to be alone this weekend. All alone... If you have my screen name, you'll probably see me online a lot.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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Friday, June 18, 2004
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HaloScan: Crap!
So I used to like HaloScan. They have many features which I think are really nice, like CSS on commenting pages etc. However, just a few minutes ago I found out their dirty secret. They delete your old posts once you get to a certain amount. I miss the comments on my old posts. Only the recent comments on the old posts are there. I can not think of any way around this short of paying HaloScan for a upgrade. Now I finally see the impact of not using my own server with MovableType. I really wish I was on Branille's server now.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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9:58:00 AM. |
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AIM Ad Hack 3.62 for AIM 5.5: A Must Have
Greetings from the cubile of darkness (the lights above my cube are burnt out) So my boss and several coworkers are in a meeting this morning with what I think is the NRC. I also have finished all that was asked of me for the program I have been working on. So I have absolutely nothing to do. Thus, time for a blog update. Today I will review AIM 5.5 and AIM Ad Hack 3.62. I got it yesterday after uninstalling Trillian Pro 2.0.
Ad Hack 3.62 for AIM 5.5
From the last post you know that I despise ads in programs. I will go to great lengths to get rid of them. DeadAIM does not work with current versions of AIM, unless you pay for DeadAIM. So I had to look up an alternative program.
AIM 5.5 has many of the features of DeadAIM, so all I really needed was a program to remove/mask the ads. I am guessing AIM copied them intentionally since AOL has talked to the creator of DeadAIM. So anyway, I came across the program AIM Ad Hack 3.62 for AIM 5.5.
AIM Ad Hack is great. It did much more than I could of hoped. Did you know that AIM installs spyware? I found that out before I got AIM Ad Hack, so until now, I have been removing them manually. Don't believe me? Then tell me when was the last time you used Viewpoint Media Player or know what it is used for. There are several other things too. Then, after reading over the FAQ for AIM Ad Hack, I realized that this program is better than DeadAIM. DeadAIM masks the ads, so they still play, but they cannot be seen by the user. Have you ever heard one of AIM's ads? The ones with sound in the background? That proves it is masked by DeadAIM. AIM Ad Hack actually modifies AIM itself, removing AIM's ad capabilitiy from your computer, along with all the other junk AIM installs. That is what makes this program better than everything else out there. AIM Ad Hack also comes with a few of the DeadAIM features AIM didn't update their latest version with, like cloning AIM. Also, a nice little pointless feature it has is changing the screen that AIM loads with to one of four images, one of which is AIM Lite, which looks just like Miller Lite, very nice.
With all these great features in a program that is less than 1 megabyte, AIM Ad Hack has proven itself a must have for AIM users. I would recommend this program to anyone.
Visit AIM Ad Hack 3.62 for AIM 5.5's website.
UPDATE: (from 1st paragraph) I thought I would have nothing to do. I got two new assignments, one is changing tabs into spaces in a .txt file, the other is making a program errorcheck for network problems. Debugging involves running the program while going under my desk and pulling out my network cable.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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7:06:00 AM. |
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Thursday, June 17, 2004
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Trillian Pro 2.012
So I got tired of using an old version of AIM just so I could use DeadAIM with it. Why do I not upgrade to the newest version of AIM? Because I despise ads. I can not stand any ads being in programs I use. Plus, the add takes up too much space and does not allow my window to display as many people as I wish because with the add, I have to scroll. Btw, I also despise scrolling AIM. So I decided to investigate alternatives to AIM. Thus, I stumbled across Trillian Pro 2.0
Trillian is the ultimate in chat software. It allows you to be on AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, and Yahoo! all at once. I don't use anything besides AIM, so that feature is practically useless to me.
Trillain also has all the features of the current AIM, including what seems to be a much faster file transfer. In addition, it can track your AIM conversations, recording them, and displaying what you said to a person the last time u talked in a window even after you sign off then sign back on, even after you restart your computer. Another nice feature is the ability to skin Trillian. You also have instant weather on your buddy list. I am usually opposed to that (looks trashy), but Trillian does a good job with it. There are probably countless other features that I have not even mentioned here.
However, I would not recommend Trillian. First, it costs money, $25. Second, your AIM profile is hard as hell to edit if you use hyperlinks. Third, there are like, an infinite number of smiley faces, most of which people who are not using Trillian can't see, like Octopus, etc.
Final Analysis: If you use more than one chatting program, getting Trillian is a very good idea. If you use only one, keep your current chatting program, Trillian isn't worth the effort.
If you would like to purchase Trillain Pro or download Trillian 0.74 for free, go to www.trillian.cc. If you would like to acquire it by other means...
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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8:18:00 PM. |
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Monday, June 14, 2004
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Back at the plant, my project is postponed
So I'm back at work after a really good weekend... It feels kinda odd to be back at work, mainly because I am incredibly tired and could barely stay awake during an early morning reactor engineer's meeting.
The program that I have spend all my time here writing has been put on hold for something much more important: editing .txt files! Apparently the plant is behind schedule on the planning of moving the spent fuel in the storage pool. I have to add the date and time of each bundle that was moved in the pool. The program I was writing got rid of this busy work, but since the data was already collected and the results already made, I have to add every date/time in manually. It's like 3 inches high of papers full of fuel bundle data. The data such as serials, movement, and comments are already there from a computer, but the date/time are hand written. So I have to read the hand writing, then enter the data into a .txt file on my pc.
Programming was so much more interesting. It involved thinking. Entering huge amounts of fuel bundle data into .txt files, probably anyone can do. I am still getting the same 16/hr, but it's nice to think every once and a while...
UPDATE (6/15/04): Still working on my program since they have not been able to contact the guy that has the text files. So I guess the postponing of my project has been postponed.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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1:13:00 PM. |
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Sunday, June 13, 2004
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My Big Day in New Orleans
I had a really great day today; it was one of those days that you wish could last for a long time. I went to New Orleans today to see Brandy, a friend of mine that used to go to UF but transferred to Tulane after two years. She went to high school in Orlando at University and UCF before she came to UF for college.
Anyways, it was hard to find the cafe we were going to meet at once I got into New Orleans, so she came and picked me up at a Wendy's, then we went to the cafe, Rue de la Course. Anyways, good coffee there.
She showed me Tulane next. It is a really nice, old campus. She's also an athlete so she was able to get me into the athletic center and see stuff like the room where all the football players watch plays on a projector, etc. I have only seen those rooms before in movies. I got a surreal feeling while being in that room and the trophy room. Also, the Tulane head football coach said hi to me. w00t!
We then went to the garden district and visited a plantation that had been turned into a library as well as see some really nice old homes, then off to Bourbon St. and the French Quarter, the entire time I was driving, Brandy was like, telling me all about the houses and such. She knew more about New Orleans than I ever imagined, but it's like, her city. Even though she went to high school in Orlando, she was born in New Orleans and now lives there.
Going to the French Quarter was a must. I've been there several times before, but with family, not a friend. She gave me her own little personalized tour of the quarter too. We got to talk while walking around seeing the area; it was great to catch up on so many things, which was mainly what we did as we walked around. We saw the St. Louis Catherdeal in the quarter as well. Very nice basillica. Brandy wants to get married there; after the tour I can see why. So many historical events occurred there and so many significant people have walked down the aisle. We then continued to walk around the French Quarter, which is I found out is also very Spanish. We got some frozen Hand Grenades at Tropical Isle. They claim they are New Orleans most powerful drink, and they were pretty strong, but tasted great. You didn't really feel the effects until you were near the end.
After walking around the French Quarter some more we went to Fat Harry's, the bar / restraint Brandy goes to often with her friends. Had some crawfish quesadias, which I cannot spell. After staying there for a bit talking, we went to some really big mall away from the touristy areas.
The mall was quite large and seemed upscale, similar to the Millina Mall in Orlando. We went to many stores. At Mignon Faget, she showed me what jewelry I should get Christy, the jewelry chain was started by someone from Brandy's sorority or something, I don't pay much attention to Greek stuff. But some item there were insanely priced, like this plastic bag, looks sort of like a school kid's lunch box, $80. Others were priced even more. The jeweler is famous for sticks and stuff. Don't ask. We went to many other stores too. I got a shirt at express for twenty bucks, was fifty, so that's good. She got a bunch of stuff. She then brought me in to Victoria's Secret. She wanted stuff there. I swore I had to of had that stunned bunny look on my face while I was in there. Still reading this? If so, say something, anything that you want, in the comments, I'd like to see who really reads long posts. Went to a few more stores after that, then wrapped it up at Cafe Du Monde with coffee and beignets. But we still weren't done, went to a few other stores outside the mall in a futile attempt to find Brandy a 256meg mp3 player that can strap onto her arm. Like I said, it was a futile attempt. Then we said good bye to each other in the parking lot, and I took I-10 home. I had a really great time in New Orleans, but perhaps the best part was getting to see a part of Brandy's world that most guys do not get to see.
I-10 between New Orleans and Baton Rouge was great at night. I have rarely ever gone faster than I had tonight. Since there are a lot of causeways and no traffic, you can go pretty much as fast as you want since it is impossible for cops to hang out. After that I hung out with my neighbors for a bit in one of their parties, but decided to leave early so I could write this entry.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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Friday, June 11, 2004
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Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban: Dismal
Harry Potter 3 could have been so much better than what they have done. First, what happened to Hogwarts? They changed the entire layout! If they make the same layout in the first two movies, why not keep it the same? Also, in the book Hermione is supposed to be kinda ugly. She does not look at all like a nerd in this movie. And what is with the pink? A pink witch.... I would expect Cho Chang or Luna Lovegood (see books 4,5) to wear something like that, but not Hermione. Also, what was with Harry's Patronus? It is supposed to run accross the lake after the dementors, but it barely looked like a stag, and it just stood there... pulsating.
Good things: The new Dumbledor wasn't all that bad. Also, the Knight Bus was excellent, almost exactly as I imagined it. I am going to try to read over the book again to see if I was wrong about anything, then I will make a review on my Movie reviews page.
In other news somewhat relating to Harry Potter, the Japanese are developing an invisibility cloak. http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67802
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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11:01:00 PM. |
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Joe, MIA
So I haven't been online for a about a week. Sorry for not updating my blog. The reason Joe has not been online? Joe has a girlfriend. She is awesome. She's my neighbor in Baton Rouge. I don't think a blog is the best place to talk about this... IM me for more info if you want it. Anyways, with going to work, and then spending all my free time with her, this blog is MIA.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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8:47:00 AM. |
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Got my first paycheck from Entergy, Taxes Suck!
Last Friday I got my first paycheck from Entergy. The amount seemed unusually low when I got it. Then I saw that I payed a quarter of my paycheck to the government, 20% federal, 5% state. Damn, that's a lot.
Lets say I worked for four weeks. One whole week of those four was me working so I could give the government money. A whole week of my salary was taken from me! Sure I support giving money to the government, but why so much? Plus, I am only an intern making $16/hr. I can't imagine what people with real jobs pay. I really don't understand why anyone would not be for tax cuts.
50% of Americans pay 98% of taxes. The ratio of Conservatives to liberals is about half and half. Half of America pays taxes, half of America gets all the benifits without paying anything. (ahem.... RESPECTIVLY) Coincidence? Of course there are some hard-working liberals... But really, how can anyone support raising taxes? We are already taxed to death, yet there is potential to get even worse.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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8:33:00 AM. |
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Friday, June 04, 2004
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11 Reasons why I will be voting for John Kerry
The Following is original material created by Joe @ OmniPrime.
1. John Kerry gets my heart pumping with every speech, his words come to life. Only his charisma surpasses his superb speaking ability.
2. He wants to save the planet. Even though his family owns several SUV's, he does not. He just gets driven around in them by his wife. I firmly believe that he has not driven one.
3. Even though John Kerry voted against funding the War in Iraq, I believe he would be much harder on Terrorists than George W. Bush.
4. I agree that everyone changes their mind. Hell, it's ok to change your mind on every issue each month. It's only human.
5. He severed in Vietnam and we know this because he brings it up at every possible moment.
6. He is very smart. According to his doctor, he injured himself with a mortor round in order to get the number of purple hearts needed to leave Vietnam.
7. Ruthless people are cool. He committed atrocities in Vietnam, but did nothing about it until he arrived back home, then he blamed other veterans for the atrocities without taking any responsibility himself. That is so freakin' awesome! (yeah I know that was bad, but keep reading they get better)
8. John Kerry said the most important thing in the 2004 election will be jobs. In the past few months, only one million jobs were created under George W. Bush, many of them are high paying jobs. But who needs high paying jobs? If everyone makes little pay then we will all be equal. I just love socialism!
9. The media and prominent Democrats have been trying to hide Kerry. Apparently, he goes up in the polls the more he is out of the public's eye. He's just that good.
10. Because the undead are cool and for some reason Kerry's face has been aging backward. That must mean greatness! w00t!
11. Because Hillary "supports" him. If she is with Kerry then he will definitely get elected.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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11:38:00 PM. |
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Wednesday, June 02, 2004
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Entergy Nuclear
If you are ever wondering whether I am in peril at the plant, check out the power output of the River Bend Station. All of Entergy's other plants are there as well. 100% power is normal. Less than 100% means they are working on something or something caused power to drop. Over 100% is extreamly rare, but it has happened once since I was here. It was corrected in a timly fashion.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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Tuesday, June 01, 2004
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Kerry gives Vietnam Veteran THE FINGER on Memorial Day
Just when I thought Kerry could not of gotten any ruder. At the Vietnam memorial, Kerry was told by the head of the Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry that Kerry did not belong there "because he betrayed the brave soldiers who fought in Vietnam". Kerry then, in front of Vietnam Vetrans AND school children, gave the man the bird. How can this guy seriously vie for president? I have never seen any presidental candiate do this. The more Kerry is in front of people the less people like him. He does best in the polls when he keeps silent. This is probably due to the fact that he is "not Bush". And many people like him solely for that. This man would make a terrible president and an embarrasement to the nation.
Here's the article.
Belched up with tidings of comfort and joy by Joe
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11:15:00 PM. |
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