Telling it like it is

Well , today was the day of the long knives we'd been expecting for so long. I've had to edit this post from its original. I suspect that the original version could be used as ammo to get rid of another worker (and save another manager) should it come to that :-( Suffice to say we now have a company of 380 people, 150 of which are managers, and 18 of those are VPs.

It's the end of the world as we know it. La la la laaa la laaa la la la la.

Yoink. Bin Laden has surfaced looking remarkably alive and well on a video tape - not an audio tape - on the evening before the second anniversary of the WTC attack. Scary. I forgot to mention earlier, but three snot-nosed little brats came trick-or-treating to our house last night, and argued with me that Halloween wasn't the end of October, but yesterday. Eventually they just said "well give us some candy anyway". Little fucks. I know where they live too so if they come back, I'll be going to their parents.

Meanwhile , Bush has placed a stake in the ground about Iran. He accused Iran on Tuesday of violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but said Tehran had "a last chance" to prove it wasn't running a covert weapons program. In his mind, they're already in violation of the treaty, and as far as Bush is concerned he wants punitive action already. Now it becomes clear why he wants the UN to bail him out of Iraq - he needs the troops for Iran.

The big David Blaine stunt in England is already going awry. People have taken to throwing stuff at him, playing loud music to keep him awake, and aiming laser pointers at him. Apparently, being a typically skittish Americam, he got all anal about the laser pointer thing because in the US "a red dot means that someone is aiming a gun at you", he said. David, mate. Do some research if you're going to a new country. We don't have guns in England, we have laser pointers. And the RIAA made even more friends today by sueing a 12 year old girl for $2000. In any other universe, this bullying madness would be stopped by consumer groups, the law and the government. But for some reason, people are putting up with it. The solution is simple : sell CDs for $7 a piece (still giving the RIAA $5 a piece profit) and ensure that the music on them doesn't suck. Continue to sell suck-ass music for $18 a pop and what do you expect?

So we learn that the American Telemarketing Association can dish it out, but they can't take it. An article that was written by Dave Barry and published in the Miami Herald included the ATA's toll-free telephone number and invited readers to call and "tell them what you think." Hundreds of newspapers also published the article, which was distributed by Tribune Media Services. It was covered on TV and radio too. Oddly, the once-live 1-800 number has been switched to an answerphone. The ATA have complained that all the calls are blocking their lines and wasting their time because they have to spend 6 hours a day sifting through junk calls now. But isn't that exactly what the ATA do to us? Hours and hours of junk calls. Good on you, Miami Herald. If you want to join in and leave a message, their number is 1-877-779-3974 It's worth pointing out that they had so much junk phonemail that they had to buy a new freefone number. It was a closely guarded

SARS is back. The first case reported for the winter 2003 season came today from Singapore. We're clear of the drier, hotter weather now, so the bugs, virii and infections will start to flare up again. As I predicted, SARS is one of them. Expect an epidemic of cases until about May 2004 now.

Sheesh . The RIAA wheeled out the big guns today and issued over 260 lawsuits. Wonder if I'm one of them? Meanwhile, Vietraq is costing the US a lot more than Bush thought. Last night he asked Congress to approve an additional $87 billion to continue military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then he had the gall to announce that was going to ask more nations to help pay the cost. Why, exactly? Wasn't it Bush who said, and I think I quote "The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities, so we will rise to ours." Now not only does he want the UN to bail him out so he can reallocate his military to invading Saudi, or Iran, or Syria, but he wants everyone else to bear the cost of his war? The short answer, of course, is NO! Listen up Bush - Your responsibility is to rebuild Iraq - you invaded it without UN authority, you put the occupying force there (note : occupying, not liberating). No you rise to your responsibility.