November 11, 2004 - Thursday | 8:45 AM, CST

I was studying my weblogs the other day, and saw that a decent number of hits came from persons who had typed the word "nickler" into a search engine, and had wound up on my page. Curious, I tried entering the name into a search engine. If you head over to http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink65.html, you will find a recipe for a mixed drink, which I will reprint below:

THE "NICKLER"

INGREDIENTS
Brandy
1 slice Lemon
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Coffee

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Fill a pony glass (tall shot glass) with the cheapest brandy that you can find. Take a round slice of lemon and place it over the top of the pony glass.

2. Open a packet of sugar (apx 1 tsp) and pour it onto one half of the lemon leaving the other half bare. Take 1 tsp instant coffee and pour it on the other half of the lemon (beside the sugar).

3. Fold the lemon slice in half and bite off the rine. Chew and swallow the lemon combination and chase with the brandy in the shot glass.

Serve in:
Shot Glass

And there you have it, the nickler. From the ingredients and directions for drinking, it doesn't sound like something very appealing. But being a non-drinker, I can't offer much of an insightful critical review.

I managed to go to the doctor the day before yesterday. Let me tell you it was one of the most smoothest visits I've ever had. I called at roughly 6:35 (my appointment was at 6:45) to find how late he was running. The receptionist, a bubbly-sounding girl, burped into the phone, excused herself, then told me I could come immediately.

When I arrived, the waiting room was packed, and I thought "Shit, they were pulling my leg!" but the receptionist told me I was next, and I sat down next to a familiar-looking woman. The familiar-looking woman was someone I used to work with, and we had an extremely pleasant conversation during my half hour wait.

I was called into the examination room, and given a vitals screening by the one and only Cathy Elaine, who promised me that I would receive more than the usual three minute examination. I promised her that three minutes was all I needed, and thanked her. The doctor came in short order, examined me, and suggested that since I seemed to be fighting away the illness by myself, antibiotics weren't necessary. The pain in my legs was not a blood clot, but related to muscle crampness or some other yuckiness like that.

In conclusion, this visit to the doctor's office was the best ever (unless you count the time I had my ingrown toenail removed, which was more gory than pleasant). I got to see a lady I had worked with, I visited with Momma Nathan, and even the receptionist was cute. What more can you ask for?

And now, a thought concerning the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lets look at this with a bare-bones viewpoint. I don't really advocate the war, or any war in general. I believe that killing is for the most part wrong, but most importantly, I don't believe it should the the US's business to meddle in the affairs of other nations. Our military should be for home defense, not "peacekeeping" missions abroad. With that said, I'll continue.

First, can we all agree that most of the people against the war are generally liberal minded, bleeding heart democrats? And can we agree that generally speaking, most people in favor of the war are flag waving, Bible thumping, more-patriotic-than-thou Republicans? To bring it down to the sum of its parts, the Republicans, or pro-war people, believe that the government of Iraq supported and practiced terrorism, which had an adverse affect to the safety of the American people. The Democrats, or anti-war people, believe that the Bush administration lied (true) concerning weapons of mass destruction, and ignored the UN (the US is not bound by anything in the Constitution to obey UN mandates) in invading Iraq, and now the Iraqi people are suffering and dying.

Ok, fair enough for both sides. But what I don't understand is this. Pre-war Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, was basically a watered-down Islamic extremist nation. Okay, now lets look at Islamic extremists...

• Incorporate religion into government.
• Disenfranchise and subjugate women (not really so bad).
• Prohibit abortion.
• Demand total respect for the government.
• Severely restrictive on freedoms of speech, press, and assembly.
• Spend heavily on military instead of social programs to improve the well-being of its citizens.
• Funny looking turbans.

Can we all agree that this list is true of most, if not all, Islamic extremist groups? Or at least pre-war Iraq? Now lets look at the current Republican controlled America:

• Want to instil prayer into public school, "In God We Trust" to remain as an official motto.
• Have never been in favor of women's rights, particularily the Equal Rights Amendment (not really so bad).
• Want to prohibit abortion.
• Want greater respect for the government and nation, even several attempts at a flag burning amendment.
• Just look at the Homeland Security Act...
• Notoriously big spender for military, while ignoring other social issues that our enormous taxes could be going towards.
• Cowboy hats.

So basically, can we all agree that Republicans are basically watered-down versions of Islamic extremists? Different God, different oil fields, different color skin. So let say for argument purposes only, that Republicans = Islamic extremists. Consistently, military personnel have overwhelmingly voted for Republican policies and candidates. Also, the majority of taxes come from corporations and rich individuals who are also overwhelmingly Republican. We essentially have wealthy Republicans, paying powerful Republicans, to send violent Republicans (military personnel), across the oceans and deserts, to kill extremist Republicans.

Republicans are killing Republicans!

And look at who is raising the biggest stink: the airheaded, bleeding heart commie Democrats! Now ok ok, this was all just a bit of a discussion into some theoretical examples, I don't need, nor do I have the bandwidth to deal with all the arguments on why we shouldn't be at war, etc. etc. I agree, but for probably different reasons. Just some thoughts...

grokkings

Zach drives a Barbie Jeep.

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