I have just fixed a problem with trackbacks to my posts. So if you had previously had problems it should be fixed now. My cgi file that controlled it was corrupted. This file had been seen hanging around with a bad crowd of files lately and you know bad company corrupts good files.
In a increasingly violent workplace such as in Washington D.C. this book answers a timely need of what to do in critical situations. For years attention has been paid to postal workers and yet the dangerous life of a bureaucrat has been ignored. Thankfully due to current confirmation hearing this hidden problem is finally coming out in tothe light. Those that have had to silently suffer with threatening postures in the workplace finally have a voice and are being heard.
Here is information from just one chapter of this book that goes on to describe the philosophy behind Bureaucrat Do – the art of fighting in a bureaucracy.
Defending yourself against John R. Bolton
We realize that this is a bureaucrat’s nightmare scenario, but we believe that if you can prepare yourself for someone like John Bolton you will be prepared for lesser emergencies.
*** Warning the following graphic displays a violent workplace posture ****
"Dreaded hands-on-hip style"
The good news is that even this bureaucratic infighting style can be defended against. This senate testimony scared many of us when Mr. Fingar told of his horrifying experience with the hands-on-hip style and the body language it implied.
If you encounter this posture:
- First control your breathing and do not panic – breath deeply.
- Always be aware of your surroundings by keeping track of emergency exits.
- Watch for accompanying escalating signs.
If hands-on-hip style starts is accompanied by a raised voice or worse a disagreement with your policy position.
- Head to the closes emergency exit and then call 911.
- Only if you are unable to safely escape will you try to attempt the hands-on-hip counter fighting style.
Extend you arm and pull one arm of the assailing bureaucrat’s hip.
Then yank the other hand on a hip off and place a kick in the shins.
Follow the instructions in the above illustration to throw the offending bureaucrat on floor. When the bureaucrat is down and daze run for your life and call your local police. Do not stay on the scene for you could be treated with a posture such as the wagging finger and verbal dress down.
If you feel discomfort with the above defensive action there is another long used bureaucratic tactic that can be taken advantage of besides the typical back stab. Simply wait till the offending supervisor is up for a post where he needs to be confirmed first and testify and make charges against him.
This and many other chapters are available in this valuable book – so act now!
BERLIN (AFP) – Interest in Pope Benedict XVI’s old Volkswagen, currently on offer on eBay Germany, has smashed all records for the Internet auction site with nearly four million hits, the company said.
" It was viewed more often than any other item we have ever had on eBay Germany," the Berlin headquarters said.
The bidding for the metallic gray 1999 Golf IV in mint condition started at 9,999 euros (about 12,800 dollars), and by Monday, with more than 136 registered offers, had reached 62,595 euros.
Because the auction is not due to end until Thursday — Ascension Day — eBay expects the price to continue to rise.
The Golf is being offered by Benjamin Halbe, 21, who bought it in January from a used car dealer having no idea that its previous owner, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, would become pope.
"It’s a heavenly ride," Halbe said. [Source]
Well not all people thinks that it is a heavenly ride. I can imagine some on the left taking a test drive and reporting that it’s seating is hard and rigid while others will be pleased that it’s steering is unable to make left turns or complete u-turns – though it can continue to drive deeper into mysteries.
It does make me wonder if one day Pope Benedict is canonized a saint whether this car then becomes a relic? Now that would be pretty POD to be able to drive around in a relic. Even cooler would be the need for a reliquary door opener for when you come home to park the car in the reliquary. And if somebody calls your old car a relic you can say "Thank you."
To bad this is happening on ebay which has turned to the dark side in its refusal to outright deny the sale of consecrated hosts.
Update: eBay has changed their policy to prevent this from happening in the future.
John Gibson of Musings of an ExPagan was kind enough to make me a new web medallion for my site in response to this post. Maybe I can now take the Flip Wilson tack for my bad puns "The Devil made me do it." I guess it is a good thing that my angry Angel defending commenter didn’t see my Moloch Now blog or he would have really gone al Dana Carvey over me.
By the way you can read John’s amazing conversion story in Envoy Magazine here.
Someone who is either not use to my blog or has had his funny bone surgically removed sent me the following:
You, the person of this website. You should be ashamed of yourself for portraying yourself as a Guardian angel, considering the fact that YOUR OWN guardian angel has probably helped you out in so many ways in your life, without you even knowing it. Have you thought about how he or she has even helped you out during your life?? Probably not. And let me tell correct you on a few things, okay?? The Seraphim are NOT pompous, Gabriel does not brag about ANYTHING in any form, and Uriel is not and never has been the Virgin Mary’s guardian angel! Do you realize you got the idea for this evil website from satan himself?? Probably not. I mean, think about it for a minute. You called the Seraphim pompous, you told a lie about Gabriel and about the other angels not getting a promotion, and about Uriel being Mary’s guardian angel. If you do not remove this website from the website, on Judgement day, you’ll not have God and the Lord to deal with, but also a bunch of countless angels breathing down your neck as well. God help you and may you think before you react to my message to warn you
This was response to an older post titled "A day in the life of a Guardian Angel." Now I can appreciate the person for sticking up for Guardian Angels but this email was over-the-top and besides I had Gabriel as Mary’s Guardian Angel in the post.
NEW YORK — Secular humanists and leftist activists convened here over the weekend to strategize how to counter what they contend is a growing political threat from Christian conservatives.
Understanding and answering the "religious far right" that propelled President Bush’s re-election is key to preventing a "theocracy" from governing the nation, speakers argued at a weekend conference.
"The religious right now has an unprecedented influence on American politics and policy," said Ralph White, co-founder of the Open Center, a New York City institution focused on holistic learning. "It is incumbent upon all of us to understand as precisely as possible its aims, methods, beliefs, theology and psychology."
… "This may be the darkest time in our history," said Bob Edgar, general secretary of the left-leaning National Council of Churches and former six-term Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania. "The religious right have been systematically working at this for 40 years. The question is, where is the religious left?" [Source][Via Hugh Hewitt]
This article came out after I had submitted my latest piece to Spero News "Theopoly board game soon to be a reality".
Many blogs (for example Cnytr) have been pointing to the Pope Benedict XVI Bear. This is fairly appropriate since the Pope has a bear on his Coat of Arms. Now some people are against the Pope having a bear on his arms, but I totally support his right to bear arms.
But we must not forget his predecessor Pope John Paul II the Great Bear.
Also of course there is the old joke about "Gladly the cross-eyed bear"
I have a review of a exciting new product that helps calculate the number of times a person needs to be forgiven up at Spero News.
Lots of other good articles from some of St. Blog’s finest and others also up at Spero News.
Smockmomma at Summa Mamas has the best caption for this photo "there’s no place like rome, there’s no place like rome" Her title doesn’t say it three times and possibly like me doesn’t want him clicking those shoes together three times. I want him to stick around for a bit. Papabile now blogging at Romanitas has some background information about the red shoes. Fr. Tucker also has some interesting questions about Pope Benedict’s Pallium.
Though the red shoes do beg the question about where he got them. Did the papal apartment land on some wicked witch somewhere? (Insert your own Sister Chittister joke here) Maybe though the Wizard of Oz comparison can be illustrative about Pope Benedict XVI. Like the Wizard of Oz the media has built a false and terrifying image of then Cardinal Ratzinger that was meant to scare people with his power. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" is what the media has tried to do. Though in this case it was them that put the false curtain around him in the first place.
You could hear them chanting "Ratzinger head of the CDF, oh my" The media has built up a straw man, only in this case it is them that have been lacking in brains. With all of the Wizard of Oz comparisons could his motto be Toto Tuus?
From an article in the NY Times about yesterday’s press conference with Pope Benedict XVI.
Ms. Macher said he was modest, not at all showy for a man of his position, with a dry sense of humor.
"Someone lost his dog and put up a sign: Has anyone seen this German Shepherd?" she recalled. "He came in and said, ‘No, no, it’s not me. I’m here.’ It was really funny – it surprised us. I think he is going to surprise us."
Also here is the text of the Pope’s homily today at his inauguration Mass.