The Worm According To Me

Actually, there is a trend in the hated reality show genre that I'm starting to get a kick out of. It's the "let's make fun of women" strain that is running though the man-woman find-a-mate shows as of late. It first appeared in "Joe Millionaire" and is being repeated with the European version. Now we have "Joe Average", in which a woman who claims that personality is the most important quality in a man is presented with sixteen men whose appearance ranges from average to just plain butt ugly. There are fat guys, skinny guys and bald guys. Some of them seem to be a bit on the geeky side and some are a bit on the obnoxious side. I'm sure there's a normal guy hidden in the bunch, but I don't watch the show. I don't watch any of those shows, but I do enjoy some of the ads for them. Like when this poor woman, Melana, whom NBC has obviously tricked into this little game first lays eyes on the group of suitors. The look on her face as it goes from "uh oh, these guys are ugly losers" to "I'd better plaster a big fake smile on my face because I'm on camera" is priceless. Melana is cute and looks pretty hot in a bikini. She's looks like the kind of woman that these guys would never get to first base with in ordinary circumstances. Let's hear from Melana herself. According to her, she is "...usually attracted to the guy who walks in and "lights up the room", not by his looks, but by his charm and the way he treats others." Hmm, we'll see about that. According to Moxie (www.moxie.nu), who is a blogger, photographer and babe in her own right, mentions that next week will feature the addition of a few better-looking guys to whom she seems to be more attracted than the first bunch. Ooh, delicious!

In my very first entry over six years ago in this ongoing blathering I call a website, I wrote the following:

And while I'm on the subject, why don't you women just come out and say that looks matter a lot more than you are willing to admit. We do. There is no doubt that a man is visual. He wants a woman to whom he is attracted physically. If she is also a good person, well that's just icing on the cake. In contrast, so many women insist on repeating the party line that other things like a sense of humor or sensitivity are more important. You're not fooling anyone, you know. There are multitudes of men with the qualities that you allege are so important, yet you will still seek the ones who are complete jerks (sorry, guys) because they have rugged faces, toned muscles, and/or cute butts. Oh, let's not forget the rich or powerful. You dig that too. But you say, "Jeff, I see reasonably attractive women with men who are not so good looking, rich or powerful all the time. Explain that." After the search for the perfect guy in the perfect package gets to be too exhausting, you settle. It's as simple as that. Besides, there has to be an exception to prove the rule. I'm not saying that any of this is wrong. Just don't be so hypocritical about it.

I have Comcast digital cable and it is the greatest. Actually it could be greater with more channels, but I get my BBC America and Fox Sports World so I'm happy. One of the channels available to me that I don't watch much is the International Channel. I tend not to watch it very often because much of the programming is in some other language. Every now and again there is a show that is in English. There are some that I'll stick with as I'm flipping channels. They are mostly music shows featuring Japanese music videos and Indian Bollywood movie clips. And I really only watch them because they often have cute Japanese and Indian babes in them. But anyway, there is another program with English subtitles that I will occasionally peek at. It is Journal de France 2, a nightly news program from France's TV5. There is some international news, but most of the stories are understandably French or European in nature. These are the most fascinating. I have to laugh at some of them. It is interesting to watch a nation and a continent fall apart on television. I caught a little bit of it last night. There was story after story about how French citizens were unhappy about this and that. Mostly they are unhappy with the government. Too many intrusions by the socialistic government into the lives of its people? Heck no, not enough! You see, the economy is not exactly humming along and the poorly-run government is in a budget crunch. They have tried over the last several years to cut back government programs and the people are pissed. They protest and strike and do everything they can think of to keep the government support coming. The once great nation of France has descended into a pit of socialist sloth. A story last night featured the trouble in employment. Too many people weren't taking jobs they are offered. And why should they? They can remain unemployed indefinitely on the government dole until they find something that they feel suits them. One Frenchman, a young carpenter in Paris, quipped that that he would not work in the suburbs. There are jobs in the burbs, but this fellow would not take them. Another young man who interviewed to be a baker was offered the job. Rather than take the job and potentially build a new career or earn some honest income while continuing to pursue whatever his dream is, he declined and walked right out of the shop. Generous unemployment compensation has left no incentive to work. (I wonder if the extension of our own unemployment compensation cause the unemployment rate to remain high for a longer period of time than it should have.) Another story covered student protests around some sort of new European curriculum and degree and how that will change the requirements of the students. Some lamented the loss of a French degree and the acceptance of a European one. Well duh! What the hell do you think this whole EU movement is all about? You are no longer a sovereign nation. You are part of a collective. But I've already gone on about the fallacy of a united Europe.

This unhappy European phenomenon is not exclusively French. There was an AP story earlier this month about a protest march of approximately 100,000 Germans through the streets of Berlin. They were protesting Gerhard Schroeder (what, Bush protesting is out of fashion?) and his plan to reform the German welfare state. It seems that Germany is having a hard time kick-starting its economy. With over 10% unemployment, I'm not surprised. Schroeder wants to implement plans to put pressure on the unemployed to take available positions or part-time work. (Sounds a little like the French problem above.) Well, 100K whining Germans said they wouldn't be having any of that. How dare the government support them with other people's money! I don't know what the tax rates are in the great nations of Europe, but I'm guessing they are extraordinary. Oh, the glories of the socialism. I guess that the Germans were listening to John Kennedy when he told them he was a pastry, but they didn't hear anything about his inaugural address in 1961. They are clearly asking what their country can do for them and not what they can do for their country. We already know that they don't believe we should live up to his words that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. At the very least they don't want to help. These European troubles are part of the reason I want to take a trip to the continent and travel through Europe sooner than later. I think that place is going to implode one of these days and I'd like to see it while I still can. European nations don't fare well when economies don't work and they feel humiliated. Remember Germany in the 1930's? I fear something could happen again. Anti-Semitism is on the rise again (as usual when things go bad) and European leaders have indicated that they want a united Europe to be an offset to the power of the United States. Not to ally with us, but to counteract. We went to war on more than one occasion to defend the free nations of Europe and spent half a century in a cold war defending them against the threat of communist aggression. I sincerely hope we are not soon in a war against those same nations.

In a similar vein to the "Europe going to hell in a hand basket" theme, here are some photos by a guy called David Carr (not the quarterback of the Houston Texans) of protesters in London during George W. Bush's recent visit.


What the hell does Cuba have to do with the War in Iraq? Just further proof that this is not about Iraq or terrorism, but about hatred of George W. Bush.	Gee, the Workers Revolutionary Party. What a surprise. Anti-war my ass! Theirs is a struggle against capitalism.

This might be the most ridiculous looking commie I've ever seen. If this is the new face of communism, I'm not afraid.	Yes, that is Karl Marx on that flag. He's the old face of communism. I'll bet they were also carrying pictures of Chairman Mao. If so, they ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow. (Don't you know it's gonna be alright.)