If the phone troll would stop calling my house at 430 in the morning, I'd be much obliged. So would my four roommates.


(edited from "if the phone troll calls my house at four AM again I'll track him down and smash his skull." As you can see, it's much nicer to be polite.)

This isn't the first time. Usually he calls during the day, breathes heavy, says fuck you, then hangs up. 430am is the limit of my tolerance.

um . . .

Remember when I made the case for intervention in Congo, and then Liberia during the summer?

And remember how international intervention helped both countries---Congo is stablizing, abeit slowly, and so is Liberia.


It's time for the same in Haiti. It's our own backyard, people.


People are paying attention.

Here.

and here (for the last two weeks I might add...nice job Team Agonist.)


and here.


and as far as I know, not here.


anyone else I missed?

Okay, so maybe I'm jumping the gun. It IS an election year after all. But, considering this is Pax Americana whether we want it to be or not, humanitarian intervention is a noble goal---and our responsibility. Now I don't mean neo-con adventures to remake the universe. You know exactly what I mean.

Or...maybe, I just care because the Haitians are black as one friend cynically put it.

9/11 Commission Watch

Not surprisingly, the Bush Administration doesn't seem to be cooperating. The extention was a good thing, however. I'm glad for that.

The White House is facing a new battle with the federal panel investigating 9/11. To mollify the panel chair, former governor Thomas Kean, President George W. Bush last week reversed course and agreed to a two-month extension that is supposed to ensure a final 9/11 report by July. But that might not be enough. Commission sources tell NEWSWEEK that panel members are fed up with what one calls "maddening" restrictions by White House lawyers on their access to key documents. Unless the panel gets to see the docs, the report "will not withstand the laugh test," a commission official says. The panel is threatening to force a showdown soon—by voting to subpoena the White House.

Heh. I hope they bring it. You know, the White House must like laughing at the tinfoil-hat crowd...which their obstruction feeds their paranoia.

Note to self---no more posting after coming in from the bars. The last three posts make no sense.

Ball-less Miserable Failure.

There really are no fucking words.

In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists.

The implications...I DON'T EVEN want to think about them right now.





Oh...Canada...our home and native land...true patriot love in all thy sons command.....

I'm seriously thinkin' it.

shit!


Kerry Wins!

I dunno what I'm gonna do if he wins the nomination.

Clark is still in the game y'all. I opened my wallet, finally.

Super Tuesday will tell.

Gotta hand it to Bush and his administration. They top even me in cynicism.

earth's most important story not being covered by American Media

is being covered very well over at The Agonist.

I wrote a short article about Pakistan's nuclear proliferation but our webmaster hasn't put it up yet. I'll let you know when it is. Suffice to say, after the events of this week, an update is necessary.

Terry Carlin is the world's dumbest woman. Grow up.
More on the World's Dumbest Woman making the World's Dumbest Lawsuit.

I'm not sure what makes me angrier: the fact that Bush is cutting VA benefits or that a college newspapeer is the only source reporting it.

If anyone dares say I hate the troops, I may break their teeth.

What a c*nt Bush is. My god, yet people still be all up on they knees for him.

Link via Atrios via Balta.

meanwhile back on the ranch

Haiti is a flippin' mess.

An armed opposition group seized control of Haiti's fourth-largest city Thursday, burning a police station, freeing prisoners and leaving at least four people reported dead and 20 wounded in clashes with police.

More messy weather. I'll tell you one good thing about this winter. It's aiding in "Operation Get Fat."

Very brave, Massachusetts. Very brave.


I think it's a great decision. However, I think this will bring the harpies (I mean those Fred Phelps types) out of the shadows now. It's gonna get shrill up in here.

Don has comments.

Shrill Harpie Number One: The White House has commented.

Frist Comments... it begins.

Heh. Star Trek.

primary season

E has given me a much needed "cyber-pep talk." Ok, more like a bitch slap. Yeah it's harsh, I deserved it.

Yes, I was disappointed that Wesley Clark, in my own words, didn't do better. I saw Kerry win five states and got discouraged. As much as I want to see Bush out, a vote for Kerry isn't much better in my opinion. Thus, when I got home after a long day, I saw that Kerry won five states and felt like giving up. No offense to Kerry supporters, but your boy is a corpse...I don't mean someone is going to kill him. I mean when I see him on TV, I think corpse. Partially becasue his campaign was dead before the Iowa Caucuses. Mainly because he looks like he has the personality of a . . .well. . . corpse. And yeah, I did feel like giving up.

Not after that pep-talk.

I never really explained why I support Wesley Clark for President. I suppose it's because it's fairly obvious: He's served with distinction, and Bush has not. He has the foreign policy experience, and Bush does not. He can deal with many world leaders, many world military leaders, and the like, and of course Bush cannot.

Clark won Oklahoma. He also came in second in three states. The boy's alive, y'all. I can't believe I let myself get discouraged.

I haven't opened my wallet yet (mainly because it's more or less been empty) but I will. Also, considering I'm vice-President of my school's College Democrats (a tiny group of kids, but we're there.) I'm going to organize some Clark events since I think it's more or less in my power to do that. And March 2nd, the REAL super Tuesday, we'll see Wesley Clark on top.

It's way too early for me to be giving up, or anyone to be giving up, no matter how inviting Canada or New Zealand looks (and believe me, I've been a-lookin.)

Thanks for the bitchslap E.

One word: Morons. I can't believe how stupid people are these days. But, I blame the proliferation of trash culture...you know...that shit Clear Channel plays, that shit called "reality TV", that shit known as MTV, that shit clothing line called Abercrombie...you get the drift. It's all trash.


(or as Freepers like to say, Morans.)

This is excellent news.

President Bush (news - web sites) reversed himself Wednesday and said he now supports giving a commission investigating the 9/11 attacks more time to produce a final report.

It remains to be seen if the White House will fully cooperate. Small steps. My suspicion is that they will. . . it IS an election year after all.

The Shorter Massachusetts Supreme Court


Fuck you, President Bush, and all your bigoted fundamentalist friends.

I'm disappointed that Clark has not done better. He should not have skipped Iowa.

I'll have something soon on the primaries, but suffice to say, I'm giving the other candidates another look.

This Janet Jackson thing has me pissed off. So I wrote the following, and in a couple days, 7000 or so Millersville students and faculty will read it. And since we have a Communication department (of which I left largely due to the utter disgust I have for our media), I hope to get some nasty letters to feed my sense of self-importance and ego. Muhahaha.

Our media is so insanely worthless. I feel sorry for those graduating from Millersville going into this field. It’s a completly worthless industry. It’s not independent. It’s profit-driven. It’s corporate. It’ll probably get worse if Michael Powell of the FCC gets his way. And noone cares.
Well, let me clarify. If you’re graduating into the entertainment industry to work for CNN, Fox, MTV or some other network, then the media is perfect for you. Celebrity trials (Kobe, Michael), celebrity antics (Janet’s boob), “reality TV,” “consumer journalism” and all like it. I’m sure we all have a need to know about the “sensational” Scott Peterson case or if Kobe really raped that girl. But, if you happen to be one of those who wants to be the next Woodward and Bernstein, you’re graduating college thirty years too late. Sorry. Bummer. Our media doesn’t do stuff like that anymore. They couldn’t be bothered. Janet’s boob flashing on national TV(an outrage sure, but so was the four hour erection commercial shown during the very same Super Bowl and not one complaint has been uttered) is much more important.
Pathetic.
You may argue that investigative journalism still gets done. That’s only half-true. Watch your evening news. Those “investigative pieces” are usually about a product that may be dangerous(or not), or a business practice that may be shady (or not), or similar things. Those shows like Dateline almost always show how a bunch of people got themselves swindled. Sure, it’s a shame, even though those people probably had no common sense anyway. Sure, they are investigative. But, for the most part, they are not done by actual journalists. Media consulting firms make a lot of “investigative” type templates, and news stations just plug and chug in the holes. The shift from actually reporting real news to making profits has a lot to do with this, along with various libel suits and coporate mergers and takeovers of news organizations. This happens in newspapers too. As corporations who own the news decide they want to cut costs, investigative departments get sliced out for “human interest” stories. Those same corporations (TV and print) have also cut foreign correspondents and bureaus, thus causing many Americans to have a
general lack of the world around them. And as many of those same corporations get a lot of “corporate welfare” from local, state, and Federal governments, they most certainly don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. Thus, more Janet Jackson boob stories, less stories on the red ink the states are in, or government waste and corruption.
For example: did you know that there is an independent investigatory commission behind the 9/11 Attacks? Did you know that the Bush Administration keeps stonewalling the commission from doing its work? The entire case is a subject for another commentary, but it is atrocious. If you didn’t hear about it, well, it’s not your fault. Our media is fairly worthless. If you did hear about it, good. You’ve been paying attention to the stories often given 30 seconds of copy on the evening news or buried on the back of page A74. I’m not quite sure why the media doesn’t care that the Bush Administration doesn’t seem to care about investigating one of the most horrific events in American
history while using said horrific event for political gain but I suspect all the corporate tax breaks that their parent corporations get from the Federal government that keep them from making such things headline news. Well, that, and our media is worthless too. Remember, Janet’s boob is more important to them.
Pathetic. I want a better media, please. And if you want to be Woodward or Bernstein, forget it. Change your major before it’s too late.

You're a Non-box.


What box do you get put in?
brought to you by Quizilla



(oh by the way, I'm taking a hiatus. this blog needs some direction.)

yet another snowy Amish Country Winter Morning


And all they gave me was a two hour delay. Bleh. No 9am, so I get to sleep in a bit for a change.

forecast


It's probably going to snow till May so enjoy the mini ice age.


(yeah, it's snowing AGAIN. w00t!)

Angry Picture


(click at your own risk.)

Any word on the Pandagon twins?

I am concerned.

9/11 Commission Watch

Holy shit!

For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

"This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean.

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."

Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.

I want to see this get more press.

Interesting thoughts on what should really be done to the Constitution, in full snark mode of course.

Gays speak out.

And speak...

(They're not liberal gays either...believe it or not ones sexual orientation does not determine ones political ideology)

...and speak...


Well damn.

I have a sneaking suspicion, just sneaking of course, that none of the proponents of this lovely little amendments have actually asked the gays how they'd feel about this. Just a suspicion.

excellent writing

I think the Koufax Awards are over. However, Don Fox at Nitecrawler keeps hitting them out of the ballpark. Awesome writing. More people should be reading him.

primary season

Governor Rendell made a good argument. Pennsylvania, a very key swing state due to the large urban population at both ends of the state, has almost no say in who the nominees are. PA's primary for both parties is April 27. By that point, it's fairly irrelevant in terms of federal races.

For 2008, the governor wants to move the primary back to February. I say it's a good idea. It gives PA residents the chance choose their nominees. Go for it, Eddy!

In other primary news I was surprised that Kerry won, and I'm looking forward to New Hampshire in two weeks.

clarification

By pundit class, I meant television pundits. Bloggers, for the most part, are not pundits. They're armchair quarterbacks.

F**k that bastard C**t

That's really all I can say. After last nights' cocky, belligerent and disgraceful SOTU (except of course, his supporters, who likely had to wipe various fluids from their TV screens when he was done) I just have nothing nice to say about the President. Not that I did before, but then it was just a strong dislike. Now, I'm one of those pathological types the Republicans always whine about...those "Bush Haters." You know, I'm fairly proud of that fact. I don't care what anyone thinks.

I may downgrade it to "strong dislike" if I see those education initiatives get funded. It may fall to "dislike" if he drops his support for the Federal Marriage Amendment, a bigoted thing if I ever heard one. Of course, I'm not holding my breath.

SOTU

Reaction: Fury. There really is no profanity strong enough. I'm still pissed off. I'll talk on this tomorrow.


(Take a WILD guess as to what nearly got me kicked out of the student union...I issued a prompt slur of choice words that would make a public toilet WITH a glory hole blush.)

Predictions:

1. War with either Iran or North Korea is coming.
2. A new wave of homophobia, led by our already despicable pundit class (and i'm talking people on both sides of the aisle) will soon sweep the country.

grief

Hmm, I'm inclined to agree with Adam over at Throwing Things. It's time to dismantle Liberty One and Two and all other offending buildings and return Mr. Billy Penn to his rightful place as the tallest thing in Philadelphia. If not that, find a way to return Billy Penn to the forefront of the Philadelphia skyline. Or buy Philadelphia sports fans lots of Zoloft. I'm not sure which choice is cheaper.

Billy Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, is a vengeful, spiteful little bitch. Sure explains a lot.


(I'm not sure which stage of grief I'm at...Oy)

i'm pissed off

If I die young due to high blood pressure, it's all the Eagles (and Penn State) fault. Fucking hell. Fuck.

and 2004 begins on a "wonderful" note, considering nothing at all went right in 2003. I predict an awful year. Really, I do.

snow

All I'm going to say about the impending playoff game tonight is praise God for the snow. We all know how Southerners are about snow.


E A G L E S EAGLES!

annoyance

This low-carb cult is getting out of hand. I'm starting to ask at restaurants to bring me the normal bread---not that low-carb swill. Some observations I've made so far:

1. Low-carb beer tastes like crap. And I do like me some beer.
2. Low-carb bread tastes like crap. And hello? Bread is nothing BUT carbs.
3. Positing from 1. and 2., I am going to conclude that all low-carb stuff tastes like crap.

I may be biased. I love beer, and I've been known to eat an entire loaf of bread in a sitting.

Now, doing this low-carb thing may indeed help people lose weight and get healthier. I, however, think it's a very strange cult. I'm no dietian, but I think that controlling portions and being active, not what's in the portions, will help people make diets, whether they are gaining weight or losing weight.

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!


Rush Limbaugh can seriously pucker up and kiss my big ass. Haha! Bliss.

err..


Being 5'4"(and a half), shopping for clothes, especially winter and dress clothes is an incredibly frustrating and irritating experience for me. I am also somewhat thin, which makes it even worse. My waist size isn't hard to find..it's the inseam that is. Shirts are frustrating even when they are smalls. The sleeves are too long or the neck too big. The pants, even when they're in the right waist, are usually too long, or the butt isn't in the right place...etc. Relatives always buy mediums which I then have to shrink in the wash, and then they're still too big. I also absolutely refuse to shop in the boys section. I don't need that kind of . . . embarrassment.

I know there has to be at least one short man who reads this site. If there is. . . where do you shop? And do they have a website?!

Slave trade

An article on the dark skinned people of Southern Iraq, legacy of the Arabian Sea slave trade---one that was just as brutal as the Atlantic slave trade.

Bush's Immigration Idea

In a couple days I'm going to write on this, but for now, here's the thoughts of others.

*Andrew Hagen---says it's a bad idea.

*Charlie Crystle---goes into the reasons as to why millions from Latin America come here.

*Billmon---interesting argument (although Billmon is ALWAYS interesting), I suggest you go read for yourself. The man knows his history...wish everyone did.

I actually think I'm coming around to the side that thinks this immigration proposal is a bad idea--NOT because I strongly dislike President Bush and his entire administration--but because I see nothing good out of it. I see immigrants attempting to come here for a better life and getting abused by the system (which, incidentally, already abuses them). Honestly, the US needs to rebuild its tech and manufacturing sectors so our jobs stop getting outsourced. I'll address all that later this coming week.