college kids are smrt. S-M-r-T

I gotta say, this is some funny shit.

It's an obvious parody. No one is that stupid.

via Pandagon

UPDATE: It's a parody. Dang, I was hoping he'd string us along for a bit longer.

I also seem to have developed a following at Indiana University. Hmmmmm...

pennsylvania's finest

Oh, Ricky. You been up in the cooking sherry again.

[T]he consequence is very clear. Marriage loses its significance. People will stop getting married. Homosexuals will not get married; heterosexuals will stop getting married. And that to me is the real threat to the American family and to the culture generally.

The fact that he has fairly good support in PA doesn't speak highly of the collective intelligence of Pennsylvanians. Sigh.

things fall apart

Others are onto Haiti.

Finally, atrios is.

As is Jeanne D'Arc

this is just like last summer when I and a number of other bloggers appealed for aid for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the aid that came was piecemeal. It's just as frustrating hearing people say "we don't need to do that. We don't need to stick our nose there" when they then go turn around and say "look at the humanitarian success in Iraq and Afghanistan. They're free!"

Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's Congo. It's a humanitarian catastrophe, and for an administration that prides itself on "humanitarian works and interests" it's a goddamn fucking shame that it ignores Haiti and warns the Haitians to stay on their wartorn half of Hispanola while rebels overthrow social and civil order and destroy what little remains of any economy left.

Watching this unfold, and then watching people ignore it, is beyond heartbreaking.

Some research on Haiti that says there's more to this then meets the eye.

things fall apart

from P6, we see that the haitians are now hijackers.

from Don, we see that the full force and fury of the US Navy will keep the Haitians on their war-torn island.

Update to a post yesterday: Dennis Hastert is still a fucking cunt, but at least he has grown some balls.

This is a great little website on logical fallacies.

I once surmised that Pakistan may have aided North Korea in testing one of its bombs. I of course had no evidence or proof. Just a theory I went with in my head, given North Korea and Pakistan's past nuclear ties. It really didn't take much of a stretch of the imagination, and I do have an overactive one.

Looks like my theory may indeed be fact.

via Sean-Paul's Agonist

It'd be nice if Christians actually used the teachings of Jesus Christ for good and not their fundamentalist hatred.

things fall apart

The fall of Port-au-Prince is likely near.

Cuba appeals to the international community in mitigating the Haitian near-civil war.

Haitians are fleeing to the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. The US will probably not do much.

The Caribbean nations press the UN for a peacekeeping force.

Florida Senator Bob Graham (D) writes to the WaPo.

American churches step up the plate while the government dithers.

Security Council aid is requested.

Aristide was on CNN this afternoon which I watched ( a rarity, I usually don't watch Inside Politics). Here's the Transcript. He calls the rebels terrorists. 71% of those polled at CNN (not scientific) say that the US should not intervene militarily.

Florida Senators state the Bush administration really has no plan of action. That's about par for the course.

Flights between the Bahamas and Haiti have been stopped.

More from The Bahamas.



While France and the Caribbean communities may be ready to intervene (although they won't without a UN mandate, which I'm doubtful will come), the rest of the developed world just watches.

Haiti is on its own.

We will regret this.

I wonder if all that juicy oil Libya has is behind this. I mean they are cooperating, but I think we really just want to fellate their oil out of the ground.

9/11 Commission Watch


Dennis Hastert is a fucking cunt.

In a blow to the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has told the White House and fellow Republicans that he will not bring up legislation to extend its May 27 deadline, officials said on Wednesday.

President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, personally had appealed to Speaker Dennis Hastert to reconsider, and the Illinois Republican met on Wednesday with Bush at the White House.

But the speaker's spokesman, John Feehery, said Hastert told the White House and members of the House Republican conference that "it's a bad idea to extend the commission and ... that we're not going to bring any legislation up."

The commission wants a 60-day extension through July 26 to complete its final report on the attacks. Despite initial objections, Bush backed the extension and the Senate is moving forward with legislation.

But Hastert cast serious doubt on its prospects for passage in the Republican-controlled House. "He thinks the (commission's) report is overdue and we need to get the recommendations as soon as possible. He is also concerned it will become a political football if this thing is extended and it is released in the middle of the presidential campaign," Feehery said.

I want Mr. Hastert to meet with each and every one of the families of the 3,000 murdered victims and say that to their faces. Dennis Hastert, you've won the February Fuck You Award.

Wow, this makes me really angry and the sad thing is there's not much I can do about it other then rant.


It's looking more and more likely I'll become a more vocal activist. I prefer the checkbook...but stuff like this makes me want to scream in the streets.


It may be angry and shrill to say, but I think anyone who blocks this commission from doing its work to investigate the murder of 3,000 people is a coward, a traitor, and is going to Hell.




via The Talking Dog.


And the very fact that the Republicans will use this event for political gain at their convention this August fills me with such rage. Yes. National Security is our message----but we don't have the BALLS to give the commission an extension to do its work. Red Hot. Supernova. Righteous indignant rage


And Bob Kerrey's gonna quit over their secrecy. Bastards. Why don't they care about investigating the murder of thousands?

If they really are going to privitize social security then I'd like the $500 or so I've paid into it back, please.

things fall apart

This is interesting. . .

WASHINGTON - FBI (news - web sites) agents destroyed evidence and failed to share other information that raised the possibility that a gang of white supremacist bank robbers may have assisted Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites) during the Oklahoma City bombing, according to documents never introduced at McVeigh's trial.

Now as I remember it (and researched it), the Federal government was all set to do some deep deep probing into the white supremacy/far-right movement and certain individuals in Congress at the time squashed it. Correct me if I have it wrong.

compassionate conservatism or Shades of Rwanda


The leader of another country, trying to keep his desperately poor nation from plunging into civil war, pleads for international aid.

The developed international community, including the leader of the world's last superpower, rebuff him. Although the French have called for a security force.
Also his message to Haitians trying to escape what's coming: Try it and we'll send your black ass back.

I'm not sure why I care about Haiti so much. Maybe it's skin color. Maybe it's the old family stories that say one ancestor came from Haiti. Maybe I care because I just do.

In just over a month, the world will observe ten years since the genocide in Rwanda, another case where the world sat on its ass. Ten years from now, will we be observing the same for Haiti?

The truth behind that really creepy Quiznos commercial.

Sorry, can't say more. I'm going to Quiznos.

things fall apart

Haiti appeals to the world for help.

I'm making the call. I want an international intervention under American direction (due to the Monroe Doctrine...we're responsible for our own hemisphere).

things fall apart


Hey gang. Haiti is still falling apart. The developed world continues to waffle. For shame.

things fall apart


Uh oh y'all. Japan is a'changin'.


Via Steve Soto


as things fall apart, I really want to hear more about this...and why a only British newspaper is reporting it.

Hey Arnold?


Over my dead body.


(by the way, you arguing for the sanctity of marriage is like calling the kettle black. I mean, you DID cheat on your wife, dickhead.)

Hey Ralph?

There's a picture I posted about two weeks ago.

It's also directed toward you.

Mr ex-Congressman's kid is in the news. (Ex, as in I no longer live in that district...I live in one with a Congressman who's worse!)


via Suburban Guerilla, who I had no idea lived in that hell known as Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Republicans in Delco are a funny bunch---when running for office, a nod of ok from the Delaware County Republican Party is like being slotted for the Rapture. I'm not kidding.

This is from a couple days ago but apparently the US is planning on building a port/airport in tiny island African nation of Sao Tome and Principe.


If you remember, this tiny island nation had a coup attempt last July.

If you also remember, this tiny island nation is sitting on top of a huge-ass oil field---one that stretches from Nigeria southeastward toward Angola. Much of it is unexplored.

Interesting......

good!

Considering all the screwing of soldiers(and everyone else) that's been happening, it's pretty good to read an article stating that said soldiers will be getting a bonus.



I won't take my yellow ribbons down until they're home, however. Strangely, I'm one of the few who still wear the yellow ribbon.

Well, Ralph Nader is running for president again.

If our system wasn't two-party, (and if there weren't the most important election since 1896) this probably wouldn't matter.

still just a human dignity issue, not a partisan one

Read the money quote on this one and you'll see why. Actually, there's several.

Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, who has been mentioned as a possible Democratic vice presidential candidate this year, has opposed same-sex marriage. A spokeswoman reiterated the governor's opposition Friday, noting, however, that he remains "a champion for human rights."

and ...

A rural area along an interstate highway connecting Albuquerque and Santa Fe, Sandoval County became the destination for a mad rush of gay partners Friday, who abruptly left work when they heard media reports that County Clerk Victoria Dunlap, a Republican, was going to issue same-sex marriage licenses, a first in New Mexico.

Dunlap, who left the courthouse before the attorney general's advisory arrived by fax at 4 p.m., said a day earlier that she felt compelled to grant the licenses based upon an opinion she sought from County Attorney David Mathews.

According to the county attorney, state law defines marriage as a contract without explicitly stating gender requirements. He also expressed concern about legal liability by refusing to grant the licenses.

An issue that transends all ideologies. Human rights. Yeah.

I'm still glad the issue is being forced now. If we waited till America was ready the sun would have long gone nova, enveloping the Earth.

A tangent but a related one at best...as they say in Middle English(i think, i'm not up to date on my Chaucer), the shit is abouteth to hit thine fan in Texas.

haiti

Okay boys and girls, it's getting out of control in Haiti. And even though there's no oil there, the United States probably should do something to help those people. You know, that Monroe Doctrine and all.

cheap shot

I wonder if the conservatives here will hail this as a great victory for them.

Don, you're channeling my cynical thoughts again.

weird things today

Food service workers are really factory workers.
( I couldn't make this up if I tried.)

I don't know what to make of this proposed amendment.

The universe is not going to rip apart. I'll sleep easier now.

go freedom!

Congrats, again, to San Francisco.

and now...

New Mexico

and . . . Chicago for considering it.

I can't wait to have kids so I can tell them I lived through freedom happening. Just like my parents saw freedom happen for them. A little civil disobedience goes a long way, and I'm proud San Francisco is doing it.

[insert diety here] Bless America.


Seriously if you're straight and you're going to get married, or you already are married, you really have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Unless you pull a Britney Spears and make marriage a joke. Oh. wait.



Human dignity y'all...that's all it's about. I directly compare this issue to the civil rights issue started by Rosa Parks, a woman who disobeyed civil codes. Now look where we are. Hell, I would not be blogging if it weren't for her.

They must really think we're stupid.

Watching...

This probably isn't really a big deal, in the long run but I'm not ready to pull the hypocrisy lever just yet. . .

It really isn't nice of me to stoop to Drudge-like levels. Oh well.

This latest strain of bird flu was located in a town called Mt. Joy, which is about 15 miles from me.


News Channel 8, our local NBC affiliate, has more.

There's been a weird flu-like illness going around campus, but I doubt the two are related.

This news actually broke on Feb. 12th.

The Shorter David Neiwert (and I mean no snarkiness, because I agree)

The rhetoric in this country is beginning to sound a lot like late Weimar Germany.

It's one of those things that sticks in your mind.

One evening before the outbreak of war last winter I was chatting online, on AIM. There's a bulletin board here at Millersville where students talk about various things. My viewpoint on the looming Iraq War was well known there and among students because I write a long-running column on political issues. So this one night I was pretty much told, in the eliminationist rhetoric that Mr. Neiwert describes, that I should shut up or else and that I was a traitor for even daring to question President Bush's actions.

There's one anecdote.

In Fall 2002, before Congress came under Republican control, I reacted in anger over the the looming Iraq War, the sudden admission that North Korea had the bomb, and the general apathy of just about everyone. I put a sign on my dorm room door. The sign was ripped down, the door vandalized (with a knife) and threatening phone calls levied (which, I do still receive on occasion, I ranted about it a couple weeks ago).

There's another.

I'm not really mad about this. Just. . . intrigued. . .maybe a little worried. . . that it's happening. In addition, while all this was happening I mused and wondered if this is what Weimar Germany felt like before the fall. I even wrote about it in one column.

Michael, a historian, weighs in. Michael is a student of history---specifically Nazi Germany and he's creeped out.

What I am saying is that there are parallels here, and that they make me somewhat nervous. Something tells me it's going to be a little harder to get to sleep tonight than I'd anticipated, and please God I'm just being a little too paranoid or I've read just a little too much German history lately.

It's entirely possible I'm doing the same thing. I've spent the better part of two years researching and reading up on fascism and there are days I can smell the faint scent of Weimar in the air. However, all we really have is anecdotal evidence--my door being slashed, my phone troll. David speaks of a woman being told she should die because she's a Democrat. The Freepers are well-known for this type of rhetoric. There's a few stories about the Governator's election and how some of his supporters were little more than Brownshirts. Think Right or Else. . .

Once I got a fortune from a cookie that said "You will live in interesting times."

Indeed.

Perhaps "Bring it On" is appropriate.


(all this in response to Nooners...yes, Peggy Nooners. I've always thought she was two sandwiches short of a picnic but now..well, I think she finally got her picnic.

bout time someone said it

I read Wonkette from time to time, just to see what all the fuss is. I find her condensending, rude, snide, and bitchy. Glad someone else thought the same thing.


I ought to stop reading her but the same fascination I have with late-night fundamentalist Christian TV applies here too. On the expressway, they call them gaper delays.


From P6.

Oh by the way, I've been on a Nietzsche kick lately. Contrary to popular belief, Nietzche is NOT the father of fascism, although my research into fascism is what introduced me to him. I'll post about this in the coming week.

If you're tired of the duality of American politics, take a look at Australia. This messageboard is pretty fascinating.

if i start growing tumors . . .


Well, here's outrage number eleventy quadrillion.

The Bush administration quietly shelved a proposal to ban a gasoline additive that contaminates drinking water in many communities, helping an industry that has donated more than $1 million to Republicans.

The Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites)'s decision had its origin in the early days of President Bush (news - web sites)'s tenure when his administration decided not to move ahead with a Clinton-era regulatory effort to ban the clean-air additive MTBE.


The proposed regulation said the environmental harm of the additive leaching into ground water overshadowed its beneficial effects to the air.


The Bush administration decided to leave the issue to Congress, where it has bogged down over a proposal to shield the industry from some lawsuits. That initiative is being led by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.


The Associated Press obtained a draft of the proposed regulation that former President Clinton (news - web sites)'s EPA sent to the White House on its last full day in office in January 2001.


It said: "The use of MTBE as an additive in gasoline presents an unreasonable risk to the environment."


The EPA document went on to say that "low levels of MTBE can render drinking water supplies unpotable due to its offensive taste and odor," and the additive should be phased out over four years.

"Unlike other components of gasoline, MTBE dissolves and spreads readily in the ground water ... resists biodegradation and is more difficult and costly to remove."

People say MTBE-contaminated water tastes like turpentine.
In Santa Monica, Calif., the oil industry will pay hundreds of millions of dollars because the additive contaminated the city's water supply.

Compassionate Conservatism...yeah, no comment.

haiti


Team Agonist has round the clock coverage.

very interesting . . .

I knew there was more to meet the eye in this Pakistan-Libya-Iran proliferation triangle.

Investigators have discovered that the nuclear weapons designs obtained by Libya through a Pakistani smuggling network originated in China, exposing yet another link in a chain of proliferation that stretched across the Middle East and Asia, according to government officials and arms experts.

What a disgusting bitch.



(it's ann coulter. if you haven't the stomach for this disgusting piece of humanity, don't click the link. In short, she calls Max Cleland..yeah, THAT Max Cleland who lost three limbs in Vietnam, a coward. Disgusting.)

One of the sites I'm consulting in my research.

shades of weimar

Have y'all read this?

President Vladimir Putin used a campaign speech Thursday to declare the demise of the Soviet Union a "national tragedy on an enormous scale," in what appeared to be his strongest-ever lament of the collapse of the Soviet empire.

Putin, a former agent of the Soviet KGB spy agency, has praised aspects of the Soviet Union in the past but never so robustly nor in such an important political setting.

"The breakup of the Soviet Union is a national tragedy on an enormous scale," from which "only the elites and nationalists of the republics gained," Putin said in a nationally televised speech to about 300 campaign workers gathered at Moscow State University.

Creepy. I won't violate Godwin's Law yet but I'm seriously creeped out.

gay marriage

I think Massachusetts, seeing that the trend among the developed world (Europe, Canada) was headed toward full marriage rights for all of their citizens, got tired of America going "ick, we just don't have the cajones to deal with this right now, Janet's Boob, etc." and said, deal with it.

And we are.

San Francisco issued marriage (yeah, that's right, marriage) licenses yesterday. Legally in the city of San Francisco, homosexuals can marry. Just like in Ontario, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweeden, etc. etc. etc.

In my latenight TV travels, I came across the debate in MA. One of the opponents was debating. The things that came out of his mouth...well they made me angry to say the least. It was then I decided that this isn't a liberal issue. It's not a conservative issue. It's really quite simple: It's a human dignity issue.

So I'm going to frame the argument. You're either for human dignity or you're not. I really don't care if that argument is oversimplified. I'm a very stubborn bastard and I'm not going to be moved.

That's one of the things about fundamentalism. No matter what its proponents say, it does NOT respect human dignity. When confronted with an issue that requires caring, love, and compassion (like granting a class of people the right to marry) fundamentalism will stick to doctrine regardless of how hateful it seems, how spiteful it sounds or how wrong it feels because their doctrine tells them to do what it says.

late night TV watching

I suffer from insomnia from time to time. On nights when I don't want to pop a sleeping pill (which is most nights-they upset my stomach) I watch TV. One thing I suddenly have become fascinated with are late-night Christian ministry shows. Here in Lancaster we have a local TV station that's pretty much dedicated to shows like this (TV 49 over in Red Lion..you know the type.) You know the ones I'm talking about: the Super churches (I'm watching one show now out of San Antonio), the "university" ministries like Oral Roberts down there in Tulsa. Since the study of fundamentalism is a large part of my still-ongoing thesis, for once my insomnia is a help to me, and not a hinderance.

Observation Number 1, of course, is that every single last one of these late-night Christian ministry shows is Protestant Fundamentalism at its glory.

Don't worry, there's no chance of them converting me. I just find them interesting. But I have taken some notes on them.

1. Send me money and you will be saved.

All of them want your money. They call out to the lowest common denominator---the TV preacher will say "I feel there's someone watching with a problem..." Well yeah, everyone has their problems.

2. Our way is right, our literal interpretation is literal and therefore right, therefore we are right. So do #1 and you'll be Raptured and saved.

Which is interesting. They all use the same book---the King James Version of the Bible. Yet there are slight variations between shows. One may say "woman! submit to your husband!" while the other will say "woman! understand your husband, then submit." I've encountered this in my dealings with Millersville's myriad of Protestant groups. All say they are fundamentalist, and literal, but they often have different interpretations of things. One group says evolution is probably real. The other group freaks out whenever they have to deal with evolution. The scary thing: some of those kids are going to be science teachers. WTF?!

3. The Saved always cry.

Dunno what to say about that. Fervor is a powerful thing.

4. All of them think they have the power to heal.

This one is of particular fascination to me. They make people faint, and I have no idea how they do it. It's not fake...remember religious faith and fervor are powerful psychological and physiological things. Maybe that's it.

Lastly they all creep me out. Faith is one thing, many people have that. Fervor is something completely different. Many of them attack Muslims for their fervor and don't recognize it in themselves. But I'll keep watching, cause it's like watching a trainwreck.

Terry on Preznit Chimpy McAWOLsAlot...

Now, he may or may not have shown up for drill (looking like not now) and the White House may be lying through their little troll teeth about it (which they probably are) but I wish the media was going apeshit over something slightly more important, such as the Plame Affair, or the White House's continual obstruction of the 9/11 Commission, or the faulty intelligence getting us into war, or outsourcing (I really want someone to put those horror stories I've been reading about to video) et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

9/11 Commission Watch


HOLY SHIT!

The federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks will soon ask President Bush (news - web sites), former President Bill Clinton (news - web sites) and their vice presidents to testify in public about possible

Huge. Prediction: Pres. Clinton and VP Gore will cooperate. Pres. Bush and VP Cheney, going with pattern, will not.

In all honesty I'd like my country back and I feel Clark's the only man to do it. But I (and millions of others) don't always get their way. It was a fun ride while it lasted. Kerry/Clark anyone?

It was also ironic. The day my Clark buttons/bumper stickers arrived was the day he conceided. I wonder if they can be collectors items now.


I can do either two things. Sit and stew like the Dean kids (and move to Canada or someplace equally remote and not the US), or help make John Kerry the next president of the United States of America. I choose to help John Kerry. Oh, and someone start a movement to make Clark vice-president. There's a more than a few things that I don't like about John Kerry (namely that FMA...and his recent comments on NPR---y'all know where I fall on THAT issue) but I really, really have nothing but despite for President Bush, and that's putting it politely.

Kerry/(hopefully)Clark '04

Jack Cluth says pretty much the same thing, as does Walter (who I really should say told me this days ago, but that 1/8 of Irish in me makes me one stubborn bastard.)

Mark Klieman's comments were best however.

haiti


The New York Times has come out in favor of a humanitarian intervention.

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.