Out of these 3 New Yorkian cities, one of the cities is substantially better than the other two put together. The 3 cities are, in order of appearance on I-90 driving East to West, are:
1 Buffalo
2 Rochester
3 Syracuse
(Jeopardy music)
And the winner is Buffalo, NY! I know, I know, if you have talked to me abour travel I've likely told you how much I hate driving around Buffalo because of the traffic (the main culprit for causing horrible traffic? You guessed it...semi trucks). But on the whole, Buffalo has some nice little attributes that you won't find in Syracuse and Rochester, like:
1. Bums that aren't as hostile
2. A Metro-Train that runs through the city
3. City Hall is really big!
4. Cool looking smoke stacks that effuse only the whitest, pure smoke!
5. Old buildings
6. More downtown convenience stores that sell beer! They sell beer in convenience stores here!
those are some interesting things about Buffalo. Go stuff to it.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Hey Mae!
Today, upon the recommendation of Diana, I went out and bought the newest album by Mae. Normally I'm not the type of guy to just go out and 1) buy an album let alone 2) buy an album of a band I've never listened to until today. Personally I am a fan of face-smashing, neck-wrecking heavy metal. Mae is not anything like this. But something came over me, and I decided that I would go out, on a whim, and check Mae out.
Let me tell you what, this album has completely crushed me, and I could not be happier.
I don't know if I've ever bought an album like this in my entire life. I started to listen to it in the car on the way home from Best Buy in Syracuse, and I didn't want to get out of the car. Ever. It's a whole hour of storytelling, picture book-esque, melodic heart-break-rock. The album comes with it's own illustrated book, and the opening track encourages the listener to take an hour out of their day to follow along with the CD by reading the lyrics that accompany the CD. It's truly revolutionary. I am not even going to go into more detail because I feel like if I tell you what happens, then I'll be ruining a wonderful story that you, the music fan, needs to explore. I think the only thing that I'm pissed about is that if I ever aspire to be a recording artist, I'm going to have to be a lot more creative now that I've got Mae, the spoiler, to set the standard. Go get Mae's new album, "The Everglow". Thanks Diana, for the recommendation.
Let me tell you what, this album has completely crushed me, and I could not be happier.
I don't know if I've ever bought an album like this in my entire life. I started to listen to it in the car on the way home from Best Buy in Syracuse, and I didn't want to get out of the car. Ever. It's a whole hour of storytelling, picture book-esque, melodic heart-break-rock. The album comes with it's own illustrated book, and the opening track encourages the listener to take an hour out of their day to follow along with the CD by reading the lyrics that accompany the CD. It's truly revolutionary. I am not even going to go into more detail because I feel like if I tell you what happens, then I'll be ruining a wonderful story that you, the music fan, needs to explore. I think the only thing that I'm pissed about is that if I ever aspire to be a recording artist, I'm going to have to be a lot more creative now that I've got Mae, the spoiler, to set the standard. Go get Mae's new album, "The Everglow". Thanks Diana, for the recommendation.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Completion of the Juggernaut
It always seems like the third part of a trilogy has two components in the name. It always has a completion or a fullness to it and some word with power like Jedi. Jedis are so tough. Anyway, so my title fulfills both those qualities. Without further ado the completion of my trip.
So we embarked on our journey home still on a U2 high if you will. No, not from drugs, but rather just really good music. I'm still not sure how much sleep I got or what time I woke up with the whole time change and all. It's kind of confusing to find out when to wake up to leave to lose an hour to get home at a certain time. Needless to say we ate our lovely Hampton Inn complimentary breakfast, which was slamming, and got back in the car again.
It was nice to get out of Illinois, although in order to do so I had to leave my check book at the last toll since they had drained me of every other resource of any value. I drove the speed limit the entire way across Illinois and Indiana ... yet somehow reached Toledo, OH in about two and a half hours. If you want good gas, good food, and fairly easy on and off access I highly recommend the exit off 80 for Toledo South Maumee. It's got a Wendy's, well priced gas, and restaurants if you're looking to make your trip even longer.
Jess and I played way too much of the alphabet game along the way. You know the game where you look for a word that starts with the letter "a" and then when you find it you look for one that starts with "b" and so on. Let me tell you "q, v, and z" can be a real bear. We got sick, or addicted it depends on who you ask, of the alphabet game so Jess invented a new game for us to play. We call it "4 in 1" The game has many variations so I'll let your mind go wild. The basic premise of the game is that you are in a room with 4 people for 1 hour (hence 4 in 1) and you can only talk to them one at a time for an hour. Say you were asking me the question you might say, "Keith you're in a room with the following people for one hour: Bono, Sean Hannity, President Bush, and Katie Holmes (pre-Tom Cruise and she's somehow intersted in me). Who do you talk to and for how long? the cop out is 15 minutes a piece, but you find it's rarely that way. For instance I would probably give 20 minutes to Katie Holmes (a brother can dream right), 10 minutes to Bono and 15 Sean Hannity and President Bush. I'm hoping they'd all understand and give me their number to hang out later.
So the person you're with comes up with them for you. And then you switch it on them. It can also be a bad scenario you're in a room with Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, the Grim Reaper, and you cousin Rusty ... who do you talk to. In that case I take Grim for about 59 minutes and 51 seconds. Leaving me three seconds a piece for the other three to say, "You stink I hate you." The game amused us for miles ... hours ... exits. However you want to refer to it. I suggest you try it.
We made it home and it was great to get out of the car. Great bonding, great music, great mileage, great tunes on the way there and back, and a fun new game to play. I had the next 40 minutes to reflect on it ... before I had to get into the car and drive to Pittsburgh for Mother's Day dinner.
But you know what? U2 was worth it.
So we embarked on our journey home still on a U2 high if you will. No, not from drugs, but rather just really good music. I'm still not sure how much sleep I got or what time I woke up with the whole time change and all. It's kind of confusing to find out when to wake up to leave to lose an hour to get home at a certain time. Needless to say we ate our lovely Hampton Inn complimentary breakfast, which was slamming, and got back in the car again.
It was nice to get out of Illinois, although in order to do so I had to leave my check book at the last toll since they had drained me of every other resource of any value. I drove the speed limit the entire way across Illinois and Indiana ... yet somehow reached Toledo, OH in about two and a half hours. If you want good gas, good food, and fairly easy on and off access I highly recommend the exit off 80 for Toledo South Maumee. It's got a Wendy's, well priced gas, and restaurants if you're looking to make your trip even longer.
Jess and I played way too much of the alphabet game along the way. You know the game where you look for a word that starts with the letter "a" and then when you find it you look for one that starts with "b" and so on. Let me tell you "q, v, and z" can be a real bear. We got sick, or addicted it depends on who you ask, of the alphabet game so Jess invented a new game for us to play. We call it "4 in 1" The game has many variations so I'll let your mind go wild. The basic premise of the game is that you are in a room with 4 people for 1 hour (hence 4 in 1) and you can only talk to them one at a time for an hour. Say you were asking me the question you might say, "Keith you're in a room with the following people for one hour: Bono, Sean Hannity, President Bush, and Katie Holmes (pre-Tom Cruise and she's somehow intersted in me). Who do you talk to and for how long? the cop out is 15 minutes a piece, but you find it's rarely that way. For instance I would probably give 20 minutes to Katie Holmes (a brother can dream right), 10 minutes to Bono and 15 Sean Hannity and President Bush. I'm hoping they'd all understand and give me their number to hang out later.
So the person you're with comes up with them for you. And then you switch it on them. It can also be a bad scenario you're in a room with Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, the Grim Reaper, and you cousin Rusty ... who do you talk to. In that case I take Grim for about 59 minutes and 51 seconds. Leaving me three seconds a piece for the other three to say, "You stink I hate you." The game amused us for miles ... hours ... exits. However you want to refer to it. I suggest you try it.
We made it home and it was great to get out of the car. Great bonding, great music, great mileage, great tunes on the way there and back, and a fun new game to play. I had the next 40 minutes to reflect on it ... before I had to get into the car and drive to Pittsburgh for Mother's Day dinner.
But you know what? U2 was worth it.
Monday, May 16, 2005
I'm on a (angry) roll!
Ok I could not pass up this opportunity to slam MTV. I hate MTV. I hate everyone who works for MTV. I hate myself when I love the Real World Inferno. So digest this garbage if you can. This is an excerpt from an article about the Audioslave concert in Havana, Cuba. I also hate whoever wrote this article:
"A note about the venue: It's a surprisingly modern-looking — at least by Cuba's normally shopworn standards — open-air plaza featuring tubular steel arches that create a tunnel effect, ending in a stage that can accommodate events musical or political. In fact, La Tribuna became famous several years ago as the place Cubans rallied for the return of Elian Gonzales, the boy that sadly became a political football in the decades-old chest-thumping contest between Cuba and its large and powerful neighbor to the north. So the plaza just happens to sit smack-dab in front of the only American government presence in Cuba, the heavily fortified U.S. Interests Section (Guantanamo Bay is not technically part of Cuba), and the billboards the Cubans have erected in front of it give new meaning to in-your-face defiance. "Señores Imperialistas, no los tenemos absolutamente ningún miedo!" (Mr. Imperialists, we have absolutely no fear of you!). Scenes of Abu Ghraib, captioned simply "Fascistas." And just behind the stage, "Venceremos!" (We will win!)."
I can't even type long coherent sentences I'm so pissed, so I'll just bullet point my tirade
How to get your Head out of your Arse 101:
1) "It's a surprisingly modern-looking — at least by Cuba's normally shopworn standards — open-air plaza featuring tubular steel arches that create a tunnel effect, ending in a stage that can accommodate events musical or political."
Who can we thank for this surprisingly modern looking, impressive stadium? The millions of impoverished, malnourised, maligned underlcass who slave all day to give their money to a defunct economic paradigm that turns their hard work into useless garbage. Thanks, people of Cuba, for dying hand over fist to make a venue for Audioslave to bash America; and thank you Castro for killing your people yet somehow appearing magnanimous for building such a stadium for your oppressed people.
2) "In fact, La Tribuna became famous several years ago as the place Cubans rallied for the return of Elian Gonzales, the boy that sadly became a political football in the decades-old chest-thumping contest between Cuba and its large and powerful neighbor to the north"
I lived in Miami for nearly 10 years. Daily I saw rafts of people coming to America for freedom. Weekly people risked life and limb to get away from a nation that only sucks life out of people to fuel a narrow minded megalomaniac's dream. If you talk to most Cubans in Miami they will tell you that rather than seeing America as a chest thumping imprialist nation, they see America as a compassionate counselor with arms extended to welcome the tired, hungry, the oppressed, and afflicted. After all, the rafts from Cuba are never turned away. Those are the rafts from Haiti, get it right
3) "...and the billboards the Cubans have erected in front of it give new meaning to in-your-face defiance. "Señores Imperialistas, no los tenemos absolutamente ningún miedo!" (Mr. Imperialists, we have absolutely no fear of you!). Scenes of Abu Ghraib, captioned simply "Fascistas." And just behind the stage, "Venceremos!" (We will win!)."
Wow wow wow. I'm glad some young reporter from MTV has bought into the political propaganda foisted on the Cuban people by Castro. Hey dude, the Cuban people didn't erect those signs of their own free will. If you think about it for half a second, you will realize that the Communist regime has to use propaganda. Signs of defiance are not erected by the Cuban people, but rather by the Cuban named Fidel Castro. Wow. And Castro is going to call us Facists? Do you know why Castro puts those signs up? Because he knows starry eyed liberal kids are going to come down to Cuba and hate on America. He knows only the ignorance of youth could ever possibly buy into the ideals of communism. He knows that only an uneducated, reactionary person would look at that and say "Hey, Cuba is calling America a group of facists. That makes so much sense!!" I hope whoever wrote this horrible article gets run over.
"And just behind the stage, 'Viceremos!' (We Will Win". Guys you've already lost over and over again. There is no one for you to win against. Think about it.
"A note about the venue: It's a surprisingly modern-looking — at least by Cuba's normally shopworn standards — open-air plaza featuring tubular steel arches that create a tunnel effect, ending in a stage that can accommodate events musical or political. In fact, La Tribuna became famous several years ago as the place Cubans rallied for the return of Elian Gonzales, the boy that sadly became a political football in the decades-old chest-thumping contest between Cuba and its large and powerful neighbor to the north. So the plaza just happens to sit smack-dab in front of the only American government presence in Cuba, the heavily fortified U.S. Interests Section (Guantanamo Bay is not technically part of Cuba), and the billboards the Cubans have erected in front of it give new meaning to in-your-face defiance. "Señores Imperialistas, no los tenemos absolutamente ningún miedo!" (Mr. Imperialists, we have absolutely no fear of you!). Scenes of Abu Ghraib, captioned simply "Fascistas." And just behind the stage, "Venceremos!" (We will win!)."
I can't even type long coherent sentences I'm so pissed, so I'll just bullet point my tirade
How to get your Head out of your Arse 101:
1) "It's a surprisingly modern-looking — at least by Cuba's normally shopworn standards — open-air plaza featuring tubular steel arches that create a tunnel effect, ending in a stage that can accommodate events musical or political."
Who can we thank for this surprisingly modern looking, impressive stadium? The millions of impoverished, malnourised, maligned underlcass who slave all day to give their money to a defunct economic paradigm that turns their hard work into useless garbage. Thanks, people of Cuba, for dying hand over fist to make a venue for Audioslave to bash America; and thank you Castro for killing your people yet somehow appearing magnanimous for building such a stadium for your oppressed people.
2) "In fact, La Tribuna became famous several years ago as the place Cubans rallied for the return of Elian Gonzales, the boy that sadly became a political football in the decades-old chest-thumping contest between Cuba and its large and powerful neighbor to the north"
I lived in Miami for nearly 10 years. Daily I saw rafts of people coming to America for freedom. Weekly people risked life and limb to get away from a nation that only sucks life out of people to fuel a narrow minded megalomaniac's dream. If you talk to most Cubans in Miami they will tell you that rather than seeing America as a chest thumping imprialist nation, they see America as a compassionate counselor with arms extended to welcome the tired, hungry, the oppressed, and afflicted. After all, the rafts from Cuba are never turned away. Those are the rafts from Haiti, get it right
3) "...and the billboards the Cubans have erected in front of it give new meaning to in-your-face defiance. "Señores Imperialistas, no los tenemos absolutamente ningún miedo!" (Mr. Imperialists, we have absolutely no fear of you!). Scenes of Abu Ghraib, captioned simply "Fascistas." And just behind the stage, "Venceremos!" (We will win!)."
Wow wow wow. I'm glad some young reporter from MTV has bought into the political propaganda foisted on the Cuban people by Castro. Hey dude, the Cuban people didn't erect those signs of their own free will. If you think about it for half a second, you will realize that the Communist regime has to use propaganda. Signs of defiance are not erected by the Cuban people, but rather by the Cuban named Fidel Castro. Wow. And Castro is going to call us Facists? Do you know why Castro puts those signs up? Because he knows starry eyed liberal kids are going to come down to Cuba and hate on America. He knows only the ignorance of youth could ever possibly buy into the ideals of communism. He knows that only an uneducated, reactionary person would look at that and say "Hey, Cuba is calling America a group of facists. That makes so much sense!!" I hope whoever wrote this horrible article gets run over.
"And just behind the stage, 'Viceremos!' (We Will Win". Guys you've already lost over and over again. There is no one for you to win against. Think about it.
Ninjas Attack
This blog has absolutely nothing to do with actual ninjas or pretend ones for that matter. But we all know the most important part of a sequel is its name. For example Star Wars hit the jackpot. It's sequel was known as Empire Strikes Back. That's so tough. Matrix Reloaded ... not as good a name. A sequel can be doomed by its name alone, or be well on its way to prosperity. The point of this post though is not a history of movie sequels it's to carry you through my journey to Chicago to see U2. The sequel includes a stunning revelation and the concert itself.
Jess and I arrived in Chicago as previously stated around 4:00 P.M. The concert is at 7:30 and we need to figure out our mode of travel as well as a dinner plan. After studying the Metra Rail we realize it's not going to work. It leaves us like 2 miles from where we want to be, and we're not rolling the dice and walking it. 2 miles of unknown roads in Chicago ... you can see why we're not too excited. So this leaves only one mode of transportation, back in the car for more driving fun and somehow finding a way to pay the exorbitant amount of tolls. Knowing it's Chicago and there is traffic we decide to leave at 5:30. We arrive at 6:30, after hitting tons of traffic and losing what seems like $25 to the state of Illinois and the upkeep of these horrible roads, and find rock star parking.
This is a phrase I haven't used on the blog yet, and one I use often. I think you can understand it. It's the type of parking you'd get if you were a rock star. In all reality rock stars are probably flown into the stadium so they don't have to walk at all. What a life. But our parking enables us to literally turn right from my parking spot, right onto the road, and then 30 feet ahead a right onto the freeway. It's as good as you can get. The Chicago gods are smiling on us. We then go stand in the freezing wind, windy city anyone, until the doors open. It's suddenly 7:03 when I wonder when the doors for this sucker are opening up. The concert starts in 27 minutes, and it hardly seems like an internationally famous band like U2 needs to have a line of people outside to drum up excitement. My sister doesn't know, and I wip out my cellphone to double check the time. That's when it happens ...
We realized there's an hour time change. We drove into Central time and it's only 6:00. Suddenly it makes a ton of sense, all the clues we missed. We listened to satellite radio on the way there and so they don't give the time. There was no stewardess to tell us the local time which I'm accustomed too. The clock at the Hampton Inn that we thought was wrong, nope, it was our watches that were wrong. The rock star parking, it was there because we were 2 hours early! We instantly feel like idiots. So despite the fact that between us our IQ is roughly 300 or 310 or something we didn't remember to change the clock. No matter though as they open the doors shortly at some random time like 6:14 CENTRAL TIME. So this enables us to catch a quick bite to eat and some of the Celtics Game 7 debacle. I'd rather not talk about it.
Just a couple of thoughts from one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. The opening band was horrible. Kings of Leon opened for them and they had this Southern rock kind of sound. The drummer was pretty skilled and I think the bassist was as well. Unfortunately the guitarist and the lead singer left some to be desired. Every song ended on the same mash of chords and the singer saying something like, "Yeeaaaahhhhhhh!" Dreadful. How does a killer band like U2 not get someone AWESOME to open for them. Is it the fact that they're so good that no one will. Some band doesn't want to be an opener and take a small cut of the profit? I think that's what it must be.
U2 played for like two and a half hours. It was so sweet, and much longer than their last tour. The show contained that magical mix of energy, passion, and straight up talented music. They managed to play seven songs off their new album as well as some of the good old stuff as well. They played two of my top five favorite songs of theirs, yet somehow managed to play my least favorite song as well. All told about twenty-eight songs I think. Including several blatantly Christian references, choruses of Hallelujah, awesome fiber optic lighting, two encores, and a rendition of Psalm 40. The band referenced their passion for Africa several times and at one point had everyone hold up their cell phones with arena lights down to demonstrate the power when everyone bands togehter under one cause. All in all quite moving, and I found out they were recording the concert DVD at that show. So if you want to feel the same power, emotion, and all around awesomeness (yes I just made up a word if John Madden can do it for Monday Night Football I sure can for my blog) check out the concert DVD when it comes out. You can bet for sure I'll blog about it.
That's it for this sequel. Look for the conclusion to this awesome trilogy Wednesday. It will enlighten you with two awesome car games, well priced gas, Toledo, OH and a way to pass a good couple of hours that you may never have thought about before. Oh yeah, don't stop here with the blog. Make sure you read Andrew's below as well. We just both happened to blog on the same day. Silly us.
Jess and I arrived in Chicago as previously stated around 4:00 P.M. The concert is at 7:30 and we need to figure out our mode of travel as well as a dinner plan. After studying the Metra Rail we realize it's not going to work. It leaves us like 2 miles from where we want to be, and we're not rolling the dice and walking it. 2 miles of unknown roads in Chicago ... you can see why we're not too excited. So this leaves only one mode of transportation, back in the car for more driving fun and somehow finding a way to pay the exorbitant amount of tolls. Knowing it's Chicago and there is traffic we decide to leave at 5:30. We arrive at 6:30, after hitting tons of traffic and losing what seems like $25 to the state of Illinois and the upkeep of these horrible roads, and find rock star parking.
This is a phrase I haven't used on the blog yet, and one I use often. I think you can understand it. It's the type of parking you'd get if you were a rock star. In all reality rock stars are probably flown into the stadium so they don't have to walk at all. What a life. But our parking enables us to literally turn right from my parking spot, right onto the road, and then 30 feet ahead a right onto the freeway. It's as good as you can get. The Chicago gods are smiling on us. We then go stand in the freezing wind, windy city anyone, until the doors open. It's suddenly 7:03 when I wonder when the doors for this sucker are opening up. The concert starts in 27 minutes, and it hardly seems like an internationally famous band like U2 needs to have a line of people outside to drum up excitement. My sister doesn't know, and I wip out my cellphone to double check the time. That's when it happens ...
We realized there's an hour time change. We drove into Central time and it's only 6:00. Suddenly it makes a ton of sense, all the clues we missed. We listened to satellite radio on the way there and so they don't give the time. There was no stewardess to tell us the local time which I'm accustomed too. The clock at the Hampton Inn that we thought was wrong, nope, it was our watches that were wrong. The rock star parking, it was there because we were 2 hours early! We instantly feel like idiots. So despite the fact that between us our IQ is roughly 300 or 310 or something we didn't remember to change the clock. No matter though as they open the doors shortly at some random time like 6:14 CENTRAL TIME. So this enables us to catch a quick bite to eat and some of the Celtics Game 7 debacle. I'd rather not talk about it.
Just a couple of thoughts from one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. The opening band was horrible. Kings of Leon opened for them and they had this Southern rock kind of sound. The drummer was pretty skilled and I think the bassist was as well. Unfortunately the guitarist and the lead singer left some to be desired. Every song ended on the same mash of chords and the singer saying something like, "Yeeaaaahhhhhhh!" Dreadful. How does a killer band like U2 not get someone AWESOME to open for them. Is it the fact that they're so good that no one will. Some band doesn't want to be an opener and take a small cut of the profit? I think that's what it must be.
U2 played for like two and a half hours. It was so sweet, and much longer than their last tour. The show contained that magical mix of energy, passion, and straight up talented music. They managed to play seven songs off their new album as well as some of the good old stuff as well. They played two of my top five favorite songs of theirs, yet somehow managed to play my least favorite song as well. All told about twenty-eight songs I think. Including several blatantly Christian references, choruses of Hallelujah, awesome fiber optic lighting, two encores, and a rendition of Psalm 40. The band referenced their passion for Africa several times and at one point had everyone hold up their cell phones with arena lights down to demonstrate the power when everyone bands togehter under one cause. All in all quite moving, and I found out they were recording the concert DVD at that show. So if you want to feel the same power, emotion, and all around awesomeness (yes I just made up a word if John Madden can do it for Monday Night Football I sure can for my blog) check out the concert DVD when it comes out. You can bet for sure I'll blog about it.
That's it for this sequel. Look for the conclusion to this awesome trilogy Wednesday. It will enlighten you with two awesome car games, well priced gas, Toledo, OH and a way to pass a good couple of hours that you may never have thought about before. Oh yeah, don't stop here with the blog. Make sure you read Andrew's below as well. We just both happened to blog on the same day. Silly us.
this is ridiculous
If you want to read that article you can. Here it is:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156612,00.html
Yeah yeah yeah it's foxnews, but it's not the story itself that I was getting all up in arms about. If you read the article, it's about the Newsweek article that apparently reported that Americans at Gitmo were flushing the Quran down toilets in order to 'torture' prisoners at the camp.
In essence, Newsweek was reporting on Americans torturing the inmates of Gitmo by flushing their holy book down the toilet. First of all, a big red flag goes up because oh lo and behold there are no credible sources to confirm that this has actually transpired. Newsweek reporters hear rumors that this is going on, ask a few people in the Pentagon, none of whom give credible testimony that it has actually happened. Armed with loads of misleading and potentially erroneous info, the writeres Isikoff and Barry do what any seasoned journalist would do-slap it down in a nationally distributed magazine as gospel truth. That's responsible.
That's the first red flag. The shockwave effect that this has in the international Muslim community is devastating. Riots erupt in Pakistan and Afghanistan, people get ultra pissed at American ignorant pigs, and a few of the rioters even get trampled to death in the melee. Way to go Isikoff.
That's all bad news. Newsweek was irresponsible, some people overreacted and were killed, and now a formal investigation/apology has to be issued. What absolutely floors me though is that this whole sordid ordeal is sparked by what? Some American flushing a Muslim religious book down the toilet?? Give me a break people.
I can't believe that we live in a world where people think that they are owed an apology for everything!! From the article:
"After Newsweek published the story, demonstrations spread across Afghanistan and Muslims around the world decried the alleged desecration.
In Afghanistan, Islamic scholars and tribal elders called for the punishment of anyone found to have abused the Quran, said Maulawi Abdul Wali Arshad, head of the religious affairs department in Badakhshan province.
Arshad and the provincial police chief said the scholars met in Faizabad, 310 miles northeast of the capital, Kabul, and demanded a "reaction" from U.S. authorities within three days."
(On a sidenote, Muslim extremists can legitimately make these demands. Why? Because if you don't comply they will likely send someone over to kill some Americans somewhere. And it's funny how it works like that)
Give me a break people!! Let's survey the scene here:
1) America has captured people in Gitmo beacuse of suspected terrorist allegations. Terrorist, i.e. hate America and all it stands for, and subswequently have acted out of such hatred to cause harm to our countrymen/women. That's right, our citizens.
2) These suspected terrorists are virtually prisoners of war
3) There is no international law protecting said inmates religious objects. If we were talking about food, clothing, and shelter, yes they need those. I don't think such rights of protection apply to collections of paper.
The Quran is a Muslim holy book. Big freaking deal. I love how people in the international community will jump on anything to demand an apology. Forget the fact that 15 people were killed in riots by a false story that Newsweek published. The international community is more upset that someone flushed a book down the toilet. What is even better is that Christians are snuffed out all over the globe and no one hears a peep about it. And if a Christian leader were to demand reparations for the deaths of their brother and sister Christians, they would be spurned by said governments who oversee the killings. How do we know? Because it happens every day. Look at the Sudan. Look at the Congo. Look in South America. All over the world we have Chrisitans dying for their faith, and they count it as the cost for serving Christ. The islamo-facists get their Quran flushed and want the US to fall at their feet. While people of other religions die wholesale and narry a word is piped about it, the people perpetrating international terror, murder, graft, genocide, and hatred want an apology from us because someone got their Quran wet.
Why is it chic to question Christianity and the validity of the Bible, to suspend Crucifixes in urine, suppress the teaching of abstinence in schools, to protest the National Day of Prayer and Pro-Life rallies, oppose the appointment of Christmas and Easter as national holidays? And why would it be chic for the international Muslim community to demand, and probably get, a worldwide apology for the dampening of the Quran? This is ridiculous.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156612,00.html
Yeah yeah yeah it's foxnews, but it's not the story itself that I was getting all up in arms about. If you read the article, it's about the Newsweek article that apparently reported that Americans at Gitmo were flushing the Quran down toilets in order to 'torture' prisoners at the camp.
In essence, Newsweek was reporting on Americans torturing the inmates of Gitmo by flushing their holy book down the toilet. First of all, a big red flag goes up because oh lo and behold there are no credible sources to confirm that this has actually transpired. Newsweek reporters hear rumors that this is going on, ask a few people in the Pentagon, none of whom give credible testimony that it has actually happened. Armed with loads of misleading and potentially erroneous info, the writeres Isikoff and Barry do what any seasoned journalist would do-slap it down in a nationally distributed magazine as gospel truth. That's responsible.
That's the first red flag. The shockwave effect that this has in the international Muslim community is devastating. Riots erupt in Pakistan and Afghanistan, people get ultra pissed at American ignorant pigs, and a few of the rioters even get trampled to death in the melee. Way to go Isikoff.
That's all bad news. Newsweek was irresponsible, some people overreacted and were killed, and now a formal investigation/apology has to be issued. What absolutely floors me though is that this whole sordid ordeal is sparked by what? Some American flushing a Muslim religious book down the toilet?? Give me a break people.
I can't believe that we live in a world where people think that they are owed an apology for everything!! From the article:
"After Newsweek published the story, demonstrations spread across Afghanistan and Muslims around the world decried the alleged desecration.
In Afghanistan, Islamic scholars and tribal elders called for the punishment of anyone found to have abused the Quran, said Maulawi Abdul Wali Arshad, head of the religious affairs department in Badakhshan province.
Arshad and the provincial police chief said the scholars met in Faizabad, 310 miles northeast of the capital, Kabul, and demanded a "reaction" from U.S. authorities within three days."
(On a sidenote, Muslim extremists can legitimately make these demands. Why? Because if you don't comply they will likely send someone over to kill some Americans somewhere. And it's funny how it works like that)
Give me a break people!! Let's survey the scene here:
1) America has captured people in Gitmo beacuse of suspected terrorist allegations. Terrorist, i.e. hate America and all it stands for, and subswequently have acted out of such hatred to cause harm to our countrymen/women. That's right, our citizens.
2) These suspected terrorists are virtually prisoners of war
3) There is no international law protecting said inmates religious objects. If we were talking about food, clothing, and shelter, yes they need those. I don't think such rights of protection apply to collections of paper.
The Quran is a Muslim holy book. Big freaking deal. I love how people in the international community will jump on anything to demand an apology. Forget the fact that 15 people were killed in riots by a false story that Newsweek published. The international community is more upset that someone flushed a book down the toilet. What is even better is that Christians are snuffed out all over the globe and no one hears a peep about it. And if a Christian leader were to demand reparations for the deaths of their brother and sister Christians, they would be spurned by said governments who oversee the killings. How do we know? Because it happens every day. Look at the Sudan. Look at the Congo. Look in South America. All over the world we have Chrisitans dying for their faith, and they count it as the cost for serving Christ. The islamo-facists get their Quran flushed and want the US to fall at their feet. While people of other religions die wholesale and narry a word is piped about it, the people perpetrating international terror, murder, graft, genocide, and hatred want an apology from us because someone got their Quran wet.
Why is it chic to question Christianity and the validity of the Bible, to suspend Crucifixes in urine, suppress the teaching of abstinence in schools, to protest the National Day of Prayer and Pro-Life rallies, oppose the appointment of Christmas and Easter as national holidays? And why would it be chic for the international Muslim community to demand, and probably get, a worldwide apology for the dampening of the Quran? This is ridiculous.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Trilogies Rule
Think about it. Don't trilogies just rule? Things that come in three are always good. Either they're so good that they deserve to have three, or they're so bad that one of them is laughably good. Lord of the Rings - killer trilogy. Star Wars - so money. Back to the Future - two good movies and a third one that's downright high on the unintentional comedy scale. With that in mind, I'm going to begin a trilogy of blogs referring to the U2 concert that I attended last weekend. Consider today the opening act.
Last Saturday morning I left at 9:00 A.M. for Chicago. The concert was Saturday evening and I was supposed to leave Friday at lunch, spend the night there, explore the city Saturday, concert it up Saturday night, and then leave Sunday morning. It stretches out the trip and is a ton of fun. But unfortunately some stuff came up and we had to leave Saturday. Yes you're reading this right we were going to drive for roughly 14 hours in the span of 30. It's totally worth it though since U2 is sweet.
So we leave at 9:00. As the admissions counselor and seasoned traveler I am I had this trip planned out. Map Quest was throwing me the 7 hour line and I knew we'd have to stop once on the way for gas, food, and restroom necessities. My best guess was 6 and a half hours. So Jess and I head West. Mistake number one, passing the plaza that had a Manchu Wok. Anytime you can get some Chinese on the road it's a good day. We figured the next stop would do though. Unfortunately this offered a Burger King, Sbarros (this business seems to live solely off rest stops), and a Jody Maroni's Sausage World. Bad move #2 on our part, forgetting that this stop was at 11:35 - peak lunch hour.
The place was swarming with unparented children, lots of elderly, and generally anyone trying to get a meal. The line for Burger King was long and the line for people waiting for their food was even longer. It kind of makes you wonder what type of person is making your food at a Burger King rest stop ... So we get back in the car deciding neither of these are acceptable. Drive on to Indiana at which point we still have to stop for food. Bad move number 2 an extra stop due to poor planning. God smiled upon us though as this rest stop had three things that make a rest stop: McDonalds, Dairy Queen, and a hot girls. (Note: These girls were on the scale of Indian hotness, not national hotness. You take what you can get when a rest stop appears in the middle of a field with some irrigation and burnt out crops.)
After nourishment and stretching it was back in the car to finish the trip through Indiana. Two points of note here - One Indiana has nothing really other than South Bend up north. No wonder everyone goes nuts over Notre Dame football it's all they have. Two Gary, Indiana is horrible, despite what the Music Man leads you to believe. It has bad roads, more bad roads, bumps in the road making it worse, and it's ultra crowded. Bad area. Onto Illinois where I swear I had to leave my soul in order to compensate for all the tolls I had to pay. I feel like every 4 miles I had to pay 85 cents. Do they think I'm stupid and think, "Oh wow at least I'm only paying 85 cents it won't add up to a lot or anything. I definitely feel jipped.
Finally arrived to the Hampton Inn at 4:00 P.M. It took me 7 hours all told. I blame the second stop, it absolutely killed us. I also blame tons of kids, incompetent Burger King workers, parents, and too many tolls. My sister and I made a pact on the trip not to eat at Burger King the rest of the time, largely due to their horrible commercials with the King costume with the gigantic head. What's up with commercials lately using mascots with big heads? The Quaker Oats commercial the other day had a huge plastic Quaker head on! Do the suits in the board room not realize this scares us? Cause it sure doesn't make me want to buy their food.
Lessons learned on the trip:
1.) Start earlier that 9:00
2.) Don't stop at peak lunch hour.
3.) Don't let your kids run around unattended.
4.) Don't let rest stop 173 pass you by on I-80 in Ohio. The rest of it is downhill.
5.) Indiana sucks something fierce.
6.) Gary, Indiana is overrated.
7.) If you live in Chicago have a lot of kids and just trade them in instead of tolls. It has to be a money saver.
Part two of the trilogy tomorrow perhaps. Stay tuned ...
Last Saturday morning I left at 9:00 A.M. for Chicago. The concert was Saturday evening and I was supposed to leave Friday at lunch, spend the night there, explore the city Saturday, concert it up Saturday night, and then leave Sunday morning. It stretches out the trip and is a ton of fun. But unfortunately some stuff came up and we had to leave Saturday. Yes you're reading this right we were going to drive for roughly 14 hours in the span of 30. It's totally worth it though since U2 is sweet.
So we leave at 9:00. As the admissions counselor and seasoned traveler I am I had this trip planned out. Map Quest was throwing me the 7 hour line and I knew we'd have to stop once on the way for gas, food, and restroom necessities. My best guess was 6 and a half hours. So Jess and I head West. Mistake number one, passing the plaza that had a Manchu Wok. Anytime you can get some Chinese on the road it's a good day. We figured the next stop would do though. Unfortunately this offered a Burger King, Sbarros (this business seems to live solely off rest stops), and a Jody Maroni's Sausage World. Bad move #2 on our part, forgetting that this stop was at 11:35 - peak lunch hour.
The place was swarming with unparented children, lots of elderly, and generally anyone trying to get a meal. The line for Burger King was long and the line for people waiting for their food was even longer. It kind of makes you wonder what type of person is making your food at a Burger King rest stop ... So we get back in the car deciding neither of these are acceptable. Drive on to Indiana at which point we still have to stop for food. Bad move number 2 an extra stop due to poor planning. God smiled upon us though as this rest stop had three things that make a rest stop: McDonalds, Dairy Queen, and a hot girls. (Note: These girls were on the scale of Indian hotness, not national hotness. You take what you can get when a rest stop appears in the middle of a field with some irrigation and burnt out crops.)
After nourishment and stretching it was back in the car to finish the trip through Indiana. Two points of note here - One Indiana has nothing really other than South Bend up north. No wonder everyone goes nuts over Notre Dame football it's all they have. Two Gary, Indiana is horrible, despite what the Music Man leads you to believe. It has bad roads, more bad roads, bumps in the road making it worse, and it's ultra crowded. Bad area. Onto Illinois where I swear I had to leave my soul in order to compensate for all the tolls I had to pay. I feel like every 4 miles I had to pay 85 cents. Do they think I'm stupid and think, "Oh wow at least I'm only paying 85 cents it won't add up to a lot or anything. I definitely feel jipped.
Finally arrived to the Hampton Inn at 4:00 P.M. It took me 7 hours all told. I blame the second stop, it absolutely killed us. I also blame tons of kids, incompetent Burger King workers, parents, and too many tolls. My sister and I made a pact on the trip not to eat at Burger King the rest of the time, largely due to their horrible commercials with the King costume with the gigantic head. What's up with commercials lately using mascots with big heads? The Quaker Oats commercial the other day had a huge plastic Quaker head on! Do the suits in the board room not realize this scares us? Cause it sure doesn't make me want to buy their food.
Lessons learned on the trip:
1.) Start earlier that 9:00
2.) Don't stop at peak lunch hour.
3.) Don't let your kids run around unattended.
4.) Don't let rest stop 173 pass you by on I-80 in Ohio. The rest of it is downhill.
5.) Indiana sucks something fierce.
6.) Gary, Indiana is overrated.
7.) If you live in Chicago have a lot of kids and just trade them in instead of tolls. It has to be a money saver.
Part two of the trilogy tomorrow perhaps. Stay tuned ...
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
His laser says your oven works fine
This is an actual quote I heard from our land lady last night. Let me fill you in on the details. I return home last night around 10:00 from a college fair in Erie, PA. I'm tired, my arms are full of stuff, my cell phone is ringing and that's when I see Judy. Here's the abbreviated version of the conversation:
Judy - I saw you pull up there with all your stuff you need a donmumble mumble ...
Me - I'm sorry what did you say?
Judy - You need one of those donkey haulers to carry all your stuff.
Me - (incredulous that this statement left someone's mouth) Yeah I guess I do.
Judy - I finally got a guy to come look at your oven today (For those of you unaware it doesn't get above 300 degrees. This makes it virtually worthless. The oven does one thing, heats stuff up. It can no longer perform this task, and even baking a sheet of cookies takes roughly half an hour. A month and a half after complaining she gets someone to fix it.) He took one of those lasers in there and looked at it and it's fixed.
Me - Oh great what was the problem?
Judy - Actually there was no problem. His laser says your oven works fine. It's the thermometer that's broken. They're really inaccurate. You could have it at 500 degrees and it would say it's 300 in there.
Me - Why do my cookies take 30 minutes to bake? Why did it take me almost four and a half hours TO HEAT UP A HAM THE OTHER NIGHT!?
Judy - Oh well I didn't know that. (I told her at least twice) Well it should work now he used one of those lasers.
Me - Well I'll bake something and let you know.
Judy - About that extra fridge in your kitchen we can go ahead and move it in your laundry room and get rid of that useless black shelving unit.
Me - Judy we keep our stuff on that shelf. Plus the fridge is too big to put in the laundry room. It's much deeper and the door won't open then. I won't be able to get in our laundry room. Plus I don't want another fridge in my house that leaks and doesn't work right. We'll move it anywhere you want, but not the laundry room.
Judy - Well I don't know where I'm gonna put it then. We can get rid of the shelf you don't use and put it in there and it'll be out of the way.
Me - exasperated Judy, find a place to put it and we'll move it for you, but it's not going in there. I need to take this phone call.
Yep, you read it right. Our land lady is insane. It's like conversing with a two year old. She doesn't listen to what you say and barrels away with her own ideas. Plus what freaking LASER IS SHE TALKING ABOUT? I'm baffled by this statement. What laser fixes an oven? Why is she using a laser? Do I trust her with a laser? How did this special laser not realize my oven can't cook things? When am I going to get salmonella and die? Why does my kitchen suck so much? What is this laser? I was so furious last night that I just went in my apartment and went to bed at roughly 10:30. It was miserable.
On a lighter note, my trip to Chicago was a blast. I had a ton of fun and U2 put on a great show. This is a blog for another week though. I'll definitely blog about it next week, maybe in a three part blog. The trip there, the show, and the trip home. Stay tuned ... or go do stuff to things with lasers. Blam!
Judy - I saw you pull up there with all your stuff you need a donmumble mumble ...
Me - I'm sorry what did you say?
Judy - You need one of those donkey haulers to carry all your stuff.
Me - (incredulous that this statement left someone's mouth) Yeah I guess I do.
Judy - I finally got a guy to come look at your oven today (For those of you unaware it doesn't get above 300 degrees. This makes it virtually worthless. The oven does one thing, heats stuff up. It can no longer perform this task, and even baking a sheet of cookies takes roughly half an hour. A month and a half after complaining she gets someone to fix it.) He took one of those lasers in there and looked at it and it's fixed.
Me - Oh great what was the problem?
Judy - Actually there was no problem. His laser says your oven works fine. It's the thermometer that's broken. They're really inaccurate. You could have it at 500 degrees and it would say it's 300 in there.
Me - Why do my cookies take 30 minutes to bake? Why did it take me almost four and a half hours TO HEAT UP A HAM THE OTHER NIGHT!?
Judy - Oh well I didn't know that. (I told her at least twice) Well it should work now he used one of those lasers.
Me - Well I'll bake something and let you know.
Judy - About that extra fridge in your kitchen we can go ahead and move it in your laundry room and get rid of that useless black shelving unit.
Me - Judy we keep our stuff on that shelf. Plus the fridge is too big to put in the laundry room. It's much deeper and the door won't open then. I won't be able to get in our laundry room. Plus I don't want another fridge in my house that leaks and doesn't work right. We'll move it anywhere you want, but not the laundry room.
Judy - Well I don't know where I'm gonna put it then. We can get rid of the shelf you don't use and put it in there and it'll be out of the way.
Me - exasperated Judy, find a place to put it and we'll move it for you, but it's not going in there. I need to take this phone call.
Yep, you read it right. Our land lady is insane. It's like conversing with a two year old. She doesn't listen to what you say and barrels away with her own ideas. Plus what freaking LASER IS SHE TALKING ABOUT? I'm baffled by this statement. What laser fixes an oven? Why is she using a laser? Do I trust her with a laser? How did this special laser not realize my oven can't cook things? When am I going to get salmonella and die? Why does my kitchen suck so much? What is this laser? I was so furious last night that I just went in my apartment and went to bed at roughly 10:30. It was miserable.
On a lighter note, my trip to Chicago was a blast. I had a ton of fun and U2 put on a great show. This is a blog for another week though. I'll definitely blog about it next week, maybe in a three part blog. The trip there, the show, and the trip home. Stay tuned ... or go do stuff to things with lasers. Blam!
I have to put this link here
Because George J. Howe and Co. is about 2 blocks down the street from where I work! BOOM!
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
My favorite vices, and their detrimental impact on my health
Ok so I know you all have them. You all have those little naughty things that you love to indulge in when no one's looking (or maybe when everyone's looking you spotlight hogs!). I have a few of them as well-my vices!! In fact, I can actually catagorize my vices into 'favorite vices'. If you haven't yet catagorized and pointed out your favorite vices to yourself or someone else, take some time to do this now! You can even tell them to me because I love when people are as bad as I am! judjudjudjudjud GO!
(listed in ascending order!)
Vice Number 3: Swearing in the Car!!
Ok I know that you all do this. I like to be one who considers himself above the fray of using terse one syllable words to express how I feel. I'm more complex than that, and refuse to believe that profanity is art (though I've heard some people make a colorful case for its artistry). I just think swearing makes you sound base and boorish, not to mention spiritually degrading. So it's with reckless abandon that I fly in the face of my convictions to let you all know that I am a closet potty mouth!
I swear people, if you want to see Smith in rare form, put him behind the wheel of a car on the LIE at rush hour. Or better yet, put him in a car after being behind the wheel of said car for 14 straight days on his endless tour of New York state on a crusade for clean-mouthed college kids (yeah it takes a lot of looking). I think I've even mother effed handicapped retarded children because they decided to walk across the street when I wanted to turn Right on Red. It's bad people. But no matter how bad it gets, swearing in the car always makes me feel (low but...) better!
Vice Number 2: Eating Candy!!!
Ok so this is a relatively harmless vice right? WRONG!! You can ask the enamel of my teeth, or my gums, or my recently filled cavities about how harmless candy eating is. Truth be told, I would eat candy alone for sustinance without too much provication. Candy is really what gets me through every day. At work I probably eat 45 pounds of chocolate, hard candy, and other crap every day. I just actually opened our candy drawer at work and saw that someone has eaten all the candy. I fully realize that I should go out and buy candy, but at the same time, am too paralyzed with grief to get mobile about it. That's the depth of my sickness.
Vice Numero Uno: Abusing Tobacco Producccttssssss
Big surprise here. The only thing that I love doing more than swearing at old ladies with a face full of Dum-Dums is taking a few hours out of my day to smoke pipe, smoke a cigar, or smoke hookah. Tobacco is probably my only legitimate vice that I find myself struggling to say no to. In fact let me tell you a little story about how smoking gave me cancer in my tongue last week (no joke!)!
Take a look at this, people. This is a picture of the human tongue:
Ok this is my tongue. Last week I took my pipe on the road. No big deal right? UNBEKNOWNST TO ME the tongue is actually very sensitive. In fact, I believe it's even possible to burn one's tongue if they are not too careful in smoking their pipe. When you draw in from the bowl of the pipe the warm smoke comes in and bam slaps your tongue around. Generally it makes for a very pleasing taste, and when you're smoking a Boswell's pipe, and tobacco, you know you're smoking the good stuff. Well apparently too much of a good thing is bad for you, because after about 4 solid days of pipe smoking my tongue looked and felt like this*!!!
AHHHHHHH!!! Yeah try having a burnt tongue for the past 5 days and counting. It's not a treat people. I still can't taste anything on the front of my tongue. Go back and look at that picture of the tongue about 2 paragraphs up. If you put some black X's over the sweet and salty parts, the remaining un-X'ed parts would be the only parts that work on my tongue right now. Bitterness and Sour are the two most prevailing tastes in my mouth. Oddly enough, bitter and sour is what fire tastes like as well. And you know what...it serves me right. Now I'll think twice about slow-roasting my tongue over a number of days. Never again will I smoke a pipe or any other tobacco product so long as I live!!
So those are my favorite vices. A less favorite vice is lying and exaggerating about stuff that happens to me. It makes me a great story teller, but not a good attention to detail person.
*"And the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell" (James 3:6, NIV) I've got hellfire in my mouf!!!
(listed in ascending order!)
Vice Number 3: Swearing in the Car!!
Ok I know that you all do this. I like to be one who considers himself above the fray of using terse one syllable words to express how I feel. I'm more complex than that, and refuse to believe that profanity is art (though I've heard some people make a colorful case for its artistry). I just think swearing makes you sound base and boorish, not to mention spiritually degrading. So it's with reckless abandon that I fly in the face of my convictions to let you all know that I am a closet potty mouth!
I swear people, if you want to see Smith in rare form, put him behind the wheel of a car on the LIE at rush hour. Or better yet, put him in a car after being behind the wheel of said car for 14 straight days on his endless tour of New York state on a crusade for clean-mouthed college kids (yeah it takes a lot of looking). I think I've even mother effed handicapped retarded children because they decided to walk across the street when I wanted to turn Right on Red. It's bad people. But no matter how bad it gets, swearing in the car always makes me feel (low but...) better!
Vice Number 2: Eating Candy!!!
Ok so this is a relatively harmless vice right? WRONG!! You can ask the enamel of my teeth, or my gums, or my recently filled cavities about how harmless candy eating is. Truth be told, I would eat candy alone for sustinance without too much provication. Candy is really what gets me through every day. At work I probably eat 45 pounds of chocolate, hard candy, and other crap every day. I just actually opened our candy drawer at work and saw that someone has eaten all the candy. I fully realize that I should go out and buy candy, but at the same time, am too paralyzed with grief to get mobile about it. That's the depth of my sickness.
Vice Numero Uno: Abusing Tobacco Producccttssssss
Big surprise here. The only thing that I love doing more than swearing at old ladies with a face full of Dum-Dums is taking a few hours out of my day to smoke pipe, smoke a cigar, or smoke hookah. Tobacco is probably my only legitimate vice that I find myself struggling to say no to. In fact let me tell you a little story about how smoking gave me cancer in my tongue last week (no joke!)!
Take a look at this, people. This is a picture of the human tongue:
Ok this is my tongue. Last week I took my pipe on the road. No big deal right? UNBEKNOWNST TO ME the tongue is actually very sensitive. In fact, I believe it's even possible to burn one's tongue if they are not too careful in smoking their pipe. When you draw in from the bowl of the pipe the warm smoke comes in and bam slaps your tongue around. Generally it makes for a very pleasing taste, and when you're smoking a Boswell's pipe, and tobacco, you know you're smoking the good stuff. Well apparently too much of a good thing is bad for you, because after about 4 solid days of pipe smoking my tongue looked and felt like this*!!!
AHHHHHHH!!! Yeah try having a burnt tongue for the past 5 days and counting. It's not a treat people. I still can't taste anything on the front of my tongue. Go back and look at that picture of the tongue about 2 paragraphs up. If you put some black X's over the sweet and salty parts, the remaining un-X'ed parts would be the only parts that work on my tongue right now. Bitterness and Sour are the two most prevailing tastes in my mouth. Oddly enough, bitter and sour is what fire tastes like as well. And you know what...it serves me right. Now I'll think twice about slow-roasting my tongue over a number of days. Never again will I smoke a pipe or any other tobacco product so long as I live!!
So those are my favorite vices. A less favorite vice is lying and exaggerating about stuff that happens to me. It makes me a great story teller, but not a good attention to detail person.
*"And the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell" (James 3:6, NIV) I've got hellfire in my mouf!!!
Sunday, May 08, 2005
BACK IN YA FACE!!!!!
BAM!!!!!!
Ok I'm not going to lie. I just wrote a big long blog about a subject very important to me...hating on semi truck drivers. I included personal experiences, and even a poem about how much I hate semi truck drivers. But after reading it through (just to suit my own pedantic need to watch myself talk) I just couldn't post it! It just wasn't right! So here's the long and short of what I was going to say!
1) I hate semi truck drivers
2) (this is in order to prevent some wise remark from Lillet or Tray) Ok how about this. Dissociating the person from the job, I hate stupid semi truck drivers...guys who try to pass other semi trucks up a long, winding hill and cause a stupid polish roadblock; semi truck drivers who swerve into your lane and make you either slam on your breaks or die; Semi truck drivers who in the construction zone drive 20 under the suggested contruction speed because they're oh so great samaritains; Semi truck drivers who drive slowly and hold up traffic in general; Semi truck drivers who STILL can't make those wide turns and make you back up into someone else just to get out of their way. THOSE of the semi truck drivers I despise
3) I smoked my new pipe this past week and legitimately burnt my tongue. I haven't been able to taste anything for going on 4 days. OUCH!!
So that's what I wanted to say people. To those of you GCC kids getting ready to graduate, good work. Hang out in there and crush those last few finals. To everyone else who just graduated, way to be. Now go out there and change the world, dang it!
Ok I'm not going to lie. I just wrote a big long blog about a subject very important to me...hating on semi truck drivers. I included personal experiences, and even a poem about how much I hate semi truck drivers. But after reading it through (just to suit my own pedantic need to watch myself talk) I just couldn't post it! It just wasn't right! So here's the long and short of what I was going to say!
1) I hate semi truck drivers
2) (this is in order to prevent some wise remark from Lillet or Tray) Ok how about this. Dissociating the person from the job, I hate stupid semi truck drivers...guys who try to pass other semi trucks up a long, winding hill and cause a stupid polish roadblock; semi truck drivers who swerve into your lane and make you either slam on your breaks or die; Semi truck drivers who in the construction zone drive 20 under the suggested contruction speed because they're oh so great samaritains; Semi truck drivers who drive slowly and hold up traffic in general; Semi truck drivers who STILL can't make those wide turns and make you back up into someone else just to get out of their way. THOSE of the semi truck drivers I despise
3) I smoked my new pipe this past week and legitimately burnt my tongue. I haven't been able to taste anything for going on 4 days. OUCH!!
So that's what I wanted to say people. To those of you GCC kids getting ready to graduate, good work. Hang out in there and crush those last few finals. To everyone else who just graduated, way to be. Now go out there and change the world, dang it!
Friday, May 06, 2005
Black sucking vortexes
You know when you meet someone who's really boring? Someone's who is dry and when you're around them you just don't have the energy to put forth?
Then there's a level of person that exceeds that. There's the person that is such a black vortex that it not only taxes you when you're with them, but sucks the life from you for the rest of the day. I ran into one of those today. Someone who hit me so hard with their blowy personality that I have nothing left to give all day.
So there goes my post in my blog. I was going to be funny and post sweet stuff that's underrated an the like. But you lose because of Mr. Blowy this afternoon.
I will say this though. In 27 hours I will be seeing U2 in concert. After all there's only one more sleep till U2 ...
Then there's a level of person that exceeds that. There's the person that is such a black vortex that it not only taxes you when you're with them, but sucks the life from you for the rest of the day. I ran into one of those today. Someone who hit me so hard with their blowy personality that I have nothing left to give all day.
So there goes my post in my blog. I was going to be funny and post sweet stuff that's underrated an the like. But you lose because of Mr. Blowy this afternoon.
I will say this though. In 27 hours I will be seeing U2 in concert. After all there's only one more sleep till U2 ...
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Amazing isn't it?
This is going to be the link addition of my blog. I don't do this often, but there are three different articles that deserve reading. Read the article and then read my brief yet hopefully meaningful insight.
1.) Glenn Beck's Website
That link sends you to an amazing story on the Glenn Beck website. I'm not going to go off about it. But in summary it's about a man named Donald Herbert. He was a fire fighter and has been in a coma for roughly the last ten years. He recently awoke from his coma and the first words he said were, "I want to talk to my wife."
My blog has in no way been a memorial or a tribute to Terri Schiavo. But this case is stunningly similar, yet the media refuses to note this. Yeah, she probably wouldn't have awakened from her coma at all. I hope the court system in America feels good about her blood on their hands.
2.) Josh's Blog
This is a buddy of mine's blog. His name is Josh, and he just wrote a brief piece about Jennifer Wilbanks. Maybe you don't recognize the name so let me help you ... she's the bride that lied to America and ran off from her wedding. Now you recognize her. The part I'm miffed about is the part about Fernando Mateo, the President of Hispanics Across America. The fact that he's demanding an apology from this girl is absurd. You can read the post and my comment for further thoughts. Good find Josh.
3.) Lillet and Trey
This is a piece from the blog of Lillet and Trey. We've referenced them a couple of times in our blog. They're the raging liberals that hate America. Great writers, but cracked out kids. I dare say they should be deported for their anti-American ways. They claim America hates them ... I think they hate America. This is the part that got me up in arms. Lillet is discussing America's concern of homosexual behavior or even sexual behavior.
"Open Letter to America: If you are someone who thinks that what two guys or girls do with each other is a bigger concern than
a) A lying, impeachable President
b) Poverty
c) Global Warming
d) Corporate Criminality
e) Wal-Mart
f) Rampant Outsourcing and Job Loss
g) Rudeness"
Here are my quick hit bullet points
a) We tried to deal with Bill Clinton. So I think America was concerned with that. You're probably talking about Bush, but remember Clinton? Probably not Democrats still LOVE him.
b) Poverty - a.k.a. people abusing the welfare system. I'd love to get rid of that and actually help poor people get jobs. Welfare costs taxpayers roughly $35,000 a year I think. My buddy cited this stat once, I just can't remember where. I'd love to do something about Welfare, but democrats won't allow it. What a waste.
c) Global warming - is a huge myth and even my 13 year old brother knows that. Scientists take horribly inaccurate measurements that aren't high enough in the atmosphere, and when they do, it's too inaccurate to prove anything. If Global warming is so bad, why the crap was it snowing last weekend?
d) Corporate Criminality - We do try to do something about this. But it's some isolated incidences. Nothing as massive and relative to the morality of an entire nation as homosexuality.
e) Wal-Mart - I agree it does blow and mistreat a fair amount of employees. It drives out businesses and then jacks up the prices. Clearly not important enough to raise the ire of the nation.
f) Rampant outsourcing - We try to deal with this often. Huge issues in the senate like Barbara Boxer trying to buy low prescription drugs from Canada instead of buying them from American works and businesses. That's outsourcing right? Oh yeah she says Republicans doing it all the time. Most democrats in the media don't make it an issue. But we're trying to fight it.
g) Rudeness - You're stupid for putting that. Haha, just a bad joke. Speaking of rudeness how about Lillet and Trey not getting back to Andrew when he was out in Brooklyn and wanted to visit them. Way to ignore his comments and attempts to catch a quick meal with you guys. Talk about rudeness ...
These are things that I get fired up about on a daily basis and things a lot of America would love to change. We also just think that it's slightly immoral for homosexuality to be legal. Not to mention detrimental to children who are parented in such homes. It's just not as solid as the traditional nuclear home. This will probably spark a debate, but one we've put off for a while, so let the battle begin. Alright, that's all I've got for now. Enjoy those few links and I've got some lame humorous stuff coming your way tomorrow.
1.) Glenn Beck's Website
That link sends you to an amazing story on the Glenn Beck website. I'm not going to go off about it. But in summary it's about a man named Donald Herbert. He was a fire fighter and has been in a coma for roughly the last ten years. He recently awoke from his coma and the first words he said were, "I want to talk to my wife."
My blog has in no way been a memorial or a tribute to Terri Schiavo. But this case is stunningly similar, yet the media refuses to note this. Yeah, she probably wouldn't have awakened from her coma at all. I hope the court system in America feels good about her blood on their hands.
2.) Josh's Blog
This is a buddy of mine's blog. His name is Josh, and he just wrote a brief piece about Jennifer Wilbanks. Maybe you don't recognize the name so let me help you ... she's the bride that lied to America and ran off from her wedding. Now you recognize her. The part I'm miffed about is the part about Fernando Mateo, the President of Hispanics Across America. The fact that he's demanding an apology from this girl is absurd. You can read the post and my comment for further thoughts. Good find Josh.
3.) Lillet and Trey
This is a piece from the blog of Lillet and Trey. We've referenced them a couple of times in our blog. They're the raging liberals that hate America. Great writers, but cracked out kids. I dare say they should be deported for their anti-American ways. They claim America hates them ... I think they hate America. This is the part that got me up in arms. Lillet is discussing America's concern of homosexual behavior or even sexual behavior.
"Open Letter to America: If you are someone who thinks that what two guys or girls do with each other is a bigger concern than
a) A lying, impeachable President
b) Poverty
c) Global Warming
d) Corporate Criminality
e) Wal-Mart
f) Rampant Outsourcing and Job Loss
g) Rudeness"
Here are my quick hit bullet points
a) We tried to deal with Bill Clinton. So I think America was concerned with that. You're probably talking about Bush, but remember Clinton? Probably not Democrats still LOVE him.
b) Poverty - a.k.a. people abusing the welfare system. I'd love to get rid of that and actually help poor people get jobs. Welfare costs taxpayers roughly $35,000 a year I think. My buddy cited this stat once, I just can't remember where. I'd love to do something about Welfare, but democrats won't allow it. What a waste.
c) Global warming - is a huge myth and even my 13 year old brother knows that. Scientists take horribly inaccurate measurements that aren't high enough in the atmosphere, and when they do, it's too inaccurate to prove anything. If Global warming is so bad, why the crap was it snowing last weekend?
d) Corporate Criminality - We do try to do something about this. But it's some isolated incidences. Nothing as massive and relative to the morality of an entire nation as homosexuality.
e) Wal-Mart - I agree it does blow and mistreat a fair amount of employees. It drives out businesses and then jacks up the prices. Clearly not important enough to raise the ire of the nation.
f) Rampant outsourcing - We try to deal with this often. Huge issues in the senate like Barbara Boxer trying to buy low prescription drugs from Canada instead of buying them from American works and businesses. That's outsourcing right? Oh yeah she says Republicans doing it all the time. Most democrats in the media don't make it an issue. But we're trying to fight it.
g) Rudeness - You're stupid for putting that. Haha, just a bad joke. Speaking of rudeness how about Lillet and Trey not getting back to Andrew when he was out in Brooklyn and wanted to visit them. Way to ignore his comments and attempts to catch a quick meal with you guys. Talk about rudeness ...
These are things that I get fired up about on a daily basis and things a lot of America would love to change. We also just think that it's slightly immoral for homosexuality to be legal. Not to mention detrimental to children who are parented in such homes. It's just not as solid as the traditional nuclear home. This will probably spark a debate, but one we've put off for a while, so let the battle begin. Alright, that's all I've got for now. Enjoy those few links and I've got some lame humorous stuff coming your way tomorrow.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Passionate defense
So I wasn't planning on posting today. I was too busy to think this weekend and therefore nothing can cometh forth. Ok, that's not quite true. I chose not to think, but instead to nap and watch tons of the NBA playoffs instead. You know, one of those classic lazy as all else weekends. Filled with two big meals, lots of NBA, a baseball game, and church to boot. Back to the matter at hand though. I was reading a story on Fox News this morning and felt it warranted definite posting. The story is key Australia Stands Tall
Since most of you won't read the story, or will click on it and not take the time to read all of it once you go there, I'll do the brief summary thing. An Australian Engineer working in Iraq was kidnapped. This is exactly the type of news that we have become desensitized too since it happens so often, much like random car bombings in either Iraq or Israel. But this man has been over there for a year and a half and has a wife in California. He resides in CA a lot, but works all over the world, and is Australian. Of course the terrorist animals that kidnapped him released one of those horrible tapes of him scared at gun point begging for help. If video footage like that doesn't enrage you - you must be dead.
Random subpoint the sooner we rid the world of pigs like this the better off we are. Forget the fact that the rulers of this nation used to put people in plastic shredders. You were lucky if you went in head first, because you died instantly, unlike if you want feet first. We now have sick sadistic terrorists capturing innocent hard working men and women and holding them hostage. Not only this, but then they release the tape as a sick and malicious slap in the face to his wife and family. It's horrifying to see and equally as horrifying to think they inhabit this planet with us.
So of course the terrorists ask for the troops to leave Iraq and the man will not be harmed. The absurdity of this statement is baffling. Like we're supposed to believe people who think it's ok to kidnap, threaten, and humiliate others. If the troops actually pull out, they'll let him go unharmed. I'm sure that will happen. And you know what? These people that act in such hateful ways, they'll go on living peacefully and never doing wrong again. It's utterly proposterous to take these men at their word. And it makes me angry that they even keep trying.
So today I salute three people or groups. First and foremost - I salute every person over seas anywhere serving their country and freedom. I salute those from Britain, Australia, Poland, America - the list could go on. The article states that Australia only has 1,370 over there, but it's a big contribution none the less, and when they lose a person it hurts just as much as when America does. So thank you all for your service not only to this nation, but the idea of freedom around the world. You have given of your time and risked your life for these ideals and we owe you a debt of gratitude.
I salute the nation currently of Australia. It's a hard line to take in this instance, but Australia has. They have created a task force in an effort to save this man, but have also asserted that they will under no circumstance remove their troops from Iraq or pay any ransom. It may seem heartless and it may seem cruel. I maintain they would not release the hostage any way. But Australia, as well as other nations who have in the past, is making a claim for freedom and justice. They're letting the light shine in the darkness. We will reach the end, and we will in the future have a free nation, and an ally in Iraq. Australia we thank you for your help and the strong message you send to the world.
My last salute is simple, but goes to the people of Iraq whom we never hear of thanks to the media or websites like Yahoo. We never hear of the Iraqis who are happy we're there, who are trying to elect the new government, or those who have signed up for their army and are being trained. Yahoo always shows pictures of those soldiers with Iraqis behind them crying or clutching a teddy bear in sadness. Yet I've talked to men and women who have served and can say there are people over there, the majority even, who are happy, safe, and free. That sentence had to be punctuated incorrectly. Anyway, so here is a salute to those Iraqis are fighting and free. We look forward to a future of security for you.
Here comes the horribly awkward ending transition, but I need to blog this. Only 5 days until I see U2 in concert in Chicago! Oh yeah, you may get a countdown each day this week. Later crackers.
Since most of you won't read the story, or will click on it and not take the time to read all of it once you go there, I'll do the brief summary thing. An Australian Engineer working in Iraq was kidnapped. This is exactly the type of news that we have become desensitized too since it happens so often, much like random car bombings in either Iraq or Israel. But this man has been over there for a year and a half and has a wife in California. He resides in CA a lot, but works all over the world, and is Australian. Of course the terrorist animals that kidnapped him released one of those horrible tapes of him scared at gun point begging for help. If video footage like that doesn't enrage you - you must be dead.
Random subpoint the sooner we rid the world of pigs like this the better off we are. Forget the fact that the rulers of this nation used to put people in plastic shredders. You were lucky if you went in head first, because you died instantly, unlike if you want feet first. We now have sick sadistic terrorists capturing innocent hard working men and women and holding them hostage. Not only this, but then they release the tape as a sick and malicious slap in the face to his wife and family. It's horrifying to see and equally as horrifying to think they inhabit this planet with us.
So of course the terrorists ask for the troops to leave Iraq and the man will not be harmed. The absurdity of this statement is baffling. Like we're supposed to believe people who think it's ok to kidnap, threaten, and humiliate others. If the troops actually pull out, they'll let him go unharmed. I'm sure that will happen. And you know what? These people that act in such hateful ways, they'll go on living peacefully and never doing wrong again. It's utterly proposterous to take these men at their word. And it makes me angry that they even keep trying.
So today I salute three people or groups. First and foremost - I salute every person over seas anywhere serving their country and freedom. I salute those from Britain, Australia, Poland, America - the list could go on. The article states that Australia only has 1,370 over there, but it's a big contribution none the less, and when they lose a person it hurts just as much as when America does. So thank you all for your service not only to this nation, but the idea of freedom around the world. You have given of your time and risked your life for these ideals and we owe you a debt of gratitude.
I salute the nation currently of Australia. It's a hard line to take in this instance, but Australia has. They have created a task force in an effort to save this man, but have also asserted that they will under no circumstance remove their troops from Iraq or pay any ransom. It may seem heartless and it may seem cruel. I maintain they would not release the hostage any way. But Australia, as well as other nations who have in the past, is making a claim for freedom and justice. They're letting the light shine in the darkness. We will reach the end, and we will in the future have a free nation, and an ally in Iraq. Australia we thank you for your help and the strong message you send to the world.
My last salute is simple, but goes to the people of Iraq whom we never hear of thanks to the media or websites like Yahoo. We never hear of the Iraqis who are happy we're there, who are trying to elect the new government, or those who have signed up for their army and are being trained. Yahoo always shows pictures of those soldiers with Iraqis behind them crying or clutching a teddy bear in sadness. Yet I've talked to men and women who have served and can say there are people over there, the majority even, who are happy, safe, and free. That sentence had to be punctuated incorrectly. Anyway, so here is a salute to those Iraqis are fighting and free. We look forward to a future of security for you.
Here comes the horribly awkward ending transition, but I need to blog this. Only 5 days until I see U2 in concert in Chicago! Oh yeah, you may get a countdown each day this week. Later crackers.
Friday, April 29, 2005
I'm a man of my word
Bill, I told you I would send you props, so get yourself ready.
In a bold and daring move, Bill Clinton proved that he does more than just talk about individual 'rights and liberties'. After slapping his "Box the Box" label on his ahem, Venti Soy Triple Carmel Macchiato Extra Hot cup, Mr. Clinton proves that he not only talks the talk, but walks his walk...all the way to the bank! You just won yourself $2 (American) Mr. President! Upgrade!!
In a bold and daring move, Bill Clinton proved that he does more than just talk about individual 'rights and liberties'. After slapping his "Box the Box" label on his ahem, Venti Soy Triple Carmel Macchiato Extra Hot cup, Mr. Clinton proves that he not only talks the talk, but walks his walk...all the way to the bank! You just won yourself $2 (American) Mr. President! Upgrade!!
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Just because I can
I could not pass up this opportunity to share a valuable web-resource with you all. Go here to this website to see what I'm talking about, people .
If you print this one out and put it on a coffee cup I'll give you $2 as well and well deserved props on our blog! Also save that picture and we'll post it so everyone can see it as well.
If you print this one out and put it on a coffee cup I'll give you $2 as well and well deserved props on our blog! Also save that picture and we'll post it so everyone can see it as well.
What time is it?
Time to admit change. I have known Andrew for roughly five years now. Ever since the first moment I have known several things about Andrew:
1.) Kid is crazy in love for Miami.
2.) Absolutely loves warm weather.
3.) Cool Christian with his head on straight even if he is a raging Calvinist.
4.) Swell guy (Gee thanks Mr. Wilson).
5.) He loves 311. See archived blogs for details.
I have never really enjoyed 311. They were too out there for me. Too many sounds that it seemed like they were unable to settle on one. Some good songs, but really zero radio play other than "All Mixed Up." I just wasn't sold, even through four years of friendship with Andrew. Until a couple of weeks ago.
So we move into our DIVE of an apartment and Andrew starts playing 311's live concert DVD all the time. So I watch their show little by little and song by song. One day I collapse on the couch after lifting (yeah I'm huge ... ok not really) and I start watching the DVD and it clicks. I finally like these guys. They're really talented musicians, they write their own stuff, and they're talented enough to play several styles. Nothing like rocking up a crowd, mellowing them out, and rocking out again. And their stuff is catchy. It has solid lyrics that last, not meaningless pop dribble. So while I think it's a bit of a farce they have a greatest hits CD, it's good stuff. I think a greatest hits CD, as my friend Josh suggests, you need to have sustained success for a decade or more, and numerous solid albums. 311 has a cult following for sure, but a greatest hits CD I'm not sure if they're qualified to relase that. Any way you slice it, I'm digging 311 a ton lately. I can't stop listening to them. So hats off to Andrew for staying the course, or beating down my resistance to them after all this time.
Other random comments that need mentioning:
1.) Sesame Street Debacle I can't believe that Sesame Street is changing Cookie Monster. Cookies are SOMETIMES FOOD! What's next, "C is for celery that's good enough for me!" People need to take responsibility. If you don't know that cookies make you fat you suck.
2.) In my tradition of reporting good news - Alonzo Mourning has donated his $300,000 salary from the Miami Heat to orphaned kids and children with kidney problems. Since he's suffered twice from kidney failure this is fitting.
3.) Some more intelligent Starbucks labels you can print out and put on your cup - great idea Andrew.
- "We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." -- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
- "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." -Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998 (That's long haha last one though I promise.)
- The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover. -- Al Franken (I can't believe I even put that)
- If you're a liberal, anything you say is protected. If you're a conservative, anything you say is hateful. -- Laura Schlessinger
- "Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15." --Ronald Reagan
- "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart, and if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no head." -- Winston Churchill
- "A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but a foolish
man's heart directs him toward the left." -- Ecclesiastes 10:2 (Can't argue with the Bible)
- One last one from Ronald and this one will turn heads
"Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born."
--Ronald Reagan
- Vin Diesel's High School prank was Western Civilization. (Not really just a funny quote from the previously posted Vin Diesel site).
So take that Starbucks. What have we learned today guys? 311 is sweet, frivalous law suits against innane things are bad like the cookie monster, and giving money to kids is a good thing. Well I'm off to do stuff ... like make phone calls. I'm really impacting the world today - one call at a time.
1.) Kid is crazy in love for Miami.
2.) Absolutely loves warm weather.
3.) Cool Christian with his head on straight even if he is a raging Calvinist.
4.) Swell guy (Gee thanks Mr. Wilson).
5.) He loves 311. See archived blogs for details.
I have never really enjoyed 311. They were too out there for me. Too many sounds that it seemed like they were unable to settle on one. Some good songs, but really zero radio play other than "All Mixed Up." I just wasn't sold, even through four years of friendship with Andrew. Until a couple of weeks ago.
So we move into our DIVE of an apartment and Andrew starts playing 311's live concert DVD all the time. So I watch their show little by little and song by song. One day I collapse on the couch after lifting (yeah I'm huge ... ok not really) and I start watching the DVD and it clicks. I finally like these guys. They're really talented musicians, they write their own stuff, and they're talented enough to play several styles. Nothing like rocking up a crowd, mellowing them out, and rocking out again. And their stuff is catchy. It has solid lyrics that last, not meaningless pop dribble. So while I think it's a bit of a farce they have a greatest hits CD, it's good stuff. I think a greatest hits CD, as my friend Josh suggests, you need to have sustained success for a decade or more, and numerous solid albums. 311 has a cult following for sure, but a greatest hits CD I'm not sure if they're qualified to relase that. Any way you slice it, I'm digging 311 a ton lately. I can't stop listening to them. So hats off to Andrew for staying the course, or beating down my resistance to them after all this time.
Other random comments that need mentioning:
1.) Sesame Street Debacle I can't believe that Sesame Street is changing Cookie Monster. Cookies are SOMETIMES FOOD! What's next, "C is for celery that's good enough for me!" People need to take responsibility. If you don't know that cookies make you fat you suck.
2.) In my tradition of reporting good news - Alonzo Mourning has donated his $300,000 salary from the Miami Heat to orphaned kids and children with kidney problems. Since he's suffered twice from kidney failure this is fitting.
3.) Some more intelligent Starbucks labels you can print out and put on your cup - great idea Andrew.
- "We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." -- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
- "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." -Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998 (That's long haha last one though I promise.)
- The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover. -- Al Franken (I can't believe I even put that)
- If you're a liberal, anything you say is protected. If you're a conservative, anything you say is hateful. -- Laura Schlessinger
- "Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15." --Ronald Reagan
- "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart, and if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no head." -- Winston Churchill
- "A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but a foolish
man's heart directs him toward the left." -- Ecclesiastes 10:2 (Can't argue with the Bible)
- One last one from Ronald and this one will turn heads
"Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born."
--Ronald Reagan
- Vin Diesel's High School prank was Western Civilization. (Not really just a funny quote from the previously posted Vin Diesel site).
So take that Starbucks. What have we learned today guys? 311 is sweet, frivalous law suits against innane things are bad like the cookie monster, and giving money to kids is a good thing. Well I'm off to do stuff ... like make phone calls. I'm really impacting the world today - one call at a time.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
I Can't Help It
I was all set to blog about something trivial. I just wanted to sit down and blog how much I love the NBA Playoffs. I was also going to throw in a paragraph about how Andrew has finally broken me and I love 311 now. I can't get enough of their music. Granted, they're not U2, but they do have some pretty good music. But then I got in the car and took a road trip to Columbus. While listening to talk radio I was tempted to pick up a USA Today.
Let me say I HATE USA Today. I get it free all the time thanks to Hampton Inn. It's a nice way to catch up on the news, but it's written for a third grader and it never gives the full side of the story. But today they found the other side of the story and actually ran it. Props to USA Today. For weeks they have been blasting Tom DeLay for his allegedly "unethical". I've stated on this blog before I can understand that. He may have messed up and had lobbyists pay for his travel. My case has always been this, "Why blast only DeLay when everyone does it?"
It's documented that Barbara Boxer does it. It's documented that Nancy Pelosi does it. Harry Reid does it for goodness sake. So why just point out DeLay? It's just Democrats avoiding facts and trying to gain ground. Quinn in the morning, a local conservative talk show personality always says, "Look at what Democrats are saying about Republicans, assuming about them, and that's what they're up to." If they say they're lying about service (i.e. Bush guard duty) then they probably are (i.e. Kerry and war stories). If they say they're misusing funds or being unethical, chances are they are themselves as well.
So USA Today finally runs the other side of the story today as well, and front page no less. The article outlines how travel by congressmen and congresswomen (all about equality here just like GCC and Title IX) is often paid privately. Since 2000 $16 million has been paid in private trips with half being paid / sponsored by non-profit groups. If Non-profits pay for the trips, the rule is they don't have to disclose who is paying for the trip. The rule goes that a lobbyist or a representative of foreign interst may not pay. That's the short of it all.
PoliticalMoneyLine did a survey of campaign finance and lobbying data and found out some of the following stats. Democrats took 3,025 such trips while Repubulicans took 2,375. DeLay took 14 trips, valued at $94,568 and was 28th on the list of money spent per trips. And Harold Ford, a democrat took the most trips 63. The Nancy Pelosi took a nice little trip to Puerto Rico that her aide said, "I was unaware that we had to document expenses." UNAWARE! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME.
A quote from the article: "While ethics rules require lawmakers to try to find out and disclose who is paying for their trips, they often fail to do so, said Larry Noble of the Center for Responsive Politics an ethics watchdog group. 'It has become a don't ask dont' tell system,' Noble said."
So I make my point. I wanted to have a nice blog. But I couldn't stay silent on this. This is prime time example of facts being kryptonite, but only to the democratic party instead of the Republican party. This kid is so sick of the democrats pointing fingers and not answering questions when the fingers are pointed back. Tom DeLay messed up, but so did others. And darn it it's time they answered for it as well. I'm sick of the watchdog media just giving them a pass. I'm sick of Larry King asking soft questions. Then he gets a soft answer and doesn't follow up with the hard one. I'm tired of Dan Rather making stuff up and then passing the buck. I'm tired of Yahoo headlines sneaking in liberally slanted headlines and pictures of U.S. soliders serving their country honorably but Yahoo puts up a picture with kids crying. I'm tired of hearing news reported about how Iraq is a mess, and then meeting those who have served our country and they come back and say we're doing so much good. No longer should Democrats get a pass. Apparently they screwed up this time as well and if they're going to fry DeLay then some of them need to fry as well.
Blam! Rant over. No one's perfect, let's see it from both sides this time. Next time I'm going to blog fun and lighthearted ... I promise. Sometimes things get lit under me and you just have to rant. And oh yeah, by the way, the Surreal Life on VH1 is such a gay show.
Let me say I HATE USA Today. I get it free all the time thanks to Hampton Inn. It's a nice way to catch up on the news, but it's written for a third grader and it never gives the full side of the story. But today they found the other side of the story and actually ran it. Props to USA Today. For weeks they have been blasting Tom DeLay for his allegedly "unethical". I've stated on this blog before I can understand that. He may have messed up and had lobbyists pay for his travel. My case has always been this, "Why blast only DeLay when everyone does it?"
It's documented that Barbara Boxer does it. It's documented that Nancy Pelosi does it. Harry Reid does it for goodness sake. So why just point out DeLay? It's just Democrats avoiding facts and trying to gain ground. Quinn in the morning, a local conservative talk show personality always says, "Look at what Democrats are saying about Republicans, assuming about them, and that's what they're up to." If they say they're lying about service (i.e. Bush guard duty) then they probably are (i.e. Kerry and war stories). If they say they're misusing funds or being unethical, chances are they are themselves as well.
So USA Today finally runs the other side of the story today as well, and front page no less. The article outlines how travel by congressmen and congresswomen (all about equality here just like GCC and Title IX) is often paid privately. Since 2000 $16 million has been paid in private trips with half being paid / sponsored by non-profit groups. If Non-profits pay for the trips, the rule is they don't have to disclose who is paying for the trip. The rule goes that a lobbyist or a representative of foreign interst may not pay. That's the short of it all.
PoliticalMoneyLine did a survey of campaign finance and lobbying data and found out some of the following stats. Democrats took 3,025 such trips while Repubulicans took 2,375. DeLay took 14 trips, valued at $94,568 and was 28th on the list of money spent per trips. And Harold Ford, a democrat took the most trips 63. The Nancy Pelosi took a nice little trip to Puerto Rico that her aide said, "I was unaware that we had to document expenses." UNAWARE! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME.
A quote from the article: "While ethics rules require lawmakers to try to find out and disclose who is paying for their trips, they often fail to do so, said Larry Noble of the Center for Responsive Politics an ethics watchdog group. 'It has become a don't ask dont' tell system,' Noble said."
So I make my point. I wanted to have a nice blog. But I couldn't stay silent on this. This is prime time example of facts being kryptonite, but only to the democratic party instead of the Republican party. This kid is so sick of the democrats pointing fingers and not answering questions when the fingers are pointed back. Tom DeLay messed up, but so did others. And darn it it's time they answered for it as well. I'm sick of the watchdog media just giving them a pass. I'm sick of Larry King asking soft questions. Then he gets a soft answer and doesn't follow up with the hard one. I'm tired of Dan Rather making stuff up and then passing the buck. I'm tired of Yahoo headlines sneaking in liberally slanted headlines and pictures of U.S. soliders serving their country honorably but Yahoo puts up a picture with kids crying. I'm tired of hearing news reported about how Iraq is a mess, and then meeting those who have served our country and they come back and say we're doing so much good. No longer should Democrats get a pass. Apparently they screwed up this time as well and if they're going to fry DeLay then some of them need to fry as well.
Blam! Rant over. No one's perfect, let's see it from both sides this time. Next time I'm going to blog fun and lighthearted ... I promise. Sometimes things get lit under me and you just have to rant. And oh yeah, by the way, the Surreal Life on VH1 is such a gay show.
Quick Link
Wow. I just stumbled across maybe the funniest website I've seen in ages. A friend of mine sent me this link to random facts about Vin Diesel. You know Vin Diesel right? He's the actor of former XXX glory, as well as Chronicles of Riddick, and more recently The Pacifier. He's really a horrible actor, but quite possibly one of the hardest guys ever to roam the free earth. Just keep hitting refresh for new facts. I bet you laugh for like an hour like I did. And I only saw a repeat fact once. If you don't know who Vin Diesel is, sorry, but this is RICH. Without further delay ... Vin Diesel Facts
Since I hear Keith's guffaw across the office
Keith's over in his office and he's in stitches laughing at this one website. It reminded me of one particular website that really used to make me chuckle. I know some of you will remember this one from a few years back. And more importantly, I know some of you danced around in your dorm room to the blazin' midi track. LAUGH!!!
Monday, April 25, 2005
I'll give you philosophical ideas!
Philosophical debate?!
Someone at Starbucks(TM) has finally bought into their own pretentious cult of personality! I admittedly stole this link from Lillet and Treigh, but I had thoughts about this earlier this week as I cruised around NYC.
And for those of you steeped in Andrew and Keith blog lore, you know that this past week I was supposed to hang out wit our arch rivals Lillet and Traa. Actually Lillet and Treiy have stopped responding to all comments that we make on their blogs. But that's fine because we have Anon now, and the "I hate you! Don't leave me" symdrome continues.
Anyway, Starbucks has started printing liberal garbage on the side of their cups. If you read the article above, you'll know what I mean. I was walking around Manhattan this past week wondering to myself how I got sucked into Starbucks, why I was being a total totebagger , and why on earth was I gulping down these liberal philsophies graffittied on the side of my Grande Carmel Macchiato, Extra hot?
I still am not sure about those answers, but in order to counter Starbucks' pretentious political innuendo aimed at 'creating philosophical discussion', I will create my OWN philosophicalizing triggers for you. What you can actually do is take these, copy and paste them onto a label that you can print out from Microsoft Word, and then carry some of them around with you. When you go to Starbucks, whip some of them out of your pocket or purse or totebag or whatever and slap them over the stupid crap that's printed on your cup. That way when someone looks over at your cup and tries to start a philosophical debate with you, you will already have the upper hand! Tada!!
So take heed my friends for I am about to batter you with knowledge that is easily transfered onto Starbucks cups. (by the way if anybody does this I swear I want you to take a picture of it and I'll give you 2 bucks, I swear. That's 2 AMERICAN dollars.)
1) "Where everybody is a Christian, nobody is a Christian" -Alexander Solzheneitzen (sp?)
2) "It all depends on what yor definittion of 'is' is" -Bill Clinton
3) "I'm a stuck up douche bag who actually says "Tall" instead of "Small" when ordering cappuccios" -Anonymous Starbucks Drinker's Conscience
4) "Quit staring at my crotch!" -Andrew (I say this all the time, I'm so sick of being treated as a piece of meat)
5) "Do stuff to it" -Drew Martin (he originally coined the phrase)
6) A majority is a majority dummy.
7) "You...you've got what I need. But you say he's just a friend, yeah you say he's just a friend. OH BABBBYYY YOOUUUUU..." -Biz Markie
8) "I don't think anyone has sued Starbucks for having coffee that's too hot yet. Let's band together and commit insurance fraud!" -Anon
So there are some starter quotes. Maybe I'll think of some more good ones and get them out to you soon. For now...ROCK FIST!
Someone at Starbucks(TM) has finally bought into their own pretentious cult of personality! I admittedly stole this link from Lillet and Treigh, but I had thoughts about this earlier this week as I cruised around NYC.
And for those of you steeped in Andrew and Keith blog lore, you know that this past week I was supposed to hang out wit our arch rivals Lillet and Traa. Actually Lillet and Treiy have stopped responding to all comments that we make on their blogs. But that's fine because we have Anon now, and the "I hate you! Don't leave me" symdrome continues.
Anyway, Starbucks has started printing liberal garbage on the side of their cups. If you read the article above, you'll know what I mean. I was walking around Manhattan this past week wondering to myself how I got sucked into Starbucks, why I was being a total totebagger , and why on earth was I gulping down these liberal philsophies graffittied on the side of my Grande Carmel Macchiato, Extra hot?
I still am not sure about those answers, but in order to counter Starbucks' pretentious political innuendo aimed at 'creating philosophical discussion', I will create my OWN philosophicalizing triggers for you. What you can actually do is take these, copy and paste them onto a label that you can print out from Microsoft Word, and then carry some of them around with you. When you go to Starbucks, whip some of them out of your pocket or purse or totebag or whatever and slap them over the stupid crap that's printed on your cup. That way when someone looks over at your cup and tries to start a philosophical debate with you, you will already have the upper hand! Tada!!
So take heed my friends for I am about to batter you with knowledge that is easily transfered onto Starbucks cups. (by the way if anybody does this I swear I want you to take a picture of it and I'll give you 2 bucks, I swear. That's 2 AMERICAN dollars.)
1) "Where everybody is a Christian, nobody is a Christian" -Alexander Solzheneitzen (sp?)
2) "It all depends on what yor definittion of 'is' is" -Bill Clinton
3) "I'm a stuck up douche bag who actually says "Tall" instead of "Small" when ordering cappuccios" -Anonymous Starbucks Drinker's Conscience
4) "Quit staring at my crotch!" -Andrew (I say this all the time, I'm so sick of being treated as a piece of meat)
5) "Do stuff to it" -Drew Martin (he originally coined the phrase)
6) A majority is a majority dummy.
7) "You...you've got what I need. But you say he's just a friend, yeah you say he's just a friend. OH BABBBYYY YOOUUUUU..." -Biz Markie
8) "I don't think anyone has sued Starbucks for having coffee that's too hot yet. Let's band together and commit insurance fraud!" -Anon
So there are some starter quotes. Maybe I'll think of some more good ones and get them out to you soon. For now...ROCK FIST!
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Scrolling Down ...
Scrolling down long comment chains suck. A lot of commenting happened while I was out of town. A few brief, I'll try I promise, comments. I hate to keep isolating Anon, but you just keep flying by with untrue statements.
1.) You agree with Coulter that Timothy McVeigh should have instead blown up The New York Times building because they publish facts with which you don't agree. Nice! I said two things: The Times sucks. I don't care that they publish things I don't agree with. I care when they ignore stories that are true, and reported by everyone but them, but since they are liberal refuse too. News is news - report it. Two you're taking her quotes out of context. When this is done it makes things look worse. Nice try.
2.) I don't want all Throckmortons teaching. I never had him. But I don't want professors that say we deserved to die in 9-11. There's a place for people like that, in a cave with Osama. How about a little support for our nation? Is that too hard to ask from him? Didn't think so.
3.) Dems ain't perfect either but at least they are based in Reality. Facts are Kryptonite to Republicans, I understand that. I'm curious, though: what do you consider credible news sources? Are they faith-based? Facts are Kryptonite ... haha. That's rich. Like when Barbara Boxer was confronted with questions about specific facts that she had done just what Delay is being accused of. Remember that? She ignores the question and points the finger at Delay. That my friend is ignoring facts. And Dems rule at it. And not all credible news sources must be faith based. I go by - CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Us News and World Report, and various local newspapers. I don't watch Christian TV - it's awful, and I don't subscribe to Christian publications. You can now get off me.
4.) It's also a question of scale -- and btw, that's 32.5 k a year for Boxer's son, which is, well, probably not overpaying -- and what the offspring in question did for the dough. Nothing unethical as long as it's on a smaller scale or you can explain it away. Notice a theme here anon? Both sides make mistakes. The Democrats, since a lot exist in media, get a free pass. No one asks the hard follow up of The Box when she fails to answer. Way to explain away her mistake as a small scale one. She needs to own up as well.
5.) Andrew explained that we do follow Title IX. I told you it's not about the gender issue, it's about not taking money from the government. We have plenty of girls sports, and as you see more than men. We're not some community that still has women churning butter alright? Blam in ya' face.
6.) Some girl who had a bad experience there with some dudes and Jesus in general. This is the most disgusting statement at all. That you could coldly minimize a tragedy like that and insinuate that it must be the woman's fault is lower than low. The bold was my previous statement. You misconstrued it. I was merely referring to something on a simple level. Like a girlfriend who'd been dumped by her boyfriend and went into a religious funk after that when her friends in Campus Crusade couldn't help her out of it. In no way was I referring to anything more traumatic. I've had some of those traumatic issues occur within my own life and family and wouldn't joke about them. But thanks for assuming the worst of me.
You see Anon - Amanda has been right all along, and Andrew and I because we're never wrong. Both sides mess up. In the end I just believe that at least Republicans have a better plan to fix America. So therefore I hope I can elect people in who not only will be a good example (which doesn't always happen) and people who will enact that plan. Everyone abuses power, everyone falls short, everyone has issues. I just feel that in the past, and recently, Republicans have a better plan, work within their means, and aren't out of touch with the majority of America. You can go ahead and run with some comment blasting me on homosexuality and abortion there, feel free. But don't just come back making hate filled statements about how we suck more than you and Grove City blows. It's doing something right that you researched it or spent time there. We're slowly turning you to the light my friend. I'm off to bed because it's wicked late and church comes early - yeah that's a faith based news source for those of you keeping score at home.
1.) You agree with Coulter that Timothy McVeigh should have instead blown up The New York Times building because they publish facts with which you don't agree. Nice! I said two things: The Times sucks. I don't care that they publish things I don't agree with. I care when they ignore stories that are true, and reported by everyone but them, but since they are liberal refuse too. News is news - report it. Two you're taking her quotes out of context. When this is done it makes things look worse. Nice try.
2.) I don't want all Throckmortons teaching. I never had him. But I don't want professors that say we deserved to die in 9-11. There's a place for people like that, in a cave with Osama. How about a little support for our nation? Is that too hard to ask from him? Didn't think so.
3.) Dems ain't perfect either but at least they are based in Reality. Facts are Kryptonite to Republicans, I understand that. I'm curious, though: what do you consider credible news sources? Are they faith-based? Facts are Kryptonite ... haha. That's rich. Like when Barbara Boxer was confronted with questions about specific facts that she had done just what Delay is being accused of. Remember that? She ignores the question and points the finger at Delay. That my friend is ignoring facts. And Dems rule at it. And not all credible news sources must be faith based. I go by - CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Us News and World Report, and various local newspapers. I don't watch Christian TV - it's awful, and I don't subscribe to Christian publications. You can now get off me.
4.) It's also a question of scale -- and btw, that's 32.5 k a year for Boxer's son, which is, well, probably not overpaying -- and what the offspring in question did for the dough. Nothing unethical as long as it's on a smaller scale or you can explain it away. Notice a theme here anon? Both sides make mistakes. The Democrats, since a lot exist in media, get a free pass. No one asks the hard follow up of The Box when she fails to answer. Way to explain away her mistake as a small scale one. She needs to own up as well.
5.) Andrew explained that we do follow Title IX. I told you it's not about the gender issue, it's about not taking money from the government. We have plenty of girls sports, and as you see more than men. We're not some community that still has women churning butter alright? Blam in ya' face.
6.) Some girl who had a bad experience there with some dudes and Jesus in general. This is the most disgusting statement at all. That you could coldly minimize a tragedy like that and insinuate that it must be the woman's fault is lower than low. The bold was my previous statement. You misconstrued it. I was merely referring to something on a simple level. Like a girlfriend who'd been dumped by her boyfriend and went into a religious funk after that when her friends in Campus Crusade couldn't help her out of it. In no way was I referring to anything more traumatic. I've had some of those traumatic issues occur within my own life and family and wouldn't joke about them. But thanks for assuming the worst of me.
You see Anon - Amanda has been right all along, and Andrew and I because we're never wrong. Both sides mess up. In the end I just believe that at least Republicans have a better plan to fix America. So therefore I hope I can elect people in who not only will be a good example (which doesn't always happen) and people who will enact that plan. Everyone abuses power, everyone falls short, everyone has issues. I just feel that in the past, and recently, Republicans have a better plan, work within their means, and aren't out of touch with the majority of America. You can go ahead and run with some comment blasting me on homosexuality and abortion there, feel free. But don't just come back making hate filled statements about how we suck more than you and Grove City blows. It's doing something right that you researched it or spent time there. We're slowly turning you to the light my friend. I'm off to bed because it's wicked late and church comes early - yeah that's a faith based news source for those of you keeping score at home.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Refer to Anon's comments
Back on Keith's blog not about my birthday.
Yeah let's think another way than in a linear fashion.
As far as I know, there are many institutions of high education in American. nearly 100% of them tow the same "I'm the same as you. Your ideas are as valid as mine. We are all the same, and truth is relative, so swallow the filth I promulgate" line. That's linear thinking...actually maybe it's not linear, maybe it takes the form of a spiral-a steep downward one at that.
Grove City College takes a stand for independence. Grove City takes a stand to teach in a different way, and you blast them for it? Tow your own line!! If you're all in favor of independent thinking and thinking outside the box, then recognize that GCC is a revolutionary college institution...that is unless you're scared that your fascade 'education' will collapse on itself if outside thinking is allowed. Grove City does follow title 9 in regards to sports...actually wait we don't, because we have 9 mens varsity sports and 10 girls sports. Maybe we have as many club sports for women as we do men. And maybe we follow title 9 and your idiot mouth won't stop flapping long enough for you to find out. I'll give you a link: www.gcc.edu.
For as much as you sound the trumpet of facts as dieties, you delude yourself into thinking Throckmorton isn't onto something. I understand that his research is incredibly controversial to gay people. But for the rest of America that believes homosexuality isn't genetic and just isn't natural (Anon...in the out hole? You can't tell me that's normal), Throckmorton's research is a refreshing contrast to constantly being bombarded by the homosexual social agenda. Being a psychology major myself (yes that's right, I know everything about psychology) I was privy to research by a lot of credible sources on homosexuality. NOT A ONE CREDIBLE SOURCE HAS EVER DOCUMENTED THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS GENETIC AND UNCONTROLLABLE!!! NOT ONE!!! If you have bought into the myth that homosexuality is inherently genetic and that no one can control their feelings for one sex or another, you've bought into a huge social lie. there are just no facts, Anon, to support it. Here is your opportunity to digest a fact. Stop. Meditate. Repeat after me "Dang it Andrew is right, again. I should really take a dose of my own medicine and try to start digesting facts from reluctant sources and get over my own prejudices and hate for these guys". It's really not that hard, according to yourself.
FURTHERMORE!!! I was just informed by a number of people over the past week that our blog is slowly growing a cult following! I can't tell you how much that makes me want to crap myself with happiness! Thanks for reading our blog, you silent majority, and thanks for telling people to read it. I would encourage you to continue to read, post, and read some more.
LAST OFF!!!!! This blog is about self respect...take a look at what I'm wearing, people. Do you think anyone wants a roundhouse kick to the face with these bad boys on? Forget about it!!
Yeah let's think another way than in a linear fashion.
As far as I know, there are many institutions of high education in American. nearly 100% of them tow the same "I'm the same as you. Your ideas are as valid as mine. We are all the same, and truth is relative, so swallow the filth I promulgate" line. That's linear thinking...actually maybe it's not linear, maybe it takes the form of a spiral-a steep downward one at that.
Grove City College takes a stand for independence. Grove City takes a stand to teach in a different way, and you blast them for it? Tow your own line!! If you're all in favor of independent thinking and thinking outside the box, then recognize that GCC is a revolutionary college institution...that is unless you're scared that your fascade 'education' will collapse on itself if outside thinking is allowed. Grove City does follow title 9 in regards to sports...actually wait we don't, because we have 9 mens varsity sports and 10 girls sports. Maybe we have as many club sports for women as we do men. And maybe we follow title 9 and your idiot mouth won't stop flapping long enough for you to find out. I'll give you a link: www.gcc.edu.
For as much as you sound the trumpet of facts as dieties, you delude yourself into thinking Throckmorton isn't onto something. I understand that his research is incredibly controversial to gay people. But for the rest of America that believes homosexuality isn't genetic and just isn't natural (Anon...in the out hole? You can't tell me that's normal), Throckmorton's research is a refreshing contrast to constantly being bombarded by the homosexual social agenda. Being a psychology major myself (yes that's right, I know everything about psychology) I was privy to research by a lot of credible sources on homosexuality. NOT A ONE CREDIBLE SOURCE HAS EVER DOCUMENTED THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS GENETIC AND UNCONTROLLABLE!!! NOT ONE!!! If you have bought into the myth that homosexuality is inherently genetic and that no one can control their feelings for one sex or another, you've bought into a huge social lie. there are just no facts, Anon, to support it. Here is your opportunity to digest a fact. Stop. Meditate. Repeat after me "Dang it Andrew is right, again. I should really take a dose of my own medicine and try to start digesting facts from reluctant sources and get over my own prejudices and hate for these guys". It's really not that hard, according to yourself.
FURTHERMORE!!! I was just informed by a number of people over the past week that our blog is slowly growing a cult following! I can't tell you how much that makes me want to crap myself with happiness! Thanks for reading our blog, you silent majority, and thanks for telling people to read it. I would encourage you to continue to read, post, and read some more.
LAST OFF!!!!! This blog is about self respect...take a look at what I'm wearing, people. Do you think anyone wants a roundhouse kick to the face with these bad boys on? Forget about it!!
Thursday, April 21, 2005
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I would just like to tell everyone in Blog land that half of our staff ... ok that's really just Andrew, has his birthday today. So feel free to wish him a Happy Birthday. Of course Anon will probably make it some snide comment, but that's cool, we welcome it because at least we have dialogue now. So Happy B-day Drew - that's Donkey Patrol for those of you keeping score at home.
Secondly I just want to gripe for a minute. I've been saving money for three years to go to the world cup in Germany next summer. Despite the fact that it's a liberal marxist American hating hole, the holy grail of soccer will be held there. So I have saved $3,500 up for air fare, tickets, food, etc. So my buddies and I put in our application for tickets and we find out today if we get them. Well wouldn't you know they had too many applications and we don't get any tickets. I've been saving for THREE FLAMING YEARS! What in the world is going on here? America hates soccer. So now the team gets good and everyone jumps on the bandwagon. I've been doing things correctly for three years and acting responsibly, and I get screwed. This totally sucks and I may now hate sports because of it. This could be the turning point. I have much more success when I loaf and just have things fall in my lap.
Lastly in my tradition, sort of, of reporting good deeds, I saw one today that made me glow. While sitting and reading down at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore a few kids were playing with a miniature basketball. One brother took it and threw it away from his brother and of course it bounced away and into the water. So the kids are crying, Dad is upset, and no one knows what to do. So the homeless guy is there, and he takes off his coat, fully clothed, and climbs down the ladder, putting his legs on the bottom rung and in the water. He reaches out with his coat, and is able to drape it over the ball and pull it towards himself. He grabs it, climbs out soaking wet from the knees down, and gives it to the kid. Everyone is amazed, the kid hugs him and thanks him and everyone just breaks out into applause. And for one moment in time, the barrier of the haves and the haves not is broken. It was quite a moving moment actually and a very good deed that deserved mentioning, even if only in blog land. Alright kids I'm off to bed. Good night all and Happy Birfday Drew.
Secondly I just want to gripe for a minute. I've been saving money for three years to go to the world cup in Germany next summer. Despite the fact that it's a liberal marxist American hating hole, the holy grail of soccer will be held there. So I have saved $3,500 up for air fare, tickets, food, etc. So my buddies and I put in our application for tickets and we find out today if we get them. Well wouldn't you know they had too many applications and we don't get any tickets. I've been saving for THREE FLAMING YEARS! What in the world is going on here? America hates soccer. So now the team gets good and everyone jumps on the bandwagon. I've been doing things correctly for three years and acting responsibly, and I get screwed. This totally sucks and I may now hate sports because of it. This could be the turning point. I have much more success when I loaf and just have things fall in my lap.
Lastly in my tradition, sort of, of reporting good deeds, I saw one today that made me glow. While sitting and reading down at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore a few kids were playing with a miniature basketball. One brother took it and threw it away from his brother and of course it bounced away and into the water. So the kids are crying, Dad is upset, and no one knows what to do. So the homeless guy is there, and he takes off his coat, fully clothed, and climbs down the ladder, putting his legs on the bottom rung and in the water. He reaches out with his coat, and is able to drape it over the ball and pull it towards himself. He grabs it, climbs out soaking wet from the knees down, and gives it to the kid. Everyone is amazed, the kid hugs him and thanks him and everyone just breaks out into applause. And for one moment in time, the barrier of the haves and the haves not is broken. It was quite a moving moment actually and a very good deed that deserved mentioning, even if only in blog land. Alright kids I'm off to bed. Good night all and Happy Birfday Drew.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
So the problem is ...
So the problem is that I've been agitated since about comment 18 on Andrew's post. At some point Anon decided to quit making crappy comments like, "Why don't you sit on your face donkey boy. Go fight in the war!" and he made ones that were politcally charged ... and false. Now I know that politics tends to be a circular argument and no one ever gets anywhere, but these were just so out there that I had to try to touch on them briefly. I hate circular arguments with all my heart, but here we go. Anon's previous comments in italics.
1.) "Racism is going to be an open wound until it's treated and allowed to heal. It seems, though, that your party just won't do its part in the healing--it's just too useful a political tool." Interesting that "my party" which is the republican party just won't let it heal. Never mind the fact that George Soros and his groupies from moveon.org were the ones running certain commercials in the innercity targeting african americans. These emotionally charged spots suggested that, "... when Bush and his big money white boys get in the white house again they're going to institute a draft. Don't get played." That's just an excerpt. But DON'T say republicans open the wound, because Democrats exploit it time and time again because it's the one category of vote they can count on in the past. Forget the fact that Bush has several African American's in places of prominence in his cabinet ... Republicans are racist right? How many did Clinton have again? Yeah that's what I thought ...
2.) "Bigotry against gays goes hand in hand with that. Rove did a great job at making that an election issue, though I'm thinking he might have lost your vote if they'd come out against hot TV lesbians." Let's get one thing straight. Karl Rove is a genius. This is evident by the fact that he runs a killer campaign. It's so wrong and bigoted that he posed a question relevant to America during an election year. He did raise it as an election issue; I'll give you that. It's not bigoted though that the people of America want to uphold Biblical values and traditional American families. It's bigoted that democrats call for tolerance and everyone to have their own beliefs and equality - yet when Republicans or Christians try to have a viewpoint it's bigoted. Heaven forbid we be allowed to have an opinion. Only the Democrats are. I'm sorry America wants to hold values, but it's no way bigoted. And Americans came out to vote for it. Chalk one up for Mr. Rove. Lesbians aren't hot by the way ... i.e. Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen Degeneres. Lastly I don't hate or think less of homosexual people. I do think it's morally wrong, but I'm not going to ignore homosexual people or send them to Iceland. But seriously, has anyone seen what Man thigh looks like? How can another dude like that?
3.) "Equal rights for women? Something tells me that you think that's unnecessary and that you would agree that the state should tell women what they can do with their own bodies." I don't even know where this comment came from. But women have rights. I'm all for it. They just don't have the right to kill anyone. Last time I checked no one in our country did. Abortion is beat and you know it.
4.) "And voter intimidation and suppression in the last couple of elections are just fictions that the Michael Moore wing of the left made up, right?" Wow voter intimidation. I'm going to go Hannity on you here, which I'm sure you love, and ask you to show me one instance of a republican intimidating a voter. Then I'll listen to your argument. Because when I went to vote several things happened. No one was being intimidated. The sample ballot that was out showing people how to vote had Kerry and Edwards marked on it. That's no swaying anyone though. Finally people were everywhere asking if I understood how to operate the machinery. And frankly if you can't figure out how to work a machine, I don't want your vote to count ... whatever side it may be for. If you can't pull a lever, punch a hole, or push a button you shouldn't be able to decide who runs the country. The only voter intimidation is misleading commercials and funding run by big money givers to the democratic party. Misleading commercials that say Bush is supressing the African American vote and African American rights. When in reality he's promoting people of color left and right. What a farce. George Soros can eat me, he gave more singlehandedly than the top three givers of the republican party combined. Then he just made up facts. Point out voter intimidation that the Republicans did then we'll talk.
5.) "And your vitriol about the ACLU-- ACLU has become a codeword for "New York Jew", doncha know. You might want to look at that. And then you might want to send them 50 bucks for their work against the excesses of the Patriot Act." I hate the ACLU. It has such potential and is a decent idea. It also could does some good. Very very little good. Here's the problem I have with the ACLU. They have gone completely off the deep end. Here's a current example of some of the ACLU problems. They have sent some representatives down to Arizona to work with the Minute Men that we have patrolling the borders. Now that sounds like a noble cause. But they've stated that they're there to protect the rights of the illegal immigrants who are caught! Since when do people breaking the law and sneaking into a country they have no residency in have rights!?!? These people should be kicked back across the border! So they find no wrongdoing in any way shape or form. So what do they do, try to create a scene and get the Minute Men to retaliate. They have gone up to them in pitch black and blasted a spot light on their face. They give them the finger. They blast loud noises to wake them up. It's unbelievable. They're defending ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Give me a break. This is just a MICROCOSM of what they do. I'm not only going to get into the iffy practice of Affirmative Action. It's not reverse racist to hire a man because of his skin color. Same type person, same credentials, same experience, yet one guy is African American so he gets hired. It's unbelievable actually. Good man Kender comments from time to time here and has a blog http://www.stoptheaclu.blogspot.com/ He goes into detail and I'm going to piggy back him since he's done the leg work. But they seriously may warrant their own blog soon. The ACLU is a joke.
The Patriot Act is sweet. I have no problem if the government can see if I'm checking out a book entitled, "How to make a bomb." I have no problem if the government can check out my file. Maybe it will save a couple thousands lives. I don't care about offending a few people along the way to save the innocent lives of thousands. Is the Patriot Act perfect? No. But it's better than the nothing act. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. The Democrats haven't figured this out yet though. Let's not talk about homosexuality. It'll just fix itself. Let's not talk about Sandy "Pants" Berger who stuffed documents in his pants that were incriminating of Clinton and his lack of inaction. Let's not talk about the fact that Bush Promotes people of color. Let's not talk about the fact that the only people who suggested a draft in congress were Barbara Boxer and what's his name that escapes me now from Minnesota. If we just say it was a Bush idea we can get away with it right? Let's not talk about the fact that Kerry has still yet to produce medical records and better yet let's forge some for Bush and run them on CBS. You can't ignore things and expect them to get better. Social Security is another prime example. Bush must be lying. So let's not do anything and see where we are in 25 years. IT'S GOING TO BE SO SWEET WHEN I HAVE GIVEN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO AN EMPTY ACCOUNT! Inaction is bad - Patriot Act = Sweet.
6.) "And hey, Whoops! No WMD! People make mistakes" I'm not sure where to begin on this one. Part of me believes there still could be WMD. Sadam knew we were coming and heaven knows there are enough terrorist nations around him to help out. But you'd laugh at that so I'll go elsewhere. Hard to argue with someone who is not really logical or reasonal. Iraq was still a threat, and had massive capabilities to produce WMD. Not really mentioned in mainstream media, but they have found all kind of explosive cake powder, or a couple of trucks that were sneaking chemical materials across the Syrian border. No one really covers all that though. Kind of curious ... Dan Rather anyone? Point two we did manage to liberate a country along the way. You want to gripe, as aforementioned, about women's rights. That country had none and now they can vote and have more rights than they ever dreamed. Lastly and most importantly EVERYONE THOUGHT THEY HAD WMD. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1051684/posts Look at all the Democrats that thought they had them as well. If you're going to nail Bush for saying they had WMD and they didn't, then nail all these Democrats as well. It was bad intelligence not something manufactured for a war that Bush wanted to fight. Everyone thought we were at risk. Everyone ... do you get that now. Hard to say Bush made it up when everyone believed it isn't it?
7.) "Y'know, a hitch in Iraq might be just the thing you need to clear your head. But I expect you'll just keep on with your casual and smug bashing of the party of social and economic justice, the pile of Cheeto™ crumbs on your lap growing ever higher." Cheetos suck. I prefer good chips and salsa. You seem to forget that support comes in many packages. I constantly pray for those fighting overseas, send financial support, respect and thank all who fight for us, or buy a hot meal for any that I see in restaurants or out in public anywhere. I know several people who have fought overseas and they are incredibly brave men and women who are to be honored. So I'm not going to stoop and say something ignorant about the war. So many thanks to all who fight for our country and freedom. I believe Amanda has sufficiently stated why we haven't chosen to enlist. If you want to be ignorant and call it lazy that's fine. Belittle me, it's really mature, logical, rational arguing. That's all you seem to be capable of.
There is my defense of my political beliefs. Am I saying the Republican party is perfect? Heck no. But I believe it's the best thing we have going right now. And sometimes we have to use broken vessels to fix things. For my money, that vessel is the Republican party. Wow ... long blog ... dang it I said I wouldn't do that anymore. I'm off to read the new Ann Coulter book ...
1.) "Racism is going to be an open wound until it's treated and allowed to heal. It seems, though, that your party just won't do its part in the healing--it's just too useful a political tool." Interesting that "my party" which is the republican party just won't let it heal. Never mind the fact that George Soros and his groupies from moveon.org were the ones running certain commercials in the innercity targeting african americans. These emotionally charged spots suggested that, "... when Bush and his big money white boys get in the white house again they're going to institute a draft. Don't get played." That's just an excerpt. But DON'T say republicans open the wound, because Democrats exploit it time and time again because it's the one category of vote they can count on in the past. Forget the fact that Bush has several African American's in places of prominence in his cabinet ... Republicans are racist right? How many did Clinton have again? Yeah that's what I thought ...
2.) "Bigotry against gays goes hand in hand with that. Rove did a great job at making that an election issue, though I'm thinking he might have lost your vote if they'd come out against hot TV lesbians." Let's get one thing straight. Karl Rove is a genius. This is evident by the fact that he runs a killer campaign. It's so wrong and bigoted that he posed a question relevant to America during an election year. He did raise it as an election issue; I'll give you that. It's not bigoted though that the people of America want to uphold Biblical values and traditional American families. It's bigoted that democrats call for tolerance and everyone to have their own beliefs and equality - yet when Republicans or Christians try to have a viewpoint it's bigoted. Heaven forbid we be allowed to have an opinion. Only the Democrats are. I'm sorry America wants to hold values, but it's no way bigoted. And Americans came out to vote for it. Chalk one up for Mr. Rove. Lesbians aren't hot by the way ... i.e. Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen Degeneres. Lastly I don't hate or think less of homosexual people. I do think it's morally wrong, but I'm not going to ignore homosexual people or send them to Iceland. But seriously, has anyone seen what Man thigh looks like? How can another dude like that?
3.) "Equal rights for women? Something tells me that you think that's unnecessary and that you would agree that the state should tell women what they can do with their own bodies." I don't even know where this comment came from. But women have rights. I'm all for it. They just don't have the right to kill anyone. Last time I checked no one in our country did. Abortion is beat and you know it.
4.) "And voter intimidation and suppression in the last couple of elections are just fictions that the Michael Moore wing of the left made up, right?" Wow voter intimidation. I'm going to go Hannity on you here, which I'm sure you love, and ask you to show me one instance of a republican intimidating a voter. Then I'll listen to your argument. Because when I went to vote several things happened. No one was being intimidated. The sample ballot that was out showing people how to vote had Kerry and Edwards marked on it. That's no swaying anyone though. Finally people were everywhere asking if I understood how to operate the machinery. And frankly if you can't figure out how to work a machine, I don't want your vote to count ... whatever side it may be for. If you can't pull a lever, punch a hole, or push a button you shouldn't be able to decide who runs the country. The only voter intimidation is misleading commercials and funding run by big money givers to the democratic party. Misleading commercials that say Bush is supressing the African American vote and African American rights. When in reality he's promoting people of color left and right. What a farce. George Soros can eat me, he gave more singlehandedly than the top three givers of the republican party combined. Then he just made up facts. Point out voter intimidation that the Republicans did then we'll talk.
5.) "And your vitriol about the ACLU-- ACLU has become a codeword for "New York Jew", doncha know. You might want to look at that. And then you might want to send them 50 bucks for their work against the excesses of the Patriot Act." I hate the ACLU. It has such potential and is a decent idea. It also could does some good. Very very little good. Here's the problem I have with the ACLU. They have gone completely off the deep end. Here's a current example of some of the ACLU problems. They have sent some representatives down to Arizona to work with the Minute Men that we have patrolling the borders. Now that sounds like a noble cause. But they've stated that they're there to protect the rights of the illegal immigrants who are caught! Since when do people breaking the law and sneaking into a country they have no residency in have rights!?!? These people should be kicked back across the border! So they find no wrongdoing in any way shape or form. So what do they do, try to create a scene and get the Minute Men to retaliate. They have gone up to them in pitch black and blasted a spot light on their face. They give them the finger. They blast loud noises to wake them up. It's unbelievable. They're defending ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Give me a break. This is just a MICROCOSM of what they do. I'm not only going to get into the iffy practice of Affirmative Action. It's not reverse racist to hire a man because of his skin color. Same type person, same credentials, same experience, yet one guy is African American so he gets hired. It's unbelievable actually. Good man Kender comments from time to time here and has a blog http://www.stoptheaclu.blogspot.com/ He goes into detail and I'm going to piggy back him since he's done the leg work. But they seriously may warrant their own blog soon. The ACLU is a joke.
The Patriot Act is sweet. I have no problem if the government can see if I'm checking out a book entitled, "How to make a bomb." I have no problem if the government can check out my file. Maybe it will save a couple thousands lives. I don't care about offending a few people along the way to save the innocent lives of thousands. Is the Patriot Act perfect? No. But it's better than the nothing act. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. The Democrats haven't figured this out yet though. Let's not talk about homosexuality. It'll just fix itself. Let's not talk about Sandy "Pants" Berger who stuffed documents in his pants that were incriminating of Clinton and his lack of inaction. Let's not talk about the fact that Bush Promotes people of color. Let's not talk about the fact that the only people who suggested a draft in congress were Barbara Boxer and what's his name that escapes me now from Minnesota. If we just say it was a Bush idea we can get away with it right? Let's not talk about the fact that Kerry has still yet to produce medical records and better yet let's forge some for Bush and run them on CBS. You can't ignore things and expect them to get better. Social Security is another prime example. Bush must be lying. So let's not do anything and see where we are in 25 years. IT'S GOING TO BE SO SWEET WHEN I HAVE GIVEN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO AN EMPTY ACCOUNT! Inaction is bad - Patriot Act = Sweet.
6.) "And hey, Whoops! No WMD! People make mistakes" I'm not sure where to begin on this one. Part of me believes there still could be WMD. Sadam knew we were coming and heaven knows there are enough terrorist nations around him to help out. But you'd laugh at that so I'll go elsewhere. Hard to argue with someone who is not really logical or reasonal. Iraq was still a threat, and had massive capabilities to produce WMD. Not really mentioned in mainstream media, but they have found all kind of explosive cake powder, or a couple of trucks that were sneaking chemical materials across the Syrian border. No one really covers all that though. Kind of curious ... Dan Rather anyone? Point two we did manage to liberate a country along the way. You want to gripe, as aforementioned, about women's rights. That country had none and now they can vote and have more rights than they ever dreamed. Lastly and most importantly EVERYONE THOUGHT THEY HAD WMD. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1051684/posts Look at all the Democrats that thought they had them as well. If you're going to nail Bush for saying they had WMD and they didn't, then nail all these Democrats as well. It was bad intelligence not something manufactured for a war that Bush wanted to fight. Everyone thought we were at risk. Everyone ... do you get that now. Hard to say Bush made it up when everyone believed it isn't it?
7.) "Y'know, a hitch in Iraq might be just the thing you need to clear your head. But I expect you'll just keep on with your casual and smug bashing of the party of social and economic justice, the pile of Cheeto™ crumbs on your lap growing ever higher." Cheetos suck. I prefer good chips and salsa. You seem to forget that support comes in many packages. I constantly pray for those fighting overseas, send financial support, respect and thank all who fight for us, or buy a hot meal for any that I see in restaurants or out in public anywhere. I know several people who have fought overseas and they are incredibly brave men and women who are to be honored. So I'm not going to stoop and say something ignorant about the war. So many thanks to all who fight for our country and freedom. I believe Amanda has sufficiently stated why we haven't chosen to enlist. If you want to be ignorant and call it lazy that's fine. Belittle me, it's really mature, logical, rational arguing. That's all you seem to be capable of.
There is my defense of my political beliefs. Am I saying the Republican party is perfect? Heck no. But I believe it's the best thing we have going right now. And sometimes we have to use broken vessels to fix things. For my money, that vessel is the Republican party. Wow ... long blog ... dang it I said I wouldn't do that anymore. I'm off to read the new Ann Coulter book ...
Saturday, April 16, 2005
In case you hadn't noticed, you lazy readers
There's quote the discussion going on about "Where Blood and Fire..." you should get off the couch and contribute. That's all I have to say for now, other than that I'm glad Anonymous finally came out of her shell.
Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest and Peace is a song not about war, by the way. I just thought the title was appropriate for your consideration of civil war.
Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest and Peace is a song not about war, by the way. I just thought the title was appropriate for your consideration of civil war.
Friday, April 15, 2005
While I've got your Attention with that Abe Lincoln Racist stuff...
You all know I'm a huge fan of Arrested Development on Fox. The show is revolutionary in its approach to sitcom TV. The story line, though cracked out, is also a trip to follow. And Portia DeRossi, while a crunchy lesbian, is a flaming hot crunch lesbian. But in all seriousness the show has garnered praise from a ton of critics and has even won an Emmy! WOW!
Sadly Fox is thinking about canceling Arrested Development. I guess killing the goose that lays the golden egg is en vogue these days, but I'm not going to stand it. I want you, my fellow Americans, to go get arrested and endorse the show! Tell all your friends! If we rise up and slap Fox around, maybe they won't cancel the show. If you doubt that this is the funniest show on television, you can try to explain to me which show is better, and why. I guarantee that you will be wrong.
Maybe it's time for another renegade crusade to spread the word!!!!!!!!!!
Sadly Fox is thinking about canceling Arrested Development. I guess killing the goose that lays the golden egg is en vogue these days, but I'm not going to stand it. I want you, my fellow Americans, to go get arrested and endorse the show! Tell all your friends! If we rise up and slap Fox around, maybe they won't cancel the show. If you doubt that this is the funniest show on television, you can try to explain to me which show is better, and why. I guarantee that you will be wrong.
Maybe it's time for another renegade crusade to spread the word!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Sneaky Suspicion
When reading Andrew's hilariously titled blog, "Kick her in the box(er)" I could only chuckle. I know exactly what he's talking about, and I know exactly why he hates Barbara Boxer. Allow me to attempt to explain his viewpoint if I may. I believe it is similar to mine, and if I'm incorrect at any point Andrew feel free to blog and correct me.
Point one and the shallow one first. She's a liberal from one of the top three liberal of states, California. Now that I got the juvenile reason out of my system, allow me to go deeper. Barbara, no she's not fitting of a first name basis, you see Boxer here falls prey to what a large degree of extreme democrats do, avoiding facts. Allow me to explain you're seeing an extremely vulnerable side of me here. I'm actually admitting there is a difference between extreme democrats and moderate ones. It may not seem like a big deal, but if you know me, you understand I like to paint in broad sweeping brushstrokes known as stereotypes.
But Boxer falls under the category of legitimate flaming liberal. She's just irrational, outspoken, and pardon me but wrong. She falls down on the harsh / intrusive side of every issue one could possibly imagine. For example when the Democrats wanted to challenge the Presidential vote and keep Bush from being inaugurate. Remember that? Who do you think led the charge? That's right Barbara stinking Boxer.
Who supports the increase of minimum wage? Boxer. Look, I'm all for people making more money. But raising minimum wage is not going to help tons of people. That extra dollar an hour while eighteen year old Jimmy is working at Sheetz or BP isn't going to help a ton. You know what it is going to do? Force union workers to get an easy pay raise. Most people in a union have a clause in the contract saying that they get a pay raise when minimum wage increases. So we're not giving hard working Americans who deserve it a pay raise, we're giving it to lazy union workers. I've worked for a union once, don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. Way to go Boxer.
Should I keep going or do you have a sufficient picture? Here's a few quickies:
1.) She supports buying lower prescriptions from Canada? (yet she blasts republicans for outsourcing.)
2.) She supports healthcare for all ... so when you have cancer it takes you five months to see a doctor ... like Canada.
3.) Supports abortion ... hot topic I'm not touching that in this blog, but how about we don't kill babies.
4.) Finally she's for increasing gas prices. Ok that's a slippery slope on my part. But she doesn't want us to drill for oil in Alaska because it's bad for wetlands and animals. Thanks Boxer but that extra dollar in minimum wage will cover my rocketing gas prices.
What puts me over the edge is not just that she's wrong, a lot of people in America are wrong, but she's shamelessly wrong. She won't let you get a word in edgewise. If anyone has paid attention to the news you'd know we're attempting to appoint a new ambassador to the UN (yeah that horrible governing weakness that is the United Nations that's a whole other blog) named John Bolton. He's sitting before a committee to be voted on. So "the box" is grilling him with questions similar to, "How can you be an ambassador to the UN when in the past you said the UN was weak and non-existent?" That's a paraphrase, but her question was very similar.
What typically follows a question? A response from the person you asked the question to. But not in Boxer land. She just beligerently barrels through not letting the committee, or America for that matter, to hear his response. Now despite the fact that Republicans support him, I don't know what to think of the guy because I never got to hear his answer. Thanks for dissuading most of America with your ignorance Boxer. Thanks for not letting them hear a man give his answer or side of the story. Now people who can't think for themselves will assume he's bad for the job instead of deciding for themselves after hearing his answer. Thanks for being ignorant, brash, and flat out wrong. Typical raging liberals always just jumping on the wrong and irrational side. This man doesn't need to be a friend to the UN or kiss up to its corruptness. This man needs to get across the views, opinions, cases, and needs to the UN in a diplomatic way. Now we'll never quite know what to think. Thanks again ya' Box.
Point one and the shallow one first. She's a liberal from one of the top three liberal of states, California. Now that I got the juvenile reason out of my system, allow me to go deeper. Barbara, no she's not fitting of a first name basis, you see Boxer here falls prey to what a large degree of extreme democrats do, avoiding facts. Allow me to explain you're seeing an extremely vulnerable side of me here. I'm actually admitting there is a difference between extreme democrats and moderate ones. It may not seem like a big deal, but if you know me, you understand I like to paint in broad sweeping brushstrokes known as stereotypes.
But Boxer falls under the category of legitimate flaming liberal. She's just irrational, outspoken, and pardon me but wrong. She falls down on the harsh / intrusive side of every issue one could possibly imagine. For example when the Democrats wanted to challenge the Presidential vote and keep Bush from being inaugurate. Remember that? Who do you think led the charge? That's right Barbara stinking Boxer.
Who supports the increase of minimum wage? Boxer. Look, I'm all for people making more money. But raising minimum wage is not going to help tons of people. That extra dollar an hour while eighteen year old Jimmy is working at Sheetz or BP isn't going to help a ton. You know what it is going to do? Force union workers to get an easy pay raise. Most people in a union have a clause in the contract saying that they get a pay raise when minimum wage increases. So we're not giving hard working Americans who deserve it a pay raise, we're giving it to lazy union workers. I've worked for a union once, don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. Way to go Boxer.
Should I keep going or do you have a sufficient picture? Here's a few quickies:
1.) She supports buying lower prescriptions from Canada? (yet she blasts republicans for outsourcing.)
2.) She supports healthcare for all ... so when you have cancer it takes you five months to see a doctor ... like Canada.
3.) Supports abortion ... hot topic I'm not touching that in this blog, but how about we don't kill babies.
4.) Finally she's for increasing gas prices. Ok that's a slippery slope on my part. But she doesn't want us to drill for oil in Alaska because it's bad for wetlands and animals. Thanks Boxer but that extra dollar in minimum wage will cover my rocketing gas prices.
What puts me over the edge is not just that she's wrong, a lot of people in America are wrong, but she's shamelessly wrong. She won't let you get a word in edgewise. If anyone has paid attention to the news you'd know we're attempting to appoint a new ambassador to the UN (yeah that horrible governing weakness that is the United Nations that's a whole other blog) named John Bolton. He's sitting before a committee to be voted on. So "the box" is grilling him with questions similar to, "How can you be an ambassador to the UN when in the past you said the UN was weak and non-existent?" That's a paraphrase, but her question was very similar.
What typically follows a question? A response from the person you asked the question to. But not in Boxer land. She just beligerently barrels through not letting the committee, or America for that matter, to hear his response. Now despite the fact that Republicans support him, I don't know what to think of the guy because I never got to hear his answer. Thanks for dissuading most of America with your ignorance Boxer. Thanks for not letting them hear a man give his answer or side of the story. Now people who can't think for themselves will assume he's bad for the job instead of deciding for themselves after hearing his answer. Thanks for being ignorant, brash, and flat out wrong. Typical raging liberals always just jumping on the wrong and irrational side. This man doesn't need to be a friend to the UN or kiss up to its corruptness. This man needs to get across the views, opinions, cases, and needs to the UN in a diplomatic way. Now we'll never quite know what to think. Thanks again ya' Box.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Kick her in the Box(er)
It's official, I can't stand Barbara Boxer.
MOREOVER! If I was standing on a corner on any given street in America, and saw Barbara Boxer standing on the other side of the street, I would not even wave at her.
FURTHERMORE!!! If Barbara Boxer started walking across the street and then a car, nay, dumptruck came careening down the street and ran her over, I would not call 911. I would look to my left, look to my right, maybe point at the smear on the pavement and say "Woah look at that!", but call 911? Far be it from me!
AND THEN OFF!! IF in the event Barbara Boxer was not dead, just brain-dead and placed on a feeding tube, I would stand out in front of her hospice and advocate the removal of that odious death-preventing advice. I'd even send my little kids in to unhook her adn then watch them get taken to jail. I'd do it too!
LASTLY!!!!!!!!!!! This hotel that I'm staying in blows. The walls are so paper thin that the conversation of what I can only guess are 17-19 year old girls in the room adjacent to mine is now, unbeknownst to them, my business. I can't even turn the TV one and have it cover up their talk, and they're not screaming over there. At this point I don't know which is worse-hearing those stupid girls laugh and giggle and talk about what "top looks good with those jeans...", or hearing the people on the OTHER side of me banging. Be it giggling or banging, I have a feeling that I'm not going to sleep so super tonight.
In case Barbara Boxer is reading this, hyperbole is the name of the game (for all you are concerned).
MOREOVER! If I was standing on a corner on any given street in America, and saw Barbara Boxer standing on the other side of the street, I would not even wave at her.
FURTHERMORE!!! If Barbara Boxer started walking across the street and then a car, nay, dumptruck came careening down the street and ran her over, I would not call 911. I would look to my left, look to my right, maybe point at the smear on the pavement and say "Woah look at that!", but call 911? Far be it from me!
AND THEN OFF!! IF in the event Barbara Boxer was not dead, just brain-dead and placed on a feeding tube, I would stand out in front of her hospice and advocate the removal of that odious death-preventing advice. I'd even send my little kids in to unhook her adn then watch them get taken to jail. I'd do it too!
LASTLY!!!!!!!!!!! This hotel that I'm staying in blows. The walls are so paper thin that the conversation of what I can only guess are 17-19 year old girls in the room adjacent to mine is now, unbeknownst to them, my business. I can't even turn the TV one and have it cover up their talk, and they're not screaming over there. At this point I don't know which is worse-hearing those stupid girls laugh and giggle and talk about what "top looks good with those jeans...", or hearing the people on the OTHER side of me banging. Be it giggling or banging, I have a feeling that I'm not going to sleep so super tonight.
In case Barbara Boxer is reading this, hyperbole is the name of the game (for all you are concerned).
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest and Peace
Ok so I stole that line from my boys in Zao from an album that they put out a few years back. But it does have bearing with what I did today...
Today I was driving through Maryland and decided to take a detour. While I was headed on towards Germantown, I decided to stop off at the Antietam Battle Field. For those of you not steeped in Civil War knowledge, Antietam was the single bloodiest day in the Civil War. At Antietam:
1) On Sept. 17, 1962 over 6,900 Americans ended each others lives in less than 24 hours
2) Houses, barns, churches, and alleyways were used as receptacles for expired soldiers
3) It was said by some of the survivors that one could walk across Antietam farm and not have their foot touch earth...there were that many dead people.
4) More soldiers were killed at Antietam than in all other American wars of the 19th century...yeah, the whole 19th century.
(these facts come curtosy of Jeff Dreier, civil war guru)
"So what?", you ask. Well I'll tell you what. Having two feet in what was at once the largest American mass grave is an experience that few in our generation take. Sitting in the middle of a corn field where Americans willingly cut clean one another's souls from their mortal confines is an experience that more people will pass over. When people look back on our history-or at least when out post-modern, revisionist culture looks back at history-it seems to me there are two huge ink splotches on the fabric of American history that no one wants to talk too much about: 1) the abuse of minorities (indians, blacks, japanese) by the White Americans, and 2) the Civil War.
It's tempting in our day and age to dismiss the errors in judgment of our predacessors as things gone by; we wave the thought of them away like we would an annoying bee which keeps trying to land on our food and spoil our self-indulgent picnic. But people, you need to look at the reality that our country is united today because patriots fought and died in the Civil War. Because the edifice of our country was littered with corpses of our own people, we now have cause to look back and say "We have learned the lesson. Never again will division turn brother against brother in mortal combat". Because the cornfields of Antietam were saturated with the blood of Patriots, we now have a solid foundation on which to learn a lesson, love our brother, and be thankful that no one in our generation is capable of imagining such horror. The old guard fought it out to teach us something. The only problem is we're either too busy, or too self righteous to see it.
However, I'd encourage you that the next time the ghost of our history is exhumed in your mind, find an outlet for contemplation and reflection. You don't have to drive over to Antietam, or Gettysburgh, or Manassas to think about where we've been and how we've been so blessed as a nation to be where we are now. Our history serves to help remind us of who we are. Stop trying to cover up your identity; instead be an agent of change to be woven into the not yet completed tapestry of history which will one day be 2005.
And while we're on the Civil War:
1) No, the Civil War was not fought over slavery but over states rights, honestly..
2) No, Abe Lincoln did not 'free the slaves'. If my memory serves me correctly, he was as bigoted towards the slaves as were his Confederate contemporaries. Revisionist history doesn't teach you that, does it?
Today I was driving through Maryland and decided to take a detour. While I was headed on towards Germantown, I decided to stop off at the Antietam Battle Field. For those of you not steeped in Civil War knowledge, Antietam was the single bloodiest day in the Civil War. At Antietam:
1) On Sept. 17, 1962 over 6,900 Americans ended each others lives in less than 24 hours
2) Houses, barns, churches, and alleyways were used as receptacles for expired soldiers
3) It was said by some of the survivors that one could walk across Antietam farm and not have their foot touch earth...there were that many dead people.
4) More soldiers were killed at Antietam than in all other American wars of the 19th century...yeah, the whole 19th century.
(these facts come curtosy of Jeff Dreier, civil war guru)
"So what?", you ask. Well I'll tell you what. Having two feet in what was at once the largest American mass grave is an experience that few in our generation take. Sitting in the middle of a corn field where Americans willingly cut clean one another's souls from their mortal confines is an experience that more people will pass over. When people look back on our history-or at least when out post-modern, revisionist culture looks back at history-it seems to me there are two huge ink splotches on the fabric of American history that no one wants to talk too much about: 1) the abuse of minorities (indians, blacks, japanese) by the White Americans, and 2) the Civil War.
It's tempting in our day and age to dismiss the errors in judgment of our predacessors as things gone by; we wave the thought of them away like we would an annoying bee which keeps trying to land on our food and spoil our self-indulgent picnic. But people, you need to look at the reality that our country is united today because patriots fought and died in the Civil War. Because the edifice of our country was littered with corpses of our own people, we now have cause to look back and say "We have learned the lesson. Never again will division turn brother against brother in mortal combat". Because the cornfields of Antietam were saturated with the blood of Patriots, we now have a solid foundation on which to learn a lesson, love our brother, and be thankful that no one in our generation is capable of imagining such horror. The old guard fought it out to teach us something. The only problem is we're either too busy, or too self righteous to see it.
However, I'd encourage you that the next time the ghost of our history is exhumed in your mind, find an outlet for contemplation and reflection. You don't have to drive over to Antietam, or Gettysburgh, or Manassas to think about where we've been and how we've been so blessed as a nation to be where we are now. Our history serves to help remind us of who we are. Stop trying to cover up your identity; instead be an agent of change to be woven into the not yet completed tapestry of history which will one day be 2005.
And while we're on the Civil War:
1) No, the Civil War was not fought over slavery but over states rights, honestly..
2) No, Abe Lincoln did not 'free the slaves'. If my memory serves me correctly, he was as bigoted towards the slaves as were his Confederate contemporaries. Revisionist history doesn't teach you that, does it?
Friday, April 08, 2005
Bad Blogger
I haven't blogged since Monday. Am I the only one who feels slightly raunchy when I use blog as a verb? I don't know why, but some part of me feels dirty for saying, "I haven't blogged in a while." I need to get over it. I'm just going to be brief, because I realize that my blogs are too long. I also promised that I wouldn't just ramble and blog things of little importance, so why waste your time and mine.
I just got back from the armpit of America that is West Virginia. Wheeling is so sad. Don't tell me it has the dog track and so therefore it's sweet. Most of those kids aren't going to get out of that town, will settle in it, and never know the potential each and every one of them has. It makes me want to go light the whole town on fire. If you turn on your news and hear the anchorman ... or woman ... say something like, "In what can only be considered an act of terrorism the whole town of Wheeling, WV went up in flames today. The police have no leads, but it started at the dog track." I ask you do disavow all knowledge of this blog and never mention it to anyone.
Here's my one question for the day. It kind of takes on two forms. Form one - is it bad to be a semi-heartless person? Form two - is it bad to care too much? The reason I ask is that as you may know Andrew and I work in an admissions office at Grove City College. After getting attached to some of the kids I met and interviewed it was hard for me when they didn't get in or didn't get offered financial aid or something like that. You care about them and want to see them do well, at least some of them. So when it kind of sucked, I tried to not get emotionally attached at all. A kid contacts me upset now and I don't really care as much, because I didn't let myself think, "This kid is so sweet I hope he gets in ... or she ..." So now I'm a semi-heartless person. I took a phone call today though from a girl who didn't get some scholarship that we offer for merit, and darn it, I felt sorry for her. I don't even know her, someone else interviewed her, but for a second I felt sad. I guess I don't know which is worse, to be legitimately bummed for her (which makes me a lame lame sap who cares too much) or to not give a crap and be a heartless jag off. Give me your opinion. For those ladies out there who read our blog ... I think only Amanda man we suck in the ladies department maybe cause I'm sexist and always refer to men but I threw you anchorwoman today duh .... anway, if you're a woman who reads our blog, how do you honestly feel about dudes that are sappy messes? Do you like that? Do you long for rugged men that want to go kill stuff and hit it with sticks? Let me know. Alright I'm off to go either smoke a killer cigar or play video games
The life of a guy ...
I just got back from the armpit of America that is West Virginia. Wheeling is so sad. Don't tell me it has the dog track and so therefore it's sweet. Most of those kids aren't going to get out of that town, will settle in it, and never know the potential each and every one of them has. It makes me want to go light the whole town on fire. If you turn on your news and hear the anchorman ... or woman ... say something like, "In what can only be considered an act of terrorism the whole town of Wheeling, WV went up in flames today. The police have no leads, but it started at the dog track." I ask you do disavow all knowledge of this blog and never mention it to anyone.
Here's my one question for the day. It kind of takes on two forms. Form one - is it bad to be a semi-heartless person? Form two - is it bad to care too much? The reason I ask is that as you may know Andrew and I work in an admissions office at Grove City College. After getting attached to some of the kids I met and interviewed it was hard for me when they didn't get in or didn't get offered financial aid or something like that. You care about them and want to see them do well, at least some of them. So when it kind of sucked, I tried to not get emotionally attached at all. A kid contacts me upset now and I don't really care as much, because I didn't let myself think, "This kid is so sweet I hope he gets in ... or she ..." So now I'm a semi-heartless person. I took a phone call today though from a girl who didn't get some scholarship that we offer for merit, and darn it, I felt sorry for her. I don't even know her, someone else interviewed her, but for a second I felt sad. I guess I don't know which is worse, to be legitimately bummed for her (which makes me a lame lame sap who cares too much) or to not give a crap and be a heartless jag off. Give me your opinion. For those ladies out there who read our blog ... I think only Amanda man we suck in the ladies department maybe cause I'm sexist and always refer to men but I threw you anchorwoman today duh .... anway, if you're a woman who reads our blog, how do you honestly feel about dudes that are sappy messes? Do you like that? Do you long for rugged men that want to go kill stuff and hit it with sticks? Let me know. Alright I'm off to go either smoke a killer cigar or play video games
The life of a guy ...
Thursday, April 07, 2005
The Renegade of (Latin) Funk!
I'm going on a personal quest to help a brother (hermano) out (afuera). This past summer I found one of the most invaluable internet resources ever. It was a site that I frequented daily, and it made every single day (dia) better because of the fact that I visited this site.
"Andrew what the heck kind of site would that be!?!?"
Ok I'll tell you. For those of you who possess a love for all things Hispanic (food, music, movies, culture, women, etc.), I highly recommend that you go to Batanga .com for some awesome Latin vibes. What is most exemplary about this site is their internet radio! RADIO!! Whether you're a fan of Cuban salsa, Latin Jazz, or Urban Latin Hip Hop, you have to check out Batanga. I rocked out to Batanga's Latin Jazz station all summer, and have just recently re-discovered (redescubri) the site.
In order to tell the world how sweet this place is, I'm invading anyone else's blog that I can find to post comments about how sweet batanga is. Go check it out for yourself, and if you're lucky, maybe my renegade attack will hit your website soon (I have no idea how to say 'website' en espanol).
ROCK!
"Andrew what the heck kind of site would that be!?!?"
Ok I'll tell you. For those of you who possess a love for all things Hispanic (food, music, movies, culture, women, etc.), I highly recommend that you go to Batanga .com for some awesome Latin vibes. What is most exemplary about this site is their internet radio! RADIO!! Whether you're a fan of Cuban salsa, Latin Jazz, or Urban Latin Hip Hop, you have to check out Batanga. I rocked out to Batanga's Latin Jazz station all summer, and have just recently re-discovered (redescubri) the site.
In order to tell the world how sweet this place is, I'm invading anyone else's blog that I can find to post comments about how sweet batanga is. Go check it out for yourself, and if you're lucky, maybe my renegade attack will hit your website soon (I have no idea how to say 'website' en espanol).
ROCK!
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
The Dregs of Society
No, this isn't a rant about indigent bums who panhandle for money to buy booze. Although I did find out when I was in Seattle, that sometimes bums there will get drunk just so they fall over and get hurt. Upon receiving injuries, the paramedics and police and everyone else who has a car with lights on it comes to the scene to take the bums either to a hospital or jail. I think this is pretty innovative of bums. No longer do they need to commit petty felonies to be taken to jail, they can just keel over drunk and get a nice hot meal in jail, thanks to Andrew Smith and his tax dollars. I guess it's kind of a testament to rugged individualism...sort of, thought I have a feeling Fred J. Turner might not agree.
No, I am not writing to rant about bums who take my tax money, I'm writing to talk about how I am in the dregs of society, i.e. a resident of Grove City, PA. Let me picture for you what my house looks like, and then my neighborhood. It helps to highlight the fact that I'm surrounded by society's finest...finest derelicts!!! My house is about as old as the Brady Bunch, if not older. Some of the rooms have wood paneling, and some dont'. Some of the rooms have "green beer vomit Green" carpet (and yes I do know what that looks like thanks to the Luck O' the Irish this year...great) and some have poop brown carpet. My house is insulated with the oldest insulation known to man, and that insulation consists of cold air between fragments of drywall. So further solidify the fact that my apartment is a crap heap, there is some wood on the door hinges to the basement.
"Wait wait wait, Andrew...don't you mean a wooden door on the hinges?"
No people, I mean rotten-pieces-of-wood-that-used -to-be-a-door is on the door hinges to the basement. And while you're thinking about that, yes, that does mean cold air is incessantly flowing into our house, keeping the gas thermostat constantly on, and keeping our gas bill consistently over $250. I live in a house that should be occupied by a indigent drunkard who can't hold down a job, and who beats his buck toothed common law wife for a self esteem boost between hits of heroin. But I live there instead.
You know what I'm not even going to talk about my neighborhood, because every house on my block follows suit. I don't know if it's worse that this place is a trash pile, or that I volunteer to live there and furthermore, pay to live there. There's certainly something to be said for living the bachelor lifestyle where you don't care where you live, and you scrape by from paycheck to paycheck. That's part of life and growing up, unless you're an engineer or business whiz and make tons of cash out of school. Then you don't have to worry about anything, right? Yes. But I think my apartment honestly scares people away. I think my apartment is actually such a dive that people are averse to coming over, save maybe Courtney and Carly and a few others who make it out a lot. If you want to come over and see possibly the worst apartment in America (though we did get some sweet, sweet artwork) you can come over and check it out yourself. Any feedback you have to offer about how to make it more hospitable would be much appreciated.
On a positive note, I have been sick for the past week; now, however I feel a lot better. Anon, can I get a sarcastic Amen in here? I think that the warm weather, and the supposed death of the White Witch, has renewed vigor to my bones (but not my apartment)!Still, Hallelujah!
On another positive note, I think I'm going to try to stop complaining as much as I do. I think it's bad for my health. I just had to get this little bit out in the air for the public to see.
No, I am not writing to rant about bums who take my tax money, I'm writing to talk about how I am in the dregs of society, i.e. a resident of Grove City, PA. Let me picture for you what my house looks like, and then my neighborhood. It helps to highlight the fact that I'm surrounded by society's finest...finest derelicts!!! My house is about as old as the Brady Bunch, if not older. Some of the rooms have wood paneling, and some dont'. Some of the rooms have "green beer vomit Green" carpet (and yes I do know what that looks like thanks to the Luck O' the Irish this year...great) and some have poop brown carpet. My house is insulated with the oldest insulation known to man, and that insulation consists of cold air between fragments of drywall. So further solidify the fact that my apartment is a crap heap, there is some wood on the door hinges to the basement.
"Wait wait wait, Andrew...don't you mean a wooden door on the hinges?"
No people, I mean rotten-pieces-of-wood-that-used -to-be-a-door is on the door hinges to the basement. And while you're thinking about that, yes, that does mean cold air is incessantly flowing into our house, keeping the gas thermostat constantly on, and keeping our gas bill consistently over $250. I live in a house that should be occupied by a indigent drunkard who can't hold down a job, and who beats his buck toothed common law wife for a self esteem boost between hits of heroin. But I live there instead.
You know what I'm not even going to talk about my neighborhood, because every house on my block follows suit. I don't know if it's worse that this place is a trash pile, or that I volunteer to live there and furthermore, pay to live there. There's certainly something to be said for living the bachelor lifestyle where you don't care where you live, and you scrape by from paycheck to paycheck. That's part of life and growing up, unless you're an engineer or business whiz and make tons of cash out of school. Then you don't have to worry about anything, right? Yes. But I think my apartment honestly scares people away. I think my apartment is actually such a dive that people are averse to coming over, save maybe Courtney and Carly and a few others who make it out a lot. If you want to come over and see possibly the worst apartment in America (though we did get some sweet, sweet artwork) you can come over and check it out yourself. Any feedback you have to offer about how to make it more hospitable would be much appreciated.
On a positive note, I have been sick for the past week; now, however I feel a lot better. Anon, can I get a sarcastic Amen in here? I think that the warm weather, and the supposed death of the White Witch, has renewed vigor to my bones (but not my apartment)!Still, Hallelujah!
On another positive note, I think I'm going to try to stop complaining as much as I do. I think it's bad for my health. I just had to get this little bit out in the air for the public to see.
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