(Clap clap clap Woohooo! clap clap clap)
Wow. That man is going to be the next President and I couldn't be happier. He was positive and uplifting while laying a serious (by mainstream political standards) smack down on Johnny boy. If you haven't watched it then do so. I'm really not sure what to say. I was told that even partisan hacks like Kristol had to concede that it was one hell of a speech. GObama!
Oh and McCain choose Sarah Palin for VP. I don't know anything about her (gov of alaska, young and female) but its pretty obvious what MC's plan is, unfortunately for him I think Hillary made it pretty clear than anyone who cares about womens issues cannot vote for McCain. But good nice try.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thoughts on History and the World (not Obama)
Theres two parts to this, if you get bored with the first speculations then please skip to the second part I think it might be interesting too.
A simple question in class got me swirling around in a possible today that never happened. What if the British had appeased the colonists by giving them representation in Parliament? Seriously think about that for a second. There was no way the colonists would allow themselves to be taxed if they didn't have a voice, and there was no way England could afford to not tax them. Had they given in and said ok every British citizen gets some (probably not equal) voice in Parliament. That probably would have shut us up. If we hadn't sparked the era of revolution, this might be a very very different world. Imagine us (at least the east coast and Canada), India and huge parts of the world still under the flag of England. Spain would still control Mexico and the entire western half of the country. I'm pretty sure England and Spain would have squeezed France out of North America. Slavery might have been ended earlier. I then get into the twentieth century, would we have had the world wars? Maybe England and Spain would have duked it out in a massive world war during the 19th century. Maybe not, maybe they would have had a cold war back then where they both knew the cost would simply be too great even then.
This probably would have prevented democracy from rising. But it might have made the Parliamentary system more democratic. Would one of the superpowers have completely taken over? I'm all for a world government but thats not really how I want to see it take place. The 20th century would have been very different. I'll make an assumption that I shouldn't make and assume that science and technology would have progressed at the rate it did. In reality much of the science of the 20th century was invented in the US because we had a combination of education and upward mobility that encouraged entrepreneurship which may not have happened under the British flag. Although if they allowed us the same degree of autonomy that we had enjoyed prior to the start of the revolution then just maybe it would have happened.
I guarantee WWII wouldn't have happened. Germany might have invaded parts of Europe in WWI but never would have dared to encroach upon England or Spain, and who knows France may have still been quite the world power, or have been previously taken over by one of the aforementioned powers. And without the treaty of Versailles the Nazi's never would have risen to power.
Who knows what the world would be like, but it is kinda fun to think about. I also like to do thought experiments like this because I think of them as psych experiments. The person I work with who I mentioned this too immediately shot back with slavery would have ended earlier. Theres a reason I like her, shes smart and an optimist, and I think that answer shows it.
PART 2
This also makes me think of a comment by a friend. We have very similar radical views on the world in general, but he has a diametrically different solution, that makes me take pause and think. He's old school, he wants to go back to local rule. This would dramatically increase the democracy of our system, which is really really good. I've always been of the idea that we need a true world government. A UN with teeth. But the only way you can do that is without encouraging tyranny is with a very high degree of democracy and more importantly public involvement. The problem is that the whole world under a single democratic system might become simply too cumbersome for its own good. The legislative branch might simply need to be so big in order to give representation that it simply becomes impossible to get anything done. But I think a solution could be found, and hopefully without resorting to two party politics.
Maybe there is a way to combine the two ideas. I think having significant strength at both ends of the system makes sense. The local communities can deal with their own very specific problems quickly, while the world government deals with basics like human rights and prevention of violence. But how do you define the groups under the world government, do we simply use the rather arbitrary lines of our current nations? Do we start from scratch? I don't know, but its something I'd like to think about further.
I'm curious what other people think of these ideas.
A simple question in class got me swirling around in a possible today that never happened. What if the British had appeased the colonists by giving them representation in Parliament? Seriously think about that for a second. There was no way the colonists would allow themselves to be taxed if they didn't have a voice, and there was no way England could afford to not tax them. Had they given in and said ok every British citizen gets some (probably not equal) voice in Parliament. That probably would have shut us up. If we hadn't sparked the era of revolution, this might be a very very different world. Imagine us (at least the east coast and Canada), India and huge parts of the world still under the flag of England. Spain would still control Mexico and the entire western half of the country. I'm pretty sure England and Spain would have squeezed France out of North America. Slavery might have been ended earlier. I then get into the twentieth century, would we have had the world wars? Maybe England and Spain would have duked it out in a massive world war during the 19th century. Maybe not, maybe they would have had a cold war back then where they both knew the cost would simply be too great even then.
This probably would have prevented democracy from rising. But it might have made the Parliamentary system more democratic. Would one of the superpowers have completely taken over? I'm all for a world government but thats not really how I want to see it take place. The 20th century would have been very different. I'll make an assumption that I shouldn't make and assume that science and technology would have progressed at the rate it did. In reality much of the science of the 20th century was invented in the US because we had a combination of education and upward mobility that encouraged entrepreneurship which may not have happened under the British flag. Although if they allowed us the same degree of autonomy that we had enjoyed prior to the start of the revolution then just maybe it would have happened.
I guarantee WWII wouldn't have happened. Germany might have invaded parts of Europe in WWI but never would have dared to encroach upon England or Spain, and who knows France may have still been quite the world power, or have been previously taken over by one of the aforementioned powers. And without the treaty of Versailles the Nazi's never would have risen to power.
Who knows what the world would be like, but it is kinda fun to think about. I also like to do thought experiments like this because I think of them as psych experiments. The person I work with who I mentioned this too immediately shot back with slavery would have ended earlier. Theres a reason I like her, shes smart and an optimist, and I think that answer shows it.
PART 2
This also makes me think of a comment by a friend. We have very similar radical views on the world in general, but he has a diametrically different solution, that makes me take pause and think. He's old school, he wants to go back to local rule. This would dramatically increase the democracy of our system, which is really really good. I've always been of the idea that we need a true world government. A UN with teeth. But the only way you can do that is without encouraging tyranny is with a very high degree of democracy and more importantly public involvement. The problem is that the whole world under a single democratic system might become simply too cumbersome for its own good. The legislative branch might simply need to be so big in order to give representation that it simply becomes impossible to get anything done. But I think a solution could be found, and hopefully without resorting to two party politics.
Maybe there is a way to combine the two ideas. I think having significant strength at both ends of the system makes sense. The local communities can deal with their own very specific problems quickly, while the world government deals with basics like human rights and prevention of violence. But how do you define the groups under the world government, do we simply use the rather arbitrary lines of our current nations? Do we start from scratch? I don't know, but its something I'd like to think about further.
I'm curious what other people think of these ideas.
books
I'm always on the look out for books I need to read, although all my classes are pretty heavy on reading so I'm not sure how much entertainment reading I'll be doing. But heres a list of Pop-Sci books that I might like. Thanks PZ and whoever started this Meme.
I'm watching the Obama Speech right now, so far pretty damn good, I'll probably have more to say later.
I'm watching the Obama Speech right now, so far pretty damn good, I'll probably have more to say later.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Halliburton - keepin' it classy
This company continues to amaze me. Are they trying to be a comic book super-villain? How else can you explain their latest lawsuit, they have been sued for Human Trafficking, which is essentially the modern term for slavery. I would have thought having Cheney on the board would have filed there Evil quotient, or all the war profiteering, but nope these guys wanted the full gambit of evil. At least you know they aren't just fair weather evil, they're evil for the long haul.
Rage Against The Machine
Rage outside the DNC with 5000 screaming fans/protesters. I bet that was a good time.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Fuck The Police
More love from the police coming outta Denver. This time with video... goodness?
First off I hope that woman is ok.
Now lets start this off on the positive. We need police, they are an invaluable part of society. In a utopia then they would become obsolete, but we obviously aren't in a utopia, so we need to face reality and admit that we need the police. (sorry to the anarchists I left a comment with earlier) But being in that oh so very real world we cannot pretend that the police are any more utopic (I might have made that word up) than those they arrest. Occasional abuse by individual officers has to be expected when people are given power over others, they're human, but there are higher ups who's job it is to keep this at a minimum. We can argue how good they are at this another day. The problem in this case isn't an individual officer taking things too far, this is a systemic disregard for civil liberties and human rights. This is important not just for these protests but for society at large, and the police themselves too. By disregarding the law they marginalize themselves, how can they be seen as a legitimate form of Law Enforcement if they fail to follow the law themselves? If the police push too far the people will push back, the people of LA should know exactly what I'm talking about, they had a little civil unrest a while back when the police pushed too far. I honestly don't think this is going to turn into an all out riot, but I do believe that the police are hurting themselves more than the protesters (at least as a whole, some of the protesters are probably in quite a bit of pain). This might sound like concern trolling but honestly I don't want riots, I want civilized discourse, but if they want to leave us with no other options, then well some shit is going to get fucked up.
Thats the big picture take (ignoring the cosmically big picture - the cosmos doesn't care) , then theres an altogether other side of this, the small picture, the what would I do if I was there scenario. Yeah I'm a bit of a feminist, equal rights, equal pay all that shit, I mean come on how can you really try to argue against that? Men should get paid more cause... we always have? I don't know. But I was raised kinda old school, lil bit o chivalry, one of the simple ones being you don't hit girls. Maybe thats a unfair double standard, but I don't hit girls. To be fair I almost never hit anyone at all, which is also how I was raised but if you have to out of defense or protecting someone who can't defend themselves then sometimes theres no option left but a little bit of violence. Now that I think about it, I've only got a mild double standard, I'd hit a woman if left with absolutely no other option, but I'd try even harder to avoid it than I would a man. If thats a double standard then I don't care, its one I plan on keeping, and passing along if I ever have kids.
So how about if you see a man take a club or a bat and knock a woman to the ground while screaming, "get down bitch!" If another man then stepped in and punched that fucker square in the face, you know what, I wouldn't be opposed. I don't see how a title or a badge changes that.
But because I can't be easy about anything, lets flip it around again. For all I know that woman had been harassing the cop, given fair warning and told to step back or force would be used. This is why diplomacy is so much harder than violence. I have a very hard time believing that such a level of force was required, maybe she had been throwing large rocks or something, but I kinda doubt it.
So what do you think?
UPDATE: forgot the link
First off I hope that woman is ok.
Now lets start this off on the positive. We need police, they are an invaluable part of society. In a utopia then they would become obsolete, but we obviously aren't in a utopia, so we need to face reality and admit that we need the police. (sorry to the anarchists I left a comment with earlier) But being in that oh so very real world we cannot pretend that the police are any more utopic (I might have made that word up) than those they arrest. Occasional abuse by individual officers has to be expected when people are given power over others, they're human, but there are higher ups who's job it is to keep this at a minimum. We can argue how good they are at this another day. The problem in this case isn't an individual officer taking things too far, this is a systemic disregard for civil liberties and human rights. This is important not just for these protests but for society at large, and the police themselves too. By disregarding the law they marginalize themselves, how can they be seen as a legitimate form of Law Enforcement if they fail to follow the law themselves? If the police push too far the people will push back, the people of LA should know exactly what I'm talking about, they had a little civil unrest a while back when the police pushed too far. I honestly don't think this is going to turn into an all out riot, but I do believe that the police are hurting themselves more than the protesters (at least as a whole, some of the protesters are probably in quite a bit of pain). This might sound like concern trolling but honestly I don't want riots, I want civilized discourse, but if they want to leave us with no other options, then well some shit is going to get fucked up.
Thats the big picture take (ignoring the cosmically big picture - the cosmos doesn't care) , then theres an altogether other side of this, the small picture, the what would I do if I was there scenario. Yeah I'm a bit of a feminist, equal rights, equal pay all that shit, I mean come on how can you really try to argue against that? Men should get paid more cause... we always have? I don't know. But I was raised kinda old school, lil bit o chivalry, one of the simple ones being you don't hit girls. Maybe thats a unfair double standard, but I don't hit girls. To be fair I almost never hit anyone at all, which is also how I was raised but if you have to out of defense or protecting someone who can't defend themselves then sometimes theres no option left but a little bit of violence. Now that I think about it, I've only got a mild double standard, I'd hit a woman if left with absolutely no other option, but I'd try even harder to avoid it than I would a man. If thats a double standard then I don't care, its one I plan on keeping, and passing along if I ever have kids.
So how about if you see a man take a club or a bat and knock a woman to the ground while screaming, "get down bitch!" If another man then stepped in and punched that fucker square in the face, you know what, I wouldn't be opposed. I don't see how a title or a badge changes that.
But because I can't be easy about anything, lets flip it around again. For all I know that woman had been harassing the cop, given fair warning and told to step back or force would be used. This is why diplomacy is so much harder than violence. I have a very hard time believing that such a level of force was required, maybe she had been throwing large rocks or something, but I kinda doubt it.
So what do you think?
UPDATE: forgot the link
The First Fucking Ammendment / DNC protests
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Wanna see me get real angry? Fuck with my rights. Theres some shit going down outside the DNC that matters a whole lot more to me than the hot air coming out of the rich folks inside the DNC (although I heard Kucinich was good, from the Rude Pundit)
Ok I'm rewriting this, it was written originally with a lot of emotion and verbed versions of four letter words. Lets just take it slow, first off is the article that got me fired up in the first place. READ THIS SHIT PZ is a lot calmer than I would be if someone sent this letter to me.Then there is the AP version of the story. Now this claims that the protesters were video taped charging the police, that does change matters significantly, then it is no longer a peaceful protest and the cops have the right to disperse it. I want to see the video.
So here is an example of a tense situation a couple days ago that did not end so badly, it gives a good idea of what the guy in the Pharyngula post was doing. It's worth a read.
And here is the same papers take on the events of that evening, while not nearly as harsh as the first account, it still sounds like the police were at fault. One important note here, eyewitness are not particularly credible, especially in an emotional situation, or when blinded by pepper spray. But if I was the guy who was pepper sprayed while trying to get to the bus, I would bring assault charges against the police. Then I'd probably want to move to a new town.
Here is a persons pictures from this event, they don't really tell much but they're interesting. Heres some pics from a person who agrees with the arrests. Pics from a protest without arrests.
A national Anarchist group, that's protesting at the DNC and other places. Apparently people are also pissed about the local secret prison, nick named "Gitmo on the Platte."
Heres some more, now this was a different event there was only one (or two) arrest. They claim the guy who was arrested hit a counter protester, if thats the case then fine, you can't hit people. The only problem being that the guy who was hit doesn't know if he was or not.
“If he hit me, I didn’t feel it,” Israel said. “But then again, I have a hard head.”He is a bible thumper... nah that joke is too easy. Since its unclear if the guy hit him or not I'll just leave that alone. The more interesting question is the shouting match that led to the confrontation. Does freedom of speech include amplified speech? A normal shouting match is annoying and unproductive but perfectly legal and pretty much expected when you have protesters and counter protesters. But what about scouting matches with bullhorns? If I want to sit on the sidewalk with a freaking PA and scream about, well whatever, do I have that right? I'm really not sure. Then again I do know that the guy who cut the cord of bullhorn man was in the wrong, destruction of property, but should or can the cops tell bullhorn man to put away the bullhorn? Probably citing noise ordinances, or the need for the police to be able to be heard. I'm not really sure.
Heres a guys pics from this event, including the "assault" which the comments claim was friendly, a claim that I would doubt. Those two don't look like buddies, although there is a huge difference between touching an assault, it might be a loud place with bullhorn guy going, maybe he touched the other guys arm to get his attention so they could have a calm discussion, or maybe he swatted him, its a still photo. Actually in the picture both guys have there arms out almost to the other persons chest, to me it looks like people who talk with their hands, their obviously people passionate about their beliefs or they wouldn't be there, so they get going and their arms flail, lots of people do this, but who knows.
The cops did let people know what their rights are and what they can be arrested for, thats actually a really good idea. Some people think it was meant to discourage protesters but without reading the wording of it I'll just say that an outline of what will get you arrested is pretty handy. I wonder if it included walking past a protest en route to work? Theres one line in this that seems highly suspect to me,
Police are distributing a pamphlet reminding protesters of where they have a right to demonstrate but also warning them they can be arrested if they refuse a lawful order to disperse, even if they aren't breaking any laws.So in other words the cops actually wrote a pamphlet that says you can be arrested even if you aren't breaking the law.... the founding fathers, real patriots, overthrew a government for shit like this.
Seattle Was A Riot - Anti Flag
Seattle was a riot, they tried to pin on us
But we didn't show up, with gas and billy clubs
An un-armed mass of thousands, just trying to be heard
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
14% for a reason (a bit o' swearing)
Thats roughly where congresses approval sits, conservatives hate congress because there's democrats there, liberals hate congress because they haven't accomplished a fucking thing since we got them into power, remember when they were going to end the war? They made it bigger instead, smooth.
But maybe there are even more specific reasons why people hate congress, maybe its because of things like this. Nancy Pelosi, a person who I generally think is alright in terms of ideology and crap in terms of effectiveness has announced what she believes is the next critical source of energy to help ween us off fossil fuels. Natural Gas... wait for it... wait for it... NATURAL GAS IS FOSSIL FUEL YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!!! What the fuck, seriously, your speaker of the god damn house and you don't even know what the fossil fuels are. Maybe this country really is fucked if this is all we can expect out of our representatives. I guess this goes back to the elitist thing, maybe our government needs to be a bit more elitist so we can get some educated folks into office. Nah that can't be why their popularity is so low, no one pays attention to issues.
But maybe there are even more specific reasons why people hate congress, maybe its because of things like this. Nancy Pelosi, a person who I generally think is alright in terms of ideology and crap in terms of effectiveness has announced what she believes is the next critical source of energy to help ween us off fossil fuels. Natural Gas... wait for it... wait for it... NATURAL GAS IS FOSSIL FUEL YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!!! What the fuck, seriously, your speaker of the god damn house and you don't even know what the fossil fuels are. Maybe this country really is fucked if this is all we can expect out of our representatives. I guess this goes back to the elitist thing, maybe our government needs to be a bit more elitist so we can get some educated folks into office. Nah that can't be why their popularity is so low, no one pays attention to issues.
I Hate White People
Not all of ya, there's plenty of crackas that I like but it seems like the one group of people I really have a hard time connecting with is rednecks, ok I'm almost as awkward with the wannabe gangsta types of any color. But at least if politics comes up I can easily win fans among the broke ass thugs. With the rednecks I need to just avoid the issue at all cost because nothing good can come from it. And if there happens to be any new readers here, I'm very much white myself and don't really hate white people. I just hate the hardcore racists, its pretty much the one group of people I'm ok with hating.
A while back I had said that my biggest fear for an Obama presidency was the fact that someone, most likely a crazed racist, would try to assassinate him. I fucking hate being right. Four people were arrested for plotting to assassinate Obama. Shockingly it was white supremacists with hunting rifles. What a country. The good news is that the FBI and the Secret Service (Update: it was local PD that caught these guys, or at least the first guy) are pretty damn good at there jobs. I hope they can keep up the good work because I highly doubt this will be the last attempt.
Peace
UPDATE: The good news is that those arrested were not considered a "credible threat" so yeah they probably wanted to do something, but its not clear if they were going to follow through (unless you're a psychic) and it's also unclear if its possible to get a clear shot from outside the stadium. That last part concerns me a little, I would think you'd at least stand on the stage and look around the stadium and see if you can see a hill or tall building anywhere. Plus they were a bunch of drug addicts, not really the most reliable group of people, "I was totally going to shoot that guy, but I got all wasted and forgot to go, damn."
A while back I had said that my biggest fear for an Obama presidency was the fact that someone, most likely a crazed racist, would try to assassinate him. I fucking hate being right. Four people were arrested for plotting to assassinate Obama. Shockingly it was white supremacists with hunting rifles. What a country. The good news is that the FBI and the Secret Service (Update: it was local PD that caught these guys, or at least the first guy) are pretty damn good at there jobs. I hope they can keep up the good work because I highly doubt this will be the last attempt.
Peace
UPDATE: The good news is that those arrested were not considered a "credible threat" so yeah they probably wanted to do something, but its not clear if they were going to follow through (unless you're a psychic) and it's also unclear if its possible to get a clear shot from outside the stadium. That last part concerns me a little, I would think you'd at least stand on the stage and look around the stadium and see if you can see a hill or tall building anywhere. Plus they were a bunch of drug addicts, not really the most reliable group of people, "I was totally going to shoot that guy, but I got all wasted and forgot to go, damn."
Campaign Review
Wow, this is one hell of an article from The Herald. The Unlikeliest Political Comeback in History. It basically says that no party in modern history deserves to be thrown from power like the republicans deserve it. Then it points out that McCain is a terrible candidate with a short temper who looks for military solutions to every problem. Yet somehow in this strange land known as the USA, he's still a viable candidate. It's quite a blunt attack on US politics, I like it.
Obama, Biden and the DNC
If you want to hear all about the Convention, go somewhere else, im sure you won't have too much trouble finding stuff. I didn't even get to watch it let alone study it enough to provide deep insight. But I can guess, Kennedy did a moving speech, Michelle Obama and a bunch of others also talked in front of a whole bunch of supporters. Woohoo.
(UPDATE: the rude one's take on the convention, with bonus easter egg for those who know me)
Oh shit, the pic is kinda big so rather than squish it onto here and make it unreadable, click this shit and check out why the daily show is amazing. Its a billboard on I-94 that greats those arriving from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, home to the Republican National Convention. hehe. Hat tip to C&L
Ok sorry about that, back to the DNC. I'm just not that interested in speeches, its the work that politicians actually do, you know accomplishments, that I'm interested in.
What about Biden? I honestly didn't know a whole lot about the dude, when he was running this time around I was supporting Kucinich with Obama as my back up cause I knew the K-Dizzle never had a chance. So I've been doing a little reading and he seems like a very logical choice. Basically he has the experience that people think Obama needs, I personally like the fact ha and Obama have there differences. It shows me that Obama is serious when he says that he wants a variety of opinions around him, as opposed to a bunch of yes men cronies. Whats the point of a cabinet if its just an echo chamber? So I think Biden was a smart choice, not an edgy or inspiring choice, but a smart and politically safe choice. He's also a freaking attack dog who is going to tear into McCain, so that should be fun. Biden does carry some baggage from some past campaigns where he screwed up pretty bad, lets hope that with the Obama crew surrounding him they can minimize the gaffes.
UPDATE: Apparently Obama named the wrong city when asked where he was last night. Big deal, the dude is traveling constantly, this seems to happen to every candidate at some point. We all get a quick chuckle, a few comedians with nothing else to go on will take a couple jabs, but I hope no one tries to use this as a real attack.
(UPDATE: the rude one's take on the convention, with bonus easter egg for those who know me)
Oh shit, the pic is kinda big so rather than squish it onto here and make it unreadable, click this shit and check out why the daily show is amazing. Its a billboard on I-94 that greats those arriving from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, home to the Republican National Convention. hehe. Hat tip to C&L
Ok sorry about that, back to the DNC. I'm just not that interested in speeches, its the work that politicians actually do, you know accomplishments, that I'm interested in.
What about Biden? I honestly didn't know a whole lot about the dude, when he was running this time around I was supporting Kucinich with Obama as my back up cause I knew the K-Dizzle never had a chance. So I've been doing a little reading and he seems like a very logical choice. Basically he has the experience that people think Obama needs, I personally like the fact ha and Obama have there differences. It shows me that Obama is serious when he says that he wants a variety of opinions around him, as opposed to a bunch of yes men cronies. Whats the point of a cabinet if its just an echo chamber? So I think Biden was a smart choice, not an edgy or inspiring choice, but a smart and politically safe choice. He's also a freaking attack dog who is going to tear into McCain, so that should be fun. Biden does carry some baggage from some past campaigns where he screwed up pretty bad, lets hope that with the Obama crew surrounding him they can minimize the gaffes.
UPDATE: Apparently Obama named the wrong city when asked where he was last night. Big deal, the dude is traveling constantly, this seems to happen to every candidate at some point. We all get a quick chuckle, a few comedians with nothing else to go on will take a couple jabs, but I hope no one tries to use this as a real attack.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Captchas
Obviously I'm not the only person who gets annoyed, but the next time I get pissed at Captcha (which considering this will be a short post should be about one minute) I'll be able to think of these and remember that it could be worse. Although I think a few are from here.
The Worst Captchas of All Time
The Worst Captchas of All Time
Thursday, August 21, 2008
You Might Be An Elitist If.....
You don't know how many houses you own.
Then again McCain's 6.4 (w/wife) v.s Obama's (w/wife) 4.2 million last year shows that neither are exactly poor.
But while it's obviously important to understand the needs of the people, the reality is that I want someone elite running my country. I don't want the average Joe in the white house. Shit McCain is bad, he mixes up sunni and shiite, but at least he know that there are sunni's and shiites. I think it shows our nations educational failings that more people in this country aren't more knowledgeable but at this time thats the reality. Call Obama an elitist if you want, he started with nothing, worked his ass off, got an incredible education and got himself to the top of American politics. The qualities that are going to drive someone to attain such lofty goals are the same qualities we bemoan as elitist. Of course our government is elite, they're suppose to be the best. Thats like calling Michael Phelps an elitist, although I understand Obama going after McCain on this considering how much he used it as an attack previously against Obama.
Then again McCain's 6.4 (w/wife) v.s Obama's (w/wife) 4.2 million last year shows that neither are exactly poor.
But while it's obviously important to understand the needs of the people, the reality is that I want someone elite running my country. I don't want the average Joe in the white house. Shit McCain is bad, he mixes up sunni and shiite, but at least he know that there are sunni's and shiites. I think it shows our nations educational failings that more people in this country aren't more knowledgeable but at this time thats the reality. Call Obama an elitist if you want, he started with nothing, worked his ass off, got an incredible education and got himself to the top of American politics. The qualities that are going to drive someone to attain such lofty goals are the same qualities we bemoan as elitist. Of course our government is elite, they're suppose to be the best. Thats like calling Michael Phelps an elitist, although I understand Obama going after McCain on this considering how much he used it as an attack previously against Obama.
Doctors rights vs. Patients rights
Any time one persons rights infringe on another persons rights it gets awkward. An issue that has been coming up lately is if a Doctor or Pharmacists religious freedom gives them the right to deny care. If I was a religious man I might go after them by saying that according to their book JC said to hate the sin but love the sinner, and how we are all sinners, and finally that God is the only judge. To me it flies in the face of christianity to hate a person, for pretty much any reason. But I'm not a religious man, and this is not a religious country, our higher authority is a scrape of paper with some very wise word upon it. So while I think it's important for religious people to point out that religion should be used for good and not to the detriment of others, I'm not the one to make that argument because I firmly believe that even when doing some immediate good religious thought, non-critical thought is quite possibly the most dangerous force on this planet. There are many ways our species could wipe ourselves out, (climate change, nuclear war) but few if any would be possible if we all practiced critical thinking. But I can't get into that right now.
So back to the bill of rights, freedom of religion you may believe what ever you want, and you may practice how you wish, so long as you're not harming others. AKA: no human sacrifices. I think it's pretty obvious that denying medical care to a person because you think life begins at conception and therefore you refuse the "Plan B" pill which actually works by preventing an egg from being released and therefore prevents fertilization and therefore when life begins is a utterly mute point should be illegal. But thats too easy. How about contraceptives? Your pope says condoms are evil, but people need them, and to me this too is just blatantly obvious. Give people condoms and other contraceptives if they need them. What about abortions? Ah, the big A, you knew this was coming. Before I delve into this I want to look at things from the opposite perspective for a moment.
My only real concern from the other direction is if there will be good doctors who will simply say that if they must perform procedures that they think are against god's will then they will choose other professions, probably still doctors but they might well avoid womens health specialties. I have a hard time imagining being able to do all the science involved with becoming a doctor and still hanging onto fundamentalist ideas but I'm sure there are some, and the real concern is that this will be most prevalent in small towns and villages where people have very little choice in health care providers. You can argue that theres always going to be another doctor somewhere that will work with them, but what about poor people who can't even afford the medical bills and now your asking them to travel an indeterminate distance to get basic medical care? This issue has also dealt with a lesbian couple who wanted to have a baby via invitro fertilization, which is much less time critical. The irony of that part is that if the person hadn't told the doc they were a lesbian then they would have carried out the procedure and been on their marry way. They only denied it because of the person's orientation, AKA blatant discrimination. Oh shit, I'm trying to stick with why we need to be careful about limiting religious freedom.
Actually I think that about covers my only defense of this idea. It could lead to diminished health care for everyone (or at least for women) beyond that I've got no defense for these bigots. My reasons for opposing this I think are pretty obvious. If you want another opinion then heres one from Pharyngula although not by PZ.
So back to the bill of rights, freedom of religion you may believe what ever you want, and you may practice how you wish, so long as you're not harming others. AKA: no human sacrifices. I think it's pretty obvious that denying medical care to a person because you think life begins at conception and therefore you refuse the "Plan B" pill which actually works by preventing an egg from being released and therefore prevents fertilization and therefore when life begins is a utterly mute point should be illegal. But thats too easy. How about contraceptives? Your pope says condoms are evil, but people need them, and to me this too is just blatantly obvious. Give people condoms and other contraceptives if they need them. What about abortions? Ah, the big A, you knew this was coming. Before I delve into this I want to look at things from the opposite perspective for a moment.
My only real concern from the other direction is if there will be good doctors who will simply say that if they must perform procedures that they think are against god's will then they will choose other professions, probably still doctors but they might well avoid womens health specialties. I have a hard time imagining being able to do all the science involved with becoming a doctor and still hanging onto fundamentalist ideas but I'm sure there are some, and the real concern is that this will be most prevalent in small towns and villages where people have very little choice in health care providers. You can argue that theres always going to be another doctor somewhere that will work with them, but what about poor people who can't even afford the medical bills and now your asking them to travel an indeterminate distance to get basic medical care? This issue has also dealt with a lesbian couple who wanted to have a baby via invitro fertilization, which is much less time critical. The irony of that part is that if the person hadn't told the doc they were a lesbian then they would have carried out the procedure and been on their marry way. They only denied it because of the person's orientation, AKA blatant discrimination. Oh shit, I'm trying to stick with why we need to be careful about limiting religious freedom.
Actually I think that about covers my only defense of this idea. It could lead to diminished health care for everyone (or at least for women) beyond that I've got no defense for these bigots. My reasons for opposing this I think are pretty obvious. If you want another opinion then heres one from Pharyngula although not by PZ.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Was McCain Tortured?
This is an interesting perspective. The question is was John McCain tortured, but it's not questioning his version of what was done to him as a POW. The point is that under the Bush Administration those same acts that McCain rightly defines as torture have been called "enhanced interrogation techniques." The real question to McCain is does he think that what was done to him is acceptable to be used on others? It would have to carefully worded, the North Vietnamese did do shit that we don't, such as trying to set broken bones with no pain-killers, thats gotta suck ass and is in line with what most people think of as torture. Even so He'll be forced to either say that he wasn't tortured and was simply interrogated in an enhanced manner, or he will have to say that the US has been torturing people as a matter of policy. Or he'll lie/ not answer the question.
I agree with the authors note at the bottom that this isn't something that can be brought up by the Obama campaign, but I disagree that the blogsphere can't take advantage of it, and I think that a very careful moderator could bring this up at a debate.
Ok actually I'm currently reading McCain's narrative on his time as a POW, and yeah that fucker was tortured, and while there are parts of it that can be compared, I'm quite sure we don't do a lot of the shit they did. But if you focused on the mental torture then you might be able to make a point but now I agree with the author this would be a very difficult question to raise with any sort of tact. So yeah, avoid this.
I agree with the authors note at the bottom that this isn't something that can be brought up by the Obama campaign, but I disagree that the blogsphere can't take advantage of it, and I think that a very careful moderator could bring this up at a debate.
Ok actually I'm currently reading McCain's narrative on his time as a POW, and yeah that fucker was tortured, and while there are parts of it that can be compared, I'm quite sure we don't do a lot of the shit they did. But if you focused on the mental torture then you might be able to make a point but now I agree with the author this would be a very difficult question to raise with any sort of tact. So yeah, avoid this.
Shhhhhhhh, be vewwwy, vewwwy quiet; we're hunting tewwowists
Damn them terrorist is sneaky. Just look at these recent news reports, this one includes a a young american who was apparently recruited while he was five years old, have they no mercy? When asked if he was a terrorist the boy, James Robinson, now 8 responded cryptically, "I don't know." Savage. But it gets even worse, they also recruited another man, also named James Robinson, who's a lawyer and to no surprise used to work for the Clinton Administration. I'm not sure which way the cause and effect goes on that one. More shocking still is the case of James Robinson, who's an Airline Pilot! Not only that but this pilot is licensed by the TSA to carry a gun On The Plane!!! The terrorist probably got to him back when he was a brigadier general in the Air National Guard. I told you they're sneaky, but I'm not sure why they keep training people with the same name.
Heres another would be terrorist, also a pilot. It's hard to tell if they got to him while he was living in the middle east, he's a veteran of the first gulf war, or if its just a part of the conversion process. Don't let his whiteness confuse you, he's a Muslim. He's even getting help from those freedom haters over at the ACLU, something about how his pilot job requires him not to be on the "Do Not Fly" list. Guess he should have thought of that before he became a terrorist.
I'm sure all (both) my readers know that this is sarcasm but I want to point that out in case someone else ends up here somehow.
The illusion of security.
Heres another would be terrorist, also a pilot. It's hard to tell if they got to him while he was living in the middle east, he's a veteran of the first gulf war, or if its just a part of the conversion process. Don't let his whiteness confuse you, he's a Muslim. He's even getting help from those freedom haters over at the ACLU, something about how his pilot job requires him not to be on the "Do Not Fly" list. Guess he should have thought of that before he became a terrorist.
I'm sure all (both) my readers know that this is sarcasm but I want to point that out in case someone else ends up here somehow.
The illusion of security.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
A Few Things
First off I had my first class in a long time last night. I'm not too worried, although I do need to get into the habit of actually doing my work. Last night was American Federal Government, the professor seems really good, which is especially important because I also have him for my class on Wednesday. I was worried that the class would be mind numbingly boring, and I think the book material might be, but the Prof seems lively and interactive enough that I think it should be fun.
Next up, I want to save this site for a later date. Its a site for Debates between Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, or AU for short, and Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice or ACLJ, which I believe is the right wing version of the ACLU.
And then theres all the talk about Obama and McCain at some church. I don't care. McCain is not a terrible speaker, as long as no one upsets him he can do quite well, he can even be a pretty funny guy. I haven't seen it but it sounds like McCain won in front of a friendly audience with slightly but importantly different questions. Big fuckin' deal. I'm not really sure what to make of the "Above me pay grade" comment, sounds like avoiding the issue, but I can't really blame him as there is no definitive answer to the question of when does life begin. Although a wise ass like myself might have said, 3.5 billion years ago give or take a few hundred million. Others have speculated that the Pay Grade comment was in reference to god, for obvious reasons I always forget about that option. But again, I don't care, none of this matters the talking heads just need something to talk about and apparently the two wars we're losing, the fighting in Georgia and everything else still doesn't provide enough for them to ramble on about for 24 hours a day every fucking day.
I look forward to hearing the VP picks, and I might even try to watch a little of the convention, but beyond that I'd much rather see these guys on c-span doing there jobs, rather than telling us about the how great they are going to be at the job they don't have yet. Oh well.
Next up, I want to save this site for a later date. Its a site for Debates between Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, or AU for short, and Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice or ACLJ, which I believe is the right wing version of the ACLU.
And then theres all the talk about Obama and McCain at some church. I don't care. McCain is not a terrible speaker, as long as no one upsets him he can do quite well, he can even be a pretty funny guy. I haven't seen it but it sounds like McCain won in front of a friendly audience with slightly but importantly different questions. Big fuckin' deal. I'm not really sure what to make of the "Above me pay grade" comment, sounds like avoiding the issue, but I can't really blame him as there is no definitive answer to the question of when does life begin. Although a wise ass like myself might have said, 3.5 billion years ago give or take a few hundred million. Others have speculated that the Pay Grade comment was in reference to god, for obvious reasons I always forget about that option. But again, I don't care, none of this matters the talking heads just need something to talk about and apparently the two wars we're losing, the fighting in Georgia and everything else still doesn't provide enough for them to ramble on about for 24 hours a day every fucking day.
I look forward to hearing the VP picks, and I might even try to watch a little of the convention, but beyond that I'd much rather see these guys on c-span doing there jobs, rather than telling us about the how great they are going to be at the job they don't have yet. Oh well.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
What rights?
There was a time when the people of this nation, or at least an enraged few, cried out, "Give me liberty or give me death!" and they fuckin' meant it. They fought against the occupation of the reigning world super power, won, and wrote a constitution that expressly gave rights to the people. But the constitution is simply a piece of paper and no matter how important a piece of paper is, it alone cannot protect you. The defense of liberty is not a matter of laws it is an attitude, it is a commitment to stand up for what is right. Sometimes it means fighting a war, sometimes this means standing up for the rights of despicable people, sometimes it means telling the cops that they're breaking the law. There seems to be pathetically few people left willing to defend freedom. I'm not talking about soldiers, they are willing to risk their lives to protect freedom, although freedom has nothing to do with the risks they are taking these days. This country has sunk to the depths of apathy, today our cry is more like a whimper, "give me TV or give me pills." Where is Thomas Paine when you need him? He'd whip the shit out of our media folks. More likely he'd be working for mother jones, scraping by, unnoticed or ignored by the major media.
I pride myself on being reasonable, I don't much care for conspiracy theories. I saw a show about the moon hoax it asked interesting questions, then I went to Phil's site and found answers that were even more interesting, and sensible. The 9/11 conspiracies also ask interesting questions occasionally, but most of the answers are pretty damn obvious. So when people start saying how bad the country has gotten, I agree, but when they push too far I'm forced to say well, no it's not a fascist state yet. We don't live under martial law... well it would appear that MOST of us don't live under martial law. WTF?!?! Seriously we're trying to fix a neighborhood with M-16's? Are the dealers going to be a little more careful for the next few days? yeah. Is it going to solve a god damn thing? hell no. Especially because as the ACLU rightly points out, the searches are illegal therefore the arrest is illegal therefore those arrested are going to walk. This is part of why we are not yet in a police state. So its a stupid move because now these folks who were found with drugs and guns are going to end up back on the streets. Far far more importantly this must be challenged on the fundamental principle of the matter. People, even poor people, have fucking rights. The asshat in charge of the town may think that,
I pride myself on being reasonable, I don't much care for conspiracy theories. I saw a show about the moon hoax it asked interesting questions, then I went to Phil's site and found answers that were even more interesting, and sensible. The 9/11 conspiracies also ask interesting questions occasionally, but most of the answers are pretty damn obvious. So when people start saying how bad the country has gotten, I agree, but when they push too far I'm forced to say well, no it's not a fascist state yet. We don't live under martial law... well it would appear that MOST of us don't live under martial law. WTF?!?! Seriously we're trying to fix a neighborhood with M-16's? Are the dealers going to be a little more careful for the next few days? yeah. Is it going to solve a god damn thing? hell no. Especially because as the ACLU rightly points out, the searches are illegal therefore the arrest is illegal therefore those arrested are going to walk. This is part of why we are not yet in a police state. So its a stupid move because now these folks who were found with drugs and guns are going to end up back on the streets. Far far more importantly this must be challenged on the fundamental principle of the matter. People, even poor people, have fucking rights. The asshat in charge of the town may think that,
"As far as I'm concerned, at 3 o'clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law," Councilman Eugene "Red" Johnson said. "Anyone out at 3 o'clock shouldn't be out on the street, unless you're going to the hospital."But he obviously fails to see that whither or not someone has a good reason to be out has no bearing on whither or not they have the RIGHT to be out. Not to mention that some people work late shifts and shit, something this guy probably isn't familiar with. I still don't think we live in a police state, but they are inching their way towards it every chance they get. We must fight back, we must not allow our great nation to implode, we must fight all enemies foreign and domestic, and right now I don't see any foreign threats that are even close to the threats I see domestically.
Quote of the Day!
"not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.”
- Michael B. Mukasey (Attorney General of the USA)
My co-worker just said, "will he be my judge?"
- Michael B. Mukasey (Attorney General of the USA)
My co-worker just said, "will he be my judge?"
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Back to School Back to School
to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool! I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight!
- Billy Madison
Yeah so I just got back from getting set up for some college classes. I'm going to be taking three classes, American Federal Government, American History and Psychology. I'm very excited and very nervous. Plus I haven't done my financial aid yet, hope I can actually afford this shit. Eh, thats a worry for another day.
Oh and one more little rant about bloggers POS captcha set-up. Blogger and Myspace are both owned by Goggle, I've almost never gotten the captcha correct the first time on blogger, and I'm not sure I've ever screwed one up on myspace. WTF!?!?!
- Billy Madison
Yeah so I just got back from getting set up for some college classes. I'm going to be taking three classes, American Federal Government, American History and Psychology. I'm very excited and very nervous. Plus I haven't done my financial aid yet, hope I can actually afford this shit. Eh, thats a worry for another day.
Oh and one more little rant about bloggers POS captcha set-up. Blogger and Myspace are both owned by Goggle, I've almost never gotten the captcha correct the first time on blogger, and I'm not sure I've ever screwed one up on myspace. WTF!?!?!
Monday, August 11, 2008
I Believe in a Thing Called Love!
Just listen to the rhythm of my heart
There's a chance we could make it now
We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down
I believe in a thing called love
Ooh!
The Darkness man, thats what the lucky guy and gal walked down the isle to. The wedding was awesome, there were a few little mistakes on my part but I think it went very well overall. I wish we had practiced the ceremony, that might have helped, oh well, all that matters is that two amazing people who love each other are happy and married. I'll get back to this part of the weekend in a moment, you know I gots ta ramble a bit.
There was also a little added bonus of the groom finding his long lost little sister, who I'll just refer to as Julia Roberts, a nick name in reference to the best actress in Fried Green Tomatoes. Don't ask. The groom's biological dad had another daughter that the groom had only met once for a few minutes quite a few years ago. So with the power of the intertubes and with family on the mind prior to the wedding he decided to try to find her. Sure enough she was on the Myspace, a site which often gets a bad wrap because of child molesters and shit like that but there is the other side of it which is reunions like this. I would have lost track of many old college friends if it weren't for Myspace and Facebook. So she came up for the wedding. It's hilarious if you saw the two of them you'd think nothing of it, brother and sister, you'd assume they had known each other forever and not just a couple of days. Our crew is pretty easy going, we like everyone unless they give us a reason not to, and she assimilated in instantly. Shes a cool chick, and I know the groom was very happy to have her here.
Ok lets start with Friday. Rehearsal dinner, food was good but a little light on the rehearsal. Then off to the "Guess who's not invited party" which was another friends party celebrating her not getting married to a douchebag who ran off with her best friend who happened have been married to his best friend at the time. Catch all that? Her party was fun but I had to perform a wedding the next day so I decided to take it easy, er well that was the plan. I left there and had to stop by another friends house who was having a little birthday party for his GF who is now a friend of mine too. This is when my plan fell apart, I had another growler of that delicious but dangerous brew from up at the Horseheads Brewing Company. Then I was offered a shot, I shouldn't but what the hell one shot never hurt any...151? Oh fuck. So yeah the day of the wedding I woke up on my buddy couch. I passed out on their bed for a little bit, I dove in as a joke thinking they were coming to bed, but they didn't right away and I fell asleep. Apparently as I was being helped to the couch I looked back at the bed and said, "I gotta get me one of those."
Saturday morning I woke up bright, early, and hungover a little. So I went home and crashed for a couple hours, then went and picked up the groom and we went and got shaves at the barbershop ala Sweeney Todd, but without the bleeding. I'd never had one and it seemed a good enough excuse to give it a try. I honestly wasn't that impressed with the shave but the hot towel over the face was relaxing. I'm convinced that having a shave is just the masculine form of a spa, and no one will give you shit for it because it does involve a straight razor on your neck. Unfortunately there was a bit of a line and we were pretty late getting out of there, luckily we could get ready pretty quick.The wedding perfectly fit the people getting married. If they had all been in tux's at some big church it just wouldn't have seemed right. Instead we were at a fire hall where the ushers and the groom wore tuxedo t-shirts and the bridesmaids wore white tank tops. As an added bonus there was one woman in with the groomsmen (groomswoman?) and one guy in with the bridesmaids. He was probably glad they didn't wear dresses, although maybe not. The bride was beautiful, she did wear a dress, so were their two daughters. The ring bearer, the groomswomans son, looked like a lil pimp in his all white tux and a fresh mohawk. The wedding itself was short and sweet, as they and I wanted it to be. Then some pictures and we were off to the party.
The reception was a blast as I knew it would be. The band played some songs, the grooms grandmother was not impressed. After the song F-bomb, the lyrics of which are basically, "Fuck you and fuck yourself, fuck me and everybody else." I grabbed the mic and said,"I don't need to fuck you, you fucked yourself back at the firehouse." A good insult is always appreciated among my friends. The cutting of the cake had a little twist, the bride looked very nervous, she didn't want cake in the grill. So they threw the cake at the audience, I saw it coming and narrowly ducked outta the way, the male bridesmaid behind me not so much, he got both barrels. Although he did later get me with a piece of cake that he snatched from Julia Roberts, who almost kicked his ass, she likes cake. Then they broke out the go-kart, of the off-roading variety and got ourselves completely covered in mud. There should be some pics of me floating around the tubes of driving around the track with one hand and a beer in the other. There was plenty of other silliness around, like the trampoline and kids bicycles and big-wheels. I was surprised by how few people actually stayed the whole night, which actually worked out ok because the plan had been for everyone to camp outside. But it was raining, we hadn't set up the tents and there was only the Bride and Groom, Julia Roberts, a guy named Matt and myself so we all found some carpet that looked comfortable and called it a day well lived.
D&S, I love you guys.
And here's the Darkness.
There's a chance we could make it now
We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down
I believe in a thing called love
Ooh!
The Darkness man, thats what the lucky guy and gal walked down the isle to. The wedding was awesome, there were a few little mistakes on my part but I think it went very well overall. I wish we had practiced the ceremony, that might have helped, oh well, all that matters is that two amazing people who love each other are happy and married. I'll get back to this part of the weekend in a moment, you know I gots ta ramble a bit.
There was also a little added bonus of the groom finding his long lost little sister, who I'll just refer to as Julia Roberts, a nick name in reference to the best actress in Fried Green Tomatoes. Don't ask. The groom's biological dad had another daughter that the groom had only met once for a few minutes quite a few years ago. So with the power of the intertubes and with family on the mind prior to the wedding he decided to try to find her. Sure enough she was on the Myspace, a site which often gets a bad wrap because of child molesters and shit like that but there is the other side of it which is reunions like this. I would have lost track of many old college friends if it weren't for Myspace and Facebook. So she came up for the wedding. It's hilarious if you saw the two of them you'd think nothing of it, brother and sister, you'd assume they had known each other forever and not just a couple of days. Our crew is pretty easy going, we like everyone unless they give us a reason not to, and she assimilated in instantly. Shes a cool chick, and I know the groom was very happy to have her here.
Ok lets start with Friday. Rehearsal dinner, food was good but a little light on the rehearsal. Then off to the "Guess who's not invited party" which was another friends party celebrating her not getting married to a douchebag who ran off with her best friend who happened have been married to his best friend at the time. Catch all that? Her party was fun but I had to perform a wedding the next day so I decided to take it easy, er well that was the plan. I left there and had to stop by another friends house who was having a little birthday party for his GF who is now a friend of mine too. This is when my plan fell apart, I had another growler of that delicious but dangerous brew from up at the Horseheads Brewing Company. Then I was offered a shot, I shouldn't but what the hell one shot never hurt any...151? Oh fuck. So yeah the day of the wedding I woke up on my buddy couch. I passed out on their bed for a little bit, I dove in as a joke thinking they were coming to bed, but they didn't right away and I fell asleep. Apparently as I was being helped to the couch I looked back at the bed and said, "I gotta get me one of those."
Saturday morning I woke up bright, early, and hungover a little. So I went home and crashed for a couple hours, then went and picked up the groom and we went and got shaves at the barbershop ala Sweeney Todd, but without the bleeding. I'd never had one and it seemed a good enough excuse to give it a try. I honestly wasn't that impressed with the shave but the hot towel over the face was relaxing. I'm convinced that having a shave is just the masculine form of a spa, and no one will give you shit for it because it does involve a straight razor on your neck. Unfortunately there was a bit of a line and we were pretty late getting out of there, luckily we could get ready pretty quick.The wedding perfectly fit the people getting married. If they had all been in tux's at some big church it just wouldn't have seemed right. Instead we were at a fire hall where the ushers and the groom wore tuxedo t-shirts and the bridesmaids wore white tank tops. As an added bonus there was one woman in with the groomsmen (groomswoman?) and one guy in with the bridesmaids. He was probably glad they didn't wear dresses, although maybe not. The bride was beautiful, she did wear a dress, so were their two daughters. The ring bearer, the groomswomans son, looked like a lil pimp in his all white tux and a fresh mohawk. The wedding itself was short and sweet, as they and I wanted it to be. Then some pictures and we were off to the party.
The reception was a blast as I knew it would be. The band played some songs, the grooms grandmother was not impressed. After the song F-bomb, the lyrics of which are basically, "Fuck you and fuck yourself, fuck me and everybody else." I grabbed the mic and said,"I don't need to fuck you, you fucked yourself back at the firehouse." A good insult is always appreciated among my friends. The cutting of the cake had a little twist, the bride looked very nervous, she didn't want cake in the grill. So they threw the cake at the audience, I saw it coming and narrowly ducked outta the way, the male bridesmaid behind me not so much, he got both barrels. Although he did later get me with a piece of cake that he snatched from Julia Roberts, who almost kicked his ass, she likes cake. Then they broke out the go-kart, of the off-roading variety and got ourselves completely covered in mud. There should be some pics of me floating around the tubes of driving around the track with one hand and a beer in the other. There was plenty of other silliness around, like the trampoline and kids bicycles and big-wheels. I was surprised by how few people actually stayed the whole night, which actually worked out ok because the plan had been for everyone to camp outside. But it was raining, we hadn't set up the tents and there was only the Bride and Groom, Julia Roberts, a guy named Matt and myself so we all found some carpet that looked comfortable and called it a day well lived.
D&S, I love you guys.
And here's the Darkness.
Friday, August 08, 2008
The Big Day (almost)
Ok I'm pretty damn sure that the wedding ceremony is finished, with an entire day to spare! Lets here it for procrastination! I'm a little nervous considering I haven't really been able to practice this thing but I'm sure it will go fine. Overall I'm really excited and think this is going to be a great weekend, and I think it'll be a good marriage too.
Hope everyone else has a good weekend too, and Rob be careful with the gin, or don't! Either way have fun!
Hope everyone else has a good weekend too, and Rob be careful with the gin, or don't! Either way have fun!
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Motorcycles
First off I had a good weekend, camping with the old college crew was a blast.
A good friend of mine did not, he got into a pretty gnarly motorcycle accident on Friday. Unfortunately I was camping all weekend so I didn't even know about it until yesterday. I went and helped them get his crumpled bike home, while he is stuck on the couch for the next couple months. He's lucky to still have both feet so I guess a couch isn't so bad. Modern medicine is pretty wild, they said his foot was held on by half a tendon a nerve, and a wee bit of skin and thats it. They got humpty dumpty back together, the surgery went well and not they estimate he has a 99% chance of keeping the foot, shit he can still wiggle his toes a little bit. Another thing of note is the amazing generosity of others. A couple of teenage girls were following him and saw the tail light get smaller, then sparks, then the bike flipping threw the air. They stopped and got him into their car after he refused to call 911. Honestly they should have called no matter what he said but they're young and they still saved his ass so I'm hardly going to be upset with them. We need to send them a major thank you note/flowers or something, along with a gift certificate to get their car detailed, he was bleeding like a stuck pig. Of course we don't know who these good samaritans were so we will need to check the police report.
Anyway the good news is that he's going to be Ok, and if you're going to ride a bike, wear a helmet. By the minimal damage to his helmet he might have lived even without, but he surely would have been missing a good chunk of his head. Full leathers also seem prudent, he was only wearing a t-shirt and has pretty good road rash. Lastly get proper boots, every serious motorcycle accident I've seen, which admittedly isn't many, they have all nearly lost a leg. Better yet, don't ride a motorcycle, but to each there own.
Oh I'll also say that I'm not sure how to feel about safety laws, I'm not sure that it is the governments job to tell adults not to be stupid. Seat belt laws for kids and shit, hell yeah, but seat belt laws for adults or helmet laws for adults I'm just not sure about. I mean if a person wants to be an idiot and die an easily preventable death then why should we try to stop them? Can you really try to regulate stupidity? And anyone who wants to argue that not wearing a helmet on a bike isn't stupid, go right ahead I don't care, just cause you're lucky doesn't mean it's not a stupid risk. All I'm saying is that it's your life, if wind in your hair is more important than your life, or at least your legs then I'm not going to tell you not to. But if you're a friend of mine I will call you a fucking idiot in your eulogy.
One little upshot of this horrific event, I have always been against motorcycles, at least for me personally. I like pushing vehicles harder than prudent and bikes are so unforgiving that I've always known that I will die if I get one. But enough of my friends have gotten them recently that the thought has crossed my mind. That thought is no longer in my mind.
Thats all the time that I've got, I still haven't finalized the wedding ceremony so any free time I have will be spent on that, so this is all the blogging I'll be doing today.
Peace, and be safe.
A good friend of mine did not, he got into a pretty gnarly motorcycle accident on Friday. Unfortunately I was camping all weekend so I didn't even know about it until yesterday. I went and helped them get his crumpled bike home, while he is stuck on the couch for the next couple months. He's lucky to still have both feet so I guess a couch isn't so bad. Modern medicine is pretty wild, they said his foot was held on by half a tendon a nerve, and a wee bit of skin and thats it. They got humpty dumpty back together, the surgery went well and not they estimate he has a 99% chance of keeping the foot, shit he can still wiggle his toes a little bit. Another thing of note is the amazing generosity of others. A couple of teenage girls were following him and saw the tail light get smaller, then sparks, then the bike flipping threw the air. They stopped and got him into their car after he refused to call 911. Honestly they should have called no matter what he said but they're young and they still saved his ass so I'm hardly going to be upset with them. We need to send them a major thank you note/flowers or something, along with a gift certificate to get their car detailed, he was bleeding like a stuck pig. Of course we don't know who these good samaritans were so we will need to check the police report.
Anyway the good news is that he's going to be Ok, and if you're going to ride a bike, wear a helmet. By the minimal damage to his helmet he might have lived even without, but he surely would have been missing a good chunk of his head. Full leathers also seem prudent, he was only wearing a t-shirt and has pretty good road rash. Lastly get proper boots, every serious motorcycle accident I've seen, which admittedly isn't many, they have all nearly lost a leg. Better yet, don't ride a motorcycle, but to each there own.
Oh I'll also say that I'm not sure how to feel about safety laws, I'm not sure that it is the governments job to tell adults not to be stupid. Seat belt laws for kids and shit, hell yeah, but seat belt laws for adults or helmet laws for adults I'm just not sure about. I mean if a person wants to be an idiot and die an easily preventable death then why should we try to stop them? Can you really try to regulate stupidity? And anyone who wants to argue that not wearing a helmet on a bike isn't stupid, go right ahead I don't care, just cause you're lucky doesn't mean it's not a stupid risk. All I'm saying is that it's your life, if wind in your hair is more important than your life, or at least your legs then I'm not going to tell you not to. But if you're a friend of mine I will call you a fucking idiot in your eulogy.
One little upshot of this horrific event, I have always been against motorcycles, at least for me personally. I like pushing vehicles harder than prudent and bikes are so unforgiving that I've always known that I will die if I get one. But enough of my friends have gotten them recently that the thought has crossed my mind. That thought is no longer in my mind.
Thats all the time that I've got, I still haven't finalized the wedding ceremony so any free time I have will be spent on that, so this is all the blogging I'll be doing today.
Peace, and be safe.
Friday, August 01, 2008
An Evening to Remember
All you need to know is impromptu wet-t shirt contest, stripper and cops. And not stripper cops, the real kind who did not seem amused. Oh well.
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