If Allen wins in VA...

You don't have to BELIEVE in global warming...

Part 1:
So there is all this talk these days about global warming. It may be called some people's new religion. In fact, however, it is not something to believe in. Global warming just is. The planet is warming. The glaciers are melting. There are droughts in some places and floods in others. The hottest year on record was last year (2005) and as the global temperatures have increased over the last 50 years (really since the turn of the century), so have those greenhouse gases (CO2, Methane, etc.). So let's not all make a mockery over the scientific community. No scientists dispute the fact that the Earth is warming. So it's not magic or a 'theory' like evolution (tongue firmly in cheek of course). The Earth (a.k.a. globe) is warming. So there we have it, global warming. So all of you considering changing religions or worried about trying to figure out whether you 'believe' in global warming can rest at ease, save your beliefs for star athletes and Ripley's. Do your own research this isn't politics so don't just listen to some talking head. This concludes Part 1 (probably the easiest part)of a mini-series in climate change education. If anyone is still on the 'fence' we don't want you to read this blog anyway.

OK, now that we've gotten that straight... the debate, if you want to call it that, is what has caused/is causing the global climate change. We'll call that Part deux (shout out to the French world cup team and the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen in sports). I really want to laugh everytime I see it, just absurd. I mean, who cares about global warming when dudes are head butting guys in the world cup. IN THE CHEST NO LESS!! I've never heard of such a thing. I bet Tito Ortiz is wishing he had thought of that move during his Ultimate Fighter days.
~gama

Irony, Inertia and Incompetence?

Like any good liberal I was listening to NPR the other day, and the topic of discussion was States suing the EPA for its failure to enforce the Clean Air Act - namely C02 emissions from cars. One of the interviewees was a rep from the automotive industry. Her contention was that EPA restrictions forced automakers to sell cars that aren't in line with consumer demand. This is ironic because if the government had clamped down and mandated more fuel efficient cars, carmakers would actually be producing cars that people want right now instead of the gas-guzzling behemoths that are crowding dealership lots. American automakers really have no idea what the public wants - they just bring a load of cars to market and hope that one of the models resonates with consumers. Then, they crank out as many of that model as they can until it becomes obsolete or circumstances cause demand to decrease. Prime examples of this are the Ford Taurus and Explorer.

In keeping with the 'liberal media' theme of this post, I saw in the New York Times that Daimler-Chrysler was planning to bring their dimunitve SmartCar to the US in 2008. My question is why is it going to take so long? When I was in Europe in June of 2001, SmartCars were everywhere.

he said what????

"tarbaby"?
I'm sorry, I thought I heard that during Tony Snow's first Whitehouse Press Briefing but I brushed it off thinking I muse have just been delusional. I go to Dan Froomkin's article in the post today and get confirmation. Tarbaby? come on now. How many other metaphors can one think of other than that referenced in such heroic civil rights literature such as Brer Rabbit and Uncle Remis? Wow...I at least wanted the three people who read this blog to know this actually happenned. What year is it?

1 1/2 years from now...

We'll be knee deep in about a heated a presidential campaign as there ever was. Assuming the Dems actually do something in the next 7 months with the horrible presidential ratings and get a couple seats in Congress back, it's very likely that the next presidential ticket will be a completely open one. I've been hinting with my wife who I thought I liked for a while now, so I figured I'd just put it on record now. The next President of the United States will be:
Al Gore!


Yeah that's right. He's been out of the political limelight for quite a while but he has been drumming up lots of support with young people on the environment. Along wit hthat, he has let his personality come out a bit. I might be in the minority of people who enjoy his dry sense of humor but I think he's ready to win....again. He was on SNL last weekend doing the opening monologue as if it were some other parallel universe. Just think if Florida didn't turn out the way it did, we'd have a Anti-Hurricane Tornado Machine! Ok so there it is. I think he is the most sincere and visionary potential President.

~gama

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

I just wanted to drop a quick note to wish everyone a happy cinco de mayo. Not that I need to tell anyone, but Cinco De Mayo is Mexican Independence Day! I for one am so happy I intend to have Austin Grill and Margaritas to pay homage. Thank you Mexico and thank you Davy Crockett. Oh wait, that's a different story.
~gama

Goodbye Scotty, Helloooooo FoxNews!

I'm surpised Smurf hasn't pounced on this but hey, I guess I've scooped him here. Tony Snow was just annouced White House Press Secretary (aka worst job in America) taking the place of Scott McClellan. Ton Snow is an 'analyst' on FoxNews and has his own show "The Tony Snow Show". He is a respected journalist (see talking head), and I've actually seen him before and he is about 3000 times more likable and convincing than Scott McClellan. What's so great about this hire, though, is that the Bush administration is basically outwardly acknowledging the symbiotic relationship between them and their megaphone to the people (FoxNews). I always thought it was the role of the 'free' press to be at a skeptical if not adversarial role with the government to prevent the abuse of power but that may be a discussion for another day. All in all, a pretty big day for FoxNews I would say. Fitting FoxNews link:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193093,00.html


~gamma

Free Education???

Well not really of course since one would need a computer, internet access and no degrees would ever been handed out. This UC Berkeley web page has webcasts and podcasts of full courses of lectures (go to /courses). Some of the course websites are up and have required reading, assignments, and projects if you are so inclined. I am simply amazed by the availability of this high quality education to anyone in the world who can get access to the internet. Harvard has done something similar with a couple courses (Computer Science) but this is the largest list I've come across. As far as I can tell, this is all free and open to the public. I always wanted to study "Foundations of American Cyberculture"!!!

~gama

PS-- hopefully this will get my back writing again.

IFrauds in the Can (TechTalk)

As usual, all my good ideas already exist. See previous post.

Poor Chinese Guys

So on the way to and from Australia, I watched quite a few movies and programs on Qantus' in flight entertainment system: Wedding Crashers, Deuce Bigelow 2, Four Brothers, Transporter 2, Wallace and Grommit, The Office Christmas Party (the British version), and a few others. What sticks in my mind the most is a BBC documentary on the growing gender imbalance in China.

I tuned in late, and I kept missing it on the wraparound (all the programming repeats every 2.5 hours), but the basic idea of the documentary was to follow the life of a young male Chinese villager. When I started watching, he was attending the wedding of another young man from his village. Unlike most Western wedding receptions where you generally see balanced tables, the tables seemed to be packed with guys. Apparently in his village, there are very few girls his age. It's so bad that he has little chance of finding a wife unless he moves to the city. After the wedding, his parents tell him that he needs to go to the city and either return with enough money to attract a wife in the village, or meet a girl in the city. This is a tough decision for his folks, because they are elderly and need his assistance with the farming. They send him off with a grain sack on his back as a makeshift suitcase.

From what I understand, male children have always been preferred in China, so when the government limited couples to having one child in an attempt to control the population, it's no suprise that many parents hoped for a boy. In some cases, infant girls would be murdered so that the couple could have another shot at a boy. More recently, ultrasound is being used to detect female fetuses, so that they can be aborted. Consequently, there is a gender imbalance throughout all of China. The problem is magnified in the countryside, however, because as parents grow old and have difficutly working the land, sons can carry more of the load than daughters, so there is even more pressure to have a son.

Moving to the city doesn't guarantee a mate, since more and more women in the city are becoming educated and would be unlikely to settle for a country boy. Also, some of them are hooking up with Western dudes. The lack of women in some areas has led to a rising number of kidnappings of young girls for brides. The government is trying to crack down on this practice by making it punishable by death.

Some projections show that there may be 40 million more males than females in about 20 years. That means there are going to be a lot of lonely guys...

It was the obvious use case (TechTalk)

One of the first things I did when I got wifi working in my parents' house back in 2001 was send an email from the can. People acted like I was some kind of weirdo, but now it has become socially acceptable. Ah, progress. The only hazard is hot laptops on naked flesh...

The bathroom is where it's at. Once I get the F out of the DC area and accumulate enough money to get a house built, my bathroom is going to be a funland. HDTV, DVD, iFraud dock, surround sound, internet access, refrigerator/kegerator, etc.

Flawed Security Model?

Season's Greetings from Down Under!

Last Monday, I flew from Sydney to Cairns (a city on the Eastern coast of Australia near the Barrier Reef). My dad had previously booked the flight using some frequent flier miles, so I just needed to check in. In the US, I have had some difficulties in the past using the automated check in when the flight was not booked by me. I decided to try the machine anyway and see what would happen. The only information that I was prompted for was my name. Once I supplied that, the machine spat out my boarding pass and all I had to do to check my luggage was show a Qantas representative the boarding pass. At no point during the process was I required to show a photo ID of any kind. Fast forward to this past Saturday (Christmas Eve) and I was on my way back to Sydney from Ayer's Rock. At the Ayer's Rock airport, not only did I have to show a photo ID to get my boarding pass, I also got 'randomly selected' (1 brown guy with a little stubble and 74 whitefolks, and the brown guy gets selected - go figure) for an explosives test.

Let's examine the two cities. Sydney is Australia's most populous and well known city - an ideal terrorist target. Also, many international flights pass through Sydney daily (a good entry point for terrorists). Ayer's Rock is a town in the Northern Territory that sprang up because of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. There's really nothing to it besides a few hotels and the airport. The nearest notable city, Alice Springs, is 445 kilometers (~276 miles) away with only a single diesel gas station on the way.

Given the current security procedures, it appears that the Australians are worried about a terrorist attack originating from the middle of Outback. Apparently, they weren't notified that the planes used in the September 11th attacks on the US took off near the cities they attacked. As evidenced by the train bombings in Spain in March of 2004 and the London Underground attacks this year, any country participating in the 'coalition' in Iraq needs to be wary of terrorist attacks. Sydney's security seems woefully lacking.

Election Daaay!

In the state of Virginia, we had a few elections. Like any good procrastinator, I did more or less nothing to learn about any of the candidates until pretty late in the game. OK, really late in the game, like... today. Now, that doesn't mean that I haven't been paying attention. I simply have been doing my preliminary assessments purely on flyer design, TV commercials, and the best campaign phone number I get called from (I decided it was 888-888-8888). Not really the best, but I've just never seen all the same number before outside of the movies (555-xxxx, etc.).

So I did some cramming on actual issues considering we do live in that pesky thing called a representative democracy. So as it turned out after all the issue digging and soul searching (about 30-45 minutes =)) I probably could have not read a word or seen a flyer and voted the same way. Now this doesn't particularly float well with Smurf of course, going party line and all. I did feel a bit better by researching and attempting to develop a feel for the candidates. But personal experience and those two annoyingly unsatisfying parties definitely make for decent tie-breakers. Take Leslie Byrne. She seems nice enough. I spent more time thinking about the governors race and our district state delegate race than the LT. governor (so little that as I was writting this post I had to go back and check out who she ran against; William "Bill" Bolling).

~~~ by the way: Note to the Washington Post. You don't have to put Bill as his quoted name like its Jimmy "no legs" Hoffa. His name is William, we can take it from here folks ~~~

Okay sorry about that. The real confession here is I didn't really read up much on the race at all. I looked at Byrne's picture and got sidetracked by the fact that she is the Chief Financial Officer of Byrne Consulting (which her husband runs apparently). First of all, if my wife runs a company I am NOT going to be the CFO unless it stands for the Chief Fun Officer (there are a few more to think of here). Second of all, I guess I didn't really get much out of the fact that she been some sort of Assistant professor @ Mt. Vernon College and is the CFO of a family owned business. Big whoop! Anyway at the end of the day I didn't have a clue what she was all about...and all I know about Mr. Bolling was that his name was really "Bill".

So what happenned in the voting booth? Well, tie goes to the runner, and Leslie Byrne got the vote. Call it brand loyalty I guess. Should I have simply not voted? Probably, seeing as she lost anyway. But I do feel like a cheated a little bit. But why was voting for a Democrat simply because she's a Dem. the end of democracy? As inadequate and incomplete as the Democratic party has been for me, the Republican party pales in comparison. So the Democratic solution was my 80% solution. Nothing revolutionary, nothing original, but at least I know what I'm getting. Oh God, or political process in America has turned into the fast food industry!
~Gama

Quick Note

I found this 'how to become a republican' clip on AndrewSullivan.com, its pretty hilarious.

Technology is grrrrreatt!!

I've been getting into podcasts lately. I'm still trying to find good ones but in the process I found a song I really like by a band I would have never heard of called De La Vega. The song is called "Wait Too Long", it's catchy. You can download all their songs if you want.

~gama

The Truth is fun!!!

With my affection for Tucker Carlson already documented, I have to wholeheartedly with The Machine's ;) assertion that I would much rather argue with someone who has his own ideas, however much I believe them to be moronic. Is the truth in the middle though? I'm not sure. There are pretty definitive lines. Federalists vs. Republicans (no, not those republicans, the other one really is...uh...well...here and here).

It simply comes down to the role of the government and where. Battles on this ground have historically ridden along federal government specifically, but as in Smurf's post notes, the political parties in this country (which represent ideologies) have permeated down to the local level. Looking back at where our country started with political parties like the Know Nothings sprouting up and disappearing, it makes a citizen feel frustrated that there is no real ability to voice your opinion (as idiotic as the know nothings may have seemed) in a truly public forum. Most people have personal philosophies that vary, contradict, and are in some ways probably based on illogical conclusions through the knowledge we gain in life. However, we are not given clear options to express those views in a real effective political way. The two party system has been the mainstay in this country for at least 150 years and before that there was a 2 party rule as well.

So where is the truth? Well, MY truth is probably all over the place. Some shit here, some shit there, some shit I just haven't figured out, some shit I just don't care about. But at the end of the day we are all (if we care about participating in our democracy) forced to essentially choose between Dems and Reps just like Smurf in his story. PepsiCoke PepsiCoke PepsiCoke PepsiCoke. Well at the end of the day I pull out my TI-82, plug in all the numbers, maybe graph some parabalas, play that snake game, and Mr. Calculator says "You Are a Democrat". ugh...The Myers Briggs was more satisfying!!

I guess at the end of the day we are all stuck in the system we live in.

So are you philosophically attached to your ideas, regardless of party (which is harder in everyday life) and want to organize, voice your beliefs and only purchase/vote/donate/participate only in efforts that support your beliefs? Man that seems hard just writing it.

Or option 2 (a.k.a. the "pseudo-sellout option"). Buy into the idea that you should vote locally with your heart (aligned with your personal philosophies) and vote nationally with your head (with what outcome would most benefit your interests in supporting the majority of those interests).

OOORRRR option 3 (a.k.a. the "super-sellout option" aka the "puppet option" aka the "playbook" option a.k.a. the Fox News option hiyoh!!!). I think you get the idea. Exactly what Smurf was complaining about.

None of those seem wonderful and the first two are much more work (we all know we're lazy folks), so the good ole' option 3 rears its ugly head far too often.

wow that wasn't much fun. :)

The Machine

Ninjax has offline dubbed PeonSmurf a 'machine' so I a nominating a name change or addition to our beloved PeonSmurf. There is no doubt in my mind PeonSmurf has at least 5 child laborers slamming at keyboards night and day. Hey I admire that, politically/environmentally astute child laborers are pretty hard to find these days.


Annnnyway...He definitely deserves some recognition for churning out (legally or not) posts while somehow keeping a full time job. Not only that, Mr. Smurf is moving back to the East coast to the fine shores of Northern Virginia. He's had enough of the harsh San Deigo weather and can't stay away from the Gama. This is a very big moment in the swing of the 'Power Triangle' back to the East coast. One request though...please leave your pillows in California, or at least take them to New Jersey because they belong in landfills!!!

So back to the name...I was thinking something like 'Peon Machine', 'Blog Machine', or simply 'The Machine'. Even better, the Smurf Machine!

I need feedback and suggestions!!!
~Gama

Bow ties and recipes

I don't know what's wrong with me. Tucker Carlson gets on my nerves but for some reason I like it. I used to hate this guy when he was on Crossfire but now I actually find myself listening to what he says and being entertained by it. His new show, The Situation, is actually very good other than the fact that they totally took a bite off of PTI with the whole topic list thing. But then I think lots of shows do that now. Anyway I can't believe I'm saying this but I recommend at least checking it out. They get on a few strong personalities to debate the liberal side and it at some level turns out to be a good, balanced show at the end. Well, other than the fact that the star is still Tucker Carlson so the finishing touches are always of a conservative bent. Critical to my appreciation for his sense of humor is more that he isn't some blind Bush apologist and seems to actually stand by a conservative point of view. When people you don't agree with actually have a logical position, it makes it much more tolerable, and even interesting to listen to them. The thing is, I swear he used to be one of those hard-line-read-from-the-administration-playbook-pundits. What could have happenned? Does this all stem from John Stewart's confrontation and the subsequent dismantling of Crossfire?


The second person out in TV land who's irritating mannerisms make me smile is Rachael Ray. I am sure everyone at least knows who she is... She's the giggling little girl trying to pretend she is a cook on the Food Network. She is originally known for the show 30-minute meals and now has like 14 shows, including the most interesting and annoying -- 40 Dollars a day. Now, ninjax swears that this is bullshit because he could live on $5 dollars a day. He's a moron. It's not Survivor...the point isn't to spend the least amount possible in any given city! But I digress...
Anyway she really is obnoxious and no one could not get on my nerves anymore than she does. The real thing is, she's developed her own language of annoying phrases and sayings. The worst of which is "YUM-O!".

Okay so there is a point to all of this. Is this entertainment? Being generally irritated to the point of that laughter only mad scientists and otherwise insane people make can't be good for you. Or maybe I'm just too proud to admit that I like it...I like her little giggles and I love his little bow-tie. Hmmm...That is really hard to swallow, there must be another explanation!
~Gama

Top Ten Reasons that Sam hasn't been posting

10) Getting worked like a rented mule at new job.
9) Petey and Ellie won't let him near the mouse (ohhh!).
8) Spending all his time online looking for jobs in Austin.
7) Mismanaging fantasy football team.
6) Training for a triathlon on a mountain bike.
5) Too much celebrating volleyball victories.
4) Catching up on Felicity episodes.
3) Watching 'The Notebook' again.
2) Stalking Lance Armstrong.
1) Designing a viable hydrogen car and the necessary infrastructure.

Chai & Kanye

Over the last year or so, I have developed an addiction to chai lattes. Since it's impossible to ever be more than a mile from a $tarbucks, I normally end up getting my fix at one of their locations. Occasionally I'm near a small chain, like Greenberry's, and I would like to support them, but their chais just don't measure up. Greenberry's, for example, make their chai lattes too sweet and without enough spices. Oftentimes, it tastes like frothy syrup. Other chai drinkers I've talked to have echoed similar sentiments. I think Tazo makes the syrup that Starbux uses, so unless Tazo and SB have some exclusive deal, these other shops should just get Tazo syrup and undercut SB a little bit.

A well done remix of Kanye West's Gold Digger, "George Bush Don't Like Black People."

Apocalyptica

Design on Apocalyptica's chairs (stolen from some guy's site)


Picture from Omesh's camera phone.

So apparently I'm old. I just went to an Apocalyptica concert at the 9:30 club. Apocalyptica is made up of some European dudes playing cellos. Basically, Apoc's claim to fame is covering Mulletica songs, but they do have some pretty money songs of their own. Anyway, I spent the entire concert up at the bar drinking Bourbon and Cokes with the rest of the old folks. In the past, I'd be down on the floor where the action was. Oh well, it happens to us all...

Power Plant Panacea?

I was in my friend's bathroom the other day reading reading a Fortune magazine, when I stumbled across an interesting article on how to address the nation's growing electricity demands. The basic idea is a line of underground air-cooled nuclear power plants stretched across the country at 100 mile intervals. The plants would be interconnected with superconducting materials, and power could be shifted to wherever there was demand with very little loss. All the radioactive material could permanently be stored underground. One requirement of superconductors is that the material be kept at a very low temperature (not far from aboslute zero). This is where things get neat. The superconductor lines could be kept cool with liquid hydrogen that was produced by electrolyzing water (passing current through it). The electricity required for the electrolysis and liquefying the hydrogen could be obtained from the power plants. Furthermore, when the power lines emerge from the ground, the liquid hydrogen could be collected and used to power hydrogen vehicles. This could help solve the distribution problem facing hydrogen powered vehicles.

Clearly, there are many many issues to address before such a power grid could be implemented, but I thought it was an interesting idea to share.

P.S. It looks like I avenged my fantasy football beatings last year at the hands of Sam, 82-62.

my non-blogger-itus

Okay I think I'm going to start biting things from other pseudo-writers that I've come to admire. Two of which are Jim Anchower and Jerry Seinfeld. Two of the finest literary geniuses of our time. I will now start all blog posts with some variant of "hola Amigos...It's been a while since I rapped at ya, so what's the DEEAAALL with..." My lawyers are still trying to work out some copyright issues but as soon as the law suit is over, that will be my new trademark (all rights reserved). So all future posts until then will be cited...
So it's a new beginning for me. My new salutations are geared to bring joy and fill all readers' hearts love and a little espanol knowledge.
We'll call the previous period of time before I made this 'reengineering effort' b.c.g. (Before the Cool-ass-you-love-our-blog-so-eat-it Greeting). The new term, strictly for calendaring purposes of course, will be a.d.g. (After Dogpoop-nostyle-got-no-nunchuck-skills-havin' Greeting).

Alright, here goes my first post in the adg.



"hola Amigos...It's been a while since I rapped at ya, so what's the DEEAAALL with..." asked a combination of Jim Anchower and Jerry Seinfeld. So what's the deal with fucking everything!!!?!?! I swear the last five years has been off the fucking wall. First of all, 311 albums have consistently gotten worse (no I have not listened to the newest one). This is kind of disappointing but not really tragic I suppose. I mean reality shows, I pray, are on their way out. Has this just been a serious strech of artistic drought? I mean I obviously can't not watch TV so I really wish they'd put something better on. If this keeps up, I might have to go outside and that would really be embarassing since I don't own underwear anymore.

My wife and I watched a movie today which was called Children of Beslan. It is about the terrorist attack that occurred in 2004 when these Chechen terrorists took over a school for a few days and it ended with tons of people (parents and kids) dying. The movie just makes you go what the fuck is wrong with those fucking fuckers??!! It is a documentary and it is more or less completely told by some of the children who survived. It is on HBO and there really isn't much to say about it but it is one of the saddest movies I've ever seen. Really has to be watched though. The real tragic thing about this was how little coverage it received considering you would think it would just be so newsworthy and given there were kids involved, the greedy bastards @ the TV news companies wouldn't pass that up.

We've got hurricanes in record numbers. In the most industrialized, technologically developed country in the world...ever, a hurricane takes out an entire city. I mean, seriously wtf is going on? Tons of people are dead, it seem like it has become politically correct to quietly argue over the numbers because somehow that makes a difference whether someone did their job wrong/right. As it turns out now the death toll looks to be lower than originally expected. That is good. Period. It isn't good because the Republican administration would have to explain the fumbles more if their were more deaths. It's just good. The real question is how (an estimated 1 million) all these people who were pushed out of their homes and lost their jobs (an estimated 400k jobs to be lost) go on with their lives. I understand that now everyone's needs are survival. Everyone just wants to see each other alive, hopefully healthy, and trying to recover. That doesn't even begin to tell the story of how the lives of these people are changed. CNN and FOXNEWS are going to stop covering this story in a week, maybe 3. Lots of the victims of this disaster will still be living in San Antonio or Houston...looking for jobs, trying to start new lives. I can't even imagine what that must be like to go through. If I don't have whole milk or cream for my coffee in the morning, I'm really not pleasant to be around. So we all try to do what makes us feel better about what happenned, maybe give money or blood, and go on with our lives (which is all everyone can, and should do). Those people can't do that though. It just fucking blows.


Alright I'm going to have to cut it off here (the post get your mind out of the gutter) so I don't take up the whole front page. I think I finally figured out why I stopped posting for so long. There is just too much shit going on. Too much shit my mind has been trying to process. That + fantasy Football and I'm full of shit to think about. But if you have questions about your 3rd receiver or TE in a head to head league, I'm your man. Anyway, I could never think of one topic to rant about because there were just too many. Well its ADG time baby, and its a brand new day!!!

~Gama

Media biases

Okay, so by now we've all heard the comments that Kanye West made last weekend, and while it may have not been the best venue, I'm glad that someone addressed the media bias with respect to looting.

Furthermore, to all the jackasses saying "I don't see any white people looting," you need to look at the demographics of the people who did not or could not evacuate New Orleans. It is well documented that the majority were black. Anybody of any race put in the position of those in New Orleans would look wherever they could for water and food. Also, in any large group of people, there are always going to be jerkasses who will take advantage of a situation to steal tvs and clothes. So, given the fact that the majority of people left in New Orleans were black, it stands to reason that there will be more footage of blacks looting.

After reviewing that last paragrah, I realize that I need to clarify some terminology. These days, 'African-American' is the PC term for people of African descent. I have some issues with this label. First, the Sammy Sosa's children argument. Sure, Sammy's ethnically African, but he's from the Dominican Republic where they speak Spanish and have a culture considerably different from his African ancestors. I suspect his children would feel more comfortable putting down Hispanic on their SATs. I'm probably more sensitive to this distinction than others, because I'm in a similar situation. I'm ethnically Indian, but my parents were born in South America and raised in a Caribbean culture. I don't necessarily want to be lumped together with Indians just because my skin happens to be brown. Another 'broken' case is Dave Matthews who is from South Africa. Technically, he is African-American! Until enough mixing occurs such that asking someone's ethnicity is meaningless, I, personally, don't have any problems with using black, white, brown, etc. as labels.

A few weeks ago, shortly after Peter Jennings death, ABC ran a documentary on his life and career. About halfway through the program, the subject of Jennings' alleged pro-Palestinian bias came up. Prior to watching this segment, I was not aware that some individuals viewed Jennings as having such a bias. It has always seemed to me that most news outlets and politicians in ths country have a pro-Israeli bias, and it always seemed that I was more sympathetic to the Palestinans' plight than the average American. I was not sure where this came from until I saw the documentary. From pre-school until around sixth grade, I watched ABC news every night with my parents. I think I absorbed Peter Jennings viewpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whether it be biased or just more objective than other journalists.

not going...

...to san Diego. I don't have the balls to actually make the phone call to announce it to my friend. So its going on a blog. It's not you, its me PeonSmurf. Let's be friends :)

Missing the point

Okay I'm hoping this note will act as a springboard for my writing on this blog. My initial reaction to PeonSmurf's post is not that its a bad idea, nor that helping some small country isn't a useful way to develop the next generation of technology that will eventually cleanly fuel my Escalade (or Accord as it may be) . The problem is the assumption that the people you want to bend over backwards for and convince this idea is a great solution, just don't see a problem. The fact is that whether the loyalties to fossil fuels are because of economic reasons or simply skepticism, your Joe "oil man" American doesn't think this 'environment' thing really needs consideration. If you can't agree on the problem statement, you really can't argue about the solution.

It reminds me of the animal rights movement. Animal rights activists will tell you that animals deserve to be treated humanely and given the right to live an meaningful (or more meaningful) life. Unfortunately their adversaries see nothing more in the purpose of the animals' lives than to serve whatever purpose man has in store for them. So the premise (that the word humane applies to animals) is not agreed upon and there becomes no basis for a true argument.

And we all know that if there is no coherent argument then all those lawyers in congress can't moan and groan about it (yielding to the congressman from Kentucky,etc.). If there is no moaning and groaning, I think we all know that good ole' Cape Verde is not getting a McDonald's let alone a renewable energy plan. One question would be why our compatriots @ places like the World Bank or U.N. don't seem to have any interest in investing in things like this. If that could be a way for countries to be self-sufficient, then why exactly wouldn't everyone throw money their way?

I think Smurf's idea is pretty brilliant, though. That is the tragic thing. I'm really not sure how to approach this problem (the environment) so it is both effective and the other side would listen.

Okay this wasn't the most entertaining post in the world but after a 4-6 month hiatus it's a start.
~Gama

Apparently the world is ending...

Evidence.

Oh the irony...

U.S. says Syria 'must stop meddling' in Lebanon

(see previous post)

Bush Calls Democracy Terror's Antidote

Well, Iran had their chance, but we managed to botch that pretty good.

What am I talking about? Time's Man of the Year from 1951. Doesn't ring a bell? Maybe seeing the cover will jog your memory. Still puzzled? Maybe his name will help: Mohammed Mossadegh. If his name doesn't ring any bells, you're not alone. Until a couple of weeks ago, I'd never heard of him either. Mossadegh was the democratically elected prime minister of Iran until he was outsted with the assistance of MI-6 (British Intelligence) and the CIA. The CIA's meddling is one of the sources of the Iranian people's resentment towards the United States.

I've been sitting on this post for a while, because I wanted to do some research so I could put together a detailed chronology. I haven't gotten a chance to read the books I checked out, so I'll just post a summary here.

Our story starts with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) which had a monopoly on refining and distributing Iranian oil. As with most British companies involved in 'uncivilized' countries, the AIOC was exploitve of Iranians while lining the coffers of the British. The AIOC became quite an issue amongst the Iranian people and Mossadegh gained popularity due to his strong anti-British stance. He helped get the AIOC nationalized, and rode the wave of popularity to the office of prime minister. Clearly the Britsh were upset at losing their most profitable business, and they responded with an embargo and blockade of Iran. They attempted to draw the United States into the conflict, but President Truman was unsympathetic. However, after Eisenhower became president, the British tried a new ploy, and convinced the US government that Mossadegh had Communist ties. Being that it was the 1950s, this was quite an effective tactic, and the CIA soon put operatives into play. The lead operative was Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of Theodore Roosvelt. After one botched attempt, Kermit and the rest of the muppets managed to get Mossadegh overthrown and installed the western-friendly monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah. The Shah turned out to be a debacle of a leader and with him at the helm, Iran spiraled into poverty and corruption culminating with the Islamic revolution of 1979.

These events are a good demonstration of why meddling in the affairs of other countries is not advisable. It may seem like a good idea at the time, and might even yield desirable results in the short term, but there can be diastastrous consequences 30-40 years down the road.

It's interesting that my 9th grade World History class spent a period or two discussing Xerxes, Darius, etc., but we didn't spend five minutes discussing US/Iran relations in the 20th century. In light of current events, I hope this is being remedied.

Invitation

I would like to cordially invite surfsamsurf to our writing team. Its obvious that Ninjax and I are too busy smoking camels to write on a consistant basis and I think we need a little fresh meat to stir up the conversation. So lets do it. come on Jam master J.
~Gama

America the ugly...

44 percent of Americans queried in Cornell national poll favor curtailing some liberties for Muslim Americans.

This poll was actually released last December, but I don't remember hearing anything about it, and everyone I send the link to seems to be seeing it for the first time. It backs up my theory that watching televison news (especially Fox News) is a bad idea. I need to get out of this place.

Fear is your only god.

Sanitarium

is what I heard on DC101 as I got into my car at 9:15 tonight. This is why DC101 is still a rock station and WHFS is now 'El Zol.' On a typical night at 9:15, HFS was usually playing some whiny emo song that apparently no one wanted to hear. Hopefully, the demise of HFS will spur the remaining 'rock' stations to actually play some rock. Can the chevelle/nickelback crap and bring back some Rush, Pink Floyd and Zeppelin. Also, it wouldn't kill them to play some Pantera once in a while. I mean, come on, Dimebag died a month ago!

Too many @$#%& people!

I live 2 miles from work. Today it took me over half an hour to get home. That works out to 4 mph. I'm not paying Tysons-style rent so that someone walking backwards could beat me home. There are just too many cars on the road, and too many assclowns blocking intersections and deciding at the last possible second that they want to turn left too. I definitely felt like this guy.

Then, I decided to go to the gym a little early today at 8pm. I hate having to wait until 9pm to go, because I don't finish until nearly 11. When I got upstairs, all 5 benches were taken by Hans and Franz types who were doing 20 set progressions. Harrible.

My lease is up in May and as of today, here is how I see my options:

a) Buy a condo in NoVA
b) Use the down payment that I would have used on a condo to buy a ranch in Montana where I can watch my M*A*S*H DVDs in peace
c) Return to my roots and buy a hovel in Guyana. I may get attacked by a gang wielding cutlasses, but at least they still cook plantain the right way down there.

Most regular people would say it’s hard...

Tribute and more...

This blog post goes out to my wife. She perpetually gets me off my ass to do things that she knows I enjoy doing. I haven't written in my blog in a little over a month even thouhg I really enjoy the outlet. I won't get cheesy, although I could. I just wanted to say I love you.

okay okay... on to something more substantive, well maybe not.

Dub is now a 'dynasty' if this were professional sports. 2 championships in 4 years!! Now the most famous recipient of the "Person of the Year" award was Adolf Hitler. So all you haters, take a breath since its not necessarily a positive award. Personally I think I have to agree. So the real question is:
Did the people @ Time consider this a Hitler/Stalin award, or a Charles Lindbergh/Eisenhower award? The article is very interesting and I agree with it wholeheartedly. At the end of the day, the world has shifted on his words for the past few years.

One more question...is this better than that bullshit cop-out "American Soldier" one from last year. Now, I completely believe in supporting the troops but I hate those crappy generic gift awards. If it is to continue to be a relevant award in the world, you can't mail it in once in a while.

Arch Stanton

I just watched The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and I have a few observations/questions:

1) WTF takes a gun into the tub with them?
2) YoY would you start wearing a poncho that required you to fling it over your shoulder everytime you had a pistol fight.
3) If you made $100k during the Civil War would you really need to keep being a bounty killer (tGtBatU was supposed to be a prequel)?
4) Isn't it slightly odd/confusing to use the same actors for different roles in two movies of a trilogy?
5) When did it get so hard to get to the label of a 1L bottle of Beam?

Badass List Revisited

I just watched For a Few Dollars More, and The man with no name and Col. Mortimer reminded me of the list of badasses that I started in grad school. I managed to find it on my computer, but a lot of the individuals no longer seem that badass, so I updated the list and posted it here:

The "Badass List" (still no order yet)

Politics:
-James Forman

Entertainment:
-John Henry Bonham (Bonzo to his mates)
-Robert Nesta Marley
-Brad Pitt's characters (Tyler Durden, the Piker and the dude from Ocean's 11)
-Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone
-Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke
-John Wayne (take your pick of roles)
-Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in For a Few Dollars More as 'Monco' and Col. Douglas Mortimer respectively

Athletics
-Vladimir Guerrero

Let's play make-believe kids. Today we're an Iranian.

So the news has been filled with stories about Iran and their uranium enrichment program. I thought it would be entertaining to pretend to be an Iranian contemplating whether or not Iran should pursue nuclear weapons.

cue wavey (not those) lines
Hmm, I seem to remember hearing back in January of 2002 that President Bush mentioned us in his state of the union address, and it wasn't exactly flattering. He dubbed Iraq, Iran and North Korea the "Axis of Evil." A little more than a year after that speech, the Americans and their lackeys invaded Iraq looking for WMDs that they were certain they'd find. Turns out, they haven't found any yet and probably never will. So...even if we don't pursue an nuclear weapon program, the US still might invade us looking for WMDs. If you're going to get invaded for something, you might as well have done it, no?


Also, if/when the Americans finish up in Iraq, they're going to have a sizeable force in the area, and they may decide that we need some democratization too. They've dumped trillions of dollars into their military, and we simply can't compete. For his second term, it seems like Bush's goal for his cabinet was to eliminate dissent and fill it with like-minded "shoot first and ask questions later" types. Having a nuclear arsenal would serve as a pretty strong deterrent. We probably can't get to the level of MAD (mutually assured destruction), but it would definitely make them think twice.

cue wavey lines (still not those) and fade out

Next up: a Ukranian contemplating the hypocrisy of Americans criticizing election irregularities. Sample: "...at least in our country the guy with most votes won!"

Bare with us...We are trying to get a color scheme settled for the site so if it looks different everytime you visit...sorry.

Any suggestions, please feel free.

And the Winner of the Biggest Bush Basher is (triple B award)...

Maureen Dowd is the most complete bush basher around in my opinion. She's like some sort of triple threat small forward on the basketball court. She's the Kevin Garnett of Dub bashing. She is very politically astute and seems very aware of the events and movitvations behind things. She has some sort of Liz Phair mojo to her, a kind of dry sense of humor that allows her to say things that otherwise might not come off intelligent at all. And last but not least, she has the stones to essentially kill Dub at all times, in all arenas, (and sometimes) with no real evidence. Gotta love it.
~~Gama

Tax me, tax you, tax EVERYBODY

Here's something interesting about the "simplification" of the tax code Bush is trying to push in the next four years. Man I'm so disappointed since a more reasonable tax code was essentially the only thing I was hoping for with the re-election:

"Instead the administration plans to push major amendments that would shield interest, dividends and capitals gains from taxation, expand tax breaks for business investment and take other steps intended to simplify the system and encourage economic growth, according to several people who are advising the White House or are familiar with the deliberations.

The changes are meant to be revenue-neutral. To pay for them, the administration is considering eliminating the deduction of state and local taxes on federal income tax returns and scrapping the business tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance, the advisers said.

As the tax discussion takes shape, "we're not talking about a replacement system," said a former White House aide familiar with the emerging policy.

White House aides warn that no decisions have been made. "The president believes the tax code should be simpler, fairer, and more conducive to economic growth and he looks forward to appointing an advisory panel to review options for reforming the tax code," White House spokeswoman Clare Buchan said."
-- Washington Post

So we are planning on paying for the tax reform by making it more expensive for employers to give health care? And the tax 'reform' that is going to apparently take place is essentially corporate and investment incentives? That in no way makes the tax code simplier for the average person. It makes taxes easier on people who have enough money to invest, but in no way is this the populist approach touted during the campaign. Anybody out there have a good approach for tax reform?

I'm stumped by this solution and it seems like the democrats don't know what to do about taxes either. A little help please...

Ugh.The borders are officially out of control. Apparently Mexicans are getting a little desperate...

Okay, this is a little ridiculous...and apparently absolutely true. Apparently Mexicans have developed an ingenious way to 'hop' the border into America. Money Link. Judge Gonzales has his hands full in my opinion. This is when we need Pat Buchanan to actually build that wall around the country that he planned to back in the day. I have nothing to say about this other than lining all the borders with Flubber. We could always just help mexico not be such a hell hole and maybe it wouldn't be such a problem. I don't see a ton of Canadians ski jumping across the borders. That's all I've got on this one.

Birrfffffday

My birthday was yesterday. My wife and I had a great day. I dont' usually like to make a big deal out of birthdays and such but she always draws the best out of me. First of all it was as we all know, Veterans Day. Yes its horrible to have to share your birthday with a holiday but I've come to the conclusion that Veterans Day is the perfect holiday to share. The thing is, I have not EVER had to go to school or work on my birthday. I mean NEVER. That is officially money. Now this is the same thing as having your birthday on Christmas or Easter but the kicker is the presents. Lets be honest, you're born even NEAR Christmas and you're screwed. Yo u get the combo gifts which are almost always lamer that just simple Christmas presents. Its painful. I always felt for my grandmother who was born on Christmas Eve. Not only was she getting the grandma gifts which were lame to start with, but she'd get the grandma-combo gifts. I mean that shouldn't even be legal. Whatever happen to respecting your elders? She gets a potholder, three trivets, and an afghan for living 80 years on this planet. And what for 80 Christmas's? yup...potholder, three trivets, and an afghan. pootacular. See Veterans Day has nothing to do with gifts, so I don't get screwed. Best of both worlds.

That's about it...the day was great. Spent about 2 hours in Whole Foods Market. Okay like a lot of things, I'm a wanna be health nut. I love the idea of eating organic foods, whole grains, and foods that grow naturally in the happy world of niceville. Unfortunately the niceville chicken is a bit more costly than the steroidandria or smallcrateington chicken. Its a compromise I guess. C and I went nuts looking around. Its now her favorite store, topping Loehmanns, World Market, and TJMaxx. Sounds like a slow day...it was, and that was exactly what I was looking for. We also went on the first official Gym search. Along with the whole foods thing, we are on the fitness kick too. We went all over the place trying to find that diamond in the rough. Apparently there aren't any $5 / month gyms with towel service. What a rip. So we got home...cooked crabcakes, sea scallops and fixed the rest of dinner. Great day. Relaxation, I have found, has become the premium activity in the time that I have to myself.

Then came the movie...Passion of the Christ. That is for another post...
~~

Not to say I told you so...

So the world of politics works in mysterious ways. I called the victory for W. and I was so right, it hurts. But Sam, you say, there is no evidence that people voted for W. because of the stupid OBL video, what are you talking about? Okay okay, I might have said something about the video. And according to most of the pundit's exit polls, the all informative "moral values" issue was the reason people who voted for GeeDub gave at a rate of 22%. Compared to Iraq, the Economy, and the equally vague War on Terror (all close to 20%) it was an initial shock to many who thought issues like a WAR would trump two dudes getting married. After looking at all kinds of rebuttles to the whole "moral issues" exit polls, I'm pretty confident that, equal to the initial incorrect exit polling being for Kerry, this Moral Issues...uh...issue is nothing more than bunk. Yes, bunk. Here's my take on the election in as short and as sweet as I can make it.

First let me send my heart felt congratulations out to the Bush family for officially becoming the most powerful family in the history of American politics. Don't forget good ole' Jeb which they have slated to at least make a run in 2008. Secondly the conservatives in this country have spent the past 15 years working a near perfect campaign to establish a media infrastructure out there that has no pretense of bias and exists only to perpetuate the conservative agenda. I mean its like setting up preachers to speak the word of conservatism. The Rush Limbaughs, Sean Hannity's, and Bill O'Reilly's of the world are the green berets that sweep in before the army and set the scene up for easy pickins'. The hypocracy of entire news organizations, talk radio, and others gaining momentum on the statement that mainstream media is biased is absolutely brilliant. The strength of the Republican party has not been greater as it is today. Well Maureen Dowd has things pretty much nailed down the impression I have on where things are right now. Its a conservatives dream for the next 4 years and that's the way it goes.

Okay okay. why was I right in my predictions? Well due to the Osama tape, it is my contention that the 'undecideds' which typically vote for the challenger, voted for Bush. Why? Well in the back of their minds was the idea that Osama Bin Laden wants us to elect Kerry and f-me if I'm going to do with he wants. No one is really mentioning that but I really believe that was a good percentage of the undecided vote.


Okay Ryan and I are InfoSec people it is our duty to weigh in on the voting machines issue....
I also watched the Passion of the Christ last night which I will attempt to review without starting a firefight.
~gamalama

Dumb...

From this Op/Ed piece:

"72 percent who cast votes for George W. Bush, according to a University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and Knowledge Networks poll, believe that Iraq (news - web sites) had weapons of mass destruction or active WMD programs. 75 percent think that a Saddam-Al Qaeda link has been proven, and 20 percent say Saddam ordered 9/11. Of course, none of this was true.

Kerry voters were less than half as idiotic: 26 percent of Democrats bought into Bush-Cheney's WMD lies, and 30 percent into Saddam-Al Qaeda."

HI-larious

Get up on this...

OBL in the Hizzle

So Osama is still alive and getting on the campaign trail. I'm not sure what I think of this whole scenario. First off, its pretty evident he's not living in a cave somewhere communicating via smoke signals. His tape menions a great deal of current events which disturbs me. You had to kind of expect an appearance. I mean its like watching a Ben Affleck movie and just waiting to see Matt Damon walk in for some unnecessary cameo. The troubling thing was just that it now has to have an impact in the election. I mean this guy should be still running for his life, why has he made more movies than Ron Howard? I thought he was sick, I thought he was on the run, I thought he could "run but he couldn't hide". Well guess what, it doesn't seem like he having to run or hide too much and its PISSING ME OFF! For crying out loud, how do we solve this problem? I mean for real people, its just a little obnoxious, and quite embarrassing to have some ghost still taunting Americans.

RANT
All this crap reminds me of something pretty critical that hasn't been talked about much.
This guy Capt. Josh Rushing was on NPR yesterday. Its a great listen. He was a press officer stationed at CENTCOM. He was later assigned to the world wide media including Al Jazeera (the infamous anti-american news network), on the war in Iraq. How much experience did he have with Iraq? ZERO! How much Arabic did he speak? ZERO! He apparently learned as much as he could about IRAQ on the plane over seas reading a "for Dummies" book. He was also prominantly pictured in Control Room , a documentary on the perception of America in Iraq. Why hasn't America made a concious effort to explain, explain, expain and sell, sell, sell the actions of America in that region to Al Jazeera? I know I know, many people might say this is shit because Al Jazeera obviously has biases (one of which being that its famous for less than love for America). It does no good, however, to push the American agenda on TV networks that:
1. America propped up and has NO legitimacy in the Arab world.
2. Only support the war effort at home (BBC, FoxNews, CNN).

My opinion is that the US must improve communications with Al Jazeera to get more rebuttles to the attacks they make against the US. That is the only legitimate news source to the Arab world in that region! And when I say legitimate, I mean the ONLY network repected by the people in the middle east. THEY DONT WATCH FOX NEWS!!!
/RANT

The real question is, was he saying that voting for Bush would be in his interest or voting for Kerry would be? It seemed like there was a hint that they'd love Bush because he's just like dealing with leaders of other states in that region. But at the same time, that could have been intentional to provoke a reaction by the people. So, what's the impact in the election? Well if the people know he wants them to vote for Bush, will they change their mind to be defiant? Wouldn't OBL know that Americans would do the exact opposite of what he suggested, so he'd plan for that too? Will Americans be a little bit more than annoyed that Bin Laden is making movies while we are losing in Iraq and vote for change? Will the people be reminded of 9/11 and vote Bush for the agressiveness of his war on terror? I guess the real question is does this matter in Florida, Ohio, or Penn? I live in the DC beltway so we always take this stuff much more seriously than everyone else in the country does. So how will this affect those three states since according to all the pundits (whatever they know)? Pretty pathetic that something as menacing as this video really only matters with regard to the election outcome not the potential for another attack which it seems like noone is really worried about. I am going to a football game tomorrow, and voting on tuesday and I'm just annoyed that I have to worry about the stadium blowing up, voting precincts being destroyed, or a train being hijacked and blown up (see Madrid). Its a scary world and its just a shame.

PS-My pick is that Bush gets the election on this video (which is sick). I'd love to be wrong.

Zack, where have you gone?

Rage Against the Machine 'dissolved' a few years ago, and all the members but Zack de la Rocha banded together with Chris Cornell and formed the band, Audioslave. They released a successful album in 2002. Zack, however, has been MIA. He's reportedly recorded tracks with Trent Reznor of NIN, Dan the Automator of the Gorillaz, and DJ Shadow, but no albums have been released. Zack and Shadow did release a song shortly after the war in Iraq began, but due to the oppressive patriotism that was pervasive at the time, it received little to no airplay.

Interestingly enough, it seems like some Rage songs are actually becoming more relevant as time passes. Let's examine some snippets:

Merge on tha networks, slangin' nerve gas
Up jump tha boogie then bang, let 'em hang
While tha paraniod try ta stuff tha void
Let's capture this AM mayhem
Undressed, and blessed by tha Lord
Tha power pendulum swings by tha umbilical cord
Shock around tha clock, from noon 'til noon
Men grabbin' they mics, and stuff 'em into tha womb
Terror's tha product ya push
Well I'm a truth addict, oh shit I gotta headrush
Sheep tremble an here come tha votes
Thrown from tha throat, new cages an scapegoats
Undressed and blessed by tha Lord
Tha same devil that ran around Managua wit a sword
Check out tha new style that Ollie found
I tune in wit a bullet ta shut down tha devil sound
Shut down tha devil sound
Tha program of Vietnow
Shut down tha devil sound

-Vietnow, Evil Empire (1996)

Clearly, the original target of this song was conservative radio, but much of it is directly applicable to the current election. "Terror's tha product ya push" could be a reference to the spreading of paranoia by Bush and his cronies. "Sheep tremble an here come tha votes" is the what the Bush camp hopes results from their terror pushing.

The movie ran through me
The Glamour subdue me
The tabloid untie me
Im empty please fill me
Mister anchor assure me
That Baghdad is burning
Your voice it is so soothing
That cunning mantra of killing
I need you my witness
To dress this up so bloodless
To numb me and purge me now
Of thoughts of blaming you
Yes the car is our wheelchair
My witness your coughing
Oily silence mocks the legless
Boys who travel now in coffins

-Testify, Battle of Los Angeles (1999)

This one is pretty much self-explanatory. It seems more applicable to the current conflict in Iraq since this one is a prolonged war where we're constantly hearing reports of "X number dead today in Iraq."

Anyway, as the title indicates, the original purpose of this post was to question why Zack hasn't released anything in the months leading up to the election. I'm sure there are plenty of 18-yr olds running around out there who support Kerry, but would rather not be bothered with the whole voting process. A catchy song and video might be all the motivation these kids need to get themselves registered and to the polls. Every vote counts...

Top 10 indicators that you're a peon.

Ask and ye shall receive. Some of these are from personal experience. Others, I've witnessed, and some are just plain made up. I think everyone can relate to at least one of these, however, and that just means that we've all been a peon at some point in our life.

10) You are referred to as a 'vassal' or 'serf.'
9) Some guy keeps demanding half of your harvest.
8) When clicked on repeatedly, you involuntarily emit a series of nonsensical sounds.
7) You realize that the girl you've been sweating for the last month actually lives in your dorm. Ugh.
6) You answer the phone, and the person on the other end says, "Hello Ma'am" to which you reply, "I'm a boy!"
5) You're picked last in dodgeball. Even the exchange student who thinks the goal of the game is to get hit, and the guy who eats paste in the coat closet were picked ahead of you.
4) You've just accomplished something amazing in your favorite avocation, but you realize that you can't tell anyone because a) they wouldn't understand the significance, and/or b) it involves a 20-sided die
3) You're the only person in your company who didn't get a laptop when he/she started working there.
2) You're last in your fantasy league despite the fact that half the people autodrafted and haven't changed their lineups yet.
1) You've asked such questions as "Is the homecoming game going to be at home?" or "Are any of you guys going to join a sorority?"

Polls...

So, I'm full of chicken wings, beer and Amphora chocolate mousse and feeling rather lazy, but I'll try to make a coherent post.

As Sam alluded to in his post, the polls have been back and forth in the last few days, but for the most part they have been within the margin of error. To the intelligent voter, this means that the polls really don't tell us anything other than the election is very tight. Given the closeness of this race, what I want to know is if it's more advantageous for a candidate to be ahead or behind on the eve (literally, definition #1) of the election. Here are some theories:

1) Being behind is better, because it will motivate voters who support a candidate, but are lazy, to hit the polls. (Similarly, lazy voters for the leading candidate might decide that they aren't needed)
2) Being ahead is better, because it will 'energize' a candidate's supporters and encourage them to hit the polls.
3) Being ahead is better, because people always like being on the winning team, so some undecided voters will vote for the leading candidate simply so they can be on the victorious side.

I'd like to think that #3 is unlikely, but given some of the reasons that people I know support Bush, I would not be surprised if it is a factor. Anyway, it's just something to mull over while you're driving to work over the next week.

And another thing...

Alright I'm relying on Ninjax's abilities (or lack of life) to think of a top 10. I'm really not the brain of the operation. I'm not sure I'm the brawn either but who really cares.

I am officially poll weary. I'm also officially poll addicted. This race is ridiculously close for a lot of people which is certainly understandable. In the real world (somewhere between marioland and candyland) there are some pretty high stakes. The polls however, I have decided are complete shit. Not that they might not end up being right. By all means a broken clock is right twice a day. A weather man can tell the world its raining outside. Ummm...The race is close. So to make it more interesting, it keeps blipping around!!! Up 2, down 1, the big O, I mean MO. Lets be honest here. Its all crap...Ninjax would say craptastic or such things but all the same, its useless. I suppose it makes everyone feel better about feeling the way they do.

I'm watching hardball yesterday and Chris Matthews has approximately a 2.3 second interview with Senator Kerry. Best part about it? They were both outside in chilly Philadelphia weather, and Kerry looked the grittiest I've seen him. Worst part of it? Same old 'sleeper hold' effect from Kerry's speaking.

I went through a few weeks ago, what I predict every Kerry supporter has gone through this year. I mean, is this guy for real? Not in a sarcastic sense, is he completely and seriously running for president thinking the world is just waiting for him to arrive? I mean does he think that a republican congress is going to do anything close to what he's promised? I'm sure Poland will be very quick to deliver thousands of troops. I mean HE FORGOT POLAND!!! Can he seriously think, with the economic mess we are in, healthcare is going to come rolling out the Whitehouse door and everyone will have the same healthcare "congressmen give themselves"? I'll give all these an understated probably not. So I have friends that say he is actually serious. Hmm.
All this goes away everytime I see the Pres. not acknowledging anything bad going on in Iraq, or handily screwing up the economy, or alienating our allies, or...I give up.

Ah well, it passed and apparently I didn't need the flu shot to keep myself from dying. At the end of the day, Kerry is a safer choice to lead us through the next four years. Why? Simply his view that America NEEDS help from the rest of the world in fighting terror, the war in Iraq, the 'global' economies (anyone know anything about the EU, and whether they have any impact what-so-ever? Yeah neither do anyone in the Bush administration). Kerry is going to be tougher with the Saudis, since there aren't any 'extracurricular' ties there. This is huge because they are this band of thugs that have been living under the US protective wing of wonderful happy times for too many years. I'm tired of them always getting left out of the freedom in the middle east talk. how many of the suicide bombers from 9/11 were Saudis? Ninjax, look that one up!

At the end of the day, a liberal politician, in a republican congress, who hasn't quite out grown his vietnam war wounds is a safer choice than a fortunate son who's six shooter always seems to have plenty more bullets, but no real aim.

This blog I do not expect to be totally politics, but since we are a week away, Ninjax and I will be sure litter this blog with politicy junk. enjoy.


Puhlease post comments and email so we can get this blog active!