improving on perfection

it can be done.



hopefully i'll be able to get the thumbnail thing to work later, so you can see a bigger picture. but for now, here is the RISK board, with some ocean.

--UPDATE--
well, the pics are on my parents compy at home, so further editing is for now impossible. however, if you follow this link, you can see a much bigger picture. or, for those of you living in the spokane area, you can stop by my room and check out the real thing.

the greatest feeling in the world

in my opinion, the greatest feeling in the world is being able to do nothing. not having to worry about getting up in the morning for work, or classes, or anything other than getting enough laundry done so your parents continue to feed you. tonight, i was able to just chill and watch some movies (the bourne supremacy and finding nemo) with a friend. and it was great. and within a few days more friends will be getting home, which should increase the greatness.

on a side note, i'm going to try and take this blog away from the political focus it had leading up to the election. i still like politics, but there are others--like powerline and instapundit, to name a few--who can do a much better and much more thorough job than i can. i would recommend checking them out at some point. in the mean time, hopefully i'll be able to keep this entertaining, and keep readers coming back, even if it isn't on a regular basis.

"I had a good quote to put up, but I seem to have forgotten it." --Daniel Bareither, several hours after he was planning on going to bed

mostly dead, or partly alive?

either of those could be used to describe the entity known as "me" (to myself, at least) at the end of finals week. i think i'm going to go with partly alive, cause it sounds a bit more optimistic. anyways, i hope to be updating this on a fairly regular basis... but i also hope to be out doing things that don't involve me sitting in front of a computer.
that's it, really. i'm off to bed now. no more up-till-3 am study/typing sessions, at least not till next semester. it feels good.

oh yeah, and be sure to check out rachel lucas' new site.

things will get better

that's my new theme song of the moment. i decided to take a break from working on a paper that's due tomorrow (still not finished...) to study for a final that takes place 7 hours from now. while typing away, i was listening to music; at this moment, it's the band "Spoken", and the song "Promise", the lyrics of which are below. i figured it was pretty perfect for me at this point in life/school/whatever.

PROMISE

Yet another day seems like it’s wasted

You don’t feel you’re any closer to the prize

A dead end job where there’s no future

Praying that tomorrow things won’t be this way



chorus:

Things will get better this I promise you

And I know that you won’t feel this way forever

Things will get better this I promise you

And I know loneliness won’t last forever



Yet another day, another tired morning

You’re catching up to your intentions

You’re thinking life has to be easier than this

Maybe tomorrow things won’t be this way







Loneliness won’t last forever

I promise with all that’s in me to leave this emptiness behind

it's from their cd "a moment of imperfect clarity", which i thorougly enjoy... i would recommend picking it up. and writing your papers on time.

and the word of the day is...

"rancor", courtesy of rachel. not to be confused with the rancor monster from jabba's palace in star wars: return of the jedi.

my point has been proven yet again

not just my point, but the point of most people who have ever watched anime: the japanese are weird. not convinced? check this out.

"$15 million isn't money. $15 million is a motive with a universal adapter." --some guy who's name i've forgotten, from the movie Way of the Gun.

maybe that's not as fun as i thought

a caffeine overdose, that is. i was originally planning on consuming copius quantities of that substance, in the form of bawls and mountain dew, and staying up all night to study and write. but then i found out that you can actually overdose on caffeine. some of the effects were expected, others were not. you can view the full list at this site; here's a few i thought were worth posting:

the obvious ones:
--difficulty sleeping
--muscle twitching
--increased urination

the not so obvious and potentially bad ones:
--in and out of consciousness
--vomiting/diarrhea
--irregular heartbeat
--hallucinations
--convulstions
--death

no, that last one was not a joke... you can actually die from a caffeine overdose. scary thought.

"... [It] is an honorable action to abstain from another's wife for temperance sake." --Aristotle

i'm dreaming of a red christmas....

so this site is pretty cool. it lists a bunch of businesses and which presidential candidate they donated to. the site obviously wants you to buy from the "blue" businesses; but the "red" businesses are listed also, which makes it easy for those of us on the right. if at all possible, i would recommend doing the opposite of what the site says: avoid the blue stores, buy from the red ones. otherwise, its entirely possible that your own money will be put to use against you.

thanks to mollbot for the heads up.

i wonder...

...why can't more french people be like this? it would be a much cooler country. make sure to read the part where she says: "I love Britain. I love Margaret Thatcher. I love the way you have overcome the unions and are not afraid to privatise. I love the way you work so hard. In France, we have become lazy and staid. We think only of weekends, holidays and how great we once were. We need a dose of Thatcherism."

sweet, i'm famous

well, not really. but forrest (liberal warning) just pointed out to me that one of my comments was quoted in a post today. it was cast in a negative light, but hey, i'm out there now. scroll down a little ways... i'm the fourth comment under the "south of the 49th" section.

in search of a good play

alison has already decided that she is a horrible poet. i'm pretty competitive, but since i don't really like poetry--especially writing it--i won't challenge her for worst poet ever. instead, i'm gonna shoot for worst playwright ever. here's a little something i got started on in shakespeare class the other day... if i have time, i'll maximize the horribleness by finishing it.

Actors
Bob, King of Kalamazoo
Kate, a barmaid
A Panda

Act I, Scene I
Setting: the royal court of Kalamazoo

King Bob: Who dares to enter our royal presence?
Kate: Kate the barmaid, your majesty.
King Bob: And what is your purpose here?
Kate: I come to beg for the release
Of my friend the Panda, good my lord.
King Bob: You mean this Panda?
[enter Panda, in chains, escorted by guards]
This Panda was discovered in the royal wine cellar,
Guzzling the roaly wine. For this
The punishment is death. The more so, since his
Blood-alcohol level was thirteen per cent!
Kate: But he's over eight hundred pounds, my lord! That would mean
That he consumed at least forty gallons of wine!
King Bob: Forty-two, to be precise, [Panda belches]
The price of which shall be take out of his hide;
Following this, his flesh shall be served at a banquet
In honor of myself. You are, of course, not invited.
Now leave us.

that's actually all i've got so far. and i was kinda making it up on the spot during class, so i'm not entirely sure where it was going. my partner was actually a theater major, but she was operating on about three hours of sleep, so the play isn't as good as it could have been.

on that note, or really any note you feel like, i need to get back to homework. for those of you still in school, good luck on finals. for those of you already done... [CENSORED].

good idea, bad idea

i was inspired to do this by something i saw today. and of course, by the animaniacs, who did it on a fairly regular basis.

good idea: having a christmas bazaar right before finals week.
bad idea: selling sharp knives at a christmas bazaar right before finals week.

this post is "interactive", if you will. leave your own in the comments, or if you want to email me, i'll update the post and stick them in.

red state, blue state, wait a minute, which state?

ok, so the title needs some work. but i've been thinking a lot about the whole blue state secession thing. i realize that most people who talk about it aren't actually serious about it, but i still want to put in my two cents. maybe even three, if i'm feeling especially creative/energetic.

also, all of these ideas assume that i'm in charge of the red states, since a lot of the red state inhabitants are more tolerant than i am.

the flyover states
many on the east and left coasts refer to the heartland as the "flyover states", suggesting that they're basically in the way. if they seceeded, the red states would become, instead of flyover states, no-fly zones. any unauthorized aircraft ventured into our airspace, it would be shot first, and questions would be asked later.

international freeway
i have also heard talk of a massive freeway from california to new york, with no on- or off-ramps in between. that assumes, of course, that the red states would allow the construction to take place. and even if they did, there would be a massive fee involved, plus a monthly charge. it would, after all, be taking up valuable farm land.

you and what army?
oh yeah, and over 80% of the military votes republican, which means that if they don't already, they'd end up making their home in one of the red states. we've pinned you blue guys back into the union before, and i don't think we'd have much trouble doing it again.

i was going to write more on this, but i decided to watch the blade movies instead of doing homework, which means now i need to get back to that.

my hero

as usual, i should be doing homework. but during a conversation that was taking place during homework, i started thinking about friday night. and friday night reminded me that the shell station up the street is once again selling bawls, which makes them my new favorite people.



are we huge nerds? yes, indeed we are.

ok, back to procrastinating. g'night everyone.

corruption, one quiz at a time

dang it, here's another one:

don't ask

dictionary entries you won't find in websters.

multitasking: screwing a woman and shooting a bad guy at the same time.

feel free to add your own.

confusing thought of the day

right now (well, 5 minutes ago and then as soon as i finish this post), i'm working on a paper on fascism, using the writings of benito mussolini. while reading mussolini, something confused me. he says that fascism repudiates socialism; yet he was happy to join up with the nazi (national socialist) party, who were supposedly fascist. hopefully i'll get an answer tomorrow in class. in the mean time, feel free to weigh in.

hooray for weird quizzes, and the friends that take them

like this one:



and this one:



i don't totally agree with the villian one, but i took it twice and got the same answer. and smith was a cool guy.

--update--
this one too:
The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

--i should really be doing homework...--
but this is really more entertaining:


"Sadism is fun." --Corliss Slack

hooray for randomness

i hadn't read red's blog in awhile, but i'm glad i went back. i had forgotten how many fun, random things he puts up there. like this, for example. or this. its a good place to go if you want to waste time, have a few laughs, and not do homework... pretty much where i am right now.

we need help

really, we do. if any of you have any skill at geography, i ask that you join the fray in the geography olympics. i've been doing decent so far... i'm probably averaging about 70-75%. which isn't as bad as it sounds: right now, the United States is sitting in 101st place (out of 187 countries currently involved) with a score of 57.598%. and if you suck at geography... well, we can't do much worse than we already are.

another fun quote

but not involving alison, this time. actually, it's back on the topic of john kerry (sort of), who obviously never read mussolini.

"In 1919, at the end of the War, Socialism as a doctrine was already dead: it existed only as a hatred, it had still only one possibility... that of revenge against those who had wished for the War and who should be made to expiate it." --Benito Mussolini

actually, i guess that quote applies to a large portion of europe too.

.........

so these next couple of weeks are gonna be crap for the mood. luckily, i have friends to lighten the mood.

"I like being single. I just wish i had someone to make out with." --Alison

the full spectrum

So Good
getting off work an hour and a half early, and having the manager buy everyone gift certificates to either starbucks or coldstone. maybe my job isn't so bad after all.

No Good
having a good 20-30 pages of writing to do over the next week, and finals coming up the week after.

WTF Mate?
if you didn't believe me last time i told you europeans were weird, maybe you will now.

"Oh my gosh, aren't you cold?" --multiple Whitworth students
"No." --me, still wearing shorts when the temperature is sub-freezing

Blog Burst for Israel

Well, there was supposed to be more to this, but my computer is being stupid. That's also why it's up so late. But here goes:


Today is the anniversary of the UN vote on resolution 181, which approved the partition of the western part Palestine into a predominately Jewish state and a predominately Arab state. (It is vital to recall that the UN partition plan referred to western Palestine, to underscore that in 1921 the eastern part was ripped off the Jewish National Home by the British Government and handed over to the then Emir Abdullah.)

The partition plan was approved by 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions.

The 33 countries that cast the “Yes” vote were: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussia, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, Union of South Africa, USSR, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela. (Among other countries, the list includes the US, the three British Dominions, all the European countries except for Greece and the UK, but including all the Soviet-block countries.)

The 13 countries that chose the Hall of Shame and voted “No” were: Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen. (Ten of these are Moslem countries; Greece has the special distinction of being the only European country to have joined the Hall of Shame.)

The ten countries that abstained are: Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.

On November 30, 1947, the day following the vote, the Palestinian Arabs murdered six Jews in a bus making its way to Jerusalem, and proceeded to murder another Jew in the Tel-Aviv - Jaffa area. This was a prelude to a war that claimed the lives of 6,000 Jews, or 1% of the total Jewish population in 1948. This toll is the per capita equivalent of today’s Canada losing 300,000 lives, or the US losing 3,000,000.

The object of the war, launched by the Arabs in the former Palestine and the armies of Egypt, Tansjordan, Syria and Lebanon (with help from other Arab countries), was to "throw the Jews into the sea". As the partition map indicates, however, rather than annihilate the Jewish population, the Arabs ended up with less territory than they would have gained by peaceful means.

In addition to the bloodshed in nascent Israel, immediately after the UN vote, Arabs attacks their Jewish neighbours in a number of Arab countries, the murders in Syria’s Aleppo being the best known.

Bruised and bleeding, Israel prevailed nonetheless. May our sister-democracy thrive and flourish.

Participating Sites, in alphabetical order:

Anti Idiotarian Rottweiler
Arkansas Bushwacker
Armies Of Liberation
Bama Pachyderm
Biurchametz
Blimpish
Blithered
Blog Willy
Blue Rev
Canadian Comment

Cao's Blog
Catholic Friends of Israel
Christian Patriot
Christian Action for Israel
Clarity and Resolve
Crusader War College
Cuanas
Danegerus
Daniel Davis
Flig

God Pigeon
Harald Tribune
Hatshepsut
Heretics Almanac
Hidden Nook
History Nerd
IceVikings
I Love America
Instant Knowledge News
IsraPundit

Israel Commentary
JPundit
Jersusalem Posts
Leaning Right News
Letter from Israel
Lindasog
MCNS
Martinipundit
Mererhetoric
Motnews

Mugged By Reality
Mystery Achievement
Mystical Paths
Naebunny
NetWMD
Nice Jewish Boy
Peaktalk
Protect Our Heritage
Reaganesque
Red Tigress

Riteturnonly
Shimshon9
Solomonia
Spitball Defense
Supernatural
Tampa Bay Primer
Techie Vampire
Texasbug
Tex The Pontificator
The Autism homepage

The Conservative
The Homeland
The Seal Club
Wackingday
Who's Your Rabbi
Voxfelisi
Yoan Hermida
Weblog of a Wondering Jew

me, a nerd?

yeah, its true. as i've mentioned to some of you before, i'm playing a good, old-fashioned, pencil-and-paper, tabletop RPG at school with some friends. and i love it. it's based loosely on "the fantasy trip", written by a guy named steve jackson back in the 70s. here's an example of some of the things we have to think about on a weekly basis; but like i said, the game we're playing has been heavily modified. it's really nice in that we use only 6-sided dice (standard dice), none of those 20-sided or even 100-sided dice; it makes life a lot simpler. sadly enough, however, i finally broke down and bought my own dice... because i am that big of a nerd.

hats off to mark schuldt, the gm. we actually played another version of this last year; it was fun, but kinda sloppy. mike z (a warrior monk) and me (started as a thief/assassin, got turned into a vampire and got so buff that i ended up becoming a warrior) were doing ridiculous amounts of damage, and everyone else was just kind of tagging along. he spent the summer working on this version (six bullets under a blood red sun), set in a futuristic old-west (think trigun) world; i have to say it was time well spent. this new version is much more balanced, and our characters are more specialized: we have a sniper (pat/bobo), a tank (andrew/job), a demolitions expert (me/jules verne... i'm also working on gunsmithing), and a guy who plays occasionally, and is sort of a jack of all trades (jason/?... hopefully he'll work on gambling too). while we don't really need everybody to be successful, life is a lot easier when we're all playing.

ok, time to get some homework done... don't want this break to be a complete waste of time. later all.

home for the holiday

it's not "the holidays", they're a month apart for crying out loud. halloween is closer to thanksgiving than christmas is. anyways, i'm going to be spending time with family and friends, and hopefully getting some homework done, so don't expect too much in the way of updates until next week. have a great thanksgiving all.

anyone who says history is boring is a liar

while reading for class tomorrow, i stumbled across the following segment, and found it extremely funny. it shows the extent that the ideas of chivalry and honor affected peoples' thinking.

One of Duke Louis' exploits shows particularly clearly the nature of much of this warfare. He was operating on the borders of Poitou at the head of strong company, almost a small army, consisting largely of his own retainers and vassals. He decided to attack a castle that was held for the Black Prince by an English garrison commanded by a squire. The duke first attempted to take the place by assault, but it was too strong and too well defended. He then settled down to mining. The garrison soon guessed what was going on and started a countermine. One day as the duke was sitting in his tent, one of his men came to tell him that the two mines had met. He immediately ordered his herald to inquire whether any noble knight in the castle would like to meet a noble French knight in the mine. The captain replied that the garrison lacked knights, but a noble squire would be delighted to fight in the mine. This satisfied the duke, and arming himself from head to foot, he descended into the mine to meet the English captain. The mine was so low and narrow that one could neither raise a weapon nor move one's arms far from one's sides. Fighting consisted of the two men poking their swords at one another. As it was impossible for knights in armor to hurt each other in this way, it was a thoroughly enjoyable affair. The duke got so excited that he shouted his war cry, and the squire recognized it and asked if he were really fighting the duke of Bourbon. When he learned what a great honor had been done him by being allowed to fight so noble a prince, he offered to surrender the castle if Bourbon would dub him a knight. The duke agreed but asked that the surrender be put off till the next day. It would be selfish of them to deny their followers the pleasure of fighting in the mine. So all that day, two by two, French and English poked at each other in the mine. Next morning the castle surrendered, the duke dubbed the squire, they exchanged gifts,and everyone went his way.

(from Western Europe in the Middle Ages: 300-1475, by Brian Teirney, pp. 509-510)

how awesome is that?

testing, testing

this could be fun. i found a new service today that lets you host all sorts of files... word documents, mp3's, whatever. its really nice for people like me who aren't web-savvy enough to do that sort of thing for myself. the free accounts are fairly limited, but they're free, and small users like me really don't need much.

and now for a test. if this works, you will get a glimpse of my writing skills, or lack thereof:

siege of rhodes, 1522

it got a good grade, but i'm hoping to fix it up... with nich fox gone, it's got a decent chance of winning me a scholarship in the bi-annual, by-department writing contest here at whitworth. if you have any recommendations, let me know. also, i'll be adding the works cited page as soon as i find it or make a new one.

h-weird

watching donnie darko before bed may cause strange dreams. which is completely understandable, because it is a very strange movie. so last night i dreamed that i could see the future in my dreams. nothing big, just random circumstances... but then i'd get to them and be like whoa, this already happened. i think this may actually be a recurring dream; but then i stopped to think about it, and i might just have dreamed that this was a recurring dream. which would be incredibly weird. but now i've got a record of it, in case i have more dreams like that, so i can be sure that this one actually happened.

and now, for some fun stuff.

first, some politically incorrect humor:
three terrorists--a pakistani, an iranian, and a saudi--walk into a bar. then it blows up.

and now some quotes from various points in the week:
"Ideally, this organism should not eat people." --Dr. John Yoder, in a politics class of all places

"If only I were a male, I could be a sexual predator." --Alison [last name omitted for privacy]

a new hero, until the next one comes along

for now, my new hero is beth from my vast right wing conspiracy. she already had some pretty good posts, and then she put up a link to this. to me, that is just awesome. and now it's time for bed, cause i'm getting up early (well, about 9. but i slept till almost noon today, so it's relatively early) to go to a greek orthodox church downtown. should be fun.

and i thought cutting myself shaving hurt

wow. after reading this article, i really don't think anybody reading this ever gets to complain about pain, ever again. unless you get shot in the face or something, but then you probably won't be around to complain.

thanks to beth for the heads-up... no pun intended.

curious dan

is not a curious little monkey. but he is still curious. because of that, and because i'm wondering once more how many (or few) readers i actually have, i'm going to pose a question, and ask all of you to answer it in the comments section.

question: what is your least favorite word? an explanation would be nice, but is not necessary.

"Insert entertaining quote here." --Anonymous

actual entertaining quotes, ripping into both sides--the best kind of political humor.

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, it was announced Sunday, will be made into a Broadway musical comedy. It's about a sophisticated con man who fleeces rich widows and heiresses. It was a hit movie twice before it was made into a presidential candidate." --Argus Hamilton

"Tony Blair called an international conference in London in January to solve the Israeli versus Palestinian conflict. There's no reason to get discouraged. The Bush Doctrine holds to the belief that war is like love, it always finds a way." --Argus Hamilton

what are the odds?

for the last few weeks now, i've been having trouble staying focused on classes and on my homework. its been making things really stressful... i've had no motivation to do work, so it gets put off till the last minute, and life basically sucks. i've been praying about it, but then not really changing any of my habits, which kind of defeats the purpose. so then about 15 minutes ago, i open up my bible for the first time in way too long to the place i was last reading, which happened to be proverbs chapter 2. here are the first six verses, without their numbers:

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (NIV)

looks like i finally got the answer that God has been trying to send me for who knows how long now. to put it in more modern (and possibly more geeky) terms, you need to turn on the computer before you can read your email. g'night all.

ow. just... ow.

so i learned tonight that it's really not a good idea to move the razor sideways when you're shaving. in fact, i would go so far as to say that it's a downright bad idea. it doesn't look like much, but i definitely have some nice little razor cuts under the edge of my left nostril. on a scale of one to uncomfortable, it hurts like heck. and having a band-aid there looks really funny. on that note, i'm going to finish a paper that i meant to have done before dinner, and go to bed. g'night all.

"He is totally grabbing Mel Gibson's nipple." --Pat

i'm really going to bed now

but first, i wanted to share this information. i'm not sure how many ballots are left to count, but as of about 7:30 tuesday night, dino rossi leads christine gregoire by 19 votes in the race for the governor's seat.

revenge of the creep

entaro adun, executor. despite our best efforts, the creep has returned. as yet we have spotted no zerg activity, but we believe it to be only a matter of time before they attack in force. your mission, whether or not you choose to accept it, is to eliminate the creep once and for all. good luck... you're going to need it.

explanation: the creep is how dave and i refer to the mess in our room, which can be seen below. it never gets messy all at once; trash, laundry, books... it gradually spreads across the floor, consuming everything in its path. assuming we are ever able to complete our campaign of cleaning, i hope to have some "after" pictures up, to prove that our room is once again suitable for life, human or otherwise.


i think that's actually a reflection of me on my monitor... weird


creep doesn't look too bad from that angle...


dave is an amazing photographer, as evidenced by the camera string in the picture


well, at least the ceiling is clean


oh sh-t, zergling rush!


we... are going... to die!


all quiet on the western front...


sir! they've captured the high ground!

if i don't post again in the next few days, you can assume that our position has been overrun, and should be avoided at all costs. it would be a shame to see this spread to the rest of mankind. when it does, it usually ends up evolving into something like this.

who'da thunk it?

so i just took a fun "what famous leader are you?" test over at similar minds; the results can be seen at the bottom of my side bar. it was rather unexpected, but relatively not too bad. JFK--the real one, not the wannabe running this year--was a fairly cool guy. he had the balls (pardon the expression, but that's pretty much what it came down to) to stand up to the USSR in the cuban missle crisis, and he earns plenty of cool points for that. and it could've been much worse... beth over at MVRWC definitely ended up as saddam. she's got links to that and a "what movie are you" test. good times.

"The performers are not grinning scarecrows sent here to torture and manipulate you." from Critic Intro, by They Might Be Giants.

ow! my stomach lining!

no, thank goodness, i didn't get msg'd. i would like to remind everyone, though, that drinking mountain dew before breakfast is a bad idea. even if you have sun chips to wash down with it.

unfortunately, that's all i could come up with. i'll do a real update one of these days... maybe even include some history related stuff.

"Yasser Arafat was remembered in Cairo Friday as a shrewd and wily leader. He believed that you should walk a mile in a man's shoes before you judge him. That way by the time you judge him, you will be a mile away and you will have his shoes." --Argus Hamilton

this is just beautiful

i really can't think of any better use for the guy. thanks to my good buddy (who i don't actually know and have never actually met) the rottweiler for the heads up.

pearl harbor sucked, and i miss you

hooray for saturdays. it's really nice to just be able to sleep in (noon today!) and not have to worry about being awake for classes. especially when you're up till 3:30. i realize that's not overly late, especially for BJ, but still later than i stay up most nights. got in some fantasy trip again, first time in a few weeks. pat was gone to a programming competition down in oregon, but everybody else--jason, andrew, myself, and the gm mark--was able to make it, and we got in a good 3 1/2 or 4 hours of gaming. which is actually relatively little... i remember when we first got the game started (well, a different version... we started over this year) last year around fall break, we put in about 11 hours the first day. it was pretty awesome.

i was also able to get in several movies over this last week, some i hadn't seen before, and some that i had that were still awesome. first off, as the title of the post suggests, is "team america: world force". it was a hilarious movie... ripped into movie stars (members of the Film Actors Guild, or FAG) for thinking they were qualified to talk politics, made fun of michael moore, and managed a fairly humorous portrayal of terrorists. as long as you don't mind horrible amounts of swearing, crude/sexual content, and puppets having sex (i would recommend skipping that scene... *shudder....), it's worth watching. if you decide not to watch it... well, you're really not missing much.

i also finally saw "so i married an axe murderer", which is freaking hilarious. a must see, especially for fans of mike myers and/or crazy old scottish people.

watched "hellboy" with mark last night, waiting for andrew to get back from a speaker he went to and jason to finish some homework. it was decent, but i would probably class it as a "b" movie. good action and a decent plot. worth watching, but not worth paying to watch. then after tripping we watched "dark city", a fairly strange movie, but a very good one. it really left me wishing i was the main character, if for no other reason than that he woke up to find out that he was married to a very attractive character portrayed by jennifer connelly. why can't something like that happen to me? probably because she's 14 years older than me, is already married and has a kid. oh well, her loss.



and then there's the other fun part about saturdays: having plenty of time to do homework. wait, that's not fun. but still necessary, so i'm off. later all.

i always knew europeans were weird...

...but this is something more than even i would have expected. apparently, there was advertising for a pole dancing class over in britain. while i personally think the sex industry is unnecessary, immoral, and downright dirty, this is something i would normally overlook. except that this class was proposing to teach pole dancing to girls as young as 11. it's bad enough when adults do it, but pre-pubescent (yes, i did just use that term) girls? they should be out having tea parties, or playing soccer or volleyball or something. or learning to be artists. or attempting to equalize the nerd population by getting into computers. luckily, britain's equivelant of CPS stepped up to the plate, and the age for the class has been bumped back up to 18+. still wrong, but better than it was before.

thanks to michelle malkin for the heads up.

finally, a clue. now let's see if they can find some more of them.

hooray for europeans with a clue. like the head of NATO, general jaap de hoop scheffer, who believes that it is up to europe, not the united states, to bridge the gap that has come between us. you go jaap. and make sure some other europeans go with you.

one question: why didn't someone do this sooner?

for the second time today, i have to say that it's about freaking time. i'm too lazy and too tired to type up a full post; so go here and read beth's writeup. if you're too lazy to do that, just follow this lovely little link, and help put the moonbats back in line.

its about freaking time

reliable sources ranging from cbs to al-jazeera have proclaimed it: yasser arafat is dead. while i'm glad that he's gone, i'm a little disappointed at his timing. kevin over at wizbang was offering $25 to whoever guessed closest to when the official announcement of his death would come. hoping for a true day of thanksgiving, i guessed he would hang onto life until november 25 at 0700 GMT. at that point, we would all have great reason to celebrate, and while jumping up and down shouting "allahu akbar!" (wait, that's their line...)--or maybe just jumping up and down--we would either a) burn off all the calories from thanksgiving dinner or b) upset our stomach and puke up all the calories from thanksgiving dinner. i think "b" would be the most fitting tribute to the life of arafat.

my eulogy: "the world is better off without you, mr. arafat. good riddance to a bad waste of oxygen. amen."

more red dominance

this time, in the field of generousity. thanks to michelle malkin.



i would recommend reading michelle's article and following the links she gives... the table will make more sense that way.

on a side note, happy birthday to the marine corps! they turned 229 today. keep up the good work guys.

fun with pictures

tonight's prime time was "the gun show"... basically an excuse to do goofy pictures. my roommate is one of the BJ RAs, so he was kind of in charge of it. i may post more pictures of it in awhile, after i get to know more of the froshmen, but for now here's a few of me and dave (roomie/RA):


me getting ready for the "gun show"... yay for small caliber guns.


me, "happy" version; that's supposed to be an american flag on my arm, but it didn't really turn out


me, "intense" version


this is dave, in a child's halloween costume from the classy rack


i wish i could say he was on drugs, but no... he's pretty much always like this


so that was fun. it's been awhile since i added pictures, hopefully you enjoy them. maybe eventually i'll actually post something about history again.

"Actually, its an accretion disk." --Colonel Jack O'Neill, of Stargate SG-1

it's worth a shot

yesterday morning in class, i made a very interesting agreement with one of my professors. he's a pacifist, and a fairly liberal democrat (most of you at whitworth should know him) who teaches political science. however, he said there was something that i could do to make vote republican: get bill gates to give a $1,000,000,000 (yes, that's one billion dollars) endowment to whitworth. as unlikely to happen as that is, i think it's worth trying, just to see this professor vote republican. i've got a meeting with him tomorrow, maybe we'll be able to hammer out a few more details on this friendly bet. bill, if you're reading this, head over here and put a billion into the whitworth fund; and make sure to stick my name (daniel bareither) into the comments section, so i can prove that my end of the bet was fulfilled.

as you may have noticed, i've switched my comments system over to haloscan. at least i think i have. i had forrest help me with it, but i'm still not sure it's 100%. maybe that's just my compy being stupid again. and unfortunately, all of the old comments on my blog were lost. so show you care, and start leaving some new ones.

"Reading whole books is not a bad idea." --Dr. John Yoder

--update--
the new comment system appears to be working. unless i encounter a problem, i officially give it a thumb's up.

a note to the nay-sayers

thanks to beth over at MVRWC, i've discovered another blog that's very worth reading. the mesopotamian is written by an iraqi blogger named alaa, who seems very supportive of our efforts over there, especially in regards to the situation in fallujah. keep up the good work, alaa... america needs your voice.

i realize the election is over now, and i said i'd stop making fun of kerry, but i just found this quote from letterman today, and decided it needed to be shared:
"John Kerry says the 'W' in George W. Bush stands for 'Wrong.' But he still can't explain what John Kerry stands for." —David Letterman

we're kicking @$$... again

the belmont club has a rundown on the situation in fallujah. apparently, we're kicking some serious terrorist-butt over there. we're breaking up the defenses, and systematically destroying the enemy. and so far we've only had 2 casualties, neither of which were combat related. a pair of marines were driving a bulldozer and it flipped into the euphrates river, taking them with it.

don't get me wrong... those losses are unfortunate. but this is nowhere near the "vietnam II" forrest was predicting. this is like the new york yankees (yes, i hate them too, but they are pretty darn good) playing against your highschool baseball team. the highschoolers may get a run or too, but the game is really over before it begins, and is going to end with a horribly lopsided score in favor of the yankees.

go US.

why, exactly, would we have wanted france along for the ride?

i'm still not entirely sure. first off, we have a report that the animal that is the epitome of the french fighting spirit is the chicken. go figure.

next, we find that the french have their own problems with a unilateral situation. if the french can't even handle the ivory coast--where, by the way, they've maintained a presence even after it declared its independence from france in 1960--how could we expect them to deal with the "streams of terrorists coming into iraq" that the media keeps telling us about? not to mention the fact that france has had no significant military achievements since the time of napoleon; and napoleon was corsican, not french.

alright... my day is complete. i managed to include both a bash of the french and a little bit of history in the same post. life is good.

--update--
well, sort of. i actually forgot to give credit for the story, which i found over at T.A.I.R. sorry about that guys.

an oldie but a goodie

this is really old news now. in fact, it may be old enough that it no longer even qualifies as news. but that's ok. i just wanted everybody to know that bill cosby is one of my heroes.



"Christians should remember that the just-war doctrine is not grounded in revenge, punishment, or even justice. Thomas Aquinas discussed it in Summa theologica -- not in the section on justice but in the section on charity (that is, the love of God). As Christian scholar Darrell Cole writes, 'The Christian who fails to use force to aid his neighbor when prudence dictates that force is the best way to render that aid is an uncharitable Christian. Hence Christians who willingly and knowingly refuse to engage in a just war ... fail to show love towards their neighbor as well as towards God.' Out of love of neighbor, then, Christians can and should support a preemptive strike, if ordered by the appropriate magistrate to prevent an imminent attack." --Charles Colson

i can't think of a creative name

but i thought this would be fun to post anyways, so i figured what the heck. my friend rachel is convinced, for reasons beyond my ken, that i am going to marry an asian woman. she hadn't said anything about it for awhile, but then the other day i got a letter from her. it included an ad she found in a magazine for destina japan, which contained the following:
"Japanese Woman as The Love of Your Life. Look no further. Destina is a reputable search firmwhich introduces the most eligible single Japanese women to you. If you are successful, single and selective, call us right now."

needless to say, i broke out laughing when i read it. i realize this is a serious service, but it was just so funny that rachel actually sent it to me. at this point, i'm not looking for a wife, japanese or otherwise. but who knows? maybe some day rachel will be proven right. after all, "You will have a great opportunity to meet your destiny through Destina."

now that's dedication

powerline points out the story of a woman who showed up to vote in a bush-cheney shirt, and was told--but not until right before she was going to vote--that displays of the candidates names are not permitted within 500 feet of a polling place. though this is very true, she was upset that nobody had told her sooner. at this point she had already signed the voter roll, so she was unable to go home and change. bur rather than giving up, she improvised: she took off the shirt and voted in her sports bra. now that, my friends, while being slightly odd (and potentially awkward for other voters), shows true dedication. looks like the dem's efforts at indimidation came to naught.

yay for politically incorrect humor

"President Bush claimed victory before a crowd of cheering Republicans at the Reagan Building Wednesday. They may have gone a little overboard. Dick Cheney said President Bush was given a mandate, which is now illegal in eleven more states." --Argus Hamilton
(for those of you who don't know, he's referring to the fact that voters in 11 states decided that gay marriage should be illegal.)

"Iran's Parliament passed a bill Sunday approving a uranium enrichment program that defies the West. It greatly increases Iran's leverage. The measure makes their uranium so rich that President Bush just offered it a tax cut and John Kerry proposed marriage." --Argus Hamilton

"Yasser Arafat was reported on Monday to be recovering miraculously in a Paris hospital from the grave condition in which he arrived. He's so competitive. His goal is to tie Israel's all-time record for most number of resurrections in one country." --Argus Hamilton

"The Grand Old Party captured the popular vote on Election Day thanks to a huge turnout of Republican voters. There is one consoling fact for the Democrats. The ozone layer is fading so fast that by the next election everybody will be black." --Argus Hamilton

"Yasser Arafat collapsed into unconsciousness Wednesday, causing his doctors to describe the PLO leader as gravely ill. His death could cause a major disruption. The Israelis thought they were done with the Jewish holidays this year." --Argus Hamilton

ok, so really it was just an argus hamilton day. but he's a funny guy, bashes both sides... you should check him out. just not in that way.

darn that economy of ours

it just keeps on growing. whatever shall we do?

for your viewing pleasure

the link in my last post goes to a county-by-county breakdown of who won the 2004 election. to make things easier, and make sure people actually see it, i decided to post a copy straight-up:



for those of you who might have forgotten, the red ones were won by bush. i would still recommend following the link, cause there's some other cool stuff on the site.

now that the election is over, and kerry gave up peacefully (which is more than i can say for some people... *cough* forrest *cough*), i don't feel the same urge to harsh on or preach against the liberal left (a.k.a. most democrats), so the quantity and tone of the quotes i post will probably change. since i'm reading through "dune" again, here's a fun quote... it may be a bit off, since i'm doing it from memory:

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." --Bene Gesserit litany against fear

courtesy the VRWC

or at least one of them. my vast right wing conspiracy had an interesting find today: the bbc wants to know why we elected bush. follow the link and view some of the reasons. then take a look at this map and see how vast the "conspiracy" (read "intelligent, informed section of america) really is.

"The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men opportunity to work out happiness for themselves." --William Channing

way to be

i was originally going to post a really nasty open letter to kerry and his supporters, but it looks like that won't be necessary. contrary to my predictions, this one is not going to court; kerry is taking it like a man. for the good of the country and our electoral system, he is conceding the race. while i still don't like the man, and probably never will, i respect him for making the right choice. way to be, mr. kerry.

here's to four more years of a good man at the helm. president bush: welcome back.

who would osama vote for? and even forrest wouldn't go this far.

well, osama definitely isn't pulling for bush. you can read the transcript of his entire tirade over here. he's all for retaliation in kind... unless, of course, he's not the one doing the retaliating. sounds like the democrats version of free speech: apparently, it only applies to them.

and while to the best of my knowledge forrest disagrees with the reasons for the war and the war itself, and really doesn't like bush, even he wouldn't go this far. here's a brief summary of the article, thanks to wizbang:

Jimmy Walters, the man behind the campaign that has placed commercials showing the collapsing buildings at the World Trade Center and a computer-generated image of the plane that hit the Pentagon on television in New York, and full-page print ads in newspapers across the country, said he has a definite political aim.

"If George W. Bush is re-elected, I don't think we'll get anything done," he said...

"We were terrorized and it wasn't 19 screw-ups with box cutters from Saudi Arabia," he said. "It had to be somebody bigger, better organized."

His conspiracy theory involves secret U.S. government operatives boarding the four hijacked planes, which he said were then secretly landed and replaced in the skies by remote-controlled drones that were then crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, all to create a pretext for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

if that's not way out there, i don't know what is. liberals are crazy people.

why does stuff like this not get shown on major news networks?

get your salt shakers out, ladies and gentlemen. i don't think you'll need to use the whole thing, but i would recommend taking at least a few grains before watching a preview of a report over here. apparently, we've discovered somewhere in the area of 30 kg (about 65 or 66 pounds) of weapons grade anthrax in iraq.

"Kind of an embarrassing moment at this year's traditional Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn. Of all the people invited, Hans Blix was the only one who couldn't find a single egg." --Jay Leno

propping up dictators

and no, believe it or not, it wasn't us right-wingers. it was actually our (by "our", i mean communists and french people) good friend john kerry. read this article. realize what kerry really is. vote for bush.

more power to you

wow. this photo-essay over at american digest is incredibly powerful. i would recommend all of my readers (all 5 or 6 of you that i know of, and however many that i don't) go check it out. also, i would like to once again recommend powerline to everybody. like myself, they are a conservative-leaning blog; unlike me, they put a lot more time and research into their posts, and are able to cover more topics more accurately than i can. with election day looming large, its important to know not just who you're voting for, but why. and if you don't have a better reason than "george bush sucks" or "john kerry sucks", you should just stay home.

winter is on the way

cool. we definitely had a nice little hail storm earlier today, and a bit of it is still sticking on the grass. i'm sure it will be gone by tomorrow, but it's still kinda cool. forecast says it's gonna be down in the mid-20s tonight, with a slight chance of actual snow.

and now, a totally random thought:

"It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now. The experience of a number of European countries has borne this out. This country's own experience with tax reduction has borne this out. The reason is that only full employment can balance the budget and tax reduction can pave the way to full employment. The purpose of cutting taxes is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which will bring a budget surplus." --John F. Kennedy, December 1962

sounds like my kind of guy

in a totally heterosexual sense, of course. martin drabek is my new hero. the son of polish immigrants who learned english when they moved to america (what a crazy idea...), drabek believes that voting ballots shouldn't be in any language other than english.

unfortunately, he was fired for this statement. for whatever it's worth, martin, i support you and your pro-english-language beliefs.

wow. just... wow.

this is hilarious.

i'm sure they're very scared, john

the following is a completely ridiculous statement by presidential wannabe john kerry: "With the same energy...I put into going after the Viet Cong and trying to win for our country, I pledge to you I will hunt down and capture or kill the terrorists before they harm us."

does that mean you're gonna quit the war on terror after 4 months, john? get a few scratches and decide it's time to come home again? and then maybe protest against the whole thing, throw your medals (or the presidential seal, or whatever) away, and yammer on about how horrible our troops are? the same troops, by the way, that helped establish a democratic republic (or something along those lines... i'm not sure what the official name for it is) in afghanistan, and are working to do the same in iraq. the same ones that you voted against funding for, and then had the gall to say to them that "help is on the way." if you were a real man, mr. kerry, you would realize that you are bad for the country, and drop out of politics altogether.

"John Kerry in New York Monday accused President Bush of creating a crisis of historic proportion in Iraq. He called for a national debate on Iraq and the war on terrorism. Then he voted to cut funding for podiums, moderators and water glasses." --Argus Hamilton

the glare on my glasses is unfortunate, but here i am with my new friend, george nethercutt.

george nethercutt

is a pretty cool guy. i had the opportunity to meet him this morning at a pancake breakfast. it was pretty low key... he gave a short speech, and spent the rest of the time talking with the people there, many of whom he already knew. yay for people who really care about their constituents. i was able to get his autograph in my "american political parties" textbook, as well as a picture with him (see above). the only downside was that the breakfast started at 7, which means i had to be up at 6 to get ready and get downtown. christine, i realize you'll probably never read this, but thanks again for the ride. it was a great experience.

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." --Sir Winston Churchill

gwot

here's a good write-up of where we stand in the global war on terror.

apparently kerry-itis is contagious

when it comes to flip-floppery, at least. in reference to the missing explosives in iraq, which may or may not actually have been there in the first place, kerry's running mate had this to say: "These are exactly the kind of explosives terrorists want. They're the dangerous weapons we wanted to keep from falling in the hands of terrorists. And now these explosives are out there, and we have no idea who's got them." thanks to powerline for the heads up, and the following quote: "So Edwards is now acknowledging that when we invaded Iraq Saddam Hussein possessed 'exactly' the kind of 'dangerous weapons' that 'terrorists want.' Does Edwards still believe that this was 'the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time?'"

on another note, lets assume that the ordnance in question was actually there at one point. at captain's quarters there is a writeup by a retired army logistics officer, on just what it would take to steal 380 tons of explosives. i recommend reading the whole thing, but here is his conclusion: "Bottom line this operation would take the resources of AN ENTIRE COMPANY (approx. 100 men) OVER TWO WEEKS, good Intel to know exactly where the 'right' explosives were hidden and a means of breaching huge steel doors and concrete of an ASP." all this while avoiding coalition surveillance... sound impossible to anyone else?

and now, a great quote from yesterday's federalist, on a slightly different topic: "History shows the grotesqueries that can happen when medicine becomes unhinged from ethics. This is why the Hippocratic Oath admonishes doctors, 'First do no harm.' We may never harm others for our own benefit. Embryonic-destructive research must be resisted." --George J. Marlin

and here is a totally random hyperlink.

not looking good for the wanna-be's

remember that group of people across the atlantic that think they're better than we are? remember when they got their countries together and called it the "european union"? apparently, they thought they could be an economic rival to the US. they had planned to "[overtake] the US economy by 2010," according to this article by the bbc. unfortunately for them, they failed miserably... according to a report they commissioned, they are now farther behind the US than they were 4 years ago when they set their goal. which, to me, seems to indicate one of three things: a) bush is doing really good with our economy; b) liberal/socialist economies don't actually work; or c) some combination thereof.

on a totally different note, here is a really funny john kerry parody ad. somebody actually took the trouble to record his flip-flopping, and turn it into a radio commercial... i was impressed. and entertained. you should check it out.

and since i'm not on my computer (in the lab, which is way too hot), i'm just going to have to make up a quote again.

this one isn't actually made up... it happened on friday.
--Crissy: "Dr. Yoder, do you want our papers on Monday or Wednesday?"
--Dr. Yoder: "I really don't care."

the full body shot. had i been really brave, i would have found some way to do my lips white too. oh well.

Chilling w/ some salsa, watching some Stargate: SG-1. Good show, by the way.

shakespeare performance

yes, believe it or not, i'm taking a shakespeare class this semester. and even though it's an english class--as opposed to theater--we "got" to act for our midterm. i'm going to be asking around to see if anybody got some pics during the performance, but for now, here's a few of me (as "moonshine" from a midsummer night's dream) from afterwards. during the performance, i was also wearing a black tie and black gloves. it was an interesting experience.

i lied, they're too big for the program i use to host pictures. so they'll either be above or below this post, depending on how "hello" is feeling today.


"Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments." --Frederick the Great

bush's tax cuts are unfair... to the rich

such is the title of a very interesting article over at slate. thanks to wizbang for the heads up.

"We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in." --Thomas Paine

disclaimer

with the election looming ever closer, and with my readership slowly but surely increasing, i think it's time for me to give fair warning to all my readers. this is an OPINION blog. this is me trying to have fun. while it will OCCASIONALLY CONTAIN real NEWS, it is not an objective site. to get some good, balanced news, i would recommend watching a comination of fox news and nbc/abc/pbs news, and reading things like the new york times (on the liberal side) and some conservative blogs, like powerline, wizbang, and michelle malkin.

on that note, i had a performance for my shakespeare class this afternoon. in my opinion, it went really well. i'll have some pictures up as soon as i get them. have a good night all.

excommunication is bad, right?

jonh kerry should be wondering that right about now. according to this article from catholic world news, "If a Catholic publicly and obstinately supports the civil right to abortion, knowing that the Church teaches officially against that legislation, he or she commits that heresy envisioned by Can. 751 of the Code [of Canon Law]. Provided that the presumptions of knowledge of the law and penalty and imputability are not rebutted in the external forum, one is automatically excommunicated ...." hmm... sound vaguely like kerry to anyone but me? apparently some people at the vatican think so.

and yet another possible problem for mr. kerry. the BBC reports: "The Brazilian UN general, Augusto Heleno, said Mr Kerry's comments had offered "hope" to Aristide supporters. Much of the recent unrest has centred on areas loyal to Mr Aristide." when the bbc, a fairly liberal organization, and the un, a very liberal attempt at organization, both have bad things to say about kerry, you know he's in for some bad times.

in other news, kerry has lost the support of one of those foreign leaders he so dearly loves, as president vladimir putin of russia endorsed bush.

it can't be a good day if you're a kerry supporter. which, by default, makes it a great day for me.

a quick reminder

while out campaigning--well, really just doing lit-drops--for republican candidate john serben, i have encountered a surprising number (5 or 6 now) of "veterans for kerry" posters. i really didn't think that was possible. i respect their service to our country... i just wonder why they now seem willing to throw in the towel, as it were, and support kerry? you served our country honorably in the past, why give up now?

but there is still hope. it's nice to know that some people can still look at the bigger picture. i have several friends currently in the military--3 in the army, 1 marine, 1 navy--who are all voting for bush. my father, a veteran himself, is voting for bush. the father of a good friend of mine, who's heading over to iraq in december, is also voting for bush. could it be that they're all crazy, that they've been brainwashed? or could it be that they realize that conservative republicans, like president bush, care more about our men and women in uniform than leftist "democrats" like senator kerry could ever even pretend to?

two quotes tonight... one from the quote board, and one i recently discovered.

from the board: "[O]ne of the problems with our Party is people will say anything to get to be president of the United States...." --Howard Dean (a liberal democrat, by the way)

and my new favorite: "If you don't leave liberals in a sputtering impotent rage, you're not doing it right." --Ann Coulter

any of you liberals out there reading this... please let me know if i'm doing it right.

more cool points for bush... i think

turns out "trans-shipment" (also spelled "transshipment"), a word bush used in the first debate, is a real word. i actually made fun of him for using it... i thought it was the next "strategery". turns out i was wrong. however, it might have been cooler if he actually had made it up on the spot, which is why i'm not sure if he should actually get more cool points. i'll let you guys, whomever you may be, decide this one.

just who is this john kerry?

i'm not entirely sure, but apparently he and edwards are close relatives of jesus. i quote: "We will stop juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other debilitating diseases." either that, or they've got some connections to the antichrist... i hear he'll be able to do some pretty cool stuff too. on that note, according to several catholic bishops, voting for john kerry is a sin. i was going to just go with "stupid," but after looking at their reasoning, i can see the whole "sinful" thing working too.

and a quote, since i haven't put one up for awhile. it's a long one, but a good one:
"A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. She considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, but her father was a staunch Republican. One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to high taxes and welfare programs. He stopped her and asked how she was doing in school. She answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, but it was really tough. She had to study all the time and never had time to go out and party. She didn't have time for a boyfriend and didn't really have many college friends because of spending all her time studying. On top of that, the part-time job her father insisted she keep left absolutely no time for anything else. He asked, 'How is your friend Mary?' She replied that Mary was barely getting by. She had a 2.0 GPA, never studied, but was very popular on campus, didn't have a job, and went to all the parties. She was always complaining about not having any money, but didn't want to work. Why, she often didn't show up for classes because she was hung over. Dad then asked his daughter why she didn't go to the Dean's office and request that 1.0 be taken off her 4.0 and given it to her friend who only had a 2.0. That way they would both have a respectable 3.0 GPA. Then, she could also give her friend half the money she'd earned from her job so that her friend would no longer be broke. The daughter angrily fired back, 'That wouldn't be fair. I worked really hard for my grades and money, and Mary just loafs. Why should her laziness and irresponsibility be rewarded with half of what I've worked for?' The father slowly smiled and said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party'." --Unattributed

terrorism: just a nuisance?

that's what john kerry wants it to be. he wants to get back to the good old days of terrorism, before 9/11, before the US and other nations of the world effectively stood up to terrorism. once again though, i'm just going to link over to powerline's write up, because: a) i'm too lazy and don't have the time to do my own; and b) they're much better and more professional writers than i am. check it out, and see one more reason that john kerry is unfit for command.

quotes of the week

both of them happened yesterday, actually. and i found both of them incredibly hilarious. so here they are. on our way to dinner last night, we saw some girls attempting to skip a frisbee off the cement, and not having much luck. nate's response? "that's like petting a kitten with a 2x4."
the other one actually happened while watching the presidential debate. when asked a question about the environment, bush responded fairly well. except for the part where he said he was going to increase wetlands by 3,000,000; 3 million what george? anyways, kerry failed miserably, barely mentioning the environment at all. and instead of saying what he would do, he attacked bush and made some obscure reference to the red sox. it got so bad that alison, a kerry supporter, yelled at the tv (we all do it at times) "talk about the environment, you bastard!" looks like she's starting to get a few more clues. now if only kerry would figure it out.

but the best quote of the night came from bush himself. kerry, for some reason, is under the impression that president bush recieved $84--that's right ladies and gentlemen, a whopping $84--from a timber company that he owns. bush, the only candidate with an actual sense of humor, was quick to respond: "i own a timber company? that's news to me. need some wood?" kerry needs a lot more than wood, mr. president.

my new favorite band

is definitely lacuna coil. i would describe the way they sound as similar to evanescence, but still unique. i would recommend checking them out. on top of sounding really good, the lead singer looks really good, which is always a plus.

and now a reader quote; i think i've linked to him a few times, if not, check him out here.

"Señor Danner, tu tiene huevos grandes." -Red/Brian

--note--
if you don't understand the quote, don't try a literal translation... it won't make any sense. look for the closest spanish speaking person, and ask them what it means.

so yeah, i've been talking with aliens. and they think we're wrong.

this is very interesting. very interesting indeed. either mr. kerry knows something about the universe that the rest of us don't, or he's not nearly as intelligent as people give him credit for. or maybe some combination thereof. in a recent interview with CNN, kerry said the following: "I can do a better job of protecting America's security because the test that I was talking about was a test of legitimacy, not just in the globe, but elsewhere" (emphasis added). i always knew there was something strange about kerry, but alien? who knew? thanks to powerline for the heads up.

eat it forrest

though for now, i would recommend doing so with a grain of salt. but the hits just keep coming, and it doesn't look good for kerry-edwards or the UN. anyways, if the documents mentioned here turn out to be real, then bush is vindicated, and the rest of the world is wrong. how cool would that be?

"We are in Iraq to: A. Find and destroy weapons of mass destruction; B. Combat terrorism; C. Force regime change; D. Protect the free world's oil supply; E. Annoy the French; F. All of the above." --Cartoonist Bob Gorrell

more problems in the UN

here's an interesting piece i found today. more evidence that the UN needs to just give up and go away. i'll leave it at that... sounds more mysterious, or something.

sucks to be them

most of you, hopefully, have heard of the oil-for-food program/scandal. a recent report drawn up by the iraqi government was leaked, and the london times has the story. if these implications turn out to be true, then france and especially russia are screwed, as is the UN, who was supposed to be running the program. i've even heard rumors floating around that kofi anan's son is being implicated in the scandal, but until i get some more info on that, it will have to stay classified as a rumor.

i'm really excited to see where this is going. i really hope it ends in a major revamp of the UN, or possibly even the end of it, though that is unlikely.

the other complaint

i remembered it right after i clicked publish, of course. since my complaint was "my internet connection is hella slow right now, so it takes forever to publish", i was going to let it wait till morning. but then i decided i'd probably forget, and couldn't resist the opportunity to complain again. i should probably get out of that habit, though... i'm starting to sound like a democrat, or, heaven forbid, a frog.

jimmy carter officially loses

now i see why the federalist refers to him as our best ex-president. in a recent interview (if the link doesn't show it, go to msn video, and do a search for "carter") with nbc's katie couric, carter said that bush misled the american people, and that iraq was a "quagmire, very similar to what we experienced in vietnam." newsflash jimmy... iraq is nothing like vietnam--a war which we were winning, by the way, until pinko leftists (it would be an insult to communists everywhere to group you along with them) like yourself started whining about how horrible america was. Also, apparently a large part of the violence in iraq is due to the fact that american troops are there. ya think, jimmy? true, our soldiers over there provide a pretty convenient target; but unlike our citizens who died on september 11, our troops can shoot back. and personally, i'd rather have trained professionals being shot at and blown up over in iraq (though it would be nice if we could avoid that too) than civilians facing the same threat here in america. on kerry's flip-flopping, he said that "circumstances change", and when "you learn more information" (pretty hard for kerry to do, since he never shows up for his job), it's natural to change your mind.

i really wish that i could blame these views on senility--he did just turn 80--but he's had problems for awhile now. maybe kerry can be the next jimmy carter for us... a democrat president who basically sucks, and leads the country to elect the next reagan to fix things. as much as i'd like to see bush get re-elected, if kerry winning gives us a shot at another reagan, i'm willing to suffer through the next 4 years.

i was going to complain about something else, but it's late (or early, depending on how you look at it) and i'm tired. time for bed.

$8 trenchcoats and presidential debates

for the sake of convenience, we'll do these in order. first, i definitely bought a green trenchcoat for $8 today. which is pretty sweet. for those of you who live in the spokane area, i would recommend checking out "the classy rack", my new favorite store. its somewhere near the spokane arena... sorry i can't give you better directions. i also got a pimp plaid jacket, which will be fun to wear around, if for no other reason than how rediculous it looks. that one cost me $5.

i was supposed to have some sort of a running commentary going on the debate, but i couldn't figure out the scripting for it. oh well. here's my quick summary:

Bush: my opponent is a flip-flopper, this is hard work but we're progressing, the world is safer, i forgot what i was going to say, he has no consistent point of view, yay america! oh yeah, and transshipment.

Kerry: what he said, only i'll do more of it, and better, and faster, and for less money. and i do have a consistent point of view, which is that you're wrong. yay america! oh yeah, and i was in vietnam.

i was actually fairly impressed with kerry... he only mentioned vietnam 3 times (that i noticed, though it couldn't have been many more than that), which is a big improvement from the dnc. i still think bush came out on top, though he didn't kick nearly as much ass as he should have. he gave kerry too much slack; and as much as i dislike kerry, he's smart enough that giving him slack is a bad idea. it will be interesting to see the next few debates... hopefully they'll be a little less boring. bush's sense of humor wasn't really in play, and kerry's attempts at it were almost painful to watch.

i think that's about it, really. have a good night all.

another cool blog

i meant to include this in my last post, but totally forgot. anyways, i just started reading powerline a few weeks back, and i think it's a keeper. you should check it out.

since i'm on a library computer and don't have access to my quotes file, i'm just going to pull one off the top of my head:

"Good luck everyone, and may the first man to finish win." --Josiah Pickett

john kerry, a man of... well... something, i think

actually, this post is only indirectly about kerry. it's more about bush, and how he continues to lead in the polls. i don't put a whole lot of stock in polls, but when they all say the same thing--or at least the usa today/cnn/gallup poll and the washington post/abc poll do--it becomes a little more worthwhile to watch what they're saying.

off to work... check out the polls, and enjoy the quote.

"The London Guardian found documents showing Paris fed intelligence to Baghdad before the war. Iraq got diplomatic secrets and military guidance from France. Who else could have taught the Iraqis how to lose their entire country in two weeks?" --Argus Hamilton

still alive

for anybody who reads this on a regular basis, i just wanted to let you know i'm still alive. nothing really exciting going on. maybe i'll just start putting up a quote every day or something.

"In the long run, the greatest weapon of mass destruction is stupidity. In an age of artificial intelligence, too many of our schools are producing artificial stupidity, in the sense of ideas and attitudes far more foolish than young people would have arrived at on their own. ...Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of an avowed enemy can destroy many Americans, but they cannot destroy America, because we are too strong and too capable of counterattack. Only Americans can destroy America. But too many of our schools have for years been quietly undermining the values and abilities that are needed to preserve any society -- and especially a free society."
--Thomas Sowell

some random stuff

seems like random stuff pops up quite a bit these days. oh well... sometimes it's the most entertainting.

first off, being sick really sucks. if i'm complaining a lot in the near future, blame it on the sickness and ignore it. if i'm still complaining a few weeks from now, tell me to suck it up and deal with it.

anyways... yeah, i'm falling behind on homework already. i meant to get a lot done this weekend, but lack of sleep, a pretty nasty cold, and The Political Machine (cool game... i'll add a link later) all conspired against me.

also, it seems that kerry has flipped--or was it flopped? i can never keep up with all his "nuances"--again on the issue of iraq. i'm too lazy to type up all the info, and i'm about to head to lunch, so head over to the lunatic left for a pretty good summary of the situation.

i'm sure there was more i wanted to talk/complain about, but it seems to have slipped my memory. so now it's off, and a quote. or maybe the other way around.

"Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong." --Calvin Coolidge

revenge will be had

just ponder this question for a minute... what's better than a fire alarm going off in your dorm at 3:30 in the morning? no, the answer isn't "nothing." the answer is "another fire alarm going off in your dorm 15 minutes later." seems the boys over in macmillan (mac) hall thought it would be fun to start up the prank war again. somebody snuck into the dorm, threw a bunch of bread into the oven in the kitchen and turned it up on high, then proceeded to steal several of the shirts hanging in the halls before running off. the first fire alarm was their fault; the second one was due to the ineptitude of the security guy who came buy to check it out. he found the bread (now fairly burnt toast) in the oven, and shut the oven off. but he didn't take it out of the oven, or even open the door. this oven, like most ovens, was designed to keep things inside of it hot; in this case, it kept right on burning the bread, and 15 minutes later enough smoke had accumulated to set the alarm off again. needless to say, everyone was a little pissed at that point. and this time, we will not sit back and turn the other cheek; the men of baldwin-jenkins will have their revenge.

a job of sorts

it's not much, but it's better than nothing. i now work for the Whitworth Phonathon. which means i get to call up alumni and ask them to donate money to the school's scholarship fund, which enables poor students like me (well... relatively poor, considering the school costs about $28,000/year for tuition, room and board) can keep coming to whitworth. it'll be somewhere between 10 and 12 hours a week; enough time to make it worth working, but not enough that i get overloaded.

that's it, really. i just wanted to have a decently sized post so i could justify sticking another random quote in.

"Government does best when it helps people help themselves. Human dignity is found not in a handout but in being able to do for one's self." --Trent Lott

did i mention how much the school network sucks?

probably. but if not, here goes: the school network really(e14) sucks. we had everybody hooked back up to the internet for a day or so; but somebody wasn't doing their job, and there was still a virus floating around. so we didn't have it all day today. i was actually surprised to see it up again when i went to check my school email a few minutes ago.

originally, i think i had something important to blog about. if it was, it should come back to me; if not, it probably wasn't worth putting up anyways, so no big deal. one fun note, though; the feinstein-schumer (names may be misspelled, as may the word mispelled... i'm not sure about that one) gun control law expired today, meaning that average, law-abiding citizens are once more able to defend themselves against criminals with ak-47s. while i understand what they were going for with the laws, i think they're pointless; the people committing all the gun crimes are obviously criminals already... they're not gonna care if their gun is illegal, as long as it makes it easier to get what they want (money, death, etc.). that's like telling al-qaeda "you know, blowing people up is kind of illegal... you really shouldn't do it."

and a random quote... i'm just going to start going through my collection, and hopefully remember to put one on each post.

"The real threat to world stability is not too much American power. It is too little American power." --Michael Mandelbaum, Johns Hopkins University

having a computer, on the other hand...

is very nice. except for the part where it distracts me from my homework. oh well... that was to be expected. anyways, now that i've got both my compy and the intorweb back, i thought i'd put up another pic. no real update tonight.

not having a computer sucks

it really does. i have to go to the library if i want to accomplish anything useful now, and it's really annoying having to actually get up and walk across campus to talk to friends, instead of IMing them. i suppose its more exercise... but i think i'll be getting plenty of that as the semester goes on anyways.

on the bright side, there is a slight chance that my computer will actually be ready to use again before monday. they're working really hard to get everyone back on the internet here, so they were able to get some people to work this weekend. i'm not holding out too much hope, but we'll see.

anyways, time for lunch, and then homework. if i do get my computer back sometime this weekend, i'll post again; if not, that probably won't happen till monday.