Culture Warlock

From Oil to Supernovae

2010-05-19T17:34:00.003-06:00

With the BP oil disaster still in the headlines, and America's still nervous feelings about conventional nuclear power, the fact that we are possibly on the verge of creating fusion has inexplicably managed to stay out of the public news. This is mostly because the project, which started back in 1997, ran into problems along the way, which is regrettable, but normal for new, highly technical situations like this. Although it's five years behind schedule and far over budget, it was dedicated last year and has already fired a successful test run this year. This summer, they may create a tiny star in this massive lab experiment, which would dissipate in a tiny supernovae, creating more energy than was used to create it. That's nuclear fusion with a net energy gain, once thought impossible, even laughable. While the use of such a power source would still probably be decades away, it's what we should be striving for, not continuing to drilling into the seafloor so we can occasionally cause such calamities as is currently ruining the coast of Louisiana. Drill, baby, drill, right?

Haiti to Monsanto: F*** You

2010-05-19T17:08:00.003-06:00

In the hit documentary Food Inc., seed company Monsanto was vilified (and rightly so) for their legal attacks on farmers and seed harvesters for infringing their patent rights. Now, not only does Monsanto have to deal with problems like its public image, weeds becoming resistant to its weed-killer Roundup, and their general dislike by environmentalists; their gift to Haiti, 475 tons of hybrid seeds, will most likely not be accepted, and probably burned. Haitians see the move as an attack on their sustainable farming lifestyle, or as Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay put it, "a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds ... and on what is left our environment in Haiti."
Kudos to the poor Haitians, who, even after their nation was devastated by an earthquake earlier this year, still resist the Americanized notion of letting corporations take care of you, if only for their future benefit. I can't imagine the difficulties they currently face, so compound that in five or ten years when Monsanto holds farmers liable for using their seeds, forcing them to buy them and suing them if they happen to drift into their field, since Monsanto can't seem to be held responsible for their own wayward seeds.

Shocked and Appalled? Not so much

2010-05-19T13:23:00.003-06:00

Is anyone really surprised anymore when any politician known for advocating some form of morality is struck down in a completely ironic fashion with their own lascivious behavior? I know I'm not. I do, however, find some bit of satisfaction when it happens, particularly to the Republican party, you know, the "Family Values" party.
The specter of adultery has struck the Grand 'Ole Perverts again, this time through the loose belt of Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana, who has chosen (like many) to resign rather than get dragged in front of an ethics committee. He supported traditional family values and abstinence education, so I'm assuming he didn't use a condom, since they don't work anyway. Here's a rundown of the most recent and hypocritical Repubs to be brought low by their dirty deeds.
George Rekers - Baptist homophobe
Caught in Miami airport returning with gay escort found on Rentboy.com, oops
Roy Ashburn - California Republican
Caught (drunk driving) leaving a gay bar with another man, came out of closet later
Mike Duvall - California Republican, family values crusader
Accidentally revealed info concerning the lobbyist he had sex with
John Ensign - Nevada Republican, Evangelical
Tried to bribe staffer (and her husband) after having sex with her
David Vitter - Louisiana Republican
Identified as one of the "D.C. Madam" clients
Roland Corning - South Carolina Republican
Caught with a stripper, sex toys and Viagra--in a cemetery
Bob Allen - Florida Republican, for ban on gays adopting
Busted soliciting sex from undercover cop in park restroom
Larry Craig - Idaho Republican, against protecting LGBT people from hate crimes
Busted soliciting sex in an airport bathroom, but he's not gay, never has been
Glenn Murphey Jr. - GOP political consultant, said to use gay marriage as wedge issue
Gave a passed-out Repub friend a BJ, charged with sexual battery
Ted Haggard - Evangelical homophobe, Bush Jr. adviser
'Came out' that he had affair a with male prostitute, while taking meth!
Mark Sanford - South Carolina Republican, rising star!
Caught going to Argentina on taxpayer money to see girlfriend, wife not invited
Mark Foley - Florida Republican, exploited children crusader
Caught sending sexual emails to male, teen office pages--for a decade
Vito Fossella - New York Republican
Bailed out by mistress, she had his kid, wife not happy
Of course there are more, and I haven't picked on the Democrats yet, but at least they don't come out so vehemently against these 'attacks' on morality, then get caught up in them themselves. At least they're just pandering for the most part, and don't really believe what they claim to, you can find find some consolation in that, I suppose, you poor, naive Conservatives.

Ga-ga

2010-05-07T14:04:00.007-06:00

If I had been asked six months ago how I felt about Lady Gaga, I would have probably have used an expletive or two, and ranted a little about pop music and such. But recently, the world seems to be going ga-ga over Gaga. She made it onto Time mags list of 100 Most Influential People in the World list, leading the 'artists' section with a blurb written by Cyndi Lauper. South Park paid homage to her in their particular style by having Eric Cartman sing Pokerface during an episode. A few videos have made the Youtube rounds like the a capella version of Bad Romance and some of our soldiers in Afghanistan doing their own version of Telephone. Glad I know that my tax dollars are being spent wisely, keep up the good work, troops. I also just stumbled onto this teenager who does an impressive cover of Paparazzi on piano.
So now, I find myself intrigued by the Lady. Her lyrics are at times bizarre and charged with dirty sexuality. She writes most of them herself, which is quite a departure from most pop music stars, who sublet this tedious (and ultimately forgettable) task to firms in Nashville that crank them out like the sugar-pills they are. Gaga has actually made something possibly memorable, and despite my general abhorring for anything pop, find myself not changing the station when Pokerface comes on. Is that because of the purported meaning of the song? Possibly.

However, I'm much more entertained by Lily Allen, whose lyrics leave nothing to the imagination as does Gaga, but isn't nearly as bizarre, and can be downright cute, despite her notoriously bad behavior. Youtube her, but beware, some songs are NSFW.

Yeah, well this is a blogpost for 'white people.'

2010-04-28T15:24:00.009-06:00

Now THAT is white

I get a lot of flack for many comments I make about certain things, but for one thing I say in particular. When someone is talking about something that isn't particularly good or is popular in American culture that really shouldn't be, or is seen as good by a particularly unpleasant segment of society, I'll usually say something like, "Yeah, that's because it's (pertinent subject here) for white people." This often comes up on the subject of food, which is something I take very seriously. Like when I hear that someone say, "Oh, I love Olive Garden, it's so good," I'll mention that, yeah, it's because it's Italian food for white people. Which it is. And as annoying as this type of broad commentary (and potential logical fallacy) can be, I feel it is valid, in its own subjective way.
It is my way of poking fun at a culture that I have become mostly disenchanted with, that being the general culture of 'white people,' by which I usually mean most Americans. The general attitude I have toward anything that has become popularized and/or Americanized is negative, therefore I find it displeasing or unpleasant. Examples: reality TV, chain restaurants, popular music, movies; but of course there exceptions to all these examples.
There are successful books and blogs on the subject of Stuff White People Like, and as amusing as they can be, there is a lot of truth behind it. I'm no cultural authority, but I live in America, one of the 'whitest' places on earth (although Japan seems to be catching up) and I live in Utah, definitely on of the whitest states, and in Utah county, undeniably the whitest area in the nation. And mostly republican, conservative and Christian. I feel like I am at the center of 'white' culture here, and that being the case, I am not only authorized to comment on it, but obligated to.

V'ere are your PAPERS!?!

2010-04-27T13:10:00.003-06:00

If you have not been paying attention recently, the Arizona governor just signed a law that essentially gives police the authority to stop anyone they have "reasonable suspicion" to be an illegal immigrant, and demand they provide identification proving they are a citizen, and if not provided, they can go straight to jail, with the possibly of deportation. The moment the bill was passed, everyone started weighing in, of particular note was John McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain. Her father has as well, just today commenting that it was the Obama Admin's fault due to their failure to 'secure our borders,' ignoring the FACT that Bush's hollow gesture of erecting 700 more miles of fence was just that, a hollow gesture. The border with Mexico is 1,969 miles long, and over 250 million people cross it every year, whether legally or not. It's disrespectful, ignorant and outrageous to accuse Obama of one more thing that Bush let fall though his fingers.
This whole spectacle ends up being just another bandage on an open wound, where the problem is multi-faceted and significant. Mexico is doing little to stop the flow of immigrants and drugs, our visa and naturalization processes are too complicated, difficult and expensive, and Americans are far too overtly racist. There WILL be problems with racial profiling; American citizens will be harassed due to their ethnic background. This is not right, and the solution needs to be more comprehensive than a knee-jerk reaction that will simply weed out a few illegals in Arizona and send them home, with plenty of opportunity to come right back over the border. I can't tell what a good solution would be, I'm not invested enough in all the issues and politics surrounding this particular dilemma, but I still know when something isn't right, and demanding to see someone's papers because they 'look' like they don't belong is something we tried to put a stop to some years ago, if you will recall.

Dear Utah County

2010-04-17T15:18:00.003-06:00

Just recently, the HOV lanes in Orem disappeared, part of a massive reconstruction effort in the county to widen the freeway and rebuild the bridges. These lanes will be gone for at least the next two years, while the freeway is worked on. Personally, I hope they were taken away as punishment to the majority of Utah County drivers who misuse and abuse the lanes constantly, especially during traffic hours. More times than I can count have I seen drivers who normally weave back and forth in traffic dodge into that lane and use it to pass the cars they were too impatient to wait for (which brings up the problem of the fast-lane campers that refuse to move out of the way for faster traffic) and pull in and out of it, over the double lines, usually without signaling. This is a bad and potentially deadly habit, one which I have to put up with when I ride my motorcycle and dare use the carpool lane. I can be traveling faster than the posted speed and still have someone come up behind me and weave around, putting my life on the line so they can get wherever they are going 30 seconds faster. Or perhaps imagine traveling down the HOV lane while the rest of the lanes are backed up and have someone shoot in front of you doing 20-30 mph slower than you, and you get to put your braking system to the ultimate test. Thanks alot, you inconsiderate, life-endangering assholes. I hope the carpool lanes don't come back, and you're stuck in traffic forever, in hell.

Man beaten by nature, once again

2010-04-14T13:39:00.005-06:00

I found this interesting article today on Science Daily showing proof that lightning, in the right conditions, creates small particle accelerators in the upper atmosphere that have the energy of a small nuclear plant. There are several other phenomena associated with lightning and electricity that we know little about, like ball lightning, sprites, blue jets and bead lightning.
It was theorized back in 1925 that these high energy particle beams occurred, and it appears they do. Mother nature seems to cause this on merely on accident, or maybe just for the hell of it. We (everyone involved) spent almost 4.5 billion dollars on the LHC at Cern alone, and the first time they tried it, it broke the machine. There are 78 of these in the world currently, of varying sizes.
Man has been struggling to understand the universe for centuries, if not millenia. Lightning still remains relatively poorly understood, despite its common occurrence. It's also really cool to watch, especially in slow motion. This just goes to show us that we still have so much to learn about the forces in nature, even things that occur around us every day.

Beck Shows His Stripes

2010-04-12T15:03:00.005-06:00

Although a tiger never changes his stripes, he may be able to cover them, possibly from the mounds of muck he has raked up over the years. In fact, some might even mistake a tiger for a completely different animal, and shower it with praise. Such an animal is Glenn Beck. This former morning zoo reject turned Mormon and conservative talk sweetheart/poster-boy admitted in an interview that appeared in Forbes magazine that, "I could give a flying crap about the political process...we're an entertainment company." I doubt that many of his die-hard followers would read such a hoity-toity elitist rag like Forbes, and would notice this. All the hateful ideological drivel he spouts is nothing more than a method for raking in substantial amounts of cash, the smallest fraction of which (a modest $2 million a year) from his popular 'entertainment' show, on which he constantly sheds tears and uses some of the most amazingly backwards, circular logic to make his famous (and famously parodied (2)) assumptions and connections. At first I wasn't able to figure out why people adore Beck so much, but it finally came to me. He's the Larry the Cable Guy of punditry. A pudgy, white, average-looking guy who wears a persona and a button-up shirt. Like a buttoned up shirt. He's not business-like as Hannity prefers to appear, or a cranky old fart like O'Reilly. He's the pale, religious guy that cries a lot, loves his country, and is just like you, but just happened to make 32 million dollars last year.
Good job turning all that fear-mongering into cold, hard cash, Beck.

Genetics vs. Capitalism

2010-03-30T18:58:00.003-06:00

I'm not going to give a score on this, because the battle is far from over, and has possibly just begun. Although, humanity has made a small win over a corporation who had patented a pair of genes used to detect cancers. Therefore, only this company could run tests on these genes, and charged handsomely for it. The judge said no, agreeing with the ACLU that DNA is a besic part of everyone's individuality. This opens up the possibility for the 2,000 or so other patents on genes to be questioned, and should. Human genes should not be patented by anyone, it is the fundamental 'open source' material.

Welcome to the Land of Unemployment

2010-03-29T17:14:00.005-06:00

Two weeks ago, I suffered a fate many other Americans have in the last two years, something I haven't had to deal with in nearly nine years. I became unemployed. I wasn't fired or 'let go' for my own failings in my job or anything serious like that, just laid off due to a lack of work. Although I was very capable at what I was doing, the lack of anything TO DO made me the most expendable. Another tech was laid off and the third went part time, something my boss had not had to do in about fifteen years. This dismal state was brought about by this dismal state, which lags behind the rest of the country in some sort of Lostian time bubble, which makes things that affect the country economically take about six months to get here. Weird, I know. This state has other properties that are suspiciously similar to the island in Lost, like this black-hole effect that causes many who think they have escaped it to inevitably be drawn back in. Enough about this land of Mormons and mystery.
I began my stint in unemployment with a dazed sort of deja vu, sending me back to the summer of 2001 when I first experienced being let go. I had much less experience back then, also quite a few less bills and responsibilities, but I had that same feeling of 'what do I do now?' Well, first things first, file for unemployment, which the internets have made much easier these days. Done the night I received the news. Next morning, I began my tedious search for work. The Workforce Service site was still quite handy in this, despite 99% of the jobs being far out of range of my qualifications. Next I went on to craigslist, one of the handiest sites out there, but quickly learned how much the site has become target to scam artists attempting to fool would-be applicants into giving up personal information. A landslide of useless emails and phone calls quickly followed, and I learned to differentiate the legit postings from the false ones. Careful out there on the Internet, I'm still just getting a handle on all these scam contacts.
It's not as easy to get a job as I had hoped it would be, picking up the occasional part-day work has filled in the time not spent on school or searching for a job. Utah's unemployment rate jumped 1.5% from Nov. 2009 to February of this year, right before I met my current fate. I'm not surprised it has been difficult finding work. To all those out there who are like me, keep up the search, and don't give up, something always comes around. I'll keep looking, and until I find what I'm looking for, I'll keep that fraction of my dignity that the unemployment office has decided to give me back.

Daily Douchebaggery

2010-03-23T19:05:00.006-06:00

This douchebaggery is far more extensive than a single incident, and those culpable are many. Tuesday was a historic day for America, with the signing of a bill with such far-reaching importance that it will affect our children and grandchildren. The Health-Care reform bill narrowly passed through the House and Senate, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama. This is not the douchebaggery that I speak of.
During the health care reform debate, and his presidency in general, torrents of indescribable hatred, disguised as patriotism and Christianity, continued to flow unabated. The Tea Partiers are some of the worst of the group, last week mocking a man with Parkinson's who was peacefully protesting their protest, and before the vote on the reform bill, were tossing such epithets as 'nigger' and 'faggot' at certain members of congress, and laughing. Compassionate conservatism my ass. This is not protest, this is mean-spirited bullying. The conservatives aren't getting their way so they throw tantrums. It shows a lacking of any party morality, and Bob Herbert of the New York Times puts it even better as a complete lack of class.
The GOP should be held accountable for this, tacitly approving of these ugly, hateful tactics used to rile up a large group of ignorant, fearful people to push their agenda, which seems to only be tearing down and fighting anything Obama tries to do. Their small army of pocketed pundits on the various right-leaning television and radio stations do much of the work for them, bluntly calling for insurrection, impeachment and protest in complete ignorance and diametrically opposed to facts. Bombastic radio host Limbaugh threatened to leave the country if the bill was passed, claiming he would go somewhere else for his health care, like Costa Rica (which has nationalized medicine) but of course backed out of his claims at the last minute.
There are many other reasons and instances I could bring up to support my nomination of the entire GOP, the Tea Party and anyone else who supports their ideals for constant and impressively ignorant douchebaggery, but I don't have the time.

Respect the President . . . unless you don't agree with him!

2010-03-18T15:47:00.003-06:00

I have been watching the rapidly deteriorating amount of respect paid to our president over the past 16 months, and am constantly reminded of all the huffing and puffing I heard during Bush's term from the conservative side about respecting the president. Despite all the things Bush did or may have done that would warrant a loss of respect for him, he received a lot of unnecessary scorn and disrespect. At his worst he was nothing but an ignorant tool of the republican party and his big business connections, but he wasn't anything compared to Hitler; and for that matter, neither is our current president. When your argument comes down to comparing a person to one of the most vile and hated figures in recent history, you've lost your argument. Why not compare to Pol Pot or Stalin, who killed more the 23 million, or Mao Ze-Dong, a brutal leader that may have killed over 78 million. This is all due to our Americanized, Euro-centric view of the world, but that is a subject for another post.
I just found it startling how fast the 'respect for the office' argument went right out the window as soon as Obama was sworn in. Within days he was hailed with news of his failed presidency, much to his surprise, I'm sure. Among the other horrible things said about him, such classics as: Nazi, Fascist, Socialist, Communist, Racist, Anti-American and Unpatriotic. Sounds like someone who wouldn't want to President of this country, despite the conflicting nature of the monikers.
As president, Barack should expect a little bullying from his opponents, he's never going to get everyone to agree with or like him. But this has just gotten completely out of hand, and is being led by the media giants MSNBC and FNC. Pundits like Hannity claim that there is this 'Obama-mania Media' out there somewhere that lauds every bowel movement he makes, but I have yet to see it. His support is still broad, but generally quite, especially in comparison to the anti-Obama fanatics out there screaming on street corners and crying on their very own talk shows.
The hatred, fear and ignorance is becoming palpable, but is still no excuse for the massive disrespect paid to the elected leader of this country. You can hate him all you want, but he is still your president. Try writing a letter sharing your concerns rather than posting hateful, jackass comments on threads everywhere on the Internet. Even former president Bush's wife, Laura Bush agrees with respecting the president, no matter who it is.
His speech to school children last year was an excellent marker for how deep the hatred and disrespect for our president has spread. Parents wanted schools to boycott the televised message, fearing he might infect our kids with such socialist sentiments as 'staying in school' and working hard. What a bastard. This is a great message to send to children, isn't it? Never trust anything the president says. Isn't it a big conservative ideal to teach children respect for your parents, elders and leaders? It definitely should be.

Stop Smiling, Dammit!

2010-03-13T10:06:00.005-07:00

It is a well known fact that people tend to anthropomorphize certain things, giving them names and assigning characteristics as human in nature. This is especially true when it comes to cars. they usually end up with female names, although I've continually referred to my Camaro as 'The Beast," and will often talk to them and treat them like they are an actual living, breathing entity. This conjures up Stephen King-esque nightmares of demonic cars and killer trucks gone wild, but even more horrifying, the idea of cutesy-cars. You've seen them before; in movies, talking about their owners in commercials, and saving us from Megatron again and again. Cars should not look 'cute' in my opinion, although I'm sure many girls would disagree with me. They should look tough, aggressive, angry, manly or sinister, like this Mazda concept. Or at the very least, sexy.
The reasons this is done are psychological, people are more inclined to associate positively with a human-like object, as noted in an article on Science Daily. This humanised design has been becoming more apparent the last couple years, but I think the whole modern push may have begun with the Dodge Neon back in the mid-90's, with their slogan, 'Hi.' But the last ten years have seen a huge surge in cute cars, with the new VW Beetle, the revived Mini Cooper, the new Mazda 3, the Honda Fit, the Toyota Prius, the Smart Car, and this terrifying photo above of a Nissan Cube concept that can actually mimic facial expressions. This doesn't even count the slew of European and Asian cars that Americans never get to see except at car expos. I've been to Japan, they're all horrendously cute.
I have not said anything of people cutesifying their cars after the purchase, covering them with stickers and ugly pastel paint jobs, trying to create their car as an extension of their personality, this is a horrible practice in and of itself, an deems its own post. I'm just tired of going down the road in my angry car, having cars grinning stupidly at me. Like the new Mazda 3, that chrome strip makes it look like it has a retainer. And don't get me started on that damn Volkswagen Beetle. I think that car is the Germans trying to get back at us for WWII. Probably the worst vehicle I've ever had to work on. So, please, car designers of the world, please stop making cars smile at me.

Why Technology is Awesome

2010-03-09T21:25:00.004-07:00

Since I was a kid, I've been fascinated with science and technology, a love that has continued unabated to this day. In fact, it has increased since abandoning the murky logic of religion for the hard, discernible facts of science. Although astronomy and computer technology are my more favorite subjects, like black holes and controlling machines with your mind, almost anything mildly interesting is worth a read for me. This is how I stumbled upon an article on PopSci that relates research done by Austrian scientists that could help create computers that compute data FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT. That's right, you read my all-caps correctly. Using the simple theory of quantum entanglement (something that even unnerved Einstein), you could theoretically run a computer that did calculations nearly instantly, tens of trillions of them! Previously un-calculatable equations would become possible. Processor speed would no longer be an issue for any device. And if we ever figure out how to transmit data in a similar fashion, omg the possibilities! Okay, I'm about to have a geekgasm, so I'll calm down. But, I also found an article on Nokia patenting a self-charging cell-phone. Why would anyone ever hate science? Look at all the cool shit we get out of it. Next time you think about looking down on science or claiming it's 'boring,' look at that cell-phone in your pocket that couldn't have existed five or ten years ago. And that HDTV. And the computer ten-thousand times faster than the first one. Technology is awesome.

Intelligence - 1, Ignorance - 0 (This time)

2010-03-09T19:34:00.003-07:00

Thankfully, another ignorant, self-righteous prick has been forced out of power in the Texas education system. Although their Board of Education Chairman is still in power as far I can tell, this man is far worse, saying horrendously ignorant things like, "Is understanding of evolution 'vital' to the understanding of biology? No." This man has helped in trying to change the Texas textbook standards that could effect the rest of the nation, with a religious, Christian-centric bent. He truly believes the earth is only a few thousand years old, contrary to well-established scientific knowledge, and apparently believes children should be taught that in their schools.
He also believes that minorities should be thankful to the majority (read the white, Christian/Evangelical male subtext) for getting them their rights. Because, of course, they had no hand in it, like the civil rights movement or female suffrage. It's just too bad that he'll still be in his position until the end of the year, he may still be able to affect other people's lives with his close-minded and egotistical ramblings.

Welcome to Energy Solutions Elementary

2010-03-04T18:54:00.005-07:00

A bill was introduced last month by Jim Bird of the Utah State legislature, HB393, that would allow advertising on school buses, something at least six other states have done. It was rejected last Friday. They did, however, OK a bill that could end bus service for kids all over the state. I find this a terrible choice, and a decision that could harm our children in untold ways. I think we should allow this creeping commercialization into and onto our child's' buses, but why stop there? Considering the failure that our education system has evidently become, why not privatize and commercialize the the entire system? I can see a day where I proudly send by kids to M&M Mini's Elementary School, where every child will have a computer and a chance to learn their importance in society as a consumer. From there they will go on to Hershey's Kisses Junior High where important social skills will be learned and they will be introduced to the intricacies of capitalism. In Snickers High, our children will be prepared for the world through the arts, higher maths and a love of branding and commercialism. The only other option we have is to let the state continue to run the education system in the ground by firing teachers, increasing class sizes, and if state Senator Chris Buttars would have his way, eradicate the 12th grade from the system. Only corporate America can save us from this madness.

Provo, Growing Up

2010-02-26T21:43:00.008-07:00

The fair city which I call home has been like an adolescent in the extended family of big cities, albeit an overly religious and slightly hypocritical one. Recently it has been growing up a little bit, gaining a third 'skyscraper' downtown (and plans for a forth!), even with the number of bars. We'll be getting the UTA Frontrunner train in a few years, and there are plans for light-rail as well. On the 'scene' in Provo (or lack thereof), a few hip restaurants have been popping up here and there, and after having nothing classy but the Chef's Table within the valley, Spark opened last year and then Communal. It's nice to have restaurants where you can get reservations for busy nights, and not at the dozens of chain restaurants that proliferate the area.
I always get a little depressed when I look at the Urban Spoon page and notice that a hot dog joint is still the number one restaurant in town, above even the excellent Indian food of the Bombay House and Nick's amazing food at Nicoitalia Pizzeria. Seriously? It's a hot dog. Another reason to harbor animosity toward a certain segment of our populace. If you live(d) here, you know who I'm talking about.
Although Salt Lake and Park City are always going to outpace Provo, this is still good news. It means our town will cater to a wider variety of people than just college students, young families and the elderly. As a professed foodie, I'm very excited about this, hoping that in the near future I wont have to drive to Salt Lake to get some decent food. Still, The Melting Pot, Donovan's, Z'tejas, Stoneground, and other favorites, at least 35 minutes away. I hope this only encourages more enterprising, unique restaurants to open in Happy Valley, something sorely needed here.

Red-faced Redbox

2010-02-20T16:24:00.003-07:00

Continually proving the movie industry is going to attempt to maintain a dying business model as long as possible, Warner blue-balled Redbox into accepting a wait period of 28 days on new-releases, a little over a month after forcing Netflix into the same submission hold. Most smart individuals realize this is a complete dick move that does nothing but hurt everyone involved, and only increases the potential for piracy.
Many people who aren't willing to fork out 4 bucks plus tax to watch a shitty new-release and would prefer to pay a dollar, but now can't, will inevitably download a pirated copy, watch it, and forget about it, feeling only slightly soiled at wasting 90 minutes of their life on a piece of poorly-executed tripe. Therefore the production company loses. The occasional not-so-shitty release may get burned, passed around, re-watched and eventually lost in the backseat of someones Toyota, which may accelerate out of control and crash, violently exploding, destroying the disc no one paid for. Just kidding, Toyota.
Redbox also has to drop a lawsuit against Warner Bros. for trying to prevent them from getting their movies, so they lose double. Pirates have to work extra hard to keep up with the releases, and the quality of their work will suffer, so everyone else loses. Maybe everyone is losing more than Warner in this deal, so they're content.

Words of Truth - From Orrin Hatch?!?

2010-02-20T08:59:00.006-07:00

I have never been a fan of the legislators from our state, with few exceptions. Least of all these are the incumbents that have been in there for decades, and as conservatives are well known for attempting to maintain the status quo (their version of it, anyway), rarely say anything surprising. Not the best apotheosis for this is the eminent Senator Orrin Hatch; he writes, he sings, he reaches across party lines, he keeps getting elected! A surprisingly moderate conservative from Utah, he has supported stem-cell research, higher education for illegal immigrants, and pushed legislation that would let anyone who has been a citizen of the US for 20 years to run for the presidency and vice presidency. However, he hates files sharing and the Internet and his son is lobbyist whom he seems to have helped out quite a bit.
But recently, at a town hall meeting in American Fork, UT, he enraged his constituents by speaking the truth about the tea Party movement, and what it's doing to the Republican party. "If we fractionalize the Republican Party, we are going to see more liberals elected," Hatch said, with a definitive partisan spin on the message, basically telling the crowd that this movement is breaking up the GOP. And, surprise, they didn't like to hear it, as many who spend their lives in a fictional world are apt to when they hear the truth.
It's not a party based on a rational, objective look at politics and the Obama Administration's policies; it's based on a reactionary, uninformed group of people being led by disaffected politicians and FoxNews, the largest purveyor of hate, misinformation and fear ever seen. When well established politicians like Hatch are shying away from something that gathers large group of easily led conservatives, you know something is wrong.

Nuclear Winter Wear

2010-02-16T18:47:00.002-07:00

Doomsday Sale!!
Everything Must Go!!
Need to make room for our
Nuclear Winter Wear!!
No cash, no gold, no problem,
barter your child for a better
post-apocalypse lifestyle.

Wise businessmen never miss a beat
an opening or an opportunity
some will always seek t
make a profit—even after
the illusions of safety
and peace in our world end.

Coming to you this January, be sure
not to miss this season's
hottest Geiger Gear;
and wait until you see our
Functional Fabulous February
Fallout Fashions!!

Traders become militant millionaires
banking on Cadillac survivalists
wanting custom handmade
Gucci gun-cases in their
Wasteland Edition H2
with bullet-proof glass
puncture-proof tires
and spill-proof cup-holders.

Nothing Held Back!!
We'll ignore rationing edicts
this weekend only,
just for our customers!
Bring your cash, but
leave your guns at home!
We Must Be Crazy!!
Or at Least Slightly Irradiated!!

Soon as televisions work again,
business will flourish;
the faithful line up silent
wallets and purses in hand
at fallout-shelter mega-stores
smiling in satisfaction knowing
they were right; the End is Nigh--
of high prices.

The Slacker

2010-02-16T18:41:00.003-07:00

With the return of school, among various other excuses, I haven't posted in over a month. I am ashamed of myself, with the time I do spend on my computer, and the acquisition of this handy laptop I'm currently writing from, that I haven't done a single post in this time. I promise to be more studios about this, at least once a week sounds reasonable. If, for any reason I do not maintain this simple goal, I shall flagellate myself with a handful of various computer cords. Power cords will not be left out of this.

Just in case you weren't sure . . .

2010-01-12T18:21:00.004-07:00

Fox News has made a move that perfectly shows how 'Fair and Balanced' they are, in signing Sarah Palin on as a commentator, according to the Washington Post. Her job will also encompass writing a column on Fox News' web site. The only thing I'm surprised at is that it took this long for her to join their spurious ranks. She isn't the first out-of-work Republican to be snatched up by Fox, Karl Rove has been appearing regularly for some time. Seth Ackerman of FAIR wrote a lengthy article on Fox News' overabundance of conservative and Republican pundits and commentators way back in 2001. Dropping the vaguely Liberal Alan Colmes from Hannity's show so he could fly solo was just another sign back in 2008. Their media bias (that thing Liberals do Hannity rants and froths about on a regular basis on both his television show and radio show) is so overwhelmingly apparent, it's hard to understand anyone who believes otherwise has a firm grasp on reality. If they want to be conservatively biases, fine. Just admit to it, and stop calling yourself fair and balanced. Republicans outnumber Democrats or Liberals on your network by far,and most stories slant to the right in some way. Sarah Palin offers no balance to an already unbalanced network, I'm surprised she can stand up how unbalanced she seems. I'm curious how soon it will be before her imaginary 'death panels' come up again. Want balance? Give Al Gore a show. No, that's a bad idea. But seriously, stop pandering to your already secure fan base. No one is shocked or caught of guard by this. Maybe Clinton would work for you, if you can keep him away from your aides and interns.

Facebook Activism

2010-01-07T22:36:00.003-07:00

I joined Facebook last year at the promptings of a certain individual, and, much like Myspace, have regretted it ever since. I like the ability to connect with friends and family around the world, catch up with old compadres and chat with cousins you don't get to see. However, some of these people have little else to do but sit on their computer and play Farmville all day, constantly poking their friends and making various useless comments. Fine. This I can deal with, but there is one thing that I get which I have found exceedingly aggravating, and that is the 'cause' function of this site. You can join any various hollow cause with a few mouse clicks, and then 'invite' all your friends and relatives, assuring that they know you support this particular empty effort. I have not joined a single one of these, despite many friendly attempts by people in my circle. No, I will not join to Keep God in Schools, the last place religion needs to have any influence. Sorry. I don't care if it's to Stop the Senseless Slaughter of Endangered Field-mice by Feral Cats, I'm not going to join an effort that you yourself will do nothing more about than to mention 'how very sad' this is, or how important, knowing that in days-no-hours, you will give it little or no more thought. Please stop this, and I will stop deleting your requests, and I might even try to take you more seriously as a person. Regards, an annoyed Internet user.

Lyrics Schmerics

2009-12-14T23:03:00.003-07:00

I have a bizarre and morbid fascination with bad lyrics, which may be why I catch myself listening to Pokerface, or the occasional country song when I happen to be in the wrong car at the wrong time. There are several reasons why I may not like a particular band or style of music, whether it's because I find it boring, generic, tedious, too 'pop music', or the band has such a low sense of musical integrity *cough* 3 Doors Down *cough* that I just can't listen to them. But every once in a while, I hear something that I have to stop and think about for a minute, and I become obsessed with how utterly and magnificently terrible it is.

Some classic gems amidst the bag o' jewels that was 70-80's hair metal scene are lines like:
"I'm hot, sticky sweet, from my head to my feet" Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me and
"Only time will tell, if we stand the test of time" Van Halen - Why Can't This Be Love

In that same vein of horrid, and more recently in the music scene, I have found a new goldmine of sentences gone awry; Canadia's own Nickelback. They have two kinds of songs; sad/sappy songs and dirty/sexy/stripper songs. I actually heard a local DJ refer to Nickelback as 'stripper music,' a humorous and more-than-apt term, in my opinion. Some of their worst include Animals a,d Something in Your Mouth, but their newest entry in lyrical torture, Shakin' Hands. the chorus goes something like this:
"Well she ain't no Cinderalla when she gettin' undressed
'cause she rocks it like the naughty wicked witch of the west"

When I first heard this, I was hoping it was a joke, because I didn't think anyone would take music like this seriously. Is it worse that Chad Kroeger looks like Jesus? I think so. The Antichrist of good music. If you happen to come upon this song on the radio, do yourself a favor and turn it off. You should thank me.

Norwegian Lightshow

2009-12-09T23:52:00.004-07:00

This is odd. Just plain odd. Either aliens, governments, or the Earth is totally fucking with us. Russia is also being accused, after a possible failed missile test that apparently was testing the use of bright neon lights on their armaments. The old, plain missiles are sooo boring. Norway is known for such strange phenomena as the Northern Lights and black metal, but this is something more bizarre. Although it looks completely fake, why would someone go about faking something like this, unless it was to unnerve people about the recent atom-smashing done at the LHC. It almost looks like some kind of cheap, projected, 70's b-movie effect. My guess is refracted light from gas created by aliens emptying out their holding tanks after a long vacation in Mexico.

(Government) News Corporation

2009-12-03T09:57:00.007-07:00

I've talked before about how terrible our newspaper industry is doing, in the face of the immediate availability of information on the Internet and the convenience of 24/7 cable news channels. You had to know that someone in the government would find a way to step in and help out. Reuters reports that the idea of a bailout of sorts is cooking within the creaky, dirty walls of the Congress.
The last thing the government should step in and help out is the media. Mass media has already skewed the idea of freedom of speech. However, Henry Waxman, a Dem Chairman on the House Energy and Commerce Committee thinks differently. Complaining of a failing business model, he warns that, "Eventually government is going to have to be responsible to help and resolve these issues." Despite how terrible the media is right now, letting the government step in and take the reins is a terrible, aside from concerns over censorship. With a bailout comes restrictions, like in the case of the government bailout of the auto industry; salary caps, concessions, streamlining, trimming the corporate fat, basically. Restrictions on how they functioned and what they could and couldn't do also applied. An auto company that should have been left to implode is one thing, a struggling but evolving thing such as media is another. I don't fear so much what would happen to the massive, lumbering conglomerates that haven't been able to keep up with the changing nature of media, but how the smaller, moderate news outlets and such would be affected. Once politics collides head on with free speech and the free press, there's no telling what could happen, particularly when there are large sums of money involved. Case in point, FOX News has pretty much become the speaking arm of the Republican party, as 'fair and balanced' as they would like to appear. Thomas Paine must be spinning in his grave.

The In-crowd

2009-11-30T23:25:00.005-07:00

The past few years, I've been noticing an increase in the profusion of hipsters and scenesters infesting Provo and Utah County at large. This I find quite amusing, since Provo really has no 'scene' to speak of, and is definitely not hip. Three small bars, a few coffee shops and a pool-hall make up the 'night-life' of our town, and the newly opened club, which I will not even bother naming to give them the free advertising, admits teenagers, immediately rendering it un-hip. And if you're over 20 and hanging out at a club that is filled with teenagers you are either a) a pedophile, b) a loser with nothing better to do or c) a loser pedophile that can't get a ride to a better club in Salt Lake.
The hipsters invariably end up at Denny's or the Rice King for their evening fare, the latter is kept alive by this annoying and useless segment of our populace through some cruel hoax perpetrated by a crueler god. Oh great and terrible Cthulhu, how have be angered thee?!? The only classy joint downtown, Spark, I have heard called 'too hip for Provo.' Most scenesters seem to avoid it anyway, preferring to haunt the few small music venues downtown, crowding around outside, the interior buzzing with teenage chatter and shittily amplified music from the mostly uninspired and uninteresting local bands. They occasionally manage to pull in a decent act, who can't be heard over the mmsing kids and 'cool' college students talking about how this place or that place is soo much better, we should go hang out there instead.
They usually spend their nights wandering downtown like so many tight-jeaned, hair-dyed, ironically-bespectacled zombies, alternately standing in front of the various venues, trying to look cool without looking too cool or comfortable, like, 'Meh, I could go in, but its just not indie/hip/scene enough for me, besides, I spent all my money on this new fedora that doesn't fit properly, We should go get huge plates of fried rice at the King and complain about how all the bands we liked last year all sold out and these new ones we found out about on facebook are so awesome, indie, raw and unique, just like everything else we listen to.'
It hurts my head to keep thinking like a scene kid, so I have to stop before I start combing my hair to the side and growing ironic facial hair. Seriously, are their lives this boring that they have to pretend to have some scrap of anti-culture to cling to just to get through the day? I guess I don't really need to ask that kind of rhetorical question.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-11-30T22:51:00.005-07:00

Today's candidate is a local one, from our own great, sober, inclusive and white Brigham Young University. During a post-game interview, BYU quarterback Max Hall began a rant about the opposing team, proving that sports builds character, just not the right kind, apparently. During the course of his rant he said,
"I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything. It felt really good to send those guys home."
Later, he mentions he doesn't respect them and they deserved to lose, calling the school and its fans classless, showing just how much class and sportsmanship he has. The following day he apologized, sounding far too scripted, and was then reprimanded by the MWC, despite his coach sticking up for him and subtly supporting his hate-filled comments.
Normally, I could care less about sports, particularly football, which seems to earn me male-pariah status in some circles, where sports and football are life. Provo has always had a holier-than-thou attitude about BYU and sports programs, and Ute fans are almost as annoying. The insults and child-like behavior run from both sides, and this 'great rivalry' has been deemed a 'holy war' by some douchebag who doesn't fully understand the connotations and history surrounding that phrase. 'Holy war' killed untold numbers of gentiles, pagans, Muslims and many others over the centuries, and brought terrorism and death to our own soil. Football is just a game, you people need to cool your shit, and take a step back from what you're investing so much into, and realize this. Effigies are soon to come if this continues, and real death soon after. Oh, and Max, you're kind of a douchebag; and dude, you look like an alien.

Don't censor us, censor that!

2009-11-30T22:18:00.005-07:00

The GOP keeps creating proof that they will oppose anything the Democrats believe in or support, including Freedom of Speech, particularly via the Internets. Obama has shown support for net neutrality and recently spoke to the Chinese leader about limiting their notorious Internet censorship, nicknamed the Great Firewall. From the very beginning of his presidency, even before he was sworn in, groups like the MPAA have tried to pressure Obama and the FCC to censor the Internet and the RIAA would love to turn it into a virtual police state where nothing is free or easily accessible.
Showing their love and consideration for big business ahead of the actual citizens of this country, Republicans in congress introduced legislation months ago to appease the big ISP's to stymie efforts by the FCC to enforce neutrality and ban restricting or slowing certain types of information sent over the Internet. More recently, AT&T got its shorts in a wad over comments the Obama admin has made concerning any regulations on Internet access. Basically, Republicans are taking sides with companies and media groups over the rights of its own constituents, since they must not pad their pockets as well as the corporations do.
Censoring or filtering the Internet in any way is another step toward limiting our right to freedom of speech and the press, as is done in countries like China, Iran and North Korea, you know, Communist and dictatorship countries. The ones we get along with so well. I guess it really doesn't surprise me much, since conservatives are more likely to ask books to be banned or burned since they don't agree with their set of values, the only ones that matter.

The Conservative Bowel Movement

2009-11-28T11:13:00.006-07:00

In the republican movement, the infighting is starting to get serious, and that's the way I like it. The more they bicker and set up failures like Palin, they better off the rest of us will be when their party hopefully collapses. Even Glenn Beck can't help but take shots at Palin, in his own special douchebag, sexist way. And women still listen to him, go figure.
The problem is, the Democrats are doing it as well. They can't pull their collective heads out of whatever ass they have it in, and actually get something done. They let the Repubs stonewall the health-care issue since June, which still hasn't seen a resolution, and conceded many important points just to get something passed.
Meanwhile, the Republican party is increasingly being pushed around by the extreme right, which is disillusioning moderate Conservatives; and their New Republican Contract isn't helping either, which even discredits their Zeus in the pantheon of Conservatives, Ronald Reagan. The Republican party seems bound for a split, in which the far right will break away from the party simply because they aren't being conservative enough.
I hope they do split off, and their ignorant, bible-thumping mouthpieces as candidates, to lure away their equally-minded constituents from the de facto Republican party, ensuring no possibility of a Republican win in 2012. Go ahead, run Palin against Obama and watch what happens. It will only take one debate for those wavering to see how completely inadequate she is to run anything besides a small Alaskan town.

Turkey Hangover 2009

2009-11-28T10:57:00.003-07:00

It's been a year since I began this blog, during a long Thanksgiving weekend stuck at home with nothing to do but surf the web and get pissed about the actions and words of various groups of people. It's been a lot of fun, and a lot of work, when I keep it up.
I know my posting can be sporadic at times, and I'm trying to amend that, but don't expect too much. Between work, school (not an excuse this semester) the gym and the girlfriend, I don't have a lot of time to work on this blog. And since I avoid television as much as possible (except for the gym), it's hard to find a lot to write about without a lot of reading.
However, I want to give thanks to the few of you who read this blog at all, and have supported me in keeping it up for the past year. I'm planning another blog I may link here, and finally getting a laptop, which should help e keep up my blogs better. Thank you all for having some vague interest in my opinions.

Things I am also thankful for as recorded elsewhere:

1. Having a job: I know it's been a rough year for a lot of people, including some of my family members, who don't read this blog.
2. Lists: Where would I be without wasting hours reading lists? Six Creepiest Insects? Top Ten lists? Sites like Failblog and People of Walmart? A place a lot less awesome, that's where.
3. The girlfriend: Although she hates me spending a lot of time away from her (i.e. blogging), she supports my writing and other hobbies and has joined my effort to eat healthier.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-11-23T21:40:00.003-07:00

Today, I have two douchebaggery candidates who managed to drive into water in some fashion, one above road level and one below.
Our first soaked motorist is an idiotic gentleman from Texas who managed to veer his million dollar Bugatti into a salt marsh, whilst reaching for a dropped cell phone. Mr. Important couldn't be bothered with stopping to look for the device, but rather let his vehicle drift off the road and into the salty water, which will probably render the car useless. Unless he needs a 1,000 hp paperweight. Good job, douchebag.
Our next inattentive driver is a Floridian woman who lost control of a vehicle at a Tampa airport and crashed into a $200 k aquarium, killing most of the fish. The kicker? She had her six-year-old unbelted, on her lap. Classy move, mom. Next time, stick his ass in the back seat where he belongs and pay attention to the road. Isn't the speed limit in front of airports like 10 mph anyway?
Thank you AP and My Way.

With Love, From Alaska

2009-11-23T21:01:00.004-07:00

Palin supporters are out in force this week due her book tour, which had inexplicably made its way to No.1 bestseller on Amazon--before it came out in print. This butterfly effect of blind allegiance and patriotism is being seen everywhere, most specifically in any city the Holy Palin touched down in to do a book signing. Although not sure why they support her, you betcha, they do. In droves.

My favorite line is from the guy in the beanie at about 1:48 who says, "I don't know what she knows or doesn't know." Can ignorant Republicans always be so predictable? It would seem so. But what would happen if she really ran for the presidency and won? SNL gives us a possible look into the future. Thanks HuffPost.

High on LDL

2009-11-16T23:08:00.002-07:00

I have a fast-food addiction. Since my teenager years, I have been enamored with the idea of a quick, tasty meal, made cheap by mass production and known by relentless advertising campaigns. McDonald's was one of my first loves, like many innocent, ignorant children fed by hasty working parents with no time to feed their noisy bunch of rugrats. As I grew older and got small jobs, providing me wit some minimal source of income, my fast-food tastes expanded. Taco Bell, Burger King, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, Carl's Jr., various local chains and such. I loved to eat, willing to try almost anything and everything. Every time a new item menu was introduced, I was sure to be there, cash in hand for a taste at what was 'New' in the health vacuum of the fast-food industry.
Whatever came into popularity in the restaurants, I was sure to try it; ancho/poblano, chipotle, "fresh", spicy, whatever. It was cheap, tasted good, and great for socializing. We all went out, be it for Taco Bell, Wendy's, Del Taco, Carl's Jr., Taco Time, Pizza Hut, even McDonald's, the ultimate in fast-food.
But I eventually began to learn things. Like, fast-food wasn't good for you. We expanded to other, sit-down chain restaurants. Denny's, Outback, Village Inn, anything that said 'buffet'. It wasn't fast-food, so it must have been better. There were a few local favorite holes-in-the-wall we would frequent, but not many. The next six or seven years would remain pretty much the same. Eating out far too often, with very little quality food. It was cheap, and we were relatively poor. We experimented with better, foreign foods, Japanese, Thai, Indian, but the regulars were still staples. Burgers, fries and a Coke.
I also learned a great deal more about fast-food and the fast food industry. I own a copy of Fast Food Nation, I watched Super-Size Me, and have Morgan Spurlock's book, Don't Eat This Book. I contribute to a blog dedicated to finding drinks that are better for you. I know better, but I still have problems eating that which is not good for me. I have tried to stop, but it lasts about a week, and I relapse. I think to myself, 'It's only a burrito. It can't be as bad for me as a cheeseburger. Yes, I will have the sour cream and guacamole.' 'I'll just get a burger, no fries and a lemonade or some tea instead of a Coke.' I made a few baby steps. I don't order soda nearly as often as I used to at restaurants. I'll go for the chicken, pork or fish instead of the beef. I cook at home more often. I work out 2-3 times a week. But I still crave that cheap, easy food.
Me and my equally fast-food addicted girlfriend have begun to make a concerted effort to eat less fast-food, buying groceries and cooking at home instead of going out. It is often cheaper, more fun and interactive than sitting at a restaurant. We do go to restaurants though, but try to avoid fast-food. We often aim for foreign cuisine, since it is usually healthier. It was Japanese this weekend, along with two home-cooked dinners and some quick breakfasts in the kitchen instead of the drive-thru. We've been over a week without ingesting something from that came to us through a small window. We're just taking it day by day.
I am an addict, like many of you, whether or not you realize it. Fast food is not good for you, far from it. Watching Super-Size Me was a great eye opener, and helped to bring about the end of my McDonald's visits. Trying to eat a McGriddle sealed the deal. I never ate there again after ingesting that sin against food. But I found many other sources for my drug. Carl's Jr. and Del Taco remain some of my weak points. Although, after a recent attempt to eat breakfast from Burger King, I believe it will join my list of places I will never eat again. I"m a recovering fast-food junkie, and I know I will always be at risk of relapse. I have easy access to Subway food, though it isn't much better for than any other fast food. I make my own lunches whenever possible, and visit small, local joints when I need a lunch. As long as I have support and a strong will, I may become fast-food free some day. Here's hoping.

Whining and Dining

2009-11-08T22:06:00.003-07:00

Here is an excerpt of a great conversation I had this morning with a friend of mine.

Xavier said (10:25 AM):
http://www.winechateau.com/
this is awesome
and shipping is often freeeee
danithius says:
oh ho? Online wine? Are they even allowed to ship to Utah?
Xavier says:
yeah
I can get a case of this really good Zinfandel I like for 65 bucks, free shipping
danithius says:
wow. How much in a case?
Xavier says:
12
danithius says:
holy wow
Xavier says:
about 5.39 a bottle
danithius says:
of that Gallo (sic?) stuff you were talking about?
Xavier says:
yeah
danithius says:
nice man
Xavier says:
oooh, spirits too
danithius says:
circumvent the Utah liquor conglomerate altogether, I dig
Xavier says:
yeah
wait
Domestic State Restrictions
Currently, we are NOT shipping to: Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Utah.
must be why the shipping was free
danithius says:
arrrg I knew it
hmm or those states are all the ones with puritan alcohol laws
Xavier says:
http://wi.shipcompliant.com/StateDetail.aspx?StateId=65
I got all excited for nothing
danithius says:
felony state?? geez
you can bring in up to a quart, "if all taxes and markups have been paid and clearance is received from the liquor control commission."
you've got to be kidding
Xavier says:
yeah, I learned that in my paper research
you have to file paperwork to bring a bottle of anything back with you, and pay taxes
danithius says:
I do remember... it's just so... what's the word
Machiavellian? no...
Xavier says:
ridiculous?
danithius says:
heh that works
just like they've gone to every possible extent to put a giant wet blanket upon its citizens...
Xavier says:
or perhaps, a dry blanket
danithius says:
heh touche
but seriously, I bet the people on the liquor commission point to that stipulation and go, "look, we're making every effort to accommodate our citizens"
"we're being reasonable" or something like that
Xavier says:
as long as they don't enjoy themselves
too much
danithius says:
oh of course, that goes without saying
of course you can bring in outside spirits! You simply have to visit your local liquor commission, pay the necessary markup and taxes, and fill out some paperwork to receive proper clearance
Xavier says:
and that's only because they hold a monopoly on liquor inside the state, they don't want anyone cutting in on their business
I mean their love and concern for Utah's citizens
danithius says:
uh huh
it's suffocation by bureaucracy
kind of like how the green card application process deters a lot of (legal) immigration
Xavier says:
not to mention citizenship
danithius says:
but honestly I don't think it decreases the number of immigrants much, just legal ones. You're basically forcing people to break the law
Xavier says:
anyone up for a run to Wyoming?
danithius says:
lol exactly

I may actually need to go up there this winter. Anyone need anything?

Why I Hate 'Knowing' About Cars

2009-10-28T21:34:00.001-06:00

Almost everyone, I assume, has one of those friends, the guy that 'knows' about cars. The car-guy. Whether they intentionally become the car-guy or not, they become the go-to for various problems. That guy is me. I'm the one who gets the phone-calls that start out, "Soo, my car isn't starting..." or "Do you know anything about(insert car part or problem here)?" I even get these calls from my own father, whom I had always assumed knew more about cars than me. This comes as a mixed blessing. You have the opportunity to help your friends and loved ones, or to never have them trust your opinion again. Until they need something fixed.
Already this month I have fixed a Saturn door problem, installed an alternator in a Chevy, and a fuel pump in a Nissan. One of the three has had no further issues. I have already promised further work on two of these cars and another Chevy with a door problem. Meanwhile, my Camaro sits behind my place of work with its own bad fuel pump, and my Mazda needs a tune-up.
I've done jobs that caused further problems, or unveiled them. I tore out a transmission for a check-up, and ended up having to buy a rebuilt one, and the car wasn't even mine. But I wanted to drive it, and I'm a nice guy. My own projects get pushed back so I can help my friends out. Is it any surprise that sometimes I wish I didn't know anything about cars? I glean a lot of information off of coworkers and associates due to the industry I work in, and I see them dealing with the same problem. Always under someone else's hood.
I have spent more time under some cars than I have inside of them. And that's no big stretch. At least at work I do for more than gratitude or an occasional burrito (food considered the favored payment for favors amongst our circle). Every once in a while, I wish it was someone else working on my car or my friends, but then I'll always wonder if they're doing it right.

Kiss My Bias

2009-10-22T20:28:00.003-06:00

I was recently called out on exposing my personal biases in a recent post, and rightfully so. I'll be the first one to admit that I'm biased. I'm young, intelligent, poor, and angry. I grew up with a passed-down religion, but drifted away in my late teens and finally broke free a few years ago. It hasn't been enough time to heal. I live in a Conservatively dominated religious area, a near opposite of what I may be considered. Not showing a bias is nearly impossible, especially if you have a short temper and an attitude. But, really, am I the only one guilty?
As far as I am considered, everyone is biased in some way or another. Media outlets are nearly all heavily biased, despite claims to being "fair and balanced." If the content was completely two sided and politically correct, no one would watch it, because it would come off as boring. Journalists try to remain unbiased, as do documentary filmmakers. And how well do they do in theaters? It takes biased gentlemen like Micheal Moore to really make money. Too bad he's a douchebag, using tricky editing and playing off people's emotions. But it just proves my point. Everyone is biased, whether it is against certain skin colors, intelligence levels, chosen automotive brands, weight, religion or whatever you find most displeasing in a person.
Does this excuse me or anyone else from at least trying to maintain some semblance of fairness when they write, speak or make inappropriate hand gestures? Probably not, but I can still try, and at least admit when I'm being biased. It is a personal problem, and can be overcome. I have really tried, honestly, to overcome the antipathy I grew up with toward Mexicans, from growing up in Southern California. Biases get passed on, picked up, or just develop, due to one bad experience or years of them.
Right now, the biases I haven't yet deconstructed are toward the fervently religious, conservatives, Republicans and bad drivers. They just make me so angry. And don't get me started on blacks and the Jews.

LDS WTF

2009-10-06T22:43:00.002-06:00

As someone who grew up religiously, I learned all the cute, kitschy little catch phrases and mnemonic devices that helped you remember certain things about your faith, and being Mormon, we have our fair share. Latter Day Saints is LDS. Choose The Right, CTR. YM/YW, PEC, the Y, NCMO . Trials and Tribulations. The Word of Wisdom. Hold to the Rod. Articles of Faith. Bear your Testimony. Families are Forever. Called to Serve. Milk before meat. Isn't it about . . . time? They go on and on.
I have come to see my former faith, Mormonism, turned into easily repeatable bumper-sticker quotes. I saw one car just the other day with at least three. One CTR sticker, one R U LDS ? sticker, and those goddamn omnipresent stick figure people, used by Mormon soccer-moms to proclaim their penchant and proclivity for procreation, which is apparently their only other purpose after gossiping about other church members behind their backs and taking anti-depressants by the handful. I saw one minivan with eleven people on the back window. That means nine kids. NINE. From one woman. Why would anyone put themselves through that? If you asked Mrs. Duggar, she would probably give you some bullshit answer about them being gifts from God, when in reality, she just can't seem to keep her legs closed. But I digress.
You know that your religion has become mainstreamed when you have stores dedicated to selling accessories and other crap specifically for your religion. I always thought that CTR rings had a purpose, to be an ever present reminder for you to 'choose the right.' It's more of a useless symbol to me now, just a sign to inform potential suitors that you still think you're twelve and believe a ring will keep you from doing something you aren't supposed to. Purity rings? Wedding rings? Never mind.
All the religious paraphernalia I see just comes off as an attempt at trying to disguise a love of material things behind the mask of faith. Certain clothes are required for a person to enter the Mormon temples, and to be seen as true, faithful members. You have to buy stuff to prove your faithfulness. Sounds more like brand loyalty than faith to me. "Yes, I have my quad and my brand-new leather carrying case, with my gold-embossed name on both of them. I just bought this new church-bag for my mom with Relief Society Mom embroidered on it, and a Christus replica for dad. Isn't that so fetchin' awesome?"
There is an entire bookstore chain dedicated to selling literature to Mormons, covering all genres, including fiction, ironically. Living in Utah Valley as I do, I get to see a local culture that is so saturated with religion that it cannot separate itself from consumerism. Most business is geared toward serving those individuals who love to proclaim their religious status while proclaiming their financial one as well. "Yes, I have Lexus and I drive like a sleepy, drunk, angry twelve-year-old, but I'm LDS and God has blessed me so it's okay." So NOT okay. There is a very bold and obvious contradiction here, where members of a religion that seems to motivate frugality and humility breeds a society of zealous, prideful, want-driven hypocrites who desire to make every effort the show that they are better than--whoever. Add young marriage and rabbit-like breeding to the equation and it's no surprise that Utah consistently leads the nation in bankruptcy filings.
Think about it. Utah is about 50% Mormon, give or take. Mormons are required to give 10% of their gross income to their church to remain in good standing. Then there is the American desire to display your social rank with 'things.' New cars, big house with a maintained lawn, and any combination of 4-wheelers, dirt-bikes, jet-skies and snowmobiles. Then, fill that hole in your soul with more, religious goods, like multiple pictures of a very white Jesus, prophets living and dead, and temples you've seen either never or dozens of times; religious jewelry, books, crafts, and oh-my-god Christmas decorations. That's one for another post.
What it all comes down to in my angry little mind is that Mormons don't really feel fulfilled by their religion, they need stuff to fill that hole, be it religious or otherwise. What would Jesus do? Buy more! I can walk through my neighborhood and count SUV's that cost more than 30K and run out of fingers before I circle the block, and this is a very religious neighborhood. I'm no different, when it comes to wanting. I'd like a nice big house and a new car and all the toys, but I know I can't afford them. And I don't try and hide me desires behind my bumper-sticker religion, they're my selfish desires to have things. But I don't really feel it necessary to try and keep up with the Johnson's. I have my shitty apartment, my cars, paid off, and my motorcycle, not paid off, and that's enough for me right now. God wont provide more for me if I start believing in him again, just the banks and the credit card companies with their cash advances and Annual Percentage Rates. Thanks, but no thanks.
Well, maybe just a few small things. Could I possibly get a set of those blood-red undergarments and a Jupiter talisman so I can be more like Joseph Smith? A couple young wives would be nice too.

To Alcohol!

2009-10-06T21:19:00.004-06:00

I am so happy that a doctor has confirmed by belief that it is okay to be a moderate alcoholic. What's more, it may keep me from being anxious or depressed, and in fact that hasn't been much of an issue in my life since I started drinking. I rarely drink more than a few beers, cocktails or glasses of wine, and I have never had a blackout or been too drunk to remember where my bed was. I've never had a hangover, or done something I regretted later. I've puked a few times, but that comes with learning how and what to drink. Note: whiskey and OJ is bad news, and never try and finish the rest of that box of wine by yourself, there's more in there than you think.
Granted, very few can honestly claim the things I have, in an era of binge drinking that has overshadowed the idea of moderation. Quantity over quality, it seems. That's not what drinking should be about. I've agreed for a long time that parents should drink with their kids and teach them how to be responsible. Telling them no and turning your back to them isn't the greatest way to teach a segment of our population that notoriously avoids following shallow rules that aren't actually followed by their creators. Our society is so ill-informed that, as Rassmusen reports, only 51% of them rate alcohol more dangerous than weed.
Alcohol can be dangerous if used improperly, but we need to stop looking at it like an alluring taboo. As a social lubricant and pleasant, nerve-numbing beverage, it can be enjoyed with near impunity, and it has been seen in studies that light to moderate drinkers live longer. As an adult of the proper age, I enjoy alcohol as a meal enhancement, mind relaxer and calming device. I'm aware of the dangers of consuming it, and the walls I face in society for doing such. I am informed, adult and free to make my own decisions, so I believe that I will have another. And another, and another. But that's it, because I know when to say no.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-09-24T22:53:00.003-06:00

Today I happened upon this picture, and I must nominate an unknown or unknowns for douchebaggery. Whoever the asshole or assholes were that thought it would be funny to cover a cat in duct tape and leave it wandering around should suffer the same fate. Such a prank is not only not funny, but cruel, unusual and downright mean. This may be how either fetishists or serial killers get started. If anyone in Philly knows the douchebag(s) that perpetrated this twisted act, they should seriously reconsider who they keep company with, and turn them in. Douchebag(s).

And while I'm at it, here's another douchebag throwing live frogs into boiling water on live television. This douchebag is named Glenn Beck. Is there no low he will stoop to in his insane efforts to expand his inane and ignorant fan-base? I guess not. Douche.

Sword Play

2009-09-20T22:23:00.006-06:00

A few months ago, I posted about a couple of incidents where sword-wielding persons either inflicted harm on each other or robbed businesses with the unconventional weapon. The use of the sword seems to be becoming more widespread. A recent incident ended in the death of a man who broke into a college student's garage in Baltimore; another student in Texas attacked his roommates after finding a soda can in his room.
A quick Google search will bring up a dozen more stories from the past few years of this happening, with varied outcomes. Have guns and regular knives become passe? Or is this just a sign of the economic hardships plaguing our country's good citizens? Or are we just becoming just a little more psychotic every year? I'm definitely not crazy, but I have several friends that own samurai swords, katanas or other various menacing-looking weapons. As for me, I'll just stick to my baseball bats, knifes and asps, thank you very much.
I wonder what the Samurai would think of this. I really hope that crazy isn't contagious.

Rush Limbaugh's America

2009-09-18T07:28:00.004-06:00

Some people live in a little world of their own creation, where logic, reason and reality don't necessarily have to jive wit their own perception. Normally, these people create cults or live in cabins deep in the woods and write manifestos; but sometimes they end up with radio shows.
Rush Limbaugh, never afraid to shoot his mouth off on the most sensitive of topics, has claimed that we need to re-institute one of our painful legacies of American history, the segregation of buses, as reported by Raw Story. This is in response to the beating of a white boy by two black students on a school bus, even though police have pretty much ruled out any racial motivation. Rush has again shown himself for who he is by uttering this string of words, a likely proud racist. Moving backward before the Civil Rights movement, when the white people were in power and told everyone what to do; where they could eat, ride, play, drink and urinate.
Rush is in support of this, so why stop there? Let's re-segregate everything; sports teams, restrooms, restaurants, all public transportation, drinking fountains and schools. Heaven forbid we mingle with other 'races' and gain acceptance of them, that will never do. I hear the KKK is doing well again, Rush, maybe you should throw your support behind the white hoods and call for lynchings of any black man who is caught with a white woman, eh? Send all the migrant workers back to the countries they came from, no matter if they have greed cards or work visas.
In Rush Limbaugh's America, we can all be free again to judge others by their race, age, gender, ethnicity and creeds. It would sure shore up that crumbling white Christian power-structure that O'Reilly is lamenting the loss of. Or we could go back even further, when we owned the blacks outright as slaves, and they had no rights, women either, and we pushed Native Americans off of their land into arid wastelands and only wealthy land-owning white males could vote, but we were still all created equally. That might work well for Limbaugh and his right-wing fanatical cohorts. I just don't know if I would want to live in Rush's America, I like my freedoms and equality with others.

Is a Public Option That Hard to Swallow?

2009-09-17T21:55:00.004-06:00

A month ago, Obama declared that the public option was 'not essential' to the health care reform bill, mostly because the Repubs were fighting against it so heartily. Even a few 'blue dog' Democrats were against it. It seemed like the health care reformation would come without a government run insurance program. Fast forward to this week.
It seems that all of a sudden everyone but Dems are coming out in favor of a public option, including 73% of doctors, labor groups, and even Bill O'Reilly. Yeah, that shocked the hell out of me too.
So whether those in Congress fighting against it like it or not, it looks like the public option is back on the table. The insurance companies are going to fight it every way they can, and not because it means a poorer health coverage, but because they don't want the competition. Anything that will force them to be more honest, lose customers and profits, they are definitely going to be against. Do they really care that 45,000 people die every year because they don't have health insurance? Actually, yes, because that's 45,000 premiums they didn't collect before they canceled the policy for some obscure reason.
Insurance companies are not in the business to save lives, they are in it to profit off of healthy people as long as it is convenient for them, and dropping them as soon as possible when something crops up. I'm sure there a re a few smaller insurance companies that might actually give a damn about their customers, but I'm not aware of any. This fight against health care reform is getting ridiculous, and is led my stubborn conservative politicians who wont even bother to read bills they come out against. Maybe if someone tossed a hefty raise for Congress into the bill it might get passed in record time.
Until then, I just hope that I don't get seriously ill or injured in any way and cripple myself financially.

Good for youuu!

2009-09-15T21:10:00.004-06:00

One of the big yuppie things to do during the 2000's has been to own a hybrid, be it the ridiculously popular Prius, Toyota and Honda's other attempts, luxury hybrids or good old American made POS hybrids like the Ford Escape. It is a feel-good purchase, letting the owner believe that they are helping not just their status, but the environment. Not so fast.
Those massive battery packs in your hybrid? Nickel-metal hydride batteries full of nickel. That cool electric motor? Full of rare, difficult to mine metals like neodymium. All that stuff has to be mined, shipped, processed and fashioned into parts, which are then reshipped to places like Japan where they are built, and then shipped overseas to America's voracious consumers looking to out-green their neighbor or just show up how great they are for pretending to care about the environment. Another study done by CNW Marketing Research has shown just how inefficient it is to produce and maintain hybrids as compared to other vehicles. Even SUV's and many luxury cars are cheaper to produce.
And what do you get for all that extra cash you lay down for that ego boost? Only better city driving fuel mileage and a heavier, less efficient car. The Prius is notorious for its lack of interior space and poor highway performance. Penn and Teller tackled this one on an episode of "Bullshit!". The 'Smug' episode of South Park also went to great pains trying to get the message across that hybrids are not the answer, but just a step in the right direction. Hybrids aren't necessarily a bad thing, they are a testing bed for new technologies and an indicator that as a society, we're becoming a little more than dimly aware of our effect on the planet.
More fuel efficient car are coming out all the time, and ultra-efficient diesel hybrids are starting to make their way across the Atlantic where they have been driven for years. Volkswagen had brought out their L1 two-seater concept car that gets 170 mpg with a 1 liter diesel-hybrid engine. It's 3-4 years away from seeing the roads of America, but car companies are definitely on the right track. At least in Europe.
Next time you see some smug prick in their Hybrid flying past you on the freeway, don't get mad, just remember that they paid a whole lot more and most likely aren't getting any benefit whatsoever from that over-sized accessory. Not until they can figure out how to run a vehicle off of douchebaggery, anyway.

Hollywood Hates the Free Market

2009-09-14T22:15:00.004-06:00

If there is one thing that Hollywood hates more than anything, it's people enjoying their movies for free--or as close to it as possible. One of the foundations of a free-market is that consumers decide how much they are willing to pay for something, and only the companies that can provide that service/object for that price cost-effectively will stay in business.
For far too long, Hollywood has decided how much we will pay to watch the garbage that sweep out into the theaters and video stores across this country, and has reaped huge sums of money. Since the advent of faster, more widespread Internet service has become popular, their revenue has been dropping, since people suddenly realized that they don't have to pay to watch some trite piece of crap in a theater or rent the DVD for $4-6 bucks. Multiple suits and harassment of the ISP's by organizations such as the MPAA has done very little to stem the tide of recorded or ripped videos making their way into millions of hard drives around the world. And that wont change anytime soon. But something else is agitating Hollywood these days.
There are these soda-machine sized boxes springing up everywhere around the country, in WalMart's, gas stations and fast-food joints. From them, you can rent a DVD for about a dollar a night, no questions asked. There's no one to ask them, the machines simply vend your disk and and transmit your cash into some large bank account somewhere. The most popular and easy to find is RedBox. McDonalds jumped on the RedBox wagon big time, even giving away free rentals with meals. They are simple, convenient, and most of all, cheap. Movie studios do not like this.
RedBox has proven to Hollywood that consumers are tired of getting raped every time they go to the theater, paying upwards of ten dollars, per person, to sit through two hours of nonsense, when they can just do it at home for a buck and change for the whole family. A weak economy and high unemployment rate have added to the problem, people are diverting their shrinking entertainment funds to cheaper sources. Mint.com has a great visual breakdown of the comparison between the most popular video rental chains. Basically, they're kicking some major ass, as I'm sure any customers of the machines are well-aware, the lines get annoyingly long, especially when that damn guy has no idea what he wants to rent. Asshole, they're the same ones in there no matter what screen you look at!
Anyway, Hollywood hates RedBox. So much so that they are trying to, and succeeding in, getting video stores and unions in on the game, claiming they're running ma and pa video stores out of business. Bullshit, Hollywood and and Blockbuster ran most of them out within the past few decades. Times are changing, and so are the ways we watch movies. Even NetFlix, although not demonized by Hollywood quite so much as the little video kiosks, are still on their shitlist, stymieing them whenever they can. Hollywood is not ready to change, and will fight, like the music recording industry, until they have to change to stay viable.
Here's a deal I'll make with you, Hollywood: how about you start making some better movies, something worth my time and money to watch, and I'll start going back to the theater again. Deal? Want me and millions of other Americans back in your sticky, overpriced seats? Stop pumping out the garbage and actually take some pride in what you do. Until then, I'll be at the 'Box more often than not.

WTF??

2009-09-10T22:51:00.002-06:00

Dinner with Sarah Palin. I don't think I need to say anymore, but I will anyway. This sounds like one of the most bizarre things to spend your money on, right up there with cat-feces coffee and gold-flavored ice cream. Could you get both of those at the dinner? The dinner comes with more than a price tag, an extensive background check and other stipulations are added at no cost! No more than four hours, could be less!
Now, if I just happened to have several thousand dollars just taking up space in my bank account, I would consider bidding purely out of morbid curiosity. I doubt I would pass the 'extensive background check,' possibly due to content on this blog. However, it's for a good cause (100% of proceeds?), and if I did hypothetically attain this dinner, the one question I would want answered is this: Are you for real? Seriously.
As of this posting, the bid stands at $39,702.99.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-09-10T22:37:00.002-06:00

Normally, if you were to rob someone, never having that person see you again would be ideal. Home invasion robbery is already enough of a douchebag activity, but to return two hours later like this Columbus, Ohio douchebag did, only to attempt to ask out the victim.
How does one go about that? "Hi, you might not remember me, but I was just here two hours ago with some buds, we trashed your place and took your things, and roughed you up a little bit. I was curious if maybe you'd like to go try that new Italian place on 1st with me."
Anyway, this guy had either some serious balls, a complete lack of common sense, or just such a deluded confidence in his own charm that he thought this would be a good idea. Of course, she recognized him and he ended up in jail, like all thieving douchebags should. And on top of it, he's probably a complete dumbass. Way to go, Stephfon.

Next: Identification Papers, Armbands and Relocation Camps

2009-09-09T22:27:00.003-06:00

When you hear of a government coming out against its citizens intermarrying with certain groups, you might think of pre-1900's America, or maybe 1935 Germany, when the Nazi regime banned all marriages to Jews and nullified any current ones. But, no, this is from a modern democratic country, one supported both monetarily and ideologically by America. This country is, of course, Israel, who recently pushed their support behind a policy to report any Jew marrying a non-Jew, or 'in danger' of doing so. It is already forbidden to do so in the country, and only outside intermarriages are recognized. The purpose for this policy may be an effort to keep their bloodlines clean, a startlingly familiar tone coming from a certain piece of history called the Holocaust. The Israeli government's open disdain for the Palestinians is already well known, but now they are trying to push for a worldwide abhorrence of anyone marrying outside their faith. This falls right in line with some Nazi beliefs, and is frightening to me. I'm already pissed that millions of our taxpayer dollars are sent over there every year so they can buy more guns, jets and badass tanks with which they oppress the Palestinians. And kill them by the dozens. So I'm guessing the next step will be to move them out of Gaza and into some sort of internment camps in the desert, and tattoo numbers on them, but just to keep track. And those big ovens? They're just for flatbread.

Covert Geek Weekend

2009-09-08T21:50:00.005-06:00

I spent the weekend in Seattle, attending the Penny Arcade Expo at the behest of my significant other, and driven by my desire to visit this part of the country. Seattle lived up to its reputation as gloomy and wet, and PAX came through with a wild assortment of one of the nation's (and some of the world's) most poorly understood and highly exploited demographics: the Gamer.
Those of you familiar with the 'scene' may already know what I'm talking about, as I mixed with the pale, portly and petulant segment of our society that only seems to get a face when comic-book-store-type stereotypes are used on TV or when some psychopath kid shoots up a school and someone shoves his copy of GTA under the media's nose.
I've never been an avid gamer myself, I'm more what you might call a casual gamer. It is more of a social event for me, unless I get some goal in mind, like trying to beat Halo II alone--on legendary. Still working on that, and if you have ever tried, you know why. I can pretend to play with the veterans, but my skills are always lacking, particularly in anything head-to-head.
There are as many types of gamers as there are games, with various levels of commitment to the way of life. That IS what it is, a way of life. The hardcore gamer can give you a rundown of his gaming experience starting with the first time he/she picked up a controller or grabbed a joystick. They usually immerse themselves into gaming, it is their life's work. Clothes, friends, conversation, they all revolve around gaming. They understand why it's still okay to play Pokemon when you are in your thirties. And don't get them started on console vs. PC gaming.
During this convention, I constantly made snide comments and wisecracks about the other attendees, much to the annoyance of the gf. Being the smartass that I am, it's hard not to say something when you see a 250 lb Princess Peach. Or the six-four, 150 lb guy ogling the booth models. And can I really be blamed when I wonder out loud who is manning the West's comic-book stores, drive-thru's and IT help lines?
I did manage to somehow fit in despite my relative physical fitness, relationship status and inability to finish most games. My scruffy beard and Threadless t-shirts definitely helped. Since Due to my ability to infiltrate, I was able to observe the various geeks and gamers in as close to their natural habitat as you can get without spooking them. Black clothes, white skin, immaturity and acne abounded, with a pervasive awe and general lack of concern for personal hygiene. Seriously, one guy smelled like cat food. However, all these people had managed to leave their basements across the nation and congregate in one place, all drawn by their passion for gaming. The lines to test some of the most anticipated games of the year never abated, and the wait was up to one and a half hours just for a few minutes of gameplay.
I must had it to these people, they really do enjoy what they do, which is hard to say for most people. They may lack in areas such as refined social skills and ability to play actual sports, but they could sure kick your ass in the digital version, and make jokes at the expense of your sexuality and your mother while doing it. I even managed to enjoy myself, although I really didn't get to play anything but Plants vs. Zombies, a relatively simple game.
The market that gamers represent is huge, and gets bigger every year. People will eventually quit making fun of or worrying about people that play way too many video games, as they realize the power that they wield as a consumer and social group. No longer is a gamer a kid who wastes quarters on Pac-Man, but someone who invests hundreds of dollars yearly into something they are passionate about, even to the extent of dressing up as characters in games, something called costume-play or cosplay, and it has nothing to do with Halloween. It's a type of commitment that goes beyond Star Wars/Trek geeks. Way beyond.
Gamers are becoming more omnipresent, powerful and mainstream, and for a weekend, I was one.

Evil See, Evil-doer

2009-09-01T21:37:00.004-06:00

As you may know, the Bush Admin. was very enthusiastic about 'enhanced interrogation.' No, it isn't torture, just like death isn't an 'enhanced coma.' Right. Well, the chattering about these issues has been getting loud again, mostly due to the ACLU pushing the CIA to release documents in its quest for the truth on the techniques used to interrogate terrorist suspects. Claiming that such documents would harm national security, they are openly violating the Freedom of Information Act. But, hey, if they told us, they'd have to kill us, right?
McCain gets another gold star for sticking up for Americans who believe that torture isn't cool, and another for bashing Cheney's assertions that it is. McCain, like many others, understands that torture never provides reliable information, like this former military interrogator openly admits. (Also, watch Shepard Smith get seriously pissed on the matter.) Just try explaining this to any high-level Repub trying to cover their ass on a stance that was even argued against by their White Messiah Reagan. Liz Cheney doesn't think we did anything wrong torturing innocent men, either.
The evidence shows that, if anything, torturing has only prolonged these two wars and given the terrorists more ammunition for recruitment. No information has been gleaned that could have stopped an attack. And the opposition are quite fond of torture and go after it with a gleeful abandon. Anyone who sports one of these or any similar bumper sticker should spend a couple minutes being waterboarded. (And whoever designed that page should be sent to Gitmo.) If we continue to torture prisoners for the slight chance we may be able to get some bit of useful information, then we are no better than the evildoer's themselves.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-08-31T22:51:00.002-06:00

Once again religion has found a way to creep into another aspect of life and ruin band t-shirts. That's right, t-shirts. Thanks to the over-zealous heart palpitations of parents like Sherry Melby, a symbol of evolution used in a humorous way was seen as a 'religious matter.' Despite the fact that evolution is a scientific theory, not a religion, Melby was quoted showing her endless douchebaggery with the statement: "I don't think evolution should be associated with our school." That is correct. This mother does not want a bit of science to be associated with her child's school. Brad Pollitt, the moronic assistant superintendent at the school compared the image to Christ on the cross. And they wonder why Jesus wept.
They made the children return the shirts, by the way. Every single parent that complained, and the petty-authority (assistant to the) superintendent can all rot in a pit of their own doucheness. Please stop ruining children's minds with your intolerant religious ideals.

Be Afraid, Be VERY Afraid

2009-08-30T21:57:00.003-06:00

You would think that political organizations like the RNC would be watching what lies they spread just a little closer, in a time when, as Rasmussen reports, 57% of the country wouldn't mind one bit replacing every single congressman and woman.
But, to outdo themselves once again, have come out swinging with the misinformation bat at the Health Care pinata. They are now 'suggesting' that Dems would use political affiliation to ration out health care, making sure that Repub's would spend hours in waiting rooms and have exorbitant co-pay's and not get necessary treatments. Oh, wait, the current hospital/insurance industry beat them to it.
The disgusting depths that politicians and their organizations will go to to further their agenda--or stop an opposing party's--is pitiful. There is no 'reaching across the aisle,' each is looking out for their own and their own lobbyists/special interests. It seems everyone is in on it, except the people. They are just let around by the nose with the dogmatic speeches of charismatic or fear-mongering pundits/politicians who think for them. Media has made it so much easier to convince people what they are being told was their idea.
We have enough distractions in this country, with TV shows, 24 news, Internet porn, fast food chains, that new Kohl's opening up down the street, that it is difficult to follow the seemingly magical world of politics, full of smoke, mirrors, and empty suits rattling off statistics that you can't understand but worry you anyway. This is why we re-elect 90% of congressmen every election, we just trust them to do the right thing like we guess they did last time.
The propaganda used to keep voters in line seems to be working well enough. Many are fearful of seemingly 'socialist' ideas like making sure everyone has health care, forgetting that Welfare and Unemployment are similar ideas. About 30% of Republicans still don't believe Obama was born in the U.S. Religious rhetoric still makes its way into laws and onto public property. Some are trying to alleviate these problems, while others only try to make them worse. If it continues to get worse, I will be afraid.

Mac Attacked

2009-08-27T21:54:00.004-06:00

In early November last year, John McCain delivered a graceful concession speech and seemed to gradually fade out of the spotlight, unlike his camera hungry VP nominee. Between then and now, McCain seems to have returned to the 'Maverick' he once was, no longer spouting GOP talking points and vile accusations gleefully supported by Fox pundits. He returned to the type of politician he used to be, the kind that got him popular in the first place. He is again speaking his own personal set of political beliefs, and showing his respect for the office of President and the Constitution. But what is this beginning to get him? Boos from an audience in his own home state for respecting Obama as president. At another town hall meeting yesterday he got off to a bad start, having to have a woman ejected for yelling over him constantly. Even moderate republicans are having a harder time of it these days, or anyone who doesn't follow lock-step with the majority, fighting against every major thing Obama is trying to accomplish, even if it is simply to contradict him completely, to no real purpose. I have said before, it isn't going to be pretty for the Repub party in the coming years, with people like Palin trying to tear away the crazy-fringe (and sizable) portion of the party. It will be interesting to follow McCain's career in the coming years, and see how true to his original beliefs he stays.

Camaro = Free Pizza!!

2009-08-25T21:57:00.007-06:00

Way back in 1983, John Schnatter sold his beautiful 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, to keep his father's tavern afloat, and start his pizza business. Today, it is known as Papa John's, an international pizza company, and my personal favorite chain pizza. He recently found it again, after a long search, aided by the original buyers. As a reward to his customers (the guy who owned it got 250 k), any Camaro owner can receive one large pizza for free. Just for owning one.
I happen to have one. Mine isn't as impressive as the 1971 1/2 Z28, being just a humble customized 1986 Camaro, but I built it myself. I think I'll go and redeem my 3,000 pound coupon, it's the least I deserve.

Like the Rest

2009-08-24T22:45:00.003-06:00

Sitting, staring as the microwave rotates a box of pre-made Thai food, I feel fear for a moment. I look down at the spread before me, plastic-wrapped and sealed for my convenience. I realize I am not as strong as I need to be, relying on packaged and hermetically contained food to sustain me. Even I am prepackaged, sealed with a desiccate and irradiated. I can't live like this, eating formed meals out of cardboard boxes and foil-wrapped individual packages. If you are what you eat, we are completely unnatural. Salads and steaks even come in plastic now, nitrogen sealed to stave off nature. The Consumer has eradicated the Hunter-Gatherer and Farmer, killed them off one by one, in a blind genocidal torrent of self-satisfaction, immediate gratification and comfort-of-use. This fear, this inability to satiate myself without modern conveniences, comes from generations before me. I have never planted a seed in the ground with the intention of growing something I can eat. People lived in the same deserts for thousands of years before the Europeans came, where we now live with Interstates, infrastructure and multi-national chains of food distributors. Modern man cannot take care of himself, he relies on a despised minority to produce his food, package it, ship it, stock it, and bag it for him. Your average North American male could not figure out how to grow enough corn to make flour from before he starved to death. I cannot become this. I cannot live like this. Maybe this is why I crave the end of civilization; all the chaff of humanity will be blown away when the world is tossed and only the hardy with survive the fall. The useless of society wouldn't last more than a few weeks without 24-hour grocery stores to cater to their every consumerist whim. I hope I would survive. Create what I need, and rely on nothing but my own ingenuity. I cannot become like the rest. I want to be a survivor, not a customer.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-08-21T07:30:00.003-06:00

Although I nominated her once before, she just keeps opening her mouth, letting the vapidity escape. What's worse, Sarah Palin just wont go away, constantly riling up conservatives with false-patriotism, misinformation, and just plain wrong information. Already this year she has hinted at splitting up the Republican party (not necessarily a bad thing), left her job 18 months early, claimed Obama wants death panels, and shot her mouth off numerous other times, and claims that the media is mean to her. Grow up, you're in politics.
It just seems to me that she can't let her fifteen minutes run out, she has to frantically wave her hands and say something stupid to gain the public's attention for another week. She posts 'statements' on her facebook page obviously written by someone with a much more acute grasp on the English language than her. But beside that, she is actively causing problems in the national political arena, helping set back any small advances we may get towards health care reform.
She may think that she is slyly working her way towards a presidential nomination in a few years (FSM forbid she runs with someone like Hannity), but not everyone is fooled by her quirky 'Hey-I'm-a-political-outsider-and-I-can-solve-problems' demeanor. She is painfully inadequate politically, and a shining example of Conservatist ignorance. People often muse on how backwards Middle-Eastern and African countries are; just imagine how backward we would be if people like her ran our country. Honey, you're time is up, please finish up your cute speech and get off the stage. You were played-off a long time ago.

Saving Beck

2009-08-19T21:42:00.005-06:00

With recent spate of advertiser losses, 20 so far, one may wonder about the future of FoxNews's Glenn Beck show. His innocent statements taken out of context, this true American may have his livelihood ripped away from him by liberal advertisers and politicians, since they ARE out to get him. No one like Beck should have to deal with the nervous hand-flapping of these companies that would rather worry about offending their customer base than supporting a real American. These advertisers will regret it, but what to do in the meantime?
I see a solution. There are so many other organizations that could be advertising on this show. I have heard that the KKK is doing very well these days, and their audience should be built right in to this channel's normal viewership. The Christian Coalition, Knights of Columbus, National Alliance and other such groups should pick up some advertising time. Even the NRA could do very well in this time slot. I've also read that guns are becoming a big thing at these town-hall meetings going on all over the country, they should cash in on the popularity.
I n due time, all of Beck's corporate sponsors can easily be replaced with the proper sponsors, fanatical ring-wing organizations and groups intent on spreading their messages of hatred and fear, which should go along quite well with the current programming seen on this channel. Glenn will be fine (minus the crying), and will emerge stronger and with more conviction in his unsupported and illogical ideas than ever before. Keep on keeping on, Beck.

You Know, Our Children Are Learning From You . . .

2009-08-18T19:02:00.007-06:00

I've been seeing previews for this new Disney Princess movie, another raping of another old Grimm Brothers' tale, and I'm reminded again why I despise this particular corporation so thoroughly. The original story is quite ridiculous, in which a snotty princess is forced to abide by a promise she made to get her golden ball back. After her disgust toward the frog, he turns into a prince and yay! they get married and live happily ever after.
The moral of the story is that even the most unworthy, ungrateful and spoiled will reap great benefits if they put up with the ugliness of the world. That frog should have slapped her and walked out the door after he turned into a prince. It is only completely befitting of Disney to take such an atrocious story and twist it into a romantic comedy that panders to minorities and is insensitive to the painful black history surrounding New Orleans. And there will be a game too on several platforms and a full product line as well! I feel a little sick.
Disney has such a perverse way of doing business it's sickening to me that so many parents blindly let themselves be party to it. They are using their children against them, teaching kids to want this or want that so they beg and cry and scream until they cave and buy the brat a Happy Meal so they can get the toy they want and the DVD they will watch 76 times in a row and drive you to drink, only after they finally run out of sugar and crash into their cartoon-character adorned beds. And don't forget about Disney's long and storied history of horribleness. They made propaganda films for the government during the Cold War, 'nuff said.
Moving on, although I'm not not finished with you yet, Disney. This is just the foundation for letting our children be raised by Hollywood, barring any form of religious crap parents put them through. For the first decade of their developing lives, the average child will spend up to two and a half years in front of one screen or another. Six hours a day, letting companies and products train children to want. The more they watch, the worse it gets. Consumerism is what is turning America's kids into overweight, greedy, ignorant little brats, and we're letting it happen because it's just easier to park the little rug-rats in front of the TV instead of playing with them. Parenting sure seems to have taken a nosedive the past couple decades. Two generations of children raised on movies, TV and video games that will be running the world in a short time.
Having no children, can I honestly say I would be any better at parenting? I can at least hope so. If I do ever happen to raise a child, I would use my experiences in life to set them on the right path. My children will learn the cold, hard realities of life early on, hopefully gaining an acute sense of cynicism and disillusionment that may protect them from the world, along with a healthy mistrust for authority and an ability to think for themselves. They will expect nothing from the world, but appreciate what they have. If I succeed at this, I will create a commune attracting like-minded individuals, and we will barricade ourselves from, at the very least, the degrading effects of things like Disney franchises and their banal attempts at morality.
If I never see another film by them (Pixar and Buena Vista excluded), it will be far too soon. I still have a childhood's worth of memories to dredge up at any moment, bringing with it the shame and self-humiliation from what I have seen. The least I can do is to try and keep other young minds from being ruined by such tripe. Ramen.

Not Music to Their Ears

2009-08-17T22:37:00.004-06:00

The idea of ownership in our country was brought over by the Europeans, and has been the framework for 90% of our legal system. We took the land from the natives who had no concept of property, and created an entire institution, capitalism, around this idea. It evolved into consumerism, wanting more stuff, having what others have, getting something better than the neighbors. And in the Information Age, this want has turned digital. Now you could buy anything, anywhere in the world, instantly, and have it shipped to your home within weeks. But something happened. People began to realize that they didn't have to pay for things, things they wanted, particularly things they weren't willing--or able--to pay for.
Media and information began to be traded freely, swapping tracks, photos and articles over the vast, blossoming network of copper wires that has connected the world together. Napster unified those seeking free music, pictures and videos until it was shut down and turned into a pay service. Many others have come and gone in the years since, and currently torrents are more popular than P2P programs like Kazaa and Limewire. What people, particularly the younger generation, are willing to pay for has changed; and we just don't want to pay for music anymore.
For decades we were raped by the recording industry, convinced we need to pay upwards of $20 for a new album. One with one or two goods songs, and the rest, crap. Sometimes we just wanted that one song, or a few, or to try the album out and see if we like it before we spend the money. So now we download it, burn it, copy it, mp3 it, delete it and forget it. We don't have a stack of cd's worth $200 that we never listen to anymore. We find new bands and discover old favorites online and for free, a majority of the time.
But there are hazards to this. The RIAA, major labels and some big bands don't like it. Especially if you share what you have with others. Your mother was wrong. Do not share anything; use it once, destroy it and get the next thing. If you want to get it again, pay for it again and never borrow. If you do, you could end up being charged $1.92 mil for sharing.
Radio has been a thorn in the side of corporate music's side for years, letting just anyone listen to the music they send them for a nominal fee. Bastards. If I hear that 3oh!3 song one more time, I might just sue them myself.
I'm fairly certain that what this industry is doing to itself is cutting the leg off to spite the foot. They spend millions prosecuting offenders for, often, just a handful of songs. Thus alienated, many fans buy less music than before. In my case, I purchase maybe 2-3 albums a year, which was about 10 or more a decade ago. I just don't want to pay for music anymore. I still am willing to pay to watch bands play live, which is how they actually get money, since royalties are a mere pittance compared to the cash raked in by the labels for their music. I want my money to go to the musicians who deserve it, not the suits who sit around giant tables deciding what's going to be 'hot' this fall. I would rather pay for new amps and better guitars, not yachts and Armani suits.

Death Panels and Demagogues

2009-08-11T22:15:00.002-06:00

The debate on the health care issue has gotten pretty nasty as of late, with fights breaking out in town halls, prominent politicians spreading misinformation, and lobbyists trying to force their hands on an already destabilized Congress.
Reforming health care in this country is as important as an issue can be right now, especially for the future of this country. We trail most industrialized nations in many aspects regarding health and health care, including our dismal 29th place in infant mortality.
But never has the opposition been stronger and more uninformed than it is now, regurgitating fears about 'death panels' and rationed health care. The fear is the main problem, people are scared and ignorant of what is really going on with a huge bill that is hard to grasp the complexity of. The government has set up a site to set the facts straight about this bill, but I doubt many check it before they head out to a town meeting filled with anger and false facts supplied to them by conservative mouthpieces like Hannity and Limbaugh.
Former Vice Pres. nominee Sarah Palin (involuntary shudder) decided to add some unneeded fuel to the fire when she shot off her mouth about 'death panels' checking off the elderly and mentally handicapped for death since they had no more use in society, when the bill actually sets up nothing of the sort, and intends to change the current practice. She then backpedaled a few days later, calling for civility in the matter, but she might as well have put the shotgun down after the wolves were already dead.
This type of thing already goes on behind the gleaming glass facades of many insurance companies, who routinely deny coverage, often on necessary or critical things, just to save a few bucks just because they can, and it increases their profits at the expense of the health and lives of their customers.
If all this seems pretty obvious to the rational American, then from whence comes all this misinformation and for what purpose? Don't the Republicans want to stay healthy too? Yes, but their religious integrity always comes first. Groups like the Liberty Counsel are leading the fight against this bill, setting up a list of talking points that sounds like something criticizing Nazi Germany or Communist Russia, not America. But these conservative tools seem to read from it almost verbatim.
Far-Right groups like this seem to have a lot of sway in the fearful, more ignorant parts of our society, leading them about by the nose like a horse to water. But why? What benefit from this could religious groups receive from a lack in proper health care? My working theory is that they want to keep these people poor, sick and generally unhealthy, such miserable states make for better flocks looking for something better. Healthy, happy people don't make for better flocks, as demonstrated by the fact that the healthiest, most peaceful countries are also the most atheistic.
Case in point: one of our one American astronauts declines to participate in scientific experiments while in space, fearful that it will jeopardize his health insurance standing. Meanwhile, English scientist and famous physicist Stephen Hawking declared that the 'socialist' medicine of England actually saved his life, much to the annoyance of the conservative Right, I'm sure. A scientist and proof that public health care works? Must piss Jerry Falwell right the hell off.

Hetero- Homo- Bi- or Omnisexual?

2009-08-10T19:23:00.003-06:00

There's one thing I can't quite understand about this country, and that is its obsession with others' sexual identities. Every time a celebrity comes out of the closet, interest skyrockets momentarily, but is nowhere the constant buzz that occurs around those suspected of being gay. Sometimes, it's no surprise at all, or can amount to a cry for attention during a waning career. Whatever the reason it always seems to be a key issue.
Recently, a flurry of allegations and references to past statements about Lady Gaga erupted after film of her a concert showed evidence that she may be a hermaphrodite. Such a physical condition, if true, is no excuse for the deplorable things she puts out that some call music. She's been a terrible song writer for years, but having a penis shouldn't make her exempt from such activities. And further to the point, so what?
I'm getting tired of people being judged so openly on who like to hit the sack with, as long as it is a mutually consenting adult. Conservative Christians are most likely to get their panties in bunches on the subject, especially when it comes to homosexuals. Ironically, they often get caught having rendezvous in public bathrooms or caught cheating on their spouses while advocating family values and traditional marriage. Hypocrites, or just human?
I just don't quite get why people care so much in this country, while in European countries, where sexuality has not been as much of big deal for decades, centuries, if you include their views on art, homosexuals are more of an accepted part of society and can even marry in several countries. Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on this feel free to comment.

Like I needed another reason to hate Fox

2009-08-10T18:54:00.004-06:00

When I nominated Nadya Suleman (the 'Octomom') for douchebaggery about four months ago, I was hoping that the horrible person she seems to truly be would preclude any major networks wanting anything to do with her, since they have so much integrity. I almost wrote that with a straight face. It turns out, Fox has ordered a 'documentary' on this icon of excess and neurosis, a two hour view into the life of this headcase mother of 14 children, (including never-before-seen footage!) which was even admitted to be a 'train-wreck' by Mike Darnell, Fox's president of alternative. Nice title, bro.
Normally, such a steaming pile of digital puke wouldn't bother me anymore than anything else I hear about or had the misfortune to actually see on television. I mean, I have weathered eight seasons of American Idol, Fear Factor, World's Most Eye-poppingly Horrific Car Crashes, and I actually watched Celebrity Boxing, but this is just going too far. Fox is trotting out nothing actually unique here, she is just a sideshow, a freak that they hope to make a few bills on. And dumbass, vicariously-living Americans will watch it. If I hear that Ashton Kutcher appears during the show to 'punk' her, I swear to whatever god is listening that I will murder something.

Clinton Screws America AGAIN

2009-08-05T22:27:00.004-06:00

The ex-President has sunk to a new low this week, as he traveled to North Korea in a successful effort to secure the release of two American reporters. How did he pull off this act of unpardonable anti-Americanism? By using good old-fashioned diplomacy, just Kim Jong-Il wanted. In a single act that at once compromised national security and showed America not as the macho, middle-finger-raised, defiant bully we should be, but as the pansy, limp-wristed, hand-wringing sap the Liberals want us to be, Clinton got the two women pardoned by the dictator.
By catering to the whims of this megalomaniacal leader, we have set our country back a decade in our ass-kicking stance to the rest of the world, proving that this country can be brought to its knees when two truth-seeking, freedom-enjoying women are arrested without reasonable cause and plead for release. It's a shame, really, what these weak-kneed, bleeding-heart Liberals will allow to go on in this world. There was even talk of Al Gore being sent over to ask for the release of the Americans. Would he have tried to convince Jong-Il of 'global warming' in the same meeting? I shudder at the thought.
It seems that the Dem's have forgotten one simple thing; we DO NOT negotiate with terrorists! The ruined lives of these two women would have been a small price to pay for the continued security of our nation. When will these Liberals get a clue that the only way we can deal with these pushy evil-doers is to use as much force as possible and never give a valid reason to the American people for what is done? They really do not seem to understand Democracy.
Thankfully, Hannity and other patriotic, country-loving great Americans have shown us the way, and explain things as easily as possible for the Libs. Once we can push these reasonable, non-reactionary Dem's back out of power, we'll be free to rush in and drop some bombs on the Koreans and enter another beautiful, drawn-out war with no definite goal. Ah, now that's refreshing.

Cat Mind Control

2009-08-05T21:34:00.003-06:00

"You're getting verrrry sleepy. . ."

Few animals are able to effect humans, not counting the squirmy, slithery multi-legged horrors that live under your porch, as much as our pets do; who occasionally live under our porches. Dogs may be 'man's best friend,' but cats seem to have some allure and power over us that we cannot understand. They are notoriously independent, lazy, food-grifting and sneaky animals, but have somehow won a place in our hearts. Despite the lengthy disappearances, endless supply of hair and dander, randomly placed vomit and dead animals on our porches, we still love them anyway. Science may have finally cracked this conundrum, in a study that identified one of their purrs as a 'solicitation purr.' They use this special purr to get what they want from us naive humans that are duped into caring for them.
Now couple this with the fact that cat's brains can repair themselves and your about one evolution away from crafty cat overlords. Luckily, they are too easily distracted by points of light, balls of yarn and small, quickly moving objects. Still, every morning, I walk up the stairs and rouse the cat outside, who begins his incessant pleading, which invariably leads me to the bag of cat food stashed under the counter. I always feel like such a tool later, and resolve to ignore his cries. Yet, the next time it begins, I wander back into the kitchen and fill his bowl like some kind of zombie that only feeds other animals. Little bastard. At least he doesn't leave presents on the porch for me, in the form of mutilated animals. It always seems like more of a warning than a gift. 'Slip up, and you're next.'

Actually, Obama was never born, he's a robot

2009-08-04T07:23:00.004-06:00

Reality does not seem to be a part of 'birther' universe; where, despite a lack for concern by most Americans, including the Judicial branch of the government, a loud minority ignores actual proof and embraces forgeries. Is it a coincidence that most of these 'birthers' are far-right conservatives adamantly opposed to anything that passes Obama's lips? I don't believe it's likely. They despise our president so much that someone went to the effort to create a forged birth certificate proving he was a Kenyan citizen by birth. It didn't matter that the certificate was quickly decried as a fake, and was actually grafted from an Australian man's birth certificate, it was some kind of proof that supported their position (this reminds me of a certain mode of thinking I linked before).
This kind of thinking and lack of respect for not only the president, but those who already verified his nationality, the mounds of evidence contrary to their opinion, and rationality, really begins to disturb me. I'm hoping for a good dose of sanity to enter our collective conscience in the coming year, before this country starts tearing apart at the seams due to small, radical factions given way too much airtime on places like FOXNews.
The sad thing is, no one will ever be able to please these people, and this will go down for decades as another conspiracy wrought by the government for some agenda or another. It will take another four or five decades to have enough evidence mount to explain it, like the moon landing and the Kennedy assassination. All we can do for now is to try and ignore these small, screaming voices at the back of the crowd and wait for them to wander off muttering and return to their basements to print more manifestos. In the meantime, have some fun and create your own fake Kenyan birth certificate!

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-08-03T22:05:00.006-06:00

*I almost feel obligated to nominate myself here, but I wont because I'm awesome. However, I apologize to those who care for the lack of posts over the past three weeks, I had a series of trips that interfered with my posting, but not with my news-gleaning. Also, I have noticed a severe lack of douchebaggery candidates on my blog, despite the plethora of them out there in the world. I will be sure to update with a couple posts this week, some possibly containing mentions of my various adventures.*
Few things infuriate me more than people who try and blame another person for their own faults, or an similar use of projection or displacement of impulses to make oneself feel better. I am guilty of this at times, like most people; I get angry while driving and become more aggressive, but also use various expletives to describe people that do similar things on the freeway.
But, some people take it to the extreme, like this young douchebag and his lawyer, who are suing for damages a person that was injured in another car. Not only was the other car struck by the driver of the car he was in after losing control and crossing the median, the driver was speeding, racing and driving carelessly on a 30 mph road. The driver was being a douche himself, but to be a passenger and to have audacity to sue a drive who failed to avoid the car jumping the median traveling 50 mph more than they were takes some real balls. Douchey balls.
Not only do I hope that his case is dismissed, and he is laughed out of court, but the lawyer should be penalized (probably too much to hope for a disbarment) for even considering to sue for something like this. Maybe this little dumbass should pick better friends who wont race around at night on low-speed roads. Douchebag.

Congratulations??

2009-07-15T21:09:00.003-06:00

Approximately nine months ago, a close family member managed to impregnate a young girl, and the baby was subsequently born last Friday, the after my birthday. Now, regardless of the fact that the child was born out of wedlock, the parents (long since broken up), are causes for concern in the raising of this child. They are both relatively young, inexperienced, and have dubious morals. I foresee strained legalities and fierce arguments surrounding this child, since neither one of them is capable of raising it on their own, and will not be getting back together--ever. This is all a lead-up to my point.
Should such an event warrant the lauding and congratulations of numerous family and friends? Creating a child is not terribly difficult, barring any fertility problems. Worldwide, over 130 million babies are born every year. That's 360 thousand every day, 30 thousand every hour, 500 every minute, and 8 or so every second. Two stupid kids fooling around without condoms is not worthy of a celebration, in my opinion. I've been waiting for the phone call from whomever chastising me for not calling and giving my congratulations, when I feel I should be sending my condolences.
This kid is going to have to learn to grow up fast, since he hasn't done it yet in 21 years. You can't continue to act like a child when you have one. I'm not going to congratulate anyone, I would much rather sit down and have a serious chat about the ramifications of this, as if it would actually do any good. All I can hope for is that the child is resilient and surpasses his parents in intelligence and motivation. Sigh. Maybe I could get attention if I father an illegitimate child.

Racism: Alive and Well in the U.S.

2009-07-12T21:09:00.003-06:00

Just in case you thought that racism was a thing of the past, it hasn't gone away. Sorry. I know, if you live here in Utah, specifically the area known as 'Happy Valley' to it's closed(and all too often empty)-minded inhabitants, you really wouldn't notice any problems with race, given the whole six or seven African Americans that live here. (Before I get any angry comments, it's actually about less than one-half a percent of the total population, about 900.) I am well aware that there are certain parts of town in certain major cities in the country where you do not want to be if you are of the wrong skin complexion. If you haven't heard, ask your father.
If you still don't believe me, just look at all the black hatred that came out as a result of Obama's rise to the White House. Death threats, wild accusations, and plain old, blatant racism. FoxNews is a major supporter of these people, making sure the messages of hatred and mistrust are spread far and wide, and vindicating any unreasonable suspicions as well. They have been subtly (occasionally not-so-subtly) playing the race card since Barack became a contender for the Presidency. And if you haven't been following, he has done nothing right, and had failed his job only weeks into it. And millions of Americans tune into this station every day. EVERY DAY. And believe what they hear. Racism and hatred of others for what they look like is always going to be a problem, but if venues for it and outright acts of racism like the pool incident went away, it wouldn't be such a large problem, and wold break down more quickly. But for now, FoxNews and racist clubs prevail.
This is why I have such a bad attitude sometimes.

Darwin vs. Republicans, the Battle Continues

2009-07-12T20:47:00.005-06:00

HuffPost reports in a new and wholly unsurprising study that only 6% of 'scientists' label themselves as republicans, in contrast to 55% identifying with Dem's. Bwaaa?? Yes, apparently republican mindsets either do not last long in the scientific community or is just not inclined to search out theory and facts backed up by verifiable, repeatable data. But this is just America, only a small percentage of the world's population and scientists, what do the rest of them think?
Well, a poll by the British Council shows a broad international acceptance (even factoring in God) of evolution. And while we're sixth down on the list, and tied with Russia, more Americans accept it than do not. But then, enter Texas.
I mentioned earlier the Director of the Board of Education of this notoriously conservative state is a rather obdurate evolution-denier, which has since cost him his job. But, another denier, although less boisterous, has been appointed in his place. I find it quite possible that the appointed Texas legislature hates science, and is determined to wipe if from its state.
Maybe they should have seceded, it would have given all these logic-hating Christians a comfortable, beef- and oil-filled refuge from reality.

Can you say 'Christian Science' without smirking?

2009-07-07T21:29:00.004-06:00

After watching another person in a position of power proudly show off their unfaltering ignorance, I got a little more depressed. This has been happening more often with this waning generation of religiously-raised baby-boomers, trying to get the message across before they all retire and move to various warmer climes. A few months ago a video surfaced of Texas' Board of Education Chairman vehemently dissuading the teaching of evolution to Texas' precious children. He even went as far as to attack (in the nicest way possible) the very 'experts' who support the verifiable and heavily researched theory. Damn experts, think they know everything.
I see the root of the problem as science in general, which time and again has gone against Christina beliefs in God and the Bible. Evolution is just one of several thorns in the side of Biblical 'truth.' Science, archeology and a thorough study of history have all cast heaps of doubt on many things in the Bible, including the very existence of Jesus, not to mention God. No one likes it when their erroneously held beliefs get smashed to bits by facts and logic, and I'm no exception.
But the theory of evolution has been around a while, right? Shouldn't Christians have gotten over it by now and accepted what all other rational beings have come to understand? I don't think it's going to be easy. Because if the earth really wasn't created in six days, and the earth wasn't covered in water, what else could be wrong in the Bible? Scary thought for a True Believer. So the hatred will continue, but the idea of Christian Science will never hold water. There is no way to prove the earth is six-thousand years old, especially given the fact that the very uranium that Senator Allen wants to be mined has a half-life of 4.46 billion years. Ironic, isn't it? I love science.

Twitter Me This . . .

2009-06-30T19:28:00.004-06:00

If you're reading this, chances are you have heard of Twitter, a social networking/messaging site that has the media and celebrities alike ga-ga over their own self-importance. When it began a mere three years ago, I doubt the founders could have imaging its current popularity. But how long will it last? The web-o-sphere has been particularly unkind to social-networking trends, even ones that run for years. Myspace, once an exponentially growing behemoth of the internets, has been slowing down for months now. Facebook (the current trend) has surpassed Myspace in popularity. Things are not going well for the site, who just laid off two-thirds of their international employees, a week after laying off a third of their American staff. Facebook, a marginally more simple site, is still growing, but its popularity will fade and the active users will decline, just like its predecessors. Anyone remember LiveJournal? It's still around. Friendster? Bebo? Tagged is another up-and-comer that will grow and recede like HotorNot. The popularity curve of these kinds of sites isn't as harsh as your average Internet meme, but applies nonetheless. Twitter is the next 'big one' to soon retreat into the depths of our bookmarks folder, somewhere between Myspace and that dramatic prairie dog video link.
Every time I read a story or watch a news clip that mentions Twitter (which, gratefully, isn't very often), I sigh. Loudly and drawn out. When TV news anchors are wowed by something, or using it to draw more attention to themselves or their channel, it reeks of FAD. I'm not postulating that Twitter will go the way of Lolcats and Chuck Norris jokes, but it will not remain important. The only reason I see that it is as popular as it is right now is due to mainstream America's declining attention span. No one has time to read more than a 180 character message anymore, at least not people who aren't preoccupied with the lives of celebrities and those dull enough to condense their thoughts into 180 characters. A well thought-out and interesting article or blog post does not interest these people. They would rather browse a list of tweet's from twits and your occasional twat. It's one-way text messaging that you can send to everyone who might want to read it. We all know how intellectual those conversations are.
Eventually,Twitter will fade into a memory, the nascent idea will mature and grow old surprisingly quick. The one thing I do see having some staying power is the blog, or the weblog, for those who actually know where the alien-species-like name came from. Blogging has been growing steadily for years, and I believe will continue running strong. Those who mock it as a poor-man's form of journalism may actually not be too far off. I don't see the blag as the new face of journalism, but as a new journalism, a form of storytelling for the masses, by the masses. Anyone who has the time to actually sit still and read something like this without wondering what's new on Perez Hilton or TMZ, anyway.

The Uninsured and the Helpless

2009-06-24T20:01:00.007-06:00

When I think about having to go to the hospital, I get anxious. Not out of fear of needles, knives or doctors, but out of the consternation that I, like 45 million other Americans, have no health insurance. Sure, I could buy into a plan that barely fits my budget, and hope I don't have to go to an out-of-network hospital, need a non-covered procedure, or just get a claim flat-out denied. There's also the possibility that I get sick, something horrible that doesn't go away. Cancer, for example. Insurance companies are known for trying to cancel the coverage of sick people, occasionally this is due to attempted fraud, but can be because you simply forgot to write down a medication you took a decade ago. Logic would say that is because they aren't going to make money off of them anymore.
In the Micheal Moore (I do not invoke this name lightly) movie 'Sicko,' you meet a person who worked for insurance companies whose sole job was to find ways and reasons to deny people coverage. So, let's assume that I an able to clear these hurdles. I acquire an insurance plan, avoid being denied because I forgot that I had a morphine shot before a minor surgery, and I file a claim for a routine procedure that should be covered by my plan. I should be golden, right? Not quite. The Washington Post reported that during a Senate hearing that the insurance companies routinely under-reimburse their policy holders, to the tune of billions.
But why would an insurance company do such things? Isn't their purpose to hedge against personal illness with a low, monthly payment that shows how much they truly care about the average American? Not at all. An insurance company is a BUSINESS, whose sole motivation is to maximize profits while minimizing liability. As medical costs have soared, so have insurer profits. The doctors, insurers and pharmaceutical companies are all highly overcharging, and reaping all the benefits. It's no big surprise that these bloated corporations pulling in billions every year at the expense of the getting-by masses are almost all completely against any overhaul to the American health care system. Although, not all companies are fighting it, some are aligning with the push because it is politically sensible.
The fight for cheap, public or (gasp) universal health care isn't going to be an easy one, someone somewhere along the line is going to end up losing money. Many someones, I predict. But if the American public wins, the losses in corporations quarterly profits will just have to happen. Times are changing, and so is our health care.
I stumbled onto this, and I'm totally going to get one. Get one yourselves, those of you that are Uninsured as well, and let everyone start seeing the reality of the problem.

War on Drugs: EPIC FAIL

2009-06-17T20:50:00.004-06:00

Talk about the legalization of marijuana is picking up, due to many factors. Cash-strapped states like California are considering it, and the more liberal Massachusetts. With the recent dramatic crackdown on the tobacco industry, people will still need an outlet for their stress, frustration and spare cash. But legalization is topic for another post. This is about the demise of the 'War on Drugs.'
Even the White House has realized that the 'War on Drugs' is going even worse than any of our other failed wars, with such a minimal impact on the availability and cost of drugs (particularly weed) as to be completely irrelevant. They don't even want to keep the title anymore. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times has written a wonderful op-ed about the idea the drugs have effectively 'Won the War.' Forty years, over a trillion dollars, an incarceration rate 5 times the world average, a 1200% increase in drug-related arrests in 30 years, and I can still make a couple calls and have a bag of weed in a few hours. And I don't know any dealers.
And what about the rampant corruption within the law-enforcement system? How do you police illegal substances when you can't even trust the police? Recent stories hint at the continuing problem that much of which could be alleviated by a different approach to narcotics. Many other problems could see solutions with legalization, including a reverse in the flow of cash to stop drugs and an increase in education and treatment. Now, these may seem like crazy ideas, but I'm not the only one spreading them around. A lot of reasonable people are sick of the wasting of their tax dollars particularly on a substance that has never caused a single direct fatality. The 'why not' approach seems to be gaining some headway, since the far-right is too busy screaming about Obama, dead abortion doctors and jokes made at the expense of the Palins'. I would like to see an end to all major operations in this useless war within my lifetime.

Heeey, you're not the bus driver!

2009-06-15T21:47:00.004-06:00

As if cephalopods weren't creepy enough with their boneless, slimy, ink-squirting, shape-shifting, and sometimes monstrously proportioned bodies, scientists have recently discovered that they can also hear. It may be used for detected predators, prey, or possibly just for picking up reggae stations from Jamaica. Whatever they use it for, I am still worried. If octopi and squid are as intelligent as they seem, and they can change shape and color at will, with the ability to hear it is only a matter of time before they venture on land and begin infiltrating our society.
I don't think they would do much at first but listen, since it appears they have the ability. Mimic octupi can copy the attributes of many other animals, so it would only be a matter of time before they master our languages. They will have stumbling blocks, of course. They don't last long outside of water, but they have the ability to evolve. They can hide in water anywhere, so they can made due for now.
Oh, sure, they can look all cute and harmless in an aquarium, catching bits of dead fish and squeezing through tiny holes, but what if those holes were your vents and those bits of fish your eyeballs? They're crafty animals, I wouldn't put anything past them.
Next time you get on a city bus or go down to your local butcher and the driver or proprietor don't quite look the same, watch out, or you could get a face full of ink and the next thing you know you're hogtied at the bottom of an aquarium, an eight-limbed creature glaring at you from above. Don't say you haven't been warned.

Tales of Bible Thumping

2009-06-10T21:48:00.008-06:00

The Road to Hell . . .
I've had a few experiences this past week relating to religious parenting of varying degrees. I was lucky enough to have parents that respect my intelligence enough to not constantly question my lifestyle and lack of 'spirituality.' Some of my friends, however, weren't so lucky.
I went to dinner with my family last week, because my grandparents were in town. It was a nice, uneventful dinner, the only 'incident' occurred behind my back. But, I can handle my mother asking my girlfriend if she can get me to go back to church, since the idea is laughable even to her. This kind of covert soul-saving is much more subtle and easy to shrug off than some of the things I have seen recently. One of my longtime friends just had his first child, and him and his wife have chosen to raise their child without religion. Neither of his parents are religious, and hers don't seem like it, but apparently there are some underlying roots in Christianity. When his father-in-law found out that my friend was not keen on having his baby blessed, be flipped out, accusing him of 'keeping God from his child' and of 'taking his daughter away from the church.' Even after explaining his personal wishes to let the child decide on his own if he wants to be religious or not without forcing it on him, her dad still raised hell about it, causing the mother-in-law to plead for them to have it done, just to shut him up. You cannot bully someone into following your wishes, no matter your intentions. This kind of outright disrespect would not stand in my family, but I have no children yet, so I don't have a basis of experience. Still, I have known this person for nearly sixteen years, and I know him to be a good person, with just some bad habits. His lack of religion not being one of them. He never really believed that unbaptized babies go to hell. He has common sense.
The Toll to Get to Heaven . . .
The second experience is a tale of guilt-vampires and Calvinist hypocrisy, culminating in free food and the need to drink. My roommate, who also happens to be my girlfriend's uncle (long story), is the kind of guy who grew up rebellious due to overly-religious parenting; impelling him to commit acts that would get a child locked away these days. His dubious past notwithstanding, he turned out to be a pretty good guy, who takes care of his children and leads a quiet, sex-filled life. His parents just happened to be in town this week, and I was invited to the 'big' family dinner since I'm dating one of the grand-daughters. Free food from Mimi's Cafe was all I needed to be goaded into it. Over the years, I have heard plenty of stories and complaints filled with rolled-eyes and shaken heads from the brothers about their father and stepmother, and I was slightly nervous to be attending. The evil-stepmother was not in attendance, who is apparently the source of much of the problems, so papa turned out to be relatively harmless and uninterested in me over the course of the dinner. The real fireworks came today. Whilst I was slaving away at work, the parents showed up unannounced at our place and used the following four hours to dissect my roommate's life and explain to him why he was living such a terrible life and how he could fix it. The kicker? He could improve his life easiest by leaving his kids and moving across the country to work and earn a decent living, which is, apparently, the only way you can be a good person. If you have lots of money, you can get away with anything, it seems, even being a terrible parent. You will earn respect and gain contacts for 'network marketing,' ad you can participate in the occasional animal sacrifice on your lawn, but only if you're wealthy. This kind of thinking, especially from uber-religious people, reeks of hypocrisy and seems to me to be a sign of really fucked up priorities. If that is what it takes to get into heaven, I'd much rather join the eternal barbecue in hell, and retain my respect for myself.

Want peace? Get rid of religion.

2009-06-04T22:10:00.003-06:00

In a wholly un-shocking look at some facts, numbers and statistics, countries that have a higher percentage of atheists tend to be more peaceful. Numbers can be twisted to tell you just about anything, but it is hard to argue with these. The most peaceful country, New Zealand, is considered quite secular. The U. S. of A.? We're 83rd. More murders, prisoners, foreign wars and internal conflicts per capita than eighty-two other countries. And many people pride themselves on living in a 'Christian nation,' which isn't even entirely true. It's Judeo-Christian nation.
Countries with better health-care, lifespan and infant mortality rates are also less religious than we are. Is this a trend we can reverse? Fundamentalist Christianity and Evangelicalism want to drag us, kicking and screaming if necessary, back to the middle-ages where intolerance, ignorance and hatred ruled, to bring us right alongside backwards Islam nations that still build houses out of mud and sticks they are so poor.
Christianity is having a hard time absorbing Calvinism and Capitalism into it's world view, since money makes the world run but is also the root (love of money) of all evil. Power and money in the name of God is an enticing idea, but it corrupts far too easily, just as I too easily digress.
Instead of trying to incorporate modernity into religion and vice versa, we need to drive the wedge of secular society in-between them. Science, business, and government do not mix with religion, as should be abundantly clear by now. The powerful religious leaders do not want that wedge to be there, because it means that they will lose power over society as a whole. This is a good thing, and it is the only way that our country is going to survive as a power and remain competitive in the future, not to mention becoming a more peaceful place. The only way for our society to begin healing its festering wounds is to remove religion as a prominent player in creating social norms.
I know most of this seems like rambling, but I think that I'm on to something here.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-06-04T21:50:00.003-06:00

I am somewhat surprised to announce that I must slightly lower the level of douchebaggery accounted for by one person, a most unlikely candidate. Dick Cheney. Mind you, this is only a slight lowering of a level that has reached astronomical heights.
Ol' Dick has announced that he supports gay marriage, but ONLY if states decide on it individually. And he also managed to work in a comment about his daughter's homosexuality is something that he has had to 'live with for a long time.' Very classy. Supporting equality in marriage for everyone, which New Hampshire has just done, needs to be a nationwide decision, and shown that it is backed by the constitution. When individual states vote and come up with different laws, exceptions and rules for homosexual unions, problems will inevitably arise as couples move and travel around the country. Yet, tricky Dick at least nodding in favor of such a thing is another step in the right direction.
This does not excuse him from any previous acts of douchebaggery, any future or unknown acts either. He is still probably evil incarnate, but even evil might get it right sometimes. Although, most of the time they don't. Still in support of 'traditional marriage?' Here's America's Best Christian to explain it for you.

Night Drive

2009-05-31T22:25:00.005-06:00

Lane change behind
a multicolored UFO
my exit comes
with drops on the windshield.
Virga curtains obscuring
mountain mass
late Sunday;
a hint of sun still aloft.
The freeway
is driving sex--
liquid smooth flowing
through nights'
endless rapture,
lovers travel
entwined--
occasionally to
horn bleated
frustration.
A drive from her
just as satisfying as
the drive into,
leaving hints
of moisture behind
on every stripe and
mile marker.
Rumble strips moan
5,000 RPM's
shriek my name,
cruising undulating
pathways every night,
looking for an exit,
a new road to fuck
with black rubber
exhaust fumes
and gauge lighted smile.

Scare Tactics . . . For God

2009-05-31T22:02:00.003-06:00

I watched Jesus Camp recently, and it sent my head spinning with trepidation for all the poor children who have their innocence stolen from them and have it replaced with fear and a blinding faith, when they should be acting like kids, not preparing to be martyrs. This kind of sick perversion of faith is everywhere these days, as radical and fundamental Christians tighten the nooses around their children's neck and continually force society to live by its rules.
I understand completely why there is such an increase in atheism in the US; people are getting sick and tired of these bullshit scare tactics used to lure the fearful and weak into the bonds of religious fanaticism. Organizations like this one use ignorance against people, claiming ancient parables as fact and using a cohesive religious pride to keep people scoffing at reason and reasonable people.
There was another murder of a doctor who performed abortions this weekend, by some fanatical, hate-filled chickenshit who shot him IN CHURCH as he was performing his duties as an usher while his wife was in the choir. I can only assume that they had mentally prepared for this moment, and that his wife can take some consolation in the fact that her husband stood by his beliefs and that they caught the bastard about three hours later.
Why do people who believe themselves to be the righteous, moral authority in our country end up being the ones who murder doctors, protest their hatred for homosexuals, and slur anyone else that doesn't agree with them? Not very Christlike. Not at all.

Musical Integrity - 1, WalMart - 0

2009-05-26T19:57:00.004-06:00

One of my long-time favorite bands, Green Day, just raised themselves up a little higher in the pantheon of musical gods for me. Their new album, 21st Century Breakdown, will not be sold at WalMart. The company wanted them to edit (censor) their album so they could sell an edited (censored) version of the album, and GD said no. Billie Joe continued by saying. "We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something." So kudos to the boys, I'm glad their sticking up for what they believe in while so many other bands cave and edit their albums just to appease the mega-corp. Are the few extra sales really worth the slow loss of your integrity and soul? It would seem so. What WalMart is doing is dumbing down music, making it safe and palatable for everyone, so your teenagers and tweens can have those new, top-ten albums without the bad words and messages and reality and all that terrible stuff.
When I was younger, dumber, and more naive about the world, I ended up with a few edited albums. I always felt something was missing, and got annoyed by the skips and reversed words in the middle of songs. It totally changed the mood of a song, pulling you out of a vibe and wrecking the continuity. I couldn't have said that then, but I still knew something was wrong. I turned completely against edited music within a few short years, got rid of my tainted albums, and started appreciating music. I still have a hard time listening to the radio because many songs, particularly good ones, end up edited. I cringe every time I hear an edited Pink Floyd or Alice in Chains song. But radio is a whole other problem.
The problem here isn't necessarily rooted in WalMart, it's the customers. WalMart is just trying to cover their asses while getting the maximum sales possible. I'm sure a team of lawyers concocted this to end the angry letters and phone calls because poor, innocent little Jimmy ended up with a CD that had a few swears on it. It's not right, it's just business.

Harrumph!

2009-05-07T21:44:00.004-06:00

Our country is in an economic recession, banks and major automakers are failing, unemployment is rising and our infrastructure is falling apart, but the GOP can only give us economic plans with no numbers, place Reagan on an even higher pedestal, and continue to drive their party farther right and remaining stalwart against any type of change to their party, with even Cheney saying that it would be a mistake to 'moderate.' Republicans are leaving the party like rats from a sinking but obdurate ship, and even prominent members like Scarborough are telling them that it's time to change and drop the pure hatred they have for everything they don't agree with.
It seems that Obama can't do anything without fueling the ire of Republicans, at least the pundits. The man can't ever order a burger without being called an elitist. The GOP and its attack dogs are doing nothing but creating a larger political gap in our country, in a time when we should be joining forces to get back on track and fix our economy. Giving banks and corporations billions of dollars isn't helping much, but constantly attacking everything our President does instead of coming up with other solutions does even less. When voices of reason are coming from the likes of Jeb Bush, you know your party has some serious issues. Political parties emerge, change, evolve and disappear, no matter how they think it should be in the GOP. Right now theirs is dying, because they refuse to look forward and change with the rest of the country. I would almost feel sorry for them if not for the scary, ignorant, hateful things that come out of their mouths. O'Reilly offered some advice on how to 'save' the party, but couldn't do so without constantly attacking Obama and America-hatin' Democrats in general.
If they continue heading the way they are going, the GOP is going to end up being the party of the radical, fundamentalist, evangelical , homophobic, racist, hateful, fearful, ignorant and Reagan-worshipping Republican Americans. If it comes to this, with the FOXNews fear-mongering pundits at the helm, then so be it. I'll gladly watch them lose all power and influence in the government, but I will truly be sorry for the minds--especially the young, impressionable ones--lost to them. America needs to lose the GOP, and if the Republican party can reform out of it into a more accepting, creative and worthwhile party, then America can truly benefit from this mass of ignorant, misdirected hatred.

The Pundit

2009-05-05T21:34:00.002-06:00

Weary from your
recidivist tongue,
driving down, staking
me in place,
watering down my rage
with your tired
self-righteous
siren songs and screams
of traitor, wails and moans,
gnashing of teeth--
and the followers
can never
get enough.
Logic and reason
escape
on ethereal winds,
pushing the boundaries
of dissonance
past imagination
into realms of insanity
fed on fear mongering
scapegoats,
fallacies
and ignorance,
until I feel
the strain melt
my synapses.

Atheism, Skepticism and Me

2009-04-29T20:57:00.004-06:00

Reading through some quotes, I was struck with one about skepticism that sums up, for me, why religion hates science. "Education has failed in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson science can teach: skepticism." - David Suzuki. Skepticism and rational, non-emotional thinking are the enemies of an institution that expects you to believe everything you are told about or read in 'divine works.' I don't think that 'atheism' as defined by the religious, is on the rise, I think that skepticism is increasing. People are getting fed up with hollow authority figures telling them what to believe and how to behave, and then becoming something else entirely themselves. Those that are able to think for themselves seem to be doing so more openly now.
Atheism (the lack of a belief in a god) and those groups lumped with them are the fastest growing ideological faction in America, and we are behind the curve compared to European countries. Atheism and agnosticism are very misunderstood terms and those who label themselves as such are often vilified by the religious, claiming they 'hate God' or 'have no morals,' among other ignorant and horrible accusations.
First, one cannot hate something they do not believe in. Second, morality and religion are mutually exclusive, as shown by the hateful and violent nature of many religious groups, those that bomb buildings, soldiers and abortion clinics, and those that claim that homosexuals, atheists and foreigners are destroying our 'Christian Nation.'
There cannot be such a title as 'Christian' for a country that truly believes in freedom of religion, for we are much more than that. We have Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Wicca, atheism/agnosticism, and dozens of other ideologies. Yet the only one that has experienced growth is the one that disbelieves in a Creator.
In my own circles, I have seen this growth, and the reasons are as varied as the people that express them. Many are tired of religion and its hypocrisy. Others do not care for religious structuring in their lives. A large number have seen the lack of cohesion and rationality in religion and looked into what they once believed, only to find that the foundation was weak and full of holes, and the structure itself collapsed. I am one of these latter, having had doubts surface in my mind, and instead of trying to pray it away like I was instructed, decided to look into what my life was built around. And guess what I found? It didn't hold up.
I wanted so much to believe that what I had been told since I was a child was true, that I fought against myself for years. This led to anxiety and depression, medication and finally, a search for answers. The double-bind in my mind had reached a critical point, and I began to research, study and reflect upon everything I had been taught. Things didn't add up, I began to find rampant contradictions and buried facts. I learned things they did not want teach me in Sunday school or seminary, and all the negative history and lies about my religion I had never known about. I started to 'not-believe.'
I can remember the exact moment when everything finally clicked in my head and I realized I was a non-believer, a heathen, a non-religious person. I was exhilarated--and terrified. My family, many friends and others I associated with were religious to differing degrees, and I was suddenly very different from them. I had a secret, but many doors suddenly opened for me. Things in my life that had been blocked to me by my own conflicted mind were suddenly free, and I felt I could breathe easier--that is, if I hadn't been in one of the most suffocatingly religious areas of our country. I could consume alcohol, but I felt the weight society had placed on such a practice settling on my shoulders. I could enjoy my life without fearing heavenly wrath, but the condescending, scrutinizing eye of religion was now watching me, I had become a minority. This freeing of my mind from the shackles of religion had placed me under the servitude of social pressure.
But I found others. I gained some of my security back from reading others' stories, experiences and opinions, and the few friends I have that felt similarly about religion. Recovery From Mormonism was a wonderful find, helping me through the anguish, dismal rage and fear I felt at finding out I had been lied to my entire life. As far as I have come in nearly two years, I still feel anxiety about even thinking about discussing it with my family. It's hard enough with my religious friends. Often they just do not-or cannot-understand. But I know enough like minded people to keep me sane in this irrational world, and I know that I am far happier now than I have ever been, I am no longer lying to myself or trying to hold faith over knowledge. If religion is the opiate of the masses, I'm totally clean.

Is Logic a Fallacy?

2009-04-27T19:08:00.004-06:00

One of my readers and friends, Illpallozzo, sent me this last night. I read it, and felt a little ill, but not really surprised.

This anecdote from an unknown person familiar with physics tells a lot about our education system and the common sense/logic/reasoning abilities of our general population. Basically, more than half of people asked (this was at a University, mind you) believed that heavy boots were the only thing holding down our astronauts on the moon, and if they let a pen go, it would float away. Some of the people were disconcerted at being asked things that they had never learned in class, basically the Laws of Physics that govern everything in our known universe. The most important and most readily observed of which, gravity, completely escapes many people. Thinking that the earth had gravity and not the moon is something that never crossed my mind, once hearing that all mass has an attraction to other mass. Logic seems like some sort of arcane magic to some people, a thing that shouldn't be engaged in without years of study. No wonder religion is so prevalent.
It seems that the simpler something is for people to understand (nature, computers, television shows), the more likely they are to appreciate it (rain is wet, Macintosh, Friends). My only true regret is that Darwinism doesn't work as well as it used to, with modern medicine, cell phones, technological advances and all that getting in the way of stupid people offing themselves in various, accidental ways. Now I can't hold just 'people' responsible for their shortcomings, their parents and their schooling are also to blame. How do you reach college age and enter a university without knowing that the moon has gravity? About 1/6th of earth's gravity, if I remember correctly. This seems strange to me, this lack of an ability to logically reach a conclusion without all the information (forced down your mental gullet or not). Maybe someone else can explain this to me without referencing Idiocracy.

Nerd Battle Update

2009-04-22T16:42:00.006-06:00

This is not an update on this particular story, but on the use of swords in a violent way. I had hoped that this was just a freak occurrence and not a sign of things to come, but it may be just that. It seems that a Massachusetts man tried to rob a dry cleaners with a ninja sword and a ski mask (very unassuming, you jackass). My guess, guns and bullets are becoming too expensive in a recession combined with possible tightening of gun control laws so people are reverting to more primitive weaponry in order to commit their random crimes and acts of violence. Although it may seem cool to some people to walk around with a sword on your hip, arms akimbo like the swarthy, swaggering pirate you wish you were, suspicions are going to blossom the moment you step out the door, especially if everyone already thinks you're that 'weird guy with the minivan that hangs out at Denny's/IHOP/Waffle House too much.'
I really hope that more of these stories don't continue to surface on Digg lists or Drudge. It pains me to see such an emblem of skill and cultural significance used in acts of such amazing stupidity. If they start instituting waiting periods at your local knife retailer, you'll know something is happening, and it probably isn't skillful or culturally significant.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-04-17T07:16:00.005-06:00

During the recent 'tea-parties,' Texas' governor became America's newest petulant child, threatening to take his toys and run away, because he doesn't want to eat the broccoli on the dinner table. His tossing out of the secession card came off as nothing more than a publicity stunt, since he identifies with his people's problems just about as much as your average American identifies with a starving Congolese child. His whining has been falling of deaf ears, as a report shows that only 18% of Texans would vote to secede, and 75% would not.
I was curious how Hannity and O'Rielly are taking this, are those in favor of secession patriots or un-American? And my worst fears were proved true. Even Beck is on the "America Last" bandwagon, fervently supporting this cry for attention.
Texas seceded once back in 1861, throwing their hat in with the Southern states and flying the rebel flag, while contributing little to the war, and was the last one to fully surrender. Texas has always had a toe over the line of the 'Republic' idea, it carries the Lone Star name and proclaims even in it's tourism ads, "It's like a whole other country."
Why certain Texans fear the federal government so much is as strange as it is unnecessary, a state government can be just as corrupt, if not more so. Look at Illinois. What this douche did was nothing more than cater the fear-riddled, conspiratorial fringe of his constituency. Being this big of a douchebag is just as unnecessary.

Teabagged!

2009-04-15T16:24:00.006-06:00

I was musing over the recent 'tea-party' movement going on, and I realized something felt wrong about it. So I did some digging, and a lot of intense, laborious research. I ended up meeting an informant in a parking garage, who requested I call him 'deep throat,' even though I already knew his name. It was a little weird, but I acquiesced just to smooth things out. He gave me a manila folder full of information, and a few names of insiders I could contact. Several hours and two death-threats later, this is what I was able to understand.

The entire tea-party movement was actually a well-orchestrated and secretly executed effort by the tea industry to counteract slumping sales in the current recession. As jobs are lost and disposable income decreases or disappears in hard times, high-end products, like Maserati's, caviar and tea, suffer. So the shrouded hands behind the latter pained industry began to move, knowing full well that April 15th loomed in America's collective future, and we have a notorious displeasure for paying taxes. With Obama's tax restructuring in our minds, the stage was set for a hot-beverage coup the likes of which have not been seen since the coffee revolt of 1918. All they needed to do was plant the idea. All it took was a mass e-mail to a group of conservative pundits, known as the 'Illogicatti,' bringing up the subject of a certain Boston Harbor incident, and the seeds were sown. The new 'tea-party' movement spread like wildfire among impressionable, gullible and half-witted conservative population, looking for an outlet to their repressed anger and anxiety over the loss of any political viability for years to come.
The movement was supported and covered by the easily duped and equally impressionable media; the repressed media, mind you, not that liberal media. People began purchasing tea in bulk, much to the amusement and suppressed glee of the tea industry. The string-pulling had worked. Tea bags began appearing with tax returns at the IRS, and with the purchase by one group in particular of one million teabags, tea would now be on the minds of Americans again, and the tea industry has won a secret battle. This beverage will again take the spot as the preferred beverage in the mind of America, and there's not a protest anywhere that can stop it.

We were fooled into buying mass amounts of product by an industry worried about its future, much like how the fashion industry renews 'trends' to save things like angora, uncomfortable shoes and novelty-sized glasses. It was a duping of massive scale; the country was, if you will, teabagged.

Never Interrupt a Nerd Battle

2009-04-13T21:19:00.007-06:00

I read this and I just had to do a post on it, since there are so many levels of bizarre to it. Living in Provo, there was always a chance to witness sword-fighting on a weekly basis when it is warm, at a particular park on Thursdays. Geeks of all color and flag would assemble, in arms and often in full battle-regalia, for their weekly Battleguard extravaganza. I assumed this lifestyle (for lack of a better word) was shared around the country, and it appears I may be correct. Normally, the weapons are fake and designed to minimize any possible injury, but experience and common sense leads me to believe that many of the kind of people who participate in things such as this more often than not own particularly realistic weapons, some even make them. This is why I first jumped to the conclusion of 'nerd-fight' when I read this story. Even if that wasn't the case, I beg the question: why did these two men have swords at the ready before an altercation? It's 2009, not 1309. Last time I checked, whenever someone gets hurt with a sword these days, it is usually from an accident, improper handling, or a psychopath. Since there is little information in this story, I assume it is open to wild speculation.

Having been called a dotard-ly coward, Adolf drew his magnificent broadsword. Undaunted, the young Rondeau pulled his saber in a quick flash of steel, glinting in the midday sun. "Prepare for battle, old man," he exclaimed, as the worrisome Franziska stood nearby, looking on. The two men advanced with grim determination written upon their countenances, knowing fully that one or none of them would escape this battle victoriously.

As reality has little to do with what goes on in my head, I must point out that I do not intend to make light of an incident that ended with the death of two individuals, but seriously, who has sword fights? The world is a strange, strange place, and the truth is still often stranger than fiction.

Don't cry for me, I'm already wood pulp.

2009-04-12T21:03:00.004-06:00

I am a professed news-junkie. the first thing I do in the morning is get online and browse Drudge, Digg, Consumerist and other various sources of news. If I see a newspaper lying around I flip through it, looking for anything that might catch my interest. I read (real) magazines fairly often, flipping through Time or Pop Sci in the office when I have nothing else to do, always looking for a story that I can become engaged in. I'll watch TV news if nothing else is on, and I'll even watch FOX News if I absolutely have to, just to get the skewed information. But in the current economy, something is happening at a more precipitous rate than ever before.
Each time I see a story of a failing newspaper, I should feel slightly saddened, but I don't. When a daily paper closes its doors for the last time, there is a sense of impending finality coming down the road of history; soon to be gone are the days when people went down to the corner to pick up a paper, but I'm not distressed.
Some might believe that journalism is dying, as papers disappear, but it isn't. It's changing. It has to, or it will end up where the entertainment industry is going, as they cling onto the last shreds of their antiquated ideas until the 24th hour. Just about every major newspaper has gone online, and some have even stopped printing in favor of their websites. Blogging has exploded in recent years, showing that everyone has a story to tell, no matter how mediocre it is. There is a massive thirst for information, and you can satiate it indefinitely on the Internet. I've learned a lot about the world from bits of information flowing through copper wires over the years, and my desire for news has grown exponentially.
Journalism has been evolving for decades, since the idea of 'New Journalism' came around in the apex of the beat generation. There's always another way to tell a story, and now, there's another where. Information is available so much faster online, stories can break even faster than on television, and the information can be accessed by anyone, almost anywhere (at least in countries with free access to information). Even if the newspapers all die off and there's not a New York Times left anywhere to drape over a lone hobo, journalists will always be out there, getting the story, relaying information, speaking to the people. And we'll save a few more trees out of it as well.

Handfuls

2009-04-12T21:00:00.003-06:00

Daily I receive
handfuls of rage,
uncertain of how
I am to dispense of it.
Every little thing,
people's quirk's-
bad driving-
fashion non-statement's-
create anarchy in
my brain,
meaningless, cursing,
blinded white-hot
temper flares
and it all goes
red again.

Burn the Witch!

2009-04-10T19:38:00.003-06:00

And so it has begun, another witch-hunt reminiscent of the fifties 'red-menace,' where to openly admit being a communist was as close to professional- and social-suicide as you could get, and to be accused of such was pretty damn close. It ruined many careers and reputations back then. Now, the menace seems a bit similar and all-too-familiar, but the reasons are radically different, as I see it. After the end of the second World War, Russia began looming up behind its Iron Curtain, a red shadow that was the perfect piece of propaganda to keep people afraid and in line, a specter that had infiltrated our country, even to the point of American citizens like the Rosenberg's being executed for selling atomic secrets to the Red's. The Cold War was going quite well until the U.S. government went and threw their collective greedy hands into Vietnam, and got people all riled up and angry instead of staying quiet and afraid. The last remnants of that 'war' effectively disappeared with the crumbling of the Soviet Union in 1989, but by then there was the AIDS scare and the War on Drugs and soon Iraq to keep the mind of John Q. Public occupied.
Okay, enough of the history lesson. Today, socialism is the new word-of-warning being bandied about, at least by the republicans. They are trying their damnedest to get everyone nice and frightened of the idea of socialism, since the general population knows as much about socialism as they to about nuclear physics, or democracy, for that matter. That it has its roots in communism and is practiced in 'liberal European' countries is enough for them. They hear O'really or Hannity utter the word daily in connection with the Obama administration and persons connected to it, and about any attempt at universal health care. Why don't the Repub's support this? Mostly because it doesn't support their political ends, most important of which is to make sure large corporations keep making money hand over fist at the expense of the general population. They aren't afraid of our country turning socialist, it is too steeped in capitalism for that to happen. The men in power do not want the working party to call the shots, because that means they don't get to anymore.
There are already a multitude of 'socialist' programs in the government that have been there for years, ever hear of a thing called Social Security? It's in the damn name, people. Or how about Medicaid? You know those welfare checks your lazy-ass neighbor with six kids and no discernible job cashes every month? Yeah. I would be more worried about the Federal Reserve than I ever would be about the idea of universal health care if I were you. It isn't even a government institution, and it lends the money it creates to our government with interest, every single penny of it. We create money with built in debt, now how fucked-up is that?
I don't have health insurance. If I got hit by a car and was out of work for two months, I would basically be screwed, and send my family spiralling back into debt. Even if I had some insurance, whatever I could afford as a mid-twenties working student, it wouldn't be enough to cover a traumatic injury. Last time I went to the hospital for an injury, I had insurance, and I still had to pay sixty dollars for a tetanus shot, and they wouldn't stitch me up because it had 'been too long' since the injury. Just remember, every time you hear the word 'socialist' or 'socialism,' someone is most likely trying to scare you, not inform you of anything. The longer the drug companies and private hospitals can keep you paying five dollars for an aspirin, and 120 dollars to sit in a waiting room for 45 minutes, on a cold table for 30, just to have five minutes with a doctor who tells you that it's probably nothing and wont even prescribe you anything, all the better for them. Universal health care? Bring it on. I wont dodge the 'socialist' bullet.

F*ck you, sir.

2009-04-08T21:16:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago, I read this blurb on Consumerist about a Texas woman who was arrested last year, way back in August, for saying the f-word within the hearing range of a fire marshal, who apparently have the right to arrest people. I think someones briefs are a little too tight, particularly since the conversation in which the expletive was uttered was with another adult, and not directed at anyone in any nature. He handcuffed her after a brief altercation and took her out to his car to write her a citation. This was while people were trying to prepare for a tropical storm landing. The charges were dropped last month after a judge basically decided that where was no case.
Believe it or not, your right to free speech is being attacked constantly, from small incidents like this, to the thousands of book censorship requests every year, to seemingly arbitrary and cautious things like self-censorship. I've always had a problem with censorship, long before I ever read Fahrenheit 451. If left unchallenged, censorship leads to state-controlled media much like in Iran, North Korea, China and others. People love to have the ability to control others, it's one of the sinister sides of our nature.
Controlling how we act leads to controlling how we speak, which eventually leads to controlling how we think. Still haven't read 1984? Maybe you should. Censorship is all part of control, and it is rarely for purely altruistic reasons. They say you shouldn't read this because it's 'offensive,' but what they really mean is that it has ideas they don't like. You shouldn't say this word or that one, because it's offensive, but it's merely that they find it offensive.
I don't hear atheists walking around telling Christians that their beliefs are offensive (at least, not very often), but Christians don't mind one bit tell everyone else they don't agree with how they feel. Why? Because they're the majority, and feel they can. And they can say whatever they want, but I also have the right to disagree with them, just as loudly and obdurately as they do with me. And the next time someone gives be a dirty look or 'excuses me' because they are eavesdropping onto my conversation and overheard a swear, I will let them know exactly how I feel. "Hey, mind your your goddamn business."

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-04-07T22:17:00.003-06:00

And on the eighth day, God created jackasses. People like this are why religion scares me. The fundamentalist Christian and Evangelical movements have high-jacked the Republican party, and their ideals have infiltrated our government and its policies. He is using bible verses as a reason to not have to worry about climate change and environmental impacts of our actions, and most Repub's follow this line. Since God 'decides' when and how our world will end, it's okay to pollute, dig up, and lay bare our planet, since it'll all be destroyed eventually anyway. This attitude infuriates me and should infuriate any other reasonable creature.
It is NOT okay to just throw environmental concern out the window just because you think some invisible man is going to come down and scoop your righteous ass up onto his shoulder and then lay everything else to waste. And the religious nutjobs aren't the only reason they do this. They are pandering to their corporate and CEO buddies, making sure they don't need to environmentally responsible and can pad each others pockets with bills of a monetary and big-business protection kind.
I'm more afraid of what people like this can and will do to our country than I ever have been or will be about any boogey-man terrorist/dictator/communist threat. These people can immediately affect our lives through legislation like this. As mush I feel sorry for coal miners losing their jobs, we need to stop raping the earth to completely dry up our limited coal and oil reserves so greedy oilmen, speculators and refining companies can make a few dozen more billion dollars. I truly despise this douchebag and all of his ilk.

GTFO! Srsly, karma.

2009-04-05T12:16:00.002-06:00

A woman in California is getting six in the hole for causing the death of another person after crashing into stopped cars due to speeding and texting. Why this took aver a year and a half to be decided is obviously the problem of our screwed up legal system, but that's a complaint for another day. And although her lawyer is going to appeal, I believe that she deserves every day of that sentence, and then some. This is becoming such a massive problem here in Utah, that there is debate about passing our own no-texting law similar to California's, as I mentioned in a previous post. I get so angry when I drive, seeing people doing such obviously stupid things, that I begin to drive like a bit of a dick myself, which recently culminated in me being followed for several miles by some crazy person who almost rear-ended me whom I proceeded to flip off. Although I found it amusing, it just goes to show you that you shouldn't be an asshole on the road, and try not to flip people off, you never know you do it to, or what psychological problems they may have. And for FSM's sake, put your phone away for twenty minutes. You will survive without it that long. And if you continue to weave through traffic and text, you just may end up killing someone, or yourself.

"It's got a curse on it!!" "What, Provo?"

2009-04-03T18:58:00.003-06:00

I was disturbed and not all that surprised to find out that I previously lived in and still work in the most conservative city (over 100,000) in the United States. Provo, Utah was ranked number one in a recent study on the political leanings of American cities. Detroit, oddly, is the most liberal. It surmises a direct correlation found by the study on African American population density and political leaning. Liberal cities have the highest number of black residents, and the conservative . . . well, this photo pretty much sums up Provo. Residents often speak of an invisible 'bubble' over the valley, curiously known as Happy Valley (those sky-high anti-depressant use numbers help, I'm sure). The Conservative sway is easily evident, as many Utahn's do exactly as they are expected to do and vote consistently for Republicans, making it the 'reddest' state in the Union.
The encapsulated lifestyle of this city, for social and geographical reasons, has kept it a haven for white, conservative Christians and maintains the school of thought from being easily altered by, say, unbiased information, reason, science and partisanship. There are still Democrats and Independents in Provo, they just rarely make themselves known, and together number about 14%.
At the center of this town is the Brigham Young University, the most sober (and annoying) university in the country, and the third most conservative, above two military academies and the College of the Ozarks. The 'zoobies' follow an indoctrinating religion, social life, and educational forum where they must follow an Honor Code (unless they're really good at sports) and often go only for the purpose of finding a proper spouse.
After living in this valley for nearly two decades, I have seen every shade and color of hypocrisy, cheating, dishonesty, pride, horrendous judgement and every other form of social disease and neurosis there is, all from the good citizens of this Righteous Valley. Why am I still here? I ask myself that every once in a while. I still have my family here and several good, die-for-them friends. And honestly, there are a lot of smokin' hot babes in the UC. Too bad most of them are relious or religious hypocrites.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-04-03T18:13:00.007-06:00

Should I create a new genre for douchebagettes? I only ask that because my douchebag candidates are usually men, and I realize it wouldn't be fair or me--nay, it would be sexist if I didn't consider the fairer sex when writing these posts. Women commit just as many stupid actions as men do. So in this equality spirit, I nominate Nadya Suleman for committing unwarranted acts of douchebaggery. She is referred to by the lazy-ass, nickname-obsessed media as the 'octomom.' Having eight children at once isn't necessarily the act of a douchebag, just horrendously bad judgement and way too many fertility treatments over the years. She's a veritable baby-factory. She now has fourteen children, all under the age of seven. And there is nor was a father. Now we're wandering into the right territory. She had IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) to have all of her children. That's right. She never has any intention of getting married, she only wants to have children. She has no job, so is supported by everyone else. She fired a free nanny service that was helping care for her children 24-7. She has become an attention whore (potentially the reason she had so many damn kids in the first place), and spends ridiculous amounts of money on things for herself, and puts on her good-mom face just for the TV cameras. And she has enough sense to tell the media that she tried stripping. And yes, she's obsessed with Angelina Jolie.
If there was ever a person that made the case for eugenics , it would be her. She has some neurotic desire to have children, then is thrust into the spotlight (I'm holding the media mostly accountable for this one) and loves every minute of it. She's not the brightest bulb in the closet, either. If there was a way to sterilize everyone this stupid and insane, the world would be a much better place. What a douchebag.

At least she's not as creepy(1) as the Duggar ~~Cult~~ Family. Eighteen home-schooled Christian children? First sign of impending doom and this family will go ape-shit. They mast have taken that Monty Python skit a little too literally. I truly fear for us reasonable people.

Touchy - Feely

2009-03-28T14:02:00.004-06:00

A school in Connecticut (a state known for leaning a bit too far left) has banned any physical contact. That's right, no hugging, arms-over-shoulders, or even high-fiving. They are well on their way to the brick-in-the-wall idealism I would normally accuse conservatives of.
As ludicrous as this sounds, I have actually experienced the same ridiculous "no touching" experiment in the sixth grade. Here in Utah, the reddest state in the Union, you would think that the school would be more worried about keeping evolution out an abstinence in out schools rather than keeping then from touching one another. It was a similar system, no touching of any kind was allowed, even arms over shoulders were banned. Me, like most kids, inevitably ended up in the principals office for one offense or another. My mother was rather upset with the school's needless and difficult to enforce policy, along with many other parents. The rule quietly disappeared by the end of the school year. This school also tried to ban chewing gum and certain types of necklaces that could have potentially been used as 'weapons.'
So what use is it to tell kids that they cannot practice one of the most fundamental forms of non-verbal communication, especially when they are at such an important stage in their social development? Why inhibit the forming of bonds among children, just so you can proudly proclaim during a PTA meeting that you have stopped any and all possible forms of inappropriate touching from your school? Just so you can be as PC as possible due to the fear of not having your ass covered enough. But it just doesn't work. I didn't intentionally set out to break the rule when I was under the same iron no-touching fist, it just happened. Why? Because I was a kid. Whether it was either patting a shoulder or play-shoving in the lunch line, it was all in young, innocent fun.
I'm not one to casually spout tautologies, but dammit, kids will be kids, and you should let them be. Please, think of the children.

Daily Douchebaggery

2009-03-25T20:44:00.004-06:00

Mike Huckabee. Former presidential candidate, current douchebag. Mikey just recently likened abortion--more accurately a woman's right to choose such a legal medical procedure--to slavery. That's right, if a woman, in any circumstance or instance, decides to terminate a pregnancy within the current legal standards, she is guilty of what amounts to owning a person outright, and treating that person as subhuman, in Mr. Huckabee's eyes. Sigh.
Mr. Huckabee seems to forget that abortion, however distasteful it may be, is legal. One person deciding to cease the growing of another being in her body is not slavery, it is a very difficult personal choice, or so it should be. I cannot trust the beliefs of any supposedly educated man that does not believe in the theory of evolution, and strives to force his religious beliefs on society. Maybe Mike should move to Iran or the deep, deep, backwards parts of the South where his beliefs might be welcomed.

Legalize Hit

2009-03-24T21:22:00.003-06:00

Twenty-five million Americans lit up last year, and ten billion was spent to keep them from doing so. About $400 was spent per user to halt its use, and guess what? It did nothing. Potheads and hippies have been clamoring for decades to legalize marijuana; in a country where legal drugs like alcohol and cigarettes kill tens of thousands a year. But there has never been a recorded death attributed to marijuana. So why all this expensive effort to keep down a drug that is still easily acquired and used every day? Legalizing marijuana could save 7.7 billion in wasted taxpayer money, and generate 6.2 billion, according to an article on Alternet.
This decriminalization would also get nearly 30% of our prison population free, those charged with drug offenses, most from marijuana. this would free up much needed space, reduce costs, and may eventually change our status as the World's Incarceration Capital. We have more prisoners in out country than China does. It says something when a communist nation with four-times our population sends less people to prison than we do. Our priorities are seriously screwed up.
On a CNBC clip I watched, a round table discussed the pro's and con's of legalization. A former DEA head spouted distorted or untrue facts purporting the dangerous nature of marijuana, while a calm and logical advocate ripped him to shreds, philosophically. There is no reason that it should remain illegal. Alcohol is more of a gateway drug than weed cold ever hope to be. The sad truth is that the conservative right are maintaining an antiquated view of this 'evil drug,' and continually pumping up a war on it that has remained almost completely ineffectual since its inception.
Just because one group of people think something is a good idea, or that it's a good idea to cater to misplaced and unnecessary fears doesn't mean it is. Look how well Prohibition worked out. Thirteen years after it was passed, it became the first and only amendment to be repealed. Thirteen states have decriminalized the use of marijuana, mostly for medical usage, and I feel others will soon follow. However, the biggest stumbling block to ending an expensive and fruitless war, keeping the billions spent on weed in our country, and effectually putting many drug-lords out of business would be for the Federal government to take to step and remove that stumbling block.
For the detractors, no, this will not lead to the legalization of dangerous, deadly drugs like heroin and meth, which is where money spent fighting weed should be utilized, and yes, there will be safe usage requirements on it just like alcohol. There has to be. Usage may go up, but is that more detrimental than sending thousands of people to prison for wanting to relax with a bowl or spending ungodly amounts of money in what amounts to political masturbation? I don't think so.
For the record, I have not ever smoked marijuana, I merely advocate for its legalization, and to be used wisely. Although no one has ever overdosed on pot, you shouldn't ever get behind the wheel of a car intoxicated with ANYTHING. There, that should cover my ass.