nothing
Looks like somebody didn’t take Hunter’s Safety courses. Watching this administration is like watching a train wreck. It’s awful, yet you can’t look away.
[edit: a few days later]
Shooting victim sufferes heart attack from “birdshot” in heart
I’d like to see where they take it from here.
[/edit]
A Perfect Circle - “The Hollow”
I haven’t done any political posts in a while, not only because I don’t like being pissed off all the time, but because I don’t have TV and therefore sometimes feel like I don’t know what I’m talking about. However, Here’s What Gets Me pretty much sums up how I feel about Bush’s response to the hurricane.
Some people (on that site and on others) have been saying things like, “What do you want, omnipotence?” “You’re trying to fault him for not emoting ‘properly’” “He’s being stoic. I’d prefer stoic than panicked.” and “I’d rather see a public leader handle the situation with dignity rather than being a puddle on the floor.”
My take on that? I don’t expect omnipotence. I expected him to act like this was real, and real assistance was needed (ie, when declaring federal emergency assistance, not choosing only those parishes least likely to be affected) .
As Jen said in Cecily’s blog,
That’s exactly it. Fault & blame aside, he smirked and swaggered and made jokes (and worried about his fricking friend’s fricking porch) while people were DYING. He acted like the lives of those people starving and hurting meant less than nothing to him personally. Whatever people want to say about state and local response, at least we could tell that the mayor and the congresspeople and the governor were upset, that they were AWARE of the death and destruction, and cared that something was done about it.
My sentiments exactly. Stoic or no stoic (god I hate that word), there should have been something there. The dictionary definition of the word basically means indifferent to emotions - he certainly seems to show other emotions pretty well.
I don’t know. This is all so, so awful. How much more will it take until people realize he’s not cut out for this?
The Anniversary
This will be the first political post of mine in a long while. Sharon’s boyfriend Rollie gave Daniel this awesome catalog full of “products for progressives” as they call it. I’m in love with it. Some choice selections:
A t-shirt with the quote: “The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. -Josef Stalin
T-shirt in child’s writing: “No child is born a racist.”
T-shirt: “Artists make lousy slaves.”
T-shirt: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
Poster: “I pledge allegiance to the Earth, and all the life which it supports. One planet, in our care, irreplaceable, with sustenance and respect for all.”
T-shirt: “Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about. -Mark Twain”
There was one thing that struck me as being very very profound, and I think it may just be my personal favorite simply because it scares me to death. Read these conditions below and see if any of them sound like the USA:
Powerful and continuing nationalism
Disdain for human rights
Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
Supremacy of the military
Rampant sexism
Controlled mass media
Obsession with national security
Religion and government intertwined
Corporate power protected
Labor power suppressed
Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
Obsession with crime and punishment
Rampant cronyism and corruption
Fradulent elections
What, you may ask, are these statements? Why, they are the early warning signs of Facism, as presented by Laurence W. Britt as a result of his research of seven facist regimes.
Makes you think, doesn’t it?
If you’re interested, you can find these products at northernsun.com.
Radiohead - “Fitter, Happier”
Since today is the dawn of another Bush era :cry:, I figured it would be appropriate to post a few pertinent links.
Did you hear the one about the guy who believes abortions are the reason for the Social Security “crisis.” *dies* Yeah. Not only is that ridiculously stupid, there’s an awesome article in the latest Rolling Stone issue about the supposed Social Security “crisis” that doesn’t really exist, and how GWB is actually making it much worse. 
There’s also the page with the Barbara Walters interview (and some poignant pictures):
“Walters: But was it worth it if there were no weapons of mass destruction? Now that we know that that was wrong? Was it worth it?”
“Bush: Oh, absolutely.”
Mmm-hmm. So worth it. Being wrong was worth 1530 people’s lives (so far). Thanks, Mr. President.
————–
I thought of an awesome domain name, one that’s actually another one of my nicknames, but one probably nobody knows but my bestest cousin Kalena. :happyheart: I’ve heard that Yahoo domain registration services are pretty awesome, and their domains only cost about $5/year as opposed to $8/year like everyone else, so I went with them, just for fun. Besides, aredhel (formerly of astarae.net) uses it, so why can’t I? I intend to use it for portfolio purposes, because I love oipom.com dearly, but it’s my personal site. Personal. Not that this new one is terribly professional, but it’s brand new and has no baggage.
I’ll post the URL later, once the domain has propagated sufficiently and once I have it forwarding somewhere.
—————-
I got my clothes from AE today! I :redheart: them. Here are some images of them, all from ae.com:
I also took some pictures :camera: today/yesterday:
(more…)
I had a Peppermint Mocha from the evil corporation that is Starbucks today, and it was absolutely grand. It was so pepperminty and so chocolatey and warm and great. I want more of them.
Also, »THIS« is very very funny. It lists the state’s average IQ’s, and who they voted for in the past election. Ahh… *dies laughing*
School is trying to kill me, I swear to god. I have so much stuff to do, and I can’t even begin to think about it. I’m SO GLAD right now that I don’t have a job. I have no idea how some people are like, “yeah, I worked two full time jobs and took a full load in college and still did GREAT.” :wtf: I’m about to die and I’m unemployed with five classes (which, BTW, is a full load).
I know I made a to-do list earlier, but things have changed, so here’s another:
(BTW, it’s week 06 right now)
There’s probably more, but I can’t think of them at the moment. Oh, the stress. :dis:
On a much brighter note, tomorrow is WEDNESDAY and that means that I can hang out with Keith all day and have my CSS class and hang out with Callie in Hist. of Mat. Cultures. Wednesdays are always great.
Speaking of school trying to kill me, the stupid school email thing won’t let me access my email right now, and I desperately need to email my Concept Development teacher a JPEG of the work I did in class. [edit] I finally got it to work. [/edit] I’m not entirely sure what my CSS final is going to entail. Tom has it posted on his website, but I’m not sure if he’s going to modify it at all from what’s posted so I don’t want to start it yet. Besides, it isn’t due until week nine, (it’s week six now) and I have an awful lot more stuff to do that’s due earlier. Like Concept Development stuff. I swear I’d be fine without that class. It’s not like it’s that DIFFICULT, per se, just very very time consuming and creatively draining.
Winter break graces me with its presence on or about December 15th. Well, that’s a Wednesday and that’ll be my last day of class, but technically break doesn’t start until that Saturday, the 18th. I don’t think I have to be back in school until January 10th, so that’s super awesome. 
I mean, I like this school and all, and I like that it’s fast-paced, but sometimes it just runs you into the ground. This is one such time. I’ve hit a creative standstill, my brain is mush, I can’t focus, and IT’S ONLY WEEK SIX. Can you imagine how neurotic I’m going to be come week eight or nine? I dread the thought. I think I partly blame the outcome of the election; I think it’s stressing me out to the point that I can’t deal with the pressures of school. Now, that may only partly be true, but I’m sticking with it. When I have a nervous breakdown, you can totally blame it on Bush.
*sigh* I already wrote this post, but I had the misfortune of opening a PDF document and Firefox crashed. On to re-writing the entry…
I know many of you probably already know about sorry everybody, but if you don’t, you should really go look. People take pictures of themselves holding signs of apology to the rest of the world and submit them to this site to be posted. This is exactly the sort of thing I want to do - apologize to the rest of the world for the 51% of our population that seems to think discrimination and war is the way to go. Some of the submissions were downright heartwarming :happyheart: and others were sort of cynical or funny. Mostly, it made me feel better about the depressing outcome of this election.
The background on my computer is now one of those pictures; it is a guy from Austrailia graciously accepting our apologies. I’m very heartened to see that people from other countries feel bad for us and are wishing us the best. It gives me hope that not everyone hates us, and that not everyone thinks that we’re complete dumbasses. Because really, 49% of us arent. 
The first stage is denial
George W. Bush can’t win the presidency again. It just won’t happen.
Next comes anger or resentment
What the fuck? He’s ahead? God, our country is retarded.
The third stage is bargaining
Okay, so he might be ahead, but just give it a minute. Kerry will pull ahead eventually. God, if you just let Kerry win, I swear…
The fourth stage is depression
He won?!? I feel sick. *mopes around* How could this happen? Everybody hates Bush. I’m so upset.
Finally comes acceptance
So this is how it’s gonna be? I’d better prepare for 2008…
All day I’ve been in this weird hazy state, kind of like after you know someone has died, and you feel sick, like you need to throw up but know you won’t?
Bush is the fucking Antichrist. You can say what you will about that title going to Marilyn Manson, but I can assure you that some controversial glam-rocker has NOTHING on someone wielding supreme executive power over a nation that is wrapped around their little finger, backed by a Congress that is staunchly Republican, and who is wholly unconcerned with the feelings and safety of other nations. And what’s more, now he doesn’t have to worry about pissing people off because he can’t be re-elected. So he can do anything, and there’s nothing we can do about it. AND, what’s possibly worse is the fact that if we did get Bush impeached (you know, or he died, or GOT KILLED or something), we’d have Cheney to take over. Tell me that doesn’t strike cold fear into the pit of your stomach.
I can’t tell you how much faith I’ve lost in our nation because of this. I feel sorry for the rest of the world, I really do. I want to write every country a letter and tell them I’m sorry for the rest of our country and that I voted for Kerry and I did so with confidence. And that I don’t support Bush or his fucked-up ideals.
Here is a conversation I just had with a friend I’ll call X. And it’s not the same X as I used last time.
X says:
why do you hate bush so much?
X says:
if you dont mind me askingPikkle says:
I can’t stand his attitude toward foreign policy… the “we’ll do whatever we want whether you like it or not REGARDLESS of what the rest of the world thinks we should do”
I don’t agree with his views on gun control (the lack thereof), his views on women’s rights (I think a woman has the right to choose), the death penalty (I don’t agree with it; Texas is the death penalty mecca), I believe the Iraq war was partly him trying to finish what his daddy started… He tried to make a link between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein which doesn’t exist…
Pikkle says:
etc etc.
overall, I just don’t agree with him. I don’t think he is leading our country in the right direction
Pikkle says:
I don’t believe he is concerned about poorer america at all; he likes giving tax breaks to his multi-millionaire friends and then he thrusts the nation into the worst debt we’ve ever been in…X says:
ok. i respect that. this is my opinion. this is our country, not the world and we have the right to protect ourselves wether the UN says we should or not. fuck the UN. i also am VERY against abortion. just the thought of it makes me want to throw up. i believe in the death penalty. i dont believe in gay marriage or gay people adoption because that would intail putting a whole generation of children on the level of test rats
X says:
children need both a man and a woman to raise them
X says:
and bush has strong convictions and morals and he does what he thinks is right wether anyone else thinks so or not. i like that. hes a fighter and kerry was just to much a politition that sits on the fence to be a people pleaserPikkle says:
I do agree that a man and a woman is probably the ideal setup. however, if gay people want to have kids, that means they will have to either adopt, or do in-vitro. which means they want the kid an AWFUL LOT. and I think that’s a hell of a lot better than some crack-whore who might be legitimately married, but has a billion kids that they cant feed or take care of, nor do they want.X says:
yeah, but that is selfish. thats not thinking about what the children wants. what happens when your son wants a father and you want another mommy. very selfish.Pikkle says:
and I like the fact that Kerry can look at his decisions and learn from them. in my opinion, Bush is far to much of “a fighter” for his own good and for the good of the nation. I don’t think he can look at a situation objectively. he has an opinion that he thinks is right and he just runs with it, whether it makes sense or not.
Pikkle says:
In my opinion, you can’t control who you love, and if somebody happens to love another woman, so what? I think Britney Spears and her 55-hour marriage and subsequent SECOND marriage within a few months or whatever is a LOT more of a threat to the “sanctity of marriage” than gay people will ever be.
I think I did pretty well. I always get nervous when people ask me to defend my views because I know what I think, but I’m always afraid that I won’t come off as articulate as I need to be.
I found this near our mailboxes today, so I scanned it. It’s from a place Callie worked for called ACT: America Coming Together. It goes on to say this:
After that, the list just kept on growing.
The Bush Administration went to war citing weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda. Bush declared victory in Iraq on May 1, 2003, stating “Mission Accomplished.” Now–17 months later, we know neither was truthful. The results today:
1,101 American soldiers dead. (dept. of defense, 10.16.04)
7,730 American soldiers wounded. (dept of defense, 10.05.04)
Nearly $200 billion spent. (washington post, 09.09.04)
0 weapons of mass destruction. (the oregonian, 10.07.04)
No links to 9/11 and Al Qaeda. (wall street journal, 06.16.04)
Is America - or the world - any safer?
The Bush Administration’s policies have gone far enough.
I… I don’t even know what to say. :sad:
All I have to say at this point is that we had better be ready to do everything by ourselves, because we have just alienated the entire rest of the world. Everyone is sick of us, most of Europe feels sorry for us and upset that we could have elected this dipshit after all the shit that he’s done to the world…
And boys, be prepared to be drafted. It could happen.
Oog. :shock: Supposedly Bush is in the lead right now, with 254 electoral votes to Kerry’s 252. So basically, this whole thing is riding on Ohio, which looks like it’s going to go for Bush. How fucking disappointing. :sad: I swear to god… I will have absolutely no faith in this country…
There will probably be more edits to this update as the day goes on. Right now, I need to get dressed for school. :|
[edit: 10am] :rage:
Everything is going wrong. MSNBC is saying Bush won, and is delaying a victory speech to “give Senator Kerry the respect of more time to reflect on the results of this election.†Kerry has been saying he’s not just going to concede, and that he’s going to fight to see that every vote gets counted. I say go for it. It’s close enough in Ohio that it might make a difference. Kerry’s supposed to give an official statement later today, so I guess that’s when we’ll hear what he’s going to do. I really hope he doesn’t just concede the election; what if he actually ends up winning Ohio? How great would that be?
I’m trying to be optimistic, and I’m looking at the BBC news website about it (I figure they probably know more about what’s going on than we do) and some of the comments left there are absolutely appalling.
Whether the world accepts it or not, the re-election of George W Bush will be the best thing that happened to the security of peaceful nations. I’m not trying to boast here, but just stating a fact. Many nations are dependent on the US military to maintain global order. When are people going to realise that terrorists are not honourable martyrs, but thugs and assassins?
Danny, Dallas, Texas, USA
How fucking horrendous. :sad: [/edit]
How exciting! I really hope our country makes the correct choice. I was going to say “right” choice, but that’s not really true considering I don’t want people to vote “right,” I want them to vote LEFT. Go Kerry. :star:
Part of the reason I want Kerry to be the president is for the safety and sanctity of the whole freakin’ rest of the world. :thinking: There’s so many people on dooce’s daily photo comment page that are saying that they’re not from America but they hope we do the right thing. How frustrating that must be to be in a completely different country, unable to do anything, and just wishing and hoping that the idiot Americans don’t elect some fucker again. :devil:
In the spirit of election day and not voting for some stupid motherfucker, here is “WWIII” by KMFDM:
I declare war on the world
War in outer space
I declare war in a nutshell
War all over the placeI declare war on every government
War against all odds
I declare war on your inner sanctum
On your blood thirsty godsI declare war on the axis of morons
All out war on complacent consent
I declare war on the war against drugs
Rape and Slaughter of the innocentWar on big brother
Warmongers and profiteers
War on your dogma, Dubya
Armageddon’s engineersWar in a heartbeat
I declare war on so-called civilization
World trade globalization
Organized desinformationWar on ambassadors of pretense
War on MTV and CNN
McDonald’s, Walt Disney, and Bethlehem
On Christina, Britney, and EminemI declare war on the world of anti-choice
On violent unilaterality
On the amassment of murderous high-tech toys
And all crimes against humanityWar on the moral majority
On corparate dot-com imperialism
On mindlessly bumbling stupidity
And police-state terrorismWorld War Three - be all that you can be
I’m scared. :shock: When do we find out who won? Nobody seems to know - I’ve asked quite a few people. And I’m in absolute denial that Bush will win. Absolute fucking denial. It just isn’t going to happen. 
On a brighter note, I just voted in an online poll, and check out the awesomeness of the results:
We might win after all!
[edit: 8:45pm] Kerry is catching up! He got Washington AND California! :D
[/edit]
[edit: 9:45pm] Things are getting increasingly ugly. Kerry got Oregon, which is super awesome. I really didn’t think he wouldn’t, but now at least I can sleep knowing I did my part and it paid off. WTF is wrong with THE ENTIRE MIDDLE OF THE NATION? Do they not realize what a vote for Bush means? I’m getting to the point where I feel like I need a stiff drink, and I totally don’t drink. Mountain Dew will have to suffice, but I’m still freaked out. I’m tempted to close the five different election-results windows I have up, and just go to bed and find out my destiny tomorrow. I feel like I need to go out and do something, like personally call somebody in Ohio and tell them to vote Democratic. I know I can’t, but somehow I feel like I haven’t done my part because Bush is still very much in the running. :mad: [/edit]
They’re only sort of fixed. I did something to the vars.php file, and it wouldn’t even let me log in. It was crazy. So I redownloaded Wordpress and just uploaded and overwrote the vars.php file. So now all that’s left to do is edit the variables for my custom smilies and hopefully not mess it up again. Lame-o.
I found that downtown and totally took it home. I haven’t visited the site though, so I apologize if it’s something weird or offensive.
I don’t have a lot of time to write this entry, exactly, because Star is supposed to call me. But I wanted to mention that I watched the movie “Control Room” today in Intro to Video, and it really affected me. It’s another view of the media from the perspective of the Iraqi people and the Al Jazeera cable network. Go rent it, it will make you outraged. Or it should, at least.
[edit] I fixed the similies. I have no idea what killed them, but all is well now. :ducky: :keyboard: :star: [/edit]
When MSNBC says things like…
Bush hangs on to slim leads in state polls
Good news for the president in two states Gore carried, Iowa and New Mexico; virtual tie in Ohio, four-point Bush edge in Florida
…readers probably assume that the people polled represent accurately the views of the nation, right?
According to MSNBC.com, In Florida, 800 likely voters were interviewed and the survey had a margin of error of 3.5 points. In Ohio, 625 likely voters were interviewed and the margin of error was four points. In Iowa, 636 likely voters were interviewed and the poll had a margin of error of four percentage points.
The 2003 population estimate for Florida is 17,019,068 people. The 800 “likely voters” they interviewed make up only 4.7 of the entire population of Florida. The 2003 estimate for Ohio is 11,435,798, so the 625 people make up about 5.5 percent of the population. In Iowa, the 636 people make up about 2.2 percent of the population of Iowa (2,944,062).
How in the world is that representative? :grumbly: Yeah, they say Bush may have a lead over Kerry in certain areas, but interviewing 2% of the population hardly gives you a good idea of what’s actually going to happen. And I’m sure they didn’t interview people under the age of 20. :mad:
My guess is that they’re bluffing. They’re going to say, “Bush is winning in these areas,” in the hopes that the undecideds are going to see that and think, “Well, since he’s winning, I may as well vote for him.” That’s what I think. 
And I apologize for all the political posting lately, but I swear I just have to get it out of my system. It’s annoying the hell out of me. This should all slow down after the election. Do we find out the day after? Is the day of reckoning November 3rd?
census info from quickfacts
I just found a site that says you’re at risk for breast cancer if you have pre-marital sex. :wtf: It also says to avoid “intense hugging,” as that could lead to “lustful thoughts.” They also say this:
“Simply put, condoms fail. And condoms fail at a rate unacceptable for me as a physician to endorse them as a strategy to be promoted as meaningful AIDS protection.â€
– Dr. Robert Renfield, chief of retro-viral research, Walter Reed Army Institute
I can agree that condoms sometimes fail. But a condom is better than nothing, and studies have shown that condoms are in fact helpful in AIDS protection. In fact, they’re one of the few things that are effective in AIDS protection.
Another thing I think is funny, is that they have people giving their “celebrity testimonials” about premarital sex, and they say things like:
“Sex within marriage is the only kind that’s truly fun and exciting — the kind that lasts for a lifetime. I’m glad I waited.â€
Um, if you waited, how would you know that it’s the only kind that’s truly fun and exciting? I’m sure plenty of people have fun and exciting sex, and I’m sure not all of them are married either. You’re speaking ignorantly about something you’ve never experienced.
Another freakin’ stupid site I found was scaryjohnkerry. Now, you may ask why I’m posting an anti-Kerry site when I just posted that I voted for the guy. I’m posting it because of how ignorant and pathetic it is. Go there, and look at the page about Michael Moore. All of the quotes they give are pretty much analagous to what I think, and they definitely enforced my positive feelings about Michael Moore instead of their intended purpose of making me outraged. I thought it was pretty funny. The part about Kerry/Edwards on gay marriage was just ridiculous. They didn’t even focus on facts at all; they gave a few quotes that showed that Kerry doesn’t believe in discrimination (like they obviously do) and then spent the rest of the “video” insinuating that Kerry and Edwards are gay together. :mad: They made a slideshow of pictures of Kerry and Edwards shaking hands, hugging, and smiling and talking. In one of them, they animated Kerry to look like he was moving in for a kiss.
If that isn’t ridiculously immature, I don’t know what is. This is SO TYPICAL of those sorts of people. They rely on ignorant rhetoric and generalizations to “prove” their point instead of thinking about things logically and using factual evidence.
Before I talk about this next part, I want to say that the girl who wrote this (I won’t link her site because I don’t want her to get any hate mail) intrigues me because we are so radically different. I’m continually amazed at her devotion to her faith and her unfailing commitment to all that is just and holy. I just don’t agree with it. Now, here is a snippet of her views on George W. Bush:
Many people do not like this man because of his mistakes. I don’t think it’s quite fair for him to be judged that way. He’s our president, we elected him fair and square. [...] We have no right to judge him. Matthew 7:1 says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.â€
There are so many things I could say about this statement of her beliefs. I respect the fact that she has them and that she’s obviously passionate about them. That’s awesome. However, why would you like somebody because of his mistakes? How else are you going to judge people than by their actions, especially since we all know it’s wrong to judge people by appearances? Yes, he is our president, but no, we did not elect him fair and square. Have you not heard of Florida and the chaos that ensued there in the last election? I’d suggest you read some of Michael Moore’s books (even though I know you won’t) to find out what really happened during that election, like all of the people that were wrongfully denied the ability to vote or all of the duplicate ballots that military personell overseas sent in that STILL GOT COUNTED. Or how about the fact that during the recount, when it looked like it would be proven that Al Gore won, they ordered the recount to stop because they felt that it “jeopardized the President’s credibility” since he was already in office. WHAT ABOUT THAT? And again, you must realize that not everyone in this country is religious, and even if they are religious, not everyone is a Christian. I’m willing to bet that a lot of Atheists wouldn’t give a shit about your quoting of scripture. I know I don’t. That aside, I think we do have the right to judge people - just because your god supposedly spoke through some guy named Matthew does not mean that we can’t make judgements about anyone’s character or their ability to lead.
Do we not have the right to expect a just and competent leader? I would expect the leader of the most prominent country in the world to be a pretty kickass guy - not some jackass who can’t learn from other’s mistakes. There’s something here in America called “Freedom of Speech.” It says, among other things, that I am able to profess opinions (like my utter distaste for our current president) without being in trouble legally. I am able to say that I think Bush is an awful president, and my life will go on. And I think that’s why lots of people live in America.
When conservatives hear liberals saying negative things about our leaders or the state of our country, they usually end up saying something along the lines of, “If you hate America so much, why don’t you just leave?”
First off, just because we voice negative opinions about George W. Bush does not mean that we “hate America.” In fact, many liberals like America. However, lots of people are not entirely capable of uprooting their entire lives to immigrate to a different country because we got stuck with a crap president for four years. Also, part of the reason could be the fact that America is a place where it’s okay to say those sorts of things. We have the freedom to make movies like “Fahrenheit 9/11″ and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.
I think I might be glad when this election is over, though I can’t even imagine my horror if Kerry lost. To me, it’s not even an option - I haven’t really thought about what would happen if Bush actually won. I know that living in Oregon (especially Portland) it’s pretty much a given that Kerry will get the electoral votes for Oregon, but I worry that the rest of the nation is blindly believing the ignorance promoted by the Bush administration.
I realize this is a long post, but I found those sites today and I couldn’t go without mentioning them. Does anybody know when we find out who won the election? How many days after “election day” do we have to wait?
Copyright © 2008 Meggan G. 