Semi-Intelligent Thoughts

SIT Has Moved

2004-01-10T00:08:00.000-05:00

Click the banner to go to the new site:

Vote

2004-01-04T19:16:00.000-05:00

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT MESSAGE!!!!!

2003-12-27T01:20:00.000-05:00

Semi-Intelligent Thoughts is leaving BlogSpot. I'm now posting all my new stuff over at the Movable Type site, which I will link to at the end of this post.

If you came here from Right Wing News, please read the post below this before you leave. My archives aren't at the new site yet, so nothing posted before this week is available there. I have a "best of" list down below that you can go through while you're here. Check 'em out and see if you want to continue reading the new site after sampling some of my posts.

If you're a regular reader, start coming to the new site for updates. If you're a blogger and you have a permalink to SIT, change it now. I'm moving this operation out of here.

Once I've got everything squared away, I'll add up all the combined traffic from the two sites and reset the new hit counter, then this site will be officially obsolete. I'll still use it as a backup, but that shouldn't be necessary.

So, now that everyone has been accounted for, head on over to my new location. I just finished writing a piece about the chickenhawk meme. More will come soon.

http://sithoughts.mu.nu is my new URL. Make a note. And please go have a look.

Thank you.

UPDATE!!!
The complete Donktionary®, which is basically an English to liberal dictionary, is now up at the new site. Go check it out immediately!

Move it Along (unless you're here from RWN)

2003-12-26T17:20:00.000-05:00

I have a few post-Christmas thoughts at my new location. Head over there for the latest updates:

New Semi-Intelligent Thoughts

If you came from Right Wing News, feel free to look around on this page for a while (and/or sign the guestmap). My BlogSpot archives haven't been moved to the new site yet, so all the good stuff is still here.

If this is your first time here and you do want to stick around, here are a few of what I consider my best posts (yes, the permalinks will work properly):

How to Mess with the Thought Police
College is Still Liberal
Cartoons are Evil
Land of the Free
Another Religious Rant
No Offense
The True Fan
The Donktionary (there are several more of these scattered throughout the November & December archives)
A Case for Monogamy
Democratic Underground Fisking (I don't do these much anymore)
Abstaining from Common Sense
~~Freedom of Speech~~

Read through a few of those to get a general idea of what this blog is about. You can also go to the "New to SIT?" link in the top right-hand corner of the page for an intro and a "105 things about me" list.

In any case, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll be back to check out the brand new location when it's fully ready.

Merry Christmas

2003-12-25T01:57:00.000-05:00

...to everyone reading this (especially those of you who came from Right Wing News). I probably won't be posting today because...well, because it's Christmas.

Enjoy your holiday.

What NOT to Do When You're the President

2003-12-24T19:43:00.000-05:00

Bush's Kwanzaa Greeting

NO, DUBYA! NO! BAD DUBYA! STOP PANDERING TO MINORITIES WITH INVENTED HOLIDAYS!!!!

Hey, I never said that I agree with everything Bush does.

IT'S ALIVE!!!!

2003-12-24T02:29:00.000-05:00

This is exciting. I've been working with my MT blog for the past couple hours, and I think I finally got it looking pretty good.

I'm going to continue posting at this site until all my old posts are archived and I finish setting up, but I'm going to reveal SIT's new location for the first time so you can take a look and/or update the necessary blogrolls when I move.

So, after nearly 3 months of Blog*Spot, Semi-Intelligent Thoughts now has a new home at:

sithoughts.mu.nu

Feel free to take a look around and comment on what you like/dislike about the new setup. I'm still doing some tweaking, so feedback is appreciated.

Finally, if you came here from Right Wing News, be sure to check out the archives on this page. I usually have more political stuff posted than this.

And now, to celebrate my becoming a Munuvian...

YAY!!!

RWN Referrals

2003-12-23T21:41:00.000-05:00

A few minutes ago, I posted something about my referrals from Right Wing News.

I think the lesson to be learned here is "don't write about it before you understand it." Upon further investigation, I discovered that John Hawkins, who runs the aforementioned blog, is going away for a while and is listing "a few websites he likes" in the daily news sidebar.

Apparently, Semi-Intelligent Thoughts ended up there. I don't know if it was randomly generated or if John Hawkins has actually been reading my blog, but this is definitely a good thing. Right Wing News was the first political blog I ever read, and it was more or less what inspired me to start my own.

So, if you're here from RWN, this is a fairly conservative blog. I write a lot about political correctness and idiotarianism, and I'm a member of The Alliance of Free Blogs, led by Frank J.

I will be transferring to a new Movable Type site sometime in the next week, but until then, enjoy what's here. Thanks.

UPDATE
I almost forgot; please sign the guestmap on the right!

Big News

2003-12-22T20:58:00.000-05:00

I just got an e-mail from Pixy Misa telling me that my new blog is ready. More details as they arrive.

Death to BlogSpot!

UPDATE
This truly is a good day. Semi-Intelligent Thoughts now has a brand new location powered by Movable Type. Unfortunately, I still have to work out all the bugs and import the old posts, so I probably won't make the complete transfer until after Christmas. At that time, I'll post a really big message at the top of the blog directing you to the new home of SIT.

Until then, keep coming back here for more, although I'll probably be spending most of my time getting the new site ready.

One more thing: If you have a link to Semi-Intelligent Thoughts, remember to update it after the move. My Ecosystem rating depends on it.

Audio Update

2003-12-22T19:28:00.000-05:00

Check it out! I used my free trial post. You have to listen to get the latest updates about SIT (although it's pretty much a repeat of what I've said before).

audio post powered by audblog

On another note, I wrote in my "105 Things About Me" post that someone once told me I sound like Frank Sinatra. I have no idea if that's accurate, so would you agree (you don't need to answer that)?

Comic Question

2003-12-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, this may be the dumbest thing I've ever posted, but I have to ask: Why does "Hagar the Horrible" have Christmas themed strips? Hagar the Horrible is a viking! Vikings don't celebrate Christmas! Why is someone who worships Thor or something celebrating the birth of Christ? It makes no sense!

Just a simple question. By the way, I've got a slightly important update coming up a little later, but I'll be using my free audioblog post instead of writing it. Keep checking back for that one.

Wesley Clark is a Joke

2003-12-22T17:17:00.000-05:00

First, there was his claim that he would've run as a Republican if he had received a call from the Bush staff, then there was that time travel thing, then there was "I would've caught bin Laden by now," and just recently, there was the assertion that Howard Dean asked him to be his running mate.

Today, we have two other reasons why Wesley Clark is a joke. First of all, there's this:

Moments after praising his opponents in the Democratic presidential race as worthy running mates, Wesley Clark said, in no uncertain terms, how he would respond if they or anyone else criticized his patriotism or military record.

"I'll beat the s--- out of them," Clark told a questioner as he walked through the crowd after a town hall meeting Saturday. "I hope that's not on television," he added.

It was, live, on C-SPAN.

Brilliant. I wonder when John Kerry will weigh in on this. "That f***in' piece of sh*t! He thinks he can f***in' upstage me?"

Remember that "major league a**hole" comment that Dubya made a few years ago? I think the Dems have resorted to making themselves look stupid in public in the hopes that people will somehow connect that with a good president. Just a thought.

Also, there's this:

Democratic presidential hopeful Gen. Wesley Clark said Sunday that his old boss Bill Clinton - not President Bush - deserved credit for forcing Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to abandon his weapons of mass destruction programs, even though Gadhafi's turnaround came nearly three years after Clinton had left office.

"It's a program of squeezing Libya that's gone on for more than a decade," Clark told a Derry New Hampshire audience, according to the Concord Monitor. "The Clinton administration was very much involved with this."

I love this. They actually expect people to believe them when they say these moronic things. Now, watch what happens when Weasely has to explain why bad things happened right after Bubba left office:

The retired general added new details to his charge that President Bush was responsible for leaving America vulnerable to the 9/11 attacks, saying that President Clinton tried to warn Bush about Osama bin Laden but Bush wouldn't listen.

"He wasn't paying attention," Clark complained. "He didn't do his job as commander and chief."

Okay, first of all, I hope that's a misquote, because the correct term is commander IN chief, but I'll let that slide for now. More importantly, how does he credit the success in Libya to Clinton while blaming 9/11 on Bush? It makes no sense.

Based on this article, here's my understanding of Clark Logic: "If something good happens three years after a president leaves office, he's responsible for it. If something bad happens 8 months after a president takes office, he's responsible for it." Want more proof?

The former NATO commander said that Bush deserves to be "fired" for not doing more to prevent 9/11.

"This is the way it works in the Navy, if you're the captain of a ship, and it runs aground, they only ask two questions: Did it run aground, and were you the captain?" he explained. "If the answer is yes to both, you're fired.

"But if the ship causes the leader of another country to give up its WMD program, the previous captain should get credit."

Congratulations, Wesley Clark. You are now officially a walking, talking, pathetic joke.

Enjoy the publicity while it lasts.

Showcase Vote

2003-12-21T21:22:00.000-05:00

This week, my vote goes to The Politics of the Lord of the Rings from My Word.

Evil Glenn Strikes Again!

2003-12-20T23:17:00.000-05:00

This is serious! Not only does he murder hobos, he's attacking innocent partygoers now! Look at this!

More Stuff About Me

2003-12-20T22:45:00.000-05:00

All right, I managed to put together a list of 105 things about me to replace the current "about me" section on the intro page. I'm going to put it here just so I have some new content on the blog. More political stuff will come later.

Now, as for the list, a lot of this is stuff you know already if you come here on a regular basis, but there is some information that I haven't really talked about, and I tried to throw in a few small anecdotes and things to keep it interesting. I don't know how well I did, but you can decide for yourself. This is by no means a complete list of facts, and I actually had to leave out a lot, but it gives you a pretty good picture of who's behind the blog. If you don't care, or if you don't want to read through 105 items, I understand, but here it is if you're interested:

105 Things About CD
1. I was born just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 27, 1985.
2. I spent the first 18 years of my life in Plum Borough, Pennsylvania.
3. I’m currently attending Syracuse University (although I typed this list at my home in Plum).
4. I’m majoring in TV-Radio-Film.
5. I want to be a screenwriter/director.
6. The C in CD stands for Chris.
7. I’m not telling you what the D stands for, but there are a couple links on the blog to sites that give my full name.
8. I’m a Protestant Christian, but I don’t associate myself with any particular denomination.
9. I recently went through a year-long “semi-agnostic phase,” where I questioned pretty much everything I knew and/or believed.
10. I snapped out of that in August of 2003 and have been 100% Christian ever since.
11. I don’t currently go to church, but if I find one that hasn’t been taken over by postmodernism, I may reconsider.
12. I believe in the Big Bang, and I think the universe really is 14 billion years old.
13. I don’t believe in naturalistic evolution, but I think the fossil record is accurate.
14. Militant young-earth creationists really bother me.
15. I love fireworks, and if I have the chance to see them in any form, I will take it.
16. I’m a registered Republican.
17. I own a .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle, a spring-powered BB gun, and a CO2-powered pellet gun. I haven’t used any of them in several years.
18. I was on my high school’s rifle team for 2 years, but I never made varsity and eventually quit.
19. I’ve been playing drums since I was 12.
20. I was the percussion section leader of the Plum High Mustang Marching Band during my senior year of high school, but I had little to no authority because nobody in the section listened to me. I recently finished a season playing bass drum in the Syracuse University Marching Band.
21. I’ve been playing drumset for almost 2 years, and I absolutely love it.
22. I also took 7 years of piano lessons, but I quit when I was 16.
23. One of my current goals in life is to play drums for a rock band.
24. I’ve written 10 songs, and I’m usually working on 2 or 3 new ones.
25. I’ve posted 3 of them on the blog.
26. My favorite bands are: Creed, 3 Doors Down, Nickelback, Trust Company, Staind, Hoobastank, Theory of a Deadman, Default, 12 Stones, and Matchbox Twenty
27. My favorite song is “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down. “Downfall” by Trust Company takes a close second.
28. Bands I have seen live: Creed, 12 Stones, Jerry Cantrell, Theory of a Deadman, 3 Doors Down, Sugar Ray, and Matchbox Twenty.
29. I’ve only been to 3 rock concerts, but I managed to see all the above bands.
30. I don’t like Jerry Cantrell or Sugar Ray.
31. Rap sucks. Don’t argue with me. It sucks.
32. I don’t use profanity. Ever.
33. However, I do tend to use a lot of pseudo-swearing. When I’m talking casually, I usually use the words “crap” and “frickin’” in at least every other sentence.
34. I’m a little frickin’ better about crap like that when I write.
35. I have ADD.
36. I also have asthma.
37. I take medication for both.
38. I’m afraid of heights, spiders, and to a lesser extent, dogs.
39. I love cats, and I don’t care who knows it.
40. I’ve never broken any bones, and I’d like to keep it that way.
41. When I was 12, I had a benign cyst surgically removed from my right ear.
42. This was after months of people asking “what happened to your ear?” about 100 times an hour.
43. I’ve been to Washington, D.C. twice.
44. The second time, I lost one of those little individual boxes of Lucky Charms somewhere in Ford’s Theatre.
45. I’ve also been to Canada twice.
46. I liked Toronto, but didn’t like Montreal.
47. French Canadians are more French than Canadian.
48. States I’ve been in: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan, Florida, and probably a couple others.
49. I’ve only flown twice in my life.
50. The first time was from Pennsylvania to Florida (Disney World, actually), and the second time was from Florida back to Pennsylvania.
51. This was before 9/11.
52. Speaking of which, on the morning of September 11, 2001, as the bus was pulling into the parking lot of my school, I distinctly remember saying to myself, “I have a feeling something really good is going to happen today.”
53. I have since learned not to trust my predictions.
54. September 11, 2001 was my school picture day, but my picture was scheduled for that afternoon, and all afternoon pictures were rescheduled for late October.
55. My grandfather was in World War II, but he didn’t see any combat.
56. His job was to send fake radio transmissions to confuse the Japanese.
57. He always claims that he fought “mosquitoes and women.”
58. I am absolutely horrible at math.
59. I am a master of Simpsons trivia and can answer just about any question from before the last couple seasons when the show started to go downhill.
60. I own every episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and have watched them dozens of times each.
61. I’ve had a learner’s permit for almost 3 years, but I don’t have a driver’s license because I’m too lazy to practice driving.
62. My favorite movie is Gettysburg.
63. I’ve only visited Gettysburg once. I’ve also been to Antietam.
64. I love astronomy.
65. I own a telescope, but I can’t use it because I lost the eyepiece.
66. I’ve seen less than 50 meteors in my life, but I did manage to see one small “fireball” when I was 17.
67. I watched the 2002 Leonid meteor storm, but I only saw about 25 meteors because it was cloudy that morning.
68. Spelling and grammar mistakes make me incredibly angry. Especially my own.
69. I’ve been on television a few times.
70. Most of those were on the local station that only Plum Borough receives.
71. I was on an actual Pittsburgh news broadcast once.
72. It was a 2 second shot of me playing snare drum for the national anthem during the Veterans’ Day parade.
73. The cameraman got right up in my face to get the shot, so I knew I was probably going to be on TV.
74. I have it on tape somewhere.
75. My parents still haven’t seen it.
76. My parents don’t know that I have a blog.
77. Neither does my younger brother, my roommate, or anyone I know.
78. I’ve had the same haircut for the past 6 or 7 years.
79. I’ve also worn the same kind of shoes for about that long.
80. Almost everything I wear is made by Reebok.
81. I used to want to be an actor, but I changed my mind in high school.
82. In 8th grade, I was in a musical called “Hollywood Hillbillies.”
83. I played a “reformed” hillbilly named Charles Seabury. My role was almost entirely sung.
84. I hate singing, and haven’t done any since my voice changed 4 years ago.
85. Somebody once told me that I sound like Frank Sinatra (talking, not singing). I’m not sure if they were right.
86. Speaking of my voice, I have a slight Pittsburgh accent, but I don’t use Pittsburgh dialect (yins guys, nebby, n’at, etc.).
87. I am terrified of phones, and will do anything I can to avoid using them.
88. This includes making up lame excuses, procrastinating for hours, and sending e-mail to people who specifically tell me to call them.
89. Speaking of procrastination, I do it a lot.
90. I graduated from high school with a 3.9 GPA.
91. The last time I was tested, my I.Q. was 151.
92. My father is a music teacher, my mother is an English teacher, and my brother wants to be a history teacher.
93. I used to play hockey and baseball, and I was never very good at either one. Hockey is still my favorite sport, though.
94. I have a bit of what you might call a “weight problem.”
95. I’m 5’7” and I weigh 210 pounds.
96. I’m going to try and lose it next summer.
97. I’ve never had a girlfriend (as if you hadn’t figured that out by now).
98. If you give me a video camera, I will find a way to make any subject interesting.
99. I have about 15 VHS tapes, 14 VHS-C tapes, and 12 digital video cassettes that I can use as evidence of this.
100. My favorite colors are orange and dark green.
101. My favorite foods are cheeseburgers and pizza.
102. Coke is infinitely better than Pepsi. Oh, and it’s called pop, not soda.
103. I consume massive quantities of Dentye Ice chewing gum.
104. Mega Warheads (the sour ones) are the greatest accomplishment in the history of candy.
105. Before deciding to study TRF, I wanted to be a hockey player, a baseball player, a computer programmer, an actor, a novelist, and a cartoonist (not necessarily in that order).

Are you still awake? Good. This list can also be found on the intro page, and I may update it every so often.

That's it for now. Blog safely.

Preview

2003-12-20T17:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I haven't posted much for the last couple days. I'm on vacation here, people (/pretending people actually care and/or notice). However, I do have a few things planned for the next couple weeks, but I haven't actually gotten around to them yet.

So, that being said, I'm going to briefly list a few of the things I hope to do with the blog in the near future:

-First and foremost, I'm planning on moving from CrapSnot to Movable Type if Pixy Misa ever gets back to me.

-I still want to write a review of Elocation, the new CD from Default. It's pretty good.

-I've been planning to write a detailed analysis of the whole "South Park Republicans" idea and why it doesn't apply to me, but I keep putting it off.

-I also want to write something about this "chickenhawks" thing that's been flying around the 'sphere lately. I have some good analogies in store to debunk that one.

-I want to do one of those "100 things about me" lists to replace the current "about me" section on the intro page, but I'm not sure if I can come up with 100 things.

-I'm going to try and write a few more songs with ideas that relate to my blogging topics, like abortion and personal responsibility. I've already written one verse of the abortion one.

-Three words: More. Alliance. Assignments.

-I still have a free audioblog post to waste.

-The complete Donktionary®, including my favorite definitions from other blogs.

There's probably more, but that's the stuff I can remember right now. I may or may not post again today. We'll see.

Oh, and happy Hanukkah to my Jewish reader(s?).

Who's the Liar Again?

2003-12-19T18:46:00.000-05:00

BUSH NEVER SAID "IMMINENT THREAT," YOU FRICKIN' IDIOTS!!!!!

UPDATE
Joe Kelley from The Sake of Argument has pointed out this error in the comments of the linked post. Go check it out!

Friday Afternoon Stuff

2003-12-19T16:56:00.000-05:00

Coming up with titles is really hard. Anyway, I just have a few things to post right now. First of all, I went to my old high school last night to see my brother play in the holiday concert. It was pretty boring, although I did get to see a few of my old friends, which was nice since I DON'T HAVE ANY IN COLLEGE!

Sorry about that. Anyway, I noticed something interesting about the program. They played...GASP! CHRISTMAS MUSIC! They actually played Christmas songs in a concert at a public school! Not "holiday" songs, but CHRISTMAS SONGS! Was anyone offended? Did anyone complain? Was there any mention of "separation of church and state?" No, there wasn't. Why? Because very few people are actually offended by that kind of thing. I'm glad the Thought Police™ haven't gotten to Pennsylvania yet.

Now, on to less important things. I have a question for my readers: Has anyone else had their house taken over by frickin' ladybugs? They're all over the place! I actually saw one crawling across my desk as I was typing this, but I decided to just throw it out the door instead of killing it. It'll probably be back later.

Seriously, this is ridiculous. I saw an article a couple years ago that said this particular kind of ladybug exists for the sole purpose of finding a way into houses and then relaying the information back to the others. Nature can be very strange.

And now, some blog related business: I still have a free 1 minute audioblog post, and I may use that later tonight. I don't really know what I'm going to do with it, but free is free. We'll see what happens. Finally, I just took one of those Myers-Briggs personality tests, and it was actually accurate for once. I'm going to post my results simply because I can.

ISFP - "Artist". Interested in the fine arts. Expression primarily through action or art form. The senses are keener than in other types. 8.8% of total population.

Take Free Myers-Briggs Personality Test

�Conscious self	Overall self

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

Enneagram Test Results

Type 1	Perfectionism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	34%
Type 2	Helpfulness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	38%
Type 3	Ambition	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	42%
Type 4	Sensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	42%
Type 5	Detachment	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Type 6	Anxiety	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	58%
Type 7	Adventurousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	34%
Type 8	Hostility	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	62%
Type 9	Calmness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	34%

Your Conscious-Surface type is 5w6
Your Unconscious-Overall type is 6w5

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

These really describe me well. I'm surprised. Usually, these stupid online personality tests give me answers that describe the exact opposite of my personality. You should try this one. It's pretty cool.

Photoshop Phunniness

2003-12-18T16:54:00.000-05:00

Allah has another great Photoshopped comic thingy, which you can see here.

Then again, most of you have probably seen it already because you don't sleep until 2:30 in the afternoon...

What The...?!

2003-12-18T16:22:00.000-05:00

The friggin' comments are down! GET ME AWAY FROM BLOGSPOT NOW!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE
Okay, the comments are back, but I still want to get away from CrapSpot. Hurry up, Munuvians!!!

TV News Observations

2003-12-18T15:25:00.000-05:00

Not much to blog about yet today (I just got up an hour ago), but I do want to mention my brief TV news experience today. I turned on the TV and went straight to Fox News, and their big story was:

"Michael Jackson Joins Nation of Islam"

I didn't really need to hear about that, so I decided to check CNN just for the heck of it. They were talking about Saddam Hussein's daughter and how she was traumatized by his capture. Apparently, she heard that he may have been caught, and when it was verified, she broke down in tears. One of their little bottom headlines said that she "lost her brothers, Uday and Qusay, in a firefight."

Does this seem strange to anyone else? "No, Saddam wasn't a tyrant. He was a loving father, and we brutally separated his daughter from the rest of the family. Oh, and his sons, they didn't do anything to deserve their deaths. That's why they were 'lost' and not 'brought to justice.'"

Frickin' Clinton News Network...

The Democratic Campaign Circus Continues

2003-12-17T22:41:00.000-05:00

Clark: Bush lacks will to find bin Laden; Democrat says he would have had the al Qaeda chief by now

If I may offer some insightful commentary...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

...Thank you.

2000!

2003-12-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

All right! I'm up to 2000 hits!

...That's about all I have to say, actually.

Freedom of Speech

2003-12-17T18:05:00.000-05:00

I have a really fun issue to deal with now. Thanks to this post at Tongue Tied, we have yet another example of unconstitutional free speech violation on campus. The story in question is a couple weeks old, but I covers it when I finds it.

According to an article from the Georgetown Hoya entitled Anti-Gay Protester Removed From Red Square for 'Offensive Speech', certain types of speech aren't protected. According to the article:

The Department of Public Safety removed an individual from Red Square who was distributing offensive material against homosexuality on Nov. 20...They also solicited signatures on a petition that requested an overturn of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Lawrence v. Texas.

Sounds good so far, doesn't it? A group presents a view that doesn't match the views of the university, so they're kicked out. Actually, these people weren't even associated with the school, according to the article, so why exactly did Public frickin' Safety have to get involved? Do they consider them a threat to someone? Here's more:

Red Square is a free speech zone for the campus community,” [Todd Olson, interim vice president of student affairs] said. “Even given that, the messages this group was espousing were, in our view, grossly offensive and inflammatory and thus not protected in any case.

Do you hear that? It's the sound of contradiction! "This is a free speech zone, but this particular kind of free speech makes some people uncomfortable. We can't have that. What? Yes, I know we're always saying that students should move out of their 'comfort zone' and embrace diversity, but you're not listening! It was OFFENSIVE!"

This is wrong. If you designate an area as a "free speech zone" (which, I might add, is unconstitutional in the first place because it suggests that America itself isn't one), you can't suddenly decide that some types of speech aren't protected. Want more? I'll give you more:

Olson’s e-mail emphasized that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community enjoys “the right to study, work, and live in a campus environment of respect and protection,” he wrote. “Intolerance and invective have no place at Georgetown. As a Catholic, Jesuit university, we live our commitment to respect, tolerance, inclusion, and care for the whole person.”

"...Unless they disagree with us, in which case, they're bigots and must be removed before they endanger our valuable LGBTQ community." This gets even better, if you can believe that. Check out a few quotes from people they interviewed:

Elena Stewart (SFS ’07), who identified herself as bisexual, confronted the protesters after they asked her to sign their petition. “Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students felt particularly isolated that day...I don’t give a damn about the wackos who came here,” she said. “But I do give a damn about the people who live here.”

Here we go again. You can't suggest that homosexuality is wrong without being accused of inciting hatred, but you can be called a wacko, and that's apparently fine. Let's all sing the Double Standard Song (or, if that hasn't been written yet, my song entitled "Tolerate") as we move on to another quote from this enlightened and tolerant individual:

Recognizing that opposing viewpoints exist, she said, “Argue with us using an intellectual argument, but don’t lose sight that you are talking to people, not ideas or representations.”

Uh, excuse me, Ms. Bisexual, but isn't that EXACTLY WHAT THE SCHOOL DID?! How is it an intellectual argument when you forcibly remove people from the campus because they disagree with you? Also, if their views were "offensive," then I guess the school did decide to deal with "ideas and representations." I love how they don't extend their tolerance to people they disagree with...of course, that's the only kind of tolerance there is, in case you didn't know. Otherwise, it's acceptance. Here's even more hilarity:

“They were here to incite hatred and there is a major difference between free speech and inciting hatred,” [one student] said, speaking of the TFP.

And that would be...what? Didn't someone else just call them "wackos?" Couldn't you consider that to be "inciting hatred?" Where do you mindless PC drones draw the frickin' line, anyway? I guess this quote is partially true. It's free speech if it doesn't offend anyone, and it's "inciting hatred" if the Thought Police™ don't like the sound of it. I'm glad we could clear that up.

I was going to cover more, but I think you get the point. Read the entire article to get the full picture. One last thing about it that interests me is the fact that, near the end, they suddenly decide that the protestors were removed because they weren't associated with the university. Yet again, we see the PC Police changing their reasoning to make sure they can't be accused of double standards. I'm sure that if students had done the same thing, they would've also been removed.

"Red Square" indeed.

Wednesday Roundup

2003-12-17T17:17:00.000-05:00

I have real things to blog about this time. Honestly.

Anyway, there are a few news items that I want to briefly touch on. First of all, "emergency contraceptives" are now available without a prescription. I was going to rant about this, but Patriot Paradox has it covered. I left a comment expressing my feelings if you want to see what I was going to write here, but to briefly express my thoughts...

THIS IS F***ING WRONG, YOU F***ING IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!

Is this some kind of response to the partial birth abortion ban? "Oh, we can't kill the babies later, so we'll kill 'em before they look human! No compassion for the unwanted babies! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Just to make things clear, I believe a fetus is human at conception, so this still counts as murdering innocent children. Of course, I think Jimmy Fallon expresses another interesting aspect of this pretty well. What are people going to think when someone buys morning after pills over the counter? He suggests it will sound something like this..

"I need a price check on the whore pills! Come on, we got a drunk girl in a prom dress here!"

Or something like that.

Secondly, the Democratic presidential candidates are basically at each other's throats now (which is good for Dubya, I guess), each trying to undermine the others' positions. Howard "Angry American" Dean and John "I was in Vietnam" Kerry seem to be the latest feud.

Apparently, Dean said that he would've approved of the war in Iraq if it had international support. Kerry came back and said that he doesn't believe we need permission to go to war. Then Dean said he was misinterpreted, and he just wanted international support and approval.

Is it just me, or is that the same thing? Why do we have to depend on other countries to tell us how to fight our wars, especially when some of those countries may have been SELLING WEAPONS TO THE ENEMY?! In any case, I don't think Dean would've approved of the war even if his buddies in France had given us the a-ok.

Guess what? I have another post in the works. This one's about free speech violations! WOW!

Dentist Rant

2003-12-17T17:08:00.000-05:00

I'm back yet again, and I have a few random topics to cover. First of all, on the non-political front, why do they play such crappy music at the dentist's office? It's bad enough that I have to have some bubbly woman with a high-pitched voice scraping my teeth with sharp metal instruments. At least give me something good to listen to.

"This is Light Rock 92.9 FM..."

I don't like that station. They chose some great music for my visit. First of all, the second I sat down, they started playing that "Brown Eyed Girl" song by Van Morrison. I can't stand that song. It always gets stuck in my head (it's in there now, actually), and it's generally too hippie-ish for my liking.

Of course, the best part of going to the dentist is that rotating tooth polisher thingy that they use. Everyone loves that, right? So, she turns that thing on, and it combines with the sounds from the radio...

WHHIRRRRR!

"You've lost that lovin' feelin'..."

WHIIIIIRRRRR!

"You've lost that lovin' feelin'..."

I'm really glad I only have to go through that every 6 months.

Okay, once again, not only have I probably bored you to tears, but I've used up too much space. I'm going to start another post for political topics.

More Fun With Google

2003-12-17T15:20:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm back again. Sorry about that unscheduled day off yesterday, but I really didn't have anything to write about. Fortunately, I do have some political/social stuff to cover today, but I have a dentist's appointment in a few minutes, so there's no time for that right now.

However, I did get a couple more strange Google search terms bringing people to my site over the last few hours. Here they are:

cartoon of a hillbilly shack

pictures of hamsters exercising

Have you people heard of Google Image Search? Stop looking through text for weird pictures, dang it!

All right, that's it for now. Frickin' dentist...

More Renovations

2003-12-16T16:10:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that I haven't posted yet today. There are two reasons for that. Number 1: I can't think of anything to write about; Number 2: I'm in the process of going through my archives and adding line breaks to some of my earlier posts. Those big chunks of text were getting annoying. Feel free to check out the progress if you want. I'm working on October right now.

More "Religious Tolerance" Hypocrisy

2003-12-15T23:03:00.000-05:00

A little while ago, I read this post at Tongue Tied, and just now, I finally got around to reading the article it was referring to, which you can see here.

This is ridiculous. It's absolutely, positively, unfathomably ridiculous. Here are just a few choice selections from this story:

Church officials in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, were told by the town's public library last week that their posters could not be displayed because they pertained to a "religious preference group". It emerged yesterday, however, that a party to celebrate Eid, the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, had been held there less than a week previously.

Well, at least this didn't happen in America, for once. I'd expect this kind of thing in Europe. However, it's still ridiculous. If you can't advertise for one religious event, how can you justify celebrating another one? Oh, but wait, it gets much better.

Bridget Adams, 57, a school teacher and a member of the choir at All Saints church, High Wycombe, asked to display a poster stating the dates and times of its Christmas services. She was refused permission. 'I was told the council had a policy of allowing no religious material from any faith,' she said.

Apparently, she doesn't understand the lingo of anti-Christian PC types. You see, "religious" means "Christian," and "faith" usually means either "gullibility" or "fanaticism." Unless it applies to Muslims, of course. They're just misunderstood and oppressed. Did that seem a little exaggerated? Read on.

Margaret Dewar, the councillor who is responsible for libraries, said: "I am appalled at the attitude of these so-called Christians making such a fuss about this policy. The way they have reacted to the children's party is just shocking."

No, what's shocking is your complete lack of comprehension concerning consistency, you frickin' moron. What's with the "so-called Christians" crap, anyway? Oh, now I remember, faith is a personal, private thing and should never be spoken of, displayed, or even alluded to for fear of offending the sensibilities of those around you. Idiots. Here's the hilarious money quote:

"It is quite a different thing having a party organised by a library to promote cultural understanding and accepting notices for religious services.

Hmmm...let's see...cultural understanding...so you're saying that it's okay as long as the religious festival is part of a culture? Have you heard of a thing called the FRIGGIN' CHRISTMAS SEASON?! How can she possibly summon up enough cognitive dissonance to say that advertising an event at another building is wrong because it promotes religion, but actually holding an event in the library is okay because it promotes cultural understanding?

This is what happens when you take multiculturalism too far. You lose the ability to separate religion from culture in every society except your own. This makes no sense, and I'm going to continue to waste space ranting about it. I really don't understand how she can say any of this with a straight face (maybe she didn't, actually). They can host an event that's obviously religious, but they can't even advertise another one at a different building. Do people even realize that Islam is a religion anymore, or do they just assume that Muslims are some sort of ethnic group? Wait for it...it gets even better.

"The policy is that we do not display posters on our noticeboard. If we accepted one poster, we would have to them from everyone. We have to draw the line somewhere."

Wait...just...a...freaking...minute. First, they can't display it because it's religious, and all of a sudden they can't display it because it's a poster? I bet if it had been any other kind of poster, they would've accepted it. Or, alternately, if the Christians had come back with a regulation message, they still would've been denied.

This reminds me of another story I saw somewhere a few days ago. Apparently, a child brought a Bible to school to read during quiet time, but he was told to put it away. However, the school said that he couldn't read it because it was "too thick," or some crap like that. So, the next day, he brought a smaller religious booklet, and he was still forced to put it away. Why? Because it might offend other students.

By the way, another part of the article I just responded to mentioned that the "multicultural" Muslim party "...was advertised with leaflets distributed at the library." Isn't that strange? So they were even allowed to advertise that? Fascinating.

Here's one more question I've been meaning to ask for a really long time: HOW IS THE DISPLAY OF CHRISTIAN MATERIAL OFFENSIVE TO OTHER RELIGIONS? That whole "offense" argument never made sense to me. I'm a Christian, but I don't get offended when I see things related to other religions. Is my religion somehow more offensive than others? Am I offending people right now just by saying that I'm a Christian? OH NO! I'M SORRY! I'LL NEVER MENTION MY BELIEFS AGAIN! THAT WOULD BE SO INTOLERANT OF ATHEISTS, BUDDHISTS, MUSLIMS, JEWS, SCIENTOLOGISTS, UNITARIANS, PAGANS, WICCANS, JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, MORMONS...and so on.

Does that make sense? Out of all the religions I just listed, none of them offends me simply by existing or making its presence known. I may disagree with them, but they have a right to be acknowledged, and Christians should have that same right.

By the way, try going through that story and flip-flopping it so that all references to Muslims refer to Christians, and vice versa, and think about whose side the library would take. I'm pretty sure the library would display the Muslims' poster for fear of being called Islamophobic.

Think about it.

Showcase Voters

2003-12-15T21:27:00.000-05:00

Well, once again, the Miserable Failure Coalition beat us in the showcase, but we're getting closer every week. VOTE, PEOPLE! Anyway, as usual, I'm taking the code from Bad Money and giving some totally useless linkage to the people who voted.

Anti-Idiotarian Rotweiler (537 links) - 4135 visits/day V
Flying Chair (174 links) - 3332 visits/day V
IMAO (552 links) - 3261 visits/day V
Blackfive - The Paratrooper of Love (292 links) - 2017 visits/day V
annika's journal & poetry (125 links) - 260 visits/day V
Bad Money (155 links) - 253 visits/day V
Colorado Conservative (65 links) - 231 visits/day V
Ramblings of Silver Blue (167 links) - 230 visits/day V
Patriot Paradox (126 links) - 220 visits/day V
Being American in T.O. (94 links) - 218 visits/day V
Leaning Towards the Dark Side (70 links) - 211 visits/day V
The Inscrutable American (97 links) - 191 visits/day V
Practical Penumbra (230 links) - 186 visits/day V
the evangelical outpost (149 links) - 186 visits/day V
The Alliance (174 links) - 175 visits/day V
Pardon My English (92 links) - 170 visits/day V
From the Halls to the Shores (68 links) - 169 visits/day V
Absinthe & Cookies (190 links) - 162 visits/day V
angelweave (133 links) - 122 visits/day V
An Englishman's Castle (60 links) - 104 visits/day V
dogtulosba, ink. - soapiate of the masses (50 links) - 100 visits/day V
Who Tends The Fires (113 links) - 94 visits/day V
Judicious Asininity (118 links) - 84 visits/day V
Five Wasps (56 links) - 81 visits/day V
Idiot Villager (59 links) - 77 visits/day V
physics geek (72 links) - 74 visits/day V
AvGuru.net (39 links) - 70 visits/day V
The S-Train Canvass (66 links) - 64 visits/day V
Le Sabot Post-Moderne (79 links) - 58 visits/day V
VRWC, Inc. (89 links) - 52 visits/day V
Left Coast Conservative (142 links) - 47 visits/day V
Semi-Intelligent Thoughts (71 links) - 44 visits/day V
The Gleeful Extremist (59 links) - 42 visits/day V
Wince and Nod (84 links) - 39 visits/day V
Frizzen Sparks (54 links) - 36 visits/day V
Civilization Calls (56 links) - 35 visits/day V
BigRedGiant.com (55 links) - 34 visits/day V
Homicidal Maniak (60 links) - 31 visits/day V
Grim's Hall (58 links) - 30 visits/day V
curi's domain (59 links) - 30 visits/day V
Pinto's Blog (44 links) - 27 visits/day V
Cavalier Attitude (47 links) - 24 visits/day V
Elegance Against Ignorance (73 links) - 20 visits/day V
Single White Male (48 links) - 19 visits/day V
Ninjababe's Ramble (59 links) - 17 visits/day V
Hypocrisy and Hypotheses (63 links) - 17 visits/day V
Cannon's Canon (57 links) - 15 visits/day V
Irreconcilable Musings (58 links) - 15 visits/day V
The Conservative Cajun (42 links) - 15 visits/day
Shameless Self-Promotion (55 links) - 14 visits/day V
Hoppings of Roxette Bunny (63 links) - 14 visits/day V
Johnalism.com (39 links) - 11 visits/day V
Newmanisms (57 links) - 11 visits/day V
CandyUniverse (89 links) - 3 visits/day V
Interested-Participant (115 links) - visits/day V
Eckernet.com (58 links) - visits/day V
Ripe Bananas (70 links) - visits/day V
eTALKINGHEAD.com: Political Commentary (132 links) - visits/day V
The New American Revolutionist (54 links) - visits/day V

INSTAPUNDO DELENDA EST!

Precision Guided Humor Assignment: Campaign Slogans

2003-12-15T18:33:00.000-05:00

This week's Alliance assignment is to write campaign slogans for the Democratic presidential hopefuls. I couldn't pass this one up.

So, here are a few of my ideas. I'm sure they're just variations on what everyone else has come up with, but I guess that when people make themselves into stereotypes, all you can do is play the stereotypical angle for comedic purposes. Wow, that sounds dumb. Anyway, here are the slogans, in no particular order:

Howard Dean: Votes for Republicans make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...what? What do you mean the Hulk already used that? I'LL KILL HIM! HE KNEW ABOUT 9/11! RRROOOORGH! DEAN SMASH...IN A MODERATE...SENSIBLE WAY...THAT WILL NOT OFFEND ANYONE! RRRROORRRGH!!!

Al Sharpton: A vote for me is a vote for racism...I mean AGAINST racism! AGAINST!
...Damn crackas.

John Kerry: I will f**k up George W. Bush, just like I f**ked up the enemy in Vietf***ingnam! Sacre bleu! I mean...vote for me!

Dick Gephardt: Come on! You know you want your head of state to be a Dick!

Crap Weasel: I must become president, because only I know the secret codes that will defeat the evil psychic wombats of Krelnak 9! Thu flubadu tehy gralbulnarg (that's Krelnakian for "vote Kucinich in '04")!

Joe Lieberman: I can talk about my religious beliefs without being called an extremist! Vote Jewish in '04!

John Edwards: Move it along, folks. Nothing to see here. Except dead people. Lots of dead people. That died because GEORGE W. BUSH SENT THEM TO IRAQ! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
...oh, wait, that's John Edward that sees dead people. My bad.

Carol Moseley Braun: I'm a black woman. You HAVE to vote for me, or else the Evil White Patriarchy™ will destroy the world.

Wesley Clark: I was in the army, but I'm a Democrat, so it's okay. A think-tank in Canada assured me of that.

Hillary Clinton: No, really, I'm not running in 2004. But I encourage you to write my name in anyway, because if you don't, I'm sending Janet Reno to your house. You don't want that.

Looks like some tough competition for Dubya, but I'm sure he knows how to handle it.

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!

The Tag Team Fisking is Complete!

2003-12-15T17:31:00.000-05:00

If you've been following this, you know what I'm talking about, and I don't feel like making a bunch of hyperlinks right now, so you can scroll down if you're confused.

Anyway, the fisking has now been completed, with the last 20 or so reasons to elect Howard Dean covered by another member of the team at Random Nuclear Strikes.

Check it out. It's really good, and it covers some of the more complex economic stuff that I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.

I don't like economics.

More on the Hussein Capture

2003-12-15T16:02:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's 4 in the afternoon and I haven't posted yet. Get used to it, because I sleep REALLY late when I'm on breaks. However, I do tend to stay up until around 5 in the morning, so my schedule may begin to reflect that.

Now that I've gotten the disclaimer out of the way, I want to talk a little more about the capture of Saddam Hussein. First of all, Dubya briefly spoke about what's going to happen to him, and he said he wants to turn him over to the Iraqis, but that the trial must withstand "international scrutiny."

What the crap is that? Who cares about world opinion at this point? That didn't stop us from going to war in the first place. Besides, did Hussein respect "international scrutiny" when he murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people? Did he care what the U.N. thought when he was gassing the Kurds and shoving people into plastic shredders?

I'm sorry, but from what I see, no punishment that would withstand international scrutiny could possibly be sufficient to punish that psychotic freak. I say get as much information out of him as possible (after he stops saying that "his people are in bondage"), then turn him over to the Iraqis and let them handle it. I'm sure they'll know what to do.

Now, I was watching the news to see what had developed since yesterday, and one of the stories on my local channel (which was actually broadcasting the national news from NBC, I believe) was about a pro-Saddam rally in Iraq. Want to know how many people attended the rally?

30. 30 people. And they covered it. It was only a 10 second spot, but they covered it. I find that interesting considering their lack of coverage of the anti-terror rally which was attended by THOUSANDS OF FRICKIN' PEOPLE! Media bias, anyone?

One more totally unrelated topic before I stop: I wasn't going to reveal this yet, but it's too good to keep it a secret; I may be leaving BlogSpot soon for greener pastures, i.e. Movable Type. I'm in the process right now of joining the Munuvians, who would provide me with a totally free MT blog. We'll see if that works out. Just know that if you have a permalink to SIT, you may have to change it in a couple weeks.

http://www.sithoughts.mu.nu

Hopefully, that's what will appear in your browser when you're reading this page sometime next month.

More Tag Team Fisking

2003-12-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

Mike the Marine took the first ten, I took the next ten, and now the tag team fisking of 51 Reasons Why Americans Should Elect Howard Dean continues at Random Nuclear Strikes. Check it out, and feel free to volunteer for a round. There are still 20 more reasons to cover!

Google News

2003-12-14T17:52:00.000-05:00

I know this isn't exactly an important bit of information on a day like today, but I just wanted to point out that I am the number 2 Google search result for "Kucinich sucks." Check it out.

Good Way to Start the Day

2003-12-14T14:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is interesting. Now that I'm home, I can sleep in until 2 in the afternoon like I used to. After taking advantage of this until about half an hour ago, I got up, went downstairs, and started making a ham sandwich. I know, really exciting, isn't it? But what happened next was great.

So, as I'm doing this, my dad walks into the kitchen with some rather important information.

"Did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"We got Saddam."

"WE GOT SADDAM?!"

That was my reaction, at least. I don't know about the rest of you. Anyway, WE FRIGGIN' GOT HIM! HA! I can't wait to see what this does for the overall effort. I wish I could write more, but I have to see what other bloggers are saying about this. Later.

UPDATE
By the way, has anyone else noticed that Hussein looked a lot like Karl Marx with that shaggy beard he had when they caught him?

Don't ask why I noticed that. Frickin' AP European history class...

Okay, I'm Not Quite Done Yet

2003-12-13T23:43:00.000-05:00

I have to tie up a couple loose ends before I end the day. First of all, I forgot to mention that I now own the new CD by Default and will be reviewing it in the next week, for those of you who like post-grunge rock.

Finally, this search term somehow brought someone to my site from Google today:

"pictures of satan with a santa clause hat on"

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?

Home Again

2003-12-13T22:55:00.000-05:00

Whoa. I just got back to Pittsburgh about an hour ago, and upon checking my stats, I noticed that I got 44 hits today. That may not seem like much, but it's the most I've ever gotten on a Saturday. I checked it out, and it appears I got a "Mikealanche" from Mike the Marine's blog.

Also, I've gotten a couple offers for alternate hosting services so I can get the crap away from BlogSnot before it's too late. I'm seriously considering those. Anything to get me outta here.

Anyway, I don't think I'll post anything else tonight. I need to take a quick break from blogging, but I'll be back tomorrow. Of course, now that I'm on Christmas vacation, I'll have lots of time to do all kinds of new things, so SIT should provide plenty of quality material in the near future. I even signed up for a free 1 minute audioblog post, which I will waste as soon as possible just because I can. Until then, continue to blog safely.

BlogSpot Sucks. Get Me Outta Here!!!!

2003-12-13T02:47:00.000-05:00

Seriously. I got linked on like 3 different pages tonight, and the frickin' thing shut down. I only got 2 HITS ALL NIGHT!!!! This could've been my biggest day so far, and the F***IN' IDIOTS SHUT DOWN THE HOSTING SERVICE!!!!! Anyone want to host a blog on their domain? I'll pay you back in a few years...

Anyway, this is my last post until around 10 PM on Saturday. I'm going back to Pittsburgh for Christmas vacation. Once I'm there, I'll have all kinds of cool posts for you. That's a guarantee.

Tag Team Fisking

2003-12-12T20:01:00.000-05:00

Okay, Mike the Marine got the ball rolling, and now it's my turn to pick up where he left off. The article in question is this: 51 Reasons Why Americans Should Elect Howard Dean. It's my job to fisk numbers 11-20, which I will do...now!

11) There is nothing in Dean's proposals that would weaken our military or intelligence forces.

That's because he hasn't made any proposals other than doing the opposite of what the current administration is doing.

He supports a strong and vigilant military.

Unless a Republican is in charge of it, and/or it actually has to be deployed at some point.

12) Dean had a bad back and provided that evidence to the draft board assessing his fitness for duty. Though he continued to participate in physical activities afterward, like skiing, the draft board felt his physical infirmaties disqualified him from service and granted him a medical deferment. He broke no laws, he did not fake the records and he did not defect to escape service.

Ooookay...wouldn't it have made more sense to REST if he had a bad back instead of frickin' SKIING? Just because he didn't break the law doesn't mean he didn't deceive anyone, but I guess "Dr. Dean" knows best, right?

His critics suggest he acted dishonorably...

Why ever could that be?

...while neglecting to mention that evidence exists that Bush failed to report to duty after a military transfer and spent the last of his time in service working on another man's campaign for office, while technically AWOL. One got a legit deferment. One skipped out in violation of the law, during a time of war.

Actually, this "evidence" you speak of is nothing more than a myth that has been debunked multiple times, like here, for example. Are you familiar with these things called "facts?" Get used to 'em.

13) Dean was raised with a privileged family background, as was Bush. No evidence exists to suggest that Dean's parents intervened when he got into police trouble, while evidence suggests Bush's father did that for him. In Bush's business endeavors and government service, it appears that political supporters of his father provided him a great number of favors or direct financial assistance. That does not indicate anything unethical occurred but it contrasts with Dean's record of self-sufficiency in his medical and political careers.

And your proof of these claims is...where? Are you criticizing President Bush for having connections? I'm a communications major, and they teach us that connections are a good thing! Have I been lied to, just like the horrible neocons lied to America? OH NO! I feel so victimized! Sarcasm aside, I don't see how this proves the superiority of one candidate over the other, especially since there's no evidence presented. Have you people heard of hyperlinks?

14) Despite Dean's privileged background, he well recognizes that part of the American Dream requires access to opportunity.

Unless you're rich already, in which case you're an un-American thief and should immediately surrender your hard-earned cash to the government so they can redistribute it among the ~~proletariat~~ lower classes.

And that a critical key to opportunity comes from the access to broad educational opportunities. Due to the rising costs of college education, he recognizes that college is becoming less affordable and that opportunity has been threatened or lost to many. And he'd like to correct that.

REALLY? I thought he wanted to make it worse! Thank you for once again stating the obvious without actually explaining why Howie would do a better job. By the way, aren't a lot of universities private? How exactly is he going to control the funds of private organizations? Hmmm...

15) Dean also recognizes that in preparation for secondary education that a solid primary education is needed.

Yet another valuable bit of knowledge. I thought effective primary education consisted of hitting kids in the head with bricks and feeding them ground up gym mats (shameless Simpsons ripoff).

Yet he feels, correctly, that there are fundamental flaws in the No Child Left Behind Act which have proven to be an ineffective reponse to the problems. Rather than imposing a "top down" prescription to correct the problems some schools have, Dean would turn to educators and parents to seek workable solutions likely to yield greater successes.

Such as...? My understanding of Democratic educational policy is as follows: "If the students aren't learning math, teach them about diversity. If they're not learning English, teach them about tolerance. If they're not learning science, teach them about multiculturalism."

Just to be fair, my parents are teachers (and Republicans, incidentally), and they don't like the No Child Left Behind policies either, but give us an alternate solution instead of just saying that Dean would do it differently.

16) Howard Dean is not some 'tax-and-spend liberal...'

This is called redundancy, children.

...as his opponents keep trying to claim. He has an exemplary record of balancing budgets as the longtime Governor of Vermont. He is fiscally thrifty; he returns from the campaign trail and does his own laundry when he can clearly afford to have it sent out. There's an admirable quality to that sort of self-disciplined behaviur...

Way to check your spelling. Must be that liberal edumacashun.

...that come to him reflexively. And while he recognizes that a President has to advance the best interests of the nation and that sometimes requires deficit spending, he's watched this President turn the country's largest surplus in history into its largest deficit in just three years. He thinks that's wrong, as I do.

Well, you know what? I think you're wrong, as they do:
Stocks End Up, Aided by United Tech, Coke
Factory Growth Fastest in 20 Years
US manufacturers hit 20-year record pace
2004 Will Be the U.S.'S Best Year Economically in Last 20 Years...
Oh, and don't forget about the Dow Jones going above 10,000. "Tax increases for Amerikkka!"

17) He's spoken in favor of repealling the tax cuts Bush provided, because they've contributed to that deficit at the wrong time, while the benefits have largely gone to the wealthy who need it least.

There are so many problems in that sentence that correcting them all would give me a fatal aneurysm.

Rescinding a poorly timed tax cut may be spun as a tax increase, but it's more correctly called the rescinding of a bad choice.

"THAT MONEY IS MINE! NOT YOURS, MINE! GIMME GIMME GIMME! BUSH LIED!"

'Paying-as-you-go' is a responsible fiscal practice that requires the capacity to raise taxes and lower taxes at different times, according to need.

Can you say "socialism," boys and girls?

Dean's record of fiscal responsibility, including two income tax cuts and a sales tax cut, clearly earns my trust over the biggest deficit-spender in our history.

Wait, now tax cuts are good and spending is bad? Would you like some syrup with that waffle?

It doesn't take a math genius to figure out, either.

Obviously.

A simple review of the records of Bush and Dean would demonstrate this to anyone who spends a couple of hours researching them.

Well, so much for your argument. Good luck dealing with the nonexistent economic quagmire.

18) From the time Bush began the buildup to the Iraq war, oil and gas prices have soared.

Examples? Sources? Anything? I haven't even heard this one yet.

For most Americans the small amount gained from the tax cuts has been spent entirely on increased fuel costs.

Uh, yeah...my family spent the tax cuts (or "refunds," as they used to be called) on furniture. I don't remember us ever having a gas budget.

Dean knows this and knows that without the war and without the tax cut, most would still have the same amount of available income.

WITHOUT the tax cut, they would have MORE money? Dean must know something most of us don't. It must be nice living in your own little world.

19) Dean does crossword puzzles. So does my Mom. I like that in both of them.

Hey, Dean's also a douchebag. So was Bill Clinton. Neither of them is president. I like that in both of them.

20) Dean doesn't come across as an authoritarian issuing stern pronouncements from on high. He comes across like a normal guy, displaying emotions like anger and sadness and hopefulness and happiness like regular folks do when discussing things important to them.

THIS IS NORMAL?

Many politicians are more measured and cautious, sometimes erudite and pontificating, sometimes arrogant and threatening. Dean comes across like a passionate Joe Everybody.

Joe Everybody? That sounds a lot like a reality show. Actually, when you think about it, Dean is like a reality show. He gets your attention, draws a large audience, and then does whatever he has to in order to keep them, even if it means pandering to the lowest common denominator or fabricating stories. And, just like a reality show, most intelligent people tire of him sooner or later as they realize that he's nothing more than a novelty and move on to things that really matter.

This is fun.

And Now, in the "People Who Are Funnier than Me" Department...

2003-12-12T18:26:00.000-05:00

Check out this post from Allah Is In the House. It's friggin' hilarious!

Filthy Lie Assignment: The Final Comment

2003-12-12T16:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've decided to actually participate in this week's filthy lie, What was that final comment that made Evil Glenn snap?

It seems our friend Evil Glenn used to have comments on his blog, but one day, somebody left a comment so damaging that it forced him to eliminate reader participation.

Well, I did a little ~~fabrication~~ fact-finding, and I discovered some very interesting information. First of all, Puppy Blender used to use BlogSpeak for his comments, just like me. It made my skin crawl when I discovered that I have something in common with The Evil One, but I forced myself to continue for the good of The Alliance.

What I found was amazing. It wasn't one, but three comments that drove Glenn over the edge! What's more, I was able to find a long-lost link to the comments themselves.

Ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere, I give you...THE FINAL COMMENTS!

So, now we know some of Evil Glenn's weaknesses: he can't pay his bills on time, he can't stand sad little children, and he apparently likes to watch grown men perform Britney Spears routines.

This is a sick human being, folks.

NOTE:
I just noticed something about the comments. Evil Glenn is so bad at managing his services that he made it look like those were posted this afternoon. Don't be fooled by the date and time! These are completely ~~fake~~ authentic!

Showcase Vote

2003-12-12T14:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm back once again with my vote in this week's showcase. Here it is:

The Iraq War will be a Success from Anti-anti war.com

I know, I'm a sucker for pro-war stuff, but this really is an awesome post, and I learned a few things while reading it. Check it out immediately.

Just for Fun...

2003-12-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

Here's what the SIT tagline looks like when you put it through the iGhetto Jive Translator:

"Yo' ass be now enterin' da damn realm o' semi-intelligent thoughts. Wank,
wank. Keep yo' mind jimmey an' yo' mout' shut!"

Yes, I've been done with college work for 2 hours and I'm bored already.

By the way, I need a new tagline. The one I'm using is fine, but it's just a random phrase that I wrote on the inside cover of the original "Book of Semi-Intelligent Thoughts" and doesn't really mean anything.

Suggestions? I just might use a good one...

It's Over!

2003-12-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

I got up at 7:30. I took the philosophy final. I came back. I finished my writing portfolio. I turned it in. And now...

I'M DONE WITH EVERYTHING! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!

Sorry about that. I've never lived through an entire semester of college before. It's good to be done for now.

Anyway, I'll be going home tomorrow, so don't expect any new posts between 2 PM and 10 PM. Today, however, is now totally free, so some new stuff might come up. Apparently, Mike the Marine is fisking part of that "51 Reasons Why Americans Should Elect Howard Dean" thing, so I don't know where that'll go. I may cover parts of it, and I may cover my favorites at random. I've already come up with some good responses to some of it, but I want to wait a little while to actually post anything.

I actually don't have anything new to write about at the moment. I just wanted to brag about being done with work. Only 3 and a half years to go!

Strange Google Search Terms to End the Day

2003-12-12T00:20:00.000-05:00

Hey, how about something a little lighter? Here are a few search terms that somehow brought people to my site today:

"excuse letter sample for non remittance of homework"

"here are some song lyrics i wrote"

"charlie daniels the fag song lyrics"

"charlie daniels band lyrics fag song"

"'Mickey Mouse Monopoly' marxist theory"

Don't ask me why they came here from any of those. Except for the second one. I actually used that sentence. I don't know why someone was searching for it.

Okay, I have a philosophy final at 8 AM tomorrow (yes, 8 AM), so I have to study now. I'll end with one more question: What is this "Charlie Daniels fag song" they're looking for? Anybody know?

Up for Grabs

2003-12-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

Dang it, dang it, dang it, I wish I had time to fisk this, but I have a writing portfolio to work on. Anybody up to the challenge?

51 Reasons Why Americans Should Elect Howard Dean

If nobody else takes it on, I'd be happy to do it when I go home this weekend. We'll see.

Useful Advice

2003-12-11T20:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, people, here's a tip: If you're going to sign the guestmap, make it seem like you actually read something and aren't just trying to draw people to your own page. If you mess with the map, you will be banninated (Homestar Runner, anyone?) and your entry will be deleted. I interpret that as traffic whoring and will not tolerate it. Thank you.

Abstaining from Common Sense

2003-12-11T20:33:00.000-05:00

I knew that if I surfed long enough, something would make me angry. I came across this post at Bark Bark Woof Woof through a link at the Miserable Failure Coalition page. It's about a new abstinence education grant or something that's going to some schools. I'm about to respond to it. Isn't that exciting?

First of all, the post is entitled, "The Religious Reich Is Endangering the Lives of Our Children," so you can tell what perspective it's written from, but I need to cover both sides of this issue. The post provides an excerpt from the grant, taken from this source. Here's a sample:

Eligibility is open to public and private entities, including faith-based and community organizations, which develop and/or provide an abstinence program consistent with the definition of "abstinence education'' in section 510 of the Social Security Act. In addition, the entity must agree not to provide a participating adolescent any other education regarding sexual conduct in the same setting.

All right, I think abstinence is definitely the way to go, but there's a problem here, namely the fact that they're not allowed to teach anything else. There are some good lessons in the program, such as these points:

(C) teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only
certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted
diseases, and other associated health problems;
(D) teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the
context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;
(E) teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage
is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;
(F) teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have
harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society...

Definitely good things to learn. I'll cover that later, but again, the problem is that they're only teaching abstinence and nothing else. You have to educate students in the basics so they at least know what to abstain FROM.

I was going to write about this in a different context earlier, but I can use it here for now. This kind of thing reminds me of the Knights Who Say "Ni" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You know...

"Don't say that word!"

"What word?"

"I cannot tell, suffice to say 'tis one of the words the Knights Who Say Ni cannot hear!"

"Well, how can we not say the word if you don't tell us what it is?"

That seems like a pretty accurate parallel. Once again, as a conservative Christian, I'm all about abstinence, but sex education needs to be taken far enough that people know the facts about sexual behavior and have full knowledge of what to do, what not to do, what the consequences are, and so on.

Now, on to the other side of the argument. Like I said, the post in question is obviously against abstinence education, but uses much different reasoning to come to that conclusion. The poster, as you can see by reading it, sent a letter to a Planned Parenthood volunteer (don't even get me started on those sick freaks), and has their response on the blog. Some of the information given there is interesting and demonstrates the lack of knowledge that necessitates sex education programs, but once again, the logic is all wrong.

But I must tell you that to go into our clinic on a Thursday afternoon is to see how needed real information on sexuality is, as well as a source for getting either the pill or condoms (we give the latter out for free). That's the day for our Teen Clinic and the waiting room is standing room only with little room to move.

Now, the question is, whose fault is that? Is it the fault of education programs that don't give people the proper information, or is it the fault of a general lack of common sense in the younger population, or a lack of moral messages, or lack of parenting, etc.? This blogger seems to have an answer:

This is what our government, at the behest of the Religious Reich, is doing to "protect" the morals of our teenaged children: teaching ignorance and preaching abstinence. The teachers can't even talk about anything else, and meanwhile the HIV / STD infection rate is on the rise again...

Yes, that's right, it's all because of abstinence education. It couldn't possibly be because the entertainment world has decided that all a woman has to do to be a famous singer is go on stage half naked and dance around like an idiot.

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that children are being bombarded constantly with messages from society and the media that tell them that if they don't go out and f**k everything with a pulse, they're a social reject and will never be able to live a happy life, so they might as well just go live in a monastery. Using the word "virgin" as a derogatory term is a sign of social progress!

It couldn't be because too many parents are trying to relive the "free love" period and don't even know the definition of restraint or morality. It's not their fault, even though they have no idea how to talk to their children about these issues because they made the wrong decisions years ago but don't want to seem like "prudes."

It certainly doesn't have anything to do with the fact that we're teaching more and more detailed sexual education programs to younger and younger children. Check out another quote about the recommended curriculum from Planned ~~Victimhood~~ Parenthood:

...the individual teachers can request a session that [our educator] gives to her junior high and upper grades. The age that should be getting it is, of course, fifth grade or sixth at the latest. But that's pushing it.

AT THE LATEST? AT THE F***ING LATEST??!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? AT LEAST WAIT FOR THEM TO HIT FRICKIN' PUBERTY BEFORE YOU TELL THEM TO GO OUT AND SCREW EACH OTHER!

Honestly, this is ridiculous. My philosophy TA said that his school distributed bags of condoms when he was in fifth grade. Yes, he really did say that. Yes, I remembered it correctly. No, I'm not exaggerating. BAGS...OF...CONDOMS...TO...TEN...YEAR...OLD...CHILDREN.

The rise of AIDS couldn't have anything to do with that. And don't even mention homosexuals. They're not at risk at all. If you even imply that gays are responsible for ONE case of the disease, you're a homophobic bigot and should be locked up for your horrifyingly intolerant views.

No, none of those has anything to do with pregnancy, AIDS, STDs, or any other problem. It's the abstinence. It's always the abstinence. Here's the money quote from our ignorant liberal blogger friend:

Condoms have a failure rate of less than one percent. The failure rate of abstinence is a lot higher.

Wrong. DEAD. WRONG. First of all, birth control pills have a failure rate of less than one percent. Condoms can go anywhere from 75% to 95% effectiveness, but there's no consensus that I know of. That's called a myth.

Oh, and the failure rate of abstinence is always 0%. As soon as you have sex, it's not abstinence anymore.

It's ignorance. Pure and simple.

Question

2003-12-11T15:22:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one of those days where you couldn't think of anything to write about, so you just wrote about not having anything to write about?

So have I.

Best. Nigerian Scam E-mail. EVER!

2003-12-11T02:40:00.000-05:00

I know. It's 2:40 in the morning (at least it is if you're in New York like me), but I just got what is possibly the best spam e-mail I have ever seen. I'm not even going to say anything about it. You have to see it for yourself.

PREMIUM TRUST AGENCY
(ACCREDITED LICENSED AGENT TO
INSTANT FORTUNE LOTTO)

From:Mr.David Mark
E-mail:Davidmark@winning.com
Telephone number:27727765670.

Ref. Nnumber: 132/756/4007
Batch Number: 538901527-BB67

Sir/Madam

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Lottery Winners
International programs held on the December 1st,2003. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 27511465896-6410 with serial number 3772-510 drew lucky numbers 7-14-88-23-31-45 which
consequently won in the 1st category, you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$ 1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money Remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by
some participants.All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn
from over 20,000 company and 30,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the world. This promotional program takes place every three year.

This lottery was promoted by the software corporation to compensate some few individuals with website and email addresses,we hope with part of your winning you will take part in our next year USD50 million international lottery. Remember, all winning must be claimed not later than 23 December 2003.After this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake.Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any change of address please inform me as soon as you receive this mail.Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.Please kindly Forward me Your Full name and your Telephone and Fax numbers,Contact Address,Any I.D of yours as soon as i receive this
details,I will gave you the contact of your payment centre who will pay you.

Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.

Sincerely yours,

Mr.David Mark
Lottery Coordinator

E-mail:Davidmark@winning.com
Telephone number:27727765670.

Even More Song Lyrics

2003-12-11T00:11:00.000-05:00

Well, once again, I was going through some of my old posts, and I really think that I was writing better material in October than I am now. Maybe after finals, I can come up with something better. I do have a lot of stuff planned, and I'll give you a preview on Friday.

However, I want to end the day with another song that I wrote over the summer. This one's about tolerance and how it's been twisted to be synonymous with acceptance. Remember, I do want to use these lyrics someday to form a rock band with a conservative edge (you don't see many of those), but being a drummer and everything, I couldn't sing 'em, so that's kind of a problem. Here's another song by CD (remember, these lyrics are my intellectual property, and if you steal them, I will find you and severely hurt you. Just thought I'd let you know ;)

Tolerate
Here come the Thought Police, trying to stamp out all the bad words
Enforcing their beliefs and setting such a double standard
Anything goes and all opinions are okay
As long as it's something they would say
It's always so one sided, they have all the control
So why should they stop now when they're on such a roll?
But they can't get rid of me, 'cause I'm on a mission
And this is what I have to say to all this division
(chorus)
I'd rather live in the past than in a future where I'm silenced
You try to shut me up with your childish verbal violence
So call me old fashioned, call me what you will
Just spare me the insulting overkill
Crying and denying speech when someone else offends you
Doesn't make you right even though you may pretend to
Win a victory when Big Brother takes your side
And you'll lose in the end no matter how hard you have tried
(chorus)
What you don't seem to realize as you rant and complain
And claim that you can feel everyone's pain
Is that you're even worse than the people you've been fighting
When all you ever want to do is run around inciting
Protest and unrest and making a huge mess
When it comes to intolerance, it's simply no contest
You won't even let the other side have a voice
And yet you go on calling it "freedom of choice!"
(chorus)

CHORUS:
I can't tolerate your tolerance
When I disagree you take offense
Why is it that you can call me names
But you get upset when I do the same?
You'd better learn to accept my philosophy
'Cause not everyone lives in the world you see
So I'll keep speaking my mind and letting my thoughts free
And you'll just have to learn how to tolerate me.

Anyone interested in singing and/or playing guitar for a right-wing rock band?

Anyone?

...
...

I didn't think so.

Dennis Kucinich Sucks

2003-12-10T21:54:00.000-05:00

Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel
Crap Weasel

Just doing my part for The Alliance, folks.

New Syracuse Related Link

2003-12-10T14:04:00.000-05:00

All right, I have a communications final in 5 hours, so I have to do a lot of reading, but I've got a brand new link for you to enjoy. After months of preparation, the SU drumline website is finally up. Unfortunately, the media section isn't done yet, but the member section is complete and ready to go. Check it out if you want. There are some pretty funny quotes in the member bios. Plus, you can find out what the "D" in "CD" stands for (if you didn't know already) by going to the bass drum bios. Isn't that exciting? Of course it is. Check it out if you want. I'll let you know when the media section is done. Here's the link (which I'm also adding to the sidebar):

SU Drumline

Final Thought For the Day

2003-12-10T03:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm probably annoying the crap out of my roommate by still being on the computer now, but I had to post some observational college humor, direct from Day Hall at SU.

Anyway, here's the scenario: The RA's on my floor put up a sign for finals week telling people, among other things, not to congregate in the hall. A couple hours ago, 5 or 6 people gathered in the hallway to talk, directly in front of the sign telling them not to congregate in the hall.

I love college.

Especially finals.

...okay, maybe not finals.

...I'm going to sleep now.

Are you still here?

More Song Lyrics

2003-12-09T17:56:00.000-05:00

All right, as promised, here are some song lyrics I wrote over the summer. I've already posted my pro-war song, "Justified," which you can read here, so I figured I might as well put up some more.

This one isn't a war song, but it does have some political aspects to it. However, it's mostly about my view of post-modernism and moral relativism. There's no particular reason that I'm posting it at this specific time other than the simple fact that I need something new on here. I'm also planning on posting another song I wrote about so-called "tolerance" and why it's intolerant. Remember: if you disagree with any of my opinions, that's why they're mine and not yours. Here's another song for you:

Spirit of the Age
When did our compass go astray, with people choosing their own way
Deciding what is best for them, with no fear of their choices being condemned
They say there is no wrong or right, and accuse others of being too uptight
But what makes you happy isn't always the way to go, as any look at our society will show
(chorus)
Right to privacy is their rallying cry, telling us to just let sleeping dogs lie
If you think it's right, then it must be true, and you can't tell anyone else what to do
Because their opinions are valid too, even if they hold a contradictory view
But it's impossible for everyone to be right. Do you think day is the same as night?
(chorus)
I just can't relate to this post-modern state where everything is relative and truth is out of date
The age in which we're living seems entirely too forgiving
I wouldn't be surprised if everything was legalized
That didn't cause a person pain, even if it seemed insane
After all, the whole purpose of this life is personal gain
All people seem to care about is what they possess
They forget about the ones they destroy in the process
But whatever makes you feel good can't possibly be bad
At least that's what they want us to believe, but we've been had!
(chorus)

CHORUS
It's the spirit of the age, it's a sign of the times
Everybody gets away with their victimless crimes
It's all about your preference and the rules don't apply
If you're not hurting anybody, there's no need to ask why

Okay, there's another one of my songs. Again, if you disagree, remember that this is coming from a conservative Christian viewpoint. Also, if the idea of an 18-year-old male preaching morality and restraint frightens you...then I have accomplished my mission.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Just Killin' Time

2003-12-09T16:57:00.000-05:00

I managed to read for an entire hour before I got bored and had to go back to the computer. The interesting thing that I realized earlier, however, is that I'm trying to avoid reading and writing by...you guessed it: READING AND WRITING. Blogging for procrastinational (is that even a word?) purposes doesn't make a lot of sense when you look closesly at it.

All right, just a few quick things to put here in order to keep the blog going. First of all, I noticed a post at the Miserable Failure Coalition page about Dubya. Apparently, they don't like the fact that he gets all his news from aides, and because he receives information "secondhand," he can't be considered informed. Well, I've got news for you: Unless you're actually there to witness an event, any information you get from the news IS secondhand. Think about that. I'd rather get my news from members of my staff than some closet-commie newscaster.

Also, there's a new article at DU about "Bush hatred" and why it's really just people expressing their dislike for the president. The article then goes on to "justify" this by calling President Bush an evil neocon with no mental ability (not their exact words, but the general sentiment is there). I'm not going to link directly to it, since that would make me partially responsible for loss of stomach contents as a result of someone else reading it, but you can go there through the "silliness" links on the right and see for yourself.

That's it for now. I'm going to go get something to eat. When I come back, I'll post some more song lyrics that I wrote over the summer that I think express my views of morality pretty well.

An Observation

2003-12-09T02:15:00.000-05:00

I don't have anything to do tomorrow (another one of the few positive things about final exam week), so I was going through some of my older posts just to compare them to the current ones, and I realized that I wrote some of my best stuff in my first 2 weeks of blogging before I had any readers. That can't be a good sign.

I don't know if there's a point to this, but it struck me as something worthy of posting. Since I have to read all day tomorrow (big communications final Wednesday night), I recommend taking a look at some of the older stuff. I know most people coming by here only read the front page, but I really do think that I wrote some of my best material when I started, since I hadn't worn out any issues or opinions yet and didn't think anyone was actually seeing it.

That's all for now. Sign the guestmap (yes, I am going to keep putting that at the end of posts).

Showcase Voters

2003-12-08T23:04:00.000-05:00

As I do every week, I'm taking the code provided by Bad Money and putting it here so everyone who voted in the showcase will get...um...uh...their name displayed on my site, I guess. Seriously, check out some of these other blogs. They're probably better than mine. Probably...

IMAO (550 links) - 3517 visits/day V
Anti-Idiotarian Rotweiler (494 links) - 2941 visits/day V
Blackfive - The Paratrooper of Love (230 links) - 1382 visits/day V
Flying Chair (120 links) - 1159 visits/day V
Anger Management (136 links) - 483 visits/day V
Simon World (69 links) - 403 visits/day V
Patriot Paradox (123 links) - 279 visits/day V
GS-7 (44 links) - 245 visits/day V
The Inscrutable American (100 links) - 244 visits/day V
Ramblings of Silver Blue (138 links) - 218 visits/day V
Bad Money (146 links) - 215 visits/day V
Practical Penumbra (229 links) - 194 visits/day V
The Alliance (164 links) - 188 visits/day V
the evangelical outpost (125 links) - 183 visits/day V
Being American in T.O. (87 links) - 164 visits/day V
Who Tends The Fires (106 links) - 105 visits/day V
Pardon My English (90 links) - 102 visits/day V
An Englishman's Castle (59 links) - 94 visits/day V
BigStick (67 links) - 85 visits/day V
The S-Train Canvass (62 links) - 79 visits/day V
physics geek (69 links) - 74 visits/day V
Idiot Villager (53 links) - 70 visits/day V
Frizzen Sparks (55 links) - 68 visits/day V
Left Coast Conservative (139 links) - 64 visits/day V
From the Halls to the Shores (68 links) - 57 visits/day V
The Everlasting Phelps (65 links) - 56 visits/day V
TacJammer (86 links) - 54 visits/day V
VRWC, Inc. (90 links) - 49 visits/day V
The Patriette (84 links) - 47 visits/day V
Semi-Intelligent Thoughts (68 links) - 44 visits/day V
Wince and Nod (83 links) - 39 visits/day V
BLATHER REVIEW (81 links) - 39 visits/day V
Five Wasps (52 links) - 38 visits/day V
Civilization Calls (51 links) - 38 visits/day V
curi's domain (57 links) - 37 visits/day V
Grim's Hall (52 links) - 29 visits/day V
Cavalier Attitude (43 links) - 29 visits/day V
CandyUniverse (84 links) - 28 visits/day V
The Gleeful Extremist (45 links) - 27 visits/day V
Elegance Against Ignorance (67 links) - 22 visits/day V
Hypocrisy and Hypotheses (59 links) - 22 visits/day V
All Encompassingly (59 links) - 21 visits/day V
Hoppings of Roxette Bunny (58 links) - 21 visits/day V
Irreconcilable Musings (54 links) - 18 visits/day V
Shameless Self-Promotion (49 links) - 14 visits/day V
Newmanisms (53 links) - 11 visits/day V
Cannon's Canon (54 links) - 10 visits/day V
Pinto's Blog (37 links) - 7 visits/day V
Interested-Participant (106 links) - visits/day V
Eckernet.com (54 links) - visits/day V
eTALKINGHEAD.com: Political Commentary (117 links) - visits/day V
The New American Revolutionist (51 links) - visits/day V

Sign the guestmap.

Good Reading

2003-12-08T18:19:00.000-05:00

John Hawkins of Right Wing News has his list of Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States for 2003. Go check it out.

Another Random Update

2003-12-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

I don't like being up this early when I don't have to be, but that's a long story, so I'll spare you the details. The important thing is that, thanks to some more Alliance blogrolls, I'm now a "Marauding Marsupial" in the Ecosystem! I'm moving up toward the major leagues now.

In other, less positive news, the Miserable Failure Coalition beat The Alliance in the Showcase, but we got 52 out of 101, which is some of the best participation ever (Frank didn't vote until I threatened him with monkeys). Maybe next week, we can win.

All right, I have a Spanish final at 12:30, so I should probably be studying for that. Hasta luego.

John F***in' Kerry

2003-12-07T23:51:00.000-05:00

Why are they making such a big deal of John Kerry's use of profanity? From the way they're portraying it, you'd think he went all South Park on Dubya. It was just one word! "Kerry Blasts Bush!" No, he didn't. Stop giving the French-looking idiot so much attention. If people find out that he doesn't like Bush, they might vote for him. Oh, and he served in Vietnam.

Posting Again

2003-12-07T18:09:00.000-05:00

And it's about friggin' time, too. I couldn't get to the publishing page for SIT all afternoon. It kept telling me there was an error or it couldn't connect. I really don't get it. Anyway, I just have a real quick update.

Thanks to some new Alliance blogrolls and a little cleaning up at TTLB, I am now an "Adorable Little Rodent" in the Ecosystem. I guess that's a good thing. I'm still eligible for "best Flappy Bird" in the Wizbang Blogger Awards though, since those are based on ranking as of the beginning of the month.

One more thing: I strongly encourage you to sign the guestmap on the right. That is all.

Posting for the Sake of Posting

2003-12-07T01:30:00.000-05:00

Okay. It's 1:30 in the morning, and I figured I should probably update the blog. I was going to write something earlier, but that never materialized. The problem is that I felt inclined to write something funny, but then I remembered that humor isn't exactly my strong suit. Oh well. Anyway, just a couple quick updates.

First of all, there's something I should've posted earlier, but never got around to. I haven't mentioned it yet, but I love Fark Photoshop contests. This one, however, is quite possibly the best ever, because they made fun of Howard Dean. Check it out immediately.

Secondly, I've been included in the collection of Studmuffins of Conservatism over at Evangelical Outpost. I've never considered myself a "stud," but hey, I'm available, ladies.

That was just sad. I think I'm done for the day, and probably the week (more or less). Yo tengo que estudiar mucho para los examenes finales (Spanish is on Monday). I'll try to update at least once a day, but don't expect anything huge.

Victory!

2003-12-06T17:20:00.000-05:00

HA! Syracuse beat Notre Dame! Has YOUR team beaten Notre Dame?

...actually, judging by their performance this year, your team probably has beaten Notre Dame...unless your team didn't PLAY Notre Dame...which would mean that your team HASN'T BEATEN NOTRE DAME! HA!

Sorry. I'm tired and hungry. I'll be back later tonight.

REMINDER

2003-12-06T01:09:00.000-05:00

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1:00 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME, ON ABC NETWORK TELEVISION: SYRACUSE VS. NOTRE DAME IN THE CARRIER DOME! WATCH A GREAT GAME OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL, THEN STAY TUNED DURING HALFTIME IN CASE THEY SHOW THE BAND (ESPECIALLY THE BASS DRUMS, SINCE I PLAY ONE). IF IT'S BETWEEN 12:45 AND 4:30 RIGHT NOW, WHY ARE YOU ON THE INTERNET INSTEAD OF WATCHING THIS GAME? TURN ON THE TV RIGHT NOW!

That Was Unexpected (+ a VERY IMPORTANT message)

2003-12-06T01:08:00.000-05:00

Wow. I've been nominated for best "Flappy Bird" blog in the 2003 Weblog Awards (thanks to Susie for the nomination). I didn't see that coming! So, knowing that, go over and vote using the link I'm providing at the bottom of this post (and eventually somewhere in the template). You don't have to vote for SIT, but if you're a fellow blogger or enjoy the blogosphere, you should participate in this. I will if I get the chance.

On that note, I should inform you now that blogging will be extremely limited for the next 7 days. I have to perform at the football game tomorrow (which you should watch on ABC at 1 PM EST), and then I have final exams for the next week. Therefore, I need to stop blogging all day and study. A lot. I mean A. FREAKING. LOT. I have to read 2 books, learn about Spanish conjugation, come up with intelligent responses to philosophical questions, study the development of television, advertising, and the Internet, evaluate my writing from the semester... ... ... you get the point.

I don't really enjoy having to take time off at this particular moment, I can tell you right now. If you'll tolerate some shameless self-promotion, I think I'm starting to really "break out," so to speak, in the blog world. The combination of the Carnival of the Vanities, the Donktionary, and now the award nomination has gotten me a lot more hits, and new people are starting to link to the site. I had over 40 visitors today. ON A FRIDAY! I usually get less than 20 on Friday. I have a slight fear that slowing down now will put my chances of moving up in serious jeopardy. However, my college education is slightly more important than dispensing free ice cream to a few dozen people a day, so I've made my choice.

In order to make up for the coming lack of posting, I will be blogging a lot over Christmas break. Starting December 14, I will be at home basically all the time with nothing interesting to do, so I'll basically be at the computer for most of my waking hours. I have a lot of stuff planned. For example, I'm going to try and participate in all the Alliance assignments. I also have an extended piece I'm planning to write about why I'm NOT a "South Park Republican." In addition, I want to post some more lyrics from songs I've written just for the heck of it (although I may end up doing that this week to save time). In other words, don't abandon SIT this week. Just be patient, and I promise I'll kick it up a notch later in the month. Really.

Okay, I have to stop now. Band practice starts at 8:00 tomorrow morning, so I should get some sleep. Remember to watch the game. It should be good. Now, here is a link to the contest. Check it out:

Votes N'at

2003-12-05T22:44:00.000-05:00

Don't know what "n'at" means? Don't be a nebby jagoff. It just means you're probably not from Pittsburgh. Anyway, I'm casting some votes for the TTLB showcase so The Alliance doesn't get overtaken by the League of Miserable Failures again.

I'll be perfectly honest here; The showcase is very unimpressive this week. Seriously. The only good political post is the current leader, which basically makes Al Franken look like an idiot. I'm all for that, but it was edited after submission for voting, and that's just not right. I'm sorry, but I just can't vote for a post that had to be changed in order to impress more people. Also...USE BLOCKQUOTES, DANG IT! I can't tell where Franken stops and the fisking begins.

So, because I can't vote for any of the political stuff, I'm going NP. My first vote is for a short but hilarious post from Ripe Bananas entitled Vegan Marshmallows Roasting Over an Open Fire. Be sure to read the post directly under this, too. Good stuff.

My second vote goes to an entry that seems to have been totally ignored by everyone else, so I'm going to give it a little attention. Check out the entry from Dogtulosba, ink. (whatever that means) entitled Right Behind Me. Honestly, I disagree with a lot of the other stuff on this particular blog (WESLEY CLARK?!!), but anyone who's willing to fight against ignorant cell phone users is worthy of my vote.

Have I mentioned that I F***ING HATE CELL PHONES?

Okay, I have to go back to enjoying 24/7 quiet hours, the only good thing about final exam week. Later.

Totally Random Thought

2003-12-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, still not much to blog about other than the fact that I got to see one of the new $20 bills up close and personal for the first time (looks a bit Canadian...), but I did have an interesting thought while I was walking around earlier.

If President Bush was assassinated, shot down over Iraq, etc., what would be the general reaction from the left? Would they be...
A) Respectful?
B) Mournful?
C) Indifferent?
D) Outwardly respectful and mournful, but secretly happy?
E) Happier than a Palestinian on 9/11?

Just a thought.

Important Message

2003-12-05T13:25:00.000-05:00

I have 3 hours to write a 5 page paper on terrorism, so I won't be blogging this afternoon. I'll be back tonight with whatever I can come up with. Also...
SYRACUSE VS. NOTRE DAME, TOMORROW AT 1 PM ON ABC!

Ooooooookay...

2003-12-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

To whomever came to my site by searching for "hobos are frickin awesome" on Google...I feel sorry for you.

Reminder #2

2003-12-04T17:44:00.000-05:00

Hey, sorry I'm not posting much, but there's not a whole lot going on. Anyway...

SYRACUSE VS. NOTRE DAME, THIS SATURDAY ON ABC!

Random Updates

2003-12-04T12:46:00.000-05:00

Coming up with titles is hard. Anyway, just a few quick things for now. First of all, I got over 100 hits yesterday thanks to the Carnival of the Vanities. I'll definitely be participating in that again. Also, the Donktionary definitions are up at Alliance headquarters, so be sure to go over and check those out. I'll be going through the entries and picking out some of my favorites for the complete Donktionary sometime after final exams.

Secondly, something interesting happened in my communications lecture today. We were talking about the Internet, and the professor briefly mentioned blogs. I figured he would ask if anyone in the class had a blog, and...I was right. He said, "does anyone in here blog?" And NOBODY RAISED THEIR HAND BUT ME! That's amazing. In a class of 78 COMMUNICATIONS students, I'm the only one with a blog. I feel special. It's interesting that most of the class had never even heard the word "blog." They call it a "live journal," and only one other student has one of those. I'm not sure if they're the same. The TA said to "check out Blogger.com," so maybe a few new ones will be popping up soon.

And finally, in the stupidity department, I slept through my Spanish audio exam this morning, so now I have to call my professor later and arrange to take it on Monday. I HATE TALKING ON THE PHONE! I can never understand people on the frickin' thing. Of course, my professor has an accent, so that's going to make it even harder. That just sucks.

I have to go to philosophy now, so I'll wrap this up. By the way, my philosophy professor made me very happy the other day with something he said in class. He spends a lot of time in Paris, and he said that, in his opinion, too many French people are "racist and anti-semitic." He's black and Jewish, so I guess he would know. Stupid France.

Whatever Happened to Subtlety?

2003-12-03T21:08:00.000-05:00

CNN, I have just one thing to say: YOU. SUCK. I was looking at the headlines on the Apple homepage, and one of them was this: Seven-year-old boy corrects Bush.

First of all, it was sandwiched in between stories about cannibalism, war, and murder, so that says a lot about the priorities of the idiots compiling these lists. However, what really makes me mad is the fact that they chose not only to point out that, according to the article, "Young Terrance Martin could not let President George W. Bush get away with mistakenly saying he was just 6 years old when he was really 7," but to make it the focus of the story.

THEY MADE IT THE FOCUS OF THE STORY! If you read the article, you'll find this line: "It happened in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Tuesday when Bush signed the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003, which renews tax credits for adoptions and encourages families to find homes for more than 500,000 children in foster care."

So, the fact that Bush was corrected by a 7 year old is more important than the fact that he signed the aforementioned legislation? That's interesting. Why don't they just make the headline: "Our President Has the Mental Capacity of a Child." THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE TRYING TO SAY!

Why is the president's one mistake more important than the legislation he signed? Why can I not think of any way that could possibly be justified? Oh, wait...IT CAN'T BE JUSTIFRICKINFIED!!!! They actually put the story about the Adoption Promotion Act in the corner as "related news." Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Anyone who thinks the Clinton News Network isn't biased should read this and shut the F up.

Oh, by the way, the Syracuse University drumline will have a brand new website sometime next week. I'll be providing linkage when that happens.

Reminder #1

2003-12-03T14:36:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot about this: I'm going to be reminding readers every day this week that...
THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON, THE SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN WILL FACE THE NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH IN FRONT OF A SOLD OUT CROWD AT THE CARRIER DOME! THE GAME WILL BE NATIONALLY BROADCAST ON ABC, AND THEY'LL PROBABLY SHOW THE MARCHING BAND QUITE A FEW TIMES, WHICH IS WHY I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT IT! I'LL REMIND YOU A COUPLE TIMES EVERY DAY TO WATCH THE GAME!

SATURDAY! ABC! I THINK IT STARTS AT NOON! SYRACUSE VS. NOTRE DAME! WATCH IT...OR ELSE!

Afternoon Multi-rant (unnecessarily long and slightly "homophobic" post warning)

2003-12-03T14:11:00.000-05:00

Holy crap, I'm in the middle of a Carnivalanche, courtesy of the Carnival of the Vanities over at Begging to Differ. It may have something to do with the fact that Evil Glenn mentions it each week, which also means that a few people that have been here were originally on Instablender...which means I'm stealing his readers for a few seconds! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Sorry. I do have real things to talk about. First of all, here's a fun experience I had this morning that some of you may be able to identify with: I woke up really early for some reason, but since I was awake and hadn't looked at the clock, I immediately figured that it must be 7:45, the time I usually get up. When I checked the clock, it said 4:21. Unfortunately, I wasn't really paying attention, so I only saw the :21 part and figured that it was actually 8:21, which would make me almost late for class. In a drowsy panic, I got out of bed and quickly started getting dressed. I had changed everything but my shirt before it occurred to me that it was still dark outside, which is when I noticed the 4 in front of the other two numbers. After that, I sat there for a second contemplating the depths of my idiocy, and then I changed clothes again and went back to sleep. That was the first time this has happened since I started college, but I did it a few times at home, too. Strange.

Okay, now that I've once again chased away all uninterested parties with my rambling, here's the important stuff: The topics of gay marriage and homophobia came up once again today, but this time, they were part of a discussion in my sociology class (which I've mentioned a few times before). We have to write a paper for Friday about a social problem and how it can be solved, and the professor decided to use "homophobia" as an example for the purposes of discussion. He said that one way to solve the problem would be to put homosexuals in positions of authority. For example, he said that police departments should "make it their policy to hire officers who are openly gay and lesbian."

What is wrong with these people? My first problem was the fact that he's overlooking qualifications, but he eventually said that the officers in question would be fully qualified. Great, but you're still hiring them based on who they're attracted to. That's friggin' asininity. Apparently, he thinks that putting homosexuals in positions of authority would eliminate their marginal status and make them members of the "normal" community.

So, here we go again with the "gays aren't fully human or American" crap. I don't get it. Hiring gay cops will not change my position on homosexuality. The problem is that "gay" has become an identity in and of itself instead of being a part of someone's identity. Just because people don't agree with homosexuality, it doesn't mean that they think homosexuals can't hold positions of authority. They're two completely different things. Homosexuality, in my view and in the view of many more people than you may think, is immoral.

Putting gays in positions of authority because some people are "homophobic" would have the same effect as putting burglars in positions of authority because some people lock their doors when they leave their houses. It's not irrational to disagree with something you see as immoral, but it is irrational to give someone preference just because you think that behavior is acceptable and want to prove others wrong. Show me how homosexuality is morally acceptable and equal to heterosexuality, and then you'll change "homophobic" opinions. Until then, stop pretending that gays are somehow deserving of special privileges just because they like to have sex with their own gender.

Of course, gay marriage was also covered, and the professor's approach was to portray homosexuals as being deprived of rights because they can't marry (shocking, isn't it?). I've explained my position on this a couple times before on the blog, but I didn't feel like arguing with another professor, so I stayed quiet in class and tried to commit as much of the discussion as possible to memory. First of all, I'm tired of it being called "gay marriage," because that's one of the ideological fallacies mucking up the debate. It's not "gay" marriage that's in question, but same-sex marriage. Gays are not being discriminated against, but since they're the only ones who WANT same-sex marriage, it sometimes seems that way. It's not like straight people of the same gender are allowed to marry each other, but they clearly don't want to.

I'm not going to get into that topic again because I've covered it already, but I do need to address another aspect of the discussion. One girl said she doesn't understand why two people who "love each other" can't get married because they're the same gender, but a man and a woman can marry even if they're not fit for it. I am sick of that argument. Heterosexuals who marry for reasons other than love bother me just as much as homosexuals who want to get married, so I don't think that's really the issue.

Of course, another student pointed out the slippery slope argument that people could use that justification to marry a goat if they claim to love it. I'm not sure if she was being sarcastic, but that is a valid argument. If we use love as the only validating factor in marriage, we should be able to marry anyone and anything, but that's clearly not the issue.

I can't even write about this anymore. I'm just tired of people claiming that gays are somehow being discriminated against when we don't allow same-sex marriage. I'll say it yet again: everyone has a right to marry, it's just a matter of how we define marriage. I think the current paradigm is working pretty well. As for "civil unions" and all this other crap, that's just going to give heterosexual couples more excuses to avoid marriage, so it's probably not a real good thing either. I want to close by directing you to a couple of commentaries by Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason, because he articulates this a lot more effectively than me. Here they are:
You Can't Marry Your Canary
Ellen Degeneres Comes Out
Equal Rights for Homosexuals
If you want more, go to STR.org. Christianity at its finest.

Enough!

2003-12-02T23:53:00.000-05:00

Friggin' Supreme Court...This is ridiculous:Supreme Court Refuses to Confirm Constitutional Right to Bear Arms

Apparently, their "interpretation" of the Constitution is a perversion of the 2nd Amendment, since they ("they" being, in this case, the 9th Circuit Court) believe "the amendment's intent was to protect gun rights of militias, not individuals." WHAT?!

The amendment says: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

How difficult is this to understand? The right of the PEOPLE, you frickin' idiots! What do you think "militia" means? If it just meant military and law enforcement, it would frickin' say that! A militia, by definition, is an army of civilians. How could it possibly apply to anything else? Keep in mind that when the Constitution was written, farmers were defending their homes against British troops. THEY WERE DEFENDING THEMSELVES JUST LIKE PEOPLE NEED TO NOW! Just because we no longer refer to armed civilians as militia doesn't mean that it's unconstitutional to allow gun ownership.

Of course, this is from the people who inject fictional principles like "separation of church and state" and "right to privacy" into the Constitution to suit their agenda.

Mindless wastes of space, those judges. This is what happens when you take "interpretation" too far.

I really wish I didn't have a mental profanity block right now. I wonder if Misha has seen this yet.

More Definitions for the Donktionary®

2003-12-02T21:50:00.000-05:00

All right, I came up with some brand new words to define! I'll probably be adding more as time goes on.

Abortion: Medical procedure that allows women to exercise their personal freedom and prevents them from being forced to become incubators for future members of the Evil White Patriarchy™.
Affirmative action: Policies designed to keep the Evil White Patriarchy™ from taking over the world.
Campaign: Contest in which the participants try to come up with the best way to belittle the opposition without forming their own set of policies.
Dissent: Calling Republicans fascist monkeys.
Elitist: Someone who believes that majority opinion should influence public policy.
Extremist: Politician with religious convictions.
Forgery: Document that supports Republican claims.
Illegal alien: An unfortunate non-citizen. (*submitted by a reader who heard Al Gore actually say it*)
Meanness: Personality trait caused by lack of empathy and refusal to throw money at social problems.
Narrow-minded: Having an opinion.
Niger: Alternate name for Africa.
Neanderthal: Conservative judge.
NRA: Neocon Racist Assassins.
Photo-op: Republican appearing in public.
Police brutality: Arresting minorities.
Responsibility: Ree-spon-si-bill-lit-tee??? (checks in mental dictionary around "ragamuffin" and "rapscallion") Nope, not in the liberal language. Sorry.
Sought: President Bush's pronunciation of the word "bought."
Speech codes: The only way to protect the feelings of minorities on college campuses, since most college students have never been exposed to other cultures and are therefore intrinsically racist.
Unilateral: Any coalition that doesn't include France.
Victim: Anyone who has been forced to endure the hardship of not being completely happy 24/7; someone who is not given something they want, even if they don't deserve it; someone whose feelings are hurt; see also minority.
Yellowcake: Alternate name for uranium.

When Atheists Attack

2003-12-02T19:52:00.000-05:00

This article is great: An Allegiance to Dissent: Man's Challenge to 'Under God' Is One of Many -- Including a Pivotal Custody Battle Over Daughter Good old Michael Newdow is still at it. The guy who is offended by "under God" still hasn't given up. You need to fill out a couple things before you can read this article, but it's really good once you've gotten past that. It shows just how ridiculous some people can be. I don't want to go too in-depth, but here are a few examples of what the article says:

...in his view, the judge is enforcing an "egregious, unconstitutional" system of family law. "This whole thing is a crock of dung," he told the counselor during a Nov. 5 session.

Why does it not surprise me that he said that? He's trying to get involved in the life of a child he doesn't have custody of, and he had said child with his girlfriend. I believe that means he legally has less of a role in her life, but he apparently thinks that's unconstitutional.

The Rev. Dr. Michael A. Newdow, Esq. -- physician, lawyer and founder of the First Amendmist Church of True Science -- has a restless, uncompromising mind, a mind that dissents radically from many widely accepted aspects of American life, from the pledge to family law to gender-specific pronouns in the English language. In his own writing, Newdow uses "ree" instead of "he" or "she," and "rees" instead of "his" or "her."

The guy is a nut. Why don't they just say it? There's a difference between "uncompromising" and "crazy."

To supporters, Newdow is living proof that, with enough determination, you can fight City Hall.

No, he's living proof that the legal system in this country is far too accepting of ludicrous cases.

Fatherhood is not a role Newdow initially relished. He has asserted in court that the child was conceived when Banning forced him to have sex during a trip to Yosemite National Park...Newdow has joined a movement against "forced fatherhood" led by the little-known National Center for Men.

If he didn't want to be a father, why is he suddenly so concerned about his daughter? Could it be...THE "G" WORD?! "Those fundamentalist bigots can't force their beliefs down the throat of the child I refused to acknowledge as my own daughter and never actually wanted in the first place!" Jackass.

The pledge conveys the message to Newdow's daughter that "her father's beliefs are those of an outsider, and necessarily inferior to what she is exposed to in the classroom," the 9th Circuit ruled.

Hey, guess what? Eliminating the phrase "under God" conveys the message to religious people that their beliefs are those of an outsider! WOW! I guess we have to pick one, don't we?

Americans United for Separation of Church and State had asked that it be allowed 15 minutes at oral argument, separate from Newdow, to present the case against "under God," but the court denied that request yesterday.

How exactly is this an issue of "separation of church and state?" It's irrelevant anyway, since that phrase IS NOWHERE IN THE CONSTITUTION! Furthermore, I was thinking of something: some people say that the phrase in question was in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, so of course that's what he MEANT to put in the Constitution. You know what? Jefferson had slaves, too, but we got rid of that when we realized it was wrong. Why should we read something into the Constitution because one of the founding fathers may have implied it in a totally separate document?

All right, that's enough, but I want to point out one more thing: This photo of Michael Newdow. Look at him. He actually looks exactly the way I pictured him when I first heard about the case. He's got the classic atheist scowl (popularized by George Carlin) and the "I'm smarter than you" expression... ... ... Have I mentioned that vocal atheists annoy the crap out of me?

The DO on Tolerance

2003-12-02T18:45:00.000-05:00

I'm a bit late, but I have an excuse: I'm currently working on another entry for the Donktionary®, which will hopefully be posted later tonight. I'm having trouble coming up with new words, but it's looking good so far.

Anyway, there are a couple things I want to cover in this post. First of all, our friends at the Daily Orange have provided another great letter to the editor for me to make fun of (and I'm actually providing a link this time). Here's the original: Letter: 'Tolerance' not enough for LGBT community (you may have to sign up to read it online). I'll just do the usual quote/response minifisk. Let's begin:

The response to the recent Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling has caused me to question something. It seems that more and more often, we are hearing the word "tolerance" in reference to attitudes toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. Although this might sound like positive language that is taking a step in the right direction, I find it offensive as a member of the LGBT community to simply be "tolerated."

That's always a good start. I think everyone can see where this is going already: tolerance is now considered offensive, so even suggesting that homosexuals are different will soon be considered bigotry. Hooray for freedom of speech. I hope this guy represents a minority opinion.

...one dictionary definition of the verb "tolerate" is "to put up with something or somebody unpleasant." So, when the word is used in reference to LGBT people, it implies that our community is in some way unpleasant, which furthers an oppressive message that we are somehow inferior.

FYI: The entire planet is not obligated to like you just because you're gay. Why is that so shocking? It must be nice to belong to a protected group so you can say that you're being oppressed when someone doesn't want to be your special friend. Seriously, not everyone likes homosexuality (not "homosexuals," per se). That's just the way it is.

...This goes to show how far away we still are from acknowledging, accepting and appreciating LGBT people as human beings.

This is yet another subtle jab at "fundies" such as myself, I believe. I don't view homosexuals as inhuman, and I don't enjoy people implying that I do. Also, I certainly think they're morally inferior, but that doesn't take away from their humanity. As Dubya once said, "we're all sinners." If someone disagrees with you, it doesn't follow that they think you're not human. If that were true, then I could say the author of this letter is calling me inferior because I don't agree with him. See how it works?

And until certain heterosexuals can stop using their privilege to deny the 1,049 federal rights and protections that they enjoy to 10 percent of their loving, tax paying, fellow Americans, I guess I'll just have to "tolerate" them.

And of course, he closes with the classic misconception that homosexuals are being denied some sort of right. Once again, I will point out that same-sex marriage laws apply to EVERYONE, not just "LGBT people" or whatever they're calling themselves these days. The only difference is that heterosexuals don't want to marry individuals of the same sex. If we legalized everything that someone wanted to do, we would have chaos. And by the way, that "10 percent" crap was disproven years ago. As I understand it, only about 3 percent of the population is exclusively homosexual, and it's 6 percent at the most (fun fact: in my dorm, there's a board with various "facts" about the world's population if it were reduced to 100 individuals, and one of the "facts" is that there would be "11 homosexuals." Exaggeration, anyone?).

I think that's about enough of that. I've decided to go ahead and start a new post, since this one seems to have run on again. I'll be back.

Best. DU Thread. EVER.

2003-12-01T23:02:00.000-05:00

If you're one of my 4 regulars, you may be aware that I enjoy going over to Democratic Underground every couple days and laughing at them. Well, I was checking out their "fair and balanced" (as in "only progressive Democrats") message board to see how they were responding to the positive economic trends, and I happened to notice this thread: Is anyone else getting sick of the Dean/Clark Bashing?

You really need to go over and read this thread. It's not as entertaining as I thought it would be, but it's interesting to see statements like this...

It's getting downright nasty and I'm getting sick of it...If you feel the need to write something negative about your opponent, please show some respect for those who support him or her.

...coupled with statements like this:

None are perfect, but ALLALLALL are better than duck-anus.

These people need help. However, they also need fiskings every so often, and since I don't know much about psychology, I'll settle for that.

Showcase Voters

2003-12-01T21:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, the League of ~~Liberals~~ Cheating Douchebags won the sponsorship contest again, but The Alliance is closing in, especially after the whole Sitemeter scandal. I think that if we really work at it, we can win this week. Everyone's back to work and on a normal schedule (hopefully), and there are updates posted at headquarters every so often, so members have NO EXCUSE for not voting. If you're an Alliance member, and you're reading this, and you didn't vote...WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! IT TAKES 10 MINUTES! NOBODY IS SO BUSY THAT THEY CAN'T SPARE 10 MINUTES OUT OF A 5 DAY PERIOD! VOTE! IT'S FOR THE GOOD OF BLOGGERS EVERYWHERE!

Anyway, I'm once again posting links to all the people who voted (courtesy of Bad Money). I've said it before, and I'll say it again: when you vote in the showcase, insignificant blogs with 4 regular readers link to you. You know you want the publicity. Actually, Frnak and Misha are going to link to everyone who votes this week IF The Alliance wins back sponsorship. This is our chance. Don't screw it up.

Here are this week's voters:

IMAO (554 links) - 2135 visits/day V
Blackfive - The Paratrooper of Love (166 links) - 1350 visits/day V
The Inscrutable American (59 links) - 175 visits/day V
Ramblings of Silver Blue (98 links) - 173 visits/day V
Leaning Towards the Dark Side (38 links) - 155 visits/day V
Madfish Willie's Cyber Saloon (110 links) - 153 visits/day V
Bad Money (134 links) - 152 visits/day V
Practical Penumbra (200 links) - 147 visits/day V
The Alliance (155 links) - 134 visits/day V
Colorado Conservative (21 links) - 120 visits/day V
Serenity's Journal (126 links) - 118 visits/day V
angelweave (100 links) - 106 visits/day V
Pardon My English (55 links) - 87 visits/day V
Being American in T.O. (44 links) - 72 visits/day V
physics geek (38 links) - 71 visits/day V
BigStick (41 links) - 60 visits/day V
An Englishman's Castle (11 links) - 55 visits/day V
The S-Train Canvass (30 links) - 48 visits/day V
curi's domain (18 links) - 48 visits/day V
Left Coast Conservative (99 links) - 46 visits/day V
VRWC, Inc. (54 links) - 45 visits/day V
Wince and Nod (50 links) - 40 visits/day V
Who Tends The Fires (56 links) - 39 visits/day V
The Patriette (50 links) - 35 visits/day V
Five Wasps (21 links) - 31 visits/day V
BLATHER REVIEW (46 links) - 28 visits/day V
CandyUniverse (45 links) - 28 visits/day V
Frizzen Sparks (16 links) - 24 visits/day V
Semi-Intelligent Thoughts (35 links) - 21 visits/day V
Grim's Hall (15 links) - 19 visits/day V
Cavalier Attitude (10 links) - 14 visits/day V
Cannon's Canon (20 links) - 11 visits/day V
Single White Male (14 links) - 11 visits/day V
Hypocrisy and Hypotheses (25 links) - 9 visits/day V
Johnalism.com (10 links) - 7 visits/day V
Interested-Participant (71 links) - visits/day V
Cannot find server (6 links) - visits/day V
Eckernet.com (16 links) - visits/day V
eTALKINGHEAD.com: Political Commentary (70 links) - visits/day V
The Dimmick Institute (1 links) - visits/day V
The New American Revolutionist (23 links) - visits/day V
pstupidonymous (8 links) - visits/day V

We can do this. General Douchebaggery must be stopped.

WMD Update

2003-12-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

Crap! Why does stuff like this always come up when I want to take a between-class nap? I was about to go to sleep for an hour or so, but then I saw two stories that I HAD to blog about. First, there's this:
Saddam sought missile factory, Iraqi files show. What are the moonbats going to say now? I highly recommend reading the entire article, but here's a sample:

For two years before the American invasion of Iraq, Saddam's sons, generals and front companies were engaged in lengthy negotiations with North Korea, according to computer files discovered by international inspectors and the accounts of Bush administration officials. The officials now say they believe that those negotiations -- mostly conducted in neighboring Syria, apparently with the knowledge of the Syrian government -- were not merely to buy a few North Korean missiles. Instead, the goal was to obtain a full production line to manufacture, under an Iraqi flag, the North Korean missile system, which would be capable of hitting American allies and bases around the region, according to the Bush administration officials.

NOW DO YOU BELIEVE THE FRIGGIN' ALLEGATIONS? HE WAS TRYING TO GET MISSILES LITERALLY WEEKS BEFORE THE FRIGGIN' INVASION, IDIOTS! You know what else this shows? #1: Hussein was working with terrorists (North Korea). #2: Hussein worked with Syria, which strengthens the case for existing WMD being there now (as I believe). The only problem with the article is the fact that it uses lines such as "according to the Bush administration officials." That basically renders the entire message useless to the opposition. I got briefly involved in a comment discussion on another blog once, and I used some stuff from that infamous Weekly Standard article to point out evidence for Bush's case. The token liberal in the discussion came back with something along the lines of, "You're asking me to believe information from government officials that supports the government's position. I just can't do that." This is what we're dealing with: cognitive dissonance. If the evidence goes against your position, rationalize it away.

On the other hand, there's this: AP: Iraqi Scientists Lied About Nukes. To briefly quote this article:

Iraqi scientists never revived their long-dead nuclear bomb program, and in fact lied to Saddam Hussein about how much progress they were making before U.S.-led attacks shut the operation down for good in 1991, Iraqi physicists say.

So, there's one article that supports an accusation, and one that goes against a different one. However, the interesting thing about this is the fact that the scientists had to lie about the program. This means that Hussein did, in fact, want nukes. GASP! Really? Not the Saddamster! I always thought he was such a nice guy!

Is it possible that Hussein thought he had nukes when he really didn't? If so, that might explain his behavior toward the weapons inspectors. In any case, the other article clearly shows that he was seeking ways to attack people. He just wanted it to look like other countries were behind it. I really hope that this evidence holds up, because it would devastate this whole "Saddam didn't pose a threat" argument. We'll see.

Back to School

2003-11-30T22:20:00.000-05:00

Okay, I just got back to my room at SU about half an hour ago, so I have a lot of unpacking to do and probably won't be blogging tonight. I just thought I'd let you know I'm here again (as if you care).

Showcase Vote

2003-11-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

There's not very much to choose from in the showcase this week, but I'm giving my vote to Politics Trumps Morals from Joe's Thoughts. It's kinda short, but it's got a great message.

If you're an Alliance member and you haven't voted...
VOTE NOW, DANG IT!

Template Change

2003-11-29T15:18:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a tip from Alliance headquarters, all blockquotes will now appear in boxes. I just thought I would point that out (check out yesterday's fisking for an example).

This is New

2003-11-28T19:17:00.000-05:00

I was checking the 3 referrals I got while I was working on that fisking, and one of them led me here. Apparently, I've been quoted on a message board! Go down to the third post and look for "Beyond Tolerance: Forcibly Legitimizing Immorality." I have no idea who the person is that posted that, but thanks!

Fisking Another DU Moron

2003-11-28T19:10:00.000-05:00

Once again, I realize that the tinfoil hatted fools at Democratic Underground are extremely easy targets and shouldn't be paid too much attention, but some of the stuff they write over there is so funny that I can't let it go to waste. The article I'm about to tear apart (metaphorically, of course) is a good example, and it once again proves my theory that the liberal definition of "patriotic" is "dissent." Here comes the lunacy:

America: Land of the Free, Home of the Chickenhawks
November 25, 2003
By John Cobarruvias

We recently celebrated another Veteran's Day. It was good to see Americans, as always, honoring our Veterans by attending parades, flying our flag, and taking time to reflect on their sacrifice. Our Veterans have sacrificed to give us the freedom we now enjoy and especially the freedom to question our government. But to continue to honor our Veterans...

Okay, why did he capitalize the word "veterans?"

...Americans must now have the courage to ask questions and demand answers from our elected leaders instead of silently hiding behind the red, white and blue.

Here's the first indication that this particular individual has some sort of brain problem. He goes from praising the veterans and those who honor them to criticizing people for being scared. Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. By the way, stuff like this indicates that people are asking questions, but will also indicate that many of those questions are totally asinine and a complete waste of valuable time.

Our men and women of the armed forces have been sent into battle based on false pretenses, yet many Americans are hiding behind their flags, lapel pins, and bumper stickers without once asking why are soldiers are dying.

Actually, many people did ask why the soldiers are dying. It's not like this was an arbitrary decision. Do you think President Bush was just sitting in the Oval Office twiddling his thumbs, and all of a sudden he thought, "hey, why don't I start a war with some a-rabs!" Yet again, this person proves that some liberals can't grasp the concept of people disagreeing with them.

Silently waving a flag or displaying a "We support our Troops" sign is no longer a sign of patriotism. It is a sign of cowardice.

REALLY? So, unless you're against the war, you're a coward? That's the most entertaining logical leap I've heard in quite a while. If we "chickenhawks" are afraid of anything, it's the thought of a Democratic president taking office, appeasing and/or ignoring the deranged, soulless murderers we're trying to wipe out, and inviting another attack on our country. If supporting national security makes me a coward, I don't want to be brave.

After 9/11 the entire world rallied behind America. We sent our troops into Afghanistan to bring justice to Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network who were responsible for the attack on the United States. Few, if any, Americans questioned the administration. We were united as a country and we supported our soldiers.

I should point out that this is the ONLY passage in the article I agree with. I just thought I would be "fair and balanced."

But with a job unfinished in Afghanistan, attention was directed towards Iraq. Over the next few months Americans were led to believe Iraq had nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and the means to distribute their devastation on American soil.

"Led to believe?" I'm sorry if your selective thinking mechanism is in overdrive, but Hussein did, in fact, have weapons of mass destruction. Look at this. If that isn't mass destruction, I don't know what is. Oh, wait, I forgot that if Americans aren't dying, it doesn't count. 5000 Kurds are less valuable that 1 soldier. Silly me.

Americans were scared with stories of "smoking guns" in the form of mushroom clouds.

I have no idea what the F this means, so I have to assume that, if it is based on reality, it had nothing to do with my personal reasons for supporting the war. Sorry to burst your bubble there, chief.

The Secretary of State, Colin Powell, waved pictures in front of the United Nations of mobile biological weapons labs.

Yes, he WAVED them. He didn't present them. He leapt off the podium and shoved it in their faces. OOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Scary, you guys!

We were told Iraq was purchasing uranium from Niger...

NO. WE. WEREN'T. YOU were TOLD that that's what WE were told. In actuality, we were told that Iraq SOUGHT to purchase uranium from AFRICA. Get your facts straight, arsehat.

...and aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium were recently discovered. We were convinced Iraq was an imminent threat to America, our security, and to our Allies. Therefore our troops were needed to wage a war on Iraq.

Repeating...of...previously...refuted...misconceptions...hurting...brain! This is friggin' great. We were not "convinced" that Iraq was an imminent threat. In fact, Dubya specifically said that we had to act BEFORE it became in imminent threat. Fascinating what a reality check can do to your argument, isn't it?

And they did. Thousands of Iraqi women and children were killed or horribly injured.

I have yet to see a conclusive report of this, but I will concede that it's at least 3000. However, you have to remember three things. Pay close attention. #1: It's war. People die in war. There's no way around it. #2) Many of the civilians were killed by Saddam loyalists attacking American forces. It's not like there are U.S. troops randomly executing Iraqis. #3) When Hussein was in power, however, his party DID randomly execute people. Hundreds of thousands of 'em. I've seen estimates up to 500,000, and that's just the ones they know about. Would you rather have kept that going? Oh yeah, I forgot another piece of liberal logic: when civilian deaths do count, it's only because Americans were involved. If Iraqis are killed by their "president," it's part of their culture and we shouldn't try and change it. Hooray for humanitarianism.

The cost to American taxpayers is over $150 billion. And over 400 American soldiers have lost their lives serving our country.

Apparently, our alarmist friend here doesn't realize how amazing it is that we were able to oust a dictator and liberate a country that had been oppressed for 30 years with less than 500 casualties. Compare that with WWII and Vietnam. It's incredible. Again, people die in wars. Get over it. It's not like I don't feel for the soldiers and their families, but they volunteered, they knew what to expect, and they did their jobs.

Yet months after the end of major combat operations not one single allegation used to justify the war has been found to be true.

Heh...heh...HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...sorry. That was the only appropriate response.

Iraq had no nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, or any weapons programs in development.

I'm glad you're able to assert that so confidently, despite the fact that you only think it's true because you believe it.

The so-called mobile biological labs were for helium production for balloons.

That's news to me. Balloons? Maybe they were having a party because Hussein was such a swell fella.

The uranium purchase from Niger was based upon forged documents, detectable by a novice, but apparently not by the CIA.

There was no mention of a uranium purchase. In fact, from what I understand, Hussein did try to buy uranium from other African countries, and the British government stands by its intelligence, so it's inconclusive at worst.

The aluminum tubes were for artillery shells, not uranium enriching centrifuges.

Uh, yeah...read this. I'm sure that was just to see how fast balloons can spin (I'm aware that the centrifuge was buried in '91, but it shows that Hussein wanted nukes. I don't think he had a Grinch-like change of heart between then and now).

There were no mushroom clouds. No smoking guns. Iraq's imminent threat to our country and our Allies simply did not exist.

STOP...SAYING...IMMINENT...THREAT! What Bush actually said was: "Some have said, we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike?" (from CNN.com) There was no imminent threat. There never will be any imminent threat. Do you know why there will never be an imminent threat? BECAUSE WE GOT RID OF HUSSEIN! Now kindly shut up and crawl back into the dank pit from whence you spawned.

The justification for war against Iraq, on every single allegation, was a complete, 100% failure of the United States intelligence community...

Uh, that's a negatory there, good buddy (I don't know where that lingo came from).

...and yet there is still unimaginable silence.

With the exception of singers, actors, directors, news reporters, professors, protestors, authors, webmasters...you get the idea. It's not dissent until 100% of America jumps on the bandwagon.

We have silence from our elected officials...

It took me less than a minute to find this by searching for "anti-war elected officials" on Google.

...our media...

You've gotta be kidding me. Please tell me you're being sarcastic.

and from those who waved a flag, wore a lapel pin, and shipped our soldiers out to battle with a salute and a cheer of "Bring 'em on!"

CAN YOU NOT FATHOM THE IDEA OF PEOPLE HAVING DIFFERENT OPINIONS FROM YOUR OWN? THEY AGREE WITH THE WAR BECAUSE THEY ASKED INTELLIGENT QUESTIONS INSTEAD OF RELYING ON CONFRICKINSPIRACY THEORIES AND LIES!

There is silence from too many citizens hiding behind the flag claiming to be a patriotic, instead of asking hard, unpopular questions of our elected officials.

All right, I've had enough of that statement. Here's a fact that may cause a bit of "shock and awe" for people like you: I was against the war when it started. I thought the economy was going to be affected, and I didn't know how important it was to get rid of Hussein. However, instead of grabbing a "No war for Nazi oil" sign and running out onto the street, I did some research, and I found out how disgusting and depraved Hussein was. That's why I'm pro-war now. Letting him continue his reign of terror would be almost as bad as helping him carry out his mass executions. I support the war because I figured that out, not because of some knee-jerk right wing reaction. Want to go another round, jackass?

Why did we attack Iraq?

I already explained that.

Why are our soldiers dying?

So others won't have to.

Why are we not handing control of Iraq over to the United Nations?

Because the United Nations is a bunch of pansies who would surrender at the first sign of trouble and personally reinstate Hussein to avoid offending Muslims, that's why.

Why have we not gained the cooperation, money, and troops from our allies?

WHAT?

Who in the intelligence community is responsible for the complete, total intelligence failure leading to the war?

IT WAS THE LEPRECHAUNS! THE LEPRECHAUNS, I TELLS YA! IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT! No, wait, it was nobody, because the intelligence was good. Ha.

Who is responsible for the deaths of our soldiers?

I'll take "Iraqi insurgents" for 6,000, Alex.

And why are these questions not being asked by our elected leaders of this country?

Are you saying that the Democratic presidential candidates have never held elected offices?

Over 400 men and women of the Armed Forces have been killed in Iraq.

To take a line from Happy Gilmore: "Oh, you can count."

They served their country with honor, not questioning their duties as soldiers. These questions are left to those at home who have the courage to ask questions and demand answers while proudly flying the flag. For the rest of America, it is time to come out from behind the flag and start raising your voices.

Translation: until every single, man, woman, "transgender," and child in America is against the war, I will continue to believe that there is no dissent, because I'm a liberal, and reality does not apply to me.

(insert sarcastic applause here)

All right, that took me over an hour, so I think I'm about done for now. My drums are calling me again. Later.

Celebrities are Funny

2003-11-28T14:33:00.000-05:00

I still have another DU fisking in the works, but I want to briefly mention something that caught my attention yesterday. I was watching MTV, and during one of the commercial breaks, they did an interview with Pink. They were talking about her campaign against fur and the people who wear it, and she said she doesn't understand why anyone would need to wear fur when there are so many other choices.

Sounds like a normal celebrity, right? Well, the next part of the interview was what made it hilarious. She said that she was "furious" about the partial birth abortion ban, and she even wore a "pro-choice" hat to an event she went to that night. So, let's recap: fur is murder, but abortion isn't.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU IDIOTS?! DO YOU VALUE FUZZY ANIMALS MORE THAN HUMAN CHILDREN? YOU MAKE ME SICK!

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I can move on with my life.

New Self-Indulgent Pics

2003-11-27T21:56:00.000-05:00

Hey, happy Thanksgiving! I decided to take most of the day off, but I do need to post something right now. I finally got around to taking some new pictures of myself so I could get rid of that crappy one on the intro page. I'm linking to them this time so my bandwidth doesn't disappear. The pictures will open in a new window when you click them. So, with that said, here are some more recent pictures of CD, your SIT webmaster:

This is me attempting to smile for a few seconds.

This, however, is what I usually look like.

This is the expression I usually have when liberals are talking.

I'm not sure what to say about this one...

I think that's about all I'm going to do today. Tomorrow, I'll have another DU fisking, along with whatever else I can come up with. I might also have some more pictures, but this is enough for now. Later.

Doing My Part for the Alliance (+ updates)

2003-11-27T00:11:00.000-05:00

All right! The Donktionary® is now an official Precision Guided Humor Assignment. I'll be going through the best entries and making a special collection, and I may use them for the other blog I'm working on.

As long as I'm posting, I'll give you a brief preview of coming attractions. I realize I didn't really write anything meaningful today, but I wanted to enjoy being home. Of course, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so posting will be light again, but I do want to try and get a couple other items blogged before the end of the week. I got a new picture hosting service with unlimited bandwidth (as far as I know), so I'll be putting up some new self-indulgent photos in various sections. Also, there's an article on Democratic Underground that is in serious need of a good fisking, so I'm probaby going to do that as well.

One more thing: I still haven't gotten anyone to sign the guestbook, so you're welcome to do that. Also, I added a guestmap if you want to go that route instead (Bravenet is cool). They're on the right under the links. Check 'em out.

Why WE Fight

2003-11-26T16:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted yet today. I was getting re-acquainted with my drumset. There are a few things I could write about, but it seems like other bloggers have already covered them. For example, Harvey Fierstein wants to portray a gay Santa Claus in the Macy's parade. Also, University of Chicago activists want bathrooms without gender. I can actually hear the very fabric of society being ripped apart. It's not good.

Like I said, other bloggers have covered these issues already, and they're so ridiculous that I don't think I even need to say anything else. However, I did find an interesting link via Patriot Paradox that everyone should see.

Remember this cartoon by Ted "Traitor" Rall that shows a bunch of coffins and says "This is what the war in Iraq looks like...so far?" Well, this is what Iraq looked like before the war (warning: site contains images of mass graves. May not be suitable for everyone). Now, was the war really a mistake, and is Saddam just "misunderstood?"

I think not.

I'm Back

2003-11-25T21:40:00.000-05:00

All right, Semi-Intelligent Thoughts is back in business. The blog is now coming to you from Plum Borough, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh known for being unbelievably boring. I'll be here until Sunday, and then it's back to Syracuse for final exams and such.

I just spent 6 and a half hours in a van, and now I'm back at my own house for the first time since August 14, so I don't particularly feel like posting right now. I'll have plenty of new stuff tomorrow, but I'm probably taking the rest of the night off. I'll leave you with an anecdote. My Communications lecture today was on public relations, and the TA teaching it (it was her special "pretend to be professor for a day" day) used Dubya's landing on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln as an example of a failed publicity stunt. She said that he appeared "arrogant" and it was unnecessary to fly to the carrier because it was so close to land. I just thought I'd let you know that the liberal propaganda machine that is college is still alive and well.

Road Trip

2003-11-24T23:44:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm still ~~procrastinating~~ working hard on that paper, but I decided to post this now. I'm leaving SU tomorrow around 2 PM to go back to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. I will be bringing the computer with me, so SIT will still be available for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, I have to unplug the computer and pack it up before I leave, so I've decided that this will be my last Syracuse-based post this week. Unless there's a really important event, I won't be updating the blog again until I'm set up at home, which should be around 8:30 or 9 tomorrow night, Eastern standard time (I'll post something as soon as possible; I recommend checking frequently after 7, because I might be early, and I'll get more hits if you come back a lot. HA!).

Once I'm home, I'll be able to do a lot more blogging. In addition, I'll have access to my digital camera, so I'm planning on taking a few photos for SIT. I want to get a picture of myself that's less demeaning than the one I'm using on the intro page (my head looks bigger than it really is in that photo), and I also want to post a couple pictures of my cats. Why? Because I like cats, and because I can. I hope the little fuzzballs remember me after 3 months.

Until then, I will once again recommend that you check out the archives. Also, try visiting some of the pages I've linked. They're all really good, and they need traffic too. So, until tomorrow night, blog safely, and don't let Glenn buy any more hamsters.

P.S. Nobody's signed the guestbook yet, so feel free to do that if you want. Okay, now I really am done.

Showcase Voters

2003-11-24T21:55:00.000-05:00

All right, I'm back once again. I'm a little scared right now, because Syracuse is having a Lewis Black weather experience (snow with thunder and lightning), but I do have to post links to all the people who voted in the TTLB Showcase this week. We're still losing to the League of Lunatics. That's just not right. VOTE, PEOPLE! IT'S NOT THAT HARD! Here are the people who did take the time to vote. You'll notice that Frnak is strangely absent. Hmmm...maybe the monkeys had something to do with it...

Flying Chair (41 links) - 746 visits/day V
Blackfive - The Paratrooper of Love (178 links) - 736 visits/day V
Anger Management (105 links) - 391 visits/day V
Leaning Towards the Dark Side (31 links) - 332 visits/day V
Patriot Paradox (115 links) - 171 visits/day V
The Alliance (163 links) - 161 visits/day V
Madfish Willie's Cyber Saloon (149 links) - 157 visits/day V
Bad Money (117 links) - 154 visits/day V
Practical Penumbra (200 links) - 142 visits/day V
BigStick (44 links) - 118 visits/day V
the evangelical outpost (69 links) - 115 visits/day V
angelweave (109 links) - 113 visits/day V
Pardon My English (55 links) - 111 visits/day V
See The Donkey (26 links) - 101 visits/day V
Left Coast Conservative (102 links) - 83 visits/day V
Being American in T.O. (42 links) - 76 visits/day V
physics geek (34 links) - 64 visits/day V
The S-Train Canvass (28 links) - 58 visits/day V
An Englishman's Castle (9 links) - 45 visits/day V
CandyUniverse (50 links) - 43 visits/day V
Civilization Calls (31 links) - 35 visits/day V
Wince and Nod (46 links) - 34 visits/day V
curi's domain (12 links) - 31 visits/day V
The Patriette (47 links) - 30 visits/day V
Five Wasps (15 links) - 29 visits/day V
Semi-Intelligent Thoughts (32 links) - 22 visits/day V
Cavalier Attitude (6 links) - 21 visits/day V
Intergalactic Capitalist (23 links) - 17 visits/day V
Cannon's Canon (19 links) - 17 visits/day V
Hypocrisy and Hypotheses (22 links) - 12 visits/day V
Shameless Self-Promotion (16 links) - 11 visits/day V
Interested-Participant (62 links) - visits/day V
eTALKINGHEAD.com: Political Commentary (56 links) - visits/day V
The New American Revolutionist (34 links) - visits/day V

I'll be back later with a very important message, but I have a paper to ~~put off~~ write.

My First Filthy Lie

2003-11-24T15:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm back, and I've got a ~~filthy lie~~ totally true story to tell about the most evil being in the blogosphere, Glenn Reynolds. Here's what happened:

I wanted to write something about Evil Glenn's Thanksgiving plans for the new Alliance assignment, but I was having trouble coming up with good ideas. I decided that it might help if I took a walk to clear my head. After a few minutes of walking around aimlessly with no good ideas, I saw a pet shop on the corner that I had never noticed before. Since I had no filthy lies in mind, I gave up on that and went inside to see if they had any monkeys that I could mail to Frnak.

Well, they didn't have any monkeys, and when I said I wanted to send them to Frank J., the guy at the counter gave me a funny look and pressed the red button next to the cash register. I figured that was probably a bad sign, so I backed away and started looking at other animals. They really weren't that interesting, although one of the parrots looked mysteriously like a ninja, and he kept giving me an evil look and brandishing a tiny samurai sword. Other than that, everything seemed normal, but as I came to the puppies, I noticed that they were all cowering in fear.

That's when I saw him. Glenn Reynolds, the puppy blending communist, was standing at the counter and arguing with several employees. I managed to catch some of their conversation.

"What do you mean they've all been reserved? Do you understand how important this is to my evil plan to eliminate all dogs...I mean...my...charitable plan to...give dogs to starving...LONELY children?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gorecinichton (that's right, he uses an ultra-liberal alias), but we can't sell you any more puppies. You've already bought ten in the past month. I'm afraid that you'll have to look somewhere else."

"Hmmmm...no puppies...BLAST!...I mean...okay, then give me two dozen of your finest hamsters!"

"Two dozen? Are you sure?"

"YES! GIMME GIMME GIMME...I mean...why, yes, that is indeed the number of hamsters I would like. Indeed."

"You already said that."

"Indeed I did."

"You're scaring me. Here's a dozen hamsters. It's all we've got. That'll be $50."

"Hmmmm...that's a lot...do you take GlennBucks?

"Uh...I don't think we do."

"WHY NOT? ALL STORES MUST BOW BEFORE THE EVIL GLENN-PIRE...I mean...here's fifty dollars. Now GIMME THE HAMSTERS...I mean...please complete the transaction at hand by exchanging those small furry creatures which, although they are named as such, are not made of ham and cannot stir. I have tested that theory many times, and..."

"Just take them and go."

"Indeed."

So, Evil Glenn took his dozen hamsters and walked out of the store. Now, I don't know if it was the sadistic look in his eyes or the way he kept looking at the hamsters and laughing in the most evil way imaginable, but something made me want to follow him. He didn't seem to be heading in any particular direction, but he eventually wandered into the woods with that same evil look in his eyes.

I continued to follow the evil one through the woods and into a small clearing in the middle of nowhere. It was then that I noticed a small shack in the distance, and I realized that he was heading there. This turned out to be the case, although Glenn managed to shoot a poor, defenseless hobo that was hiding in the bushes before he went into the shack.

Once Glenn was inside, I looked into a window on one side of the shack. What I saw horrified me beyond words. He had hundreds of hamsters inside, and many of them were being forced to run on giant exercise wheels. If they stopped for even a second, he shocked them with a cattle prod! I couldn't just stand by and watch this, so I burst in the door to stop his evil plans.

"What do you think you're doing, you commie freak?" I said as I entered.

"Why, I'm exercising these hamsters, of course. What's so strange about that, comrade?"

"Don't you ever call me comrade again! You're not even exercising them! It just looks like you're making them tired and then shocking them! That's evil!"

"Well, if I can't shock hamsters, then why do they make cattle prods at all? If they would stop getting tired and do their jobs, they wouldn't have to be punished like this."

"What jobs? They're just running!"

"Oh, really? Then what's this?"

He pointed as he said this, and as I looked in that direction, I realized that Glenn is even more evil than we ever imagined. The hamster wheels were all connected to wires, and the wires were connected to...A GIANT BLENDER!

"You see, the hamsters generate power for my ultimate puppy blending device. I call it 'The Glennder!' It can blend up to six regular puppies at once, and up to a dozen Scottish terriers! Do you realize how much energy that is? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"

"Okay, but what's up with that hat you're wearing? It looks like a giant hamster with dragon wings and fangs. Does it generate power too?"

"HOW DARE YOU! DO NOT EVER QUESTION THE HAMSTER HAT! NOBODY QUESTIONS THE HAMSTER HAT! THE HAMSTER HAT IS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF POWER! IT WAS GIVEN TO ME BY SATAN HIMSELF MANY YEARS AGO AFTER I RAN AN ERRAND FOR HIM!"

"An errand? For SATAN?!"

"Indeed. You see, back in 1992, Satan realized that Republicans were starting to gain too much power and inject morality back into the nation, and Satan doesn't like morality, so he and I devised the ultimate evil plan."

"You mean..."

"That's right. I RIGGED THE ELECTION AND MADE BILL CLINTON PRESIDENT! DID YOU THINK ANYONE ACTUALLY VOTED FOR THAT ADULTEROUS HILLBILLY? MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

"YOU rigged the election? Then what did Satan do?"

"Satan married Bill Clinton! Don't you know that Satan has the ability to assume any form? Even now, Satan is planning on completing the evil scheme by running for president in 2008!"

I couldn't stand any more, so I did what any God-fearing, flag-waving American would do. I ducked just as the ninja that had been stalking me sent a throwing star in my direction, and it hit Glenn's hamster hat. I didn't want to stick around after that, so I ran out of there as fast as I could while The Evil One roared in anger. I don't know what happened after that, but hopefully he'll think twice about messing with me again. So, to sum it up:

GLENN TORTURES HAMSTERS
GLENN HAS A GIANT BLENDER POWERED BY THE HAMSTERS
GLENN GOT BILL CLINTON ELECTED
HILLARY CLINTON IS GOING TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008

We must stop this robot-dancing murderer before he can come up with another evil plot. Also, I just realized that the word "hillbilly" can be made from parts of "Bill" and "Hillary." Coincidence? Of course it is.

One More Stupid Post

2003-11-23T23:39:00.000-05:00

I need to post one more totally random entry here to finish off the day. First of all, having a roommate who talks on the phone a lot can lead to random entertainment. For example, I heard him saying this a few minutes ago: "Crab people...Crab people...CRAB...PEOPLE! I don't know, maybe..." I assume he was talking about South Park, but you never know. I also happened to hear someone yell "F**K YOU, GREASY!" outside my dorm. College is fun.

Okay, on to important things. I still have a filthy lie about the evil puppy blending, hobo-murdering, robot-dancing, Satan worshipping communist, Glenn Reynolds, but I have to clean up my room, proofread a couple papers, write something about my summer media log, and do some Spanish homework right now. I haven't actually written the lie yet, but I have some of it worked out in my head. I'll give you a preview of a couple lines I'm planning to use just to get you interested:

"Everything seemed normal, until I realized that all the puppies were cowering in fear..."

"If I can't do this, then why do they make stun-guns at all?"

"Do not question the Hamster Hat! Nobody questions the Hamster Hat!"

More on that when I ~~invent~~ remember the rest. Goodnight.

Today's WTF Moment Brought to you by Amazon.com

2003-11-23T21:28:00.000-05:00

I somehow managed to stumble across this in the course of my daily ~~procrastination~~ surfing. The guy on the cover of that book looks almost EXACTLY like my father, although I don't think he's ever been much of a juggler. Weird.

Showcase Vote

2003-11-23T18:54:00.000-05:00

My vote this week goes to Free Market Fairy Tales for Europe Hates America. Check it out.

The Essay

2003-11-23T15:40:00.000-05:00

I may be making a really dumb decision, but I'm posting the entire philosophy essay here instead of taking excerpts or breaking it up (read the previous post for an explanation of what I'm doing). I have other work to do, so this should hold you for a while. Feel free to read it piece by piece on separate occasions. I probably won't be posting anything of this size again until I go home next week. I don't think I really need to set this up too much. I'll just let it speak for itself. Readers of SIT, I give you:

A CASE FOR MONOGAMY
In today’s society, people are gradually losing respect and appreciation for traditional values. Many social practices that were once considered honorable and proper are now largely ignored and often ridiculed. Among these is the practice of monogamy. Due to developments in birth control and other sexual safety techniques, some people consider it unreasonable to go through life with only one sexual partner. In addition, from an evolutionary perspective, monogamy appears to contradict the very design of human beings. Although these arguments may seem convincing at first, they do not necessarily prove that monogamy is not preferable. On the contrary, there are several reasons that it can actually be beneficial. This can be shown from both an evolutionary and a psychological perspective. Therefore, I intend to prove that monogamy is the most rational form of sexual behavior for human beings to practice.

Obviously, survival is important for any kind of life. Therefore, one can assume that the human desire for sex is a beneficial and necessary one. Some have suggested that monogamy is irrational from an evolutionary perspective because it decreases the chances of passing one’s genes on to the next generation. One argument is that people should have as many sexual partners as possible to improve these chances. The question is whether or not this is beneficial to the offspring and the parents. One downside of having multiple partners is the danger of sexually transmitted diseases. These diseases have several long term consequences that are detrimental to survival and evolution. First of all, the number of STD cases in the United States is increasing rapidly. According to recent statistics, approximately 65 million people in the U.S. have an incurable STD, and approximately 15 million new STD cases are reported each year. In addition, two-thirds of these cases occur in people under the age of 25 (ASHA). Since the chances of contracting a sexually transmitted disease increase with the number of partners one has, monogamy is a safer option. If a large portion of the human race is infected with incurable diseases, survival and evolution will suffer.

Sexually transmitted diseases are not only detrimental to one generation; Children can also be affected. Many diseases can be transferred at birth, which immediately lowers the chances of that generation’s survival. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Harmful effects on the baby may include stillbirth, low birth weight, conjunctivitis (eye infection), pneumonia, neonatal sepsis (infection in the blood stream), neurologic damage (such as brain damage or motor disorder), congenital abnormalities (including blindness, deafness, or other organ damage), acute hepatitis, meningitis, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis.” Because evolution is dependent upon healthy genes being passed on, these effects greatly reduce its success rate. In addition, many of them can lead to genes not being passed on at all. From an evolutionary perspective, reproduction is useless if the children do not survive long enough to have children of their own. Conversely, if a couple practices monogamy, they improve their chances of producing healthy offspring who can then continue the process.

An argument against this is that the success rate will improve if people reproduce with a diverse variety of partners, which may cancel out some of the effects of disease. However, even if one grants that this is true, there are still problems. For example, higher reproduction rates can lead to overpopulation. Even if every human being on the planet is born healthy, they must still contend for limited resources. As a result, the quality of life will decrease later, but the effect will be the same. This could also lead to more competition, which seems to support the idea of “survival of the fittest,” but human nature is slightly different. People normally worry more about everyday concerns than the future of the species, so there is no guarantee that overpopulation can lead to a balance. This is an extreme example, of course, but many areas are already overpopulated due to excessive reproduction, and the results usually do not favor evolution.

Monogamy is beneficial to survival and quality of life from an evolutionary perspective, but the psychological and personal aspects of this practice are also important. Many of the most common arguments against monogamy are related to this area of reasoning. Some argue that one cannot possibly be happy with a single sexual partner, and they cite many reasons for holding this view. At this point, one must look at the subject of immediate gratification versus long term satisfaction. While it may be true that sex with any partner can result in physical pleasure and satisfaction, it is not necessarily true that this will have any long term benefits. Casual, meaningless sex can, in fact, have negative consequences on the individuals involved. As mentioned above, one argument is that casual sex provides relief and satisfaction and must therefore be a good thing. Unfortunately, the nature of this act can lead to greater stress and more serious problems. Sexually transmitted diseases apply here as well. If one has to constantly worry about disease, then one cannot fully enjoy the sex act itself. Instead of relief, this can lead to greater tension. In addition, there is always a risk of pregnancy, and in casual sexual relationships, this is rarely the intention. Therefore, the risk of pregnancy will also weigh heavily on the minds of the participants, and it will undoubtedly make the act less satisfying. In contrast, sex between two people who know that there are no immediate health consequences can be much more fulfilling, and if a pregnancy does occur, the child will have a greater chance of growing up in a loving environment.

A second consequence of casual sex with many people is the loss of respect for oneself and one’s partner. Some have said that the ability to have a fulfilling sexual relationship without any emotional baggage is a positive trait that will improve one’s self esteem, but it can, in fact, have the exact opposite effect. For example, an issue that is often discussed is the objectification and subsequent devaluation of women for sexual purposes. When women are viewed as a method of sexual satisfaction rather than human beings with emotions and needs, this can occur. However, many fail to realize that men can suffer these same consequences. It is possible for a man to eventually view himself as a simple sex object, and he may build his entire identity on his sexual abilities. When these abilities are based on meaningless sex, a man’s identity may become meaningless. Basically, even if one has superb sexual abilities, it is difficult to develop self esteem based on physical skills alone.

Another argument against monogamy is that sexual relationships will not be as fulfilling when both partners are inexperienced. This relates to the problem of basing an entire relationship on sex, but there are other problems as well, as it can also lead to the decoupling of physical and emotional satisfaction. In order to have a truly successful relationship, both of these must remain intact. In resisting monogamous relationships, most often marriage, people employ arguments such as “I don’t want to buy the cow if I can’t milk it first.” Although it may provide comic relief, this analogy does not properly address the issue of monogamy. The problem with this view is that those who hold it view sex as something that people give them, just as a cow would give milk. However, one has to ask if these same people would feed the cow before buying it. The answer should be no, because this act would assume a certain responsibility. When sex is treated as a free gift rather than a mutual exchange, its purpose is lost, and relationships suffer. In addition, this view rests on the belief that people should not commit to a long term relationship until they have had enough sexual experience to know what they are looking for in a partner. This can also lead to problems. If a person has a string of casual relationships before finally making a serious commitment, those relationships can surface again. The person will constantly be making comparisons between current and past sexual partners, and the emotional and personal aspects of the relationship will not fully compensate for the fact that the relationship as a whole is not unique.

At this point, the argument about experience becomes a factor again. The couple in the previous example may have a better sexual relationship due to past experience, but the fact remains that much of this experience comes from other people. In monogamous relationships, however, the partners will gain a better understanding of each other and learn everything together, which will ultimately bring them closer. They will not need to compare everything to past relationships or worry that they made the wrong decision. In any case, this once again raises the question of what is truly important in a relationship. It seems that the physical and emotional aspects should complement one another rather than being totally separate.

This is, incidentally, another decoupling that occurs with casual sex. A positive emotional relationship makes sex more fulfilling, and this will then improve the emotional aspect even further. In this way, monogamy is still preferable if one truly wants to be happy. It is even possible to build more trust through monogamy, and trust will result in a greater sense of satisfaction and happiness. By entering into a monogamous relationship, two people place a certain amount of trust in their partners and expect them to remain faithful. This can build confidence and respect in both partners, and it gives the relationship an even more unique aspect. Casual sex cannot have the same result. By avoiding committed relationships, people concede that they do not trust themselves or their partners enough to share a truly fulfilling bond.

Another common argument against monogamy is the reality of sexual desire. Some say that because humans always have a desire for sex, they should act on that desire whenever possible. The issue of immediate gratification once again becomes a factor in this case. It cannot be the case that giving in to every single desire in order to avoid temporary discomfort is an intelligent response to life’s challenges. After all, if people never resisted desire, the majority of the world’s population would be dead or in prison. In reality, the power to resist extremely strong urges is a virtue few possess, and if one can successfully overcome sexual desires until the proper time, then one can apply those powers of resistance and dedication in other aspects of life. These abilities can also help to improve relationships. If both partners are aware of their ability to resist temptation, they will trust each other even more.

Much of what has been mentioned here about trust and emotion can be applied to reproduction as well. Monogamy is beneficial to evolution from a purely biological perspective, but it has positive effects from a psychological perspective as well. In the proper relationship, children are viewed as a blessing rather than a burden or an accident, and parents who are ready to provide a positive environment for their children have a better chance of raising them well. In addition, the values and strengths gained from staying in a monogamous relationship, such as trust, love, and the ability to set long term goals, will be transferred from one generation to the next. At the same time, parents who instill negative values in their children increase the risk of failure in the future. If a child does not learn self control or experience a loving relationship, that child will have a poor understanding of these concepts. The consequences of this have already been discussed. Overall, given the biological benefits of monogamy, one can assume that the psychological benefits will further assist the human race in its survival.

Even though modern society does not cherish the same values it once did, it can still benefit from the results of those values. Monogamy is beneficial from an evolutionary perspective, as it decreases the risk of disease, controls overpopulation to some extent, and ensures that some members of future generations are able to continue the process. In addition, monogamy is beneficial from a psychological perspective. When monogamy is practiced
properly, emotional relationships improve, sexual relationships are more fulfilling, and children grow up in a better environment. This practice also builds character, self control, trust, and respect. Casual sex may feel good and provide immediate relief, but in the end, it is not as rational as a committed, monogamous relationship.

Works Cited:

“Facts & Answers about STDs.” American Social Health Association. 11/10/03. http://www.ashastd.org/stdfaqs/statistics.html
“STDs and Pregnancy.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 11/10/03. http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/dstd/Fact_Sheets/facts_stds_and_pregnancy.htm

A couple end notes for blog readers who managed to get all the way through:
1) I'll remind you again that this took 3 hours to write with only a half-sheet of notes to help.
2) I did all the research as I was writing.
3) I really do believe in all the arguments I made here.
4) Any time I used the word "evolution," it really means "survival," because one of the requirements was to cover how your argument is and is not at odds with evolution, but I think evolution is crap.
5) Have I mentioned I'm religious?