The Ethics of Education

Over at the Xpat, Eric has an interesting story about College Republicans bleeding grandma dry. Check it out, and give the blog a general read. Good Stuff.

So it's Official

I love my family. Really I do. I don't even mind my niece that much, and I generally don't like little kids. But I will never spend another winter day in Buffalo, NY, ever.

This was, without a doubt, the worst holiday trip I've ever been on, brought on by a number of factors that I won't bother to go into here. Needless to say, I'm hoping for a good couple of thousands of miles distance between myself and Buffalo by this time next year, so that the traditional trip home to visit the fam can be cancelled with a reasonable excuse. We got close this year, cutting the total visit down to just 4 days (3 if you subtract travel time in the car) and just barely beating out a terrible midwest snowstorm that just missed the county by a few miles. Yet in the four days that I was there, I think a grand total of three things went right:

A visit with my friend Steve;

The grilled portobello mushrooms, and;

Spending time with my family, which in the grand scheme of things was relatively painless.

Now not to ruin everyone's holiday afterglow, but I'm going to go stomp on some colored lights to hear the popping sound they make before they're crushed to oblivion, after which I'll be taking refuge in my own bed thank you very much.

J & I recently discovered that Nissin makes a vegetarian vegetable flavor of Cup Noodles. And yes, it's vegan. It's so bad for you, but so very delicious...

W00T!!111!!! We now know the joys of a home wifi network! I'm writing this from our bed! Okay, I know, I'm waayyy too excited about this, especially since this is something I really should have done, like, a year or two ago.

So, I now have to fill y'all in on the adventures in setting it up. The apple store had a sale today, and along with all the iPod stuff, they were selling the airport express. Now, since Jeff's a student, and gets the student discount, we usually get our apple gear that way. However, they were selling the airport express for less than it would cost normally with the student discount. So, we got one.

However, Jeff's old powerbook g4 (it's almost 3 years old now) didn't come with an airport card, and he never got one installed. So, we stopped by compUSA and picked up a Belkin wireless PC card. Jeff was very suspicious of it, because the box only mentions windows and not mac. But I figured it would work with a Mac, due to the lovely plug n play-ness of OS X. So, I set up the airport express, then Jeff plugs the belkin in the powerbook. It takes a while to respond, but it's up and running in a few minutes. Then, I start noticing major range problems. Turns out that antenna wasn't plugged into the wifi card all the way. This is a common problem, apparently.

But we're up & running now! Yay!

OOou, beer beer beer bed bed bed.

I've heard more about/from Colin Powell in the last week than I have all year. He's now come out to say the US is against the "official" election results from Ukraine. Earlier today, it was announced that the guy backed by Russia (Yanukovych) won, instead of the opposition candidate (Yuschenko). I'm glad my country's doing the right thing.

Revolution in the Ukraine?

Wow. There's some heavy stuff going on over in the Ukraine right now. I'm sure you've heard already, but long story short: run off election between the guy who's part of the current leadership regime (and was in prison for robbery and assault a few decades ago, and is linked to big business and thought of as associated with crime) and the opposition leader had major voting fraud problems, and people are taking to the streets to protest against the pro-Russian guy who was supposedly elected. Of course, there's a lot more to the story. I learned a lot about the whole thing through this post on Metafilter, and subsequent comments.

Here's an article that has more background on the politcal climate in the Ukraine, and about the two leaders.

This page has up-to-date info about what's going on. It's being translated by a few people on the fly, so give them a break. Here's two bloggers who are posting info, in case you can't get on to http://eng.maidanua.org/ (the page I linked to at the start of this paragraph, it's running rather slowly right now, understandably).

BBC is covering this, and has a slideshow of pictures up.

People of the Ukraine, for what it's worth, I'm with you. I hope no blood is shed, and that the truth comes out on what happened with the election. There's definitely something very shady going on, and such corruption can not be tolerated. I only hope that my country, if faced under similar circumstances, would stand up against such tyranny. With love, from the outskirts of Washington, DC.

They're doing what?!?

I spend a little time in the mornings reading over the washington post, usually when I'm having a cup of tea, or in this case, waiting for the computer to finish processing some data for me. Well, the end of the year is coming up, and I know that when anyone thinks of the end of they year, s/he thinks of taxes. So, I start reading this article, which deals with Dubya's plan for a tax code over haul. And then I get to this paragraph:

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

Okay, so they want the total amount of revenue generated by taxes to be the same. Eliminating the deduction for local and state taxes seems fair enough. Then, WHHAAA??? There is a health crisis in this county! J & I pay just under $400 /month for our health insurance provided through my employer, and that's not including a $15 copay on all office visits and another copay on prescription drugs. And now, this "pro-business" administration wants to make it more expensive for my employer to provide me with health insurance?!?

It's hard enough for many small businesses to provide health insurance, even with the tax breaks. There is no reason for the government to be taking that tax break away. It just means that more people are going to require government aid in paying for health-related services, which means money will be drained from the government. And since people without insurance (and those who are underinsured) tend not to seek out medical help until they're in grave pain / serious condition, the costs per person will go up.

I feel like Frank Grimes right now. "It boggles the mind!"

FullMetal Alchemist Review: Adult Swim

First Impression? Aside from the bad voice work for Ed and a few of the random characters (R. Bruce Elliot, who also voices Richard on the Americanized version of Detective Conan and is the voice for Iron Chef Sakai, needs to not be hired anymore), I think it was a good overall interpretation. They didn't leave too much of the blood and dismemberment scenes out (and frankly I don't know how they're going to, since loss of body parts is an integral part to the story) and the actor they got to do the voice of Alphonse is about as good as they could've gotten. I'm betting they'll cut back on some of the sexual and religious imagery more than anything, but there wasn't really a plethora of that in FMA to begin with.

The downside? Knowing what happens means that not only do I have to relive it with bad american accents in a lot of cases, but I also have to wait until the end of next year to find out just how the whole damn thing turns out. The story is continued in the upcoming FullMetal Alchemist Movie, due out in theaters in Japan in late summer, 2005. The waiting...the waiting.

Baby city, Batman! There are 4 women at my work who have/will be giving birth within a 5 month period: 1 each in October, November, December and February. Strange. Last year, the wives of 2 of the men in the office had kids within a month or so of each other (my office gave them a joint baby shower). I don't have any deep insight or anything on this, I just thought it was really weird.

J & I went to vote this morning. It took us around 45 minutes from start to end. We got there around 8:10 am and left a touch before 9. There were lines aplenty. Our polling place was a school, specifically in the gym. There was a line to get into the gym, and in the gym you had to wait in 3 lines, one to get your orange card with your information, another to get your e-voting smart card (or whatever they're calling it), and another to wait for the voting machines. Everyone waited together in the line leading to the gym, then split up according to last names to get the two cards, then everyone waited together again in the line for the machines.

It went: everyone waits in line. Then, you move into the gym, wait in line according to last name (A-G, H-O, or P-Z) to receive an orange card with your voter registration info on it. Then wait in another line (still according to last name) to get the smart card device you put in the machines. Then go wait in the line (with everyone again) to wait for your turn at one of the 9 or so voting booths. Stick the card in, do your votin' thang, and on your way out, give the card to an election official or drop it off in a box on your way out. It went pretty smoothly, although the lines were a bit out of order (the line for the machines was in between the lines for H-O and P-Z, facing the other way), and there was a fair amount of waiting. The people working the polls were very friendly.

While I was there, I talked with one of the officials in charge at my polling place about my concern over the lack of voter-verifiable paper trails in the (Diebold, I believe) machines my jurisdiction uses. He was a pretty nice guy, although a bit of a smooth talker. I just wanted to register a complaint about it, but he went to the trouble of trying to talk up the machines, mentioning that the votes are recorded and checked on both the smart card and the hard drive on the machines before they are accepted, and showing me the security sticker on the machines that proves any physical tampering. He did say he would write it up and mention to the higher-up elections officials that I had a concern about it. Don't get me wrong, I like the electronic voting machines. They're easy to use, and tallies up totals a lot quicker than other methods. What I don't like is that if there is a problem with them, there is no way to check and do a re-count of the votes. Think about it this way--if you're having sex and you really don't want to get pregnant, you use mulitple birth control methods (e.g. condoms and the pill). That way, if something goes screwy (excuse the pun) with one form of protection, you have the other to rely on. It doesn't help that the CEO of Diebold has said before he'll do what he can to help Bush get elected... here's a story about e-voting that mentions this that I dug up via google news.

Anyways, I hope all goes well. This evening, I'll be at home with J, sitting back with a beer, watching tv, checking the internet and keeping track of the tallies via the US map & stickers that came in a recent New Yorker issue (thanks, cnn, for paying for that). And watching the daily show election special (it's at 10pm, instead of the usual 11). So, woo! for democracy.

So you know that painful, sore feeling when you get water up your nose, when you're swimming?
Well, I found out just now that a bit of falafel up your nose give the same feeling.

If you need to cough while eating, just spit the food out and cough. Otherwise, you may be in for a world of hurt...

Heh...yeah that's about right:

You are 26% geek

You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator. Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend. You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines! Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals! You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

Man, applying to grad school is a lot of work. It's a lot of stupid work, too. Most of these schools have online applications. But, each school is different, so some schools have everything online and you just have to send transcripts and test scores. And then, there are school which make you fill out the online application to the graduate office, then print that out, then gather all your info (recommendations, transcrips, gre scores, etc) together and send it in one big envelope to the school. I have a spreadsheet where I'm trying to keep track of this stuff. And then there's writing the personal statements. I don't care what anyone says, about you being your favorite subject. I hate talking or writing about me, at least in any kind of boastful or non-depricating way. Bah.

If I get in, with funding, it will be worth it...

Another bitch move

So Republican congressional candidate Charles Floyd (and I won't link to his website), according to this slashdot article, is apparently cybersquatting on three domain names that people may assume belong to his opponent, Congressman Chris Van Hollen. Now from what I know, Floyd doesn't have a real chance this election, particularly in a state as liberal as Maryland. However, the district he's after represents the D.C. suburbs, which, while socially liberal, have tended to lean towards the right in past elections. Van Hollen was swept into office over moderate Republican Incumbent Connie Morella in 2002. I haven't seen any recent poll numbers so I don't know how vulnerable his seat is right now, but a tactic like this, despite being Rovian and disreputable in the worst way, may sway voters towards the other guy, although I imagine most people visiting Van Hollen's campaign website would be supporters nonetheless.

Out and About

This being my crunch year means I don't have a lot of time to update this thing that often. But I'm taking a bit of a break now and feel that this would be as good of a time as any.

On a recent trip to Canada, I picked up a book of poetry by David O'Meara. It's pretty good. He makes excellent use of form in most cases, though in a few of his poems he seems to be more a slave to the rules rather than bending the rules to fit his work.

If you haven't seen either Napoleon Dynamite or Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence you're missing out on some quality films. Napoleon is one of those little movies that, while light on plot, just has so many classic moments that it's hard not to love it. GITS 2 picks up where the last movie left off, so you really need to see the first one to get a good understanding of the plot. Either way, the story is okay, but visually it's absolutely stunning. A perfect blend of CGI and traditional animation.

Speaking of Anime, ADV films seems to be on an Anime licensing frenzy, which is good and bad. Good because it means that most of the titles they're picking up will ultimately make it into the United States, and bad because the turnaround for US releases is anywhere from six months to two years.

Due to the unbelievable generosity of Tom (you can check his journal out on the sidebar, but he hasn't updated in quite some time), we managed to check out the Killers show in DC on October 3rd. Overall a good performance, if a little short (I think they played for about 45 minutes. In their defense, the whole album doesn't run more than fifty at most). A couple of things though. I didn't realize that Brandon Flowers was so short. But then I notice in alot of the photos I've seen he's rarely pictured next to the other band members, who tower over him. Surfer Rosa, the first opening act, flat out sucked. I understand the 80's comeback thing, and I was willing to forgive the full body leotard, but a) learn to sing, b) make sure all bandmembers are playing the same song in the same key, and c) The mullet is still wrong, particularly on a female lead singer.

Oh...and Kerry destroyed Bush in the debates. Still not a fan, but, better than the alternative.

I'm tired and I want chocolate.

There's some funky stuff going on with pre-election polling.

First, there's the story that pollsters don't take into account people without home ground phone lines. Also, remember that political polls are taken of those who are likely voters, which in many instances means that they've voted in the previous (presidential) election. This means that newly registered voters aren't being counted in some of these poll results. Both of these factors leads to the so called "youth vote" to be undercounted. Now, there's some question as to what "youth vote" exactly is, but I'm going to label that as 18-29, which sounds reasonable to me.

Now, if you're into online politics, you've probably come across http://www.electoral-vote.com. I just logged on there a little while ago, and the votemaster made some very insightful remarks, which I've copied & pasted. (Note: my emphases)

Some bad news for the polling business. Strategic Vision (R) has a new poll in Ohio showing Bush ahead 52% to 43% there. However, there is also a Lake Snell Perry (D) poll showing the race there to be an exact tie, with both candidates at 46%. It is becoming increasingly clear that the pollsters are producing the results that the people paying the bills want to hear. Even pollsters who were once thought to be above suspicion are now suspicious. Gallup, for example, is now normalizing its samples to include 40% Republicans, even though the 2000 exit polls showed the partisan distribution to be 39% Democratic, 35% Republican. There is scant evidence that the underlying partisan distribution has changed much since then. Other pollsters also normalize their data, but most don't say how. Normalizing the sample to ensure the proper number of women, elderly voters, etc. is legitimate provided that the pollster publicly states what has been done.

That's some interesting news. Basically, between what the votemaster tells us above, and the undercounting of the youth vote, which is traditionally left-leaning, Republicans are being overcounted in the polls. Now, combine that with the fog surrounding the new voting machines, and we just might not know anything. I really hope someone will be doing some good exit polling.

There's also an interesting audio report by NPR/Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep about political polling, which includes an interview with the head of the Gallup Organization, one of the major polling firms. You can get some insight on how some polls are run and such.

Everyone, get prepared to leave Sealab.

I'm on NARAL's e-mail list, and so I'll get occasional e-mails from them, mostly either asking for money or taking action of some sort. Usually, I glance at the subject line and delete. However, the other day, one of the e-mails outlined a story where a family got kicked out of a Bush rally because the mother had brought in a NARAL t-shirt. She wasn't wearing it, she had it in case it got cold. So, some young male campaign worker took her shirt from her, went away, then came back with two other guys, who tore up the family's tickets to the rally, and kicked them out.

I've been hearing a lot of stories like this lately, where people are getting kicked out, or prevented from attending rallies for the prez or vice-prez.

Nintendo has put out a press release today.

It announces that their "DS" game system is now officially called...the Nintendo DS.

Rather anti-climactic, I know. However, there are two pictures up of what they say the system will look like.

Info here (press release).

OMG, WWE (or WWF, back in the day) has a get-out-the-vote thing going on.

WWE Smackdown Your Vote

This Slashdot story makes me want to never set foot in a Best Buy again. (Read the comments--there's a lot of stuff in there.)

"I don't usually listen to hip-hop, but..."

One of the biggest problems I have with the predominantly white, liberal blogosphere (speaking as a white blogger, of course) is the inability of said guiltseekers to see beyond their own little world. Over at Eschaton, Holden is making a big to-do about the new Beastie Boys album. He ends his post by saying

This is the music your kids are listening too, it's a good thing.

Now I have no problem with people expanding their musical horizons. In fact, I heartily encourage it. But I have one major issue with Holden's post. Namely, that it assumes that everyone reading Eschaton, and therefore, by extension, everyone interested in left-leaning politics, is a middle aged thirtytofortysomething with a house in the `burbs, comfortably away from any societal issues that they preach about. Similarly, in comments many readers seem confused by hip-hop, made similar "oh it's crap" comments, or didn't know anything about the Beastie Boys at all. Now I'm in my late 20's. No spring chicken to be sure, but not too old, and my mother knows who the Beastie Boys are. Hell, she even saw them with me at Lollapalooza '94. This isn't meant to be one of those "my mom is cooler than your mom" things. It's merely to point out that my mother actually took an interest in my likes and dislikes and made an effort to understand them. Holden's above comment implies that most of the parents reading Eschaton don't know anything about what their kids are doing, and that's not a good thing.

My overall point? One of the largest political venues over the last twenty years has been hip-hop. From the hardlife storytelling of "The Message" to the straightforward, thought provoking politics of Public Enemy, hip-hop has been a driving force behind social change. That anyone interested in progressive politics cannot see that, or is so far entrenched in their own world that what's "it" seems weird and scary to them, speaks volumes about an internal problem with liberalism that needs to be addressed if there's any hope of enacting true change.

So apparently, Billions of dollars belonging to Iraq are unaccounted for. I'm not saying that this was some conspiracy on the part of the Bush Administration...All I'm saying is, if you're gonna take the money and skip town, don't leave any of your men behind to suffer the consequences, and try to go somewhere where you're least likely to be found. Turkey, for exam... Oh wait...Nevermind.

Links via atrios and This Modern World.

I am so sick of Nader right now. I've been hearing all sorts of things, like members of the Republican party are helping Nader get on the ballot, and Nader doesn't care. The Reform party is supporting the guy. Now, Nader is still for the things he's always been for. But these are new times...

Right now, I would be happy seeing the US as a centrist nation again.

*sigh*

I try my best not to be cruel to animals.

But when those animals have the potential to cause serious harm to me, then I have to take exception. I'm saying all of this because we discovered a mouse in our kitchen a few days ago. We've had the problem before and thought it had been taken care of, so we simply repatched the place we thought they were coming in more securely.

Well, today I was cleaning out under the sink. I left the room for a split second and returned to see a small creature with brown hair and a white belly roaming around under the sink. When I moved toward him, he scurried between one of the cracks between the cupboard and the wall and disappeared. Patched hole rendered useless.

It does explain why the cats have been so adamant about that particular area of the kitchen though. And a part of me likes to believe that their presence is keeping our uninvited guest at bay.

So, open call. Anyone have any suggestions for mouse prevention or cruelty free traps? That actually work? I'm willing to give a few things a try, but honestly, it's not my responsibility, it's my landlords, and at this point, if he wants to kill them, that's fine. Better that than me or E coming down with some disease or virus or something.

I do not like weddings.

Hmmm...let me re-phrase that...wait, nope, I don't like weddings. I like the getting together with friends to celebrate thing, but I don't like weddings.

I came across this article: "Bridezillas Can Bankrupt Wedding Guests" The article talks about the ways modern weddings now bleed guests dry. The article lists a bunch of wedding-related events:

Engagement party
Bridal showers
Rehearsal dinner
The "Jack and Jill" (I never heard about this one before)
Bachelor/-ette weekend
Wedding

And it's expected the guests give money or gifts at every event... Although, for the amount the bride/groom are putting into the thing, they could probably put a healthy down payment on a house, including all the crap they registered for.

Down with the bridal-industrial complex!

Me, the only reason I would have wanted a wedding was to serve some really kick-ass catered vegan food.

Oh, man. Reality shows are bad enough. But then, they have to go and make sequals:

NYC Open Casting Call: The Swan 2

I found this gem when I was poking around the dc craigslist website. The Swan...I was going to write some pithy comments about that show, but I'm sure it's all been said my someone much more eloquent than me.

From another ad:

Established producer now casting for a political espionage show shooting this summer. Casting for this production is going on throughout the next few weeks. The filming will begin sometime in July. The show is about a covert, underground intelligence agency that recruits people at moment's notice to fight against any impending terrorism threats around the world.

I can just hear the pitch now... "You see, it's like that show Alias..."

I saw this gem in the Washington Post today: Foes Confounded by Limited Outcry Against Gay Marriage

A few snippets:

Across the country, evangelical Christians are voicing frustration and puzzlement that there has not been more of a political outcry since May 17, when Massachusetts became the first state to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

*snip*

...Evangelical leaders contend that the outrage is out there. They say it has not been felt in Washington because defenders of traditional marriage are still in shock, or are focused on winning state constitutional amendments against same-sex marriage, or are distracted by the war in Iraq and other issues.

It's worth a read. It goes on to talk about the efforts of conservative church leaders to rally their congregants against the concept of gay marriage. They're hoping that when the amendment comes up for vote in the congress, people will be more interested in the issue, or something like that.

I think that this means people don't care that much about what other people do in bed, at least not as much as the Church does and wants people to. That, and like it says in the article, people are more concerned about important things, like that the US has the highest child poverty rate of any industrialized country, or about the economy, or the war in Iraq.

J thinks that it's about the congress-critters who are up for election--they don't want to rock the boat until after the elections this November.

You can draw your own conclusions.

Is this out of some spy movie or what? I came across this item when I was reading Cursor.

An NGO (that's Non-Governmental Organization) called Human Rights First that has discovered about a dozen or so

secret U.S. military detention facilities reported in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Jordan, and aboard U.S. ships at sea

Here's the Reuters write-up.

Can I say, "whaaa?" It scares me that there are people being held in secret, without any assurances of their continued safety and the safety of their families, with little to no access to lawyers to determine what they are charged with. Even if some of these people are our enemy, if we (by which I mean the US) treat them outside the boundaries of international law, we are no better than the dictatorial terrarists we're so seemingly intent on stopping. I mean, weren't repeated violations of UN codes the reason the US went to war against Iraq in the first place? If we repeatedly go against internationally agreed codes of conduct, will someone be invading us?

"You hypocrite, you dish it out by you can't take it..."

Another beheading

Guess which country it happened in. I'll give you a hint: It doesn't begin with an "I".

I was at the bank the other day, and had a pretty crappy experience. In fact, it was crappy enough of an experience that I wound up going home, crying about it, and writing Citibank about it. I've decided to post the letter I sent to them here, for people to read. Basically, I was made aware that I am not and never will be a middle aged white man, and that I may never garner the respect that should be afforded to everyone, regardless of age, race, sex, finances, etc. If you read this, please let me know your thoughts.

To Whom It May Concern at Citibank,

I am writing to complain about the way I was treated at my local Citibank branch recently. I went in to my local branch to set up a new account. After a short wait, I spoke with a bank employee (a “client financial analyst” according to his card) regarding this account.

I requested that I be given information about the accounts that Citibank offers. He started to list some of the terms, and made some mention of a special offer in passing. At first he did not expand on that, having assumed, without asking, that I did not have the minimum deposit required to open an account under the terms of the special offer. After I made it clear that I was interested in learning about all the different options available, he did indeed expound on the various types of accounts available.

After I settled on an account, he started to ask me for information, that he presumably needed in order to set up the account. He asked me for basic things, such as address, phone number, and employer information. However, along with this information, he also started to ask me other, more personal questions, at least one of which is not needed by your bank. Among the questions he asked were about what country I was born in (this was after I had told him I was a US citizen, which is information I know Citibank needs to process my account), what city I was born in, and what the nationality of my parents are. At one point, I asked him whether he needed the information of where I was born to process the account, to which he replied no. However, he continued to ask about my ethnic background. The way in which he was asking these questions made it unclear whether questions like “who do you live with?” and “what is the zip code of your employer” were indeed used for setting up my account. Now, I have no problems answering questions that are needed to process my account. I also have no problems talking about my ethnic background to friends, in a social setting. However, I think it is inappropriate for a bank employee to be asking personal questions which do not relate to the business at hand, particularly when these questions are asked in a manner which is indistinguishable from the questions which are asked to provide account information.

Finally, after the account was set up and the representative gave me papers relating to the account, along with a new bank card, while I was still sitting at the desk, the representative left the desk, without saying “good bye” or thanking me for my business. When I finished putting my papers in my bag, I looked for him to shake his hand and thank him, and saw him behind a different counter, talking with someone, either another customer or a fellow bank employee. I wound up leaving the bank without any further conversation with him. I found this rather rude, and felt that my business was unappreciated.

The combined effect of this treatment is that I felt like a second-class customer. If I were a middle-aged white man, I believe I would not have received such treatment. As it stands, I am a young woman of mixed race, and there is nothing anyone can do about that. Although it is likely that no ill feelings were meant, such treatment is very much a problem. I feel I should be treated the same as any other customer, and not be asked irrelevant personal questions or treated rudely.

I do want to make it clear to Citibank that these types of behaviors are inexcusable. In writing to you, I am not asking for any sort of monetary compensation. Rather, I would like for you to take it upon yourselves to reaffirm your commitment against gender, racial, and age discrimination, not only in official policy but also in the way your train your employees to interact with customers. I have been a Citibank customer ever since I opened my first savings account when I was 16. If something like this happens again, I will have no qualms in moving my business to a competitor and telling others about this experience.


Sincerely,


If and when I hear a response from the bank, I'll post it.

Downright scary...

I found this gem on the veganporn website (all worksafe--the only thing that's close to pr0n on that site is the name): essentially, the government is incredibly secretive about the approval process for growing plants with drugs engineered into them. Wired news story here.

An excerpt from the wired story:

"...much of the information about the crops is kept secret, such as where they're located, how big the plot of land is, what pharmaceutical it will contain and the drug's potential hazards."

This is not a good idea, especially from a cross-contamination standpoint. What happened to the time I could sit & eat a plain ol' tomato, instead of a tofishmato, vaccine-tomato, or tomacco.

I really hope they're growing this shit in a specially designed greenhouse, planted in pots and not the earth, with a negative pressure gradient to prevent pollen from escaping. For some reason, I doubt this is the case... I may sound overly cautious here, but it's warranted, since this is unprecedented, and nobody knows what the real risks are.

So apparently, Canada has recently entered the wonderful world of deficits. To offset this, they're going to start charging a premium for healthcare. Now I understand the reasoning behind this, and really, $300-$650 isn't really that big of a deal. My problem is with politicians making promises that they shouldn't be. No politician should ever promise that they will not raise taxes or fees, because things happen, and a promise like that can very easily come back to bite you. Plus, the public needs to understand that their taxes pay for the structure of society.

Anyways, I'll try and post more about universal healthcare and why it should be a necessary function of government later. Work now.

Life is hard, right? Wrong! Life is easy...YOU Suck!


So my own apprehension is as follows: I have an open forum with which I can do whatever I like. And yet, I choose not to. I really intended to post more often on this thing, but for some reason I just haven't. It's interesting, though that when one considers the term "blog" it immediately conjures up political notions. For the past two weeks, this space had the potential to be a goldmine of political discourse, thanks largely in part to massive adminstration fuckups RE: Iraq. I sat back and did nothing because:

1) I didn't feel like I was really adding to the discussion. There are so many political blogs out there right now that I could probably type in a random bunch of letters.blogspot.com and come up with something.

2) I also waste time on message boards. Because of this, I get into heated discussions about politics that wear me out, so by the time I get around to the blog, I just don't have the energy to go over my points again and again.

3) (And this one is important. It represents one of my dirty secrets as a writer. Lean in closer...) Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I just don't have anything interesting to say. Let alone anything at all. (Okay that's not really true. I often have A LOT to say. But I'm not so pretentious as to believe that my words are ALWAYS worth your time. Thus. If I have something. I'll give.)


In the meantime, I'm catching up on some long needed filmwatching. American Splendor was excellent. Coffee & Cigarettes, not to jump on the point made earlier by Ms. E, was oozing hip. So much hipness, in fact, that the movie may even be too hip for itself, let alone the twentysomethings who showed up to listen to the tired insider jokes made just for Jarmusch and his pals.

And on the Anime front: Fullmetal Alchemist has been licensed to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Hopefully I won't hear the voice of Elyse Floyd (Yahiko Myojin) or Richard Ian Cox (Inuyasha) shouting at me top of their lungs as Edward. They really need to find better voice actors to play younger boys.

Also licensed recently: Peacemaker Kurogane. I don't know who got the rights though, and I'm curious to see how a largely historical series will play in the U.S. But, if Kenshin worked, this one might also.

And Shinichiro Watanabe (of Cowboy Bebop fame) has a new series out, titled, strangely, Samurai Champloo. I kid you not when I say that it is, without a doubt, the best new anime series I've seen all year. It makes everything that every american animator is doing look absolutely childish. If you can find it (*cough*), watch it. I'll be around.

Aw, man. I know I wasn't this stupid in high school. Students are upset because the food in the vending machines at school are being replaced with something a bit better for them than doritos and coke.

Among the choice quotes:
''I guess I won't be eating lunch, then,"
''Nobody eats bananas or apples for lunch -- nobody," said Stokes, folding her hands across her chest.
''Who's going to walk around school eating an apple?" scoffed Brown

It's about high time schools started teaching basic nutrition classes.

Now, back to my trail mix.

I was browsing allrecipes.com today, looking for some good butter roll/croissant recipes to veganize, when I noticed the first lady (should that be capitalized?) looking at me. The Bush-Cheney team has bought internet ads on allrecipes.com. And the ad doesn't feature Bush or Cheney.

The ad went like this: Pic of the First Lady, and to the left were a series of statements that came up:

1) I think education is important
2) So does the President
3) Let me tell you why...

At the bottom of the page was the Bush/Cheney logo, and you would (presumably) get to the Bush-Cheney page by clicking on it.

I find it weird that there would be a presidential ad on a recipes site. And not only that, but the ad doesn't even feature the people up for election, and only in passing mentions them. Is that a good strategy? I mean, the First Lady is not an elected or paid position, and she wields no power. Is Bush/Cheney trying to take the attention off themselves or something? Something about this just seems fishy...

Clear Channel: A vision of free markets gone amok.

Really, the music industry need to die. Of course, there need to be people supporting the musicians, on the business end, so the music people only have to worry about music. But something's really messed up when the people making the most money are the ones screwing the artists the most. This is really bad from a business standpoint, too: if you keep treating your clients shittily, then pretty soon you'll have no more clients. Then again, there are a *lot* of attention whores out there, and some of them are bound to have a modicum of talent. *sigh*


BTW, yesterday, J & I saw "Coffee and Cigarettes." It was a pretty sucky movie. It had the feel of a student film, and not in the good, creative way. In the trying too hard way. There were some good performances in it, though. I say, wait for the movie to come out on cable somewhere, and tune in for the latter half.

Bishop Issues Communion Warning for Catholic Voters

The Roman Catholic bishop of Colorado Springs has said Catholics should not receive Communion if they vote for politicians who support abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia and gay marriage.

However, it's still okay to believe in the death penalty...

I saw this & had to post it. The story thus far: Huey is having a dream about G.W.Bush being in a pottery barn. That should be all you need.

The Boondocks

End Of Semester

I still have to get my grade for Metafiction, but it's all out of my hands now. Next year will be a bit more/less stressful simultaneously, since I'll barely need to be on campus, but will be composing/compiling my poetry thesis. I'm looking forward to it, nevertheless.

I hope everyone (Just one, probably) had an excelsior cinco de mayo. I spent it blowing off steam and billiard balls. More later.

As it happens, one of the pioneering electronic bands, that had a huge influence on my modern musical taste, is calling it quits:

After 15 years working together as Orbital, Paul and Phil Hartnoll have announced that their forthcoming LP the “Blue Album” will be their last. Following the album’s release on 21st of June, Orbital will play Brixton Academy on 25th of June followed by their last ever English live show, closing the second stage on Sunday June 27th at Glastonbury.

“I think we feel that Orbital has run it’s course,” says Paul Hartnoll. “We’re both pursuing different avenues with our music. And we’ve been sat, as brothers, in the same room for 15 years now–and studios are always confined spaces–I think it’s time for a change.”

Since their first single, ‘Chime’ entered the top 20 in April 1990 Orbital have released six albums and developed a live show that evolved, by common consent into one of the landmark performance shows of the last decade. They have helped to shape and develop both the character and credibility of electronic music far beyond the disposable anonymity of the first white labels and the acid house scene that they came from.

It's a shame, but not unforseen. I'll post more about this later. In the meantime, I propose that on June 26th at 7 p.m., everyone simultaneously listen to "Belfast" out of respect.

So I'm floating around on the interweb, and I actually came across a site that sums up my position on the November election perfectly, even in its title.

So without further adieu, I beg you all (If anyone's actually reading this thing) to go visit this website...

I couldn't have said it better myself...

So, we were thinking of taking a vacation to London. Well, thanks to those dang terrorists, now it will take a day at the airport to get back to the states. I'm thinking: try for a flight leaving at around 3 or 4 am. This way, you can see the sights during the day, and by sleeping in the airport, you can save on not needing a hotel room at night. Although you'd have to deal with yucky overpriced airport food.

So, there's been another power outage at LAX. First time, it was a bird. Now, it's a broken transformer. Makes you wonder what the freaking point of all this stepped-up airport security is, if a bird is all it takes to cause minor mayhem. Just imagine what could happen if people actually tried.

Is this a politics story, or is it about fashion? The Washington Post had an article about what Janet Reno wore to the 9/11 commission. The article starts out okay, outlining how nearly all those who answered questions in front of the 9/11 commission dressed up for it, like "a television anchor, a job applicant or a prep schooler trying desperately to avoid detention." Then it starts talking about what Janet Reno wore, and about how plain it was.

That's all find and good. From the tone of the start of the "article," I thought the author was going to say something to the effect of "Reno wanted her words, and not her appearance, to get her message across." But nnooo! The article quickly spirals downward into Joan Rivers-style cattiness: "Like, Ohmigod! Does she even have a body under there? And on top of it, she's wearing pink lipstick! What a faux pas!" Ugh. And people wonder why there are so few women in politics. This author needs to go back to journalism school.

Next: the many ties of G. W. Bush.

I managed to catch the end of Bush's press conference (first one in 13 months!) last night, and I listened to some of the post-conference wrap-up by the NPR folks. One of them slipped up and said "Vietnam" instead of Iraq. Make of that what you will.

Just something I thought was funny:

Weekend Box Office Numbers:

1. The Passion of the Christ - $17,087,000
2. Hellboy - $11,100,000

Doubt we'll see THAT scenario ever again...

The lastest idotic jewlery trend: eye implants. Watch out, Gen X parents: this may be the tounge piercing of the next generation.

As far as Air America goes, it's not that bad. When I first started listening, I kept thinking they sounded a lot like, well, a liberal version of conservative talk radio. I know that's the point, but there's a difference between just saying X where conservatives say Y, and creating a new style/format for the centrists/left wingers. I'm finding that as I listen, the shows are finding their own voices, it's getting better. Particularly, I've never come across anything on the radio dial that sounds like "Unfiltered" (freaturing Chuck D, of all people, on in the late mornings), and I mean that in a good way. Franken's show is good, but the skits they do can get a little tiring. Good guests on all the shows. Check it out & see for yourself. I'm still hoping for a DC station.

Do you suppose Air America will make it to any of the radio stations in the DC area? I'm trying to listen to the "O'Franken Factor" right now, but unfortunately their audio stream is experiencing technical difficulties, probably due to people like me who are overloading their internet-serving capabilities.

I admit, I'll listen to conservative talk radio once in a blue moon, but I usually can't listen to long--they tend to be over-convinced their world view is correct, and too abrasive to those who don't have exactly the same opinions as they do. Air America sounds interesting & I wish them well. If I manage to listen to the audio stream, I'll give a small review.

The GOP: losing the geek vote? Another reason to hate pop-up ads.

Could be alternatively titled: The GOP: throwing money down the drain because everyone but them has heard of pop-up blockers.

Are Dems soon to follow? The article mentions they haven't ruled the idea out.

I happened to catch a snippet of the 9/11 commission hearing today, by tuning in to the live feed that NPR was broadcasting online. I listed to a little of Secretary of State Powell's testimony before the commission. I wasn't paying very close attention, but this is what stuck out to my ears:

Commission member: Was there anything that could have been done to prevent the 9/11 attacks?
Powell: No, no there wasn't.

That is what my brain heard. Actually, that's not what was said. Here's what was actually said, text lifted from the WaPo transcript:

THOMPSON: Would more frequent principals meetings in that period or more small group meetings in that period have prevented 9/11?

POWELL: No, and I'm not quite sure I followed the rationale between more meetings and preventing 9/11. We met constantly. It wasn't always at principals level. But there was no lack of communication between the principals. There was no lack of exchange of information and data.

I was briefed every morning by my intelligence people. So were all of the other principals. The president got daily briefings from the director of Central Intelligence, and we consulted with each other about all of these issues. So I don't think it was a lack of meetings that resulted in 9/11, if that's the suggestion.

THOMPSON: In your opinion, would an invasion of Afghanistan, between February of '91, and September of '91, prevented 9/11?

POWELL: I can't answer that, but I can say that those who were perpetrators of 9/11, who were actually going to conduct the attacks of 9/11, already had their instructions, had their plans in place, and they were in the process of infiltrating themselves into the United States, or they were already here.

And invading Afghanistan and cutting off the head, if you succeeded in getting Osama bin Laden and disrupting al Qaeda at that point, I have no reason to believe that would have caused them to abort their plans.

I suppose that's a bit different than what my half-asleep brian heard. However, it will be interesting to see what the results of the commission will be. The main question the commission is trying to answer is "Why did 9/11 happen and could it have been prevented?" And stemming from that, how can we prevent further such acts? Hopefully, the answers will not be lost in a sea of defensive/partisan bickering.

On another note, a few days ago, the state department issued a new "worldwide caution" warning. Remember, there may be nothing we can do to prevent terrorism, but we can sure try to scare you with it.

So there actually is a reason why people tend to turn into idiots once they come to DC: the water. To be specific, it's the incredibly high amount of lead in the tap water. This is the latest scandal to hit the district, and it's been the talk of the town for the past month or so. Unfortunately, the elevated lead levels have been around for at least half a year or so. The government has recently started to distribute water filtration devices to district residents, and has been telling people to flush their taps for 5, 10, 15 minutes before using the tap water. Now, a study has found that DC kids' blood lead levels are at least 47 percent higher than the national average for their age group. At least.

I wonder if the president uses DC tap water?

I don't mean to make fun of the situation, but sometimes in dire circumstances, the easiest way to deal with things is to joke about them. For a run-down of all the news regarding the lead fiasco, take a look at the Washington Post Special Report: Drinking Water page.

I wanted to post this up real quick:

NY Times' "Politics Navigator"

It's basically a list of a bunch of (US) politics-related websites, including links to government pages like the white house and senate, and partisan and special-interest sites. It's by no means comprehensive, but there's a lot of good links on there. It's interesting to note that they did not include any links to political blogs, like Atrios or Andrew Sullivan.

Work Work Play Work...I'll be spending the weekend with Rushdie and Midnight's Children, and the next few days trying to iron out the kinks in my translation project. I hope I can get it going properly. I'll try and update whenever I can. Maybe E will have something to write about. In the meantime, my favorite radical has been posting like a madman these last few days. Drop him a line.

Relaxing the Rules

From Today's NYTimes:

U.S. Set to Ease Some Provisions of School Law


By SAM DILLON

Published: March 14, 2004



Education Secretary Rod Paige says the Bush administration is working to soften the impact of important provisions of its centerpiece school improvement law that local educators and state lawmakers have attacked as arbitrary and unfair.

On Monday, the Education Department will announce policies relaxing a requirement that says teachers must have a degree or otherwise certify themselves in every subject they teach, Dr. Paige said in an interview on Friday. Officials are also preparing to offer new flexibility on regulations governing required participation rates on standardized tests, he said.

There's more...but I'm not exactly sure what to make of it. In one sense, I think that some change is necessary, or at least the law needs to be fully funded. In a different sense, I don't, for a second, agree that it's okay for the people teaching our children to not have a degree or to be certified. Certification doesn't take that long (about two years), and considering the benefits that it offers in terms of career options and peace of mind, it shouldn't be that big of a deal to anyone truly serious about teaching. What this does, more or less, is open the door to the "darkside" of educators, those who want to teach but don't want to go through the process it takes to get certified. I personally wouldn't be comfortable having my hypothetical child being taught by Joe Offthestreet.

But then again, what do I know?

If you ever want to experience true bureacracy, just take a trip down to the Library of Congress (link to the right). After spending 20 minutes getting the photo identification card that one needs to even enter a reading room in the library, let alone actually look at books, I was treated to my first experience with closed stacks. The conversation went something like this:

ME: So I just fill out this form and then you'll retrieve the book for me right?

Librarian: No. Fill out the form, and then I'll fax it over to the section where someone will retrieve the book and bring it here, and I'll give it to you.

ME: But the books are right in that other room, right? So why couldn't someone just walk over there and get it?

Librarian: Many of our books are located in other buildings, and take some time to find. Just fill out the form and I'll fax it over. You should get it within the hour.

ME: Ok.

After filling out the form and handing it to the librarian

Librarian: Oh.

ME: What?

Librarian: Well, this book is actually offsite at Fort Meade. You won't be able to get it today.

ME: But you said that you'd be able to fax it over and I'd get it within the hour.

Librarian: Yes but this book is actually in storage at a separate facility. It'll take more time to get here. Can you come back tomorrow, or possibly Monday?

So, long story short, I filled out a second form for a different author after a thorough search, which was unfortunately submitted 10 minutes after the final request time. I'll be heading back there in the morning.
Your government at work!

(Although, in all fairness, it really is quite an impressive collection and anyone who can should go and visit)

So, as the 2004 presidential campaign gears up, we should be hearing more about health care. There were an estimated 43.6 million people (15.2 % of the population) in the United States without health insurance in 2002. This number does not include people without insurance for only a few months, for example if they were in between jobs for several months. So, this is a minimum number, and drawing from that, we can estimate that there are upwards of 20% of people in the US without health insurance at any one time.

So, why is this important? I mean, the majority of Americans have some sort of health coverage and are able to see a doctor if they become ill. Why should any of them care about people without health insurance? Public health, and terrorism.

Think about this: a terrorist attack using biological weapons. A couple suicide-bio-weapon-bomber guys infect themselves with something like smallpox, or SARS, or bubonic plague. They wait until they are contagious and start traveling around a large metropolis, going on subways and buses or hanging out in malls. When someone with health insurance starts coming down with "flu-like symptoms" soon afterwards, he is going to go to a doctor, and the outbreak can be identified and hopefully contained. If someone without insurance comes down with the same symptoms, that person is not going to go to a doctor, at least not right away. Meanwhile, if the disease is still in the contagious stage, he will help spread the disease to others.

I don't understand why this idea hasn't gained any traction. Maybe I don't understand something about transmission of diseases, but this seems like a plausible scenario to me. Furthermore, it doesn't need to be terrorism; it could just as easily be a SARS (or any other highly infectious disease) breakout.

My $ .02.

The Saturday Burial - Keep an eye out for it!

From Today's NY Times:

Administration Sets Forth a Limited View on Privacy

By ROBERT PEAR and ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, March 5 — In a sharp departure from its past insistence on the sanctity of medical records, the Bush administration has set forth a new, more limited view of privacy rights as it tries to force hospitals and clinics to turn over records of hundreds and perhaps thousands of abortions.

Federal law "does not recognize a physician-patient privilege," the Justice Department said last month in court papers that sought abortion records from Planned Parenthood clinics in California, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York City and Washington. Moreover, the department said in another abortion case, patients "no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential."

**EDIT**

The Justice Department says it needs the records to defend a new law that prohibits what opponents call partial-birth abortions. Doctors and clinics have challenged the law, saying it bars them from performing certain medically needed abortions.


Privacy advocates say the administration has rolled back some safeguards adopted by President Bill Clinton, and the Justice Department says now that the 1996 law is no obstacle to its efforts to obtain abortion records. In court papers, the Justice Department says the records are needed to show that the banned procedure is almost never medically necessary and "poses serious risks."

Dennis J. Herrera, the city attorney for San Francisco, said he was deeply troubled by Washington's stance.

"Any reasonable person has an expectation that their medical records are going to be kept private," Mr. Herrera said. "If physicians and patients are left wondering whether their records are going to be made public, that has a real chilling effect. How candid are people really going to be with their doctors?"

The abortion recipients are not directly involved in the litigation, and the government has not told them that it wants their records.

There's more, so check it out if you can. The problem here isn't just one of abortion, it's precedent over where privacy begins and ends for the individual.

A little bit about the freetime thing: We spend an awful lot of time watching anime. If anyone is interested in anime at all, here's a few series you should be on the lookout for:

Fullmetal Alchemist - story about two young brothers who travel the world using alchemy in a quest to restore their bodies to their original forms. It sounds strange, and I can't really explain more without going through a two page synopsis of the story thus far, but just trust me and seek it out.
Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - A series of stories involving the characters from the film. The series was originally only slated to run for 26 episodes in Japan but a second season was picked up and just started.
InuYasha - This can be viewed on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup, though Adult Swim hasn't gotten nearly as far in the series as they have in Japan (I believe they're on episode 141 now...AS is at episode 60 maybe?)
Chrno Crusade - In an alternate universe, a young Nun, whose life is bound to her demon and partner Chrno, searches for her missing brother, an avatar of God. Based on the content of this, I'll be HIGHLY surprised if this series ever makes it the US in a mainstream format.
Naruto - Story of a young underdog ninja from a village of ninja training with the ultimate goal of becoming the best. In terms of action and storyline, this is probably one of the most compelling series I've seen in quite some time.

That's just a basic roundup. I'll post more as they come to mind. Most information about these can be found through a basic google search of the names above. And..um..resourceful people will probably know where to look for these series...

From Reuters, via today's NYT:

Job Growth in February Is Surprisingly Weak


By REUTERS


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers added a paltry 21,000 workers to their payrolls last month, far fewer than expected, according to a government report on Friday that was likely to weigh on President Bush as he seeks re-election.

In its report, the Labor Department said private-sector employment was unchanged in February, while the government added 21,000 workers.

The report also showed job creation in November and December was weaker than previously thought, adding to the weak tone of the report. The department revised lower its count of jobs gains in December to 97,000 from 112,000 and for November to just 8,000 from 16,000.

February's unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent.

Economists at top Wall Street firms had forecast a February payrolls gain of 125,000 new jobs.

Over the last three months, employment has risen an average of just 42,000 per month, down from the 79,000 average of the prior three months and far short of the 150,000 or so jobs needed each month just to keep pace with growth in the labor force.

Employment in construction tumbled by 24,000, while the factory sector shed 3,000 workers, the 43rd consecutive monthly drop.

The service sector also proved surprisingly weak, creating only 46,000 new positions.

Democrats have hit Bush hard for presiding over the weakest period of jobs creation for any president since Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression.

I wonder how much further away from that jobs report they'll be able to backpedal...

Well the link is there...so I can only assume that they're up and running. Now in the unlikely event that someone actually reads this thing, I can get some feedback (crosses fingers in vain that it will all be constructive.

Anyways...Life carries on...Still on the hunt for a possible internship this summer, working out the thesis (some of which I may post on here at some point, if anyone still cares about poetry) and just general vagrancy. I'm "off" for a week+ for spring break (by off I mean "don't have to attend classes but will still be working on things because none of my professors wanted to take anything with them while they all went to Peru or Tahiti or wherever they go for their week vacation"), so I'll probably have more time/commentary to toss around here. Keep an eye out for it.

;-)

Just added comments...hopefully they work...

Waaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

I chipped my tooth on a frying pan.

Yeah. That's right. I chipped my freaking tooth on a freaking frying pan. Now, I feel I should mention, that I have a fear of bad things happening to teeth. Bad stuff like teeth getting knocked out, or falling out, or getting chipped. It's probably similar to the way some people have a phobia of spiders or creepy-crawlies.

So, this evening, I was trying to get a wok out to cook some dinner with. The wok was waaay in the back of the cabinet, and so I was holding a bunch of pots, pans, lids, etc. I then lose my balance, and as my butt went thunk on the floor, a frying pan I had been holding went thwack on my tooth. I sat there on the ground, then slowly came to the paralyzing realization that there was something wrong. I yelled for J to come and take the pans off of me, then I reached into my mouth and came out with a chip of enamel. I was okay for a little while, and then came the freak-out. I started crying and breathing very heavily, by which I mean mildly hyperventilating. I went to the bathroom and started spitting out the rest of the tiny bits of my tooth that had cracked off. J started to get worried at this point, and I asked him to get me a glass of water. I rinsed my mouth out a few more times, just to be sure. Sure of what, I don't exactly know. You see, the little piece of enamel that had chipped off was really not that big. And the bits I had to spit out were really tiny. Anyways, J was kind enough to call the dentist for me to find out what we should do, and now, a few hours later, I'm more or less calm. Except that I can feel the jagged edge of my top left second-from-the-front tooth. And the layers of enamel. And it feels that more can break off at any second...

*deep, cleansing breath* *deep, cleansing breath* *deep cleansing breath*

Needless to say, I'll be calling the dentist bright and early tomorrow morning.

About this whole marriage thing:

We were married in a no-witness civil ceremony six months ago. We did it for a number of reasons, not the least of which was our love for each other, but also for insurance benefits, power of attorney, the right to make decisions in an emergency, and so forth. In computing our federal taxes this year, we originally intended to file separately, but in a weird system that I still don't understand, we would end up owing the government money if we filed separately, but by filing jointly, we don't pay anything. We are rewarded by our partnership, to which there were no witnesses other than the clerk of the court. Our state doesn't require witnesses or even blood testing. It does, however, require that the active participants in the ceremony be of the opposite sex. (Strangely, it should be noted that while the restrictions on same sex marriage is clearly defined, the restrictions on marrying a blood relative, while technically grounds for anullment, are extraordianrily lax. I guess kissing cousins is okay for the state, as long as those cousins aren't gay.)

I bring this up not in a boastful way, not at all. I bring it up to remind you all that a prejudice does exist in this country today, where men and women are rewarded for doing what two people who have a lifelong commitment to each other would naturally want to do. Homosexuals in this country have never had the right to marry, and as such can never be rewarded in the way that we have. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I would choose to take my vows in San Francisco or Massachusetts, where lawmakers are working hard to change this inequality. I'm sure E would feel the same way. I'd like to think that equal rights under the law really means what it says. One day, I'm sure it will.

Okay, so this thing hasn't been updated in a while. I don't even know if it matters, since I don't think anyone reads this. In fact, I don't even know who knows about it.

Anyways, I figure I should post something, to stay up-to-date. So, here's something:

I thought this was a funny picture when I saw it. I love the look on Kucinich's face, although I can't really categorize it. Super Tuesday's coming up next week, and the four of them are going to be in another debate. *yawn* I'm sick of hearing about debates. That's bad, because when the field is this size, viewers might actually get a feel for the candidates are about, unlike when there were 10 contenders and they were all trying to have their views heard. My point is, even though this politiky stuff can get boring after a while, everyone who can should go & vote.

*end PSA*

Of all the smells to hate, why cucumbers?

Well...hopefully I/We will have something more interesting to say as time goes on. Unlike some bloggers I read/know, if I'm not going to be around to write, I'll let you know so well in advance. For now, and by now I mean "this weekend" I'll be working on translation and finishing Pirandello's "Six Characters In Search of An Author." I think I may try my hand at a Sestina again, though with a bit more adherence to meter this time around. Eye on the prize, kids!

That took way too much time to figure out...

Hello, World!

Or rather, I should say, Hello, J! You see, this is a lame ass present from me to Jeff, in honor of Valentines Day. I know if anyone else sees this, s/he will think "dang, what a crappy present," but don't worry, this isn't all I'm getting him. You see, I'm also planning on buying something for his laptop, whether it's a new Norton fixer-upper thingie or more RAM, or the new verson of Mac OS X that's been out for several months now but we haven't gotten yet.

Anyways, Happy Valentine's Day, Jeff! I wanted to set this up for you, in case you had any inclination to post any of your writings, musings or general thought of the day. I figure this would be an easy way of showing other people your writing samples, if nothing else. And don't worry, the Terms of Service says that whatever is posted is the property of whoever wrote it. So relax & enjoy.

I love you!