I've signed up for googletalk. Just in case you feel like some real time ranting, since I obviously SUCK at blogging. (Clearly because I can't do it and play Worlds of Warcraft simultaneously, why worry about the real world when I can actually kill the people who are causing trouble in Azeroth.)
You can gtalk me at shinobi42@gmail.com
And if you are a pathetic loser without a gmail address, e-mail me because I have about a thousand invites.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Monday, August 22, 2005
Half-Assed
This is my problem with America today, everything we do is half assed. We get to the deadline, look over our current situation and shrug. Eh, Close enough. Sorry kids, close only counts in horseshoes. My family and I have long employed the phrase "Close enough for government work" I wish that it were just funny, and not quite as true.
So what am I talking about right? Oh yeah. I'm talking about the concession to the Islamic fundamentalists in the Iraqi Constitution which may turn into a huge blow for women's rights in Iraq. You should read Echidne's posts and Digby's posts because they are quite good.
My personal take, Why bother to invade a country only to fuck it up? I wasn't pro this invasion, and I think our military is spread to thin, but we got in to this and we might as well do it right. I think it is stupid for politicians to give into pressures to bring our boys home before the mission is accomplished. We did this and now we will only make things WORSE by doing a half assed job. We can't un-invade Iraq, so protesting for peace is just stupid. If anything we should make sure to do a good job this time, so that we don't have to go back. Though it may be too late for that already.
This is only made worse by the fact that media type pundits seem to think it is okay that we do a half assed job:
MR. GERECHT: Actually, I'm not terribly worried about this. I mean, one hopes that the Iraqis protect women's social rights as much as possible. It certainly seems clear that in protecting the political rights, there's no discussion of women not having the right to vote. I think it's important to remember that in the year 1900, for example, in the United States, it was a democracy then. In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we'd all be thrilled. I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy. We hope they're there. I think they will be there. But I think we need to put this into perspective. (emphasis mine via Echidne)
Can anyone find this guy's contact info? He makes me want to vomit, so I thought I'd mail him some.
Excuse me, but WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!! I'm sorry, I don't even understand how someone could say this out loud without some part of their brain clicking on and realizing they sound like a complete ASSHOLE. All political correctness aside, he has to be kidding! The social rights of half the population of a country are not critical? How can we invade a country only to remove social rights from HALF of the country's population.
Mr. Gerecht seems to think it perfectly reasonable, so I have a proposal. How about we enact legislation here in the US, where everyone flips a coin. Everyone who gets heads, gets the right to make their own decisions, and everyone who gets tails suddenly becomes the ward of their oldest living relative who got heads. And from now on every time a child is born we flip a coin and they become either heads or tails. Heads they get to pick what they study, what they wear, who they marry etc and Tails they can't get a divorce, fight for custody of their children or leave the country without permission, among other things. Sound cool? Because that's what we're talking about here.
How like America to invade a country and then liberate only half of it.
So what am I talking about right? Oh yeah. I'm talking about the concession to the Islamic fundamentalists in the Iraqi Constitution which may turn into a huge blow for women's rights in Iraq. You should read Echidne's posts and Digby's posts because they are quite good.
My personal take, Why bother to invade a country only to fuck it up? I wasn't pro this invasion, and I think our military is spread to thin, but we got in to this and we might as well do it right. I think it is stupid for politicians to give into pressures to bring our boys home before the mission is accomplished. We did this and now we will only make things WORSE by doing a half assed job. We can't un-invade Iraq, so protesting for peace is just stupid. If anything we should make sure to do a good job this time, so that we don't have to go back. Though it may be too late for that already.
This is only made worse by the fact that media type pundits seem to think it is okay that we do a half assed job:
MR. GERECHT: Actually, I'm not terribly worried about this. I mean, one hopes that the Iraqis protect women's social rights as much as possible. It certainly seems clear that in protecting the political rights, there's no discussion of women not having the right to vote. I think it's important to remember that in the year 1900, for example, in the United States, it was a democracy then. In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we'd all be thrilled. I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy. We hope they're there. I think they will be there. But I think we need to put this into perspective. (emphasis mine via Echidne)
Can anyone find this guy's contact info? He makes me want to vomit, so I thought I'd mail him some.
Excuse me, but WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!! I'm sorry, I don't even understand how someone could say this out loud without some part of their brain clicking on and realizing they sound like a complete ASSHOLE. All political correctness aside, he has to be kidding! The social rights of half the population of a country are not critical? How can we invade a country only to remove social rights from HALF of the country's population.
Mr. Gerecht seems to think it perfectly reasonable, so I have a proposal. How about we enact legislation here in the US, where everyone flips a coin. Everyone who gets heads, gets the right to make their own decisions, and everyone who gets tails suddenly becomes the ward of their oldest living relative who got heads. And from now on every time a child is born we flip a coin and they become either heads or tails. Heads they get to pick what they study, what they wear, who they marry etc and Tails they can't get a divorce, fight for custody of their children or leave the country without permission, among other things. Sound cool? Because that's what we're talking about here.
How like America to invade a country and then liberate only half of it.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Focus
Due to the fact that my new job involves me doing actual work I wont be able to post my lengthy rants during work hours. This is tragic because it means that I'm going to have to chose between blogging and World of Warcraft. /cries
But never fear, I plan to try to focus my blog more on the topics I actually intended to post about in the beginning, that is use of statistics and science and how it is manipulated by the media and stupid people. The ranting will be saved for the occasional, "God damn both political parties in this country are so fucking stupid" moments.
In honor of my new found focus I have linkmania:
From the Mystery Pollster: 2008 Presidential Polling in 2005: a REALLY Big Grain of Salt He makes a very good case for most of the presidential polling taking place at this point being a huge waste of time. And I couldn't agree more. Polls are not forecasts, all they tell you is who would win if the election were tomorrow, but much to my chagrin it is not. We still have 3 more years of Mr. Bush to deal with first, and who knows what could happen before 2008................. not that I have anything but confidence in our current administration. (Damn I almost typed that without laughing, so close.)
The second has more to do with science, Bill from INDC has pointed out the clear lack of impartialness to Michelle Malkin's evaluation of the RU-486 pills and the related deaths Bill does a good job of comparing statistics:
So, while 1 in 92,000 women have died from RU-486 side effects since the drug's US approval, 1 in 3,700 American women have died in childbirth during the same period, making actually giving birth 25 times more deadly than having a chemical abortion (the article states "10 to 13 times riskier" than having any type of abortion).
This whole controversy really has to do with people's views on abortion, not problems with the drug, lets talk about the real problem people and stop pussyfooting around. YAY Bill!
Also Instapundit linked to a post written just for me: Advice to the angry young blogger Actually he seems to be targetting complete idiots, which I'm not, but I thought the title was funny anyway. Would be nice if there were actual Advice involved, like can anyone tell me how not to get angry all the time? That'd be nice.
That's all I've got for now, time to go do actual work at my amazing new job! (Today my boss told me "Well.... yeah, you're smart, you can figure it out" it was a clear illustration to me of how my career has made a turn for the better.)
But never fear, I plan to try to focus my blog more on the topics I actually intended to post about in the beginning, that is use of statistics and science and how it is manipulated by the media and stupid people. The ranting will be saved for the occasional, "God damn both political parties in this country are so fucking stupid" moments.
In honor of my new found focus I have linkmania:
From the Mystery Pollster: 2008 Presidential Polling in 2005: a REALLY Big Grain of Salt He makes a very good case for most of the presidential polling taking place at this point being a huge waste of time. And I couldn't agree more. Polls are not forecasts, all they tell you is who would win if the election were tomorrow, but much to my chagrin it is not. We still have 3 more years of Mr. Bush to deal with first, and who knows what could happen before 2008................. not that I have anything but confidence in our current administration. (Damn I almost typed that without laughing, so close.)
The second has more to do with science, Bill from INDC has pointed out the clear lack of impartialness to Michelle Malkin's evaluation of the RU-486 pills and the related deaths Bill does a good job of comparing statistics:
So, while 1 in 92,000 women have died from RU-486 side effects since the drug's US approval, 1 in 3,700 American women have died in childbirth during the same period, making actually giving birth 25 times more deadly than having a chemical abortion (the article states "10 to 13 times riskier" than having any type of abortion).
This whole controversy really has to do with people's views on abortion, not problems with the drug, lets talk about the real problem people and stop pussyfooting around. YAY Bill!
Also Instapundit linked to a post written just for me: Advice to the angry young blogger Actually he seems to be targetting complete idiots, which I'm not, but I thought the title was funny anyway. Would be nice if there were actual Advice involved, like can anyone tell me how not to get angry all the time? That'd be nice.
That's all I've got for now, time to go do actual work at my amazing new job! (Today my boss told me "Well.... yeah, you're smart, you can figure it out" it was a clear illustration to me of how my career has made a turn for the better.)
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Moving Sucks: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the U-haul.
Moving to Chicago was just another example of how nothing in my life ever works out the way that it should. Nothing. Ever.
The plan was my sister came in Monday night to help me pack up and move Tuesday morning, and then she was going to fly out of Chicago early on Wednesday. As it is now Thursday you can imagine this did not go as planned.
First I'm a shitty packer, I suck at it. So I was barely packed when she showed up. So it took us most of the night and all of the next morning to load the U-haul. Around 11:30am we were done loading so I went to go drop off some stuff and get some McDonalds before we left on our 8 hour trek.
While I was waiting for my much abused boyfriend to bring food out to the car I smelled smoke. And then I SAW smoke coming from the blinker thingy. (Which I later learned is called a Multi-Function switch)
Le sigh, we returned to my mostly empty apartment and after much deliberation I decided that I would not have my little sister driving a car that could possibly catch fire at any time for 8 hours, much to her chagrin.
So we said goodbye to the poor boyfriend and took my car and my U-haul and dropped the car off at the shop. They had implied on the phone that they could fix it that night, but when I dropped it off they said something to the effect of, so are you going to come back in 2 days and get it? I nearly lost it. But they said they would call after they had looked at it and let me know what the situation was. Great, more waiting.
I should mention that we were also accompanied by 2 very upset cats this entire time. So we took the 2 very upset cats and most of the contents of my Explorer and put them in the U-haul. And then we checked in to our 70's tastic Holiday Inn on the top of a hill with a narrow winding drive (YAY U-HAUL!). The much abused boyfriend was forced to help locate aformentioned hotel among other things. I drove the U-haul around all evening for food and shopping, and it Suuuuuuuucked. Especially since we were on one of those divided highways so we kept having to go one way, turn around, come back the other way over and over. If ever I questioned my desire to leave Pittsburgh before this, the question was answered.
The Mechanics called and said they'd have my car fixed the next morning. We went, waited around a lot and eventually, picked it up, shoved completely distraught cats into carriers and went to get gas. We hop into our respective gas guzzling vehicles and start up. The U-Haul goas VROOOM and the Explorer went Click Click Click. Oh my fucking god. I know many times in your life you have asked yourself if employees of gas stations can jump battery's on cars, I now know the answer to this, No. We had to use the U-haul to jump the Explorer, which was just a leeeeetle silly to say the least.
Finally we were off, and to make my final moments in Pittsburgh resemble my entire life there, I got off on the highway going the wrong way and we had to turn around. 8 hours later we arrived in Chicago without too much major damage. I am now here, I can only find one of my cats, but at this point I'm not that picky.
The plan was my sister came in Monday night to help me pack up and move Tuesday morning, and then she was going to fly out of Chicago early on Wednesday. As it is now Thursday you can imagine this did not go as planned.
First I'm a shitty packer, I suck at it. So I was barely packed when she showed up. So it took us most of the night and all of the next morning to load the U-haul. Around 11:30am we were done loading so I went to go drop off some stuff and get some McDonalds before we left on our 8 hour trek.
While I was waiting for my much abused boyfriend to bring food out to the car I smelled smoke. And then I SAW smoke coming from the blinker thingy. (Which I later learned is called a Multi-Function switch)
Le sigh, we returned to my mostly empty apartment and after much deliberation I decided that I would not have my little sister driving a car that could possibly catch fire at any time for 8 hours, much to her chagrin.
So we said goodbye to the poor boyfriend and took my car and my U-haul and dropped the car off at the shop. They had implied on the phone that they could fix it that night, but when I dropped it off they said something to the effect of, so are you going to come back in 2 days and get it? I nearly lost it. But they said they would call after they had looked at it and let me know what the situation was. Great, more waiting.
I should mention that we were also accompanied by 2 very upset cats this entire time. So we took the 2 very upset cats and most of the contents of my Explorer and put them in the U-haul. And then we checked in to our 70's tastic Holiday Inn on the top of a hill with a narrow winding drive (YAY U-HAUL!). The much abused boyfriend was forced to help locate aformentioned hotel among other things. I drove the U-haul around all evening for food and shopping, and it Suuuuuuuucked. Especially since we were on one of those divided highways so we kept having to go one way, turn around, come back the other way over and over. If ever I questioned my desire to leave Pittsburgh before this, the question was answered.
The Mechanics called and said they'd have my car fixed the next morning. We went, waited around a lot and eventually, picked it up, shoved completely distraught cats into carriers and went to get gas. We hop into our respective gas guzzling vehicles and start up. The U-Haul goas VROOOM and the Explorer went Click Click Click. Oh my fucking god. I know many times in your life you have asked yourself if employees of gas stations can jump battery's on cars, I now know the answer to this, No. We had to use the U-haul to jump the Explorer, which was just a leeeeetle silly to say the least.
Finally we were off, and to make my final moments in Pittsburgh resemble my entire life there, I got off on the highway going the wrong way and we had to turn around. 8 hours later we arrived in Chicago without too much major damage. I am now here, I can only find one of my cats, but at this point I'm not that picky.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Pristine Beauty
I'm back from my cruise to Alaska. I had an amazing time, I'm having trouble getting pictures off of my camera so I haven't finished my cruise blog but I plan to do so soon.Today I found this article about Alaskan drilling CNN.com and I'm a little upset. I've been trying to take a little break from politics because I still haven't figured out how to keep my youthful idealistic outrage from affecting my mental health. But after my amazing trip to Alaska I just can't leave this alone.
Proponents of drilling in the Alaskan Oil Reserves are going to make an end run around environmentalists by including the measure to open up these reserves in a budget bill that cannot be filibustered. Though I understand that some people think the filibuster is an unfair exploitation of procedure, I disagree. Just because the majority of people think something is a good idea does not make them right. (SHOCKING!) And in this instance I think that no measures are too extreme to protect the untouched beauty of Alaska.
There is no way for me to explain in words or in pictures how awe inspiring the wilds of Alaska are. (And I really only got to see the touristy bits) There were gigantic mountains covered in forests completely untouched by man, and the peace as our ship floated through straigts past seemingly endless beauty was almost spiritual. Watching parts of a gigantic glacier crumble into the ocean with sounds like a thunderclap increased my respect for this amazing planet we are lucky enough to live on. I got to see otters, whales, killer whales, bald eagles and sea lions all in one place. And on our way out of Alaska there were dolphins following the ship into the sunset.
It was an amazing trip to say the least. Before the trip I would have said that drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge was obviously a bad idea. Now I think anyone who thinks that drilling in Alaska is a good idea should go there, see the animals, the glaciers, the mountains, and then if they still think it is a good idea they should be "humanely euthanized" because they are clearly idiots.
No amount of money can replace these animals or that amazing untouched wilderness. Once we start drilling there we can't ever take it back. The consequences of our actions will be felt not by humans but by the animals and by the earth. No amout of fuel will ever be able to fix the damage we have already done to this planet, can't we just leave a little bit of it alone?
I am once again disgusted by the selfishness of the human race.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Post 178
Is my last post from my office, my 178th post. Goodbye lame office, goodbye depressing grey cubicle, goodbye neighbor yelling in Turkish, goodbye working for a tobacco company, and best of all Goodbye DUMBASS!
Tomorrow I'm leaving on my cruise, WOOO! You can read all about it on my Cruiseblog which I will hopefully be able to update from the ship with snazzy pictures of glaciers and eagles and hopefully not to many lame tourist photos. We shall see.
Tomorrow I'm leaving on my cruise, WOOO! You can read all about it on my Cruiseblog which I will hopefully be able to update from the ship with snazzy pictures of glaciers and eagles and hopefully not to many lame tourist photos. We shall see.
Friday, July 15, 2005
I QUIT!
I quit my job yesterday. Dumbass was amazingly unsurprised, but as the idea that I was leaving so soon began sinking in he started shaking and his eyes got all wide and scared. He nearly crapped himself when I told him I'd be leaving next Thursday. He has spent the last day or so going back and forth between people trying to figure out what is going on and asking them what he should do. They had to have several hours of tedious meetings to decide if they need to hire someone else, and then another set of meetings to make sure I was going to do work my last week here. WOOOOOOOO And when I told big boss that Dumbass had told me to look for another job he nearly choked on his chewing tobacco.
I'm probably not going to be blogging much in the interim. (Not that I've been doing a bang up job lately at all) But I have tons of crap to do and every spare moment in front of a computer will be spent looking for an apartment, or a subletter. I am hoping to find a cheap sublet for august/september and then get a nicer place. Apartment hunting from 600 miles away is always an extra challenge and August 15 seems awefully soon since i'm spending 10 days in the alaskan wilderness with my family. AH!
I'll be photo-blogging my Alaskan cruise that starts next Saturday, I'll post the link to that when I get it set up, but there wont be much else until mid August. (there go my already pathetic traffic stats)
Thanks to everyone for their support and for listening to me bitch for the past 11 months. I really appreciate it. Hopefully this will be an improvement.
I'm probably not going to be blogging much in the interim. (Not that I've been doing a bang up job lately at all) But I have tons of crap to do and every spare moment in front of a computer will be spent looking for an apartment, or a subletter. I am hoping to find a cheap sublet for august/september and then get a nicer place. Apartment hunting from 600 miles away is always an extra challenge and August 15 seems awefully soon since i'm spending 10 days in the alaskan wilderness with my family. AH!
I'll be photo-blogging my Alaskan cruise that starts next Saturday, I'll post the link to that when I get it set up, but there wont be much else until mid August. (there go my already pathetic traffic stats)
Thanks to everyone for their support and for listening to me bitch for the past 11 months. I really appreciate it. Hopefully this will be an improvement.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Daily Show
Jon Stewart really reamed this guy. I couldn't stop giggling. I think he was a little harsh, but he made a good point. Why bitch about Barbara Streisand when there are people in power who are taking away our rights?
Dumbass v. Ninja: The Final Chapter
I'm moving to Chicago!!!!!! I got a job at a company there and I am set to start next month.
I haven't told Dumbass yet, that's tomorrow, but this is my final coup, basically screwing him over for staff. YAY.
If anyone wants to sublet a cozy apartment in Pittsburgh and or rent me a place in Chicago they should e-mail me.
I haven't told Dumbass yet, that's tomorrow, but this is my final coup, basically screwing him over for staff. YAY.
If anyone wants to sublet a cozy apartment in Pittsburgh and or rent me a place in Chicago they should e-mail me.
Getting High
Kids want to get high. And they are going to find ways to do it.
This article from CNN about the kid who died playing the "passing-out game" is interesting. I personally have very vivid recollections of playing this game with my band. But we certainly didn't call it anything even remotely as lame as the "passing-out game." However I do question this incident because normally hands were the only thing used to play this game. I mean a friend choking you is cool, but hanging yourself, that would be stupid, Duh.
Maybe they should just give the kids some pot instead. (Not to be insensitive to this kid's death, but he was obviously bored.)
Also, how's this for the least surprising test result ever:
You are Marijuana (aka: weed, dope, skunk,
chronic...). You are the most commonly used
drug in the world. You are powerful, stubborn,
moody, have a strong attitude. You are
classified as class (A and B) illegal drugs.
What kind of Drugs are you? and how that reflect your personality?
brought to you by Quizilla
This article from CNN about the kid who died playing the "passing-out game" is interesting. I personally have very vivid recollections of playing this game with my band. But we certainly didn't call it anything even remotely as lame as the "passing-out game." However I do question this incident because normally hands were the only thing used to play this game. I mean a friend choking you is cool, but hanging yourself, that would be stupid, Duh.
Maybe they should just give the kids some pot instead. (Not to be insensitive to this kid's death, but he was obviously bored.)
Also, how's this for the least surprising test result ever:
You are Marijuana (aka: weed, dope, skunk,
chronic...). You are the most commonly used
drug in the world. You are powerful, stubborn,
moody, have a strong attitude. You are
classified as class (A and B) illegal drugs.
What kind of Drugs are you? and how that reflect your personality?
brought to you by Quizilla
Open Source Politics
Still Alive
I'm still around, I was out of town over the weekend on a quest for a non sucky job and things have been busy this week. Hopefully I will have some insights sometime soon. But right now all I have is a desire for sleep.
Okay, this is the least surprising test result EVER.
Okay, this is the least surprising test result EVER.
Friday, July 08, 2005
BE REASONABLE!! the 7/7 edition
JD has posted a very nice post over at Cabal today. We agree again, armageddon will be upon us soon.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Terror Statistics (or Correlation is not Causation)
Here's a post at BTC News about the number of terror incidents reported in recent years. (Via Atrios)
It is an interesting post about the numbers and how they are arrived at. As with all statistics there are many possible data sources and Terrorist Attack has to be defined in certain terms in order to create an accurate picture. There is some debate about how things are defined and depending on how the statistic is defined we get different pictures of the situation. This isn't really surprising and I will leave this whole debate to people who know more about international terrorism than I do.
I would like to point out the final paragraph though under the graph
"The axis labels on this graph are hard to read, but the terrorism rate decerases steadily through Clinton's second term, bottoming out in the year 2000, and then it rises again dramatically. I think this graphis one of the best ilustrations I've seen yet of the difference between what Karl Rove described as the "liberal" and "conservative" approaches to combatting terrorism."
The graph itself shows a steady decline in terrorist attacks until 2000 and then they rise again quickly.
This final paragraph is one of the best illustrations I've seen yet of how not to use statistics. Though some may disagree with me I do not think that the President of the U.S. has that much of an affect on terrorism and this graph is not convincing evidence.
This graph and the conclusions drawn by the writer of this article is a great example of the thing that I must have explained 5 times in every lab I taught during college. Correlation does not imply Causation. Just because two things LOOK related does not mean that they ARE. There are mediating factors, one big one being the economy. It is my humble opinion that a less thriving economic athmosphere in the world could result in larger numbers of unhappy people who think it is a good idea to blow things up. And besides the economic factors there are any number of political and sociological factors that could have contributed to the sudden increase in terrorism. Some of these things may relate to US Foreign Policy and some of them may not.
For liberals to imply that the sudden rise in terrorism during Bush's term in office is because of conservative policies is simply false. Just like it is incorrect for conservatives to imply that the sudden increase is due to the Liberal policy of placating them until they gained enough power to strike hard and fast.
Just because I go to the bathroom everytime I'm in the bathroom doesn't mean that the bathroom causes me to pee. Get it? There are other factors at work here besides who is President. To discover what they are will require a much more detailed analysis of the terrorist activity levels, events leading up to 2000 and who exactly the terrorists are that are committing these acts. And even then we will still be guessing about what caused it.
I'll tell you whose fault it really is, the damned terrorists.
It is an interesting post about the numbers and how they are arrived at. As with all statistics there are many possible data sources and Terrorist Attack has to be defined in certain terms in order to create an accurate picture. There is some debate about how things are defined and depending on how the statistic is defined we get different pictures of the situation. This isn't really surprising and I will leave this whole debate to people who know more about international terrorism than I do.
I would like to point out the final paragraph though under the graph
"The axis labels on this graph are hard to read, but the terrorism rate decerases steadily through Clinton's second term, bottoming out in the year 2000, and then it rises again dramatically. I think this graphis one of the best ilustrations I've seen yet of the difference between what Karl Rove described as the "liberal" and "conservative" approaches to combatting terrorism."
The graph itself shows a steady decline in terrorist attacks until 2000 and then they rise again quickly.
This final paragraph is one of the best illustrations I've seen yet of how not to use statistics. Though some may disagree with me I do not think that the President of the U.S. has that much of an affect on terrorism and this graph is not convincing evidence.
This graph and the conclusions drawn by the writer of this article is a great example of the thing that I must have explained 5 times in every lab I taught during college. Correlation does not imply Causation. Just because two things LOOK related does not mean that they ARE. There are mediating factors, one big one being the economy. It is my humble opinion that a less thriving economic athmosphere in the world could result in larger numbers of unhappy people who think it is a good idea to blow things up. And besides the economic factors there are any number of political and sociological factors that could have contributed to the sudden increase in terrorism. Some of these things may relate to US Foreign Policy and some of them may not.
For liberals to imply that the sudden rise in terrorism during Bush's term in office is because of conservative policies is simply false. Just like it is incorrect for conservatives to imply that the sudden increase is due to the Liberal policy of placating them until they gained enough power to strike hard and fast.
Just because I go to the bathroom everytime I'm in the bathroom doesn't mean that the bathroom causes me to pee. Get it? There are other factors at work here besides who is President. To discover what they are will require a much more detailed analysis of the terrorist activity levels, events leading up to 2000 and who exactly the terrorists are that are committing these acts. And even then we will still be guessing about what caused it.
I'll tell you whose fault it really is, the damned terrorists.
London
Yay Kav's Okay!
I never know what to say when stuff like this happens. Anything I could say just seems so empty. So here is my best shot, don't laugh at me.
We're with you London.
Update: Kav has an excellent plan for the UK in responding to these attacks.
Update: There has been lots of stuff around about the date, and how it will be added to the list of infamous dates. 3.11, 9.11 and now 7.7. I can't help wondering if they intentionally stayed away from 7.11. (NOT that a terrorist attack on any day is okay obviously.)
I never know what to say when stuff like this happens. Anything I could say just seems so empty. So here is my best shot, don't laugh at me.
We're with you London.
Update: Kav has an excellent plan for the UK in responding to these attacks.
Update: There has been lots of stuff around about the date, and how it will be added to the list of infamous dates. 3.11, 9.11 and now 7.7. I can't help wondering if they intentionally stayed away from 7.11. (NOT that a terrorist attack on any day is okay obviously.)
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Screwing Up America
I was reading this interview with the author of 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. (Via Instapundit) Here's part one and Part two of the interview.
And I found it really interesting how partisan the book seemed to be from the interview. I haven't read it obviously, but the interview is all about how liberalism is hurting America and how liberal values etc. Maybe that is just my perception. This part in particular for some reasons struck me as odd;
LetÂ’s talk about the TV stuff in particular. As I said, this used to be called the Family Hour. Now, itÂ’s one cheap sex joke after another. But if you complain about that, youÂ’re a prude, or youÂ’re a square. You know what? This is why I come down harder on liberals than I do on conservatives, because the Left has decided to look the other way. They donÂ’t want to complain about this, because if they do, now theyÂ’re on the side of the morality police. Oh, they couldnÂ’t possibly want to be on that side.
I find the issue of TV censorship particularly confusing when it comes to political ideology. It seems to me that a TV station is a business, this business is run by showing programs and selling advertising on highly rated programs. So in order for a broadcasting group to be successful people have to chose to watch the shows that are being aired on their channel. It seems to me that this sort of thing will police itself no? No one wants to watch cheap sex jokes, then no one will watch it and the show will go off the air, right? Why should the government get involved in a private industry. And WHY are CONSERVATIVES the ones calling for government involvement in this industry. I thought there was something about fewer regulations on companies or something in their platform.
I dont think this particular issue has as much to do with being morality police as it does freedom of choice. If you don't want to watch crap, then don't watch crap and if no one watches crap then it wont be aired. It is actually that simple. If we have to regulate it though that means there is clearly someone who wants to watch smut on TV, so why not let them rot their brains with idiotic television while you and your kids do something productive. Because that's not nearly as fun as complaining about how liberals have taken over the media and are brainwashing your kids with sex and drugs.
I think that Goldberg is enabling the victim culture in our country by giving a list of 100 scapegoats for things that people in this country don't like. I don't think that the fate of America rests in the hands of 100 or even 1,000 people. (maybe that's my youthful idealism again, how do I turn that off?) Certainly not the 100 people listed in his book.
I don't think this country is screwed up. I think that this country is about freedom. And part of that freedom is the freedom to turn off the TV, turn off the gansta rap and say no. Part of it is also to turn on the TV and buy those rap CDs and smoke cigarettes in public. I think that Americans need to stop blaming other people for their problems and take a little responsibility. If someone is smoking next to you, then move, go to the non smoking bar. If a comedian says something offensive on the TV, then turn it off, don't watch it. If a politician does something you disagree with then vote for someone else. You get the idea.
I am tired of hearing people complain about things that they have the ability to control, like the television set. Industries like television are completely dependant on their consumers. If no one watches their shows they lose money because they can't sell advertising it is that simple. If you don't like it, don't buy it. And I am particularly tired of hearing conservatives blame liberals for the state of our great union when THEY are the ones running the country. It isn't like they need the Liberal's permission for anything at this point, now they are just kicking a guy when he's down.
The people who are really screwing up America aren't the pundits on MSNBC or the slutty girls on the Reality Shows, or even Rush Limbaugh. They are the people who are watching to the idiot pundits, watching the slutty girls and listening to Rush Limbaugh because they are giving power to these people and these industries.
Americans have more opportunities than other race in the world to make something of themselves, to become educated and to exercise power in their government. And the fact that they instead blame the media, or their political opposite for everthing that is wrong is the most screwed up part about america.
In the end America is only Screwing Itself.
And I found it really interesting how partisan the book seemed to be from the interview. I haven't read it obviously, but the interview is all about how liberalism is hurting America and how liberal values etc. Maybe that is just my perception. This part in particular for some reasons struck me as odd;
LetÂ’s talk about the TV stuff in particular. As I said, this used to be called the Family Hour. Now, itÂ’s one cheap sex joke after another. But if you complain about that, youÂ’re a prude, or youÂ’re a square. You know what? This is why I come down harder on liberals than I do on conservatives, because the Left has decided to look the other way. They donÂ’t want to complain about this, because if they do, now theyÂ’re on the side of the morality police. Oh, they couldnÂ’t possibly want to be on that side.
I find the issue of TV censorship particularly confusing when it comes to political ideology. It seems to me that a TV station is a business, this business is run by showing programs and selling advertising on highly rated programs. So in order for a broadcasting group to be successful people have to chose to watch the shows that are being aired on their channel. It seems to me that this sort of thing will police itself no? No one wants to watch cheap sex jokes, then no one will watch it and the show will go off the air, right? Why should the government get involved in a private industry. And WHY are CONSERVATIVES the ones calling for government involvement in this industry. I thought there was something about fewer regulations on companies or something in their platform.
I dont think this particular issue has as much to do with being morality police as it does freedom of choice. If you don't want to watch crap, then don't watch crap and if no one watches crap then it wont be aired. It is actually that simple. If we have to regulate it though that means there is clearly someone who wants to watch smut on TV, so why not let them rot their brains with idiotic television while you and your kids do something productive. Because that's not nearly as fun as complaining about how liberals have taken over the media and are brainwashing your kids with sex and drugs.
I think that Goldberg is enabling the victim culture in our country by giving a list of 100 scapegoats for things that people in this country don't like. I don't think that the fate of America rests in the hands of 100 or even 1,000 people. (maybe that's my youthful idealism again, how do I turn that off?) Certainly not the 100 people listed in his book.
I don't think this country is screwed up. I think that this country is about freedom. And part of that freedom is the freedom to turn off the TV, turn off the gansta rap and say no. Part of it is also to turn on the TV and buy those rap CDs and smoke cigarettes in public. I think that Americans need to stop blaming other people for their problems and take a little responsibility. If someone is smoking next to you, then move, go to the non smoking bar. If a comedian says something offensive on the TV, then turn it off, don't watch it. If a politician does something you disagree with then vote for someone else. You get the idea.
I am tired of hearing people complain about things that they have the ability to control, like the television set. Industries like television are completely dependant on their consumers. If no one watches their shows they lose money because they can't sell advertising it is that simple. If you don't like it, don't buy it. And I am particularly tired of hearing conservatives blame liberals for the state of our great union when THEY are the ones running the country. It isn't like they need the Liberal's permission for anything at this point, now they are just kicking a guy when he's down.
The people who are really screwing up America aren't the pundits on MSNBC or the slutty girls on the Reality Shows, or even Rush Limbaugh. They are the people who are watching to the idiot pundits, watching the slutty girls and listening to Rush Limbaugh because they are giving power to these people and these industries.
Americans have more opportunities than other race in the world to make something of themselves, to become educated and to exercise power in their government. And the fact that they instead blame the media, or their political opposite for everthing that is wrong is the most screwed up part about america.
In the end America is only Screwing Itself.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Ohhh!
So thats why I never get invited out anymore:
On the other hand, if no-one comes to your parties, and people don't want you at theirs, you might think a bit about the reason why: Might you not be using enough deodorant? Might people be alienated by your rhetoric, and as a result miss your substance? If they think you're a crank, might you actually be a crank, or at least someone who doesn't take the trouble to avoid seeming like a crank?
On the other hand, if no-one comes to your parties, and people don't want you at theirs, you might think a bit about the reason why: Might you not be using enough deodorant? Might people be alienated by your rhetoric, and as a result miss your substance? If they think you're a crank, might you actually be a crank, or at least someone who doesn't take the trouble to avoid seeming like a crank?
Monday, July 04, 2005
Jully 4th
Happy Fireworks!!
In honor of this year's Independance day I would like to declare indepenance from my blog and the opening of my Online Magazine (published via the blogger internet publishing tool of course, but not a blog). It seems to be the new trend these days.
In honor of this year's Independance day I would like to declare indepenance from my blog and the opening of my Online Magazine (published via the blogger internet publishing tool of course, but not a blog). It seems to be the new trend these days.
Friday, July 01, 2005
..........
Justice O'Connor has announced her retirement. (In case you've been sleeping all day.)
I've tried to be filled with hysteria and anxiety like everyone says good liberals should be doing. I don't really have the energy right now for hysteria. It would be like beating against a brick wall with my bare hands at this point.
I've also tried cautious optimism. While Bush and I agree on probably 0 things I thought maybe, just maybe he will pick someone good. That'd be great. I mean what a good time this would be for him to not fuck things up. It's not like the SC has been doing a bang up job lately anyway. I mean maybe he'll appoint someone who will be an actual improvement.
And then I thought about a lot of the things he's done recently. Like the great news we're getting from Afghanistan, a country barely registering in our country's memory. Or the constant squabbling over the Mess-O-Potamia. In fact it seems like we can't even appoint an ambassador to the UN without experiencing incompetence in some form or another.
And so now I have nothing left but Despair. Some Democrats are goign to make idiots out of themselves. Some republicans are going to be smug and laugh at the Democrats. And I'm going to sit here and wait for Bush to flush. This is so depressing.
I've tried to be filled with hysteria and anxiety like everyone says good liberals should be doing. I don't really have the energy right now for hysteria. It would be like beating against a brick wall with my bare hands at this point.
I've also tried cautious optimism. While Bush and I agree on probably 0 things I thought maybe, just maybe he will pick someone good. That'd be great. I mean what a good time this would be for him to not fuck things up. It's not like the SC has been doing a bang up job lately anyway. I mean maybe he'll appoint someone who will be an actual improvement.
And then I thought about a lot of the things he's done recently. Like the great news we're getting from Afghanistan, a country barely registering in our country's memory. Or the constant squabbling over the Mess-O-Potamia. In fact it seems like we can't even appoint an ambassador to the UN without experiencing incompetence in some form or another.
And so now I have nothing left but Despair. Some Democrats are goign to make idiots out of themselves. Some republicans are going to be smug and laugh at the Democrats. And I'm going to sit here and wait for Bush to flush. This is so depressing.
Dumbass v. #Ninja: Stirrings of Revolution
The revolution is beginning.
After two months of employing a divide and conquor strategy on his lowly minions Dumbass's dumbassness has come fully to light. While communicating to all three of his minions individualy Dumbass has forgotten 2 important things. The first one is that we are all working on his preformance review right now and he has pissed every single one of us off this week. The second thing is that women talk about everything. Apparently because of his disdain for these pathetic creatures he never bothered to learn that what you say to one woman invariably gets repeated to at least one other. And that when three of them work in close quarters it is unlikely that anything you say to one will remain said only to that one.
His incompetence lead him to keep my friend Turkishlady in the dark about the actual structure of the project after her return from maternity leave. He neglected to inform her that the responsibility for almost the entirety of the project now rested in the hands of CoolGirl (who is pregnant and is only here for another 4 months before she goes on maternity leave). This would be great for all concerned except that TurkishLady had been promised similar responsibility before she went on her maternity leave. And his inability to actually inform her of the current state of affairs has created a small problem.
Meanwhile he told CoolGirl that she needed to be "managing" us more. That is, taking e-mails we are already getting, forwarding them to us and telling us what to do with them, even though we already know perfectly well what to do. CoolGirl told him that this was micro-managing and that this was why I had blown up at him 2 months ago. He said that it wasn't why. Lord knows why else he would think that this #Ninja would unleash her fury upon him, but I'm sure it is something patronizing and wrong. He also told CoolGirl that TurkishLady and I had come to him with "complaints" about her management style. This is an out and out LIE. I most certainly NEVER said anything about CoolGirl to him. If I had a problem with CoolGirl I would more likely send her a note via homing pigeon than tell Dumbass about it.
After a conference today we are finally a united front against the tyranny and incompetance that is our boss. After the weekend there is a plan to speak to his supervisor about the ongoing problems. I predict that the shit will hit the fan. Should be fun.
Meanwhile I will be working on his preformance review.
After two months of employing a divide and conquor strategy on his lowly minions Dumbass's dumbassness has come fully to light. While communicating to all three of his minions individualy Dumbass has forgotten 2 important things. The first one is that we are all working on his preformance review right now and he has pissed every single one of us off this week. The second thing is that women talk about everything. Apparently because of his disdain for these pathetic creatures he never bothered to learn that what you say to one woman invariably gets repeated to at least one other. And that when three of them work in close quarters it is unlikely that anything you say to one will remain said only to that one.
His incompetence lead him to keep my friend Turkishlady in the dark about the actual structure of the project after her return from maternity leave. He neglected to inform her that the responsibility for almost the entirety of the project now rested in the hands of CoolGirl (who is pregnant and is only here for another 4 months before she goes on maternity leave). This would be great for all concerned except that TurkishLady had been promised similar responsibility before she went on her maternity leave. And his inability to actually inform her of the current state of affairs has created a small problem.
Meanwhile he told CoolGirl that she needed to be "managing" us more. That is, taking e-mails we are already getting, forwarding them to us and telling us what to do with them, even though we already know perfectly well what to do. CoolGirl told him that this was micro-managing and that this was why I had blown up at him 2 months ago. He said that it wasn't why. Lord knows why else he would think that this #Ninja would unleash her fury upon him, but I'm sure it is something patronizing and wrong. He also told CoolGirl that TurkishLady and I had come to him with "complaints" about her management style. This is an out and out LIE. I most certainly NEVER said anything about CoolGirl to him. If I had a problem with CoolGirl I would more likely send her a note via homing pigeon than tell Dumbass about it.
After a conference today we are finally a united front against the tyranny and incompetance that is our boss. After the weekend there is a plan to speak to his supervisor about the ongoing problems. I predict that the shit will hit the fan. Should be fun.
Meanwhile I will be working on his preformance review.
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