The Idiot Speaks

2006-02-18T14:52:00.000-06:00

Test...test...anyone out there? Stay tuned for more idiocy.

2005-07-26T00:50:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time! I'll try to post more often. We're adjusting to the cool weather out here and getting a feel for the city. I can't really pinpoint it right now, but something just feels right about this place.

2005-02-05T18:37:00.000-06:00

New blog about happenings on the Capitol:

Pink Dome

2005-02-05T18:23:00.000-06:00

What happened in the Capitol this week:

The wonderful Florence Shapiro responded to teachers lobbying for a pay raise with this gem:

"I think it's great that they have concerns and want to talk to us, but they could do that at our district offices or they can send us a message," Shapiro said. "In my opinion, it doesn't look professional to have this many teachers all up here at once like this."

Nice. Kind of like taking a week off to celebrate the inaugural. I'd also like to point out that the Texas Senate adjourned at
11:00 am on Thursday and they are due back in the chamber at 1:30pm on Monday. Do most Texans know that the Senate is always out on Friday's during session?

2005-01-25T18:26:00.000-06:00

There hasn't been much happening since the Republicans returned from DC. The Senate has passed a bunch of resolutions and lobbyists are crawling all over the Capitol. Tomorrow is the State of the State speech, which should allow Perry to launch his campaign for Governor in 2006.
Thursday is the hearing for Talmadge Heflin who is contesting his election lose against Hubert Vo. It should be interesting to see if the Republicans will overturn election results for one of their own. Stay tuned for more...

2005-01-19T07:26:00.000-06:00

With all the problems that Texas is having, where are your legislators? The Republicans took two weeks off to go party in DC. The people's servants indeed.

2005-01-03T19:01:00.000-06:00

There hasn't been anything exciting to write about lately, or I should say, I haven't been excited about anything in the last couple of weeks.

I'm working for the Legislature again, so I'm going to start posting all the rumors I hear around that place. It should be a fun session with school finance and workman's compensation set for debate.

2004-12-03T07:08:00.000-06:00

B and I watched a great documentary last night about the IMF and World Bank: Life and Debt

2004-11-16T07:11:00.000-06:00

The Flash

It happened one day, at a crossroads, in the middle of a crowd, people
coming and going.
I stopped, blinked: I understood nothing. Nothing, nothing about
anything: I did not understand the reasons for things or for people, it
was all senseless, absurd. And I started to laugh.
What I found strange at the time was that I never realized
before. That up until then I had accepted everything: traffic lights,
cars, posters, uniforms, monuments, things completely detached from any
sense of the world, accepted them as if there were some necessity, some
chain of cause and effect that bound them together.
Then the laugh died in my throat. I blushed, ashamed. I waved to
get people's attention. "Stop a moment!" I shouted, "there is something
wrong! Everything is wrong! We are doing the absurdest things! This
cannot be the right way! Where can it end?"
People stopped around me, sized me up, curious. I stood there in
the middle of them, waving my arms, desparate to explain myself, to
have
them share the flash of insight that had suddenly enlightened me: and I
said nothing. I said nothing because the moment I had raised my arms
and
opened my mouth, my great revelation had been as it were swallowed up
again and the words had come out any old how, on impulse.
"So?" people asked, "what do you mean? Everything is in its
place. All is as it should be. Everything is a result of something
else.
Everything fits in with everything else. We cannot see anything wrong
or
absurd."
I stood there, lost, because as I saw it now everything had
fallen into place again and everything seemed natural, traffic lights,
monuments, uniforms, towerblocks, tramlines, begggars, processions; yet
this did not calm me, it tormented me.
"I am sorry," I said. "Perhaps it was I who was wrong. It seemed
that way. But everything is fine now. I'm sorry." And I made off amid
their angry glares.
Yet, even now, every time (and it is often) that I find I do not
understand something, then, instincitively, I am filled with the hope
that perhaps this will be my moment again, perhaps once again I shall
understand nothing, I shall grasp the other knowledge, found and lost
in
an instant.

Italo Calvino
from /Numbers in the Dark///

via Seth

2004-11-06T10:00:00.000-06:00

Losing.

A lot of people I've talked to since the election are acting as if they've never lost before. Pffft. Come on. It's time to fight. Narrow your focus. Dedicate yourself...

sister, I won't let you go
I won't let them take you
into the silence of a past divided
brother, keep teaching the power
we only move together
away from the past that made us fall apart

I refuse to run and I will die
before I kneel in this life

systems of profits we punish
with love as our weapon
and unity
unity rebirth in fire

I refuse to run and I will die
before I kneel in this life

are we crucified
we defend our birthright
equality betrayed
and every hour a voice is lost
but every rage defies the cost
embrace the whole world as your kin
truth to truth and skin to skin
begin

searching for an end to the bullshit reactions
another way to separate us
and end to the bullshit of separation
another way to keep us from truth

-Strike Anywhere

2004-10-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Bonesy:

We have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise any one who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition. We have lost the power of even imagining what the ancient idealization of poverty could have meant: the liberation from material attachments, the unbribed soul, the manlier indifference, the paying our way by what we are or do and not by what we have, the right to fling away our life at any moment irresponsibly - the more athletic trim, in short, the moral fighting shape.
--Wlliam James

2004-10-11T21:41:00.000-05:00

Stop Sinclair

2004-09-10T20:43:00.000-05:00

TXU post from Sarah. Also, there is an article in the September 10 edition of the Texas Observer about TXU executives and their misdeeds.

2004-09-07T20:49:00.000-05:00

Not much to say lately. Dreaming of San Francisco.

2004-08-30T18:48:00.000-05:00

I've been watching CSPAN's camera span around Madison Square Garden and interview people at the Republican convention. I've come to two conclusions:

1) The Republican message: Bush makes decisions and sticks to them. Even if they are wrong. That's what leadership is about.
2) The Republicans are freaks. Did you see the guy in yellow suit with the funny top hat? What a hippie weirdo freak. These people are the fringe, not the middle. Long-haireds and weirdoes everywhere!

2004-08-29T17:40:00.000-05:00

Juan Cole has an informative article about the Pentagon spy case. Here's the link.

More to come soon about the MEK.

2004-08-28T09:25:00.000-05:00

A spy in the Pentagon is a really big deal isn't it? I haven't seen much coverage this morning as I browsed the morning cable news shows.

The Link

2004-08-26T23:03:00.000-05:00

Woohoo!

Update: Okay, this was a link to a story about the Iranian weightlifter that won a gold at the Olympics. Sorry for the confusion.

2004-08-16T22:03:00.000-05:00

Does anyone else think this Jonathan Idema thing is a little weird?

2004-08-16T21:52:00.000-05:00

Congratulations!

Brenna finished school last week! Wahoo!

2004-08-16T21:48:00.000-05:00

Bonesy Jones directed me to this wonderful interview by P.J. O'Rourke with Colin Powell: Link

2004-08-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

John Stewart just called Bob Novak a "douche bag for liberty". I'm going to try to use that term everyday from now until the election.

2004-08-10T19:15:00.000-05:00

Woohoo Sarah!

2004-08-10T19:08:00.000-05:00

I can't stop laughing at this picture: Link

Thanks to Atrios

2004-08-10T17:45:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading William Rehnquist's book All The Laws But One: Civil Liberties In Wartime.

This book was written in 1998. Rehnquist spends most of his time talking about Lincoln suspending the writ of habeas corpus by executive order during the Civil War. He also spends some time talking about the shutdown of newspapers during WWI and Japanese internment in WWII. Gives an interesting historical perspective of civil liberties during wartime from someone who is deciding some of these issues today.

Rehnquist doesn't wholly agree with the idea of Inter arma silent leges, "In time of war the law are silent". However, he does conclude with, "The laws will thus not be silent in time of war, but they will speak with a somewhat different voice".

Kinda scared me with that last quote, considering he's the Chief Justice and all.

I'll leave you with a quote from Lincoln:

"Are all the laws, but one, to go unexecuted, and the government itself to go to pieces, lest that one be violated?"

2004-08-07T23:15:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Bonesy Jones for this link: An Anarchist in the Hudson Valley in conversation: Peter Lamborn Wilson

2004-08-07T15:30:00.000-05:00

Sarah has a great post about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth:

Link

2004-08-07T12:41:00.000-05:00

We Report, You Decide

Democracy?

2004-08-07T11:52:00.000-05:00

The Daily Howler has a great post refuting the RNC talking points on John Kerry.

I have to admit that the movie OutFoxed inspired me to start demanding more from the media. I've been frequenting a few sites that monitor right-wingers in the media:
Media Matters
The Daily Howler
The Campaign Desk

These are now linked over in the "media watch" section.

I've already written CNN and MSNBC a number of times. I also wrote KVUE for their "news" segment on the Chillow.

2004-08-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

Saw a clip on the Daily Show about this: Obtaining Cheney Rally Ticket Requires Signing Bush Endorsement

I know I don't have the most sophisticated vocabulary and I'm not much of a writer, but I think I could have done better that this: "I, (full name) ... do herby (sic) endorse George W. Bush for reelection of the United States."

2004-08-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

The New Republic Online posted an article today called Going Long. It's a good read.

Optimism about the future feels good.

2004-08-03T07:26:00.000-05:00

In the current Harper's magazine there is a forum called Liberalism Regained. Harper's editors gathered some well-known progressives to talk about the future of the Democratic Party and progressive politics. It's an interesting read, and it makes me feel better that progressives are thinking about the future.

The impression I'm getting is that the conservatives have been working for the past 30 years, slowly chipping away at the progressive base of America to gain mainsream acceptance of their ideas. Maybe we need to lay out some sort of 30 year plan that has some coherent policy recommendations. Just a thought. I gotta go to work...

2004-08-02T20:22:00.000-05:00

I just love this picture that Atrios has posted: Link

2004-08-02T17:38:00.000-05:00

Everyone disagreed with me when I told them that the movie Buffalo '66 was a steaming pile of dung. Now I know why I hated it:

"(Vince) Gallo is now in New York and says he will attend the Republican National Convention later this month.

"I'm here trying to help out in any way that I can. I have made it clear that I am open in any way to promote and protect the Republican administration," he said."

The Link

via Atrios

2004-08-01T10:29:00.000-05:00

Zell Miller, "Democrat" from Georgia (who's speaking at the Republican convention) was on Meet the Press this morning. Here's some highlights (these aren't exact transcripts):

Miller: If John Kerry had his way in the 1980's, there would still be a Soviet Union and a Berlin wall, because he voted against all the weapons systems that Ronald Reagan wanted to build. (Russert doesn't call out this lie, but...)

Russert: Senator Miller, you have exactly the same voting record at John Kerry on those weapons systems throughout the eighties.

Miller: Pfft, well, ahhh...

That's just one gem. Later he started hammering on Kerry about gay marriage and flag burning. Russert brought up the fact that 3 other speakers (Arnold, Guiliani, McCain) are against the banning of gay marriage, are pro-choice, etc. Miller responded much the same way as before when presented with facts. I'm glad that Miller isn't running again.

2004-07-31T17:36:00.000-05:00

Three Campaign Reform Myths

McCain-Feingold is a good start. Then again, if it were up to me (this is just a start):

1) 6 week campaign cycle
2) No campaign ads
3) Weekly debates
4) Only public money (i.e. the little check box on your tax return)

2004-07-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

The convention watching party that Seth and Sarah put on was a great success. Sara posted some pictures from the event: Link
The turnout was fantastic at the convention party and it seems that the Democrats (at least locally) are really charged about the November elections.

This may be a bit premature, but I keep thinking about what's going to happen after the November elections. Let's assume that John Kerry wins the presidency. Then what? I know that the big donors (Soros, etc.) have been thinking beyond this election and how to shape the party. What are we doing on the local level to ensure that our voices are heard and to use the momentum to keep raising money and pushing a progressive agenda? I'm sure there are plenty of people thinking about this, but I haven't heard much.

2004-07-29T07:29:00.000-05:00

John Edwards wasn't bad last night. He seemed rushed for the first few minutes. The networks have shrugged off the conventions this year and you can tell that the big speakers are trying to fit their speeches into the time slot.

Don't forgert the convention watching party tonight at Pato's Tacos on 38 1/2 street (right past Fiesta on the east side)! Hope to see everyone there (all 3 people that read this blog).

2004-07-28T20:34:00.000-05:00

Yikes! $420 billion!

"The White House will project soon that this year's federal deficit will exceed $420 billion, congressional aides said, a record figure certain to ignite partisan warfare over President Bush's handling of the economy."

The link

2004-07-28T20:08:00.000-05:00

It seems that Iran had fallen off the map for a while. Does that mean that we've forgotten about the 9/11 commission report already?

I missed Obama Barak's speech at the Democratic convention last night, but I heard that it was exceptional. From what I've read, Mr. Barak was very inclusive and energizing. I did catch Bill Clinton's speak on Monday night. I don't know if it's because I've been subjected to GW's sophomoric speaking style (you see?), but in my opinion Bill knocked it out of the park. Eloquent.

Tonight John Edwards is slated to speak. I haven't heard a full speech of his. I'm looking forward to hearing his "Two Americas" speech.

Speaking of John Edwards, I had an argument with a couple of doctors last night about the effect of malpractice lawsuits on the price of their insurance premiums and the cost of health care. I have yet to see anyone present me with some statistics showing the correlation between malpractice jury awards and the cost of health care. I have seen that malpractice awards have been capped in California since the 1970's (proposition 139 was it?) yet insurance premiums did not go down until 1988 when the California legislature passed sweeping insurance reform.

2004-07-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks go to Scot for this link. Styled after early propaganda cartoons:

Brother, Can You Spare a Job

2004-07-20T07:13:00.000-05:00

Important News for Austin Women

2004-07-19T22:20:00.000-05:00

Halliburton is being subpoenaed for documents relating to its business operations in Iran. I'm starting to get worried now. Is Halliburton already there laying the framework for "rebuilding" the country after an invasion? I'm not sure that we can stomach another war and I just don't see the necessary resources to carry out an operation in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. Then again, when has the Bush administration looked before they jumped?

2004-07-18T14:59:00.000-05:00

It seems that the 9/11 commission is going to state that some of the hijackers had "passed through Iran" in late 2000 or early 2001. I realize that the regime in Iran has been and is probably still involved in some "terrorist activity", and I'm not going to defend the regime. The problem is when Time magazine prints the headline "9/11 Commission Finds Ties Between al-Qaeda and Iran", there are 3 things I see: 9/11, al-Qaeda, and Iran. A casual glance and you'd think that Iran was behind the attack. Maybe the hijackers crossed the Pakistani or Afghan border with Iran at some point. Does that mean that the Iranian people were complicit in the 9/11 attacks and that we should invade the country and possibly kill tens of thousands of Iranians as well as thousands of American troops? I know how insane (I knew there was a reason that I removed his link from my site) that sounds, but I'm afraid that this is the sort of logic that the Bush administration and the neo-conservatives use to create their foreign policy. Afterall, these cold warriors would love to have a nation-state to blame. I hope I'm completely wrong and they realize that there is a wonderful democratic movement growing in Iran and "containment" of the regime is the best policy.

On another note, I started reading Gore Vidal's Imperial America. Vidal is not only entertaining, but his vast knowledge about American imperial history gives a rather unique view of our current excursions into the Middle East.

2004-07-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

Will Delay pay? The Link

2004-07-08T20:18:00.000-05:00

"Kenny Boy" might have to pay.

I wonder if his old friend is going to help him out in an election year.

2004-07-06T20:22:00.000-05:00

"The 71-year-old judge declared that members of the public should, without regard to their political views, expel Mr. Bush from office in order to cleanse the democratic system"

Here's an article about a rather controversial speech by Guido Calabresi, a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals

The Link

Thanks to Howard Bashman

2004-07-06T07:26:00.000-05:00

Read this last night and wanted to share:

"It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature, that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect of getting anything by it; nay, absolute monarchs will often make war when their nations are to get nothing by it, but for the purposes and objects merely personal, such as thirst for military glory, revenge for personal affronts, ambition, or private compacts to aggrandize or support their particular families or partisans. These and a variety of other motives, which affect only the mind of the sovereign, often lead him to engage in wars not sanctified by justice or the voice and interests of his people. But, independent of these inducements to war, which are more prevalent in absolute monarchies, but which well deserve our attention, there are others which affect nations as often as kings; and some of them will on examination be found to grow out of our relative situation and circumstances."

Federalist Paper #4, John Jay writing as Publius

2004-07-04T11:19:00.000-05:00

I decided to change the template for the blog. Let me know what you think.

When changing templates Blogger didn't let me save anything, so all the comments have been lost. Sorry about that...

2004-07-02T18:28:00.000-05:00

Wow

2004-06-30T22:01:00.000-05:00

Looks like someone thinks they know the name of the person who wrote Imperial Hubris: The Link

2004-06-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

I've got an invite for a Gmail account, if any one wants it, just send me an email.

2004-06-28T07:03:00.000-05:00

Last week, one of my co-workers approached me and asked if I would teach him Java. He thought we could build a application that would make our jobs a little easier and I could teach him Java in the process.

You see, we have no administrator privileges on our machines, so we can't install anything. There is a certain application that most people in my group used in the past, but has been taken away because we aren't allowed to have any software that isn't approved by management and since you have to download and install this particular application, it's considered "dangerous". He thought we could build an application that had the same functionality that the "illegal" software had.

We started to draw up a design. We realized that it would make our lives easier if we could use the Sun Microsystems NetBeans IDE to develop the app. The IDE is free to download. When we approached IT about having in installed, they said we needed approval, but they didn't see any problem. They emailed our boss explaining the situation. I bet you can guess our boss' response. "I don't approve of this." That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a show of her power. We were going to build a *free* application, in our spare time, when most people surf the net. I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable reason for the denial.

2004-06-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

Imperial Hubris sounds interesting.

Article about the book: Link

2004-06-27T11:42:00.000-05:00

B and I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 yesterday.

If you've had your eyes and ears open for the last 4 years there isn't going to be any new information presented. It was a little overwhelming to see the last four years of G.W.'s presidency wrapped into a nice two hour package. I'm not going to give a review of the film, but I do recommend that you see it. However, there are two scenes in particular that I can't seem to shake.

I recently read Bob Woodward's book, Plan Of Attack, and he describes the mood and meetings that are going on in the White House the night of March 19th 2003 when the president gave the order to bomb a farm south of Baghdad where the CIA felt Saddam Hussein, his sons, and their families where sleeping for the night. Woodward writes that Gerson, Bush's speech writer, felt Bush looked "...subdued and a little pale" and "a little bit burdened by all of this" about 30 minutes before the giving the speech that combat operations are starting. In Moore's film, he shows the tape of the few minutes before Bush gives this speech on March 19th. Bush is making faces at the people in the room and acting rather jovial. He doesn't look "subdued" or "burdened" at all. I'm starting to question some of the information that Woodward was given.

The second scene that I can't seem to shake is when Bush is told that the WTC has been hit and that we are "under attack". Strip away all the music and the voice over that Moore added, and you just can't help but notice...Bush is confused. At least for the seven minutes that he sat there with the children in the classroom, he does look he doesn't know what to do. Maybe I'm asking too much from a president, but I'd like to believe that most people would have told the children in the classroom that they should keep reading and that the president needs to take care of some business, walk outside, and get to fucking work!

2004-06-26T10:37:00.000-05:00

Scot sent this to B and I today. I thought it was worth sharing. Thanks Scot.

"The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, 'What is the use of climbing Mount Everest ?' and my answer must at once be, 'It is no use'. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It's no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for."

George Leigh Mallory, 1922.

2004-06-23T22:03:00.000-05:00

Sun Myung Moon thinks he's the messiah.
Awesome

2004-06-22T21:22:00.000-05:00

This is an article from the New York Times Magazine that I found rather interesting: Link

I agree with Atrios about having "mixed feelings" concerning Michael Moore, but I found his exchange with Katie Couric satisfying:
Link

2004-06-19T11:14:00.000-05:00

I haven't had much to say lately, but I'm going to try to post more often.

The lead headline in the Houston Chronicle claims that Ken Lay is going to be indicted. It's amazing to me that Mr. Lay hasn't been indicted yet. Is he going to have to do some real time, or is it going to be a slap on the wrist?

On a personal note, I turned down the offer from the $30k a year law school, and accepted admission at a school that offered a big scholarship. We're still leaving for San Francisco, but it looks like I won't start school until the fall 2005. A few more months in Austin isn't a bad thing.

2004-06-15T10:24:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Atrios for the link. Thanks to Liberal Oasis for pointing out the republicans blatant hypocrisy

2004-06-10T20:22:00.000-05:00

Purple Rain

Last month, B called to tell me that Prince was coming to San Antonio and she wanted to get tickets. I wasn't all that excited about driving down to San Antonio on a weeknight, and I knew it was going to be expensive. She was adamant about going to the show, so I agreed to get tickets and attend with her. I like some of Prince's music, but I wasn't so sure about going to see him in concert.

Yesterday, I left work early so we could try and get a jump on the traffic on our way to San Antonio. It rained the entire way and my mood was turning sour. When we finally arrived at the SBC center, they charged us $10 for parking. Now, this really pissed me off because I knew that most of the money to build the SBC center came from a local sales tax increase and an increase in bus fair. Reluctantly, we paid and drove in.

After the trek from the parking lot to the entrance (and getting rained on the whole way), we got in line and handed a ticket taker our tickets. She scanned our tickets and informed us that we needed to report to guest services. As we walked in a young lady handed both B and I a copy of Prince's new CD. We were told that everyone gets a copy of the new CD with the price of admission. When we arrived at guest services, we overheard that certain parts of the stadium had been closed and we were to be moved to new seats. All we could afford was the mid-range section so I started to get a little irritated knowing they were going to move us up even further. We handed the guest services worker our tickets and received our new tickets.

We walked all the way around the stadium to find our section. We finally reached our section...Section 22. We walked in to the stadium and realized (you know where this is going don't you?) there was a sign for section 22 and the arrow pointed down towards the stage. We walked down until we reached the fifth row from the stage. The seats were elevated so we were eye-level with the performers. I was shocked. These were phenomenal seats.

When Prince came out on stage the crowd came to life and you could feel the surge of energy in the stadium. He played some new songs as well as a few old favorites. Then, each member of his band was introduced and they performed a solo. I hear Prince call out Maceo Parker's name. I realize that Maceo Parker is playing in front of us. He's backing up Prince tonight. After the solos, Prince returns and he plays some of his popular hits with an acoustic guitar with no backup. It was amazing. He worked the crowd like a master, exclaiming at one point that "their ain't no lip syncing going on tonight, you didn't come to the circus". His band returned and they played for another hour, returning for a real encore and closed with Purple Rain. Almost three hours. Truly amazing.

I can proudly say that I am now a Prince fan. Thanks B.

2004-06-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

Is it safe to assume that George Tenet will write a book in the next few months that points out all the mistakes the Bush administration has made in the last four years?

I've already written the "official" response to the book:

Fox News Exclusive:

George Tenet is just a disillusioned former employee on the brink of insanity. John Ashcroft is looking forward to opening an investigation as to the use of classified documents in the book. Tenet wasn't really in the loop. President Bush may have spoken to him once at a luncheon, but that's the only encounter they ever had.
It is also believed that Tenet is now working for the John Kerry campaign.

Right.

As an aside, The Onion daily calendar headline for June 3rd reads: "Casual One-Nighter Gives Strom Thurmond Change of Heart On Homosexuality Issue".

Awesome

2004-06-03T19:07:00.000-05:00

The New York Times is reporting that investigators are administering polygraph examinations to civilian employees at the Pentagon to see who disclosed classified intelligence to Ahmad Chalabi.

Why waste the money on an investigation and polygraphs?

I've got the list right here:

George Bush
Dick Cheney
Donald Rumsfled
Tom Delay

There has been speculation that Iran has been pulling the strings behind Chalabi and that Iran has gained access to highly sensitive documents. Is the Bush administration going to invade Iran before the election? I hope not.

2004-06-03T07:16:00.000-05:00

Fear

It seems that the most prevalent emotion these days is fear. Tom Friedman was on the Daily Show last night and he believes that the US is hated throughout the world because we export fear. Everyone is afraid of us.

I started reading The Paper Chase this week. Some people say that it's a accurate portrayal of the first year of law school. Maybe I need to watch the movie because the book spends more time on the love affair, not the experience as a 1L.

2004-06-03T06:39:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in a while.

I ended up turning down USF...but I got accepted to another school in San Francisco with a big scholarship and entrance into their honors program. See you in SF!

2004-05-27T07:23:00.000-05:00

synchronicity

On my lunch break I was reading an article in Vanity Fair about conspiracy theories and theorists (Alex Jones, Tex Marrs, etc). I hear a helicopter flying overhead, when it comes into sight, it's a black unmarked Apache. Jung was right.

2004-05-25T07:30:00.000-05:00

A Google search on Law School Debt reveals that many people are having this problem:
Michigan Bar

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At least I'm not alone...

2004-05-24T21:27:00.000-05:00

The wife called me at work on Friday to tell me that I got a phone call from the University of San Francisco School of Law. They wanted to offer me admission for the Fall 2004. Initially, I was excited, but then I thought about the cost of tuition...$30000 a year.

I called the Dean of admissions and asked about scholarships. He let me know that I wouldn't be getting any the first year, but with some luck and lots of work, I could get some for years 2L and 3L. Is it worth it? Should I take the plunge and burden my wife and I with all this debt. Fuck, what a gamble.

2004-05-19T07:25:00.000-05:00

Kristof writes in the Times today:

The bottom line is that we could soon have a pro-American Islamic democracy as a beacon for hope in the Middle East —in Tehran, not Baghdad. The risk is that we'll blow it.

The last four years have proven to me that if Bush stays in office, we will blow it.

2004-05-18T17:57:00.000-05:00

During my lunch hour I sit in my car on the roof of the parking garage and listen to KMFA 89.5. I find that it helps me deal with how much I don't like my job. Today they played Handel's Organ Concerto Opus 7. Now I don't know the first thing about classical music, but this was a beautiful piece. It was one of those unexpected perfect moments.

2004-05-15T10:29:00.000-05:00

Cold Turkey
By Kurt Vonnegut
In These Times

2004-05-15T07:58:00.000-05:00

Kristof's final report from Iran. I do disagree with some of his opinions, but I don't feel like nitpicking. The Link

2004-05-14T21:34:00.000-05:00

A few friends and I have a weekly ritual of playing basketball down in south Austin. We chose the location because over the last few months we've never seen anyone else there. This week, after a few games of two-on-two, a group of gentleman started shooting at the other end of the court. They wanted to play 5-on-5, full court, but needed one more player. My friends were about finished up playing and wanted to leave, so I decided to stick around and play.

After brief introductions with my new team, we started to play at a rather frantic pace. Midway through our game, I noticed another young gentleman walking, with basketball in hand, towards the court. When we were at one end of the court, he would shoot baskets at the other end while he waited to play next.

Towards the end of the game, the opposing team had a fast-break, and the young man was unaware of the bulls running towards him. He noticed a second too late, and one of the players rushing down the court bumped into him as the young man tried to scramble off the court. The player that bumped him became irate. He yelled at the young man to "get the fuck out of the fucking way when you see us coming down the fucking court". I felt like it wasn't that big of a deal and a quick apology would have diffused the situation, but the young man didn't choose the path of least resistance. He started to yell back. I decided to interfere and try and calm everyone down because at this point everyone on the court was surrounding the young man. Before I knew it, someone had thrown a punch and knocked him down and blood was pouring out from under his eye. I was shocked. People started to get their keys and water jugs and walk to their cars as I helped the young man up. I advised him to wash his eye off so it wouldn't get infected. He replied, "fuck you, I don't get infections" and then mumbled something about how he knew he could take a punch.

It's been a few days since all this happened and I'm still amazed at how quickly something as trivial as a pick-up basketball game can turn into a violent situation. What the hell is going on?

2004-05-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

Another interesting article from Kristof: Link

2004-05-11T18:12:00.000-05:00

Second week at the new job. I'm still in training until the end of the week.

Everyone in the company is required to have a chat client installed on their machine with everyone in the company on their "buddy list". Today, one of the managers sent out a company wide directive that you *cannot* have special characters in your display name on the chat client. Is it really that big of a deal? This place is insane.

I also found out that I'll be taking a test on the training materials at the end of the week. They let us know that if we don't pass the test, we will be escorted off the premises on Friday. I'm thinking about failing on purpose to see if they really do it.

2004-05-11T18:02:00.000-05:00

Seth posted this yesterday about the picture we've all seen from Abu Ghraib prison:

"Does anyone else get the feeling from the rhetoric coming out of the Bush administration that they're more upset that anyone found out about the abuses than that they actually occurred?"

As I listened to Rumsfeld before the Armed Services committee, I got that exact feeling.

Seth also brought my attention to an excellent column from George Will: Link

2004-05-10T20:39:00.000-05:00

Tired today. I just finished grading and posting grades for the classes I taught this semester. The grades were much better than last semester.

I'm not a teacher anymore...I miss it already.

More to come soon. The new job is getting more absurd everyday and I can't wait to write about it!

2004-05-07T17:57:00.000-05:00

Today was "service award Friday" at work. We all gathered in a room and the head of Human Resources went through this wonderful Powerpoint presentation and handed out the monthly "service awards".

As we all filed into the room I noticed a young gentleman that looked a little "off". I'll have to ask the misses, but I'm pretty sure he could be diagnosed with Asperger's. This gentleman was to receive an award for two years of "service" to the company. When they called his name to receive his award, I saw a group his co-workers mocking him as he walked to the front to receive the plaque. I feel like an ass for not saying anything myself, but the part that bothers me the most is that the whole executive team was in the room and saw this happening and didn't reprimand anyone. Fucking little Rumsfelds.

2004-05-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

Tired. More to come soon.

2004-05-05T19:36:00.000-05:00

I've been reading A People's History of the United States and came across this quote shouted by people four days after the Declaration of Independence was read and the "common folk" were informed that they were to be drafted into the army, but that the wealthy could avoid the draft by paying for a substitute: "Tyranny is Tyranny let it come from whom it may."

2004-05-05T19:12:00.000-05:00

Third day at the new job.

Shortly after I arrived in the training room, the receptionist walked in and handed the trainer a note. The trainer asked me, "Did you park in a spot marked 'Reserved for (the name of the company I work for)?'" "Yes", I replied. "Those are only for executives, could you please move you car?" "Now?", I replied. "Yes, now", she said.

When I reached my car, I noticed that there were 10-15 empty spaces right next to my car which were not marked. I was flabbergasted.

Later, we were shown how to clock in and out on their web-based time clock. We where then informed that if we were more than ten minutes late, it was considered an "occurrence". Eleven "occurrences" is grounds for termination. I asked if my parking in the executive spot was an "occurrence". I was relieved to find that it wasn't...this time. In the future it would be.

I hate the corporate world. It's modeled after a Stalinist regime, and I've chosen to be there. Well, at least they can't legally kill me...yet.

2004-05-05T18:44:00.000-05:00

Web Sparks Revolution in Persian

2004-05-05T07:14:00.000-05:00

Those Friendly Iranians

The conservatives are willing to admit that we're not all blood thirsty terrorists. When it comes to Iran, they need to take a hands-off approach and let the current regime fall on it's own. People like Mohsen Kadivar and Abdul-Karim Soroush are slowly and deliberately leading the transition from theocracy to democracy. I know that many Iranians are hoping that the regime will fall tomorrow and then everything will go back to normal. I for one am not ready for the Shah's son to return to Iran and try to rule again.

2004-05-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

Have you seen this? Thanks to Jenny.
The Link.

2004-05-04T18:59:00.000-05:00

Will it pass? The Link.

2004-05-04T17:04:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen it already: Link.

That's right, George F. Will is turning on the neo-cons.

One note:

"What does such careless talk say about the mind of this administration? Note that the clearly implied antecedent of the pronoun "ours" is "Americans." So the president seemed to be saying that white is, and brown is not, the color of Americans' skin. He does not mean that" (my italics).

I disagree. That's precisely what Bush believes.

2004-05-04T16:34:00.000-05:00

Scot sent this to me recently: Parecon.
I've read a few essays on Parecon a while ago and I can't remember much about it. It seems compelling though.

I have read the first few chapters of this book and found it interesting: Gangs of America

2004-05-03T21:26:00.000-05:00

If I were an editor, I'd run this on the front page tommorow. The Link.

2004-05-03T16:38:00.000-05:00

I started my new job today. When I was offered the job, they wanted a background check, a drug test, and a credit check. The only thing they didn't ask for is a blood test. They also asked me to sign a notification that they will monitor all my activity on their networks. I've decided that I won't do any personal work on their system. Is this what it takes to get a job at your local, friendly corporation these days?
The only thing I could think of since I woke up this morning is a song by Slim Gaillard on the soundtrack of the movie Absolute Beginners.
It's called "Selling Out". The truth hurts.

2004-05-01T20:30:00.000-05:00

You think the British and French will start returning the artifacts they stole?
The Link

2004-05-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

Bill O'Reilly is an idiot, via Atrios. The Link

2004-05-01T11:19:00.000-05:00

The British are caught also. The Link

2004-04-30T13:11:00.000-05:00

Last day of freedom and I can do is post to this damn blog. Maybe it was a bad idea to put it up, it's consuming all my time.

Anyway here's a comic I enjoyed yesterday.

2004-04-30T12:56:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you've heard about this.
No, this is not representative of all US soldiers. The story is important though.

Update: Bush Response

2004-04-30T12:20:00.000-05:00

I don't usually find Mad TV that funny, but I liked this video from 2000. The link.

2004-04-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

Senator John McCain's letter to Sinclair broadcasting for their decision to preempt Nightline tonight where Ted Koppel will read the names of all the fallen American soldiers in Iraq. The Link

2004-04-30T10:20:00.000-05:00

When I was in third grade my grandmother came to visit us from Iran. Overwhelmed with excitement, I informed my teacher of the visit. My teacher thought it would be a wonderful experience for the class if I asked my grandmother about her impressions when she first saw the Statue of Liberty when she arrived in the United States. Not realizing that my teacher thought immigrants and foreigners were still arriving in boats in New York harbor, I asked my grandmother about her impressions when she first saw the Statue of Liberty. Luckily, she had arrived via Newark airport and had seen Lady Liberty from the plane. My grandmother thought for a moment, and then replied, "I don't know, I didn't really think about it." I was rather disappointed by her response.

When I arrived to my classroom the next day, I wasn't particularly excited about reporting my findings to the class. I wanted to lie and give some inspirational anecdote, but I've never been a very good liar. My grandmother's response confused my teacher as much as it had me. She asked, "Is that all?!?". Yup, that's all.

Maybe my grandmother remembers this gentleman.

2004-04-30T10:16:00.000-05:00

Maybe listening to the "other" side will start to create a more civil and reasonable discourse. I've provided some links to right-wing blogs that I read. Though I almost always disagree with them, I am trying to listen.

2004-04-29T19:45:00.000-05:00

Link

2004-04-29T18:22:00.000-05:00

It was my last day teaching at San Antonio College today. Teaching remedial students was an eye-opening experience. Most of my students were recent high school graduates, and many of them had children of their own. I can't imagine trying to raise a child, work, and attend classes at that age. They don't have the time to come to office hours for extra help, they miss class a great deal, and they're tired. Even with all the frustrations, teaching was by far the most satisfying work I've ever done. When I saw my students succeed, it made me feel like I've actually done something important.

After my last class, I had lunch with one my students who is a Vietnam Vet. This was the second class he took with me at SAC, and when I first saw him in my class, I felt a little uncomfortable about teaching a student considerably older than me. Imagine what he thought when he first saw me! We developed a friendship after I talked about my friend's brother who was killed in action in Iraq last year. He approached me and we started talking about Iraq, politics, and Vietnam. Interesting fellow.

I hope that I can someday return to teaching. On Monday I start my soul less computer job while we wait to hear from a couple more law schools. Fingers are still crossed for the big scholarship money to come through.

By the way, if you still haven't listened to the NPR special on Nelson Mandela, you're missing a great work. It's all online and the last part in the five part series is tomorrow.