Watchin' a bit of Bush on the 'ol internet today. Why do I make myself angry like this?
From his speech on the No Child Left Behind program at Hyde Park Elementary in Florida
On posting internet results for testing in public schools:
"by the end of this year ( O - Four ), every school will have their results posted"
|I find this highly doubtful, but we'll see what happens. If they aren't posted by the end of the year, W can always just blame congress for not getting the legislation through quickly. And everyone knows that quickness is the most important factor when making decisions.|
Also fun:
"I spent a lot of time on the security of our nation... One aspect of that security is to deal with people who hate America it's to go get, em before they get us."
This is just sick and twisted. It's not wrong to hate someone.
Worse than listening to W speak is having to listen to him snicker when he thinks he's being funny... lord it's awful Click Here to watch for yourself.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Monday, September 29, 2003
I looked a bit more into this candle-related death resulting from the blackout in Italy, talk about an epidemic!
I wonder how many have died thus far... and to think these evil candles have been around since wax and fire were placed together.
Jobs and Growth
Being a "job-seeker" myself and experiencing this economy make me especially wary of fun misstatements made by W. Remember in April when W. went to a steel mill to talk about his Jobs and Growth package?
Well the steel mill he spoke at just announced it was going to cut 900 jobs last Thursday.
Awesome.
I was made aware of this fun stuff through the Daily Misleader, a fun daily e-mail of different misstatements (lies) doled out by our fearless leader.
Power outage in all of Italy (save Sardinia)
4 deaths resulting:
(2) elderly women fall down staircases.
(1) elderly woman lights her nightgown on fire with a candle.
(1) elderly woman dies in a car accident resulting from a dark intersection.
A secret French and Swiss plot against elderly Italian women, or just plain sad?
Vouchers
Are vouchers just an excuse to not give funding to public schools?
"If you devote money to a system that's supposed to educate your children and it fails, you have a problem."
This is supposed to be an argument for sending kids to charter schools. It sounds more like an argument to give money to help public schools. What's wrong with these people? And isn't it interesting that so many conservatives are supporting a program that gives such a small amount of money that most of the charter schools would end up being "religiously affiliated"?
"who knows better than parents where their kids should go?" - says DC Mayor A. Williams, but A. Williams was opposed by the school board in DC and went ahead with the voucher idea anyway. Hmmm... I'm too busy to try to find links to all of this now, but for those of you who live somewhere that has representatives in the house and senate, please call and tell them that they have no right to be voting on DC affairs.
Friday, September 26, 2003
Hey, everybody (all two people reading this thing) donate to my AIDS walk campaign here: Walker Whitman AIDS walk 2003 every little bit helps and it's for a good cause, blah, blah, blah... you know the drill.
On the Subject of Illegal Downloading
Why this subject? Because all of a sudden everybody is freaking out about pirating music and I thought it would be nice to zip around on Google News to look for related stuff.
66 years of Piracy dropped
RIAA's original press release claims that they'll give amnesty to people who admit their illegal downloading before the RIAA finds them. Maybe we (I mean... ummm... people...) should all just get signed and notarized affidavits and present them as soon as they're subpoenaed, or just send it in the mail the day the subpoena comes. Another article presents a pretty good picture of how useless the RIAA's strategy is (i.e. taking 2000+ years to sue everyone). This one says some interesting stuff about the whole situation in general and makes a good analogy to copying TV shows on you VCR and copying mp3s.
At least somebody is out there to help. The eff is representing some of the people targeted by RIAA. If you get caught, I'd suggest giving htem a call. And at least there's one person fighting back.
What I really wonder is what the artists think about all of this. Granted, the record companies are the ones producing and distributing their music, but the artists don't seem to be talking too much at the moment.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
More Stupid News
Guantanmo prisoner charged with "furnishing unauthorized food. To wit, baklava pastry" (see the first link). Among other things, Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi was also charged with espionage, treason, la, la, la... but I really think the baklava is too awesome. I didn't know you could get baklava in Cuba. From what I understand, Cubans are only rationed five eggs a month. Aren't there eggs in Baklava? Well, it turns out there aren't any eggs... so that's good to know. I still wonder why the "terrorists" that they're keeping in Guantanamo want greek pastries and where they get walnuts, almonds, cloves, butter and sugar.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Ode to Guy at Grosvenor
Oh toothless guy from Grosvenor
we met and discussed many things
your breath did stink
your teeth did miss
and with me your memory clings
We conversed for quite some time
topics ranged and topics ran
discussing food
and discussing sport
your bottle never left your hand
At first we began with how-do-you dos
then the subject turned to food
you exclaimed that quiche was good
and that people don't eat beets as much as they should
Then we talked football
and you complained of tv
and how you were bored with just basic
and had no electricity
Without your tv
you went to the bar for some fun
and while telling the tale
drank a mini of bourbon
"Spaghetti's gotta have sausage,
and it's an Italian dish"
Your words bounce around in my head
like nine stupid fish.
When the train came
not one tear was spilled
we took separate cars
and we were both thrilled
You were thrilled
'cuz you were sauced
I was thrilled
'cuz you were lost.
Now this is news.
Check out Electric Soft Parade if you have a spare ear.
An ode to the guy I met at the Grosvenor Metro Station last night is forthcoming... I just need to sit around and write it.... see above to know if I ever got to it.
I've been reading a little too much news today:
Domestic
Hooray for school Vouchers! Now kids can learn from the all-knowing bible instead of those silly text books that the public schools can't afford anyway!
Then again, Espresso at Dunkin' Donuts is a fantastic idea.
International
First Afghanastan, then Iraq, look who's in the middle: Iran with 3 brand new Missles that don't go very far and don't blow much up. I wonder when they're getting a dose of "freedom" provided by W + Hawks.
Moron
Listened to Bush's address to the UN
"Leaders will see what is possible in the heart of the middle east"
Wasn't that the big plan all along? To use Iraq as an example of our power and even a starting point for an eventual war on all things non-American?
A few other questions that I've had floating around:
What happened to N. Korea?
What happened to Liberia?
Did Bush really need to mention "Rape Rooms", "Sex Slaves" and the "sex trade" in a speech asking for UN help in Iraq?
Also found a site chock full of Unbelievable conservative views that deserves to be looked at objectively, subjectively and with baffled looks of disbelief.
Okay, back to aimless work that never ends.
Monday, September 22, 2003
Was about to link to a couple of sites and realized that I should just leave a link to the site that links to all of them... I just said the word "link" a lot.. Que Nerd!
memepool.com
I highly suggest checking out destroy tropical hurricanes by nuking them and the falling down stairs simulator which requires a download, but has an amusing site anyway.
And this band must be awesome with the ethnic diversity they've got going.
Back at work... A nice change from a hurricane induced 4-day weekend. What am I working on? Reading stuff online, of course.
So... If 69 percent of people think that Saddam was directly or indirectly involved in 9/11, and 69 percent of people thought it was a good idea to go to war with Iraq and it turns out that Saddam wasn't directly involved , does that mean that those 69 percent would take back their war-vote and we'd have a 0%?
More polling on iraq here
Hmmm... Not that I want this stupid blog to be political, but it's what I'm thinking right now so here it is all typed up and pretty.
Saturday, September 20, 2003
That bar was ridiculous! $7.25 for a gin and tonic?!? Why the hell did I order one of those, anyway? I'm not that high class. The food was cheap, but the drinks were retarded.
Attempt to park in Adams Morgan post-expensive-place proved totally ridiculous. Ended up at some forty-something bar in downtown. Sad, sad, sad.
Today I found out that my night vision is terrible. I'm off to eat some carrots... even though their "improvment of night vision" is a total lie... hmm... as long as I'm ingesting lies, I think I'll have one of those muscular building Miller High Lifes that I've got in the fridge. Man that beer is cheap.
Friday, September 19, 2003
Thursday, September 18, 2003
The storm continues, unabated and downgraded to a tropical storm... this isn't the tropics... but that's beside the point. I'm tired of all the hype that surrounds everything. How can the media sit there and lie to me, telling me that doom is impending, when I know that it won't be worse than a random thunderstorm?
I'm pretty sure the only reason there was so much media attention to this hurricane was that they knew it was coming. With random summer thunderstorms, they're sudden and unexpected, so the media doesn't have time to spin up some cool graphics and stir everybody into a froth that buys everything in its path. In the case of this stupid hurricane, the media had tons of time to make everyone think they're going to die and that normal "objects" will become "projectiles" that will "fly" through the "air" using "quotes" to talk about things.
Either way, I'm carrying on as normal with naught a care in the world about the wind and rain... which I'm not really witnessing at the moment. And a final complaint: I get paid by the hour and they've closed my job for TWO DAYS for this fake hurricane. Yeah... that's my final complaint.
Bored at work?!? Listen to BBC radio. No commercials and better music that's not manufactured in a meeting:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/
I suggest Tom Robinson on music6, or just going to the genre button on their player and finding ROCK & ALT... though I don't like to call it Alternative or Rock and Roll... those names are lame... I'll call it M-U-S-I-C that I particularly enjoy.
Don't believe the hype... this hurricane is nothing unlike a THUNDERSTORM. The only reason they hype it up so much is to try to get me to buy a lot of batterries to replace the ones I have leftover from the last orange alert. Now, where did I put my girlfriend's candles?
Go here-> http://www.doubledrat.net
