sascha baron cohen is god

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

If anyone takes Borat seriously...well, that's their problem.

Check out all these progressives!

http://www.democratsforlife.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=172&Itemid=54

But hey guys, make sure to vote Democrat! We wouldn't want the right winning, let's preserve:

death penalty
three strikes
war in Iraq, upcoming war in Iran
war on drugs
ignoring the immigrant population
barring same sex marriages
patriot act

To be fair, the Greens aren't doing much. Tiny steps, but it's hard in a two party system. And I don't think it'll necessarily be the Greens (though European success keeps me from losing all hope) (and truthfully, I don't know that they're the ones I want...) who will bring the real left to the table...but it's the first step in the process, and it needs dedication. And there's no way I could in good conscience vote for a party that doesn't represent the left. A party that's moving more and more to the right every time I hear a speech, a party who's presidential candidates have been calling for more war...

Statistically speaking, my opinion will almost surely change in a few more years. But then again, I've enjoyed defying statistics a few important times.

But, I have more pressing issues. Such as Leo. Looks like I owe one ridiculously adorable little guy a nice cuddle.

Leo

I promised Mark a picture of the little guy, but still no camera to take one with...so here's a video from the girl who gave him to me, from when he was 4-5 weeks old....he's almost nine weeks old now, and only cuter!

financial irresponsibility

Fellow Californians,

Am I the only one who is steamed that the legislature is throwing us a bunch of BOND initiatives?

People always talk about how they support Republicans because they are fiscally responsible (in my experience, these are the people that don't know much about economics beyond sound bites). So why all the bonds?

Bonds often double (or more) the amount of money spent...and put it off so that me and my children can pay for your roads that you couldn't raise taxes for. Here's my all time favorite:

Proposition 1B

Pro-car...real sustainable...so lets pass on the debt for a couple of generations! Let's have our kids pay 38.9 billion for 19 billion dollars to help out the cars that shouldn't be so prevalent when they would use these "improvements."

But what really gets me...the "liberals" who decide how to vote based on the name they see when they get to the polls will vote for "transportion."

Fucking California.

download festival

Another great festival that people have got to go to...

http://www.downloadfestival.com/2006/sflineup.html

Between Beck, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Shins...and Muse ain't bad...$29.50 is a pretty good price.

freedom loving country, eh?

39.2% of the 1,745,712 drug arrests in 2004 were for marijuana possession.

Is it just me, or does this seem like a ridiculous waste of law enforcement?

To begin with, there's the often used arguement for marijuana legalization that alcohol seems to have worse effects than marijuana. In my college town, I can't begin to count the incidences of vandalism fueled by alcohol consumption...from stealing public signs to smashing windows of cars. If the cops are looking for marijuana possession, why aren't they at least equally walking into frat parties and cracking down on underaged drinking? For that matter, why aren't they walking into frat parties in houses with frequent reports of date rape?

But it doesn't matter what you think of marijuana as a drug. The point is, use doesn't tend to affect the public much, so why is so much time (and tax dollars) devoted to cracking down on simple possession? And why are lives ruined (the justice system has a tendency to do so) over something so trivial?

on a COMPLTELY different note

You gotta love QC

existential crisis

followed by:

genetic imperatives

Today started out as usual. Well, the kitten woke me up at 6 in the morning to play, which was cute but not particularly exciting when you were going to sleep till 7:45, and needed every hour of that sleep...but nothing out of the ordinary. Got up, showered, grabbed a breakfast bar for the road, and biked to work.

A few hours into my work day, I walked to the back and heard an NPR reporter talking about 9/11. Which is fairly common, so I thought nothing of it...unitl I heard the words repeated about a dozen times.

And I finally remembered that it's the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

I had forgotten.

Truthfully, it doesn't surprise me all that much. I remembered on that day, my entire class was rattled and wanted to talk about it at every moment. I separated myself from all the talk. I don't quite know why, but it just didn't hold my interest. Sure, it rattled me a tiny bit, but it didn't touch me. I don't quite know why. Of course I was upset for all the lives lost, but no more so than for any other tragedy. Maybe because it happened in New York, a place which I've never even been to...I feel more connected to Israel. I've never felt strongly tied to being american, so that didn't do anything for me. Maybe it's because I'm terrible at internalizing tragic events...sure, when I'm scared of them, I'm stressed to a ridiculous point, but once they've happened...I suppose I just move on. Who knows. Anyway, I wasn't touched by what happened enough for me to feel comfortable about further discussion or introspection about the event. It'd feel fake.

I guess that makes me a pretty bad human. I can't help longing for half the humanity displayed by this

so long and thanks for all the fish

Taking another vacation from the internet this weekend for...

another Green Party plenary. At least this one's in Tahoe, not that horrible Ventura county!

ps

Holy crap who's going?

Elvis Costello. Billy Bragg. The Austin Lounge Lizards. And, for all the deadheads out there, Bob Weir.

still mad at 85...

http://www.ucsf.edu/castd/toolbox/ConfidentialityToolkit.pdf#search=%22california%2C%20confidentiality%2C%20age%22

But abortion is different...not a medical procedure, no, it's a dirty evil thing that should be stopped by the law.

I don't get it...all this could possibly do is increase teen pregnancy and ruin lives.

Why do so many people think that their morals should apply to everybody and be enforced by law? There are things that I personally am not completely comfortable with...truthfully, abortion is one of them...but the law can not be based on individuals feelings. In order to restrict a person's freedom in areas that do not affect others, it seems to me that there had better be a factual/scientific reason. In this case, science tells us that most abortions "kill" something that's about as advanced as the fly that would be mindlessly swatted.

And don't get me started on birth control...pharmacists are allowed to not dispense birth control because they don't like it?!

Until reproductive health is treated with the same acceptance as the rest of health care, America will be home to double standards that prevent us from calling ourselves free.

bloody distortion

Two of my housemates are metalheads. I love them, but man do they need to get some taste. Don't get me wrong, I myself listen to a fair bit of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden...even newer stuff like Metallica and even Isis...but how can that and much grittier variations take over so much of one's repetoire? Distortion is fun...but how could somebody live without the intensity of Comfortably Numb, the warmth of folk rock, the tantalizing movement of Iron & Wine (if you're used to his more passe stuff, get Woman King and listen especially to Evening on the Ground)?

One of them has the nerve to say that rock is even more limited than metal. Just cause we don't have gay wizard music doesn't mean that at least feelings in the different sub-genres aren't wildly different. And then he says that rock doesn't have the complicated intricacies and is too repetitive.

Who the hell cares? It's about what you make of it and how you feel. Some of the most simple riffs and melodies can take you to a place that are just...out of body (and I swear, even though I'm a Green, it's not drugs talking). Even in normal circumstances...it just feels right...the way a good home or a good relationship or a good culinary favorite (garlic bread, anybody?) feels. So take that, technical death metal!

Christ, I just compared relationships to food...great ones to garlic bread. Wow, I wonder what a bad one would be.

Anyway, I get the last laugh. Since I'm moving in first, I get to decorate the place. That means Bob Dylan is in our living room.