cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

For the first time, I was proud to be voting for a President. I wasn't picking the lesser of two evils or voting for "Anyone but ___". I was voting for someone I believe in.

Yes, he will probably disappoint us - he's going to be cleaning up the debacle from the last 8 years and working with a bitterly divided House and Senate to do so. He probably won't be able to deliver 100% of the things he campaigned for. He will have to placate both sides of the aisle and continue to play the political game.

But you know what? I think that despite that, he'll still be a strong President who can help lead us from this "Us vs Them - We're 'real' Americans and they aren't" mentality to a more united, cohesive nation. I think that by giving him a chance to start us on a path of change, we'll be creating a better place for all of us - even the people who make me want to run them off the road with their "Marriage is ONE man and ONE woman" bumper stickers.

And, yes, I'm deeply ticked off by the success of Proposition 8 and the similar referendums across the country. At some point in the very near future, we need to stop treating people as second class citizens because of who they love.

We have a long way to go. But for the first time in a long time, I feel like we're finally taking the first step and moving in the correct direction. Yes, we'll take steps back along the way (re: Prop 8) but it will still be forward motion.

Rove ignores committee's subpoena, refuses to testify

Must be nice to ignore inconvenient things like that.


I will write something more positive later. Maybe after I sink California into the ocean I'll feel more cheerful about life in general

As seen on wtf_inc:

1. Open up Google.
2. Type in 'Failure'
3. Press 'I'm Feeling Lucky'.

There are two major ways that I can get from my apartment to work or to shopping. One of these routes passes a Lutheran church. This is one of those Boogie Down With God churches that has a neon message board out front. Usually it says something like "Jesus loves you," "Christ died for your sins," or "God only listens to 'knee'-mail." Today, however, their message made me want to firebomb the building.

"Evolution is a myth."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Idiocy like that needs to be answered with violence. Sheesh. The Almighty Darwin speaks to me. I know what I must do.

czar_victaar, you should like these new findings: Ecstasy as a potential therapeutic for Parkinson's disease. My favorite part of the article is near the end and is much too amusing, "The new results are ironic, given that three years ago a study suggested that ecstasy might cause Parkinson's-like symptoms in monkeys. But the researchers who published that study retracted it after they realized they had mixed up ecstacy with methamphetamine, commonly known as speed."
We then move from nice, uplifting science to a series of articles that make me despair for the future of this country and the species in general.

Arsenic-laden rice just makes my mouth water. Really. Stop looking at me like that.

Dubya once again shows his true colors in this charming little piece about the mistaken mindset that Intelligent Design has anything to do with science. This makes me very upset, as usual. I'm impressed by the rhetoric tricks that they utilize to try to convince their audience that they're not proselytizing for "religion", just trying to get "a different viewpoint" into the mix. Sure. Fine. Go ahead and bring ID into the schools so that I can talk about the Flying Spaghetti Monster with equal enthusiasm and moral correctness.

jrug and I had the same reaction to this article. We believe it has the proper mix of incredulity and mockery. It's very simple - all you have to do is start reciting from Real Genius. The Sun God Dream snippet is applicable, as is the "scientific" explanation of what you could do with a really big laser.

Well, yes, you could do that too, but PETA's gonna be a bit upset with you.

My favorite part of the article is near the end. I envision the author throwing his hands up in the air and shouting, "For the love of Darwin, I couldn't make this up if they paid me DOUBLE!! Why, me, WHY?!" The line in question begins, "Sophisticated death-star lasers are vulnerable to low-tech counterresponses, such as $6 smoke grenades..."

Finally, we have a winner for Overreaction of the Year award. This award is only rarely presented, but this lady is going to be in the record books for a long while to come. I'm very glad that it's a felony. I mean, Jesus McBiscuit, that's just not cool. Lady, most of us are taught by our parents that stealing is wrong, the rest have to learn it from our judicial system. What the fuck gives you an exception to this rule? And the biting thing? Yeah, I hope the judge throws the book at you and you forget how to duck.

Today is the 22nd anniversary of R. Buckminster Fuller's death and the 34th anniversary of Sir Lawrence Bragg's death. A moment of silence, please.

*moment*

Boss has shown more of an interest in my work over the last week than in the previous six months. Normally, this would not be an occasion for me to go on the warpath. He is still, however, in a mental place that encourages total amnesia for every part of his grad students' projects. Yesterday, he came in to talk about how things were going three times. Each time, I had to start over at the beginning and explain every. single. detail. again. I know that I shouldn't burn bridges when I'm still standing on them, but fer chrissakes, I'm getting sick of this.

I also want to throw the 'puter out the window. I'm not sure why it's so difficult to take a stack of image files and make them into a movie, but it's giving me fits. Quicktime Pro won't load when I'm connected to the network and my shared drive (where the files are stored), the files have mysteriously turned black and white even though I made sure to save them as a color overlap (red+green=yellow), and the tower is making noises like it wants to eat the CD. Again. I'm starting to think that the whole idea of making time-lapse videos was a mistake.

I managed to totally piss off, offend, and emotionally distress a friend last night. I know I'm not the most socially adept person on the planet, and I get less able to effectively deal with people when my mental reserves are running on fumes. It didn't really help matters any that she's very extroverted, loud, and loves being the center of attention. I figure I'll apologize as soon as I feel I can do so, mean it, and extricate myself from the ensuing conversation without causing a repeat performance. I knew it was a lost cause last night when she flounced out of the room and my only thought was, "'bout time. *sigh of relief*" I know I need to remember how to tell people that, no, really, I require some alone time if you want to see me at all.

I read about Justice O'Connor's retirement from the Supreme Court this morning. This fills me with no small amount of unspecific dread. I didn't want Dubya to be able to install any of his cronies in the committee that broadly interprets the legality of laws. I can't see anything good coming from this, so I'm restarting my quest to look for a villa on Mars.

Today is the 147th birthday of the publishing of the Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution. Yay! I'd like to take the next few moments to do the Happy Chair Dance of Society-Altering Science.

*happy dance*

I managed to finally finish reading Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician Wednesday night before the concert. I liked the book, because it's Roman history; I'm not sure that I agree with the author's claim of Cicero's importance and power. It was a very different view of the man than I'd ever been taught. Of course, I wouldn't be on Nerdtown's city council if the following exchange hadn't been so easy...

jrug: So, Bush could be prosecuted and impeached because of *these reasons*.
exlibris11235: But, that's leaving out that *other facts*
Me: But, we wouldn't be able to prosecute Bush for another couple of years, since he'll still have immunity as a proconsul. What province would he be getting, anyway?
jrug: *blinks*
exlibris11235: Syria
Me: Yes, that makes sense.

Yes, typing for the last while has made me feel better. I'm going to be leaving work in 15 minutes to drive to Chicago to spend the holiday with downwood and visit with bexdragon, too. I also am about halfway though Guards! Guards!. I read the following section on the bus this morning and just had to share it. *grin*

"A book has been taken. A book has been taken? You summoned the Watch," Carrot drew himself up proudly, "because someone's taken a book? You think that's worse than murder?"
The Librarian gave him the kind of look other people would reserve for people who said things like "What's so bad about genocide?"

Tonight, our illustrious leader is planning to regale us with his "clear strategy" for Iraq. I'm guessing that the term "clear strategy" actually has nothing to do with either of those words.

I'm currently debating whether or not I should view this attempt at glib and convincing rhetoric. On the one hand, I've been getting my political immune system into gear by reading a biography of Cicero that is subtitled "The life and times of Rome's greatest politician". Right, like I believe that for three seconds. On the other hand, I have a lot of fabric that I'd like to get cut out, and I don't trust myself with scissors if there's been any booze in my general direction.

Therefore, I have a poll. Enjoy.


[Poll #522261]

The Onion this week is great.

From their Election Day Guide we get the advice:

• Remember that, as a member of a participatory democracy, you have a duty to make your voice heard on Election Day. If you find that idea hard to grasp, think of it like the lotto: You can't win if you don't play.
  
• Voting is no longer considered uncool. Note that it is not cool, either.
  
• Many newspapers offer sample ballots. Buy 10 copies and practice, practice, practice.
  
• If you live in Florida, for Christ's sake, look at the ballot very, very carefully this time.
  

Yes, this is what I do with my time at work when I'm supposed to be writing presentations and posters. Ugh.