Hold Tight.

I will post my eShamrocks later today, so hold tight.

In the meantime, check out this video:

You're Toxic, I'm Slipping Under

The day started with an email, someone trying to flake from something they committed to months ago. Minutes later, he unflaked. I am starting to tighten the screws.

I taught the passive voice today (ser + past participle + por + agent). What a lie.

The office got toxic today, and I drove away mad. I listened to the news on the radio and only got madder, listening to a) the rapes that are happening in the state of Mexico (one rape/murder committed by a policeman) and b) an earnest GWB trying to get us to believe that the Iranians are smuggling arms into Iraq.

Shut up, Mr. President. Shut your stupid, fat mouth. You started this war in Iraq by deceiving us about WMDs. I don't give a shit what the Iranians are selling the insurgents; we wouldn't be in this mess if YOU HADN'T SENT US.

I went and applied for a new passport. My old one isn't set to expire until 2010, but it was too beat up from being in my pocket. My application to the Hangzhou program I want to go to is only missing three more things: my Chinese essay, my English essay, and two recommendations. I'm still waiting to hear yes or no from one recommender.

I made rice in my new dolsot, but now I realize it might not be a dolsot at all, since it is made out of clay. Maybe tonight I will go to a Korean store and buy one that is made of stone. I will ask J* what she thinks.

It's Valentines day; I don't really care. I have some grading to do, but it shouldn't take long. Ash Wednesday Mass is almost planned; I'm picking music that everyone hates, because I hate HATE the sing-songy shit that people think they like because they recognize it.

Seriously, "Change Our Hearts" is a terrible song when you sing it straight, but when the Catholics start making that awful scooping hissing noise they call singing, it just starts to make me angry.

White people! Why do you sing like that? Who tells you that sounds good? Why don't you try singing with your VOICE? No wonder you have low self esteem when it comes to music; you insist on singing like children being punished.

Yes, it's official; I've got the "toxic febs".... those blues that teachers tend to get around February. The kids, the other teachers, even the news on the radio... toxic.

The good news, when I got home my house smelled like paint! Sweet! Until I went downstairs, and the walls have, indeed, not been painted, just spray textured. Still, it's only a matter of days until I get my den back.

Hey, a TV show about what's wrong with America.

Here's a short summary of all the messages brought to you by Battlestar Galactica:

Genocide = bad (A Measure of Salvation)
Secret Tribunals = bad (Collaborators)
Military Occupation = bad (Occupation)
Torture Interrogation = bad (Taking a Break...)
Election Fraud = bad (Lay Down Your Burdens 2)
Trying to make women have babies they don't want = bad (The Farm)

During our recent War on Christmas tantrum...

Oh, those evil liberals wanted to take away our Christmas. Blame the Jews, right? Civil liberties are for asshats, right?

Well, now it looks like the FBI can bug you through your own cell phones (thanks, B). As in, when you turn your phone off and put it in you pocket, they can listen to you. You think they're getting warrants for that?

We used to have a nice country, with civil liberties and everything. I hate George Bush. His record of poor judgment, and his contempt for the Constitution has been spectacular.

By the way, this whole 'listening' act that he's doing now is a stunt. We all know they've decided to up troop levels for the short term to try to extinguish violence all at once, instead of chasing it around from province to province.

Stupid man. Why didn't we send enough troops in 2003? Is there any possible way for him to answer that without him being an incompetent moron? Let's all say it together: insufficient intelligence.

We'll succeed unless we quit?

So, Bushy lands in Vietnam, and is asked about the war in Iraq, and he says,

"We'll succeed unless we quit."

I know it's no longer news when he says something stupid, but it's crazy on so many levels that he says this in Vietnam.

I don't even know where to start.




Later: bowling and Battlestar Galactica.

Why I resent Maria Cantwell

Don't worry, I'm not voting for Mike!.

But I do resent Maria Cantwell because in the fall of 2003, I emailed her and called her office, asking her not to give away the Congress' constitutional power to declare war. She emailed me a long lecture about how Saddam Hussein was dangerous, and then ultimately voted to let Georgie decide.

Dude, if Saddam Hussein is so dangerous, then Congress itself should declare war! Don't leave it up to W the Fratboy!

So that's why I resent her.

"Resorting to Manners"

(I don't have time to look for links right now, but I'm publishing a draft so I don't forget. If you'd like to help me with links, please use the comment section. )

A very wise person (ding) once told me that when the non-brown people run out of arguement, they "resort to manners." By calling someone impolite, they manage to not engage valid points.

For example, once my friend was complaining to me about how Native Americans in Washington have explicit treaty rights to collect shellfish from private property. I said, 'it's a treaty man.' He protested, saying that they should break the treaty to protect private property owners, and I said something like "the United States of America is incapable of upholding a treaty with the Native Americans." He got annoyed, and then called me rude. "You're rude!"

He resorted to manners. That's all he had left.

In high school, I was the president of the ASB, and the newspaper editor came to us halfway through the year, saying that they had spent their budget and they needed $4000 to continue. The student government approved it, but I sent a valentine to the newspaper saying that they should be more responsible. They came back with my valentine the next issue of the paper in two editorials, one by the editor, and one by the FACULTY ADVISOR, saying my note was "unpresidential." What a joke. First of all, nobody cared. Second, the newspaper got off lucky, I should have vetoed that bailout; THAT would have been presidential.

They resorted to manners. That's all they had left.

Now our friend Condi poo-poohs Venezolano president Hugo Chavez for criticizing Bushy-poo, saying his rant is unbecoming. Resorting to manners. That's all she's got.

(is anyone even going to bother to ask why I'm applying this generalization about non-brown people to the most prominant African American in our government?)

You know what I think is unbecoming a head of state? Lying about going to war. Detaining people without habeas corpus. Looking for ways to torture foreigners. Sending loyal, patriotic men and women to die in a war we didn't need to start. Wanting to enshrine homophobia and discrimination in federal law.

It's not that I hate the man. But he is worse than bad at his job. He does not uphold the constitution; he subverts it. He does not protect the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness; he puts people in the line of fire.

I don't think he understand what it means to uphold and protect the Constitution. I think he's upholding and protecting the myth of the "Don't mess with Texas" America that exists in his own hard head.

Or maybe he just is as evil as the people surround him.

"Fascists," Mr. Rumsfeld? Pot to Kettle: "You're black!"

Rumsfeld equates opponents of this war to Nazi sympathizers. What a bunch of fascists!

The Bush Administration's attempt to demonize their critics as fascists is laughable, and ironically, facsist. I wanted to go off on them (are they idiots, or evil, or both?) but Keith Olbermann did it quicker and better.　(Thanks, A!)

In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?

Hail Britannia

I just want to say that I have very little faith that the Bush guvermnt is protecting us, the American people. And although Tony Blair is Bush's lap dog, I have to say I still hold him in high esteem, for his ability to hold his own at Parliament every week (imagine Bush facing the Congress!). Also, I remember Blair's words of comfort after the September 11 attacks, real, intelligent comforting words full of resolve, (compared to Bush's "let's git 'em" bs).

Who is defending liberty and the western way of life? The British. The Americans are too busy not understanding that the Afgans and the Iraqis are not interested in being American. Yes, British law enforcement may not be as constrained as American law enforcement is supposed to be (but is not because of the Patriot Act) but I just trust the British more to guarantee civil liberties I just do. Maybe Americans have the ACLU, but shit, we also have Guantanamo Bay. We have people in the White House who think torture is acceptable and habeas corpus is an inconvenience.

No one is going to accuse the Republican government that they "hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Sure, these words apply to rich white guys, but not to the people who pick their vegetables, or muslims, or anyone who may be standing in the way of rich white guys getting richer.

I have to do my homework now, no more time to work on this entry. I just want to say that the British are representing. I'm glad they didn't become victims to the liquid bombers.

well, it's been a while. the invasion has almost reached bagdhad. kairos was great; better this time i think, but don't tell the kids. all talks were top-notch.

here are the programs i'm obsessed with: rough science, all-american festivals, good eats, iron chef, west wing, and invasion coverage.

H and i are going to move in together into a two-bedroom two doors south. i'm excited to live there and save money, but i'm not excited to move. we'll buy a wireless router.

mama and dad came to visit last monday. we met them at hoho; they arrived first. when we got there, dad had already ordered. he thinks he can flirt with the servers. it is irritating on many levels. we had a lovely fresh king crab. it was huge. they made soup out of the head; cracked and sauteed the legs with garlic, and then deep fried the rest. it was excellent. it was also $200. it was irresponsible for him to order without me. i have always hated it when he orders on our behalf. we hadn't even got to the restaurant yet. next time i will just speak up and if he gets embarrassed then he will not be the only one.

day seven of creamy goo. i don't think it's growing. today in the faculty lounge i saw to new bags of goo, abandoned, waiting for someone to pick them up voluntarily. ha.

i ordered a pizza for dinner. i bought a v8 fruit juice and drank the whole thing. i also recieved two gorgeous fresh eggs from JS, who was grateful for the card and gift certificate we got for him as a department.

the kiddies are talking about walking out tomorrow during school and going to the rally against war. we'll see. i actually might be able to make the rally, if i skip a meeting. and by skip i mean 'walk out.'

tomorrow is ash wednesday. i still have to write a gospel acclamation, but i'm too tired now. i'll do it tomorrow morning. i have to show up early anyway.

the archdiocese has a new site, it's a lot sexier. career politicians want a revote on monorail, those pieces of crap, so they can waste our time and money some more. i'm going to vote to get rid of all those clowns in the next election. the first person i will vote out is senator cantwell, who gave up her constitutional power to declare war and handed it to w that MORON. why the hell are u.s. troops in the philippines? i'm going to bed.

day two of creamy goo. i squeezed it and put it back in its crib.

so it's finally time to institute the pope's 2000 revision of the institutio generalis missalis romani. sure, abuse victims are committing suicide; our country is about to go to war; parishes are filled with real live sick people to pray for; there is still hunger in this world; yet our churches right now are working on . . . . you ready? . . . new rules about kneeling and bowing; new restrictions keeping the celebrant out of the congregation at the SIGN OF PEACE. i miss you, LS.

today, JF was wearing a "no iraq war" pin; the girl at cucina presto tried to start an arguement with her, saying 'we're going to save the iraqi people.' we have been starving them and letting them die for over a decade now. i hate cucina cucina; i hate the eastside. i was sure they were going to spit in our food, but then we saw that all the cooks were latinos and realized we didn't have to worry.

went to a 'debut' party for manny's. it was fun. i was surprised that he was asian; i said, 'are there asian brewmasters?' he said that yah, he was paving the way for all of us. it was a great asian american moment.

tried to teach 'pange lingua gloriosi' today. not enough people show up to rehearsal for us to change gears like that. we'll see. tomorrow is junior snow day.

it is thursday night and i didn't so much as lift my pen to grade. grading will take up my entire weekend.