Fillibuster

This is just too good to pass up. Aparently Mr. "Cat Killer" Frist thinks that the Fillibuster IS constitutional. But only when it's for his party's advantage.

This is what's going on in the Senate today (from Think Progress):

This morning on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Chuck Schumer asked Majority Leader Bill Frist a simple question:

SEN. SCHUMER: Isn’t it correct that on March 8, 2000, my colleague [Sen. Frist] voted to uphold the filibuster of Judge Richard Paez?

Here was Frist’s response:

The president, the um, in response, uh, the Paez nomination - we’ll come back and discuss this further. … Actually I’d like to, and it really brings to what I believe - a point - and it really brings to, oddly, a point, what is the issue. The issue is we have leadership-led partisan filibusters that have, um, obstructed, not one nominee, but two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, in a routine way.

So, Frist is arguing that one filibuster is OK. His problem is that several Bush nominees have been filibustered. This position completely undercuts Frist’s argument that judicial filibusters are unconstitutional. (Which is, in turn, the justification for the nuclear option.) If judicial filibusters are unconstitutional there is no freebee. But Frist digs his hole even deeper:

The issue is not cloture votes per se, it’s the partisan, leadership-led use of cloture votes to kill - to defeat - to assassinate these nominees. That’s the difference. Cloture has been used in the past on this floor to postpone, to get more info, to ask further questions.

When Frist voted to filibuster Paez’s nomination it had been pending for four years. It’s hard to believe he couldn’t get all the info he needed or ask all the questions he had during that time. Make no mistake about it: Bill Frist was trying to kill the Paez nomination.

The thing about this is that if he's saying the fillibuster is in fact constitutional, then that blows his nuclear option out of the water. To just change the senate rules it take 2/3 majority vote. Hopefully there will be some smart Republicans who will stand up to Mr. Dobson...ahem...I mean Mr. Frist.

More Time

I really wish I had more time to blog. Ideally, I would take one issue of the day and blog about it. Unfortunately, I never feel like I have enough time to read the news, pick a story, and write a thoughtful commentary on it. Maybe after my defense I'll make that my goal. Until then, we'll have to deal with things I've read on the DailyKos.

New Rule

Leave it to Bill Mahr to sum up exactly what I've been saying, but to be funny.

The people in America who are most in favor of the Iraq war must now go there and fight it. The Army missed its recruiting goal by 42% last month. More people joined the Michael Jackson Fan Club. "We've done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit." And now we need warm bodies. We need warm bodies like Paula Abdul needs...warm bodies!

Now, last week, a Baptist minister in North Carolina told nine members of his congregation that unless they renounced their 2004 vote for John Kerry, they had to leave his church. Well, if we're that certain these days that George Bush is always that right about everything, then going to Iraq to fulfill the glorious leader's vision would seem the least one could do. And, hey, if it makes it any easier for you, just think of it as a reality show: "Fear Factor: Shitting Your Pants Edition." "Survivor: Sunni Triangle." Or maybe it's a video game, "Grand Theft Allah."

Now, I know you're thinking, but, Bill, I already do my part with the "Support Our Troops" magnet I have on my Chevy Tahoe. How much more can one man give? Well, here's an intriguing economic indicator. It's been over a year since they graduated, but neither of the Bush twins has been able to find work. Why don't they sign up? Do they hate America or just freedom in general?

And that goes for everybody who helped sell this war. You've got to go first. Brooks and Dunn, drop your cocks and grab your socks! Ann Coulter, darling, trust me, you will love the Army. You think you make up shit!

Curt Schilling, b-bye! You ended the curse on Boston. Good. Let's try your luck in Fallouja. Oh, and that Republican Baldwin brother, he's got to go so that Ted Nugent has someone to frag.

But mostly, we have to send Mr. And Mrs. Britney Spears. Because Britney once said, "We should trust our president in every decision that he makes, and we should just support that and be faithful in what happens." Okay, somebody has to die for that. Or at least go. Hey, maybe she'll like it. Hell, she's already knocked up. That'll save the MP unit about ten minutes.

And think of the spiritual lift it will provide to troops and civilians alike when actual combat smacks the smirk off of Kevin Federline's face and fills his low-hanging trousers with dootie.

In summation, you cannot advocate for something you wouldn't do yourself. For example, I'm for fuel efficiency, which is why I drive a hybrid car and always take an electric private plane. I'm for legalizing marijuana, and so I smoke a ton of it.

Puppy pic!

I haven't posted a picture of my puppy recently, so here's one! She went to her first day of puppy kindergarten today. She was very good, and is learning very fast. She gets to go visit our new house for the first time this weekend. I'm very very excited. What a big week for my puppy!  

Defense

I just scheduled my defense. I almost started crying in Pat's office. I don't think I've ever been so scared to do something in my life.
I have writers block. I don't know what to write about my results or how to organize them. I need to get my act together.
My results for the tropics and polar regions aren't working at all.

My defense is exactly 4 weeks from today.

Onion

My favorite quote from the onion this week.

"If we outlawed everything some people find offensive, there wouldn't even be a Texas in the first place."

Military

There is a recruiting crisis in our military, and I would challenge anybody who supports this war to support our troops...by enlisting.

Our troops are simply unable to do what they need to when they don't have the manpower. There are so many people in this country that sit there and talk about how the war in Iraq is important and we should be over there. Well these people are a whole lot of talk and zero action. We can't fight a war without a strong military.

There is at least one conservative who agrees. Unfortunately that is a few thousand too few.

Don't want to listen to me? Read what this conservative blogger has to say:
"Where do I come down on this? I think there are reasonable arguments on both sides of this issue. But ultimately I think the burden of proof is on those who are vocal supporters of this war and this President. If I counted myself among them, I'd certainly think long and hard about joining. During World War II, men and women rushed to enlist regardless of money, career, family, or draft. People are needed right now, and if you think Iraq is an important part of the war on terror and thus vital to our national security, anything else is just conversation. Period."

I just hate to see our military stretched to the breaking point all because of an unecessary war. So please, if you support this war, consider enlisting.


I also wanted to note that 23 US soldiers have died in Iraq this month. 1610 total. Frankly, I think that's 1610 too many. 1461 of those deaths have occured since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" over 2 years ago.
You can go here for a complete list of every person killed in Iraq. US or otherwise.

The Cost of a life

I must apologize for mooching this, but I think it's a great story, and an eye opener. The link to the diary is found here.

This is a story I found about a mom and how much a trip to the ER costs.

"Last night, I spent the night next to my daughter's bed in the emergency room. And as usual, because I cannot see the forest without noticing the trees, today I reflect on her health crisis last night and how this might have all been different if I was like the 45 million Americans (including my parents) who have no health insurance.

The Center for American Progress puts the number 45,000,000 in perspective:

45 million uninsured Americans is more than...

* All Americans age 65 and older (35.9 million)
* All African Americans (37.1 million)
* All Hispanic or Latino Americans (39.9 million)

Last night, Saoirse [my daughter] came home from softball practice and told me that her side was hurting. When Saoirse, who regularly takes hits in soccer, or tears all the skin off her legs sliding into a stolen base--all without uttering a word of complaint--says that something hurts, chances are it really hurts. By 9:45, she was nearly immobile, and finally confessed just how much she was hurting. A friend who is a doctor told me she had all the classic signs of appendicitis. Off to the ER we went.

Stepping through the door of the ER: $275

Saoirse was examined by an ER doctor who agreed that yes, she had many of the symptoms of appendicitis, but he wasn't quite convinced.

Having the ER doctor walk through an exam room door to look at you: $184

He ordered full blood work, a CT scan, and the insertion of an IV in anticipation of surgery. He also gave her a narcotic painkiller so she could get some relief.

The ER was full. Luckily for Saoirse, the dilaudid knocked her out, and she was able to sleep. We were in line for the CT machine, and she needed to drink chemicals that would light up her insides on the scan.

Estimated costs (based on past experiences) of these tests:
CT scan with contrast $700
Blood work $200
Radiologist's fee $200
Misc. $200
I'm also assuming that since the ER doc gave her a more complete exam, his fees will be significantly higher.

At the end of a very long night, the CT scan revealed a lot of fluid in my daughter's lower pelvis. The poor baby had a ruptured ovarian cyst. No surgery was required, and she will be sore for days and will not be allowed to play sports until she recuperates.

I'm estimating that when all the bills have been gathered, this 7-hour stint in the ER will cost close to $2000. Costs to me? If my ex has the same structured insurance policy that I do, probably a $50 deductible.

Am I lucky? Damn straight. Am I grateful? Of course.

But I think about a single mother without insurance faced with a similar situation. Would I have taken my daughter to the emergency room at 9:45? Or would I have waited for hours, hoping and praying that the pain she was in would pass? And if I had taken her, would I have listened to the doctor explain all the tests he needed to run and spent the hours next to my daughter's bed wondering what my family would do without for the next year while I paid off the hospital bill? If I had been an uninsured parent, would I have sat there and wondered why, despite the fact that I worked 40 hours a week, my employer didn't offer health care?

As I watched my daughter writhe in pain, and watched the relief drip into her IV bottle, would I have done the devil's calculus of trying to figure out how much my child's pain was worth?

As I sit here today, I reflect on how lucky I am. But I rail that I live in a country where we do not consider health care to be a right. Health care is still a privilege. Relief of excruciating pain is a privilege. Making sure that you're not going to suffer septic shock from a ruptured appendix because a trip to the ER was too expensive, is a privilege.

We consider education to be a right, and we pay for it. We consider traveling on superhighways to be a right, and we pay for it. We consider the military to be a national priority to protect our rights, and we pay for it. But we do not consider life to be a right. We do not consider the health of the human body to be a right, and we do not pay for it.

And as the number of uninsured grows every year, eventually, we will all pay for it. "

K9 Advantix

Okay, so I love the K9 Advantix commercial. That lab puppy is just so very cute. :)
Anywho, you can go here to see it so whenever you're sad you can watch it and it'll make you happy.

Hello Mother, Hello Father,
Fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, really bother!
Thanks for the package that's why I'm writing.
K9 Advantix quickly stopped all the biting.
Swimming, hiking, and tent pitching .
They're not biting, I'm not itching.
Can't wait to show you all my new tricks
Thanks again for sending me K9 Advantix!

Great Quotes

From Real Time with Bill Mahr

"`The culture of life,' I might say, is a phrase invented by the last pope. And what it meant was, you're opposed to death in the death penalty, in war, in euthanasia and abortion. The Republicans decide, 'Oh, we're a cafeteria [style]. We'll take the abortion and euthanasia but we will launch wars' and we will...I mean, George Bush has signed more death warrants than any other human being in this country."
--Andrew Sullivan

"If I were Kim Jong Il, I would read the message of Iraq to be, if you don't have nuclear weapons, you get invaded, and if you do have nuclear weapons, you don't get invaded. Because we didn't invade the Soviet Union and China. So I think we're sending the wrong messages and doing nothing to really prevent a very, very dangerous situation."
--Madeleine Albright

Wow

In 54 countries (61% of the worlds population) abortions are legal
In 97 countries (39% of the world population) abortions are illegal

There are approximately 46 million abortions conducted each year, 20 million of them obtained illegally.

Okay, so I was going to write this post about abortion. About abortion statistics and everything, but in my research I came across this site. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Pretty much everything this person argues is what I've been arguing for a really long time.

This is what bothers me the most about so many people who are pro-life. They want abortion to be illegal, but they don't want to do anything to help out the mother once they are forced to have this child. They also don't want to do anything about educating people about how to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
I think compramise is a must in this situation. I think the most important thing here should be reducing the number of abortions. That is just not going to happen by simply making abortion illegal. People like to pretend that there is a simple solution to this problem. There just isn't.

"It seems so often the Pro-Lifers only care about the fetus until it is born, then suddenly lose interest in his or her welfare. Two thirds of women who have an abortion cite the reason — the inability to afford a child. Women can't raise kids without jobs or income. If you are seriously pro-life, you have to see to it mothers have access to the resources to raise kids. Yet usually pro-lifers are Republican who actively campaign to let the jobless starve to death and to let industry lay off at will."

I am so tired of people using abortion as an excuse to vote Republican. I think it is a cop out and I think that people who do it are avoiding the real issues with abortion and simply looking for an easy way out. The Republican party is using these people, exploiting them to get into and stay in power. The Republican party has no idea what a "culture of life" is. They just use it as a catch phrase to get more votes.

I am blessed.

Hehehe...I'm sorry. I just had to say it. It's been an ongoing joke around here for a few weeks and I just couldn't resist.

But really, I feel extremely fortunate for my life right now. I'm dreading every minute of the next 6 weeks, but overall I have a great life.
I do well in school, and will (hopefully) continue to do so.
I have friends and family that love me.

But mostly, I feel like writing about Danny. I don't ever really write about him, but he has had the biggest impact on my life of anyone I know. He is this awesome fiance who has opened my eyes to so many things. He refuses to ever tell me how I should think about anything, but he never holds back on asking me to justify why I think something. Sometimes this drives me batty, but it's been really great for shaping my ideals about the world. I have turned from a pretty conservative person into a roaring liberal. It's not his fault, there's lots of stuff we disagree on, but he has made me consider why I think what I think. He's taught me not to be satisfied with thinking something because I think that's how I "should" think.
He is one of the most moral, least judgemental men I know. I can't wait to be his wife. I believe we'll have many great years together. I hope we don't get bogged down with life and that we can do all the things we hope for.

Okay, that's enough of the mushy stuff...time to get back to work.

Choice?

I personally believe that a person doesn't choose to be gay. I think it's a silly position to think that. It just isn't logical for a person to choose a lifestyle that subjects them to critisizm and discrimination.

There's a couple new studies that are being released that support my position. It turns out that "Gay men's brains respond differently from those of heterosexual males when exposed to a sexual stimulus, researchers have found. The homosexual men's brains responded more like those of women when the men sniffed a chemical from the male hormone testosterone."

There's also been a study done in Philidelphia that examined peoples reactions to body odor. "They found that gay men differed from heterosexual men and women and from lesbian women, both in terms of which body odors gay men preferred and how their own body odors were regarded by the other groups."

I'll be interested to see the results as more of these studies take place. I'll also be excited to see if this has any influence on public perception of homosexuality. Of course we know many people prefer to ignore science and stick with their own ideas, but this will at least be some real ammo.

Go Mavs!

Just one more reason Dallas is better than Houston.

Go Mavericks!!! :-)

Can we say 116-76...that's an ass-kicking.

Beat Phoenix!!!

Cheerio

I am soo enthralled with these British elections. I'm enjoying watching Tony Blair get the ass-whooping he deserves. Interesting stuff.

House

Well, getting our house was an ordeal up until the last minute, but...we finally got it. We got the keys, and Danny has started moving stuff in. I'm very excited and I can't wait until I'm done with my thesis so that I can start focusing on the house. :)
Danny leaves for New York today. So sad. We're not going to see eachother again until early July. *sigh* We'll make it though, and in 3 1/2 months we'll be married and life will be swell.

Yahoo!

Okay, so I never thought I'd say this, but Yahoo! has seriously outdone Google. Check out their news page. Yahoo! News totally rocks. They list a ton of headlines with no synopsis, and several different news sources. You simply scroll over the title to see the synopsis and usually a picture. Go Yahoo! I'm so proud.
I wonder what Google's retaliation will be. Hmmmm....

Prick

Our loan officer for our house is a complete and total prick. Does anybody know anyplace where I can go to review him?
He dropped the ball and didn't get our loan through by closing so he is costing us $622, and he refuses to accept any responsibility for the problem. He is an ass.

RANDY JENKINS

That's his name. He works at Southwest funding in Dallas. If you are ever doing a loan DO NOT go to Southwest funding or especially Randy Jenkins.

Nuclear Option

Okay, so I just have to say, that I'm not completely against the Nuclear Option happening. Why? Well, sure, in the short term our lives would be hell, but just remember the Republicans won't be the majority forever, and when they aren't they'll be hating themselves for getting rid of it.

The Republican's keep saying that they've never used the fillibuster against judicial nominations. Let's look at some history shall we:

"In fact, while Democratic senators used the filibuster to block 10 of Bush's 229 first-term judicial nominees, the Republican-controlled Senate prevented approximately 60 Clinton nominees from even receiving a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, much less a vote on the Senate floor. And while Senate Republicans under Clinton strictly enforced a "blue slip" rule -- which allows one home-state senator to prevent a nomination from moving forward -- they greatly relaxed this rule under Bush to circumvent Democrats' objections to several nominees."

Let's also note the fact that confirmation of Bush nominees exceeds in most cases the first-term experience of presidents dating to Ronald Reagan

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said that Republican senators' "partisanship over judicial nominations" during the Clinton era was "improper" and "wrong."

Republicans are hypocrites and liars. It will come back to bite them in the ass, and I'll just be sitting here waiting until it does. Can someone pass the popcorn?

Dangerous road

This is slightly old news, but the fiance gave me another perspective on it yesterday.

It seems that Bush has eliminated several US delegates from the Inter-American Telephone Commission because they supported the Kerry campaign. "A Bush spokesman admits it's true: 'We wanted people who would represent the Administration positively, and--call us nutty--it seemed like those who wanted to kick this Administration out of town last November would have some difficulty doing that,' says White House spokesman Trent Duffy. Employees of Qualcomm and Nokia are among those who have been removed from the commission." Not only is this unprecedented, but it is also an extremely dangerous idea.

Imagine this, you have a corporation who, naturally, wants their people to be able to go to international meetings such as this, but they know that whatever adminstration is in the white house will exclude them from going if they find out that they supported someone other than them.
Now, you have person A and person B. Both are extremely qualified for the job, and they are equal in all areas, but person A donated to the current administration's campaign, and person B donated to the challenger. Who do you think is going to get the job? Why person A, of course, because they'll actually have a chance to go to the international meeting.

This is a dangerous road the Bush adminstration is travelling down, but I'm not surprised, because loyalty and secrecy have been the definition of their administration. I can't believe that more people aren't distrubed by the loyalty and secrecy of this administration. Part of having a government safe from corruption is the people's ability to question it, but the Bush administration has done everything in their power to make it more difficult to check on what our government is up to, as well as threatening anyone who speaks out against the administration. (can we say dictator?) Frankly, this administration scares the living daylight out of me.

Think Bush is winning the War on Terrorism?

Bush has killed the State Department's annual terrorism report due out to Congress this week. Wonder why? Well as it turns out, there were a record 175 terrorism incidents in 2003. In 2004 this number sky-rocketed to 655. Bush is doing what he does best; trying to keep the information away from the public.

"The number of serious international terrorist incidents more than tripled last year, according to U.S. government figures, a sharp upswing in deadly attacks that the State Department has decided not to make public in its annual report on terrorism due to Congress this week.

Overall, the number of what the U.S. government considers "significant" attacks grew to about 655 last year, up from the record of around 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides who were briefed on statistics covering incidents including the bloody school seizure in Russia and violence related to the disputed Indian territory of Kashmir."


Don't worry, terrorist incidents in Iraq increased as well, from 22 to 198.


"Last year was bad. This year is worse. They are deliberately trying to withhold data because it shows that as far as the war on terrorism internationally, we're losing," said Larry C. Johnson, a former senior State Department counterterrorism official, who first revealed the decision not to publish the data.

spending money

Yay! Today I finally ordered a bunch of internet stuff that I've been meaning to buy. I got another Flogging Molly CD, I got a Flogging Molly t-shirt. I also finally got some anti-bush bumper stickers! I can't wait to get them. I got some extras to give to friends. I truly think Bush is evil, and he is the worst president I think we will ever have in my life. The good news is that no matter what happens in 2008, it's bound to be better than 2004. Lets just hope Bush doesn't do too much more evil stuff before then.

Again, I can't believe anyone could possibly think it's moral to vote for Bush. I question that person's knowledge of Bush. What I've found is that anyone I talk to about Bush, I know more than they do. I've read lots of books, and people are generally surprised by what I have to say. I wish people would read more important things, and less unimportant things. I think people would have a lot harder time living with their choices if they really knew what they were voting for. But then again, maybe they wouldn't. In my experience,the more people learn about anything, especially Bush, the more they see that he just isn't good for the country in any way. They also realize that the Republican party isn't the party of morals, and that you can get your morality other places. I consider myself an extremely moral person, and it is because of this that I can't vote for Bush. There are many Republican candidates that I could get behind, but Bush will never be one of them.
Also I've never heard a real reason for supporting Bush. It's always one of the Republican's catch phrases(morals, the war, etc), or else it's "I just couldn't support the other candidate". I've never heard someone say "I personally believe in this, this and this, and Bush is going to make that happen."

UT, please get that stick out of your butt...

Okay, so UT has some ridiculous rules regarding your EID password. Now, because of these rules, I have forgotten my password about 3 times and had to change it every time. They say these rules are to protect my identity, but what they're really doing is instead of letting me pick a password I can remember, they want me to pick one I can't remember, write it down so I can, and leave that piece of paper somewhere to make it easier for someone to steal my identity. *sigh*

There are several requirements you must follow when setting up your UT EID Password:

* Your password must be between 8 and 20 characters in length.
* You may not re-use any of your last 10 passwords.
* Your password cannot contain blanks.
* Your password must contain letters, numbers, and special characters. The special characters that are permitted are ! @ # $ % & * ( ) - + = , < > : ; " ' ..
* Your password cannot contain any words found in our dictionary or common proper nouns of four letters or longer. In addition, common letter transpositions are not allowed (for example @ for a, ! for i, or zero for O).
* Your password cannot contain your UT EID.
* Your password cannot contain your first or last name.
* Your password cannot contain your birthday in any form.
* Your password cannot contain your Social Security Number.

I'm sorry...

Okay, so I feel bad, I'm a little overzealous. I've recently renewed a friendship that had sorta been lost. Part of what sparked the renewal is my learning that she had expanded her political views. Well, anyway, I'm just so excited to have a friend that is interested in politics as well, especially someone that I've been friends with for so long. I'm excited because I feel like we'll be able to have a good conversations. So I think I keep talking (emailing) her ear off about politics and it's probably annoying. I need to remember to breathe.

I can't wait to get to Austin. I really wanted to get involved in the state democratic party, but I figured I probably wouldn't because I'm not very good at getting involved in stuff by myself, but now I have a friend!!! yay!!! And now, due to her husband's change in occupation, she's allowed to be involved. :) Okay, yes, I'm crazy.
Oh the other GREAT thing about Austin is we can get Green Energy!!! Yay for doing something to help the environment. I can't wait to live in a city that cares about the enviroment.

As excited as I am to move to Austin, I will be sad to leave the Texas 17th which is Chet Edward's district. Although he's a pretty conservative democrat, I think he's honest, and genuinely wants to do what's best for our district which includes Texas A&M. That's what I want most out of a congressman. Thanks, Chet, for being such a great congressman!

Goldwater

Good quotes from Barry Goldwater. A true conservative.

"When you say 'radical right' today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye."
~ The Washington Post (July 28, 1994)


"Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives."


"However, on religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.'"
~ The Congressional Record (1981)

For my Catholic Peeps...

A strong Republican ally, Focus on the Family has been saying democrats are attacking religion. Focus on the Family isn't exempt from attacking religion themselves.

A board member of Focus on the Family, R. Albert Mohler Jr., said Thursday he stands by the comments he made in March 2000 on the cable news show Larry King Live.

"I believe that the Roman church is a false church and it teaches a false gospel," Mohler said at the time. "And indeed, I believe that the pope himself holds a false and unbiblical office."

Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) has called on James Dobson to repudiate Mohler. That has yet to happen, and I doubt it will ever happen.

Bush's "Environmental" Policy

Okay, so this is too important. I think too many people listen to what spin is coming out of the white house and accept it as the truth, and don't know/care what's really going on within the Bush administration. So here's some of the environmental policy that him and his corporate cronies have ruined.

1. The EPA weakened mecury reduction requirements for power plants.

2. Passed an air pollution plan that allows various industries to opt out of a Clean Air Act provision that requires reductions in toxic emissions by 2007. This plan would also delay until after 2018 power plant sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emission cuts that were supposed to occur by 2010 under the Clear Air Act. It rolls back a requirement to reduce mercury emissions by 90% by 2008. (Mercury has been linked to birth defects)

3. Bonds that have been posted by oil and gas industries to drill on federal lands have fallen drastically short of the projected cleanup cost, leaving taxpayers with upwards of $1 billion in cleanup costs after the development ends.

4. Rewrote the forest rules to allow for more logging saying that it will decrease forest fires. Forest fires are actual extremely natural and healthy for forests. The rewrite also eliminates the environmental review process for forest management plans which provides the public with information about forest planning and a chance to participate in management decisions about public lands.

5. The EPA signed off on legeslation that allows U.S. Farmers who grow tomatoes and strawberries to continue using methyl-bromide, an ozone-depleting, cancer-causing pesticide that, according to U.S. and international treaties, had been scheduled to be phased out worldwide in 2005.

6. Superfund: The Bush administration is against "polluter (aka industry) pays" policies, instead adopting policies of the government (aka taxpayers) pay for cleanup of toxic waste sites. They favor a policy where they use current funds to cleanup projects that are currently underway, and don't list new hazardous waste sites for cleanup.

7. Let us not for get about the Drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge policy.

There are so many more, I just don't have time to go on. The National Resources Defense Council has a complete list of all the environmental policies of the Bush administration.

AccuWeather vs. the NWS

Okay, so I really want to post about Earth Day and all the crap that Bush has done to the environment while telling the public how environmentally friendly he is, but I'm not sure I have the time or the energy to dive into that right now. So I'm going to write about something I'll call AccuWeather vs. the NWS.

Let me preface this with saying that AccuWeather is a private company who probably supplies the forecast to your newspaper or radio. They have a reputation of not having the most accurate of forecasts. Giving them some credit, it's hard to have accurate local forecasts when you're forecasting nationally.

Anyway, there has been a bill introduced in the Senate by Santorum (R-Pa) that would make it illegal for the National Weather Service to put free forecasts online. I just have to say that this is ridiculous. The bill technically prohibits federal meteorologist from competing with private meteorologists. So basically what it is doing is prohibitng the NWS from doing it's job. They do forecasts, they do severe weather, the do hurricanes. They'll do the forecasts reguardless of being allowed to release it to the public or not, so why shouldn't they be allowed to release it to the public?

I gotta say that I prefer the weather service information over anything AccuWeather or the Weather Channel have to offer, and there's good reason for that. (Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention that these private companies get their data from the NWS?)

Callie update

Yay! Callie has been found. She came into the garage last night to eat the tunafish that my sister had left out for her. Of course, she brought a friend with her...
Get that kitty a microchip!!!

Callie

My sister's kitty, Callie, that I had taken care of has run away. :( She was having a difficult time adjusting to life back at their house, and she got out last night. I am very very very sad. She was a great kitty. Hopefully she will be found.

This is a picture of her as a kitten:

Another Picture of Lily

Okay, so I had to leave Lily at a friends house this weekend while I went to Austin. When I got back and picked her up, HOLY RUSTED METAL BATMAN, she had grown overnight!!! I weighed her, and she weighed 7.4 pounds. Last vet visit on 4/7 she weighed 4.6. She gained almost 3 pounds in just under 2 weeks. It's crazy. So anywho, here's the most recent picture of her, she's barking at me. :)

try-outs galore

Okay, well I tried out for the UT pom squad this weekend and, big surprise, I didn't make it. Going in I figured my age would either be a positive or a negative, not neutral. Well, I think it was a negative. It's not a big deal, I didn't really have time to do it anyway, it's just something I've always wanted to do and I thought it would be fun. If on friday I had been a senior in high school, I think I could've made it. Makes me wish I hadn't hated the Aggie Dance Team director so much, and I could have done that. Oh well. Now I'm just gonna try out for the Austin Wranglers Cheerleaders. I've got alot of working out to do before then becuase a better body will give me a better chance. I might try out for the UT dance team too, but just for practice.

So other than that Danny and I spent the rest of the weekend eating. I hadn't let myself eat yummy things in a while, so I engorged myself. Now it's back to trying to eat fairly healthy and running every night. Speaking of which, did you know you're supposed to run on the balls of your feet? All this time I've been running heel-toe. Turns out that's bad bad bad. Makes my shins hurt. So not only do I have to work on running farther, but I have to learn to run on the balls of my feet. That wouldn't be as hard if I didn't run so slow. I also realized that Danny can walk as fast as I run, so he's probably going to beat me in the 5K we're gonna do. *sigh*

One more reason

I just remembered one more reason why I'm a liberal.

Civil liberties. I understand that religious marriage and government marriage aren't required to be one in the same. Religions are allowed to discriminate all they want. The governement isn't. I don't think it's fair that two people that love eachother and want to share their lives with eachother can't do that.
I think it's a ridiculous claim that this would harm the sanctity of marriage in the US. Come on, divorce has already done that. And let me note that Massachusettes has the lowest divorce rate in the country. Also, I'm tired of people waving their bibles around using that as an excuse. The only difference I can see between this "sin" and any other sin is that it's a lifestyle. BUT, getting divorced and remarried is also a lifestyle, and according to the Bible, that makes you an adulterer. So what's the difference? People have been getting divorced and remarried for centuries, and people are afraid of two people of the same sex being in love. Just yesterday I had to sit at lunch and listen to people talk about how they wouldn't want to hang out with a gay guy.
So yeah, people used the Bible to support segregation, that didn't hold, and I don't think this gay marriage thing holds either.

The most important thing in a marriage to me is love. I think that should be all that matters.
And remember, even if the government makes it legal, your church still doesn't have to recognize it. That's why we have a seperation of church and state in this country. To protect the church. Keep it that way.

My linguistic profile

Trying to distract myself from the disaster that is my thesis... :(

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

15% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Proposal

My thesis proposal is submitted. So as long as it's accepted, step 2 of graduating is done. Now I just have to get my darn thesis done and defend it. :-/

Graduation

I don't think I''m going to graduate. My stuff isn't really working, and I'm out of ideas for what I should do. My prof isn't any help, and the only person who could probably help me is in China. I'm starting to get extremely frustrated and I don't know what I'm going to do. This sucks.

New layout

Yay! I finally got away from one of those standard blogspot layouts! I got this one from here. There's a few things I'd like to change, but I should be working on my thesis, not doing that. So....

Why I'm a liberal.

Let me start by saying I grew up republican. When I came to college I started to think about why I was republican, and started thinking for myself. It was then that I realized that I agreed with basically nothing the republican party had to offer. My big switching point was Bush. I think he's evil.
It's funny, so many people today vote republican because they think it's the moral choice. To me, the only moral choice is democrat, and that's why I vote it. I don't think Bush is moral at all. He sells out his beliefs to corporations and doesn't care about people. Anyway, this post isn't about Bush, it's about me. So here we go.

1. Because I am pro-life and pro-choice. Hear me out. I think that making abortion illegal is sorta like masterbation. It feels great right now, but it's no long-term solution. I think instead of making it illegal where women will still get it done, but will be forced to search for unsafe methods, we should be working to make it an extreme option. We can do this through education and healthcare. The most common reasons women cite they are having an abortion is because they can't afford a child and they don't have healthcare. Those two go hand in hand. I think healthcare should be available to everyone. We also need to be doing all we can to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. That involves educating our youth. Not only about abstenance, because we know teenagers, they don't listen. They need to be educated on how to stay safe.
Also, I can think of a few situations for me where abortion would probably be a very likely choice. If I were raped, I have to say, abortion would definately be an option for me. Also, if I were to certainly die if I were to carry a child to term, I can't say I wouldn't consider it. I just want the choice to be up to me. I'm the one that would have to live with it after all.

2. Because I'm pro-environment. I know that corporations are going to do what they can for that bottom line. They aren't going to just voluntarily reduce emissions at the expense of their profits. There needs to be mandatory limits on what corporations can and can't do. I want my kids to be able to play outside without getting asthma. I want to be able to enjoy national parks. I want to be able to drink clean, safe water, free of mercury and other dangerous chemicals.

3. Because I am pro-life. I don't think we should go rushing to war. I do think that war is sometimes a necessary evil, but I think that it should be avoided at all costs. We definately shouldn't be lying to get into a questionable war.

4. Because I think that the government has some responsibility to take care of citizens that are unable to take care of themselves. I think that it is important that we help out those less fortunate than me. I don't want any children growing up feeling like they don't have a chance in this world. I think they should all be allowed a leg-up. I also think that we should assist people in getting back on their feet when they've hit a hard time in their life. I'm okay with welfare. I do think it could use some adjustments. I think that some sort of classes (maybe trade classes, or helping get interviews and get jobs) should be required to recieve welfare, but I'm still okay with it.

5. Because I believe in public education. I am a product of the public education system. I was lucky, I went to good public schools, and I had student loans to get me through college. Without the government I would probably be working at McDonalds. My sister argues that she doesn't use her education, but to me that's like a 15 year-old arguing that they're never going to use algebra. She can read, she can write, she can carry on an itellegent conversation. If not for public education, that wouldn't have happened. I think that more money needs to be put into our education system and we need to get rid of these national testing standards.

6. Lastly, because of all of those reasons, I'm okay with taxes. I'll still be okay with taxes when Danny and I make over $200,000 a year. Why? Becuase I know that me getting an extra $300 a year doesn't have that big of an impact on my quality of life. I can still afford to live, I can afford to do the things I like to do, but that extra money can help education, the environment, someone in need. Me paying a few extra dollars in taxes isn't going to send me to the poorhouse, but it might keep someone else out of it.

So in a nutshell, that's why I'm a liberal.

Growing Puppy!

Oh my, Lily has gotten quite big since we got her two weeks ago. Check out the picture of her then.

Here's a picture of her now.

Haiblue

I came across this website, and they have people write Haikus to vent their frustration. Fun! How'd they know I like writing Haikus? So here's the two I've written so far. (Maybe I'll make tuesday's Haiku tuesday, and write Haikus every tuesday!)

Life in Texas
When leading Texas,
Life was only afforded
To those who could pay.

Death
A culture of life,
That's what he says we should have.
What about death row?

Finkelstein

Oh this is just too good to pass up. Let me just start by saying that I know that just because you are republican doesn't necesarily mean that you are against gay marriage the same way you can be democrat and not be pro-choice. However, I'll start believing the first when other people start believing the second.

Anywho...So it turns out that the man responsible for getting Jesse Helms elected as well as helping out with many notable campaigns of people who are against gay marriage, got married in december....to a man! WOO HOO!!! A prominant republican getting married. To a dude. There's not really much else to say. Here's the story.

Bolton

In this article on yahoo news about Bolton and the U.N., they have Bolton saying that "the Bush administration is committed to the success of the U.N." Is this a joke? I'm not sure how they can be serious when the Bush administration not only lied to the U.N. (and the US), but basically spit in the face of the U.N. when they went to war with Iraq.

Run Thru the Vines

So yesterday I ran my first ever 5K.
Okay okay, pick yourself up off the ground and get back in the chair. Ready?
I ran my first ever 5K. If you had asked me at any point in my life until yesterday at 10 am, I would have told you that I would die if I ran a 5K. Well, it turns out I didn't die, and I didn't do half bad. I ran it in 36:19 minutes. My pace was 11:32 minutes per mile, which is good because my goal was less than a 12 minute mile.
I don't think any of that is half bad considering Jamie and I decided to do this on thursday evening, and I've never ran 3 miles. I usually run at the rec, but I usually only run between 1 and 2 miles. Now that I know I won't die I'm going to attempt to run between 2 and 3 every time I go.
I'm addicted to 5Ks now. I'm going to run as many as possible. My next one is April 30th when Danny's in town. (If miss erin would like to run one with me I could do one the weekend before) My goal for it is less than an 11 minute mile. I'd really l ike it if I could run it in 33 minutes. We'll see. I really want to beat Danny which shouldn't be difficult since he never runs. :)

Faith and War

I got this from a friend today. I like it. Read it. Think about it.

Faith: Bob Lively
Twain knew that in wartime, many Christians ignore teachings
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Saturday, April 2, 2005
From a Judean hill Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." And for the most part, humanity has either ignored this message altogether or embraced those tweaked, twisted and diluted redactions authored by ideologues to make Jesus' words bless whatever political agenda, including pre-emptive wars, that suits them.
Recently I saw a bumper sticker that proclaimed, "War is Peace." I decided even before the traffic light turned that this declaration had to be the worst syllogism ever. War is death, destruction, wanton violence, and the human soul's willingness to abandon what the Bible teaches is right, decent and sacred.
Thirty years ago, I visited Hannibal, Mo., the boyhood home of Mark Twain, where in an out-of-the way bookstore I purchased a paperback copy of a book containing Twain's "The War Prayer," which was dictated in 1904 and published after his death. Outraged by American intervention in the Philippines, Twain begins his story in a church on the Sunday morning following the nation's declaration of war: "Next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams . . ."
During the service, the preacher makes a long prayer asking God to help their sons and brothers and fathers crush the foe and to give glory to flag and country. Then an aged stranger, a messenger from God, enters the pulpit and pushes the preacher aside. He tells the worshippers God has heard their prayer and also their unspoken petitions, which he interprets as follows:
"O Lord God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with pale forms of their patriotic dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst . . . for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives. . . . We ask it in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the source of all Love."
Of course, we know the response even before we read it. Twain writes: "It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said."
Twain was a genius and a prophet. Near the end of his life, he penned this revision to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic": "Mine eyes have seen the launching of the orgy of the Sword; he is searching out the hoardings where the stranger's wealth is stored; he has loosed his fateful lightning and with woe and death has scored; his lust is marching on."
Who would possibly say "Amen" to this? Today's American religious right, to begin with.
Bob Lively is on a six-month break to write a book. He teaches at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church every Sunday morning.

Puppy Kindergarten and my oath

I signed Lily up for Puppy Kindergarten, an expensive class that will hopefully help me train her. Unfortunately she can't go until she's had her second Parvo shot and she wont' have that for another month. So we start May 10. Hopefully we can make it until then. She's lost her mind. She's obviously feeling better because she's been going freaking nuts and she's biting alot more. Hmmm... She's been growing alot, hopefully she doesnt get too big before we get into our house. She's cute, though. :)

I just realized I still have alot to do for my thesis. I'm starting to get scared. Eeek! Here's to actually working for the next few weeks. I must spend 0 time surfing the internet while at work. Here's my oath.

"I Jacki, promise to only check the dailykos once in the morning and once in the afternoon while at work. I also promise to limit my email checking to once an hour. I will also only look at the google news headlines once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I hereby swear to not compulsively check people's away messages and blogs/journals. I promise to work at least 8 hours every day and to put in at least 1 extra night a week. Lastly, I will only go out to lunch once a week, spending the rest of my lunches working. I do all this with the knowledge and faith that in two months I will be free! (Sort of)."

This is Lily (the blonde one) with Sorgum who is Chrissy and Jeff's new pomeranian. Cute!  

Lily, Austin, Thesis

Well, Lily is officially Danny and my puppy. I took her to the vet today and they said all looks good. She had some fleas and probably has some worms, but other than that she's good. She loved the vet. She didn't even make a noise when they gave her her shot. What a good puppy.
After the vet I took her to petco to pick up some dog food since we're almost out. I think I'm gonna start monitering how much I feed her so I can get an idea of how much she's eating, and try my best to keep the cats away from her food.

We had our inspection on our house yesterday. Overall it looks pretty good. There's a few things that need fixing, but we'll make the sellers pay for that. We're not sure what shape the hot tub is in which makes me kinda sad, but oh well.
So yeah, I can't wait to close, I want our house!

I just found out that my sister and her family are probably moving to Austin sometime this summer. Yay! Jennifer has wanted to move to Austin for an extremely long time, and a job just sorta fell in James' lap. So he starts May 1 and will be crashing at our house until they can figure something else out. He'll be working really close to Danny and my house so that's cool too. I'm excited. Yay to having lots of friends in Austin next year!!!

I have my thesis finished except for the Results and conclusions. Although those are the two most important sections, they are the two that are the easiest to write. So yay! I could use a few more things to be added in the rest of it, but I think it's pretty good so far. I'm gonna try to give it to my prof sometime next week so he can start reading it while I'm working on these last two chapters. I should be set to defend late may. Hopefully I'll have time to get a paper published before I head out.

Tuesday

After glancing through my notebook where I keep notes of things I do for my thesis/research, I realized something. I am only productive on Tuesdays. What is it about tuesday? Is it that it's not monday? Is it that I still feel like there's enough of the week left for it to be productive, but by the time wednesday comes around I've lost all motivation? I don't know. But whatever it is. Tuesday's the day.

Today has already been an extremely productive day. By the end of this week I hope to have all chapters of my thesis done except for the results and conclusions section. Those I will work on for the next three weeks, then I hope to have the whole thing written. Then I will take a couple weeks to focus on my defense, then a couple more to finish my thesis, then I will be done! Yay...Okay, since tuesday is my only productive day, I should get back to it.

This is our house taken stainding in the front door. It shows the living room and dining room. The kitchen is off to the left before the stairs, and all the bedrooms are upstairs. There is a 1/2 bath downstairs to the left.  

Puppy Update

I thought I'd write an update on the status of Lily. She is doing very well. She went home with me this weekend (see Dallas post), and she did very well. She's been doing very good with the crate. She is quiet most of the time in there. A funny story about her...

I took her out in our backyard to go potty. After she had finished her business, I decided we should go to the other side of the pool to play in the grass there because it was a little tall and I thought she would enjoy it. As we were walking along the sidewalk I noticed the cover was off of the hole used to clean the pool. Thinking that if I leave it off Lily might fall in I bend over to put it back on and as I'm doing this, Lily goes plop into the dirty water. I quickly snatched her up and ran her inside for a warm bath. She was very unhappy, but it was pretty amusing.

Anyway, back to how she's doing. While I was home I locked her in the laundry room (instead of her crate) and put some newspaper down thinking surely she wouldn't figure out that that was what she was supposed to go potty on. But she did! What a smart puppy. And I even forgot to take her out right after breakfast on sunday, and she went on a piece of paper I had laying in the middle of the floor. I guess that means I can't leave papers laying around cause she's learned it's okay. But I guess better paper than the carpet.
I bought her a hot pink leash and collar. She doesn't care for either, but she's learning. Other than that, I'm still waiting for her to go to the vet. I think she might be a little sick. Once that's done, I might go ahead and fill out the adoption papers. Fun fun. :)

House

Danny and I bought a house on friday. Yay. This house thing went pretty fast. I think we've only been seriously looking about a month or so, and I've only been out with the realtor twice. The realtor had us set up on an automatic search, and I saw this house and said I really liked it. We went and looked at it over easter weekend and decided we really liked it. Danny's parents came and saw it that week, and then we put an offer on it on wednesday. We finally settled on an offer on friday, so now we signed the papers, and on April 28, it's ours. :) We're not living in it until august, though. That's okay, cause I have all summer to paint and do anything I want while it's empty. Danny's going to go ahead and move his stuff in, but most of it will be in the garage. So yeah, I'm excited. It should be a good house. I'll post a picture or two when I get home and can use Picassa to do it.

Dallas

Well, I'm back from an extremely busy weekend in Dallas. I took Lily home so she could meet everyone, and of course, everyone loved her. After spending some quality time with her, Danny and I are 90% sure that we want her. We just want to wait until she goes to the vet first to make sure everything's good with her. So yeah, that's that.
We did a bunch of wedding stuff. We ordered our rings, got the tuxes set up, and met with the minister.
I was supposed to go out on saturday for people's birthday, but after all the wedding festivites on saturday, I was exhausted. So I bailed. :( I did go to dinner with a few people on friday, though. So I didn't miss them completely.
So yeah, it was a good weekend all together. I'm back home, with the dog, and without callie. :( I really do love that dog. :)

Hmmmmm...

Is it wrong to derive so much pleasure from someone's potential pain?

Thanks Eeyore...

Thanks for having such great quotes that accurately capture my mood today.


"One can't complain. I have my friends. Someone spoke to me only yesterday."


"Nobody tells me. Nobody keeps me Informed. I make it seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me."
"It certainly isn't seventeen days - "
"Come Friday," explained Eeyore.
"And today's Saturday," said Rabbit.

Camera

Okay, well instead of doing work this morning, I've been looking online at cameras. I've found a camera that I think I really like, the Olympus C-765. It's got 10X optical zoom (compared to 3X on my current camera) and I can control the shutter speed which is good for lightning pictures. The problem with it is it is bigger than my current camera. So I don't think it's really good for just throwing in my purse when we go out. So I don't know. I guess I'll go to best buy later and check it out. See how big it really is. Okay, back to work.

Animals, IDs, and my weekend

Okay, well, I'm getting tired of animals. Rapidly. Each day brings me closer to the edge. Hopefully taking Callie home will make a difference. We'll see.
Callie's at the vet today getting checked out. She's doing lots better. I'm gonna miss her, she's a good cat.

I got whataburger for breakfast this morning and paid with Aggie Bucks, and they didn't give me my ID back. *sigh*

My professor gave me my revised proposal back today. So next week I'll get it submitted and step 1 will be complete! (well, step 2 I guess if you count finishing classes as step 1)

I'm going home this weekend for a very busy weekend. I have to go dance clothes shopping for Pom squad try-outs (goal: to find pants that don't make me look fat...no, I don't really think I'm fat, but for the dance team thing, I kinda think I am). I have to take pictures for try-outs. Danny and I are meeting with the minister. Danny and I have to go pick out his tux. Melanie, Erin, and Amy are having a birthday gathering. I have to go shopping for my headpiece for the wedding since my pictures are in a month. I need to go looking for a new camera. *sigh* So yeah, that's my weekend in a nutshell. Oh, and I have to be back in CS by 3 on sunday, so I have to leave Dallas by 11:30 or so. Busy Busy.

I live in a zoo...

Isn't there a song about that? I can kind of hum a tune, but I just can't hash it out. Well, right now, I really do live in a zoo. This week we have 4 animals in our 2 bedroom apartment. 3 cats, 1 puppy. The 3 cats wasn't so bad because Callie was sick for most of the time, and so she just stayed in my room. Now she's feeling better, though, and she's crazy. The puppy is what's throwing it over the edge. The puppy is crazy. That's all. She chews, cause that's what puppies do. She whines, cause she's whiney, and she bites Callie. I feel like I'm playing referee between all these animals. Vesta and Ellie are not very happy about all these animals invading their territory.

Well, at least Callie's going home this weekend. I love that kitty, but she'll be glad to get home. The puppy is here to stay, though. Either Jamie or I will probably adopt her. I have to say I have a few reservations about adopting her. We'll have the next few weeks until she gets closer to adopting age for me to really see. I might take her home this weekend to meet the family. That'll be a huge thing. I'm just not sure I'm prepared for a puppy. Jamie will help for sure (she's quite attached :) ), but it's still a really big responsibility for someone who's never had a real dog. I guess it'll partly depend on how she bonds with people this weekend (if she gets to go), and how the puppy training classes agree with her, and how well she gets crate trained. I'm not sure I could really handle her the way she is now.
Although I do have to say that she's the cutest thing I think I've ever seen.

Puppy Crate Training, Day 1

Okay, so I guess I should start this post with a little background. Jamie and I are currently fostering a 5 week old puppy. We think it's mostly golden retriever, but it's still a little young to tell. There's a good chance this dog will end up being one of ours. Her name is Lily. Let me also say that I've never really had a dog, much less a puppy.

So we've decided to go ahead and start crate training her. From what I hear, this is pretty painful for a few nights, and they were right. Last night was her first night to spend in her crate, and she was pretty unhappy. Jamie got up twice to take her out to pee, and she got upset when she had to get back into the crate. The in between times she's asleep, so she's pretty good. So here I am, it's 6:30 in the morning, I've been up since 5. I'm waiting for her to stop crying so I can take her out of her crate. See, with dogs, aparently, it's all psycological. So if I take her out while she's crying, she'll think she's being rewarded for crying. So here I sit. At least I'm going to get to work early today. I guess. I have to stay up until at least 9, though because that's when my trainer is done. So it's going to be a long day.

Oh! We've had almost a whole minute of silence. 1 more minute and the puppy is free. Cross your fingers.

Pictures of Lily can be found here.

John Stewart

Okay, so I love John Stewart. He has a good summary of the cable news coverage of the Terry Shiavo case here.

Once again, the way the media is covering this, I don't know how anyone can argue, with a straight face, a liberal media bias. I've been fighting people on this issue since I was forced to watch Fox News everyday in 2003 when we invaded Iraq. I've watched CNN, and these people have gone crazy. They are catering to the neocons and it's getting ridiculous.

Does nobody care about real news anymore?

Vote for me!

Oh it's that time of year again. The sun is peaking out from behind it's winter shadows, flowers are starting to bloom, and all over campus people are making asses out of themselves in hopes that you will support their candidate. That's right, it's election time here at Texas A&M. Quite possibly my least favorite time of year. You can't go anywhere without someone telling you to vote for so-and-so, or someone else saying "hey! look at me, I'm funny. That means that you should vote for so-and-so!" Ah yes, perfectly mature college students acting like morons. Why it has to be this way, I'm not sure. I think it has something to do with the fact that we don't seperate our yell leader elections and our student government elections. Who knows.

Summary of my life...

I am again frustrated with the way things are going in College Station.

I have to teach again in an hour.

Instead of working on my thesis this week I've been working on stuff to teach for this darn class.

I get so scared over teaching a silly class to people 2 years younger than I, I'm really afraid of how scared I'm going to be when it comes time to give my seminar to my peers and professors. :(

Turns out I am invited to that wedding after all.

I didn't sleep at all last night.

I think I'm getting sick. Although, I've been thinking that for over a month now, but I really think it's true this time.

I'm going to Austin to look at houses on saturday. Danny's looking today to get a head start.

I have to give Callie back to my sister next weekend. That makes me sad. :( I want a kitten of my own.

I finally worked out again last night. I ran on the track at the gym, and I ran a whole mile pretty easily. Not very fast, but a mile all the same.

I'm really tired, and I'll probably leave work early for the 4th day in a row. Maybe I'll get some work on my thesis done, though.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm tired, might rest my head on my desk for a few minutes...

Stick a fork in me...

Well, I just got done teaching, and what did I learn? That however long I think it's going to take to teach something, it's probably going to take half that long. Ask me how much of an hour and fifteen minute class I spent teaching? Go ahead. Okay, 20 minutes! WTF!!! I suck. I'm a bad teacher. *sigh* Now I have to search for some math problems to do on thursday so I can teach for more than 20 minutes. :-/

Breathe

Okay, so in exactly one hour I have to teach a senior level cloud physics class because my professor is at a conference. Now, for some reason, I get really freaked out when I have to teach. No matter what I feel completely unprepared. This stinks because next fall I'm going to have to TA again. I just don't know. I really need to get over this. I think I would be good at teaching math. Math is good, you can write math stuff on the board, talk about it, and work problems. That's all good. Today I have to teach about lightning. First, I have to talk about some boring history stuff. My delimma is what do I write on the board? This stuff probably won't be covered, so should I write anything on the board? I don't want to just stand there and talk, though. Then, I have to talk about the basics of lightning. That's a little better. I have an overhead that I can try to discuss. Then, I have to discuss the fiar weather electric field. Now this I don't know much about, but once again, I have a figure. Finally, if there's still too much time, I'm going to dive into the thermoelectric effect. This is what I feel most comfortable with. I am hoping to hold that off until the thursday class, but I don't think I have enough material, so we'll see if that happens.
Okay, I am really freaking out. I need to calm down and BREATHE.

Human Rights?

I would just like to point out that as govorner of Texas, Bush signed a law allowing hospitals to pull the plug against a family's wishes if the chance for recovery was non-existent, and the patient could not pay. This is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Just this week a baby was removed from life support against his mothers wishes thanks to this law (ahem...can we say pro-life?). Now Bush is signing a bill to let Congress step in and tell Terri Shiavo's husband what he should do.
Could Bush be any more inconsistent.

Oh wait, I just realized that is consistent. In both cases he's working towards taking the decision away from the family members who are the ones emotionally involved.

According to an ABC poll, 67% of Americans think that congress is just interveining for political gain, and I'd have to say that I agree.

Other notes:
- Republicans have repeatedly voted to abolish medicare funding that would pay for the kind of care that someone like Terri Shiavo needs.
- The tort reform that Bush is pushing to pass would preclude malpractice claims like that which has paid for Terri Shiavo's care thus far.
- The recently passed bankrupty bill will make it more difficult for families who suffer a catastrophic illness like Terry Schiavo's because they will not be able to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and get a fresh start when the gargantuan medical bills become overwhelming.

So basically what congress and the president is telling us is that we should have no choice in the fate of our loved one, and we should be screwed into the ground when it comes to paying for this fate. Great.

God's Politics

I think this looks like an interesting book. It discusses how religious beliefs intercept political beliefs. It's subtitled "Why the right gets it wrong and the left doesn't get it." I think that sums it up pretty well. Anyway, I think it looks like a good book. Especailly for people who think that Christian == Republican.
You can read the first chapter here.

This is a paragraph written about it from this site.
"God's Politics offers a clarion call to make both our religious communities and our government more accountable to key values of the prophetic religious tradition - that is, make them pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-equality, pro-consistent ethic of life (beyond single issue voting), and pro-family (without making scapegoats of single mothers or gays and lesbians). These are the values of love and justice, reconciliation, and community that Jesus taught and that are at the core of what many of us believe, Christian or not."

Some good times

Okay, so aside from all the drama, I really have had a good week. Wednesday we went and played pool. That was a good time. Although I had no intentions of it, I got pretty drunk. Then thursday night Jamie and I ended up having a St. Patrick's day party. We played hours of flippy cup. I think I love that game. I managed to get mildly drunk that night too. Then last night I went over to Chrissy's for her birthday. We just hung out, and once again, I got a little drunk. I think I've drank more in this past week than I did the rest of the semester. It's okay though cause it's spring break.
I had been feeling pretty lost in the department. I felt like I didn't fit in anywhere anymore. Dave had left, and I was feeling like he was the only person here who really cared (besides Jamie, of course). This past week though I feel like that has changed. I'm feeling alot closer to people, and I've had a really good time. I'm more optimistic about my last few months here.

You read this?

Okay, so I learned that some people actually read this thing. I always assumed that nobody really cared enough to read this. So that makes me feel awefully exposed. I don't know why. I think I just like to pretend nobody reads this.
I was looking over my recent posts and realized that there's alot of bitching happening. So my goal today is to think of something good that's happened this week and write about it.

More mean people

So I really want to post, but I just don't know what to say. So much has happened recently I don't know where to start, or if it's ready to be posted. I guess I just want to know how someone can hurt someone's feelings and not even care. I'll start with this story I suppose.
We had a prospective student come in town this week to visit the department. We'll call him Charlie. Whenever a prospective comes, the grad students take them out to do various things. We made the mistake of letting Charlie go out with one particular grad student (lets call him Bob). Bob is always making gay jokes and comments. Well, as it turns out, Charlie is gay, and was extremely offended by Bob's actions.
So now, instead of feeling bad for acting this way and hurting Charlie's feelings, several grad student have taken to making fun of the kid instead. They've judged him and laughed that Charlie is Catholic, because in their opinion it's impossible to be any sort of Christian and be gay. They say they're offended that he's offended. I just don't understand. Bob student feels absolutely no remorse and doesn't see any reason why he might need to reevaluate his actions, and a couple other students have taken to defending him. (Interestingly one of those students is the Mean Christian I posted about earlier. (When I posted I made it plural because everyone this guy hangs out with are just as mean). This guy just keeps proving me more and more right about him. He fails to see how making fun of people who are gay is the same thing as making fun of people who are black or whatever.
I can't wait for the day where people can accept people for who they are. I doubt it will come any time soon, but hopefully it will come in my lifetime. Homosexuals are people too. They have feelings just like you and me. I just wish people would take a minute to consider other people before they pass judgement. I'm tired of people using religion as a reason to hate other people. This is what has pushed me so far from religion recently. In my opinion religion should be something that brings people together, not tears them apart. That's why I've become so interested in Unitarianism.
Okay, that's all.

Quiz

I gotta say, this is pretty much the order I would expect. Maybe socialism above anarchism. And definately green over that, but still.

You scored as Democrat. <'Imunimaginative's Deviantart Page'> Democrat 100% Anarchism 75% Green 58% Socialist 50% Communism 42% Republican 8% Nazi 0% Fascism 0% What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In? created with QuizFarm.com

Frustration

Our government makes me sick. I'm tired of them selling out the environment and education. I'm tired of most of the American people not really having any clue of what gets voted on each day. I'm tired of it. I'm frustrated. I would be willing to guess that at least half the people who voted for Bush don't have a clue as to what his real agenda is. Doubtful that they even really took time to look into his policy. They just assumed he was the moral choice, when really that couldn't have been farther from the truth. Looking at his history shows no real morality. Just a trend of selling out the american people to further corporate interests. ARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Who's side are those republicans on?

So I was doing my skimming through the votes in the Senate, and I came across this one.

An amendment to the budget who's purpose is to:
"To restore funding for education programs that are cut and reduce debt by closing corporate tax loopholes."

This was turned down 44-47 with only 3 republicans (Chafee-RI, Coleman-MN, Devine-OH) voting for it.

Come on. Fund education?!?! CUT corporate tax loopholes. Man, these people really aren't for the corporations, they are DEFINATELY for the people. (once again...sarcastic tone)


Oh, and then there's this vote:

Another amendment to the budget to:
"To protect the American people from terrorist attacks by providing the necessary resources to our firefighters, police, EMS workers and other first-responders by restoring $1,626 billion in cuts to first-responder programs."

This one was turned down 46-54 with only 1 republican (Chafee-RI) voting for it.

Man, the party that lays claim to fixing terrorism sure is doing a great job here at home.

Great Depression

Is Bush's agenda of supporting Big Buisiness and pushing the burden onto the American people similar to what happend in the 1920's? Have we been down this road before?

Arctic Wildlife Refuge

Here's a story about some of the possible damages that can be caused my drilling (or "exploring") for oil in the Arctic wildlife refuge.

Most of this stuff I have studied in various classes. It's not made up, and it's not an exaggeration.

I am definately for reducing our dependance on foreign oil, but I think we should do it by developing new technologies, reducing our dependence on oil period. Not by ruining a pristine natural habitat.

Mean Christians

Okay, so this is my last post of the day, I swear. I just have to get this off my chest.
We have a couple people in my department who are constantly boasting about what great Christians they are, and how Jesus is their savior and how God works through them to make them great people. Okay, that's cool. But here's what gets me. They are mean. They are quite possibly some of the meanest people I know. They are always intentionally excluding specific people from things that happen (like they'll invite everyone but 1 or 2 people), they are judgemental, and they are two-faced. If you don't like me, fine. But don't sit around and chat with me and then intentionally exclude me and anyone else from something that is intended to be for everyone.
If it was because they had a problem with my beliefs, that would even be one thing, but they always hang out with other people who think and act the same way I do. I don't know, I think if God really was working through them they would be much more kind to people than they are. Let me tell you, they really lead by example. (sarcastic tone in my voice).
Now, I try not to be upset when I'm not included because I think they're mean and I don't like to surround myself with people like that, but when you IM me and ask me for someones phone number to invite them and don't have the decency to ask me, especially when it's something the whole department is supposed to be involved in, well then screw you, you're just proving me right about you. I'm tired of people who think that they are such great Christians just because they don't drink or have sex. Jesus' teachings were about kindness, doesn't that count for anything anymore? Thanks and gig 'em.

Texas History?

Okay, so I'm on this listserv, and everyone is complaining about how we teach Texas history here. I don't get it. When I was in school we were required to take 3 history courses. World, US, and Texas. Sure teaching a whole course on state history might be alot in some states, but Texas went through alot to become Texas the state. It's not like we're ONLY teaching Texas history. We just teach it too. What's the big deal? My mom grew up in Virginia and she had to take Virginia history, nobody's bitching about that? I think it's just because of the stigma attatched with Texas.

Liberal Media?

Okay, so if the media is controlled by the left, why isn't this getting any coverage? Remember the stories about the missing weapons in Iraq? Well, it was blown off by the whitehouse. Here's the story.

"In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting.

... Dr. Araji said his account was based largely on observations by government employees and officials who either worked at the sites or lived near them.

"They came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites," Dr. Araji said. "They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want. This was sophisticated looting."

The threat posed by these types of facilities was cited by the Bush administration as a reason for invading Iraq, but the installations were left largely unguarded by allied forces in the chaotic months after the invasion. "

I don't understand why Americans are standing for this. We have a voice, why aren't we using it? Oh wait, I know. It's because most Americans refuse to hear the truth about their "fearless leader." They would rather believe that he is this great man and a great leader, and that anything bad about him is sure to be a lie; even if it means they live in a delusion.

It's a beautiful day.

Gosh, this weekend was gorgeous. All I wanted to do was lay outside by the pool and read. Of course, I didn't do this. I mostly laid on my couch with our porch door open and watched television. Although, I did clean the apartment. This was a big achievement for me because it's been forever since I've cleaned. I'm sure Jamie is tired of my dirtiness. I said I was going to work on my thesis, but that never happened. (My laptop never even made it out of my bag.)
Danny came in town on saturday night. I cooked him a good dinner. We went to Alfred Hornbeck's to play some pool. That was fun. We decided we need a pool table in our house, we can just pretend like it's part of the cost of the house. :) Then, sunday morning, I cooked him breakfast and we made sandwiches for lunch (with Dill potato chips of course... Yummm!!!). We should have had a picnic. That would have been smart. With all this cooking I'm afraid I may be spoiling him. Oh well, I'll just have to teach him how to cook good so he can cook for me. That would be alot easier if I wasn't such a control freak, though.
So here I am today, sitting in my office. I have yet to work on my thesis because I had to proofread a proposal for my professor. He's hoping to study ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere. This came about because one of our professors worked on the Mars rover project the past few years. Interesting stuff.

Do What?

So I've realized that when I don't hear what someone says, instead of saying "I'm sorry" or "What" or even "Huh" I say "Do What". Now this has become increasingly annoying to me. I am trying to break the habit, but the more I try to break it, the more I realize I do it, and the more annoyed with myself I become.
I need suggestions of what to replace the "Do what" in my vocabulary with.

Prevention First

Anyone who is against legalized abortion needs to step up and look at this bill. Anti-abortionists need to realize that simply making it illegal is not going to solve the problem. We need to educate our women and make sure they have access to affordable healthcare to educate them and help them to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has introduced an act called Prevention First.
"Senator Reid’s Prevention First Act is a comprehensive family planning package that would expand access to and education about birth control, require equitable insurance coverage for birth control, and ensure that rape survivors receive factually accurate information about how to protect against pregnancy. It also provides funding for grants to establish teen pregnancy prevention programs and ensures that federally funded sex education contains medically accurate information about birth control."
President Bush has consistently taken a roll against education, and against health insurance coverage for contraceptives (although he made sure viagra is covered under most health insurance plans). As expected, this act is recieving alot of oposition from Republicans. I don't understand the republican party's stance against education. To me, only good can come from it. I think this is a good start, and hopefully it will get some publicity.

Lots of stuff...

Gosh, I feel like I haven't posted in a while, so I'm trying to think of something interesting that's happened.
My professor wants me to teach his radiation class while he's out of town the week after next. Ummm, did he forget that I got a B in that class? I'm sure there are many other people in our group more qualified to teach that class than I. Not only that, but for the first time, I'll be teaching to my peers. Scary! I guess it'll be good practice for my seminar, and I should get used to it if I'm really getting my PhD.
There was a geosciences career fair on tuesday, but I was still in Austin, so I missed it. Sad. I would have liked to go to see what job oppertunities are out there for me. Especially because I'm not sure I'll ever want to do my own research where I'm responsible for getting grants and stuff. Maybe I'll just get my PhD and then be a post-doc somewhere for forever.
We went out to northgate last night. That's always good times. I got a little tipsy, not drunk, though.
Today is a BEAUTIFUL day. Maybe sometime later I'll have to go outside and work. My main problem is that my laptop battery has gone to shit, so I can't take it outside. So I have to take stuff to do on paper. But of course, paper blows in the wind.
Danny and I are still looking at houses. We've found some great houses down south. They're new and big. So that's looking promising. It just stinks because it would be harder to get to campus, but I think it might be worth it.
Okay, that's my life in a nutshell. Fun times.

The onion is funny

Gmail user pitties hotmail user

OLYMPIA, WA—Recent Gmail convert William Ramsak, 23, said Monday that his "heart goes out to" friend Kelly Oldenburg, who still sends e-mail through an MSN Hotmail account. "I feel so bad for you, needing to squeeze into 250 MB of storage space," Ramsak wrote to Oldenburg in an e-mail. "And I hate thinking of you sorting all your old e-mail, while Gmail automatically indexes mine so they are searchable." Ramsak then asked Oldenburg when he was going to "stop being a Microstooge and join Team G."

The Onion

You have a boat! In a dam!

Okay, so I have a scary, sad, then wierd, then okay story. Tonight
Danny and I went to dinner at the Hula Hut with the UT geography
department. The Hula Hut has this pier that we were on that overlooks
the dam of Lake Austin.
Well, we look over and see that there is a ski boat caught in the dam. The rear of the boat is caught on the dam, and the front of the boat is up out of the water. We see someone calling 911 and hear rumors that there is 1 person on the boat, 1 in the
water (keep in mind the dam is open, and the way this dam works is
that there are gates that lift up, and the water at the bottom of the
lake goes over the spillway 45 feet below on the other side). So
anyway, after a few minutes, we see the police come in on a boat, and
there are people walking on the dam. Finally, they lower a rope
with a loop on it over the side of the dam. 1 person ties it around
theirself, and there is a struggle to get them out of the boat.
Finally, they get lifted up, and as they do so the boat goes under
alot. The police boat swoops in and grabs the person on the rope on their boat. At this time you can see the boat getting dragged farther and farther under as
they are closing the gate. When the gate is finally closed you can
only see about 5-10 feet of the front of the boat. So there are still
rumors that there were 2 people on the boat, but we know only 1 person
got rescued.
Anyway, lots of time passes and finally the police boat comes back.
You can see they struggle for a while and then they leave. Finally
they lift the dam gate up, and the boat gets sucked under and over the
other side.
The good news is that miraculasly the man was sucked under the flood gate and went
over the 45 foot drop and he still walked away (this has been verified by the
police). The chances of this were extremely slim.
Well, it turns out the motor of the boat stalled and that's when they drifted into the dam. Wow. What a night.

I've been forgotten...again.

Every friday we usually go out to lunch. It used to be we'd all gather in the hallway and round up people. Well, recently if I don't hear them out there and go running, they don't get me. Now, it's not like I don't go on fridays. I always go on fridays. So it really stinks. Especially because I intentionally don't bring a lunch on fridays, so now I'm hungry and I have to find food on my own. This happens other days of the week too. But I've just started bringing my lunch, so it's okay. I guess I'll just have to start bringing my lunch on fridays too. *sigh*
Something about not having classes with people makes them forget you exist. :(

Cats are funny.

So last night, Callie timidly walked into Jamie's room. Jamie has a full-length mirror right by her door. So as Callie is walking into her room, she looks over and sees herself in the mirror. Only she thinks it's another cat. So she starts hissing at it. I try to show her that it's her self, but unfortunatley cats don't really speak english, nor do they have a concept of what they look like. So she charges full-force, head-first into the mirror to attack this "other" cat. I felt a little sad for her, but it was really funny.

Is it monday? No! It's friday!

It really feels like a monday to me. I'll tell you why. Wednesday, I came in to work at about 8 am to get some work done because I had to leave at 1 to go to Houston to pick my sister up at the airport. So I get here, I work for about an hour, and then the power on campus goes off. I go up to the office and they say that they don't know why it's off or for how long. So I go back downstairs and start to read some papers. Then around 10, the power comes back on. Yippie! So I start getting back to work, and by 10:30 it's off again. About this time, other people start showing up at work, and they all come to my office because it has the most windows, therefore the most light. So instead of doing anything we sit around and bullshit. Then around noon I leave to go get Vivan. We spend 30 minutes finding a DSW in Houston, then we drive to the woodlands mall, and then we have dinner at Benihanna. (yummy!) So we finally get back to CS around 9, and I go workout and we call it a night.
Yesterday, my mom came down to pick Vivian up and take her to Dallas. Little did I know that she was bringing my other sister's cat with her for me (that's a whole other story). So during the morning Vivian and I do some shopping, then we go to the wedding store with my mom, then we all go to lunch. My family finally hits the road around 4 and by that time I'm exhausted and not in the mood to work. So I haven't really worked since tuesday!


Today I'm going to austin to first visit my girlfriends, and then visit UT. I'll be there till tuesday. Pretty long trip. I'm taking my whole closet because I couldn't decide what I wanted to wear. So that should be fun. :)

Onto why I have my sister's cat. Her cat, Callie, has some sort of skin disease that makes her ears scab up and her paws are swollen and she can't retract her claws. Her vet has an idea of what it is, but says she needs to spend thousands of dollars to go get tests done to figure out for sure. Now, my sister just can't afford that. So, she sent her down to me. I go to A&M, home of a great vet school! So, I'm going to take Callie to the vet school for tests which are cheaper than elsewhere and I get a 20% discount for being a student. So hopefully A&M will figure out what's wrong with her and make her feel better.

UT pom vs. Aggie dance team, and working out

I found out that I am going to UT. Something I've always wanted to do is be on the Texas Pom Squad, so I think I'm going to try out.
Why didn't you just do Aggie Dance Team you ask?
Well, there are many reasons.
1) Because I was around when the Aggie Dance Team was first formed, and I made lots of fun of them every year at nationals because they sucked! (I was about 10)
2) Because they don't get to do football games which was something I wanted to do.
3) Because I don't really care for the director. She's not a very nice person.
4) I really wanted a break from hard-core dancing after high school.

Anyway, so here I am. 6 years later, going to UT, and I've decided to try out for the pom squad. I've decided if I'm going to try out, I'm going to take it seriously, and this means losing some weight. So I've been working out with a personal trainer once a week for about a month now. Last week, though, I've started walking/jogging 2.25 miles a day, and I've done it every day for a week. Awesome! I'm eating alot better too. So hopefully this will be enough and I can get the "appropriate physique" before tryouts in a month and a half. This week I'm not going to get to work out that much, though, and then we're having a girls weekend. It's going to be very hard to refrain from pigging out, but I just can't do it! I only have a month and a half, and I really need to lose about 10-15 lbs. That's 2 lbs a week. Here goes.