Holy Rusted the other Republican Leader might be in shit too!!!!!!

This might just be the best day of my life. No, not because all these republicans are scumbags, but because it's finally coming out that they are scumbags. Exactly what I've been saying all along.

Turns out that conveniently Mr. Bill "cat-killer" Frist made somewhere between $2 and $6 million by selling his HCA holdings just before the stocks plummeted due to a bad earnings report.

Let's compare this to Martha, shall we. She made a mere $50,000 off her insider trading.

Holy Crap

I never thought it would happen, but Tom DeLay has been indicted!

A Travis County grand jury today indicted U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on one count of criminal conspiracy, jeopardizing the Sugar Land Republican's leadership role as the second most powerful Texan in Washington, D.C.

The charge, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years incarceration, stems from his role with his political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct organization that already had been indicted on charges of illegally using corporate money during the 2002 legislative elections.

School

I'm thinking of not staying at UT. I'm not sure my heart's in it. I'm looking for other things I can do. Any suggestions?

WOW

Wow...that's all.

Evolution Schmevolution

Okay, so I've been in the Geology department for a couple weeks now. I have to say, I think I like it. I am surprised at the difference between this and atmospheric sciences.

In atmospheric sciences people could cling to whatever beliefs of the world they have, pretty much. Anything having to do with the past doesn't have an impact on the weather tomorrow unless you're studying climate or something.

But here, people actually laugh at people who think the world is younger than 4.5 billion years as well as people who think evolution is a load of crap. The world we live in today is so crazy. People who don't agree with science try to make it look like the scientists are debating it. But let me tell you, there is no debate. (Yes, there are debates on the specifics, but as far as evolution as a whole goes, it is widely accepted in the scientific community)

I love the class I'm teaching because one of the main points the professor is trying to get across is the difference between science, nonscience, and nonsense. So basically he's trying to show them what goes into coming up with a scientific theory, and how other ideas such as intellegent design aren't actually science.

And as one last disclaimer, I'm not attacking religion here. I, for one, don't believe that evolution and creationism are necessarily mutually exclusive. Something could have still been created in the beginning, and then evolved. Although I will say that evolution does make it so that genisis can't be taken literally, at all. But yeah, I'm gonna go with science over blind faith any day.

America's Battered Wife Syndrome

There are so many funny people in the world. I really wish I was one of them.
*sigh*
But seriously, this article is so true...

href="href="http://12thharmonic.com/wordpress/index.php/2005/09/07/americas-battered-wife-syndrome/">America's Battered Wife Syndrome

Kids say the darndest things...

"What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." –Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)

Update

Well, I've been really busy and haven't posted in a while. I'm still really busy and don't have too much time to post.
Danny and I got married. The wedding went well. A few glitches, but overall I think people enjoyed themselves. Our honeymoon was great. We're now back in Austin. We're working on setting up our house, and I've started school at UT. Overall things are pretty good right now. Just extremely busy.
Okay, back to work though, just wanted to post to say I'm alive. :)

Stressed out

FYI, I highly reccommend, not trying to move and get married all at the same time. Or at least move to a different city than where the wedding is. :-/

Going Home

Well, Danny has left New York and is on his way home. I'm very excited. I'm still in Austin. I've done lots of painting and trying to get the hosue ready to move in. Tuesday is when all of my furniature is getting moved here. *sigh* That's all I know for now.
Think of Danny on his drive home that he makes it safely.

15 more days!

Independent Thinker?

So the other day I was talking with people about Kinky for govornor. I mentioned that I wasn't going to vote for him because I've done research and I think he's a nutjob. He implied that because I wouldn't vote for him I wasn't an independent thinker and I was incapable of voting for anyone that wasn't a democrat. (Let me note that this guy knew nothing about Kinky or any of his ideas) Now this just made me laugh. Because let me say that I take each candidate for what they are. I don't give a shit about the letter next to their name. What I care about is that they are HONEST, sincere, generally care about their constituents, and have the same ideals as me. (Treat people as I would want to be treated). That's all. They can be republican, democrat, independent, it doesn't matter to me. (in fact, I'd pretty much prefer that they weren't associated with a party, I don't want them to be forced to pander to anybody besides their constituents) This is in contrast to many people I know who only vote for people with that R next to their name and won't even investigate the democratic candidate. They just take the word of the republicans about the democrats, or make assumptions about democrats. Most of them don't even understand what it means to be a liberal or progressive. (Yes, I know this happens on the other side, I just don't know anybody like that, and the majority of people I know are the other way).

Bullshit

Well, it turns out Bush went behind Congress's back and appointed Bolton. Can't say I'm really surprised. He is such an arrogant ass hole that is exactly his style. If he had just turned over the documents that Congress had been asking for, and if they didnt' say what we all suspect they say (that Bolton sucks and is a horrible person for this job) then he would get approved by the Senate without a problem. But no, this is the administration's way. Hide information from the public, and then make it look like they're the ones that are being victimized. I'm so tired of it. They did the same thing with the Valerie Plame/Wilson. They were saying that they released Plame's name because they were trying to discredit Wilson and his findings. Well, if Wilson's findings were so absurd, why didn't they just discredit them? Because they weren't absurd, and they went against the administration's longtime goal of invading Iraq. Bullshit.

Missing

Well, my cousin Chip has been missing since saturday night. He lives in a group home in Illinois and he had gone out to a bar next to the home. Some people had seen him on their way home and asked him if he needed a ride, but he said he'd walk home in a little while.
So yeah, no sign of him since. He was supposed to go to his Dad's for dinner last night, which he loves to do, but he never showed up. So we don't know what happened, but everyone is very worried. So please be thinking of him and especially his Dad, Ginger and his brother and sister.

UPDATE: They found him. Turns out he had decided to go off and have himself some fun and not tell anybody. Lets just say that he's in trouble is an understatement.

Readin

So I finally got my reading list how I wanted it. I started it over a week ago and never finished it. But now it is.

countdown

So in the AM, there's some sort of bug in my countdown, and it's always off by 10 days. That's really frustrating, but I don't feel like looking for the bug. So I decided to blog about it instead.

Me and Religion

Okay, so I've been harping on Evangelicals lately. Here's why. I have never met an evangelical that I like. I've never met an evangelical who's faith I respect. I've never met an evangelical who I think is a better person because of their beliefs. Now again, that's my personal experience. But being in the Bible belt, I've met my share of evangelicals. That being said, I know many Catholics, Jews, and Protestants whom I do respect, and think that religion is doing a good thing for them.

Also, someone in a comment mentioned me questioning my own beliefs. Let me say that I am more than willing to examine and question my beliefs. For example, if someone was able to offer real proof to me that their religion was correct (while not relying on the Bible), I would be more than willing to examine that religion and follow it's teachings, and try to spread it's teachings. The thing is, so far, I have no reason to believe on specific religion is more right than another. That's why I refuse to get caught up in the "my religion is right, you're going to hell" game. Contrary to popular beliefs, I am not an athiest. That would require me to adhere to something that I've already said I don't know about. If I was forced to call myself something, it would be agnostic. Which many people equate with athiesm, but it isn't at all. Agnostics admit that they don't know if there's a God or not. Religion is something that I'm not willing to judge someone else by, unless I think that it makes them a worse person.

All that being said, I do think religion can have alot to offer many people. I think it's something that everyone should consider and examine. For myself, I derive my morality from inside myself. I don't need a book or anything else to tell me what I think is right or wrong. Some people need that guidance. Finally, I think that religion does have more to offer than just that. I do plan on "shopping" churches once I move to Austin. First on my list is Unitarian, second is Methodist.

Okay, this was alot of ramblings.

I think Christians are ruining the country

Haha. I love learning new things about myself. This is the newest thing I've learned. I think Christians are ruining the country. I love it when people who have never had a real conversation with me about my beliefs assume they know what I think. My beliefs are extremely complex and are based on all of my life experiences. No one sentence will ever sum them up. Well, except maybe "Damn Liberal" :)
Let me just say, I love Christians. I think Christianity has a lot to offer and can teach people great things. Now that I've said that, I'll say that the majority of Evangelical Christians (southern babtists, Bible church goers) that I've met aren't nice. They don't follow what I believe to be real Christianity (the following of Christ's teachings). I think most evangelicals (that I've met) simply blindly follow what their preachers tell them. Which are generally crazy rantings about abortion, war, and subservient women.
There's nothing I respect more than a person who has really questioned their faith, and still believes. If they can answer the tough questions, then I respect them. Most people I've met, though, can't actually answer the tough questions and simply hide behind what their ministers/preachers tell them to believe.
Anyway, I need to go to bed. I might talk about this more tomorrow. We'll see if I'm in the mood.

30 Days

I love this show. It's done by the Super-Size Me guy, Morgan Spurlock. It's a great show where Morgan gets people to challenge their beliefs and prejiduces.

In one show Muslim and America. A white, christina guy from West Virginia goes to live with a Muslim family. During his 30 days he gets to know the Muslim faith and what the belive and stand for. He talks with Muslim religious leaders and befriends his host family.

The one that really sealed the deal for me, though, was the one I saw last night, Gay/Straight. In this one, a "God-fearing 24-year old conservative homophobe" from rural Michigan was sent to live in San Francisco's Castro district that is known as being one of the gayest areas of the country. While there he joined a gay sports team, worked a job which caters to gay clientele, attends gay-friendly church services, and has a gay roomate. Through all of this he sticks with his idea that being gay according to the Bible is wrong. That is until day 28. That's when he starts to realize that these people aren't just gay. They are daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, friends. They are the same as him.
It was great to see his change. It was frustrating to see him stick by these specific Bible passages even as he ignored specific other ones when it came to him. (killing is a sin, he's in the military and thinks it's okay to kill for your country, etc.)
Throughout the whole thing he was adament that he doesn't think gays should be allowed in the military. Then at the end he realizes that he wouldn't mind having his roomate in his unit. So that's his real turning point I think where he starts to realize that these people aren't evil, and they're not any different than you and me.

Oh, I just love it! I wish everyone had to really examine their views like this. It's alot harder to stick by your hurtful ideas when you're personally involved and you have to tell your friend or family that you don't think they deserve to be happy or have the same things in life as you. (Although I know a few people who don't have a problem with this, but hopefully they're the exception, crazy evangelical Christians, and not the rule)

Take that Biatches...

Finally people are coming out and telling the truth about DeLay and his fundraising tactics.

In court documents, Westar Energy of Kansas says that to meet with Mr. DeLay in 2002, company officials "were told they needed to write a check for $25,000" to Texans for a Republican Majority, known as TRMPAC.

If you don't think that activities like this are a shot in the arm to democracy, and if you aren't outraged. Then there's a problem. We the people need to start standing up to these activities. Republican and Democratic. It's the only way that we're ever going to be represented instead of the companies being represented.

Step up Texas

I found a really awesome website today. It's called Step up Texas. It's a website that encourages discussion about democratic candidates in texas. It shows all potential candidates and you can endorse them or comment on them. I think it's a great idea and it's going to be a great forum to make sure that only the best democratic candidates run for office.
See, this is why I love the democratic party. There's so much involvement.