politics and bipartisanship

what the hell is wrong with american politics these days?

we can't adopt the attitude of:
"politics are stupid. we're fucked no matter what we do. let's just have fun while we can before we die. we're all gonna die someday. why bother to spend the short time you have pissed off at stupid people for stupid reasons?"

it's easy since most of us don't worry about our mother and fathers being out of work tommorow, there is a large percentage of people in america who think we who vote should most definately give a fuck about politics.

i was reading the news article Melisa posted on CuCommunity about the Bush campaign's choosing to use the moveon.org video comparing bush and hitler. it was actually quite an amusing video if you want to goto the page and watch it. it's @ http://www.georgewbush.com on the front page. after a little chuckle about the lack of substance in the video, i looked at the rest of the G W Bush site. let's look:





all you see are reasons why John Kerry sucks and you shouldn't vote for him. have we gotten to such a point in american politics where the only refuge that the incumbent has is to mud sling all over his main campaign page? sure there are sections on his page devoted to his stances on the issues, but the front page reflects what the campaign wants you to focus on. the GOP doesn't want you to look at bush and the things he has done for the nation, it wants you to look at kerry.

switch to kerry's main site:



observe, unless you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you don't see anything about bush. the quip about bush at the bottom is not in regards to bush's character, but his stance on china relations.

it is this kind of unequal plane of fighting political battles that makes me shake my head. i believe, ideally, we would be talking about issues, we have bipartisanship set up because these beliefs in what is best for the social and economic benefit of the entire country are different. there is nothing wrong with different opinions. the bush campaign isn't talking about 1. reasons why we should vote for him; 2. what america needs; and 3. how he plans to improve on the past 4 years.
instead what do we have?

we don't have why you should vote for bush, the main slogan of the bush campaign is, why you shouldn't vote for John Kerry. every commercial i see on TV is, "pessimism never created a job" or "this is not a time for pessimism or rage".
not to say that the Kerry campaign doesn't have some videos directed at bush, at least they have campaign videos that say, "hey america, these are the problems i think america is facing right now and this is how i propose to fix it". this is at least a plan of some sort, it is completely ridiculous to say, vote for me because that other guy sucks. you know, if bush wants to say kerry sucks, maybe a bunch of people will leave the bush camp and go vote for nader...

the other thing that really bothers me about the bush ad campaign is, well it stems from what i was just talking about, the negative focus on kerry's character and not issues. i found politics to be very entertaining and intriguing to watch because it was like a gladiator match, one camp's best warrior versus the best the other camp had to offer. these were heroes that nations could take pride in and root for. there was a mutual respect that these were both great men or women. where is that in american politics, any politics for that matter? are we trying to degrade and push candidates so far into the ground that voters have to scratch their head and think, the person who may lead our country isn't fit for the job. isn't that what we are saying through this negative campaigning, that the other candidate sucks and can't do the job? it's kind of depressing to think that we hold political conventions of long periods of time to find the best person to champion the helm of a party's ship only to discover one or both of them are losers and unfit for the job. nothing is about issues, it has everything to do with how well you can kick the other person in the balls. (e.g. bush vs. mccain, gingrich vs. clinton on sex scandal [since newt was having an affair of the same nature at the same time, great.] .

keep it to the issues, not the bullshit.

P.S. hilarious parody of the bush campaign site.

http://www.georgewbush.org/index.asp

updates and gmail.

7 gmail invitations more to give out, they just keep on coming don't they... oh and mish, i didn't give you one last time because i saw you had one already.

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i started my CU project, this is going to require some help, i think i'm going to need Dan (djdan to ya'll who don't know him except for cucomm) to help me keep it updated and graphics and what not.

basically, what i wanted was a very clean, very accesible, quick loading site for everyone, meaning no flash, all html. nothing fancy, while still having visual appeal.

it's in 2 parts.

part 1's purpose is to have a site where everyone can look at and find parties to goto on the weekends, or weekdays at that. if you're having a party, let me know and i'll update the site accordingly. haven't figured out how i should set it up so i don't have to do everything myself.

part 2 is for team awesome. i decided it'd be easiest to use Blogger power for people to post what concerts are in nyc and who is going. if you are on my team awesome, i'll give you access to update the site accordingly. we will use the comments feature to track who is going, who has tickets, needs them, wants to sell them, etc.

i guess.... check out what i have so far...


http://www.columbia.edu/~sfw2003/

snap crackle pop

tommorow is a bit of a free day at work, so i'm bringing my laptop to work and starting to put together that project i was talking about. see last journal if you have no idea what i'm talking about.

plenty of time to map out things and do some photoshop and come out with a hopefully not so ugly looking page. that and i have a nice giant copy of Bill Clinton's memoirs to read.

i went climbing again today, i'm really bummed out. i could barely do a v2, that's so weak. to top it off, i was pulling down and back on a hold and wouldn't you know, i hear a pop in my hand. i was out of commission for about 5 minutes trying to figure what happened and why my hand was hurting like a bizatch. i think i popped a tendon or a whatever it is. did some top roping after i got some adrenaline running through me and did a easy 5.8 and 5.7+ on the top ropes. god i'm way out of shape.

now my hand is out of commission and to top it off, i am continuing my summer trend of being anti-social. i don't really feel like hanging out with my friends, i just want to sit around watching movies and baking. is that bad? cucommunity is losing it's magic for me too, i guess it's because not enough people are using it. i want to get back to school and actually talk to people, talking to hot nyu girls i meet online isn't cutting it anymore. [ i will go down 100 blocks to meet them in the fall though]. during the summer, i'm just a really bad friend i guess. michele called yesterday and wanted to hang out. i was hot and stinky coming from 7pm work out and just wanted to go home and sleep. i told her i'd call back after dinner and shower, but... you know me, i just passed out.

concert scene in jacksonville... or actionville is waning. nothing to goto except for midtown in july and silent drive a week after that show. oh yea then warped tour. and hilary duff! at least i'll be home to goto two preseason games (yea Jaguars! wouldn't it be great if they made it to the super bowl, since we are hosting it this year?).

oh yea... um... Vik said him and his girlfriend might come down here to chill. that'd be cool, he can rent out our condo and stuff, and if anyone else wants to come down here and rent out our beach front, 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo you're welcome to.

that's it for now... going to dream about being a rockstar.

"You know I'm cool when all the guys wanna be my friend. And every little girl here, they all wanna hold my hand"

hmm project

i was going to go to sleep 4 hours ago but... cucomm distracted me. in the mean time, i've thought of something to do with my summer life outside of working and going to the beach.

completely scrap the POS website i have right now and start from scratch. new page is going to require two elements, page one and page two. wow, that was some super brain work right there ay?

page one, for Team Awesome. where the hell did i come up with that dumbass name? anyways, using the assistance ofwww.pollstar.com and Cody Hess' program P-scrap (sp?) i'll keep an up to date calendar of upcoming punk rock/emo/hardcore/indie/awesome shows in the new york city + surrounding area for everyone to goto. people can use forms and stuff i guess to add them themselves, and also find people to go with, we are a growing team with plenty of people going to concerts each week. just look at jenn, marisa, dan and myself, between the 4 of us we must goto at THE LEAST, one concert a week. and that is on a bad week. so you should be able to write that you are a. attending b. have tickets c. have extra tickets d. whatever.

page two. noticed it was a damm hassle getting everyone on the same page when we were going out on the weekends last year. there are plenty of parties at columbia. we just need a page to tell us all where they are at. if you're party is some inclusive bullshit kind of thing, it ain't a party , it's a social gathering. we're lookin for parties here. so i'll keep a page that has parties for the weekend listed, gotta find the beer ya know? that and i don't like calling everyone in my phonebook looking for things to do and with everyone spread out from McBain to Fort Awesome-Wien to EC to wherever hole in the wall you live (me- Plimpton?).

all in all i think this is a productive endeavour. next year is going to be sweet. yea that is contingent on my not sucking ass in 3 EE classes + associated labs and 2 math classes. shazzle.

EDIT: 1:30 AM, roach ran across my carpet. mother fucker. i hate roaches, our house is too nice to have roaches. grabbed the lil' guy between a tissue and watched him squirm, then i pressed on its abdomen and watched its guts explode out its back side. you could still see it struggling as i threw it in the toilet. it tried to run for safety but it was still attatched to its guts that was half in its ass and half on the tissue. flush. buuuh bye you nasty shit bug. yea that was really unnecessary and kind of psycho sounding. apologies. JENGA!

peas.

interesting set of hot journals this evening. i found myself agreeing with mr. zaragoza and seeing his reputation ignite some girl to get all flustered with him. flustered in a bad way, i believe she called him a neo-nazi. that was interesting.

what i'd like to know is what is up with this new 'jump on the gravy train' phenomena that is emo/indie/punk/hardcore. at columbia i have seen people listen to the most diverse assortments of jazz, classical, classic rock, etc. but it seems that when it comes to my beloved genre of emo/indie/punk/hardcore, there is hardly any diversity at all. everyone seems to be into the shame shit.

saves the day- new album, crap. my brother argues with me about that, but it is nowhere near their previous material.

jimmy eat world.- good band, nothing wrong with them at all. they just seem to be everyone's infatuation of the minute.

radiohead- i don't get it.

good charlotte- whatever, they are terrible. no further comments.

mest- never had a quality album, always decent to subpar.

where is the variety? doesn't anyone listen to something different from anyone else these days? where is the Foucault spirit, be different! it's so time consuming to search for new music to listen to and so hard to find good help in the new music endeavour. my only sources are finding good bands that open for bands i goto see in concert, dan fuller, katie k. (she might still have her column @ www.hurley.com if you want to check her out... alas she's filming or something so she hasn't talked to me in a while :( ), e-commerce sites like www.interpunk.com & www.smartpunk.com, and yael. cmon, someone help me find new shit to listen to, my 5 new cd's a week rhythm has been off for a month, in need of assistance.

anyways, peas my friends and new friends. i'll be in Los Angeles for the weekend and i think i've decided not to bring my laptop, so no internet till monday. if anyone needs me or wants to say hiyo!, call my cellphone. it's on my aim profile if you are stalking me or something... peas out homies.

ps. dan, if you're in LA this weekend gimme a call.

wtf atkins?

i thought the atkins diet was going to be a fad. everybody drops those diets because we are too susceptible to temptation and most people aren't that regimatic. jenny craig? weight watchers? south beach? everyone at my workplace who put themselves on those things, has quit following them.

atkins is interesting. low to no carbs? people think that they can eat whatever they want, exorbitant amounts of butter, greasy piles of shit, you name it all while avoiding bread and noodles. this diet just doesn't go away, it somehow has taken some kind of social life preserver and keeps on having it's effects.

i was walking down the food aisle in the super market a few days ago, and lo and behold, Coca Cola C2. what the hell is coke c2? good question, half the carbs half the calories half the sugar coke. are you kidding me.

if you want to be on a diet, don't put that much fucking sugar into your body in the first place. losing weight is really simple, assuming you don't have some kind of thyroid problem or something of that nature.

1. you know that great stuffed feeling after you've eaten a full meal and then some? don't eat that much anymore.

2. do some excercise. really it helps, it's hard losing weight, by eating low carbs and high fat and sitting on your ass.

coke's new product reflects consumerism, somehow atkins friendly everything has become the new cool. i mean let's be honest, i saw low-carb icecream the other day.

rock on!

i passed by the new pornographers cd in best buy. i still haven't heard it and the reviewers in the spec have all placed it as their favorite cd of the year. that's entirely why i passed it up again. i'll just dl' it when i get back to school. i haven't found anyone who does the spec's music section sharing the same tastes as my own.

wow. two weeks of work... after tax that's about $1000. sweet, in the money again. plenty of money to fuel bad habits when i get back to school, bailey's irish cream, i'm looking at you kid. maybe a new digital camera.

i went climbing for the first time in months on friday, i am way out of shape for climbing. forearms are not what they used to be, they are sore as a mother fucker now. one of the coolest features they've added in our gym is a self-belay-pulley system. they have your rope and clip in attached to a pulley that catches the slack as you go up and releases slowly as you come down. awesome. good thing i have a salary right now, as of now the need list consists of 2nd pair of climbing shoes... looking at a pair of Bufo's or those new 5'10 shoes they put out. also need a decent harness.

...hmmm.. also, mr. zaragoza said i showed promise. i'm not sure in what aspect he was referring to but it was nice to see a compliment in some form from him.

ayn rand's Atlas Shrugged is turning out to be a better book than i thought it was going to be. long as hell though, i think i've read 700 pages of it so far and nowhere near done. interesting look at materialistic fueled economy and social structure.

new cd's to fuel the compulsive buying habit.
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Silent Drive- love is worth it. [awesome cd, singing is reminescent of joey cape and the guy from craig's brother, and he transitions into davy havok type screaming, songs have a good range and... well... i think you'll like it]

My Chemical Romance-Three cheers for sweet revenge [haven't listened to it in its entirety yet, hopefully it's as good as it started off]

Funeral for a friend- Seven ways to scream your name [dl' back at school, just picked up the cd, good shit]

Bad Religion- Empire strikes first {best BR release in a long time, applause.]

fuck hipsters

this evening i drove my younger brother to the Halifax concert. they rocked by the way. two highschool bands opened before halifax and glasseater (glasseater is a shitty band so we left early), but it seems that everyone and their mother wants to be in a hardcore band these days. you don't even need words, you just scream into the mic.

our entire punk rock scene has dissapeared. we've all graduated from highschool and gone off to college. what remains is a new breed, a rather disgusting breed, hipsters. i've always said the music is about the music, bypass all of the superficial trends. that never is heeded though, they are the hot topic generation, and the opposing anti-hot topic hipster group is no better. what used to be gothic looking people in big pants and lots of black has been replaced with the tight clothed hipsters.

this is the scene as it is today, across the nation, you goto new york city, los angeles, texas, etc. everyone looks like they should be in a indie band. tight jeans. t-shirt that doesn't fit. scrawny mother fuckers with no muscles to speak of. long goofy ass hair. those off color jackets. i mean, what in the fuck guys? who do you think you are, conor oberst? well not even obserst is that band, everyone i've seen looks like they've been displaced out of a taking back sunday video. still, it's just a fad.

this is more superficial. the materialist hipsters, still living off of parental income, digging through the salvation army bins for "vintage" stuff. hipster steve in nyc told yael and i, "it's kind of sad that everyone in our scene is becoming a hipster, even me. we started making money and all of us who didn't make it with our bands have turned ourselves onto buying clothes and looking good for girls instead of rocking out.". you know what, fuck hipsters. i don't like your brown, red and pink vest jacket. it sucks.

well that was depressing

i was driving home with my mom after work and the rain never stopped falling. i think i tried calling my brother back about 5 times with no answer, he was at his swim meet. i had planned to drop my mom off at home and goto the meet and volunteer as a timer but family crisis stepped in. as i was pulling into the end of my driveway, i looked towards the doghouse, and through the rain i could barely make out the brown lump under the tree. my first thought was that it was my dog, skippy, she has a heart problem (tumor and her heart is starting to skip beats). I looked again and thought it was too small to be her. too bad it was. she wasn't breathing and was a soggy wet mess strewn out under a tree.

my mom and i ran over and started shaking her. slowly after what seemed like the longest minutes ever, she looked up with those sad eyes and i knew she was done. normally i would toss it to her being a bit on the slowside and fell asleep in the rain, but not this time, she didn't even have the energy to get up.

i've had this dog since i moved to jacksonville. 15 years, with us through the move from the beach to arlington, she's almost my brothers age, kind of scary. i was going to leave her there and wait for the rain to stop, i really didn't know what to do. my mom bent over and picked her up (this irish setter is a big dog) and carried her into the garage. for the next half an hour we dried her off and she must have drank a bucket full of water. i suspect heart attack, my dad says pneumonia and dehydration. i hope she makes it through the night.

politics: stupidity and bush hate.

i don't like bush. hey what else is new? what irks me however is that many people are taking the line that "bush is stupid, everything he does is bad and stupid, therefore vote for kerry". well i guess that is beneficial if you want kerry to win by any means necessary. i guess i'm idealistic, i'd hope that everyone votes for what they believe is the best direction for ALL of the American people, not a niche group, but all.

but saying that everything that Bush does is stupid, i think is infact stupid. it's a pretty picture that liberal friends and media have painted for us, and judging by a lot of what i've heard, that mentality is catching on.

the example that comes to mind right now was something that I read while I was in Canada. it was about scientific research on global warming and what this data means to the kyoto treaty. when i was at columbia, and a political debate sparked between two friends, the democrat always started off with the fact that bush pulled the United States out of the Kyoto treaty. Now those of us who don't read anything go, "that goddamn bush, he's killing the environment, fuck bush". well that's one side.

did any of us really examine the kyoto treaty? it sets some lofty goals about greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide for one. bush gets kicked in the balls bc being the ... not outside the box thinker that he is, defends everything, and i mean everything with his MBA, in terms of money... and sometimes ol' fashion christian values. anyways. i can see why everyone attacks him on this, he makes it a money issue, when you say it's too expensive we don't want to pay and you are one of the most industrialized and materialistic nations in the world it seems a bit stupid to weigh money against the future of the planet.

the senate dismissed the treaty 95-0. maybe they are thinking monetarily too.

don't knock on bush because it's fashionable, get some real reasons and some facts to back yourself up. getting to the point, the kyoto treaty truly has some serious scientific flaws if you read the latest research done... that and it excludes massively populated countries like china. so what'd i read in the canadian newspaper? let's say you took everyone in the world and they stop breathing, we stop driving cars, we stop polluting. the amount of carbon dioxide that is generated by us and everything related to us is at most neglible. when scientist calculate how much CO2 is transfered in and out of forests/soil/oceans, the amount we generate is less than the uncertainty for these measurements. +/- . we could find this data to be less compelling later after we get more data, but you do get a good perspective scientifically to justify the economic reason. just a thought.

another thing that has been hanging on my mind is my friend who is leaving for a 10 week program for officer's school in the Marines. i hope him the best, but i'll never understand why he and many military personnel i've known (our town is home to one of the bigger naval bases) is diehard republican. they say they are loyal to our country, that's a slap in the face, i thought despite bipartisanship, we all love our country for the most part. i must have missed the part where fighting for your country made you conservative. why is party affiliation even related? i don't know, someone enlighten me. i think it's stupid to vote a particular way because it's the local opinion, just as it's stupid to call bush stupid and his policies stupid because it's the local opinion. i guess i think this way because i think everything he does is completely intentional, not that he is stupid, but does not have the nation's complete well being in mind.