Someone explain the logic of this to me...

Ok, I understand that the fact that Iraq doesn't have WMD's is old old old news, but let me reiterate...we went to Iraq supposedly because of WMD's. In case you haven't noticed....IRAQ DOES NOT HAVE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. But...also, in case you haven't noticed...BOTH IRAN AND NORTH KOREA DO!!!!!! So, now we're entrenched in this war (which, by the way, apparently ended in 2003. Anyone remember that??) in Iraq, that was started for a reason that turned out to be completely false, while two, TWO other countries who actually DO have WMD's are developing their little hearts out. North Korea (who is so ronery...) did nuclear TESTS!!!!! Iran is doing uranium enrichment. And what are we doing??? Talks and sanctions. Oh be still my beating heart. That'll show 'em.

So what now?? According to Bush (who is looking stupider, not by the day, but by the MINUTE!!) the only solution to Iraq is more troops. That's the only way. So, what happens with Iran and North Korea?? The good majority of our resources are tied up in Iraq because we made a royal freaking mess out of that, so these other two REAL nuclear threats go unchecked. UN sanctions?? Please. Why don't we just send a note to Kim Jong Il's mother explaining to her that he's misbehaving? Oh! I know! We'll keep him in at reccess and make him write "I will not conduct any more nuclear tests" 100 times on the board.

And, what exactly are sanctions?? I can't seem to find a very good answer for that. Miriam Webster has 5 definitions for "sanction," which are as follows:

1 : a formal decree; especially : an ecclesiastical decree
2 a obsolete : a solemn agreement : OATH b : something that makes an oath binding
3 : the detriment, loss of reward, or coercive intervention annexed to a violation of a law as a means of enforcing the law
4 a : a consideration, principle, or influence (as of conscience) that impels to moral action or determines moral judgment b : a mechanism of social control for enforcing a society's standards c : explicit or official approval, permission, or ratification : APPROBATION
5 : an economic or military coercive measure adopted usually by several nations in concert for forcing a nation violating international law to desist or yield to adjudication

Britannica goes on to explain that a sanction is "a reaction (or the threat or promise of a reaction) by members of a social group indicating approval or disapproval of a mode of conduct and serving to enforce behavioral standards of the group." So, the UN is going to say to Iran and North Korea, "Oh man, you guys. This nuclear testing and enrichment stuff is really bad. We don't really approve....."

I'm sorry, but I think this is absolutely ridiculous. Doesn't anyone else see how completely DUMB this is???? Grrr.....

(P.S. I saw a news show the other day on which the commentator was urging everyone to vote EVERY incumbent out of office. He wants people, when they go to the polls, to look at the ballot, look at who's in office, and vote for the opposing candidate. While it's not the best idea to urge people to vote for someone without researching their policies, etc., it's certainly a very interesting idea. What would happen??)

A quandry for sure...

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Barack Obama is considering a run for the presidency in '08. I've been saying for a while that I didn't think that he was going to run this next election. He's fairly young. His foreign policy experience is pretty much nil. And Hillary is widely accepted as a given for this next election race. Apparently I was wrong.

If Obama does indeed decide to make a run for office, I really think that it's going to throw the Democratic party, and the nation in general, into a huge quandry. Democrats would have two minorities on their ticket, competing against each other. The race between a black man and a woman I think could become highly politicized.

I honestly think, to get a minority elected to office, that this is the way to go, actually. I think a woman running against a bunch of white, protestant males, or a black man running against a bunch of white, protestant males, would be a really difficult win. But, to have two minorities on the same ticket gives some hope. I've heard some people (ahem, you know who you are) claim that if a woman is running for office, they would vote for her no matter what. I think that's the wrong way to go, for women or for a racial minority. I think we, as a nation, are at a point in our social consciousness where we don't need crutches for minorities to gain the same access to politics and jobs and everything else as white males have. I think it would be a shame to see a minority elected to office merely on his or her minority status. I think that would cheapen the victory, and give doubters an "in" to point to any failure as an inherent flaw in that minority group.

It does seem like the Democrats have a number of rising stars that they might be able to rely on for this next election. Hillary has long been assumed to be a major contender. I've heard whispers and rumors of Russ Feingold running (hooray!). Now they have Obama as well. My only fear with all of these heavyweights possibly all on the Democratic ticket, is it might polarize the party (yet again).

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't want to seem like I'm a staunch Democrat. I really do think, though, that after 8 years of this current crap, a change of pace is greatly needed. And, as far as policies and behaviors that I like and agree with, Democrats such as Feingold and Obama have stood out to me. The thing about those two, is they vote their conscious, rather than running constantly down party lines. Obama is definately a uniting force for the country, with support from both sides of the fence. What about a Feingold/Obama ticket?? Hmmm.....

Guilty Pleasures

Ok, so I just discovered Dancing With The Stars. I was flipping through channels, and I saw it on, so it's not like I was looking for it specifically or anything. I just found it (I'm defending myself here..). And I, embarassingly, really like it. Hold on...it's on again.... OK commercial break. Anyway, the show is so much like what I would imagine a cheesy 70's vaudeville show or something would be. So, I thought, in honor of a new guilty pleasure, I thought I woule bare all and give you a list of some of my guilty pleasures. Here we go:
1) Ballroom dancing competitions
2) Movies about ballroom dancing
3) Shows about ballroom dancing
4) Figure skating
5) Cheesy british romantic comedies (ala Bridget Jones, Love Actually, etc..)
6) Raspberry jam straight out of the jar
7) Singing at the top of my lungs to Billy Joel.

Ok, that's enough guiltiness for now. Maybe YOU have some guilty pleasures. *gasp!* You should tell me, so I don't feel so stupid being guilty by myself.

Thank You!!!

You know, sometimes I start to feel really crappy about my situation. Sometimes I really feel like a loser. Here I am, 23 years old, on my 3rd school since high school, and I still don't have so much as a bachelor's degree. I have friends who almost have their Master's Degree already, and will be well on their way to their phD's before I even get my bachelor's. I know that some people whose opinions I really care about think that I'm failing at life, because I don't have my piece of paper yet. I don't have that little document that validates me as a functional, successful, adult member of society.

But, then, sometimes when I feel like that, I come across something that uplifts and encourages me. I find something that makes me feel like where I am and what I'm doing is exactly what I should be doing. Today, I stumbled across a section on the MSN page about something called Roadtrip Nation. Several years ago, apparently, there were four college students in southern California who were getting ready to graduate, and still had no idea what they wanted to do with their lives. They saw and heard of people who were doing things that they were passionate about, but had no idea how to get there, and how to escape the drudgery of 9-5 passionless work. So, they pooled their resources, bought and RV and got a bunch of credit cards and took a 3 month roadtrip across the country, while setting up interviews with interesting and successful people. They documented it on their crappy digital cameras and created a documentary about it. Then they went around to college campuses and shared their experiences. They also sold their documentary to PBS stations around the country. They also wrote a book about it. Now, their careers are focused around this Roadtrip Nation concept.

So, anyway, this section had a bunch of interviews with successful people, and quotes and articles, and after reading it, I feel much better about my own situation. These people, including Wanda Sykes, QUESTLOVE, the CEO of JetBlue Airways, all stressed the importance of doing what you're passionate about. The CEO of JetBlue never finished college. Instead, he started his own travel business, which went under. But, the thing was, he was doing what he was passionate about, instead of wasting his time and money on something he didn't particularily care about.

Another article stressed that THERE IS NO ROAD MAP to life. There is not one right way and one wrong way. You do NOT need to graduate high school, graduate college in four years, get a job, get married, and be done. It's OK to not do that. It's also OK to take detours. It's not a race to get to a specific goal. So, you want to take a year and go travel around Europe? Great! Do it! What you'll gain in that year in Europe is probably more than you'd gain doing anything else in that year.

So, I feel better. What I'm doing is OK. So, I took a year off and went to Colorado to try to make a relationship work and to work with troubled boys? GREAT! I learned and grew more in this past year than I would have staying in college and sitting in classrooms. So, I want to leave the country for two years and do the Peace Corps? Awesome! Who cares that I won't be rolling in money and raising a family? I'll be doing something that I love and that I'm passionate about. One of the quotes they had said something along the lines of how it's important to do something that you'll wake up in the middle of the night thinking about. I did that at the Ark. Those boys were important to me, and I cared about what would happen the next day. Even days when I felt crappy, I went to work, because it was important to me.

So, anyways, that's my rant for today about life. Sometimes I wish more people understood.

Hilarious!!

So, in biology at this very moment, we're discussing the probability of hairy knuckles being a dominant or recessive trait. Which is ridiculous. And furry. So, instead, you get to hear about my latest discovery, which is much more interesting than hairy knuckles. Or webbed feet for that matter.

So, I'm on facebook (like you didn't know already) and on facebook (if you don't know) there are countless groups that people can join to waste time and supposedly connect with other people with similar interests. Really, the groups just turn out to be major procrastination tools. Anyway, I noticed, the other day, that Courtney joined a group about a website called "Frank Tells a Story." I was intrigued. I know a guy named Frank, and he tells some pretty interesting stories (mostly involving nuns or hunting). So, I checked out the website.

Naturally, the website was not set up by my friend Frank, but another Frank, who is an English major at UW Madison, after studying Software Engineering for two years in Rochester. In other words, Frank, who tells stories, is a major geek. The deal is, Frank writes stories, but these stories aren't just his creation. Every Monday, there is a vote for what his readers want to happen in the story, and every Friday a new chapter is released. Then, over the weekend, Frank takes suggestions for the next week's chapter, which will go on the poll on Monday. Hilarity ensues.

The current story that is being written is about Zarek and the 2200 A.D. war between America and Zombie-America. Hooray zombies! Here is a snippet that equals funny:

"Grabbing Hammer’s shoulder in a completely non-homoerotic way, Zarek said, “We’re going to get these fucking zombies, friend.” Zarek looked directly into Hammer’s eyes and narrowed his own. “We’re going to get them… dead.”

Hammer uncomfortably fiddled with the tool he kept at his belt that had given him his nickname. Had Hammer been a dick, he would have pointed out to Zarek that zombies are already fairly dead. Hammer knew, however, that as second-in-command it was his duty to never question Zarek. The thought had occurred to him, however, and he was flooded with guilt. I mentally considered pointing out a mistake my commander made. I really hope there’s no all-powerful consciousness in the sky that can read my thoughts and judge me accordingly. Fortunately for Hammer, there is no such consciousness in this story. Besides, an entity like that would make for a lame plot device. However, Hammer was right to be God-fearing.

In America.

Not Canada.

Canada’s lame too."

That is funny to me. I laughed out loud several times while reading that. Because it should be funny to you too. Laugh! Now!

Anyway, previous story titles are "Rick Decides to Stop Hosting a Show About Urination" which is about a game show called "Chutes and Bladders." And "Milo Does Some Stuff After the Apocalypse While in Canada," which features the Dread Cthulu as a traveling carpet sample salesman, and a smack talking war between Al Franken and Bill O'Reilly. In other words, all of this is more hilarious than a bag of hairy knuckles and webbed feet. Which is pretty funny. So, all of you will go to www.franktellsastory.com as soon as you're done reading my post and commenting on how brilliant and witty I am. (I just jedi mind-tricked all of you into doing so. Go me.)

Suburban Nightmare

So, I got to talk to my friend Laura for a while last night, and we ended up talking about something that helped me to realize why I'm getting so antsy to move again already. I live in this weird parallel universe we call suburbia. I love my aunt and uncle very much, and I am so grateful to them for opening their home to me to live in while I finish up school, but it's BIZZARE! They live on a cul-de-sac, which is full of upper-middle class families who play out in their lawns and wave at each other when they go off to work in the morning. This is in a larger community of mostly white, mostly middle class families. It's weird! My first day of school, I was going out to my car to go to school, when a man across the street, getting into his minivan waved at me and said "Good luck on your first day of school!" I didn't know him. That was bizzare to me. I'm not used to that. It was minorly creepy actually.

See, I'm used to living either in college housing, or more recently, Colorado Springs. When I lived in Colorado, for the majority of the year, I lived in the ghetto. Or at least as ghetto as Colorado Springs gets. The apartment complex Marvin and I lived in was pretty run down, and it was pretty diverse. We saw our fair share of cop cars at the complex on the weekends. I'm used to working with diverse kids who also are from the ghetto. But the Denver ghetto, which is much more ghetto than C.Springs. I'm used to spending time with people who aren't farm raised, or suburban raised white kids. I got used to a lot more diversity and culture in Colorado Springs than what's available in La Crosse. So, I think I'm just antsy for a bigger city. A place with some sushi! A place where the best restaraunts to go to aren't T.G.I.Fridays or Applebees. I just feel like I'm living in some weird surreal bubble that the outside world doesn't invade very often.

If you haven't seen "The Burbs" with Tom Hanks ever, you need to watch it, because that's kind of how I feel living in suburbia. The movie is set in a cul-de-sac as well. Everyone is always up in each other's business. Everyone waves and is friendly, and knows each other. And it turns out that the neighbors who just moved in, are serial killers. Hmmm...I wonder who the serial killers on our street are..? Probably the guy with the minivan who waved to me.

Moo.

Having nothing to do with anything

There is a lot going on right now in the world, with the nuclear situations escalating in both Iran and North Korean, the incident with congressman Foley, the school shootings, Russia and Georgia, etc. But, I just can't focus on it right now. It's all well and good to be public minded and concerned with the happenings of the world. In fact, it's incredibly important, but right now, it's all just too depressing for me, and I'm sick of getting all up in arms about everything that's going on. So, today, you get a good old music review. How boring.

I went out and bought a bunch of music yesterday because I needed to escape from the ugliness of the world for a while. I got Dummy by Portishead, I Am Not Afriad Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass by Yo La Tengo, Goo by Sonic Youth, and Cool To Be You by the Descendents. And now, by a show of hands, we'll find out how many people have heard of any of those bands. Anyone..?? Anyone..?? That's ok. I didn't think so. Maybe Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth??

Anyway, I've listened through Dummy and I Am Not Afraid Of You.... more than once, so I'm ok with reviewing them. I'll have to let you know later what I thought of the Descendents and Sonic Youth.

So, as far as Portishead goes, I found a song of theirs on iTunes that I really liked. It was downtempo electronica sort of sounding. Very relaxing and soothing. So, I thought I'd pick up the whole disc. Downtempo would be exactly the way I would describe this whole disc. Portishead is a group from Bristol, England that I guess is classified as "trip hop" whatever that means. The vocals are done by Beth Gibbons, while the instrumentals come from Geoff Barrow. The disc is pretty good. Not exciting or catchy, but I guess that's what "trip hop" is supposed to be. The two singles off of this disc, "Glory Box" and "Sour Times" are my favorites (which is kind of sad, because I don't normally go for the singles). They both have kind of a 007, mystery feel to them. In fact this whole disc is kind of mysterious like that. It makes me think of a dangerous woman in a trenchcoat engaged in international espionage, or something like that.

Yo La Tengo's disc "I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass," first off, has the best album title that I've heard in a while. The scope of music that this album encompasses is pretty wide. It goes from 10+ minute feedback infused jam sessions to quick and catchy "Mr. Tough" to beautiful and ethereal "Black Flowers." The thing that strikes me about this whole album is the fact that it is MUSIC. It is instruments and melody and harmony and vocals and lyrics. And it is ORIGINAL. Although I guess that's what Yo La Tengo is known for. YLT uses piano, strings and horns to supplement what are already stellar melodies and lyrics. Some of the longer tracks remind me a little bit of Jefferson Airplane, or other trippy bands from another time, and some of the shorter tracks remind me a little of 70's pop. Neither of which is a bad thing, because YLT makes it beautiful and original.

So, stay tuned to hear about the Descendents, which, I can tell you already is nerdy punk. How that works I don't know, but my current favorite track is called "Mass Nerder." What a shock.

I still haven't listened through all of the Sonic Youth disc yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

And, I'll probably jump back on the current events wagon soon. Don't worry friends, I know you love to hear me rant. I'll get there. But for today, I'm going to hide in my music.

Enough already!!

Ok, what is going on? Someone please tell me. I just read about the THIRD shooting in a school to happen THIS WEEK! This one happened at an Amish school in Pennsylvania. What the heck? First Colorado, then Wisconsin, then Pennsylvania. Something needs to be done. This trend cannot continue. No wonder our education system sucks so badly. When the teachers and students have to live with the threat of getting shot in the back of their minds, no wonder learning and teaching aren't the first thing on anyone's mind.

I know that they're going to start to condemn the media for the coverage of the shootings, and the videogames for glorifying the violence of shooting, and TV shows for the same thing, but I do not think that the media, TV, and videogames are the root of this problem. The root of this, I believe, is parenting. Poor parenting. I know, I know, I know, parent's can't be held solely responsible for the actions of their children, BUT they can be held responsible for knowing what their children are watching, playing, and having access to. This goes back to an earlier rant of mine. When the little kids were in the zombie movie that I went to. It is no one but the PARENT'S responsibility to deny or grant their children access to violent movies, videogames and TV shows. It is no one but the PARENT'S responsibility to know whether or not their kids' friends have access to guns. It is no one but the PARENT'S responsibility to know what websites their kids are visiting, where their kids are going after school, and who their kids know. It is not government's responsibility, it is not the school's responsibility.

This is where our society is failing, I believe. Now, please don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating for groups like Focus on the Family (which, seem to me to focus on any issue BUT the family...spongebob being gay for example...which can become another rant for another time). What I am advocating for is a generation of responsible parents who can be firm with their children and know when to say no. Now, parents say that they can't always keep track of their children because of work schedules and responsibilities. If work is going to get in the way of your parenting, you should not be a parent. Once you have children, nothing is more important in your life than those children. People want to have it all. They want babies and a career and a social life and everything else that they can possibly imagine. Life doesn't work that way. We learn that in economics. There's something called opportunity cost. You have to give up something in order to have something else. Whether it be money for a nice coat, or a lucrative career for babies.

Too many parents are not in touch with their children's lives. They don't know who their kids' friends are. They don't look at the video games and movies they're buying for their kids. Nothing enrages me more than hearing 10/11 year old kids talk about playing grand theft auto, or scarface, or any other game like that. Who sold that to them?? Who bought that for them?? There's a reason that they're rated for mature adults. Children at that age cannot distinguish fantasy from reality as easily as adults.

This is what makes me angry about movies like American Pie and Van Wilder too. They're rated PG-13, which means that young adolescent and pre-adolescent boys can get their hands on them. Movies like this depict a completely unrealisitc version of what adult and young adult relationships look like. For example, in Euro Trip, there is a scene where a young woman walks onto a nude beach, which turns out to be full of men. The next shot is a shot of all of these men chasing this woman. What is the point of that? What are these men planning on once they catch her? What kind of ideas does this put into young boys minds about how to treat women? These movies show nothing about making a relationship work based on mutual respect, and consideration. Young boys can't distinguish these fantasy relationships from what a real relationship will look like, and end up expecting the fantasy version.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am all for free speech, and a free flow of ideas. Again, this is where parents should be playing a role. It is no one's job but the parents to be guarenteeing that their children grow up with a sense of morality, and also with a sense of civic responsibility.

I'm not sure what the solution to all of this is. I can sit here and rant for hours about the state of parenting, but that doesn't provide any solutions. I do sincerely think that every high school student should be required to take a parenting class. I think high schoolers should be taught what the reality of the consequences of them having sex can look like, instead of just a cursory mention in a health class. I also think that once a woman finds out that she is pregnant, her options for family education courses should be much wider. I'm not even sure what kind of family education courses are offered, outside the religious sector. Not that I'm saying that it's wrong to take family education courses from a church, but what about people that aren't actively involved in a church? It's important for EVERYONE to learn how to be good parents.

Other than that, I'm not sure what else can be done without becoming a little Orwellian. As much as I would love for parents to have to pass a test before being able to get pregnant, that's way too "A Brave New World" ish for my taste. I think the best we can do is open up a multitude of options for pregnant women.