Rants of a Right Wing Wacko

Gifts

2009-08-11T22:56:00.002-05:00

Here is a realization I came to tonight. Everything I have been given in this life is a gift. I know this one of those Hallmark cliches everyone has heard, but I'm not just talking about the good things.

Sure I have an great family, excellent friends, a stable job and the like. Spectacular blessings all of them. But tonight it was something else that clicked. I'm not just lucky for those things, extraordinary as they may be.

The difficulties in my life, the deficiency's in my character these are things I need to be glad for too. Now I'm going into the "God has a plan for everything" philosophy here. Whether you believe that or not is irrelevant to my point. I realized tonight that such things give me something to strive for. They give me something to be truly proud of, and satisfied in when I succeed. Yes it can hurt when I fail. But failing too brings with it a blessing. A blessing of learning, and it makes success, both in what I have failed before, and not, so much sweeter.

Now I can't say I have ever had true hardship in my life. I am not speaking of such things. I can't. Perhaps its a little disingenuous for a person who has lived a comfortable middle class life to talk of difficulty, but I have been struggling with some internal issues for years.

One of those is my chronic short attention span, and unreliability. In a nice turn of irony I am making this post about such things as a step to work on overcoming such. I am making it my public (to me, and all who find this blog on accident, then quickly navigate away) goal to post with some amount of maintainable constancy. Maybe political mussing, perhaps some philosophy, or observations on the world that no one cares about, if nothing else I can fall back on what I started this blog with, the absolute mundane elements that make up my life.

History is better then fiction

2008-08-28T11:55:00.003-05:00

I recently finished reading a book called "The Great upheaval" by Jay Winik. It is a history book about the years 1788-1800, with a good deal of fleshing out of things happening before, and right after those years. I had started reading it last year, and was half way thorough it when I decided to start the 10 year great books reading program. As I finished Augusts reading (two chapters from Edward Gibbon's "Decline and fall of the Roman Empire") I decided to go back and finish this book

This book is fascinating. Jay Winik writes in a manner that makes the subject matter terribly interesting. He keeps on topic, working his way through the many events in the time frame, but does so in such a way as to catch up those who may not know much about the historical context. If, for example, he is about to expound on some great impact a certain person was having at the time, he will dive into that persons past before explaining what it is they did.

He tells the tales of this time frame by concentrating on the 3 Nations that most effected the changes that happened, France, Russia, and the United States. In this 12 year period you find the French revolution begin with promise, sink into terror, and end with tyranny. You see the United States create a Constitution that has lasted us the the last 220 years or so, you see the US threatened to be pulled into growing conflict in Europe. You see the reign of Catherine the great in Russia, as she wages a holy war against the Ottoman Empire, crushes an infant Democracy in Poland, and you see her death, and the pass of power to her son whom she tried to prevent from becoming Tsar.

Off all of this though what has captured my imagination most was the parallels between the French, and American revolutions. While there were many difference which played in the different outcomes, I still can't see them as two divergent paths from a very similar starting point. Both started with the promise of Freedom, and government from the people. However when one turned to bloodshed to further its agenda, the other turned to politics. One ended when it crowned and Emperor, the other when it enshrined the highest office as an elected office, changed every four years. It also struck me how the French revolution struck out against the Aristocracy, and wealth in general. It seems like it held aspects of an early Marxist school.

It turned out quite well that I finished this book right after reading Locke, and Rousseau, and right before reading several Federalist papers for the great books reading program. I think I'm going to begin doing more reading on the French and American revolutions after I finish the federalist papers. I would also like to read on the Soviet revolution in Russia, see what parallels it may have with the French revolution.

Wisdom from a dead white male:Locke

2008-07-21T12:41:00.004-05:00

In continuing the reading program I am on this month, I came across this quote:

"Thus that learned king [Locke had just given quotes from England's King James the first], who well understood the nature of things, makes the difference betwixt a king and a tyrant to consist only in this: that one makes the laws the bounds of his power, and the good of the public the end of his government; the other makes all give way to his will and appetite.
'Tis a mistake to think this mistake is proper only to monarchies. Other forms of government are liable to it, as well as that. For whenever the power that is put in any hands for the government of the people and the preservation of their properties is applied to other ends, and made use of to impoverish, harass, or subdue them to the arbitray and irregular commands of those that have it there it presently becomes a tyranny, whether those that thus use it are one or many."

In other words when those with power not longer rule according to the laws, but rather by their own wills, they become tyrants, whether they are in a monarchical country, or any other. If leftists wonder why the right is afraid of courts stepping beyond the written laws, and making rulings based on what they feel, this is it.

Wisdom from a dead white male: Rousseau

2008-07-09T12:47:00.005-05:00

"In fact, each individual, as a man, may have a particular will contrary or dissimilar to the general will which he has as a citizen. His particular unterset may speak to him quite differently from the common interest: his absolute and naturally independent existence may make him look upon what he owes to the common cause as a gratuitous contribution, the loss of which will do no less harm to others then the payment of its burdensome to himself...he may wish to enjoythe rights of citizenship without being ready to fulfil the duties of a subject. The continuance of such an injustice could not but prove the undoing of the body politic."
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau "On the Social Contract" Book 1 Chapter 7 Paragraph 7

I wonder how many students on a college campus would understand this, and how many of those would scoff at it as something said by a dead white male that has no real impact.

Basically Rousseau is saying that a society becomes its own undoing when people make choices, or institue desicions that are for their betterment, to the determent of the society.

I am working on the same 10 year reading program that my friend Marty Andrade is reading. Part of the reading this month is the first two books of "The social Contract" by Rousseau, and when I read this the other day I had to stop and look over it again. It amazes me how someone writing in 1762, before any such society really exists, can see this, yet people today, living in a society like this that has been around for over 200 years are blind to this fact.

Right now we have, seemingly, the whole alliance of the left practicing these very politics.

-Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding up the Coloumbia free trade agreement to win poltical battles, at the cost of hurting both our producers, who get the most out of this agreement, and our allies in Colombia trying to build a functioning, stable goverment in a region that sorely needs it.

-The Teacher's unions are trying to prevent, and kill any existing, school voucher programs, that help students immensley, but take dollars away from their memebers, and the Unions own coffers.

-In the black community we have "Black leadership" blaiming problems on others in the society, rather then trying to fix these problems. Additionally we have the Democrate party doing the same.

Now there may be cases on the right of such things, however I have the feeling that they are actually different. Rousseu wasn't saying acting in your own interest hurts society, but rather acting in your own interest while acting againstthat of your society will kill it. So things like Oil companies trying to drill in ANWR have nothing to do with this. Yes they are acting in their own interest to drill, and make money, but they seek to make money by selling a product to others that others want, and need.

Bloggers strike back

2008-06-30T20:11:00.002-05:00

I wanted to send a link of this article from the Economist magazine to Marty Andrade, an actual blogger, but as I can't seem to find either his phone number, or e-mail address I guess I have to post this myself...and as he is the only person who has ever read anything on my blog for more then 3-5 seconds I hope it reaches him here.

In any event here is the link to the article. It is about people using blogs in authoritarian country's to beat the governments lock downs of free expression elsewhere.

Political correctness and the "holidays"

2007-12-21T16:02:00.000-06:00

Everyone knows how this works. Around this season everyone is wishing other happy "holidays", to give you some cheer, and hopefully not offend you. Well you know the irony of this? Wishing me happy holidays does offend me. It's ridiculous, no one celebrates "holidays", they celebrate Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah, or Christmas, or the damn winter solstice.

Thats fine, People can have a celebration every damn day of the year for all I care, but this stupid PC crap pisses me off. The majority of the people in this country celebrate Christmas, whats wrong with wishing them a happy celebration? Hell I don't care if wish me a happy Kwanzaa, a friend of mine did this one year to me, I appreciate the fact that you wish me to have a happy time.

Back when I was still going to the U of MN, and was a part of Students for Family Values we sent Christmas cards to various groups and indivduals, mostly other student groups on the U. One of them we sent to The University Pagen group (I can't remember their groups exact name). About a week later we recieved a card from them, wishing us a happy winter solitce. I wasn't offended, and I dare say neither were they.

In conclusion, PC crap sucks, and if the word "Christmas" is so damn offensive, then I'm just going to call it what it is. Have a merry Jesus day everyone.

Finally a promise I can keep

2007-12-03T16:16:00.000-06:00

I like this new "I might post some time, but probably not" promise, easy to keep up with. Anyway, for the one person who will ever see this (*cough marty *cough), and read it (unlike the people who will get here on accident, and not stop to read what it says), I think im going to actually start updating the links and such on here. I have found my self actually taking time out of my busy, video game related schedule to read stuff, like real news and columns and things of that nature. To make it easier for myself, Im going to start making links to those sites I am starting to go to regularly, so I can stop using Marty's Blog for that.

What?! A post?!

2007-11-12T22:32:00.000-06:00

Anyone reading this please call the game warden, we have an endangered species on the loose. As in a post on my blog. So as fate would have it I picked up and read Thomas Sowell's Vision of the Anointed. While none of this was truly a revelation for me, I did go to a public university for two years, much of the specifics were not known to me, and this book did start to strangle my apathy. Now don't get me wrong I will more then likely continue my consistent inconsistency with posting....however I think I may actually every now and then.

I'm Rubber, your glue....

2006-01-04T16:35:00.000-06:00

Here is the first, of hopefully many such articly things by me about logical fallacies. As Aaron wants to use this for a paper, I wrote it in an article form, and in case you are wondering Aaron, it's 830 Words.

When I look at how ideas and believes are expressed, shared, and debated in this country, I am very often moved to rage. This is not because of the fact that I am staunchly on the right of the ideological spectrum. This is because I see people discussing, and debating issues using logical fallacies. It is a damned epidemic, and in an attempt to counter it, I am going to begin writing about different logical fallacies, explaining what they are, why they are wrong, and how to counter them. The first one I want to talk about is the Ad Hominem fallacy.

In a nut shell an Ad Hominem argument is one which attempts to invalidate an opponent’s argument by going after the person themselves, not their argument. There are four prevalent types of Ad Hominem arguments in political dialogue these days. The first, and easiest to identify, is an insult or attack made against the opponent. The second type is an argument meant to either make the opponent look like a hypocrite, or to reveal that the opponent is a hypocrite. The third is what I call the “protected group” Ad Hominem argument. These are arguments that claim that only a certain group can speak about an issue, and are thus used to say that the opponent either can’t have an opinion, or that that opinion is irrelevant. The final type is one which either points out an existing bias that the opponent has, or attempts to make it seem as if the opponent has a bias.

Insult Ad Hominem arguments tend not to actually be used, outside of those who foam from the mouth while they are protesting the “far” right Bush administration. The most common insult that I can think of that is used in public discourse is probably calling anyone right of the Clintons a fascist. This however is rarely used as an argument, it is used as more of a rhetorically statement. These are rather easy to counter, as the person invalidated themselves to other when they use one. Only in the deepest dens of the ideological extremes will you find people who accept this as a valid argument.

Hypocrite Ad Hominem arguments tend also to be favored by the crazed protesting mobs, however these are also in standard arguments with otherwise civil people. The most common use of these that I can think of is the famous “Chicken Hawk” argument. This argument is that those who support wars, should go fight in them. The best that this can do is to establish that the “pro-war” person is in fact a hypocrite, however this does nothing to establish whether or not the person arguments and beliefs are correct. The war in Iraq is either moral, or immoral regardless of what, or who I am.

Protected group Ad Hominem arguments are some what prevalent on both sides. Just about everyone wants to jump to someone who is part of the “affected” group when it comes to any issue. Quite often they are committing this fallacy. While it is a good idea to go to people who know the field, they are not always right, and in fact this is not what this is. The best example of this fallacy is the great argument killer that pro-choice activists us: “Only women can get pregnant, so only they can talk about abortion” While this also commits another fallacy that I will look at later (it begs the question that only those who can get pregnant can talk about abortion), it says that men can have no public opinion about this issue. This is an Ad Hominem argument, and it ignores anything the man says, and invalidates it on the basis of his sexual organs.

Bias Ad Hominem arguments are those that invalidates someone’s findings or beliefs because the person or group “wanted” to get the results they got, or because they are part of a certain group. An example of the first one is when liberals say the Bush only found evidence of WMD in Iraq because he was “looking for it”. Duh. The vast majority of searching, and researching of anything is done because someone has a stake in the result. Whether or not there were WMD in Iraq there were great consequences to the findings of such searches, and as such the searches were relevant, and important. If everyone had thought that there were no weapons there, no search would have been necessary. An example of the second would be one that I got from a website called the Nizkor project (http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/):
Bill: "I believe that abortion is morally wrong."
Dave: "Of course you would say that, you're a priest."
Bill: "What about the arguments I gave to support my position?"
Dave: "Those don't count. Like I said, you're a priest, so you have to say that abortion is wrong. Further, you are just a lackey to the Pope, so I can't believe what you say."

The height of absurdity: rants on logic

2005-12-19T12:42:00.000-06:00

At some point in the near future, I plan to start writing posts on logical arguments, specifically logical fallacies. I was going to write these as a part of Aaron's Paper he wants to get started on the U, but decided that I will post them here, so that I will actually start posting again. I do want to say, that I give Aaron the right to publish any of these is his paper, and in fact, anyone who wants to publish one of these can, as long as they don't edit them without consulting me, and they give me credit for my stuff. Then again, I am a piss poor writer, so who would want to publish my stuff anyway (no offense Tommy G, you were desperate for stuff).

This is why I hate government

2005-12-02T05:45:00.000-06:00

Understand I know government is important to keep around because it helps to keep peace and order. But no matter how you set it up, some how the government will find a way to screw things up. Just about everything government touches, it annexes, i.e. the monopoly known as the United States Postal Service. Everything it annexes, it does inefficiently, poorly, and at incredible expense, like welfare. And then it just does stupid things that have no real positive effect, like this.

This is ridiculous. You can't tell me the smell of chocolate will kill old people, children, and those with heart and lung diseases. If this is the case, the government better ban Hershey's bars, because if the smell can kill, how much more dangerous is the real thing?!

First day back at la la land

2005-09-06T19:43:00.000-05:00

After spending two years taking classes in La La land (other wise known as the university of Minnesota) I have come to truly hate this place. Now don't get me wrong, there are things that I love about this place, however in general I hate this place. Now this summer I spent four months in the real world (otherwise known as the work force). Also I got a full time job, and further embraced what is known as self-reliance, doing honest work for a living. I am work in the supply department of an insurance company. And now I am back in this insulated place. I am now back in this place that can spew ideas and concepts that mean absolutly nothing in the real world. I am back in one of the only places on Earth where Marxism is thought to be positive. Now, more then ever before, I just feel odd being here. I feel more odd now, then I did when I first came here from High school. To be honest, in a way I enjoy what I hate about this place. The daily trash, whose editorial board swore not to be neutral anymore, now that people are dying here while our soldiers who could save them, are instead killing in another country. The people who think it is in some way worth their time to flick off all of us who sit at republican and conservative groups tables. The people who want to yell at us, and who want to argue with us on the stupidest points. All of these things I both despise, and enjoy. I feed on the stupidity, and hate. I laugh at, and scream at the idiocy. Well now that I am only taking two classes a semester I have at least another four to six years of this left. At least now I get to face the real world everyday before steping into La La land for the last few hours of the day. I suppose this year, and the years to come, will be better then the years past. I will have a very strong grounding in the real world every day, 40 hours a week.

This is hilarious

2005-08-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

I am cursed with AOL dial up for my internet at home. This requires me to open their cursed program, and wait for the painfully sucky system to start up and connect me to the internet. After being connected AOL brings up a little window that scrolls through some news stories. I rarely read these, however tonight I decided to read one that actually acknowledged that Cindy Sheehan and her anti-war protesters are not the only ones in Crawford Texas, unlike the MSM. Near the end of the article I find this:

"There also were some heated moments at the pro-Bush rally when Bush supporters mistakenly identified two people as war protesters. The two walked in with a sign that read "Say No to War - Unless a Democrat is President.''

Many Bush supporters only saw the top of the sign and believed the men were war protesters, so they began shouting and chasing the pair out. One man tore up their signs.

When Will Marean of Minneapolis kept repeating that he was on the Bush side, one Bush supporter shook his hand and apologized." Now many of you may not know Will Marean, but I do, and I laughed so hard when I read this, because that guy is pretty goofy, and I just thought that was funny. Here is the whole article.

Sickening

2005-08-26T05:31:00.000-05:00

This is a story I hear about on Laura Ingraham's show yesterday. This is a story that just about everyone is ignoring. There have been regular anti-war protests on Fridays outside of Walter reed hospital in Washington DC. What they have been doing is so vile and distasteful I can't just paste highlights (I tired, and I ended up using nearly every paragraph), so I will just paste the whole article. This is the news story "Anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital" by Marc Morano from CNS news.:

anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
August 25, 2005

See Marc Morano's Video Report

Washington (CNSNews.com) - The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read "Maimed for Lies" and "Enlist here and die for Halliburton."

The anti-war demonstrators, who obtain their protest permits from the Washington, D.C., police department, position themselves directly in front of the main entrance to the Army Medical Center, which is located in northwest D.C., about five miles from the White House.

Among the props used by the protesters are mock caskets, lined up on the sidewalk to represent the death toll in Iraq.

Code Pink Women for Peace, one of the groups backing anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford Texas, organizes the protests at Walter Reed as well.

Some conservative supporters of the war call the protests, which have been ignored by the establishment media, "shameless" and have taken to conducting counter-demonstrations at Walter Reed. "[The anti-war protesters] should not be demonstrating at a hospital. A hospital is not a suitable location for an anti-war demonstration," said Bill Floyd of the D.C. chapter of FreeRepublic.com, who stood across the street from the anti-war demonstrators on Aug. 19.

"I believe they are tormenting our wounded soldiers and they should just leave them alone," Floyd added.

According to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, nearly 4,000 individuals involved in the Iraq war were treated at the facility as of March of this year, 1,050 of whom were wounded in battle.

One anti-war protester, who would only identify himself as "Luke," told Cybercast News Service that "the price of George Bush's foreign policy can be seen right here at Walter Reed -- young men who returned from Iraq with their bodies shattered after George Bush sent them to war for a lie."

Luke accused President Bush of "exploiting American soldiers" while "oppressing the other nations of earth." The president "has killed far too many people," he added.

On Aug. 19, as the anti-war protesters chanted slogans such as "George Bush kills American soldiers," Cybercast News Service observed several wounded war veterans entering and departing the gates of Walter Reed, some with prosthetic limbs. Most of the demonstrations have been held on Friday evenings, a popular time for the family members of wounded soldiers to visit the hospital.

But the anti-war activists were unapologetic when asked whether they considered such signs as "Maimed for Lies" offensive to wounded war veterans and their families.

"I am more offended by the fact that many were maimed for life. I am more offended by the fact that they (wounded veterans) have been kept out of the news," said Kevin McCarron, a member of the anti-war group Veterans for Peace.

Kevin Pannell, who was recently treated at Walter Reed and had both legs amputated after an ambush grenade attack near Baghdad in 2004, considers the presence of the anti-war protesters in front of the hospital "distasteful."

When he was a patient at the hospital, Pannell said he initially tried to ignore the anti-war activists camped out in front of Walter Reed, until witnessing something that enraged him.

"We went by there one day and I drove by and [the anti-war protesters] had a bunch of flag-draped coffins laid out on the sidewalk. That, I thought, was probably the most distasteful thing I had ever seen. Ever," Pannell, a member of the Army's First Cavalry Division, told Cybercast News Service.

"You know that 95 percent of the guys in the hospital bed lost guys whenever they got hurt and survivors' guilt is the worst thing you can deal with," Pannell said, adding that other veterans recovering from wounds at Walter Reed share his resentment for the anti-war protesters.

"We don't like them and we don't like the fact that they can hang their signs and stuff on the fence at Walter Reed," he said. "[The wounded veterans] are there to recuperate. Once they get out in the real world, then they can start seeing that stuff (anti-war protests). I mean Walter Reed is a sheltered environment and it needs to stay that way."

McCarron said he dislikes having to resort to such controversial tactics, "but this stuff can't be hidden," he insisted. "The real cost of this war cannot be kept from the American public."

The anti-war protesters claim their presence at the hospital is necessary to publicize the arrivals of newly wounded soldiers from Iraq, who the protesters allege are being smuggled in at night by the Pentagon to avoid media scrutiny. The protesters also argue that the military hospital is the most appropriate place for the demonstrations and that the vigils are designed to ultimately help the wounded veterans.

"If I went to war and lost a leg and then found out from my hospital bed that I had been lied to, that the weapons I was sent to search for never existed, that the person who sent me to war had no plan but to exploit me, exploit the country I was sent to, I would be pretty angry," Luke told Cybercast News Service.

"I would want people to do something about it and if I couldn't get out of my bed and protest myself, I would want someone else to do it in my name," he added.

The conservative counter-demonstrators carry signs reading "Troops out when the job's done," "Thank you U.S. Armed Forces" and "Shameless Pinkos go home." Many wear the orange T-shirts reading "Club G'itmo" that are marketed by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

"[The anti-war protesters] have no business here. If they want to protest policy, they should be at the Capitol, they should be at the White House," said Nina Burke. "The only reason for being here is to talk to [the] wounded and [anti-war protests are] just completely inappropriate."

Albion Wilde concurred, arguing that "it's very easy to pick on the families of the wounded. They are very vulnerable ... I feel disgusted.

"[The anti-war protesters] are really showing an enormous lack of respect for just everything that America has always stood for. They lost the election and now they are really, really angry and so they are picking on the wrong people," Wilde added.

At least one anti-war demonstrator conceded that standing out in front of a military hospital where wounded soldiers and their families are entering and exiting, might not be appropriate.

"Maybe there is a better place to have a protest. I am not sure," said a man holding a sign reading "Stop the War," who declined to be identified.

But Luke and the other anti-war protesters dismissed the message of the counter demonstrators. "We know most of the George Bush supporters have never spent a day in uniform, have never been closer to a battlefield than seeing it through the television screen," Luke said.

Code Pink, the group organizing the anti-war demonstrations in front of the Walter Reed hospital, has a controversial leader and affiliations. As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin has expressed support for the Communist Viet Cong in Vietnam and the Nicaraguan Sandinistas.

In 2001, Benjamin was asked about anti-war protesters sympathizing with nations considered to be enemies of U.S. foreign policy, including the Viet Cong and the Sandinistas. "There's no one who will talk about how the other side is good," she reportedly told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Benjamin has also reportedly praised the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro. Benjamin told the San Francisco Chronicle that her visit to Cuba in the 1980s revealed to her a great country. "It seem[ed] like I died and went to heaven," she reportedly said.'

I'm back with a new type of promise

2005-08-11T11:59:00.000-05:00

Ok, so every promise that I have made about posting has been broken. I think it is time to use a new approach. I promise to make no promises. Wait a minute thats a promise! Damn!, Ok...I promise not to make promises about posting. Let's see... yep, that works. So there you go, thats my new posting policy.

A long awaited rant

2005-07-20T05:45:00.000-05:00

After being very lazy for a while, I have finally built up a rant to unleash out here. It all started yesterday when I was walking down to a gamestop on central Ave in Hilltop. I was going there to trade in some old games of mine. Anyway as I was walking by some apartment building I see a freaking green party sign that had this junk on it: "Social security is a safety net, not a wall street bet". To tell you the truth I am not sure why this annoyed me as much as it did, but any way after seeing this I began to mutter in very much anger, and resisted the urge to shout profanity, or at least a loud Napoleon Dynamite "Idiot". So I decided to give my views on social security in the form of a rant:

Social Security was meant as a safety net, its true, however it is still a poorly executed Ponzi scheme. The fact is that money that I pay into social security is my money that the government is taking from me when I do real work that helps to improve this nation's standard of living, and they dare to pretend like it is a nice benefit that I can have some of it back, if I can live long enough to collect it! Of course the government is going to act like it is so nice of them to let me have any of my money, because the government today is a fat pig that can't stop eating it's citizens wealth. I like Bush's idea of letting people invest some of their social security how they want, rather then is a failing government programs, but I don't think it goes nearly far enough. Granted Bush couldn't go much further with the congress that he has, so I don't hold it against him, I hold it against those moron demagogues who are either too stupid, or too self righteous to stop and think about whether or not people should be able to do with their money what they want, and I am so sick and tired of the mantra about Social security being a "safety net". Yeah it is one right out of our pockets for the government to dip into when they need it. Or then there is the sign that was up near my house "Keep your hands off my social security" this person is an idiot. Bush's plan is VOLUNTARY NOT COMPULSORY! And by the way, keep your hand out of my pocket.

My blogging style

2005-07-19T05:43:00.000-05:00

Your Blogging Type is Unique and Avant Garde

You're a bit ... unusual. And so is your blog.
You're impulsive, and you'll often post the first thing that pops in your head.
Completely uncensored, you blog tends to shock... even though that's not your intent.
You tend to change your blog often, experimenting with new designs and content.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

It's so true...

Well duh

2005-07-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

Prager has got a line that I love: "All studies either confirm the obvious, or are wrong." Well now there is a study showing that the media not only treats Bush badly, they treat him worse then either Clinton, or Kerry. Hmmmm... I wonder why?

Once again I must apologize

2005-07-11T05:23:00.000-05:00

I am sorry that I posted like twice last week, I was still on vacation from work, and it is hard to force myself to sit in front of a computer when the Xbox in my living room is calling for me. OK, I know that is still not a good excuse, but, it's all I got. Anyway, so I am back at work now, and so I now have the time to post (as there is nothing else to do when I get to work at about 5:15, no one else gets here until about 5:45, and I don't start until 6:00, so now I post.

Here is a test that I got from MartyEmail.

You Are 82% American

You're as American as red meat and shooting ranges.
Tough and independent, you think big.
You love everything about the US, wrong or right.
And anyone who criticizes your home better not do it in front of you!

How American Are You?

By the way, Marty only got 80%!

Better late then never...

2005-07-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

Ok I got distracted yesterday, so here is some more about my trip. Minot is a nice small town, with a mall and a bunch of other buildings. We spend the weekend there, on the air force base with my uncle, aunt, and two cousins. After this we began our way home, along the scenic route. I took us like four days to get home, because we wanted to see the sites of the Dakotas. Sadly enough these are all in South Dakota.

We went to Mount Rushmore, which was awesome, but a bit less impressive then I thought it would be. While there I added another book to my collection of Dover thrift editions, and we went to see the crazy horse monument that was being made a few miles away from Rushmore.

I recommend that anyone who goes to South Dakota, not go to crazy horse. For two reasons. First of all, why the hell are they making a monument to him? Maybe he was great, but that doesn't mean that Gandhi’s face should be in a mountain in this country. I think that only people who contributed greatly to our culture and nation should be honored like that, but fine whatever. Secondly they are going to try and charge you $24 to see something that can be seen from the road, and isn't even done yet. Rushmore costs $8. Crazy horse is a rip off, then again it is the government so they don't have to make the money from people using the service, they will just tax it out of all of us. Then we went through the badlands. This too was awesome (and only cost $10).

I'M HOME

2005-07-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

Well after a week of driving around two states that, combined, have a smaller population then the twin cities metro area was kinda fun. One of the first things that struck me was how not so crazy liberal those states are. I first realized this, when I discovered ammunition being sold at the first gas station we stopped at. Then I found some at the next one, and the next one. For the sake of brevity, I'll put it like this, I am guessing that about 80-90% of the gas stations we stopped at sold ammunition. Then of course there is the fact that I saw at least a dozen pro-life billboards, dozens of signs, and words on random broken objects on the side of the road, that had Christian messages, and absolutely no Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers!!! Well out side of all of this, I have a lot more to say, but I am feeling kinda lazy right now, and I have nothing written up (besides a bunch noted to remind me what I wanted to post about), so I will get to the rest by the end of tomorrow.

Gone for a week!

2005-06-25T00:07:00.000-05:00

I am going to be leaving in the morning with my family to go to Minot North Dakota to visit some family. I have an uncle who is in the Air Force, and he and his family are stationed in Minot for now. I am not sure if I will be able to post at all until next Friday or Saturday, and even if I do it will be no more then once or twice. And the first thing that I am going to do when I get home is post something here! So expect some odd post from me as I will be fed up with my family, suffering caffeine withdrawals, computer withdrawals, internet withdrawals, video game withdrawals, and I will probably be well rested (*gasp* the horror!). So I will be "seeing" everyone in one week!

Chain blog thingie

2005-06-21T21:24:00.000-05:00

Total number of books ever owned: I'm going with about 500 or so.

Last book bought: A part of Barnes and Nobles "essential thinkers" series, Karl Marx's communist manifesto, wages, price and profit, selections from capital and socialism:Utopian and Scientific. Know thine enemy

Last book read: Basic economics by Thomas Sowell. I am almost done with this book, and I think that there are a handful of others who need to read it. If you fall into one of these categories, read this book:

A. You are Human

B. You are some sort of non-human sentient creature.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

1. The Bible, of course
2. Basic economics by Thomas Sowell. See above note

3. Rationally right by Steven Meyer. This book taught that it was not a self-evident fact that public schools should exist, along with other things about conservatism.

4. Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis. This book details Christian doctrines, and tries to put them in such a way that they are better understandable to non-Christians, and Christians alike.

5. Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand. Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian pastor in Romania during both the Nazi rule, and the communist rule of that country. He actually thanked God for the Nazis, and they got him ready for the communists who were worse.

Now for the chain part of this. As I am on the bottom of the blog food chain, there is no one else on the bottom for me to tag. The only exception to this is my friend and co-worker Ryan, who is a poster, along with myself, as Internet Dumpster Diver.

Now for the business of tagging four more. I have decided to shoot for the stars. First is captain Ed of captain's quarters, as I meet him at the CFACT blogging event, and he is a cool guy.

Next is Hugh Hewitt, one of the godfathers of blogging.

Next is Gerry Daly of Daly Thoughts, because I heard him on Marty's radio show.

And lastly is Dennis Prager, who doesn't blog (at least to the best of my knowledge), but I think that he should.

So there you have it, I participated, and I tagged four people who will probably never hear of this.

Marty you Bastard!

2005-06-21T12:46:00.000-05:00

Well Marty tagged me in some sort of sick blog chainish post thing that resembles that chain e-mails of yore. So any way its about books and the reading of them, which is not a big deal to me, however there is the little fact that after posting on this, everyone has to tag five people. Of course between marty and Aaron, everyone I know who blogs has been tagged, so I am going to take a little while to get this thing done, but I wanted to post this, so that the above mentioned bastard knows that I am indeed planning to follow through with this.

An apology, with a promise

2005-06-21T12:03:00.000-05:00

I would like to start by apologizing for not posting very often, so as goofy as this sounds, I am going to write a post that is, more or less, about posting. As I am aspiring to have this blog be one of the more central blogs of the Campus Minnesota Organization of Bloggers, I need to start posting more often. I am going to go on record that I will post at least every other day on this blog. I may kind of cheat every now and then, and post an interesting link without much commentary, or some other small and not quite post worthy thing, and call that my post, but at least there will be some activity.

I would like to start developing this blog into more of a social issue blog, however I may still dabble with other issues that are dear to me (i.e. student fees).

Also, as this blog is called "Rants of a right wing wacko" this blog needs more rants. Unfortunately I am pretty tired right now, and would rather take a nap then rant, but I will to post a few in the future.

Legal Guide for Bloggers

2005-06-16T05:54:00.000-05:00

As a religious studies and philosophy student who has had almost no exposure to the law, this article is awesome for bloggers like me. The article is a list of FAQs that cover a wide range of topics, in order to give bloggers, or those thinking of becoming one, a chance to see that they have rights, but also to teach some basics of how to write stuff without doing things that those with no legal or journalistic (or both) training may not realize are bad. It helps to explain issues like libel, liability, and other things that may be relevant for a blogger.

An event tonight

2005-06-15T12:07:00.000-05:00

CFACT has a blog event tonight in room 303 of Coffman tonight at 7pm. Is is about blogs, and Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters will be talking about the significance of Blogs. Afterward we will be heading to the Big 10. It sounds like it will be a great event, and I am going to try to make it there.

An EU constitution update already!

2005-06-02T11:53:00.000-05:00

I guess I should check drudge before I post on something like this, because there is another update on what seems to be the dying EU constitution. At some point in the near future "the Bill allowing for a referendum in the UK is to be put on ice indefinitely." This is from an article here. We can only hope this next move to destroy all European Sovereignty fails. The ironic thing is that the nations who are denying the constitution are some of those that helped to start the EU. More on this later.

EU constitution

2005-06-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

With the Dutch rejecting the EU constitution quite decisively with a 61.6% to a 38.4 no vote some people are starting to think that the EU is going to have some problems bringing Europe one step closer to becoming a single power. This is also giving me some hope for Europe. Especially when I read something like this in the news coverage: "The negative votes in the Netherlands and France were largely the result of poor economies, and concerns about immigration, EU expansion and the loss of national identity, said CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley" Who knows, maybe they may even start worrying about national sovereignty .

Wait a minute: "Critics feared the Netherlands, with just 16.4 million people, would be engulfed by a superstate headquartered in Brussels and dominated by Germany, France and Britain.", It looks like they all ready are, at least to some extent.

I'll try to keep up with this, and post as stuff becomes available. Until that time here is a link to the proposed EU constitution.

Top 10 most harmful books

2005-06-01T05:43:00.000-05:00

This is a great article that appeared in the Human Events weekly newspaper this week. Just to give you an idea of how conservative this paper is, they are the only paper in the country that will regularly publish Ann Coulter. Any way here is a link to the article.

While they list the most harmful, number one, first, I will give their list here, backwards for you (that is the way I like to do top, or most whatever lists like this):

Number 10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes

Number 9. Beyond Good and Evil by Freidrich Nietzsche

Number 8. The Course of Positive Philosophy by Auguste Comte

Number 7. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

Number 6. Das Kapital by Karl Marx

Number 5. Democracy and Education by John Dewey

Number 4. The Kinsey Report by Alfred Kinsey

Number 3. Quotations from Chairman Mao by Mao Zedong

Number 2. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

And finally the most harmful book of the 19th and 20th centuries:

Number 1. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels

Sorry

2005-05-24T05:50:00.000-05:00

Ok it has been a while since I last blogged. Sorry. By now this is sort of old news (as it is no longer on Blogsnow), however I don't think anyone I know blogged about it while is was circulating, about two weeks ago, so here it is:

Leaving the left

"A turning point came at a dinner party on the day Ronald Reagan famously described the Soviet Union as the pre-eminent source of evil in the modern world. The general tenor of the evening was that Reagan's use of the word "evil" had moved the world closer to annihilation. There was a palpable sense that we might not make it to dessert.

When I casually offered that the surviving relatives of the more than 20 million people murdered on orders of Joseph Stalin might not find "evil'" too strong a word, the room took on a collective bemused smile of the sort you might expect if someone had casually mentioned taking up child molestation for sport.
"

"Stated simply: The force wielded by democracies in self-defense was declared morally equivalent to the nihilistic aggression perpetuated by Muslim fanatics."

:All of this came back to me as I watched the left's anemic, smirking response to Iraq's election in January. Didn't many of these same people stand up in the sixties for self-rule for oppressed people and against fascism in any guise? Yes, and to their lasting credit. But many had since made clear that they had also changed their minds about the virtues of King's call for equal of opportunity. "

MSM is at it again

2005-05-16T05:58:00.000-05:00

This story disgusts me. This is a story saying that the story about the US military flushing a Koran down a toilet was wrong, or, at least, the original "witness" is backing down from their story. When I first saw this story on AOL I knew there was something fishy about it, but that didn't stop the MSM, and I bet that this story will get less coverage then the original did. By the way, here is the best quote from this article:

"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Whitaker wrote in the magazine's latest issue, due to appear on U.S. newsstands on Monday"

Yeah I'm sure that the 16 killed, and over 100 injured in riots because of this false reporting feel just dandy know that you have apologized.

C-MOB constitutional convention

2005-05-04T15:40:00.000-05:00

Friday May sixth (05/06), five pm (5pm), back room of campus pizza (campus pizza). This is the meeting time and place of the C-MOB. All student bloggers are welcome to come and join this new cutting edge group at the Univerity of Minnesota.

It's that time of the year

2005-04-26T05:32:00.000-05:00

Once again another school is about over, and that means that it is almost time for the annual celebration of conservatism at the U of M, El Dos De Mayo! For those of you who don't know any Spanish, that is The second of May, which is a Monday this year, and, in fact, is less then a week away. This year is the tenth annual El Dos De Mayo, and we will be starting out at Sally's down in Stadium Village at 3 pm, and we will be there until about 8, and that is when everyone will head over to Stub and Herb's from about 8 until 1 am. From there any who are still around will pile into the vehicles of those who can drive, and we will all head down to the Pizza Shack to close off the night from about 1 until 3 or so. All in all there are 12 hours of festivities, and all are welcome, so if you are anywhere near the university of Minnesota Twin cities campus, come on down and celebrate a year of conservative activism.

The new pope

2005-04-20T12:48:00.000-05:00

Well everyone ( Martin Andrade, Tony Garcia, Mr. Daly and everyone else) is talking about this new pope guy. Well, like Monster's Ball, I refuse to jump on the bandwagon and talk about this magical "pope" character. That is all.

Party Compatibility test

2005-04-18T11:05:00.000-05:00

Anthony linked this test on his blog, and I thought I would try it out. Here is a link to my results.

Innovation, its awesome

2005-04-13T15:53:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to story about a new weapon that our military is sending to Iraq. Laptop controlled mines are going to be used on the ground in Iraq soon. There is hope that these will help to reduce accidental deaths.

This is what we pay them for?

2005-04-12T05:51:00.000-05:00

I know that technically I am not paying these people, but come on! Here is a bill proposed buy the Idaho house of representatives. Here is the major pull of it:

"WHEREAS, the State of Idaho recognizes the vision, talent and creativity of Jared and Jerusha Hess in the writing and production of "Napoleon Dynamite";"

Then, of course, I have to post a few highlights of the bill.

"WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho's most famous export;"

"WHEREAS, Kip's relationship with LaFawnduh is a tribute to e-commerce and Idaho's technology-driven industry;"

"WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!" and run the risk of having the "Worst Day of Their Lives!" "

While I must admit this is entertaining, please some one tell me that this is a joke. As in, this bill has not actually been written and submitted to the Idaho House of reps. Unfortunately, it doesn't look that way, so I must say, this shows one thing that is wrong with our government, they do stupid stuff that doesn't matter. Personally I like the movie, but this is just over the top.

MSA elections

2005-04-04T13:24:00.000-05:00

For those of you who didn't know, I am running with Tom Meyer for President and Vice-president of MSA, the undergraduate student government here at the University of MN. I do use the term "government" with some hesitation, as they don't do ANYTHING. Now I know it sounds odd that I would want to run for office is a group that I say does nothing, but hey we want to do something, so anyway for all seven or so of you who read this regularly please vote for us. Thus, and this is needless to say, but hey when has that ever stopped me, this blog officially endorses the Meyer/Newman ticket for MSA.

I got a new blog now

2005-04-01T11:46:00.000-06:00

Do any of you remember the days when this blog was full of posts on random stuff that I found surfing the internet. Well now you can relive those days at my new blog Internet Dumpster Diver. I have decided to try and make this blog more serious, but I also wanted a place to talk to myself, and the few wayfarers unfortunate enough to find themselves at my site, about strange and weird things that I find on the intenet, so I made a new blog just for that.

A nice satire peice

2005-03-30T15:56:00.000-06:00

There is this local weekly free newspaper, called Skyway News (www.skywaynews.net is their website) that is devoted to downtown Minneapolis. For the most part I have ignored them, however this week they have some fairly good satire pieces in honor of April fool’s day, which is during this week (I can't believe that this year has gone by so fast). Anyway one of the pieces makes fun of the light rail, and as such I wish to honor it on this blog, which probably gets a whole heck of a lot less traffic then their actual printed papers gather, but oh well.

Unfortunately I have tried to find the article on their website, and could not, and, as our scanner is not working, I will just have to type the text of the article, and will not be able to see the nice picture they have.

“Backers of Downtown's light-rail line say they can top themselves with an innovation that extends LRT's reach at less cost to taxpayers.

The 'LRTT,' or Light Rail Transit on Tires, replaces steel tracks and wheels with rubber tires. 'LRTT cars are not confined to fixed routes, and indeed can run on paved streets already prevalent in the Twin Cities,' said a Metro Transit Spokesman. 'This gives us the chance to carry 50, 60 70 people per LRTT vehicle anywhere in the metro area, on existing roads, which should require less taxpayer subsidy'

Metro Transit touted other advantages of LRTT:
-'One driver per vehicle, clearly visible to passengers, will improve the perception of safety and customer service.'

-' A "fare box" on each vehicle will allow anyone with spare change in their pocket to ride LRTT, without the need for ticket inspectors.'

-'Because an LRTT vehicle carries its own fuel, it is less susceptible to power outages and there is no need to construct unsightly overhead wires.'

Officials say because of the innovations and efficiencies, they expect LRTT funding to receive enthusiastic support from the Legislature and Governor.'

A great commentary on the Shiavo issue

2005-03-30T15:39:00.000-06:00

Here is a link to a post on a blog that Andrew told me about. Here is what was said in the above linked post:

"Tuesday, March 29 2005
Human Life <120 Cows
Lee Shelton @ 8:45 am
Michael Lee Swails of Immokalee, Fla., was charged recently with starving 120 cows. The 47-year-old rancher “was arrested Thursday in connection with the discovery of dead, dying or severely malnourished cows on his ranch last year.”

Meanwhile, Terri Schiavo continues to starve to death thanks to the court-ordered removal of her feeding tube. While the exact value of a human life hasn’t been determined, we now know that it’s less than the value of 120 cows."

Jumping on the bandwagon...

2005-03-28T10:41:00.000-06:00

Well to join my fellow campus bloggers in their conversations about possible government blog regulation I will link to my favorite politcal cartoon site again Cox and Forkum. I would say more then this, however I really have got to go. You see I am part of a campaign running for MSA President/vice-President, and we need to finish collecting our signatures. I will post more on this (both the regulation of bloggers, and MSA elections) later.

IMG_0369

2005-03-23T14:12:00.000-06:00

IMG_0369
Originally uploaded by barek2007.

The guy in the UN vest.

IMG_0389

2005-03-23T14:11:00.001-06:00

IMG_0389
Originally uploaded by barek2007.

This was the sign the anti-war people hung on the bridge.

IMG_0393

2005-03-23T14:11:00.000-06:00

IMG_0393
Originally uploaded by barek2007.

Us with our signs, and a lover of free speech.

IMG_0395

2005-03-23T14:10:00.001-06:00

IMG_0395
Originally uploaded by barek2007.

THe hippies breaking the law by protesting in Coffman Union.

IMG_0363

2005-03-23T14:10:00.000-06:00

IMG_0363
Originally uploaded by barek2007.

Me with my Sign

WOW!

2005-03-23T13:20:00.000-06:00

I just participated in my first counter protest, and it was awesome. I felt a little nervous about it at first, but when I got out there with my sign that read, "Bush is a Dictator Help support Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol-Pot, Ayatollah, Jiang Zemin, Kim John-Il, Arafat, Assad, Saddam, against, uh, Dictatorship...( Here is a link to it on the protest warrior site), and they started crying about healthcare, education, and all of their "Bush is a terrorist" stuff it became kinda exhilarating. Then they started taking shoots at us. First they dared to call us College Republicans. We are Campus Republicans, College Republicans are party hacks that don't do anything on campus except invite speakers to their meetings. We Campus Republicans actually hold events for the whole campus, not just our little click(like the Michael Moore Hates America event tomorrow at 7pm in Willey Hall 125).

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. After they went over their chants they had some stupid skit where someone dressed as the USA tackles some girl who is supposed to be the Iraqi people twice, once during round 1991, and then during round 2003. Then comes round 2005. Somehow the girl manages to take out the USA (maybe with some hidden WMD...)until the USA hits her with the Trout of mass destruction, or something idiotic like that. In other words he hit her with a stuffed fish, and then I stopped paying attention, and then they all cheered, and Iraq girl was named victor by the guy dressed in a blue vest with UN written on it.

After this They decided to go and hang some sign of the foot bridge that goes over the highway and leads into the Student Union. Well we had our signs held high too, so the people driving to and fro got to see our message as well.

After all of this the protestors decided that illegal action was the best course to follow, and they marched around inside the student union shouting about Bush being a terrorist, and such. Then I left, being a law abiding citizen and all, starting blogging about these events. On a side note, I left a little while ago to get something to drink, and I saw several cops wandering around the Union. Those crazy hippies, they just don't stop to think that people may be studying, and might not want to hear their crazy rhetoric. I'll be posting pictures from this event a few minutes after posting this.

This is outrageous

2005-03-23T10:13:00.000-06:00

I found this in a tiny local paper that covers the downtown Minneapolis area.

This article is about anti-smoking groups doing PR work to remind people that the smoking ban is going to take affect soon. The main group that pisses me off in all of this is MPAAT, or Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco (this is a group responsible for ridiculous signs on busses too, but that is another rant). MPAAT is pushing "fresh air" mints and coasters to be used in bars, to remind people that they won't be able to smoke there soon. I think this is the ultimate attempt be these crazed anti-smoking to rub the ban in the faces of both the bar/restaurant owners, and the smokers who go to their establishments.

On a side note there is one organization that is trying to do a PR campaign for bars and restaurants in an attempt to help them keep their business up. I am not really angry about that, at least they are trying to help the business that the anti-smoking crowd claims to want to help. This group is also offering online coupons from some restaurants at their website: www.cleanairminneapolis.com.

This is awesome

2005-03-22T19:22:00.000-06:00

Here is a link to an article I found while blog surfing (hitting the 'next blog' tab on the bar at the top of the screen). I found it at this blog.

' As the gunmen emerged from their cars, Dhiya and his young relatives shouldered their own AK-47s and opened fire, the police and witnesses said. In the fierce gun battle that followed, three of the insurgents were killed, and the rest fled just after the police arrived. Two of Dhiya's young nephews and a bystander were wounded, the police said.

"We attacked them before they attacked us," said Dhiya, 35, his face still contorted with rage and excitement, in a brief exchange at his shop a few hours after the battle. He did not give his last name. "We killed three of those who call themselves the mujahedeen. I am waiting for the rest of them to come and we will show them." '

Personally I think this is awesome, this shows that Iraqis are feed up with begin attacked because they want to be free. I bet this story will never be covered by the "real" media in this country.

This is amazing

2005-03-22T18:59:00.000-06:00

I found this while reading one of my favorite blogs/political cartoon sites Cox and Forkum. This blog is written by an Iraqi who two days on the second year anniversary of the war in Iraq had this to say:

"Our cities are smoking, our graveyards full, and terrorists in our midst. But we are not defeated. We are not down, we are not regretful. We are not going to surrender. For all that the two years have brought, the greatest thing they have given us is a future, and a view of the finish line.

Iraqis see the finish line, the finish line of freedom and democracy and a functioning nation. We can smell it, taste it, and like a sprinter, one who has broken his legs, but who has a heart full of passion, we will crawl there no matter what the cost. No matter what we must endure, we have realized what we can become, and that is the biggest result of the last two years.

Noone can take that from us. Not the terrorists, not those who want to question the good of the removal of Saddam, not those who want to reduce our glory for politics, none. " You can read this whole post

here.

Random Stuff

2005-03-09T16:59:00.000-06:00

Here is some wierd crap that I found when I searched on Yahoo:

The Colonel Sanders Conspiracy blog

This website is just a normal blog that has a cool name.

The Lumberjack Manifesto
This is just very weird. That is all.

Hmmm....

2005-03-09T16:06:00.000-06:00

So europe wants the US to stop freeing people all around world, in the name of peace, yet they want to sell weapons to the country that wishes to do this.

Another interesting test

2005-03-09T10:55:00.000-06:00

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

You are a good old-fashioned six-sided cube, otherwise known as a d6. Others know you to be plain, predictable, conservative, average, ordinary, and downright boring. You prefer to describe yourself as dependable, honest, practical and trustworthy. People usually know what to expect from you, since you rarely hold any surprises. You hate to make decisions, and if forced to decide, you'll always fall back on how it was done in the past. You always order the same thing at your favorite restaurant, and your jokes, while funny, are never too offensive. It seems that you are well liked, but maybe that's simply because there's nothing to hate.

The evilness of my site:

2005-03-09T10:48:00.000-06:00

My site is almost as good as Marty's martinandrade.blogspot.com

The blogosphere is like voltron

2005-02-21T21:32:00.000-06:00

www.imao.us links to this post on a different blog, and I see that logic, so I thought I would link it here, so you all can see it as well. flyingspacemonkey.mn.nu.

Another good test

2005-02-21T12:47:00.000-06:00

Here is one more, one that only those who know me personally will understand the full context of.

I am 26% White Trash.

The white trash in my blood will not keep me from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but it will keep me from a good haircut and any sort of fashion sense.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

Heres a hint, read the second half of the sentence.

Weird tests I found

2005-02-19T16:14:00.000-06:00

When I waste my time clicking on the "next blog" button on the top of every blogspot blog, I usally find nothing interesting. Not today, this time I found some blog that had links to all of these interesting tests, so here are my results, which include the link so you can take the tests too:

I am 34% Geek.

You probably work in computers, or a history deptartment at a college. You never really fit in with the "normal" crowd. But you have friends, and this is a good thing.

Take the
Geek Test
@ FualiDotCom

I am 47% Internet Addict.

I could go either way. Deep into the madness of nights filled with coding CGI-Scripts and online role playing games, or I could become a normal user. Good luck!

Take the
Internet Addict Test
@ FualiDotCom

I am 43% Evil Genius.

I want to be evil. I do evil things. But given the opportunity, and a darn good reason I may turn to the good side. Besides I am probably a miserable evil genius.

Take the
Evil Genius Test
@ FualiDotCom

I am 28% Idiot.

I ain't too bright. But all those other idiots annoy the hell out of me. I may not be the brightest bulb in the bunch, but at least I know my limits.

Take the
Idiot Test
@ FualiDotCom

I am 11% Hippie.

What? Am I a Republican? Why did I even bother taken this test?! I guess I’ll back to my George W. Bush fan club and tell them I just wasted 10 minutes of my life. At least I don’t stink, man.

Take the
Hippie Test
@ FualiDotCom

Cool stuff

2005-02-19T15:10:00.000-06:00

Well everyone I wanted to offically let you all know about the stuff that I have been slowly adding to the bottom of the page here at my blog.

First is Adsense from google, a little advertising thing that gives me money as more and more people click on the different ads. The thing that it is advertising has something to do with the topic on the page that is open. On the main page it is generally an ad about blogging, however on other pages (like the one about the pizza I had for lunch one day) the ad is for something that has to do with that topic (like pizza sauce).

The next thing is the site counter. That shows how many people have come to my site since I put it there (Feb 1 2005). If you click on it, it will bring you to some site that breaks down the number by day and week and stuff like that.

Next is the google search bar. There is nothing real special about this, if you type words into it, and hit enter, it will open up a search on google for whatever you put into it.

Finally is the thing that I like the most. I now have my own guest book through iguest.net. The best thing about this, is the fact that it will tell me how many different people read my blog (and actually care enough to sign a guest book). Please sign this guest book, even if you hate me or my blog (or both as the case mat be), becuase I would like to see how many different people read this blog.

Until the next random thing comes to me....sign my guest book.

I give up

2005-02-14T13:19:00.000-06:00

I am just going to give in. All I do now is wander the interent looking for weird things. Well here are another two good websites for you.

Wikipedia This is a massive encyclopedia online that has articles and stuff that has all sorts of subjects. This was vital for my studying for tests for my class, and to get little bits of info for different papers that I have to write for class.

Writers/workers snacking at workThese people review all sorts of snacks, and some of them are great reviews. I think this is not only an informative site, but also entertaining.

Well there are go. I think I am going to keep doing this now. I now accept that I have been cursed to wander the internet and find odd and cool stuff. I will once again plug Marty's site Marty E-mail, because I think he is the one who was instramental in this curse. Just so you people how have never heard of Marty are not confused, Marty started with Marty e-mails that he would send out to an ever growing list of people, he then some time later started the Marty e-mail blog, which serves essentially the same purpose, except it makes it open to more people, and forces to people to be less lazy, and have to actually go to his site to see what he has found. Also, one more plug, you should visit Marty's Cafe press store here

I couldn't resist

2005-02-01T17:47:00.000-06:00

Ok I got a few more random sites that I found.

germany

This may be copying....

2005-01-31T22:39:00.000-06:00

Well this post is copying Marty in that I am going to post random stuff that I found on the internet. You see Marty does these marty email things, here is his blog for them is here: Marty Email.

Any way I was bored one day, so I decided that I would figure out if there were any other cities named Minneapolis in this country. I found two, so here you go:

Minneapolis, KS

Minneapolis, NC

Well there you go, thats it until some other random thing pops into my head that I feel like sharing with you all.

A post for another loyal servant..er reader....

2005-01-22T13:05:00.000-06:00

Well I guess my previous attempt to thank marty for reading my blog didn't get posted or something, so here is attempt number 2. Thanks marty having you, and others, waste part of their lives reaing this blog makes me feel better about wasting mine posting to it.

Another post dedicated to some guy

2004-12-22T15:21:00.000-06:00

Well I have found out the secret identity of the guy who anonomosly posted a comment on my ode to Andrew. The person is none other then Aaron Solem (I hope I didn't butcher his name/reveal to all of his former gangster buddies what his new name and location is). So this post to decicated to him. I think that I will start a habit of doing this when I find out that someone actually reads my blog, so if you want a post dedicated to you on some blog that will be read by you and hopefully three other people, then go a head and somehow tell me your name and that you read my blog. Thank you.

An ode to Andrew

2004-12-14T21:32:00.000-06:00

I normally won't post twice in the same day (and at the rate I'm going so far, twice a week), but I was amazed to see that Andrew posted a comment on this here blog. What I find suprising about this, is the fact that some one is actually reading this. I am not sure why you decide to spend you time here Andrew, but I suppose, that to some degree, my time used posting here is not totally wasted, so I dedicate this post to you Andrew.

Not much up

2004-12-14T21:22:00.000-06:00

Well I am not sure what to blog about, but oh well I am going to blog any way. Right now I am in the SFV office with a box of nutty bars, a couple of 20oz diet cokes, and my logic book. As I have logic homework due tomorrow, and it is my first final, monday afternoon, I think that it is a good idea for me to be studying this crazy stuff. Well thats my life right now, sorry to bore you.

AWESOME PIZZA!

2004-12-07T11:49:00.000-06:00

I just had a slice of the best pizza that I have had here at Coffman ever. This baby had ground pork, ground beef, sausage, pepperoni, green pepper, onions, mushrooms, and I think there was a seventh thing, that I can't remember. Any way they called something idiotic like seventh heaven or something like that, but it was awesome. Then I added on two of these dipper things, that had red onion and tomato, and a little thing of marinara sauce, and it all cost only $5, and I am not rounding that, it cost exactly $5.

By the way, for those of you who respond to this post by thinking and/or saying something like this: "and what the helk does pizza have to do with anything", remember I warned you in my second or third post that I will likely never post anything relevant to anything important. So there.

Free speech, not so free at U of M

2004-12-01T11:01:00.000-06:00

Well Last night the campus republicans did a postering blitz to excercise their free speech, and put up Bush/Cheney '04 posters, along with posters that read "four more years, take that hippies". By 9 o'clock this morning the posters were torn down. So much for free speech.

Blog: Turkey day Edition

2004-11-24T10:52:00.000-06:00

Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and as such I have no class tonight, and everyone is leaving town today. I am not sure if I will attend our "famly" (quotation marks mean not real family) tradition of going to the bar/resturant the Big 10 on wednesday nights, because most people will not be there.

I can't wait for tomorrow, because my dad makes awesome green bean dish, and someone in my family (I am not sure who) makes great stuffing (I think some people call it 'dressing'), and my Uncle makes great gravy, that gets poured over everything, with the exception of cranberries.

It's been a little while.....

2004-11-17T10:24:00.000-06:00

Well I have not blogged for a little while, but here I go. My live is starting to get crazy again. With thanksgiving coming up soon, and the end of the semester not to far away, classes and SFV stuff is starting to get crazy. I got papers and projects due in my several of my classes within a week of writing this, so I am not sure why I am wasting my time telling the one or two people who read this something that they more or less already know. Oh well, I guess this is just part of my decline into insanity that has been happening for some time know.

Nov.2, a good day to be a republican

2004-11-03T10:31:00.000-06:00

Well the republicans managed to increase their advantage in both houses of congress, and Bush has won the presidency. Of course Kerry may still force the counting of the previsional ballots in Ohio, but that is because Kerry is a bitter, bitter man. Bush won Ohio by 130,000 votes, and with only 150,000 previsional ballots, if all of them were valid (which won't happen), and Bush gets only 10% of them (which also won't happen), then Bush STILL WINS OHIO!

In other news Gromacki and I both wrote Orlando in for water and soil inspecter person in a district of Hennepin county where there was none on the ballot. It's too bad that we didn't get this set up a head of time, other wise we may have gotten Orlando a job!

Michael Moore hates this country

2004-10-27T18:43:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to a blog that has an open letter to one of the largest german newpapers written by micheal moore where he lies and slanders this country and it's people. Link

The english translation is after the german version.

I have seen the light...

2004-10-27T17:36:00.001-05:00

I have seen the light that shines brightly in the night. The night of over priced books at bookstores that rip you off, becuase Coffman went 27 Million dollars over budget, and that light is..... DOVER THRIFT EDITION BOOKS. These are wonderful books that cover everything from poetry to philosophy, to fiction, political fiction, history and a host of other topics. These nifty little books cost from $1 to $5, most falling in between the $1.50 to $2.50 range. The website to find these things is Dover Publications, you also could buy them at Amazon, however I think that the best way to get them is to go to a store that sells them, and spend a good amount of time looking through all of the titles, and then purchasing the ones that you wish too.

Here is my list of recommended titles to pick up.

Go with God's Grandeur and other poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, if you like religious poetry. Price: $1.50

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The prince

The trial and Death of Socrates

The social contract

Rights of Man

Common Sense

These are all good books for those of you who like philosophy, and political philosophy. That is where I fall in.

Also an honorable mention for Moby Dick, which I hear is anti-technology.

Right wing Stuff

2004-10-20T16:54:00.000-05:00

Well I suppose that it makes a lot of sense that if all I do is sit in the office and surf the internet, I find a lot of interesting things. Mostly right wing things too, yeah go figure me finding right wing stuff. Anyway these are mostly shirts, buttons and stuff like that. Here are a bunch of links to this stuff that I have found:

This group is from cafe press, a great website in and of itself

http://www.cafepress.com/xtremerightwing/352324

http://www.cafepress.com/rightnation

http://www.cafepress.com/rightwingstuff

This next one is that has some crazy stuff

http://0cents.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=0CP&Category_Code=BUT

This next one has some great stuff, but it's main attraction would be the blog aspect, and the plan to world peace (which includes nuking the moon), which is located a little bit down on the left column, right under the main logo, it is the link that reads "Read The Essay"

http://www.imao.us

And here is the store for the site listed above:

http://www.thoseshirts.com

Okay, thats the end for now, check out those links, and read that essay.

Oh and by the way, I am too lazy to figure out how to make these things links, so just copy and paste the addresses.

The final debate of the '04 presidential race

2004-10-13T21:41:00.000-05:00

Well now they are all over. Finally, I can stop skipping class and sitting alone in the SFV office with the webstream of some radio station in Texas, listening to the president talk positivly about the future, and Kerry attack Bush, and talk negative, except when he mentions that he has a plan, which is never fleshed out, just mentioned.

Anyway, I think that the president did well, especially over the first debate, and however I think that there were too many things that he didn't answer at all, or as well as he should have. I think that Kerry did a good job of not saying what he will do, and he did a good job of making idiotic alegations of Bush, some of which would be at least some what affective. I think that Bush did a good job of laying out his plan, and he managed to turn around several of the horribly biased questions that the moderator threw out at him.

Well the debate was close enough to a tie, so I'll score just score it Bush/Cheney:50, and Kerry/Edwards:50, for a grand total of Bush/Cheney:220, Kerry/Edwards:180.

sigh

2004-10-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

Well here I am to complain, just like I promised. Over at SFV's website (www.studentsforfamilyvalues.com) there are a bunch of crazy constitution party people being very loud, and it annoys me. Well thats all then.

Well W did good...

2004-10-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

Well W did good...
We had another debate last night between W The President, and Kerry the man who would be president. Before I get to last night's debate, I want to comment on the other two so far.The first presidential debate went to Kerry hand's down....that is if you watched it. If you read the text for the first debate, you see that Kerry was very fancy with his words, and managed to some what throw off the label "flip-flopper", while at the same time double talking. I got the term double-talking from the talk show host Michael Medved, and it means that Kerry doesn't just change his mind, ie flip-flop, but rather he says two things at the same time. At the first debate Kerry said he would not allow any nation a veto over our security, but we have to pass a global test in order to act alone. That makes no sense!!!!! He called Iraq a mistake, and then said that the soldiers are not dying for a mistake. He just can't say one thing and stick with it, because he would rather try and please everyone, then to actually stand up for anything!!!!!!Unfortunately Bush was kinda like a deer in highlights, and Kerry did well twisting things around, so Bush/Cheney:40, Kerry/Edwards:60

The vice-presidential debate went very well for Cheney in the first about two thirds, and then he declined a little bit, but he still did well. I think Edwards came off as a young kid who wanted to challenge his father on some matter, and after the debate I think Edwards felt like he got spanked. Cheney destroyed Edwards, with the exception of a couple of areas that Cheney didn't answer Edwards on. Cheney didn't answer the Halliburton claim, but rather he gave a website, which was http://www.factcheck.org/, but unfortunately he said http://www.factcheck.com/. I think that too many people came out and starting decrying Cheney about whatever, and talked about how Edwards killed Cheney. Of course I only listened to the debate, and I missed all of the body language, but still Bush/Cheney: 65, Kerry/Edwards:35.

Okay now on to the topic for today. Last nights debate went well for Bush. Bush relates to people well, and I think that why he did so well last night is that he can really talk to people. Kerry does well behind a podium, because that is his environment, where as Bush does not do so well behind the podium. That came out very strongly last night. Bush was not uptight, and he addressed the people very well. He answered almost every question well, and managed to look presidential. Kerry floundered a bit. He talked very well, but then Bush would get up, and contradict his statements about things, or explain away what Kerry said, and then Kerry was left with nothing. Kerry seemed a little nervous at times, and didn't always do so well answering many of Bush's comments. One big one is Bush brought up Kerry's comment about the global test, and Kerry didn't really answer that effectively. Score for thi debate Bush/Cheney:65, Kerry/Edwards:35.Total with only one debate left: Bush/Cheney: 170, Kerry/Edwards: 130

A little explination

2004-10-08T13:47:00.000-05:00

I suppose that you may wonder what's up with Joel (honestly I don't expect anyone to read this other then a couple of close friends who already know this, but just play along). Well Joel is the Executive Officer of students for Family Values. That means that he is the guy who says things to get us press. He is also the guys who runs our website, and is the self fashioned "webmaster". He is the guy who runs all of our online ambition, and is the one who actually got our group going strong online. So anyway he loves the internet, and after he got an officer blog for our group’s website, he forced me to signup at blogspot so that I could post on our groups blog, which was soon followed with me getting this blog. So there you go, you now know more about my life then you ever needed to.

Just a warning

2004-10-08T12:42:00.000-05:00

Just to let know you this blog has a high chance of never being relevant to ANYTHING!!! I will be using this blog for little more then random comments and complaints. Even Joel's blog will be more relevant then mine. If you wish to visit his go to my profile, and find his name. There you go. Anyway Joel and his love for the internet may become discussed more then they really should be, and I think the reason for that is because he is the sole reason that I have this blog anyway, so I will be ranting about him anyway.

I gave into the dark side....

2004-10-08T10:45:00.000-05:00

I thought that I would never ever get one of these, because I figured the only people who did this are people who have no life. Well through a small series of revelations I realized that I have no life, and as such I fit in with the crowd.
Besides all the other officers of Students for Family Values had a blog, so I had to get one too, because if they all jumped off a bridge I would have to consider following them. And a blog doesn't include pain, or suffering, so it is a much easier decision. Besides, Joel is crazy and I fear for my life, if I don't embrace his lover, the internet.