Evil Empire?
Have you ever seriously suspected that our country is the evil empire? Are we the strong men that we accused the U.S.S.R of being? In 2000 things were great. We were prosperous and optimistic. Three years later we have destroyed two governments, alienated the free world, and killed untold thousands. Like Pearl Harbor, the terrorists seem to have wakened a truly dreadful giant. Yet things are a lot less clear cut this time around. We are deep within the throes of a recession and our leadership is mortgaging our future away for what seems to have been a wild goose chase. The states are broke, programs are being cut, and school years cut short. Not only that but we seem to be neglecting the people we have gone to so much trouble to "liberate". When you read the article about the US's supposed profiteering below and its governing of Iraq. You wonder what the Bush administration is doing. Can they really be this bad? Who is responsible and why is it being allowed? Things are truly bleak and I worry that we'll be forced to ride the momentum of this "war on terror" till many thousands more are killed.

Paul Krugman may be a great economist but he's always a downer
It makes me want to puke.

After reading the article, cool out by reading the provided comic. Trudeau's awesome...

More Grad School Disillusionment
Today our professor started off with a little problem. Due to Hurricane Isabel and a conflict of his own we are due to miss 2 of our 13 classes. Should we make up some classes? Drop some material? In order to solve this problem our professor attempted to have a class discussion. Terrible... and not a little funny. Our professor who has a bit of foriegn guy naivete must have thought we could easily solve this little wrinkle. Not bloody likely. Its a night class so you know most of us work. As a result, no one could agree on a makeup day and time.
The highpoint for me was when the guy behind me suggested we just drop the final project and use the final project presentation day to learn something (italics = reasonable voice). It was the most I could do to keep a straight face during this whole thing. It only got worse from there. Inevitably there is a guy in class who is adamant about getting in an extra meeting, which is fine. But as usual, zeal was an issue. I have a problem with wasting 30-45 minutes on a discussion between two or three students debating the merits of meeting on a Friday night. Honestly. The rest of us, meanwhile were quietly snickering, making comments, and trying not to make eye contact with our instructor. The latter may have just been me. I at least suggested on two occasions that he start class and leave it up to an email vote.... Simon was oddly persistent however. In the end we all agreed *cough* bullshit *cough* to meet at 6 on a Friday night. Swell.
That decided *cough* horseshit *cough* , the professor announced that we were moving to the lab, so we had to pack up and move downstairs. What an egregious waste of time. But that's not the end! Now I'm wasting even more class time to post this. All for your jocularity. All for you!! The ironic thing about all of this is that now I wish I'd have just skipped today.

At T-1 hour and 27 minutes till the end of class, this is El Jefe bidding you a fond adieu...

Hollywood is mother, Hollywood is father...
Worried about sending a negative image about their industry's zeal to protect their product, the movie industry has chosen a different tact to fight piracy. They've decided to get the little bastards when their young!
Now, I admit I find the RIAA's behavior mildly upsetting. I consider them a bunch of stupid assholes if you want to know the truth, flailing at the wind. And I suppose down deep I sometimes worry about being sued (when I have a worry free minute), but I don't suppose that brainwashing our youth from an early age is going to put many smiles on people's faces. As a DARE graduate I can attest to the power of in-class propaganda. I spent my younger years thinking a drink of hard liquor was the first step towards living on the streets. Sad its true, but not as sad as sobbing over the plight of struggling "rock stars".

Well... Hurricane Isabel has come and gone and like most has left me unimpressed. A bit of wind and a bit of rain. A tree fell on my house but barely cracked the roof. One supposes that serious drama is the exclusive province of those glamorous trailer home dwellers. I lost electricity which was quite irritating. Finally more out of boredom than daredevilry I spent a couple of hours walking out into the storm enjoying nature's might, and then briskly walking back into the house when the wind kicked up. Over and over again... like a cuckoo clock...
Finally I retired to a novel and some of Scotland's finest. Once again combustion proves itself superior over electricity.

On a lighter note, I became an uncle twice over this weekend. My niece, whose name is Isabel (no jackass questions please) came on Sunday. She shares a birthday with Bill Murray which I think is cool and with Ricki Lake who we can only hope will be buried by the sands of obscurity by the time she can be ridiculed without her mother hitting you.

The 21st is also the day NASA sent Galileo rocketing into Jupiter. Sent to its fiery death after years of loyal service on the day my niece was born. Fans of the 2001 series may feel free to run with that little fact.

Oh and a little BTW for all you people who like I were dispointed by science's inability to deliver us practical flying cars like in Back to the Future. Check this out. I'm sure I had a toy that did this....

Bienvenido Isabella
Well this will be my last post before Isabel ravages my local environs. Perhaps I will return with some good pictures... Perhaps I will not return at all! Either way I'll probably lose power and life will become a pathetic mockery. Adios!

Quiet Weekend

A nice quiet weekend for the Jefe. Injured myself, had a few drinks, did a little studying, got in a funk, got out of a funk, did a bit of writing, cradled my bottle of scotch in front of the TV for a while, and sat on a bench for a couple of hours. This is the view from my bench. It would seem there's a storm a brewin'. I've got a hurricane heading my way and no clearly marked exits.

Yesterday I goofed off, but today I'm proud to say that I was a good citizen. I got up early and had a hearty breakfast. This is muy importanto since my metabolism goes gonzo if I don't eat a morning meal. I'm totally worthless for the rest of the day. So thanks to a breakfast fit for kings( ye Old Waffle House), I had a productive day. I even worked on putting together my father's website. Check me out, I'm a good son.

Check out riverbend
This is a hard blog to read, but I think it's well worth it. Riverbend is the handle of a woman who lives somewhere in Baghdad. She seems like a very intelligent person, who is definitely not happy with the American occupation. I think that in the coming months and years, discovering the perspective of the average Iraqi citizen will become important for us all.

What happened to our country?
When did we become the land of postering morons? I can actually remember a time when I was optimistic about the job that Donald Rumsfield would do at the DOD. He promised at the time to make the US Military leaner and meaner. More efficient and energy conscious. I remember reading about how he was planning on installing geo-thermal heating in all sorts of Army bases. What happened? How can you say with a straight face that we don't need anymore US troops in Iraq, but we do need about 15,000 International troops. How do you say that to the soldiers in the Gulf? You know the guys who are getting their asses shot off over there!

"We don't need to size the force to fit a spike (in attacks) unless the spike is a permanent spike," he told troops of the 101st Airborne Division in the northern city of Mosul."

So I guess we're kind of hoping that all this terrorism nonsense will just clear up when the concerned parties come to their senses. Excellant. It's like Vietnam never happened.

Strolling through life
Ah to be a student again! Today all I had was an hour and fifteen minute class. It was nice, I sat in the back next to the window and watched the kids walk to and fro. It was a beautiful day and class was boring the crap out of me. The beginning of class was good for a few laughs though. The prof was having some trouble with the foriegn kids. The first day, the prof had us all write down a secret about ourselves. Something humorous and off the wall. Typical get to know you bullshit. So anyways, the prof's going to write one secret on the board every class and we're all supposed to guess. Funny shit right? The prof's trying to get this shit done quick, but these poor foriegn devils are flustered by this weird bullshit excercise and they're taking forever. I feel sorry for the bastards, this wasn't in the fucking manual. No one told them they'd go to America and be messed with by some prof. Funny stuff
While all this crazy shit is going down, I sit back and look out the window. There's a courtyard out there with a little garden concealed in a square of hedge. Outside and around the hedge young students stream past. Dressed in tight pants, short shorts, and wrapped in hip-hop, funk,and rock n' roll. They saunter past talking on cell phones or holding hands. Meanwhile there is a pocket of tranquility in the hedge where there's a couple benches, a statue, and a lady eating her lunch. An older woman, obviously a school employee, she sits in a pocket of quiet. I thought it was funny how this lady was eating her lunch. She was dainty and fastidious. Very careful about her hands and reading a fashion mag. The picture of feminine poise, eating a big greasy hamburger. Funny stuff. Anyways, I enjoyed class today can't ask more than that.