Rebel yell Feb 8, 2006
There's this guy named Howard Dean.  He tried to run for president in 2004.  He's now the head of the Democratic National Committee. 

He's best known for his rebel yell, which can be seen here and heard here.  If you've never seen or heard it, please take the time now.  You won't regret it. #politics
George W. Bush (1) Feb 8, 2006
It's time once again for me to mention a little something about politics.  And this time I'll focus specifically on that guy who's sort of my boss:  George W. Bush, the president of this fine country. 

In terms of politics, I support our president.  And I'm not just saying that because I may or may not work for him.  I felt this way before I started working.  I may not agree wholeheartedly with everything he does, and I don't stick up for him when he's criticized like a Sean Hannity or a Rush Limbaugh.  But I agree with some of the things he says and does, and I generally supported his ideals. 

In terms of personality, I sit the fence.  I like the whole Texas thing and the idea of not messin' with it.  I like the idea of working 24/7:  24 hours a week, 7 months a year. 

What I don't like is when Bush's people let him speak his mind, unscripted.  I think that's a mistake.  I think the man says some stupid things (called Bushisms), though he means well.  I'd like to think that it's gotten better over the years, but judging from the number of Bushisms is the past several months, I'm "skeptimistic". 

On a positive note, I think the man has some good things to say, and I think he's a pretty good motivator (or at least that's what it looks like during those State of the Onion addresses, where everybody stands up and claps every few sentences).  When he speaks well, people listen, and he's become the worldwide spokesman against terrorism.  Think about it:  Can anyone say the words "war on terror" without thinking of GWB?  I think not. #politics
Famous Newton Jan 13, 2006
I grew up in Hampton Township, NJ.  It's about |     | this far from Newton, NJ.  It turns out that Janeane Garofalo was born in Newton, NJ!  Small-town American girl makes it big in Hollywood! 

Too bad she's a typical Hollywood Bush-hater.  I don't care if you hate Bush.  Just stop telling me about it.  And don't use your fame to spread your propaganda. #politics
Edible ballots Jan 4, 2006
In Canada, it's illegal to eat a ballot.  The Edible Ballot Society staged a demonstration during the 2000 Canadian election to protest against the supposed lack of democracy.  They did this by eating ballots. #politics
Gas prices Nov 18, 2005
I just got gas yesterday.  $2.07 per gallon.  That's a 35% decrease from when I last mentioned gas prices about two months ago.  Not bad. 

A lot of people blame someone for a certain bad thing but then don't give that same person credit for an improvement in the bad thing.  For example, if we blame George W. Bush for the high gas prices, shouldn't we also credit him for lowering them?  I'm all about finger-pointing, but let's give credit where credit is due.  Gas prices are just an example.  I don't think GWB has anything to do with gas prices.  So in this case, I think he deserves neither credit nor criticism.  Maybe we can point the finger at the oil industry (bingo!).  They're the ones that are truly at fault.  But it looks like they got things back under control for the most part.  So, good job guys.  But maybe you can give me back some of the hundreds of billions of dollars in profit you got last month.  Maybe.  That would be nice. 

If anything, this sudden rise and gradual fall of gas prices has made me appreciate the fact that they've fallen at all.  If you told me six months ago that gas was gonna cost $2.25 a gallon, I would've been pretty mad.  That would've been a big jump from the then-current price of about $1.85.  But since it's dropped about a dollar per gallon in 2 months, it doesn't feel bad at all. 

Bottom line:  High gas prices were a good thing, George Bush is infallible, and Exxon is giving me $4.45 billion. #politics
Politics (1) Nov 8, 2005
Let me go on the record to say that I hate politics.  As smart Mike said, "Politics naturally divides."  I'm so uninterested in elections and current events because I see no relevance.  But I can see why people think this stuff is important.  Politics is (or are ... whatever, I ain't no english major) the institution that runs our country and our whole entire way of life.  It makes our decisions, it allows or prohibits our freedoms, it decides our future.  I understand the right-wing Christian perspective of putting conservatives in high positions to get rid of things like abortion, gay marriage, and doctor-assisted suicide.  I understand the reasoning behind these ideas.  But I think it's a fight not worth fighting.  I think our country is beyond repair.  I don't think a few changes in politics will make any difference at all.  Plus, as smart guy Scott once said, you can't legislate moral changes. 

My other critique of politics is that it's not really run by the people.  They make it look like the common man has a say in things by giving him the right to vote.  But for the presidential election, where do our votes go?  In the trash.  This is because the electoral college is the body that makes the final decision.  They can take our opinion into account.  Or not.  And even without the electoral college problem, you have the state majority problem, which is the fact that an individual's vote is swallowed up by the state's popular vote, meaning that if a person hypothetically voted republican in a democrat-ridden state, that person's vote would be rendered meaningless.  I may or may not be speaking from personal experience. 

I understand the reason the electoral college exists.  It's basically so that a candidate can't win an election by only campaigning in big cities and thereby neglecting the rural areas.  But just because I somewhat understand doesn't mean I have to agree with it or be happy with it.  I still think it's stupid. 

And my final (for now) argument against politics is that it's driven by rich people.  You don't become a politician unless you have a bunch of money you can use for campaigning purposes.  And yes, politicians raise money for campaigning.  But they have a lot to begin with.  So in other words, if you have a lot of money, you might want to consider politics as a profession.  You'll be among friends.  Just look at the mayor of New York City, Mike Bloomberg.  I know nothing about this guy or his politics, except that he's so rich, he does his job for no pay.  I think that's kind of cool, except for the fact that it means he's doing the job basically for fun.  And the problem with having lots of money is that you tend to own things.  He owns his own media outlet.  The combination of politics and media is never good. #politics
Middle East Sep 1, 2005
Uh oh!  Time for my uninformed, rascist tirade about how to fix the world!  Sometimes I watch TV to learn what's going on in the world.  That's probably a bad idea.  Whenever there's any news about anything in the Middle East, I see one thing in common, and I have a recommendation:  remove all rocks.  It seems like that's the Middle Easterner's solution to every problem:  throw rocks.  "You invade my country?  I throw rocks.  You bulldoze my house?  I throw rocks.  My wife gave birth?  I throw rocks."  And I hate to be the jerk in the group, but I have a little bit of information for people who throw rocks.  You will not defeat a heavily armored, 50 ton tank by throwing rocks.  You won't defeat a heavily armed, brutally trained army by throwing rocks.  Rocks are pretty much useless.  Unless somebody gets hit in the head.  That really hurts.  But it doesn't change too much in terms of foreign policy. 

So instead of rocks, pick up some guns and shoot 'em up in the air!  Do it in celebration, in anger, or really for any reason you want.  And here's my reasoning:  what goes up must come down.  If enough people shoot into the air, it can really cause some damage (unless you're smart and know about physics and know that a bullet can't gain enough speed when falling from the sky to do any large amount of damage because it's slowed down by air/wind resistance).  Assuming physics isn't true, we can hope that all the bullets fired into the air in Iraq will fall on Iran, the ones from Syria will fall on Lebanon, and the ones from Jordan will fall on Egypt.  Problem solved! #politics
Screwing up America Aug 26, 2005
On the news and on talk shows and on the internet and everywhere I look/listen, people hate our country and the way it's run.  And I'm not talking about people in Europe or the Middle East or Africa.  I'm talking about American people living in America.  I feel slightly different about this issue.  I'm under the impression that I'm in no place to judge how this country is run or how decisions are made.  And not because I'm just some dim-witted peon, employed by the very thing that these people ridicule.  For some reason, I think there's a whole bunch of stuff that goes on behind the scenes, and we have absolutely no knowledge of it.  So to deride the choices made by the leader of our country is kind of pointless in my opinion.  He's a figurehead.  He fumbles through speeches.  And the actions taken by our nation have almost nothing to do with him.

But anyway, back to the main point:  right-wing fanatics are funny.  So there's this guy who wrote this book about people screwing up America and here's a brief synopsis of everyone listed in the book.  People who feel incredibly strongly about something and make fun of people to get their point across are ok in my book. #politics
Fair and balanced Aug 2, 2005
If you've ever watched FOXNews, you might have noticed that the news network claims to be "Fair and Balanced".  They even registered the term as a trademark.  I've watched FOXNews before, and I need to claim this fact:  FOXNews is not fair and balanced.  They are over-the-top, hardcore, right-wing conservatives.  There's no question about it.  With people like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, you can't claim neutrality.  I've watched other news networks that conservatives label liberal.  I'm still not sure if I believe it, but I'll go with it (lemming).  So to make people happy, I think FOXNews should adopt a new motto:  "Balancing the Left by being overtly Right".  Or how about "Stickin' it to the Left, one loud-mouthed talkshow host at a time" or maybe "We actually support George W. Bush"?  To be honest, I hardly ever watch the news.  I can't stand it.  Every couple of weeks, there's a big story that everyone talks about all the time.  It's like there's no other news on the planet except the lady that's on life support in Florida or the girl who got kidnapped in Aruba.  Sure, these things are important, but I reach a saturation point pretty quickly.  So I'm not really in a position to judge news networks.  Whenever I watch CNN, I don't feel like they're completely un-American.  And when I watch FOXNews, I don't hear too much conservative news.  But maybe that's because I don't watch the dumb talkshow hosts.  I watch the news, like Headline News or some other quick little blurb that sums up every major event on our planet in 90 seconds or less.  That's about how long my attention span will last when listening to things that have absolutely nothing to do with me.  So in conclusion, FOXNews is neither fair nor balanced, CNN is a herd of America-haters, and go Eagles! #politics
Army Jun 23, 2005
Sometimes, when I think back to how I got to where I am right now at work, I wonder if I could've made some different choices.  When I interviewed for my current job, I interviewed for 5 different positions in 5 different organizations.  I remember my second choice (I think), which had something to do with management.  I remember that my interviewer persuaded me because he said it would be a good career move and I could move up quickly.  I'm glad I didn't go with that.  Management is retarded.  A few of the other positions had something to do with manufacturing and quality, which I really didn't want to get in to.  So I chose optics because I had some [some is an exaggeration] experience from my work at Thorlabs.  But when I think about it, I'm glad I am where I am.  I would say I support the war, but I'm not too fond of killing.  The organization I work for designs optics, which make guns more accurate.  This makes it so that a gun will hit its target, and it won't hit anything else.  This cuts down on accidental casualties and stuff like that.  Plus, we design optics that protect our soldiers from eye damage, thus reducing our own army's casualties.  In a way, this is me trying to justify working for the army.  But in another way, it's the truth.  Yes I work for the army, that big killing and fighting machine.  But I work to try to make things more accurate and safe.  Eh? #politics