I call Somewhere in Between!

Liberty Council is praying for liberals! Lucky them!

Let's all do drugs!

This article links higher prescription rates for psychiatric drugs (especially antidepressants and stimulants used for ADHD) with lower crime rates.

Butter is good on everything!

More evidence.

New Life Game Plan

I have decided that attempting to be a "productive and contributing member of society" is vastly overrated. Thus, my new life game plan is to amass great wealth and with it do the following (it actually sort of resembles the ultimate retirement, but...can I just fastforward to that?):

(1) Travel (I could do some volunteer work and what not, but that'd be a fringe benefit)

(2) Photography (during the aforementioned travels)

(3) Buy/own and read every book I have ever wanted to read and build a gigantic library. The kind with floor to ceiling books and the ladders on wheels (you saw Beauty and the Beast, you know what I'm talking about).

This all stemmed from my frustration with lack of time (well, really energy) to read for pleasure. After reading all day for school and attempting to stay current on local/state/national/global news, my brain just cannot function well enough to pick up a book for leisure at 10 or 11 p.m. And I have what is getting to be an absurd queue of purchased, unread books. :(

Except, of course, I would be miserable if I weren't working toward...something. And even through traveling, I would find problems I would want to work to fix. I wish you could work 10 months a year and take two off to do whatever you wanted, guilt-free. Hmm. Teaching?

UR 21st International Film Series

http://library.richmond.edu/mrc/international-film-series.html

Losing Love for Israel...

http://www.forward.com/articles/114180/

I thought this was an interesting read, particularly considering the author.

In regards to the gays...

WITH the latest hullaballoo regarding our beloved gays being able to get married, I offer these following points:

1. I love the gays. Despite the divas, my gay friends are the most loyal, kindest, friends I could hope for. Besides which, I will fully admit that although I am an exceedingly snappy dresser, I could never pull off a lavender leather vest. Fashionista, I am not.

2. I envy the gays. There are days that I truly wish that I could pull off a paisley shirt, but alas, I lack the requisite fabulousness to do so. And lest I forget my favorite lesbians (of which I had two roommates in college), I really want to be better at golf and softball. Forget better at softball – I want to be cognizant of the very basic mechanics of the game.

3. I am a dyed in the wool, card carrying commie, pinko, hippie, left-wing nut-job when it comes to the gays. Referring back to my first point – I love them. But the fact remains, if you hate them – that’s your business. There were loads of people who knew that the earth was not only flat, but the center of the Universe. I hate the peasants – especially Peasants 1-3 – but this does not mean that I do not wish them the ability to proceed as I have been given the right to do. If you hate the gays, that probably means I hate you too, but I am not going to stop you from getting married, adopting a child, etc. I was watching The Birdcage earlier, and there was a line that struck me. When Val was explaining to Armand, his father, that he was getting married and that Armand was an incredible role-model, Val stated that “I was one of my only fraternity brothers to not come from a broken home.” Love it.

4. I firmly believe that homosexuality is 99% of the time genetic. (That 1% is just for the kids trying to piss off Daddy.) Years ago, as the earth was flat, so too were the African Americans less capable. And to that end, just like there were “white’s only” signs in the 1950’s, I truly hope that there are no “straight’s only” signs (metaphorically so) in 2020.

5. The “dyed in the wool, card carrying commie, pinko, hippie, left-wing nut-job” applies only to the gays. Love them. Hate poor people. Don’t even get me started.

Why I'll Never Be Hired As A Minute (Wo)Man

This op-ed by E.J. Dionne makes a good point. Why was the most offensive part of Obama's health care speech the part related to illegal immigrants' possibly benefiting from whatever program is put in place? This view sums up my view of immigration issues in general. Yes, illegal immigration creates serious problems, but surely the best way to address those problems is by having some sort of (dare I say it?) empathy for people who often risk their lives to come here. I might even suggest that immigrants have a better understanding of the American Dream than most of us do, so why don't we want to alleviate problems in the most feasibly compassionate way?

Regulation = Lower Hospital Costs?

The WSJ reports on Maryland's health care cost plan.

Pay your taxes people!

We were assigned this video to watch as part of our tax policy class, and it is disturbing. It follows the economic history of the United States, with a focus on deficits, and it makes me want to forgo deductions and pay every cent of tax I owe.

It's 30 minutes long, but it's well worth it. Also, I bet you wish you were in tax policy now.

Nancy Pelosi gives the motherly guilt look.....

That glance is terrifying.

Where are the crazy police?

From the people who brought you mortgage-backed securities, I give you: life insurance-backed securities!

Some quotes after the President's Speech on Education

"The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students. And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.'"

Another member of Congress, said the speech showed "the arrogance of power," and that the White House should not be "using precious dollars for campaigns" when "we are struggling for every silly dime we can get" for education.

These quotes are clearly just ridiculous, right? Well, they accompanied not Obama's speech two days ago, but George H.W. Bush's address in 1991, which was REMARKABLY similar to Obama's speech.

A quote from his speech, which granted was less eloquent and delivered with less style: "If you don't work hard, who gets hurt? If you cheat, who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A, who comes up short? Easy answer to that one: You do. You're in control, but you are not alone. People want you to succeed. They want to help you succeed."

I was one of the first to criticize the Crazy Right for getting their hackles up. It's not so easy as saying by forgetting history, you condemn yourselves to make the same mistakes. The fact of the matter is that half of the country are smelly hippie liberals, and the other half are elitist preppy right-wingers or bible-toters. We'll never all agree, but as Rahm Emmanuel said in response to the outrageous outburst last night by Rep. Wilson, "We can disagree without being disagreeable."

I don't foresee a bi-partisan game of hacky-sack in the near future, but a modicum of civility and a common shouldn't be too much to ask for.

Oh, and for a link to Bush's speech, and for the PolitiFact article.

Space Porn!

I am naming my next band: "Galactic Wreckage in Stephan's Quintet" (see slide 5). I just can't get enough Hubble!

Bill Clinton Esquire Interview

http://www.esquire.com/print-this/bill-clinton-interview-1009-2

If this is socialism/fascism/Marxism

Sign me up.  Some good, wholesome indoctrination:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

Arson and the Death Penalty

A friend sent me this article from the New Yorker. It follows the case of Todd Willingham, who was put to death in Texas, and there is now some suggestion that he could have been an innocent man. Take what you wish from that portion of the article. The reason I post it here is that I find the facts interesting due to my intimate knowledge of what makes arson. Thank you Law Skills III. I think that based on this article, the Flinders v. Mismo materials may need to be updated.

I come from a state of sinners

http://www.wired.com/culture/education/magazine/17-09/st_sinmaps

According to this, anyway...

Did you know your undergraduate institution is out of your league?

The Princeton Review offers you Counselor-o-Matic, a quiz you can take that will tell you what colleges are a good match for you. It turns out that Davidson is a bit of a reach school for me, as are Wake Forest, William and Mary, UVA, and UNC, all of which I got into (with the exception of Wake, to which I did not apply). Of the reach schools, the best fit for me is Bucknell, followed by Barnard and Colby.

It appears that my best match overall would be Spellman, which I believe is a predominantly African-American, all-female school. I have to question the logic there. Following Spellman, my best matches are Washington & Jefferson, Denison, Occidental, Berea, Dickinson, and Furman.

If Ron Jeremy was a civil engineer...

We'd all have naked streets. London is trying it (pushed by those stuffy Tories, interesting, who are taking up such socialist causes of environmentalism lately), and I'm wondering if we'd have the same results in the land of NASCAR as they do in the land of porn and pot.

Swine Flu

Sitting this morning amongst fellow International Business Transactioners, I have come to the conclusion that it would be mega-bad-ass to get the swine flu. This idea did not come lightly, but seeing as this is the 94th minute talking about the gloriousness of letters of credit between a New York toy company, Santa Claus, and a bunch of smelly herring-laden Greek fishermen, I think that it is simply a better solution than hara-kiri, though the thought of ritual disembowelment has flitted amongst my thoughts as we speak of loading a laden container with a bill of lading to go to the aforementioned smelly abalone farmers. I wonder if, in a couple of years, we will come upon the herring flu? If so, the Greeks are screwed.