LowerCaseRepublican

Currently reading The Dharma Bums Up next is "Doors of Perception", "Brave New World", Shame of the Nation", "On the Road" and "Amusing Ourselves to Death"

Ignore the 2004 part and it seems to be a pretty accurate description.

A pretty sane argument from fark.com: Judging from exit polls, it appears Hamas has won a significant percentage of the vote in Wednesday's Palestinian legislative elections. While it's unclear what this will mean for Palestinians or Israelis, here are a few preliminary observations (based on the hopeful assumption that the PA will not slide into autocracy or total chaos): --It would be a mistake to assume everyone who voted for Hamas was voting primarily for the destruction of Israel. Palestinians have much more immediate concerns-- corruption in the Palestinian Authority, failure of the PA to provide basic services and security, massive unemployment, etc. When voters are unhappy with the status quo, they tend to vote for the outsiders who promise reform. And Hamas wisely emphasized reform more than it did elimination of the Zionist entity. --The outcome of the election is a reminder of Senator John McCain's point: if we in the West truly believe in electoral democracy, we have to accept that sometimes elections will produce governments we don't particularly like. --If Hamas does become part of the PA government, it will no longer have the luxury of being an outside critic. It will have to show it can help make real and positive changes in people's lives. Otherwise it will then become one of the rascals to be thrown out in the next election. --I have no doubt Hamas leaders still believe every word they've said about throwing the Jews out of the whole of Palestine. But I think Israel needs to pay attention to deeds as well words, and not necessarily to assume the worst. It would be a mistake to refuse to deal with the PA on any matter simply because of Hamas's presence in the government. The question is: what happens now? If there is a sharp increase in attacks against Israelis, Israel will know how to respond. If there is a decrease or end of attacks, that's to be welcomed, and Israel should also respond in kind. If the status quo more or less continues, that will hardly be the sort of progress Palestinians are hoping for-- and presumably Hamas will have to pay a political price for that. -- They could learn a thing or two from Sinn Fein -- that political power could give them a voice that they only previously had through accessorizing with dynamite. Like Sinn Fein, they may try both for a while but, as Sinn Fein did, they'll find political power/voice that way is more effective.

I see an easy solution. 1. Tell your wife to have a steaming cup of STFU. She should be happily smiling at family outings etc. that her husband can do grade school homework well. For her to lie that her daughter is actually earning those grades makes her an immoral 2. Tell your daughter that it is too damn bad that her social life is suffering because she can't/won't do her schoolwork. Boo f***ing hoo. Cry me a goddamn river. Look into other options like a tutoring program at the school or outside of school or put her in special ed programs and get her an IEP. I'd call you a retarded parent but I don't want to offend the mentally challenged.

1. Heads, indeed that photo is f***ing hilarious. 2. f*** the Spartacus League. They're a bunch of morons. (and I say that through owning them in a personal debate when they appeared on the UIUC campus) 3. f*** the Black Bloc. A group of wannabe hardcore holier than thou "activists" wanting more to have an excuse for vandalism than actually doing anything productive. I'd call them retarded but don't want to offend the mentally challenged. However, I don't agree with the point that the marchers were making (the pro-lifers that is) Merely banning abortion and overturning Roe v Wade will not do anything to end abortion as a practice. It will merely make it more dangerous. It is a dangerous precedent to set up laws based on the preference of a certain group of people based off of a certain religiously inspired way of thinking. I'm of the mind that abortion should be legal, safe and rare. When we live in a society that represses legitimate discourse of sexuality (i.e. abstinence only in schools, many parents not knowing how to talk to their kids about it, many parents simply unwilling to talk about it with their kids, etc.) and then wonders why we have so many abortions. Add in the lengthy discourse about problems with racial bias in the drug war, poverty, redlining etc. and it is no wonder why we've got a problem of people unable to take care of these kids. I'm not saying all pro-lifers, but there are some (I'm really thinking hardline party Republicans here in the vein of Bush etc.) that really want these fetuses born. However, then they cut the funds for food stamps, welfare, job assistance programs, etc. Until America is ready to have a legitimate discussion like adults about the issue -- by tying up all the zealots and gagging them in the back in order to let rational people discuss the issue, then it is no wonder we've got lots of societal problems. PS: They were marching near the Wharf (which is near my brother's place when he is not at work in Michigan...I've walked around where they were marching) /back to my regularly scheduled unit planning about the Industrial Revolution for 7th graders

I wish I had the ability to slack off. My last semester is 14 weeks of student teaching. 7 weeks in Rantoul teaching 7th grade social studies and then 7 weeks teaching World History/AP US History to juniors and seniors in high school in Mahomet. So, I get to lesson plan, grade, create worksheets/assignments/tests/study guides, proctor classes, go to team/administration meetings, make copies, make overheads, break up arguments/fights, stop kids from misbehaving (which is very fun -- I had to lay down the law with this kid the very first day, so now a lot of the students think I'm a hardass), give detentions & then watch over said detentions, etc. etc. And oh yeah, I'm paying to do this. But all senioritis sour grapes aside, I really do love it. I start teaching next week with the Industrial Revolution. It should be pretty fun. I'm going to have them weigh the massive benefits of the IR against the problems it caused then tie it to current times with the benefits of outsourcing labor against the problems it causes. (I'm even thinking of using a clip of 'South Park' being the "They Took Our Jobs!" thing) I'm not going to try to sway them either way but rather just grade on their ability to justify and back up their position that they take on a lot of the homework & part of the test. Plus, you get to engage all the facts/factoids that you encounter so they'll have to know the basics before they can argue. It isn't about teaching them what to think but rather HOW to think (in process of making a logical decision) It should be a lot of fun. The first 7 weeks class only goes til the Civil War and we're already in the early 1800s in the end of January so we've got time to kill, hahaha. Then I get to teach high schoolers from the Russian Revolution on in World History from mid-March to May.

Well now there's nobody to stop Keitel from pointing a gun at his dad. /RD fan

Exactly Balta, IIRC -- those funds include heating the school in the winter, busing costs, reduced lunch costs, etc. These things may not be directly part of "instruction" but I would easily argue that getting the kid's ass in the seat and keeping the school warm in the winter, having reduced lunch for the needy kids, etc. is definitely a benefit to the instruction process. And oh yeah, Jonathan Kozol would whip Stossel's monkey ass in a debate about education. I take Kozol's ideas for reform a lot more seriously than I do Stossel's (just because Kozol was a teacher and has spent the last 20+ years investigating the status of the national school system)

Pro-life til they're out of the womb. Then it is okay to support quasi-apartheid schooling, capital punishment, send them off to die in a war, etc. He sure believes in sanctity of life.

http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4394502&nav=2HAB WASHINGTON Halliburton employees say they told the defense contractor that contaminated water was being used by U-S troops and civilians at a U-S military base in Iraq. But the employees say they couldn't get Halliburton to inform camp residents of the problem. The contaminated water came to light in internal company documents The Associated Press obtained from Senate Democrats who are holding a public inquiry tomorrow. One of the memos was written by the official for Halliburton's K-B-R subsidiary, which was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait. He writes -- quote -- "we exposed a base camp population to a water source that was not treated." Bottled water was used for drinking, but a water expert says the tainted water was used for everything else, including making coffee. Someone who worked at the base in Ramadi says he was among many people who got sick. A Halliburton spokeswoman says the company did not find any contaminated water nor medical evidence of illnesses. -- Gee, a Halliburton PR person saying they didn't find any contaminated water...yet their employees and documents say they did.

Congrats! Nice job...and oh yeah, those candle pictures look like a black mass But seriously, congrats and hopefully many happy days ahead.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jan 19, 2006 -> 08:51 AM) "Oh no! The dead have risen and are voting republican!" I'm gonna be disappointed if no one recognizes this. Simpsons -- Sideshow Bob mayoral election right? Your guilty conscience may move you to vote Democratic, but deep down you long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king. That's why I did this, to save you from yourselves. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a city to run.

Sure, get a leftist liberal to be the mod! Liberal bias!

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Jan 18, 2006 -> 12:23 PM) If the MSM has their way your are correct. Both parties have low approval ratings so your smack at the so-called leftist media is prety hollow.

Holy Hell! Today in my education class, we were having a discussion of teaching issues based education for geography etc. One of the obvious topics is war. So we were using this model to go about defining what a war is and then using a scenario to do value analysis/critical thinking. The scenario was that a group of US soldiers had killed four enemies and wounded one. They were bringing back the wounded as a prisoner but then they found out that it was slowing them down. Uncertain intelligence told the US soldiers that there was a large opposing force coming and they had to get back to the base. So the moral dilemma was "Do you shoot the wounded soldier so you can move faster and get to the base before the opposing force comes?" After a bit of debate, this one girl in my class says "I don't get the point about taking prisoners for any reason. Can't we just execute them all?" She then discussed how if she was in the Army, that her goal would be to protect her soldiers and she would kill anybody who got in her way -- even women and children. She wanted to know why this was not policy now. I got in a little trouble for saying "We sure can, Adolf."

After miraculously surviving a would-be fatal car crash, your life support system is unplugged by the hospital maid, because she needs an outlet in which to plug her vacuum. Yeah that sounds about right for me.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 05:00 PM) If you dont vote then you automatically forfeit your right to dissent in my book. If you cant be bothered with taking the time out to choose whos calling the shots for you then you need to just shut your piehole and deal with what the result is. This tee shirt says it all. I kinda stand with the stance of Stan in South Park on why people fail to vote. If all you have to choose from is a giant douche and a turd sandwich then what's the point? That very well may be why so many people don't vote.

QUOTE(Soxy @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 12:23 PM) I think it's funny--hey immigrants: learn english! Then it's: Haha, look at how the immigrants speak english. Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

QUOTE(SnB @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 12:33 PM) i just dropped $600+ on books this semester. I am now, for the first time in my life, literally broke. Haha, I have to buy 0 books for classes this semester. Viva student teaching! On second thought I'd almost rather drop $600 on books and not have to wake up before dawn 5 days a week.

Yep. Just hooked up to my DVD player though. Came in quite handy during my two cinema studies classes and I had to watch a ton of movies.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jan 15, 2006 -> 10:56 PM) Aside from the slave quote whats the big deal? If its ok for comedians like Dave Chappelle and that Mind of Mencia guy to do racial satire then why cant anyone else? Except for his slave comment and others, he's attempting to be "scholarly" and not satirical. Therein lies the difference.

Mifune Toshiro could take out anybody on the damn list.

Flaxx, Evil, etc. Not really a commentary about the Alito hearing but just wanting to make the statement that Dinesh D'Souza is a douchbag. David Brock worked with him at Dartmouth and they routinely infiltrated organizations (IIRC, gay/lesbian rights groups...It has been a while since I read Brock's book) and then outed them in their paper. Not to mention -- As writer and editor-in-chief for Prospect, the organization's magazine, D'Souza wrote a March 1984 cover story identifying a Freshman undergraduate who had begun a sexual relationship with another student against her mother's wishes. D'Souza offered details of the woman's sex life, and criticized Princeton University for paying the student's tuition fees after the student's mother withdrew financial support. The ensuing scandal was reported in The New York Times. D'Souza claimed that the woman's name had been published as the result of a "proofreading error". Proofreading error, my ass. And with YAS and the mod's current anger re: the Chavez thread stuff, I figured people should know this about Mr. D'Souza: Under D'Souza's editorship, the Dartmouth Review became notorious both for its attacks on alleged liberal bias at the university and for its provocative articles on racial topics. It published a parody titled "Dis Sho Ain't No Jive Bro," which mocked the way African-American students supposedly speak. ("Dese boys be sayin' that we be comin' here to Dartmut an' not takin' the classics. You know, Homa, Shakesphere; but I hea' dey all be co'd in da ground, six feet unda, and whatchu be askin' us to learn from dem?") Also during his tenure as editor, according to a September 22, 1995, article in The Washington Post, the Review "published an interview with a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, using a mock photograph of a black man hanging from a campus tree." And my personal favorite quote at how much of a jagbag he is: "The American slave was treated like property, which is to say, pretty well." Dinesh D'Souza is a f***ing asshole. /back to regularly scheduled Alito discussion

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profi...ticle338625.ece More worrying for some is that Ahmadinejad is closely identified with the cult of the "hidden imam", the 12th and last of the line of imams revered by Shia Muslims. In a clear parallel with Jewish and Christian visions of Armageddon, Shias believe the imam zaman will return at a time of great turmoil to defeat the forces of evil; recently the president urged Iranians to work hard for this moment. As one commentator pointed out, this was like Tony Blair telling Britons to prepare for the Second Coming. The most extreme zealots, a group called the Hojjatieh, say total chaos should be created to hasten the coming of the Mahdi, and there have been claims that Ahmadinejad, if not a member, sympathises with them. This explains his reckless attitude, say his critics. If the final triumph of Islam can be brought closer by provoking a nuclear war with Israel or America, why hold back? It might be possible to dismiss this as scaremongering if it were not for a DVD circulating in Iran which shows the president in conversation with a conservative ayatollah. Ahmadinejad is speaking about his defiant address to the UN General Assembly last autumn, in which he refused to back down on Iran's nuclear programme. "One of our group told me that when I started to say 'Bismillah Muhammad', he saw a green light come from around me, and I was placed inside this aura," he says. "I felt it myself. I felt the atmosphere change, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, all the leaders of the world did not blink. When I say they didn't move an eyelid, I'm not exaggerating. They were looking as if a hand was holding them there." -- Man, yet another reason that I love unflinching belief in any religion without critical thought processes involved. /soaked in green Perhaps it is just me but many of the major pundit spokespeople for religions (Robertson, Lindsay, this Iranian schmuck, etc.) that say they are based on the sanctity of life really have a fixation with mass death.

http://conannews.ytmnd.com/ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060114/ap_on_...DRpBHNlYwM3NTc- Finland's president finds her traditional support among women and the Social Democratic Party base, but lately to the surprise of many Finns — and her opponents in Sunday's election — she has gotten an endorsement of a different sort. The redheaded late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien has been promoting President Tarja Halonen's re-election bid as part of a long-running joke about their supposed physical similarities. "Why do I support Tarja Halonen? Because she's got the total package: a dynamic personality, a quick mind, and most importantly — my good looks," the comedian, whose show is broadcast on cable in Finland, said in a statement to The Associated Press.