LJ by JL
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
jtleathers' LiveJournal:
[ << Previous 20 ]
| Thursday, April 16th, 2009 | | 5:21 pm |
The Bees have returned
We have a honeybee hive up in a tree in our front yard and they were in a huge swarm right outside the front door today. That birdhouse in the tree is where they make their home. | | Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 | | 7:08 pm |
Please don't get your morality from Catholicism...
Pope's condom stance sparks rowI like any country with a Minister who says: "The Pope is making matters worse." I dislike any person who says the solution to AIDS lay in a: "spiritual and human awakening" and "friendship for those who suffer." Why the Catholic Church is immoral and can be accused of supporting genocide: Rebecca Hodes, of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa, said the Pope's "opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans". | | Friday, March 13th, 2009 | | 7:57 pm |
I want this guy's job...
He usually arrives to deliver bad news to some of the most important people in the White House. While his official title is special counsel for ethics and government reform, Eisen is also known among colleagues by his nicknames: "Mr. No" and "The Fun Sponge." (White House Ethics? 'Mr. No' Knows)
He's a nerdy bureaucrat who knows all of the rules that no one else bothers to learn and then tells people that they can't do things when they constantly contact him. | | Friday, February 13th, 2009 | | 2:48 pm |
| | Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 | | 6:07 pm |
I saw this on http://www.thedailybeast.com/... And, at Pam's House Blend, Autumn Sandeen notes the passage of Proposition 2, which prohibits the inhumane confinement of farm animals. She writes, "If one evaluates by the votes cast and the percentages of the votes cast, the rights of farm animals appear to be more important to Californians than the rights of gay and lesbian human beings." | | Monday, October 20th, 2008 | | 3:30 am |
I'm deeply humbled...
From this BBC article: Addressing a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Mr Obama said he was "deeply humbled" by Mr Powell's support.
Really? You're "deeply humbled" by the support of someone who used scare tactics to gain support for a war he didn't support and knew was a bad idea? Although you may find other deeply humbling individuals supporting you, can you please limit your cabinet to individuals who actually stand up for what they believe in? I mean, I know you're a Democrat, but I'm sure you could find one or two people. Random thought: I wonder if Bush gave Colin Powell his balls back after Powell resigned as Secretary of State. Seriously though, all of the Bush administration people that came out against the Bush administration after they left their jobs in the administration can go fuck themselves. Someone should have gone on Meet the Press and spilled their guts to the world while still employed. Monday morning in the White House would have been amusing. Getting fired by the President for publicly opposing his policies would be the coolest reason ever to get fired. Professionalism is overrated, principles aren't. | | Saturday, September 13th, 2008 | | 11:46 pm |
| | Saturday, August 30th, 2008 | | 5:39 pm |
"They bicker a lot"
I was watching Nader on "Democray Now" and Amy Goodman asked him why he didn't pursue the Green Party nomination this year. His response was: "Because they're just too disorganized. They can't put it together. They bicker a lot and they drive out a lot of good Greens who want to focus on agendas. I wish them well, I wish Cynthia McKinney well." The part about bickering is so true. Anyone who has witnessed the California Green Party in action can back me up on that. Also, slightly related to this... it seems the Green Party will be on less state ballots than the Libertarian Party, the Constitution Party and the Nader/Gonzalez ticket. And I found it funny when I learned that Nader's campaign actually formed their own political party here in Oregon to get on the presidential ballot. | | Monday, August 18th, 2008 | | 5:05 pm |
Washington state voters are stupid
In 2004, 60% of voters in Washington voted in favor of changing their primary system to a blanket primary system. The same year in California, a similar proposition failed 54% to 46% and, if memory serves me, was opposed by every political party in California.
In a blanket primary system, every candidate from every party is a listed on the same ballot for a particular office. So regardless of one's party affiliation, everyone recieves the same ballot and the voter can vote for any candidate from any party. If no candidate recieves a majority of the votes for that office, then the top two vote-getters face off in the general election. It's roughly comparable to a run-off election.
| | Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 | | 11:44 am |
This article reminded me of when the ASUCD Senate wrote a bill to ban Ari from bringing his laptop to Senate meetings: Bhutan MPs in computer game ban. Two important legislative bodies dealing with important issues. | | Sunday, March 16th, 2008 | | 11:51 pm |
| | Friday, February 22nd, 2008 | | 9:32 pm |
ASUCD "Election"
I was talking to the current (and soon-to-be former) Elections Committee Chair and was reminded that they just had an election. Well, in as much as the Soviet Union had elections. Essentially LEAD ran unopposed for President, Vice President and the Senate. Nine people ran for Senate for six seats, 5 were won by LEAD and 1 by the opposition party of two people. Apparently the Aggie didn't even cover the election or run profiles on the candidates... I found that amusing. It looks like Student Focus/GO has finally gone. That was a long time coming... now everyone can wait for LEAD to split. Either that or watch as LEAD really does become the Communist Party of ASUCD and just turn it into a one-party government with a bunch of [not-so] secret factions. I do like the idea of a future Elections Committee trying to figure out how to increase voter turnout in uncontested elections. Now all those people that say ASUCD elections don't matter will be even more correct than they have been in the past. http://daviswiki.org/Winter_2008_ASUCD_Electionhttps://elections.ucdavis.edu/ | | Thursday, September 20th, 2007 | | 9:10 pm |
Job Interview...
So I have a job interview at 9am on Friday (about 12 hours from now). I think I'm as nervous about the interview being totally awkward and stale as I am about actually getting the job. Although I don't think it's even possible to be worse than some Elections Committee interviews I've seen....even if I tried. Hopefully I get this job because nothing else I've found I have any desire to do. Having money would be nice too. Also, aside from thinking about ASUCD interviews I was also reminded of a scene from The Office... David: So, let me ask you a question right off the bat. What do you think your greatest strengths as a manager are? Michael: Why don't I tell you what my greatest weaknesses are? I work too hard, I care too much, and sometimes I can be too invested in my job. David: OK. And your strengths? Michael: Well my weaknesses are actually strengths. David: Oh, yes.Very good. Michael: Thank you. | | Monday, July 30th, 2007 | | 7:45 pm |
A Table...
Lindsey, her family and I made this table when they were visiting us in Portland. (Oh yeah, Lindsey and I moved to Portland since the last time I posted.) It's a wooden table from the 1950s that we got at a thrift store in Davis a few years ago. We painted it white to cover up the nasty, old wood. Then we did the mosaic part. It turned out pretty good. Here are some other pictures we took of it. | | Thursday, May 17th, 2007 | | 1:53 pm |
Howard Dean is an idiot...
"Al Gore has done probably more than any single individual in the world's history to bring us up-to-date on the environment. Nobody even thought about global warming, let alone the Republicans, until Al Gore did his movie-thing..." - Howard Dean, The Colbert Report 5/16/07 Is there anything even remotely true about that statement? In addition to all of that not being true, making a movie about global warming doesn't make up for years as a bad Senator, a bad Vice-President and a bad Presidential candidate. | | Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 | | 2:56 pm |
The California Aggie is always good for a laugh
Some folks blocked the Russell-Anderson intersection in a protest yesterday and here's one person's response: "They have the right to peacefully protest but not when it infringes on people's rights to get to class on time." I think I missed the "right to get to class on time" in the Constitution. Perhaps it's somewhere towards the back. In another article about DCR's Illegal Immigration Capture the Flag game, the article quoted a DCR press release: "A crowd of angry protesters from extremist groups, such as La Raza and MEChA, gathered around the demonstrating College Republicans in an attempt to silence their message." DCR calling other groups extremist is classic. Because there's nothing extreme about mocking people who risk their lives to escape poverty. It's no wonder that numerous Republicans on campus dislike DCR and won't be associated with them. | | Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 | | 7:00 pm |
Satan behind illegal immigration!
This is great: http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_5756635. "In order for Satan to establish his 'New World Order' and destroy the freedom of all people as predicted in the Scriptures, he must first destroy the U.S. The mostly quiet and unspectacular invasion of illegal immigrants does not focus the attention of the nations the way open warfare does, but is all the more insidious for its stealth and innocuousness." | | Thursday, March 29th, 2007 | | 5:49 pm |
Science and Religion
The NPR show, Fresh Air, had Richard Dawkins on one day and Francis Collins on the next day. Both interviews are on the website and interesting: http://www.freshair.com/. Both men discuss the issues of science and religion. I started listening to the interview with Collins and found most of what he said very unconvincing. I assume he's much better at science than religion. Below are a few things that intrigued me: | | Monday, March 19th, 2007 | | 9:43 pm |
Religion, Sex and Farming
I'm writing my final paper for my class on Islam and I came across this quote from the Qur'an: "Your wives are your arable land, which you may plow when and how you please" (2:223). This reminded me of the Spinal Tap song "Sex Farm." It especially reminded me of the line "Plowing through your beanfield." It amuses me that God uses the same childish metaphors for sex as a fake 1980s band. The difference is that one of them is supposed to be a joke. Back to work for me. | | Monday, March 12th, 2007 | | 1:27 am |
9/11 Conspiracy Theorists....Annoy Me Greatly.
There's a guy in the Yolo Greens involved in the 9/11 conspiracy theory movement and I was reading several of his emails on the subject today. To begin with, I've yet to be presented with any real evidence to make me think that the conspiracy theorists are correct on any account. But the more I read about the subject, the more pissed off I've become towards these conspiracy theorists. For starters, (and the guy in the Yolo Greens is no exception), if you don't agree with them it's because YOU haven't looked at the facts, are naiive, or are simply against finding out the truth. This approach just makes me WANT them to be wrong.
The Media and the Conspiracy
One of the emails that I was reading referred to footage from the BBC as "the smoking gun" of the conspiracy. I watched the video footage and all that the footaged showed was that the BBC announced the collapse of the WTC building 7 about 20 minutes before it actually collapsed. An interesting fact. Considering the additional fact that no media outlet has ever incorrectly reported the news, one would obviously jump to the conclusion that a conspiracy was happening...
What the conspiracy theorists claim is that the owner of WTC 7 ordered the demolition of the building (which was planned as part of the 9/11 conspiracy) and this information was passed on to the BBC before the demolition actually took place. The BBC's response: "If we reported the building had collapsed before it had done so, it would have been an error - no more than that" (source).
One conspiracy theorist retorts that "of course they were told that WTC 7 was coming down just like the firefighters, police, first responders and CNN were told it was coming down" (source). If you follow the "CNN" link, it will take you to a YouTube video where CNN describes how WTC 7 is "on fire and has either collapsed or is collapsing." While the conspiracy theorists use this to argue that CNN also knew about the planned collapse, I see it as evidence for the lack of information and guesswork going on within the media. The fact that you can see WTC 7 standing while the BBC announces that it has collapsed, further emphasizes the lack of information within the media.
To me, it seems very likely that everyone was passing along information to everyone else and the media was trying to get all the information they could, with far-less fact checking going on than normal. Additionally, the fire and structrual damage apparent in WTC 7 could easily lead one to believe that the building could collapse.
Therefore, I would like to establish my own conspiracy theory in regards to WTC 7. I call it the rumor conspiracy. It goes like this: news of the possible collapse of WTC 7 spread around and someone missed the "possible" aspect. Eventually, the BBC gets this version of the story and reports it. I know it's far-fetched, but if you don't believe me it's because you're a naiive moron who hasn't looked at the facts!
I don't actually know why the BBC reported that WTC 7 collapsed before it collapsed. But until someone can give actual evidence that the BBC knew it was going to collapse, I think I'll stick with the obvious conclusion: they reported bad information. The fact that they ended up being correct 20 minutes later is a not-so-coincidental coincidence because the building was on fire and suffered structural damage so people thought it might collapse.
Ground Zero "Sources"
Related to this, I've also read a few things claiming that people around WTC 7 were told that the building was going to be "pulled" and that they heard explosions before the building collapsed. My favorite part about these claims is their choice of "sources." For instance, this article is the best example of the 9/11 "Truth" Movement ever.
The first sentence of the article: "A New Jersey EMT has gone public on how emergency workers were told that Building 7 was going to be "pulled," before a 20 second demolition countdown broadcast over radio preceded its collapse."
The third sentence of the article: "In a letter to Loose Change producer Dylan Avery, the individual who wishes to remain anonymous refering to himself only as Mike, 30, NJ, describes how he has repeatedly tried to alert numerous authorities to what he saw on 9/11 but was ignored or told to "shut up" on every occasion, and ultimately fired for disorderly conduct."
I encourage you to follow the link to the actual letter and look at how the author sounds less like a source from ground zero and more like a 9/11 conspiracy theorist ideologue. You may also notice that there are constant references to "we" wherein this individual is obviously ascribing words to others because they won't come forward themselves.
This makes me want to write my own letter and come forward as someone at ground zero who agrees with all of the 9/11 conspiracy theorist's claims. I wonder if I can get my anonymous letter posted all over the internet like this guy has managed to do.
Conclusion
I'm sure there are numerous other grievances I could list, but I think I've ranted enough for now. I should really stop reading these conspiracy theories. I don't think I gain anything from it....other than annoyance. |
[ << Previous 20 ]
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
jtleathers's journal
