Hello all. Thought I would give a bit of an update.

I finally applied to the internship I wanted for the fall. I think I am qualified, it is just a matter of if they filled it already yet. It was posted for a long time and it is with a good organization and they claim it is really competitive so they won't call back unless they want you. We'll see what happens. Keep your fingers crossed.

Chris and I had some great steaks from the grill today - though it was raining while we were grilling with charcoal. They marinated all day in A1 marinade, and thanks to the potato flakes we got from jess, it was a good all american meal.

I was this close to meeting the president's dog the other day. It allstarted with the fact that people in my office are obsessed with his website www.barney.gov and his photo of the day. As such, one of the people in my office sent an email via the online form to the White House webmaster saying that there are some OMB workers that are big fans of barney and wondered if there was a way we could meet him. The webmaster wrote back (if you look at whitehouse interactive www.whitehouse.gov/interactive he is the guy with the open mouthed picture that answers the questions) and said they sould have a Barney visits the OMB day. Then the other day he said lets do it today, but because the director's schedule and barney's didn't match up, they had to postphone it. Hopefully it will happen next week so I can meet him. It would be cool in a nerdy polisci way. They actually sell Barney stuffed animals in the Whitehouse gift shop, but what I really want is the president push jack-in-the-box that plays hail to the chief. I am such a nerd.

In the effort to promote a bipartisan love of political porn, here is a little GOP action:

This I why I have absolutely NO fucking respect for Kerry:

"In Hindsight, Kerry Says He'd Still Vote for War "
(The text of the article is also below)

Kerry is such a fucking spineless jellyfish who talks out of both sides of his mouth. If you are against the war, fine. If you are for the war, that's fine too. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but fucking have one and stick with it. Don't say you have one and then the next minute criticize the position you just took. I understand, people are allowed to change their opinion on things. That does NOT make you a flip-flopper. I even can accept voting against the appropriations bill for the war cause you disagreed with that particular version. That doesn't mean you flip-flopped. It is shit like this that does. When you say you are for the war, but against everything about the war.

You are so full of shit Kerry you disgust me. You are trying to walk a tightrope so you can claim both to be pro-war and anti-war to appease his party. Get some fucking guts and take a stand no matter what it may be. Let the votes fall as they may. Politicians - like you - who change their opinions for votes disgust me. Fuck you you panderer.

For those of you who are voting for Kerry because he is the "peace" candidate, consider someone who actually took a stand against the war and stuck with it, not this sorry excuse of a candidate.

P.S.- It's okay to vote third party- they don't bite.

P.S.S- I apologize for how angry this is but it is unprincipled crap like this that really gets my goat.


In Hindsight, Kerry Says He'd Still Vote for War
Challenged by President, Democrat Spells Out Stance

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 10, 2004; Page A01


GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz., Aug. 9 -- Responding to President Bush's challenge to clarify his position, Sen. John F. Kerry said Monday that he still would have voted to authorize the war in Iraq even if he had known then that U.S. and allied forces would not find weapons of mass destruction.

At the same time, the Democratic presidential nominee said that his goal as president would be to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq during his first six months in office through diplomacy and foreign assistance.

"I believe if you do the statesmanship properly, I believe if you do the kind of alliance-building that is available to us, that it is appropriate to have a goal of reducing our troops" by August 2005, Kerry told reporters during a news briefing from the edge of the Grand Canyon.

Since last month's Democratic National Convention, the senator from Massachusetts has been under mounting pressure to provide a clearer explanation of his views on the war, including why he voted for the congressional resolution authorizing the invasion yet opposed funding for it. On Friday, Bush challenged Kerry to answer whether he would support the war "knowing what we know now" about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction that U.S. and British officials were certain were there.

In response, Kerry said: "Yes, I would have voted for the authority. I believe it was the right authority for a president to have."

But Kerry has charged that the president and his advisers badly mishandled the war, and in the news conference he posed sharp questions for Bush.

"Why did we rush to war without a plan to win the peace?" he asked. "Why did you rush to war on faulty intelligence and not do the hard work necessary to give America the truth?"

"Why did he mislead America about how he would go to war?" he added. "Why has he not brought other countries to the table in order to support American troops in the way they deserve it and relieve the pressure on the American people?"




In the past, Kerry has said he would want to talk to commanders in the field before determining troop size and never ruled out increasing U.S. forces if needed. Later, he set a goal of reducing troops by the end of his first term. In an interview last week with National Public Radio, Kerry said he could "significantly" reduce troops a year from now -- a position his aides quickly tried to soften. Stephanie Cutter, Kerry's spokeswoman, said his position has not changed.

As evidence his goal is attainable, Kerry said fellow senators who have traveled abroad told him that other countries will be willing to provide more assistance if Bush is defeated this fall. He also said Arab countries have a stake in Iraq's future and could lessen the United States' burden.

"Obviously we have to see how events unfold," Kerry said. "The measurement has to be . . . the stability of Iraq, the ability to have the elections, and the training and transformation of the Iraqi security force itself."

After the news conference, James P. Rubin, Kerry's national security adviser, said he wanted to "clarify" the candidate's comments as a best-case target for troop reduction contingent upon conditions on the ground changing and other nations offering up more peacekeeping troops in Iraq.

The candidate has made his pledge to internationalize the peacekeeping effort the central tenet of his Iraq policy.

Kerry made his comments during a campaign trek by train through several key western states -- Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.

On domestic issues, he said he would not raise the retirement age or decrease benefits for Social Security recipients, arguing that an improved economy alone can extend the life of the entitlement program. "If anything in America, we should be trying to set a goal of helping people to retire earlier, not later," he said.

Kerry's comments on Iraq overshadowed an event here designed to pay homage to the national park system and accuse Bush of not adequately funding places such as the Grand Canyon. After a brief morning stop in Flagstaff, Ariz., Kerry boarded a six-passenger twin-engine Augusta 109 helicopter to fly to the canyon's edge, 7,200 feet above sea level, for a quick hike and short address to visitors at Powell Point on the south rim. Wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, daughter Vanessa and stepson Andre joined him for the hike and the national park event.

Kerry promised to spend $600 million more on national parks, in part by repealing the Bush tax cuts for those making $200,000 a year or more, changing the 1872 mining law and, possibly, raising fees for park services as a last resort.

"Teddy Roosevelt stood right here at the Grand Canyon, and he looked out at it and said, 'Leave it as it is, you can't improve on it, what you must do is make this available to our children, and to our children's children,' " Kerry said. "And what he was really talking about is not just the Grand Canyon, but he's talking about the parks that we have today. . . . Regrettably, today the national park system is under stress," he said.


typetypetype

This summer has gone by really fast. I have only two weeks of work left. Then I come back to the B-lo for a week and then classes start up again. Craziness. I can't wait to come home. I really need to. After a while of not being home, I just start to miss it. It is almost as if I need to charge up my battery. It'll be nice to see everyone and hang out, but it sucks that I will miss the Mike/Terry extravaganza. I'll be one day too late. I don't know. I don't really have much to say. I really should go be productive and write a cover letter and update my resume for a new internship, but we'll see if that happens. Stay out of trouble.

TGIF. (on a side note did you know there are more Applebees than TGI Fridays, which I think is wierd as it seems that I see so many more fridays)

Anyway, I'm glad it is friday. Not that this week at work has been particularily stressful, it wll just be nice to relax this weekend. I only have two more weeks left of my internship. It is sort of good and sort of bad. In the sort of good column, there is the fact that when it is done it means that I will get to go home for a week, which I really want/need to do, and it will be nice to be done with work, and it means class is about to start and I will get to see all my friends again, some of which I haven't seen in over a year as I was abroad and then they were abroad. It should be rockin. On the bad column: my internship was good paying, prestigious, and not that difficult so it will suck when its done- especially having that much access around the White House (what other job could you walk out of your building, pass the West Wing and see Karl Rove). It being done also reminds me that I have yet to find a fall internship because I am a goddamn slacker. It also reminds me that I have yet to receive financial aid and don't know whether I will be able to get my work study position that is great back. (I really should call them today - they never respond to emails). It also reminds me of the fact that they did not offer to keep me on in the fall. I don't know if my office has a policy of not keeping interns (though my boss interned there for a year before she started working there) but I know of other interns that were offered to stay on in the fall. It is not that they should offer, but it would be nice and it is kind of a bummer to think that I was not good enough of an intern to ask to stay on - even if I couldn't do it cause of my schedule. Irregardless of all of that - 2 more weeks of my internship.

I got the movie Sid and Nancy from Netflix and I watched it last night. Don't waste your time. I could not care any less about two whiny bitchy punks than I did watching that movie. After sticking it out for over an hour and a half hoping that it would get better, I turned it off knowing that it couldn't. IT was sooooo incredibly boring

Speaking of movies, the other night I saw Harold and Kumar with my Asian and Indian roommate. It had some funny parts but it was not a consistently funny movie. I even dozed off a few times. It was not worth the $7.50 I paid to see it (that is the student rate too, things are so expensive in DC), but at least I didn't pay $7.50 to see Sid and Nancy.

I guess I should end this now as I took so long writing and catching up on reading journals yesterday that I was almost late for work. Take care everyone.

I guess it is about time I updated. I have been really busy and wanted to update but I couldn't justify it when I should be doing other stuff. It has been a crazy week since I last posted.

First things first. On Thursday I got to go to the South lawn of the White House and watch the President's helicopter land. It was definitely one of the coolest things I have done since I've been in DC. The three identical helicopters all approach in a line and just as it looks like the first one is going to land, it pulls away and flies off. Then the second one approaches and lands as that is the one the President is actually in. Then the third one flies off too. When the helicopter is landing. Everything looks really cool because of how windy it is. All of the plants are flapping around violently but in a very surreal way. Once the propellers stop, a marine comes out of the front door of the helicopter and opens the back door of the helicopter for the president. First Barney, the Presidents dog, came out followed by Bush and Laura, who were waving and every one waved back. Condi Rice and Andrew Card followed but the just went off to the West Wing. The Bushes waved as they walked into the White House. IT was a really cool experience.

On friday we released the MidSession Review (halfway through the year the OMB released updated budget figures; if you have read any newspaper articles about the record deficits or smaller deficit projections lately that is what they are talking about) at work. The morning was madness. Lots of calls and running around to be sure we had everything for the press conference at noon. It was especially crazy because my supervisor at work had to take the afternoon off to move into her new apartment, and she is the one the runs the office and is incharge of setting everything up. There was a lot of running around. We had to escort reporters to the briefing room, bring up the directors statement, etc. During the middle of the conference, I was sent back down to be sure the MSR had been posted on the website (which it hadn't) and as a result reporter after reporter was calling to ask where it was. Luckily it finally went up. After that, the rest of the day was incredibly slow.

Friday was also eventful as my roommate Sivram had to go to the hospital. He was riding his bike, hit a bump and fell off, hitting himself in the crotch and scraping up his knee and elbow. It didn't seem to be that bad, but he was in a lot of pain, especially in a certain sensitive area, so he went home. When he got home, he got into the shower and notice some blood in his boxers. When he checked himself over, he saw that he was cut open and thought he saw a testicle. He then drove himself to the emergency room where they put 8 neon blue stitches in to sew him back together. He didn't see his testicle, it was just a second layer of skin. He is doing okay now though and has to get the stitches out tomorrow. Needless to say, the score is still Sivram - 2; Lance Armstrong - 1.

I have more to say but I have to go to work. I will try to update again soon. Hope all is well with everyone. Talk to you later and all we want is some "Free love on the free love freeway. The lovin is free and the free way is long"

Hey Everyone. I guess it has been a while since I posted. I apologize. These past couple of weeks have been quite busy.

Jill got here last wednesday and left saturday. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we could hang out. I hope the oppressive manner that I make visitors tour DC, which include the constant bombardment of useless trivia about whatever we happen to be near, didn't drive her crazy. It was fun though. We went to two shows. They were good and she seemed to have a really good time. The second show was a bit too wavy-whiney-brighteyes-emo for my tastes, but the fact that we were the oldest people there besides the band more than made up for it. Nothing says a good concert like being hit on by a 14 year old alt/emo rock chick. It was fun.

On to less fun news. My computer died. I guess it was only a matter of time. It was an e-machine with Windows Me. Everytime I boot it up it flashes the windows screen and then stops when it is all black except for a flashing cursor in the top right hand corner. I then manually shut it off and it forces me into safe mode, where I have tried to resolve the problem to no avail. I will try again soon when I feel like dealing with it. Luckily I got a laptop for christmas sso I can use that. It is a used compaq with windows 98, but it gets the job done.

On to more upsetting news that turned out to be ok. So me siv, chris and nate (roommates and friend/former RA) went to chipotle today (It is a mexican fast food chain - think what would happen if you combined subway with mighty taco). And when I went to pay, my debit card was not in my wallet. I had no idea where it was. I paid with my credit card. I then remembered using it when jill siv chris and I went out for mongolian bbq on saturday. When I got home, I called the place and they have it, I just have to pick it up. That was a relief, cancelling that and all that crap would have been such a pain in the ass.

I have to change my life again. I have been slacking off on a lot of things that need to get done and it needs to stop. Things are passing me by and I need to grab on or I will get left behind. I need to get motivated and kick some ass.

In Response to the article in Maureen's journal [inlink]maureen,6[/inlink], I think the fact that Kerry relies on the ABB Dems will hurt him and possibly cost him the election. Politicians may be able to rally the base and raise money by being against something, but that will not bring people to the polls. Look at Howard Dean. If Kerry wants to win he needs to stop responding to Bush's agenda and focus all his energy on laying out his own plan regardless of what Bush is doing. You want your opponent to have to defend themselves from you. You don't win on the defensive. I think I might write my Intellectual Wastebasket article on that. (Another thing I have to do as it is a week and a half late)

On to other things. I am glad for you Ajay that you get to start new. Best of luck to you. I also want to welcome Sqb to the e-strip family. I really enjoy the pictures of your that I have seen. Hmmmm. I guess that is it for now. I hope some miracle happens and my other computer starts working. Until next time. Stay out of trouble.

I want to thank Holly for understanding that my crankiness was not because of her and not getting irritated with my anal retentive ways.

In response to your comments on my article, while I think ideally media outlets would be owned by locals who understand what their community standards are, the reality is that that is not going to happen anytime soon. The FCC of late has encouraged further consolidation by increasing the number of media outlets in one community that one company can own. I don't think anyone in the FCC is going to change their mind soon. I also understand your concerns about making a complex ratings system even more so, but I feel that if we go through the painful process of catergorizing the various obscene things and educate the public about it what all means, they will be empowered to make their own decisions without government making it for them. Thanks for reading the article.

I would also like to thanks you for including that story on John Kerry's package. [inlink]holly,72[/inlink] MMMMMMMMM political porn.

In response to Lisa's entry [inlink]lisa,66[/inlink]. I do the same thing- wonder about what happened to ex-girlfriends. It is not one of those things where you want to date them or think your life would be better with them. I just wonder what happened to them and what they are doing now. I don't think it is weird because it is a person that, at one point, you shared a lot of things with. And though you are beyond it now, the curiosity makes you wonder.

That is all for now. t-minus one day until Jill comes for a visit. Wooo Wooo. SHould be fun. Hope all is well with everyone, and they all enjoyed their vacations. Take care of yourselves

[inlink]ajay,52[/inlink]
I totally agree with you ajay. It is a purely a political move to try to mobilize the christian right to get out and vote. I want to apologize for the Washington Times bias in the article. The only reason that I used the Washington Times article is that is where I found the story. I prefer the Post by far, but they did not report on it.

My question is, should the names of homosexual aides be released because who they work for votes for the amendment? Should they be held accountable for who they work for? Or are their personal and professional lives seperate?

Because I am a sheep:


I don't know how I got that one. I didn't care much for the choices on some of the questions though.

On to other things. Shameless selfpromotion 3.0. I've got a new article up on my friends website Intellectual Wastebasket . It is about the FCC, censorship, and my belief that more regulation - not less - will allow for less government censorship. Give it a read and let me know what you think. It is under the News and Politics Section, entitled "The Three Fs"

I was also wondering what everyone thought about this article from the Washington Times:

By Greg Pierce
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published July 12, 2004
'Outing' lawmakers
As part of their denunciation of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, some homosexual activists are waging a campaign to "out" homosexual lawmakers and aides who work on Capitol Hill, Roll Call and the Washington Blade report.
Homosexual activists Mike Rogers and John Aravosis are leading the campaign, and there are nearly 20 Capitol Hill offices now on a target list, the Washington Blade reported Friday.
Mr. Rogers already alerted Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, that one of his aides is openly homosexual outside of work, Roll Call reported Thursday. Mr. Inhofe supports the marriage amendment, which is up for a Senate vote this week.
And an ad in Friday's Blade issues a "final call to conscience" to Capitol Hill lawmakers who support the amendment, their aides and members of the administration. "If you are gay, end your silence," the ad states. "Stop aiding and abetting those who would make us second-class citizens."
The ad was sponsored by DontAmend.com and Mr. Aravosis' Web site, DearMary.com, which aims to convince Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, to urge her father to drop his support for the amendment.
The ad addresses "all the Mary Cheneys in Washington, D.C., and beyond" as well as "all those who claim to support our community but devote their careers to politicians who attack and demonize us," and "all those who are self-loathing or self-serving." It warns, "For years our silence has protected you. Today that protection ends."
Mr. Aravosis and Mr. Rogers also claimed in the last week to have "outed via the Web" Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland Democrat, and Rep. Mark Foley, Florida Republican, the Blade said.
Days after Mr. Aravosis claimed on his Web site that Miss Mikulski is a lesbian, she issued a statement saying she will vote against the marriage amendment, the Blade reported. And although Mr. Foley said months ago he will vote against the marriage amendment, the Blade reported, Mr. Aravosis "purported to out Foley as well, taking him to task for supporting President Bush," who has endorsed the amendment.
The aide from Mr. Inhofe's office who was targeted by Mr. Rogers told the Blade, "The agenda behind this outing seems to be kind of fascist. It says to me: Because you don't subscribe to our personal idea, because you don't choose to push sexual politics over environmental, we're going to punish you."

Do you think aides to lawmakers should be outed if the lawmaker supports the amendment banning gay marriage, as they are aiding those who support it? Or do you think that just because an aide works for a legislator, that doesn't mean that they have to share the same views as the legislator and should not be outed because of their boss's views? Let me know cause I am really curious what people outside of "The Beltway" think of something like this.

That is all for now. Stay out of trouble and let me know what you think.

That is craziness MK. [inlink]mk,110[/inlink] I especially enjoy the parts of my journal that they mention. "Kiss our e-strip ass Kevin Bacon. ...young?' and 'Sex with a minor, don't go there'" That is great.

So I was supposed to go wave goodbye to Bush when he leaves the White House in his helicopter on the south lawn tomorrow, but the person in my office who got the reservations can't go anymore so that is off. Oh well. He said we would reschedule, and at least now I don't have to be at work by 7 when I don't work until 1.

Hope all is well with every one. Wish I could be partyin' hearty with you all. Oh Well. Next time. That is all for now, but always remember what the coaster says: "Sex with a minor, don't go there"