I would like to dedicate this post to certain people who have not posted in a while *looking at you jillian. How in the world am I supposed to stalk you if you do not update? Speaking of which, I have IMed you twice in the past week to no response. I don't hold that against you as I assume it is your parents online. Good thing I didn't say anything inappropriate, well, THAT inappropriate.

On to other things. I am really enjoying some of the new banners.

That is quite the rant (e:maureen) . I totally understand and agree with you. Try not to let their ignorance get you down. It is their problem not yours.

Hmmm. I came back from a party in my building today to my roommates parents in the apartment. I am so socially awkward and hate small talk, so I am hiding in my room right now. That is kind of rude I guess. I just really hate being forced to chat about nothing with people that I kind of know.

Hmmmm. Hopefully I can be productive this weekend. I have to go check my voice mail to see if my cousin called when I was out. He was supposed to call me so we could meet up tomorrow, while he is in town. I would've waited for the call, but I did that last week and he didn't call until 8 hours after he said he would. This forced me to miss a meeting that I had to be at. Its not that I would mind skipping the meeting if I got to see him, but skipping the meeting just to wait for a call that never came ticked me off. Oh well. Hopefully he called and we can do something tomorrow. Talk to you all later.

[inlink]zeppelined,5[/inlink]

That is such an interesting version of the song. Very unnerving. I saw them back in May at the Patriot Center. It was a good show, though I have to admit, I went to see James Iha more than APC. I miss the Smashing Pumpkins and will take what I can get.



the image was stolen from Infinite Pics all the Smashing Pumpkins Pics you could ever need.

[inlink]terry,319[/inlink]

Though this does sound scary, it is all just grandstanding. If the Supreme Court wants to hear a case, it will hear a case and there is nothing short of a constitutional amendment that will stop them. Laws such as these are to allow legislators to go back to their districts, say they did something to fight these great social ills, and then blame the courts when they say it is bs. Congress knows full well this doesn't mean anything other than something to tell the consituents.

[inlink]maidencateyes,144[/inlink]

Though they are trying to give an appearance of fairness, I believe the news is biased. Just go to the signers of the petition and see how many reporters signed their name. I am not saying that it is a good or bad thing. Some of the best and most important news reporting was done by muckrakers with an agenda. It is just important that we are aware of the fact the media is biased.

Because I am bored and a big loser, I read through all the signatures on the petition and their are quite a few recognizable names including many reporters both for the News and TV as well as Kevin Gaughn-regionalism activist. I know there is no way to verify that these are actually them, but interesting none the less

Why are there no fucking happy mediums with me!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Everyone,
My sister is doing a project for her photography class on photojournalism, and I was wondering if anyone knew of any protest/marches/rallies etc scheduled in the Buffalo area that she could go to and document. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hey all. I'm in the computer lab right now killing time between classes. I just read an article about policy subsystems and their role in the formation of some of the most important policies in the country and noone really pays attention to them. It was a really good article. I had to read it for my Political and Organizational Leadership class. It has been a really good class so far. It is just the type of stuff I want to study - how the government actually functions etc. I also have to do another reading for this class today from the book "Who's Running America: The Bush Restoration" by David Rusk . I highly reccomend reading this book if you even want to know who has the REAL power in America. It is actually the latest in a series of books that goes back to the Carter Administration. With each presidential administration, Rusk writes a new book about who the elites in society are, from business, to government, to special interest, to nonprofits etc. He looks at where they come from, how they got there etc. It is really interesting to see who controls the power and how they got to control it. He takes a fairly positive approach in his research and looks at who has the power by breaking each grouping (government, business) by the most powerful actors in each - the department heads, CEOs, CFOs and they shows where they came from. He does not make value judgements as to whether it is good that they all come from the same few schools etc, he lets you draw your own conclusions. I cannot strees how important it is to know who these people are. They are the ones that control America and making the decisions that affect everyone. But anyway, I already read the chapter, I just have to go to the book store and look over it again as I have a quiz on it but I still don't have the book and neither does the library.

[inlink]terry,309[/inlink]

THough I think this would be a great idea ( I am a huge supporter of public transportation), isn't that sort of what they did on Main Street and that killed business. I agree, it would be great and such an improvement if it worked but I have my doubts. We don't need another sucking sound that is most of Main

I regards to [inlink]ajay,116[/inlink], I would like to a bit more optimistic that all Republicans aren't for corporations. I personally don't believe what I do for the corporations' bidding, but at the same time I cannot speak for every Republican, only myself. And regarding the differences between the OMB and GAO. I am well aware of the differences because we had to explain them everytime the GAO put something out that didn't agree with what we said. I understand why you would believe the GAO over the OMB because the OMB is part of the Executive Office of the President meaning his appointees control what is said by the OMB, whereas the GAO is run by congress and therefor a bit more bipartisan. In fairness to the OMB though, they do analize things in a different manner,considering different factors, than the GAO. It is not always just partisan BS why they come out differently. Their numbers come out differently because they don't always consider the same numbers (whether or not it is beneficial to who is running them). Again this is my personal opinion, not OMB's.

On to other things for those who read this and could give a rats ass about politics. I had my first paper of the year due yesterday, and in typical fashion, I did not do it until the last second when I woke up at 4:30am to start it. I can only do papers if I have that pressure on me. In the end it worked out well and I got it done. If anyone wants to know my opinion on the findings of the Continuity of Government COmmission with regards to their reccommendations for Congress, let me know.

I had a nice little weekend even though it was pretty unproductive. I spent Saturday hanging out with my friend Jess. We chatted it up for 7 hours straight, just chatting it up about life etc. It was craziness though, 7 hours with no outside entertainment, food, etc. Just talking. It was good though. I enjoyed talking to her and some of her observations about pink elephants.

On sunday I had my first GA meeting. The GA is our student government, like student council in high school. I was appointed to it at the end of last year. It is kind of a crazy organization that has a bunch of students who act like they are going to be Senators some day and treat the GA as if it is the Senate. SOme take themselves too seriously, but it has gotten better. I am looking forward to working in it.

Sunday night, Siv, Vaani, and Elena all went out to a seafood place called Joe's Crabshack. It was a good time. I got the popcorn shrimp. It was fun just hangin out with them.

In my Political and Organizational leadership class, we watched a BBC documentary on what happened minute by minute during the Sept 11th attacks. And how the government responded and what was going on etc. It was really informative to look at it like that and see when and how each decision was made. It was a bit intense though due to the proximity to the anniversary and I hadn't seen some of that footage in so long. It was really good but it got to me.

On that happy note, I should try to make this a productive day. I hope all is well with everyone. Talk to you later