I had a bunch of interesting posts, but I never ended up posting so, so much for that.

Things have been good lately but busy. I just got an internship with the Onondaga County Division of Management and Budget. As it is what I want to do when I "grow up" it is a good fit for me. My boss is pretty cool. She goes a million miles a minute. It is interesting being an intern as a graduate student rather than an undergrad. They trust you with a lot more responsibility. They actually give you stuff to do off the bat rather than copying and answering phones for the first month. The project I'm working on is pretty neat. It is funny because the professor I am a graduate assistant for did some consulting work for them and made the project I am working on. It should be good.

Also, I am starting to have to figure out what I am doing next year. My life seems like an endless stream of applications and personal statements. I am trying to get some letters of reccomendation out of old professors, but they are not responding. It is annoying but how can I hunt them down. I might try the "my email isn't working" trick to email them again without seeming hounding. But I need to know. I am okay with no jsut tell me. Arrrrggghhh. I hate asking for letter of reccommendation.

I am going to DC thursday. I can't wait. There is a Leadership alumni reception and some people who I didn't think who would be there are going to. It makes me happy. I will also get to see all my friends that I haven't seen since may. It will be nice to hang out with them.

Also, I heard a really good song on npr the other day. Morning Edition profiled this band called Antony and the Johnsons. The singer's voice is amazing. Really haunting. If you go to the npr page you can hear the whole song. Click on "Hope there's someone"

That is all for now. I am such a slacker and need to do work.

-Jesse

So I was looking to see if I ever posted a story from my internship at OMB that was pretty funny. After searching through old entries, I apparently never did, so I will retell it now.

One day I was working at my intership, doing nothing, minding my business, and one of the high level OMB officials (he had to get confirmed by the Senate) comes into our office a bit flustered. It wasn't unusual, he stopped by our office pretty regularly. But this time he came to bitch. Apparently Mother Jones Magazine (a pretty liberal mag), kept calling him and asking him questions about some issue he handles. Apparently they were quite persistant and/or hostile (Mother Jones = not big fan of Bush Administration and the feeling is mutual). So he starts going off on what a crappy magazine it is, and how liberal it is. And after he has ranted for a little while and is about to leave to go back to work, he looks at me, with my long hair and says, "and all the writers there are pot-smoking hippies, who, who, who look like him (me)." And walks out. That man was David Safavian, the former chief procurement officer, who resigned and was arrested for lying and obstructing the criminal investigation of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The complete story is below. The moral of the story - call me a hippie and you will go to jail for lying.

A quick side note before I go. It was really neat reading old journal entries in looking for the story. I forgot about some of the stuff I wrote about. In one of the entries I welcome Jason and assure him he is not the only Republican on the site. Also, the Garth Brooks song, "The Dance" is really good (so is the music video). It is sad, but good (lyrics are below the article).

That is all for now.
-Jesse

Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 20, 2005; Page A01

The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the federal government. It was the first criminal complaint filed against a government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff's activities in Washington.

The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges that David H. Safavian, 38, a White House procurement official involved until last week in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, made repeated false statements to government officials and investigators about a golf trip with Abramoff to Scotland in 2002.

It also contends that he concealed his efforts to help Abramoff acquire control of two federally managed properties in the Washington area. Abramoff is the person identified as "Lobbyist A" in a 13-page affidavit unsealed in court, according to sources knowledgeable about the probe.

Until his resignation on the day the criminal complaint against him was signed, Safavian was the top administrator at the federal procurement office in the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he set purchasing policy for the entire government.

The arrest occurred at his home in Alexandria. A man who answered the phone there yesterday hung up when a reporter asked to speak to Safavian.

Abramoff was indicted by federal prosecutors in Miami last month on unrelated charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. He remains the linchpin of an 18-month probe by a federal task force that includes the Internal Revenue Service, the Interior Department and the Justice Department's fraud and public integrity units. His lawyer did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Abramoff's allegedly improper dealings with Indian tribes -- which netted him and an associate at least $82 million in fees -- prompted the federal probe. But investigators have found that his documents and e-mails contain a trove of information about his aggressive efforts to seek favors for clients from members of Congress and senior bureaucrats.

Accompanying Safavian and Abramoff on the 2002 trip to Scotland, for example, were Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee, lobbyist and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and Neil Volz, a lobbyist with Abramoff at the Washington office of Greenburg Traurig.

Like Abramoff, Safavian is a veteran Washington player. He is a former lobbying partner of anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and previously worked with Abramoff at another firm. Both he and Abramoff have represented gambling clients and Indian tribes with gambling interests.

At the time of the golf trip, Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, where ethics rules flatly prohibited the receipt of a gift from any person seeking an official action by the agency. When Safavian asked GSA ethics officers for permission to go on the trip, he assured them in writing that Abramoff "has no business before GSA," according to the affidavit signed by FBI special agent Jeffrey A. Reising.

Reising alleged, however, that Abramoff had by then already secretly enlisted Safavian in an effort to buy 40 acres of land that GSA managed in Silver Spring for use as the campus of a Hebrew school Abramoff founded. Safavian also allegedly tried to help Abramoff lease space for Abramoff's clients in an old post office building downtown.

On July 22, 2002, Abramoff sent Safavian an e-mail with a proposed draft letter that "at least two members of Congress" could send to GSA supporting the lease, according to the affidavit. "Does this work, or do you want it to be longer?" Abramoff asked.

Three days later, Safavian forwarded Abramoff an e-mail describing how an employee at OMB was resisting Abramoff's plan to lease space at the post office. "I suspect we'll end up having to bring some Hill pressure to bear on OMB," Safavian messaged Abramoff.

On the same day Safavian discussed the golf trip with the ethics office, he sent an e-mail to Abramoff from his home computer, advising him how to "lay out a case for this lease." Abramoff subsequently wrote in an e-mail to his wife and two officials of the school that Safavian had shown him a map of the property at his GSA office but had cautioned that Abramoff should not visit again "given my high profile politically."

Safavian nonetheless arranged a meeting for Abramoff's wife and business partner with officials at GSA on the day before he departed for Scotland aboard Abramoff's chartered jet. The trip cost more than $120,000 and was paid for mostly by a charity founded and run by Abramoff, the Capital Athletic Foundation.

When Safavian was questioned by The Washington Post about the trip in January, he said he paid his share of the expenses and took unpaid leave. "The trip was exclusively personal; I did no business there. . . . Jack is an old friend of mine," Safavian said.

But the complaint alleges that Safavian lied about his contacts with Abramoff on three occasions after his initial false pledge to the GSA ethics officer. The first was during a 2003 investigation by GSA's inspector general, who was responding to an anonymous tipster's hotline complaint; the second was in a March 17, 2005, letter to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; and the third was during an FBI interview on May 26, 2005.

Garth Brooks - The Dance

Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars alone
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance

Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I a king
But if I'd only known how the king would fall
Hey who's to say you know I might have chanced it all

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance

Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance

So, you know how you have that friend that has the best chance of being famous. Well, mine is one step closer to being there. Nick Krill is one of my friends from undergrad, who hung out in my room constantly freshman year, eventually moving in next door with one of my freshman roommates (Dum) sophomore year. He is in a band called the Spinto Band and they recently released an album . They are a really good band. (My favorite song is "Late") and lately they have been starting to get into the media, Spin has done a few blurbs on them as openers for concerts. They got to the point that MSNBC has written a review of them . I know MSNBC doesn't carry a lot of street cred in the music industry but that is still pretty cool.

Riding the coattails of others fame to nowhere,
-Jesse

Today I am meeting with the Career Center at my school. Hopefully, they should be able to give me some guidance about my resume, career options, and about getting an internship this fall. I really need to get on that. Hopefully I can find someplace that will be good, fit my schedule and not be too demanding. I have a lot of work to do this weekend. I have at least one thing due in each of my classes next week.

Here are some miscelaneous items I have enjoyed lately:

Cliff Notes on R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet. It is one of the funniest things I have seen on the internet. It is spot on in its imitation of cliff note's style. I especially enjoy the Notes Review Section with questions just like the ones in Cliff Notes. Here is a sample:

"Chapter 3

Summary

Sylvester stares in disbelief at Rufus, initially unwilling to believe that he’s really Rufus’s secret lover. Sylvester tells everyone that they are crazy, and he is leaving. Cathy tries to persuade him to stay, but he says that he has nothing to do with the present mess, and he has to get home. Cathy persuades him to stay, suggesting that the story of how this affair came about may be an interesting one.

Sylvester agrees to stay for three minutes while Rufus and Chuck explain themselves. Cathy lashes out at Rufus, asking him how he could do such a hurtful thing to her, but he counters her volley by reminding her that she’s lied to him and been adulterous as well. Cathy puts forth the opinion that a homosexual affair is much more unexpected and hurtful than her simple infidelity, but Rufus insists that since she hid a man with a gun in their closet she has no right to judge him.

Sylvester, sick of all the arguing, insists upon an explanation. Chuck explains that he and Rufus have been carrying on a secret affair for a year, sleeping in motels and doing their best to avoid discovery. This causes Cathy and Rufus to erupt into another argument, which frustrates and bewilders Sylvester. He fires a shot into the air to shock them into silence, and announces that he can’t handle any more of their fighting. He uses his cellular phone to call his house, and is shocked to hear a man’s voice answer.

Commentary

With Sylvester, Rufus, and Chuck now decidedly “out of the closet,” the situation erupts into conflict and violence. Sylvester seems incredibly conflicted in this chapter; his initial instinct is to leave, but Cathy manages to convince him to stay by appealing to his curiosity. Sylvester is both repulsed and intrigued by Rufus’s affair with Chuck; just as Rufus saw elements of himself in Sylvester, Sylvester clearly sees parallels to his own situation in Rufus and Chuck’s romance.

While he initially agreed to stay in the hope of witnessing an interesting dramatic spectacle, he became more and more eager to leave when Rufus and Cathy began fighting. It becomes clear that Sylvester has a strange aversion to conflict. Although he could leave at any time (since he has a gun and nothing to gain by staying), he seems to be staying in Rufus and Cathy’s apartment only to act as a mediator. He repeatedly demands that they stop fighting, although their affairs are truly none of his concern. This provides crucial insight into Sylvester’s character: the combination of habitual infidelity and extreme distaste for arguments among couples suggests that he was the product of a dysfunctional family, probably involving an abusive and unfaithful father. This might explain why Sylvester demands to be in control at all times.

Although he is a Casanova himself, Sylvester has an obvious aversion to being played. He becomes hurt when it is revealed that Cathy didn’t use her real name when she courted him at the nightclub, even though it has little bearing on his situation. Although he is unfaithful himself, he is stunned when, at the end of the chapter, a man answers the telephone at his house.

Glossary:

Deep shit: A difficult situation.

Y’all ass is crazy: Your entire ass is crazy.

Bitch, please: Used to express disbelief at a woman’s words.

Club hoppin’: Searching for sexual encounters or cheap thrills at nightclubs

I’ma: I am going to"

Amusing article on hurricane relief, fiscal conservatives, and how the fiscal conservatives always get the shaft to the social conservatives

"Fiscal conservatives are angry. Of course, they're always angry. They're like social conservatives that way. (The fiscal conservatives who are social conservatives, like Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., are so angry they can barely finish the crossword.) Instead of getting exercised about the radical homosexual agenda and prayer in school, the fiscal conservatives fume about stuff that bores the majority of the Fox News producers: balanced budgets and emergency supplemental funding. The other big difference is that current Republican leaders don't listen as attentively to fiscal conservatives. Terri Schiavo—she's worth a special session of Congress. No one beats it back to Washington on Air Force One to sign stricter spending legislation. Still, the fiscal conservatives soldier on. "We spend a lot of time in groups of 12 hoping for a tipping point," says one of their tribe, "another Tsongas or Ross Perot."

"The problem that always bedevils the fiscal conservatives is that they are directly targeting the horse-trading that makes government go. Start pulling out earmarks and you unravel support for the whole bill. Deny seniors their prescription-drug bill and you anger a bloc of voters far larger and more influential than those watching the pennies. When social conservatives balk, they represent massive organized blocs of voters who have shown their willingness to stay home. When fiscal conservatives balk, only a few thousand ornery Republicans in New Hampshire and Arizona abandon the party."

That is all for now.
-Jesse

So yes, (e:MK) is right, I do post frequently for 2 weeks, then disappear for 2 months. I should be better, but I won't, so deal with it sucka.

Things are going well here. Real school has started, with normal classes, not just one class consuming my entire life. I am taking Statistics, Managerial Economics for Public Administrators, State and Local Government Financial Management, and Public Organizations and Management. With the exception of Stats, I enjoy my classes. My professors are really good. You can definitely tell the difference in quality of professors in better programs. I also enjoy doing homework for my classes because they are all geared towards practical knowledge. They don't ask you to do 25 page research papers. They want memos and one page answers. Stuff that I will actually have to do when I graduate.

I also got a half-time graduate assistantship. It is nice to get both the pay and free credits from that. I also get a desk in an office I share with other grad assistants. It is nice to have a desk here that is all my own, but today when I went into the office it was a bit B.O.-ey Hopefully that won't be permanent. The GAship has been a bit frustrating because I haven't had much direction and have had problems with meeting with my professor but we are meeting tomorrow so hopefully that will sort everything out.

I have to get going so I get a seat in class. Talk to you later.

-Jesse

Hey Di,
Happy Birthday!!!! :-)
-Jesse

Happy 22nd Birthday Mike. Hope you have a great day. Wish I could be there to got out with y'all.
-Jesse

I am done with my final for Public Administration and Democracy. I just have a paper to go. I will give more details about the class later. In the meantime, enjoy my official bio at Maxwell. You can also see who else I am in my program with.
-Jesse

It has been a pretty good weekend as I have been able to catch up on a lot of things I have been slacking off on since my class started, like doing dishes, picking up laundry, doing my reading for class etc. It is nice to feel somewhat caught up, but a feeling of dread comes over me as I realize that I still have one more week of the evilness that is this class. I will first give you a little overview of what has happened. Last weekend, I had to work on the Democrats response to the State of the Union (this is the speech given by the opposition party each year after the president gives the state of the union. here is a link to last years ) It was going to be annoying to do it because the person who usually gives it for the house democrats was going to be out of town for the weekend. That was no big deal though because I didn't mind working on it cause developing political message/themes etc is all I learned about in undergrad. So we were supposed to meet on friday with the senate dems. They never showed. One of them sent an email saying he really didn't work on saturday so he could take a break from a pretty intense week of class, so another House dem and myself worked out a message and themes based on the issues we were going to be addressing. I thought it was pretty good (but I was the one who did it). I emailed it out and got a response from the Senate dems saying that the person who would be delivering it wouldn't be back until 6 on sunday and that the message would be "Where's the leadership?" with themes being different issues that the President has not shown leadership on. This was an awful message for several reasons. First, after a State of the Union, the president is seen as being a strong leader who has just laid out a series of initiatives, to respond to this strong leader image with a "Where's the leadership?" message would ring pretty hollow.Second, you want your message to be one that is about yourself that instantly draws contrast between your opponent. "where's the leadership?" is not about the dems at all, plus the person delivering the message for the senate dems was not going to be their leader, making the where's the leadership message ven more ridiculous cause our ledership is not the one questioning it. Third, issues are not themes. Themes say something about the message specific to a certain catergory. Ugh. I know I sound really poli-sci snobby here but I can't help it. This is what I did for four years and when people who don't even bother to show up to help and work on the speech challenge this, I get VERY annoyed.

Anyway, I will skip the rest of the annoyingness and say that we eventually met with them sunday night and my message and themes prevailed. On Sunday night, we also discovered that the person for the House dems that was supposed to deliver half of our response was not going to be back in Syracuse in time to deliver the speech. I volunteered to do it cause I am an egotistical glory-hog, plus I took multiple public-speaking courses. As far as delivery, the speech went pretty well. First, during the president's speech, we got the dems to clap when they weren't supposed to. After the line, "Parts of the Patriot Act are set to expire" It was very funny especially cause the dems in real life clapped at that same point on the real state of the union address. We then delivered ours and the Republicans were pretty rude about it booing and yawning loudly. But I got them back, while I was talking about preserving Social Security, one of the Republicans yawned loudly, I was able to react to it and say, "we need to protect social security so our seniors can enjoy the benefits they are entitled to <yawn> like that elderly man back there." I was thrilled that I was able to come up with that off hand. It really helped make the speech and a bunch of people later told me how much they liked the speech.

The rest of the week was also stressful. I set up a series of press conferences the Democrats message an created a template press release so everyone could write a press release on their issue. They went pretty well, but it is annoying trying to edit press releases that explain a person's position that you are unsure of. They did end up going pretty well and I was impressed with how my group handled themselves once they actually were talking about the issues. One of the highlights was when my press release was cut and pasted into the first five paragraphs in the lead story of the paper.

On thursday, we had hearings, they went ok. The first two panels we couldn't really get the best of, but we rocked the third. It was mainly because of my real-life hatred of boeing and my wanting to show what a bad organization they are. We were also told that we were by far the better prepared of the House Dems committee.

This weekend has been nice. We got friday of as our spring break. I cleaned my apartment caught up on my reading etc. Friday night, I went to the b-day party of someone in the program. It was nice, pretty laid back, but AWFUL music. (who plays Nirvana's unplugged version of Come as You Are at a party).

Saturday I caught up on more reading cleaned up a bit more and played in the weekly game of ultimate frisbee. I also talked to a bunch of people I haven't spoken to in a while. I talked to my friend Jennie who is getting married in 2 weeks. Unfortunately I won't be able to make the wedding, but it was nice to talk to her.

Also, for all of you who are wondering, the part in the Gorillaz song "Feel Good INC" where it goes "Windmill, Windmill . . ." the music is a rip off of U2's Staring at the Sun. I don't know about you, but it was killing (e:Maureen) and myself.

This week we actually vote on the bills we wrote for this simulation. Apparently, this has a tendency to take forever. I am dreading it cause I don't know if we are going to be prepared or get our bills through. Eh, we will just have to cause as much trouble as we can.

I guess that is all for now. I am sorry if this was incredibly boring for you and you now know how much of a poli-sci snob/nerd I am. Whatever, it is your own fault for reading my journal. Take care.
-Jesse

Ugh, this simulation is sucking my life away. I will give more details at a later date. Just found out a friend from school is getting married. Exciting but I don't think I can pull off getting to the wedding. Any way. I really love the Radiohead song "Wolf at the Door" It ihas such a great feeling and rhythm. Here are the Lyrics:

drag him out the window
dragging out your dead
singing i miss you
snakes and ladders
flip the lid
out pops the cracker
smacks you in the head
knifes you in the neck
kicks you in the teeth
steel toe caps
takes all your credit cards
step up get the gunge
get the eggs
get the flan in the face
the flan in the face
the flan in the face
dance you fucker dance you fucker
don't you dare
don't you dare
don't you flan in the face
take it with the love its given
take it with a pinch of salt
take it to the taxman
let me back let me back
i promise to be good
don't look in the mirror
at the face you don't recognize
help me call the doctor
put me inside
put me inside
put me inside
put me inside
put me inside

i keep the wolf from the door
but he calls me up
calls me on the phone
tells me all the ways that he's gonna mess me up
steal all my children
if i don't pay the ransom
but i'll never see him again
if i squeal to the cops

walking like a giant crane and
with my x ray eyes i strip you naked
in a tight little world and are you on the list?
stepford wives who are we to complain?
investments and dealers investments and dealers
cold wives and mistresses.
cold wives and sunday papers.
city boys in 1st class
don't know we're born
just know someone else is gonna come and clean it up
born and raised for the job
oh I wish you'd get up
go over get up go over and turn this tape off.

i keep the wolf from the door
but he calls me up
calls me on the phone
tells me all the ways that he's gonna mess me up
steal all my children
if i don't pay the ransom
but i'll never see him again
if i squeal to the cops

If you ever need a good radiohead site, I think green plastic is the best.
-Jesse