Benito Juárez (1806-1872)
President of México, key player in "La Reforma" (The reform)

So I was thinking about Cinco de Mayo and really I didn't know what it was all about. If anyone else cares and doesn't know already, I thought I would share what I learned. Mexican Independence is celebrated on the 15th and 16th of September, not on Cinco de Mayo.

Juárez pissed off a lot of important people. He told the Church that they would have to sell their large land holdings, or haciendas. He also subjected the church and the militarists to civil jurisdiction. These reforms were incorporated into a new constitution in 1857. The conservatives and the church reacted violently and La Guerra de la reforma (Reform War) ensued, lasting three years (1858-1861).

Juárez and the reformists were triumphant over the conservatives. Problem was the country was devastated because of the US invasion of México that ended in 1848, and the Guerra de la reforma that ended in 1861.

Benito Juárez was forced to suspend the payments that México was paying for its debt owed to France, Spain and England. The three countries used this as a pretext to invade. Spain and England bailed out leaving France alone in the invasion. Napoleon III of France had the intentions of halting the growth of the United States, which had just greatly expanded its territories in their own invasion of México. The goal of Napoleon III was to aid the Confederates thus splitting the United States into two less threatening nations. Abraham Lincoln had intended to defeat the Confederacy and then go to aid Juárez in defeating the French.

Ok. Back to Cinco de Mayo. The French invaded Puebla, México on the morning of the 5th of May, 1862 with an army of 6,000. Puebla is about a 100 miles from México City. General Ignacio Zaragoza was ordered to defend Puebla, and thus México city, with a army of 4,000 and inferior weapons. Skilled in the art of guerrilla warfare he sent the pansy french running to the coast. Although the French didn't officially withdraw from the country until 1867, Cinco de Mayo has been a great source of Mexican pride ever since.

Sources used:


Fox, Arturo. Latinoamérica, Presente y pasado. Prentice Hall, 2003.

Imagine the possibilities of a video game where the main character is Nancy Grace. Instead of the usual weaponry, acid vomit spews from her mouth killing Scott Peterson, child molesters and rapists. Score extra points for finding semen stained underwear and spewing more bile on viewers watching from home.

So this is the best milk i have ever had. It couldn't be better than if it came right from the utter. Seriously, milk drinkers need to go to Lexington Co-Op to get it. The deposit is .50 cents and when you bring the glass jar back they refund it. I made chocolate puddin with this and you couldn't imagine how tasty it was. The cows aren't given rbST.

• DISCLAIMER* There is no significant difference between milk coming from cows treated with RBST and those who haven't been treated.

I don't want to piss off the milk industry. Wouldn't it be awesome if there still were milk men that would deliver this to our doors?



Painting by Denise Rich

Maybe the immigrants are better "Americans" than we are? Their protest has captured the attention of CNN which I find rather unusual. Since when does CNN cover demonstrations? Way to go immigrants! ¡Latinos Unidos! I admire your ability to be heard.

So I just found out tonight that my nickname was Bad Dresser. Apparently this all started when I was working at Coffee & and had wore a mesh shirt once or twice. I don't remember the mesh shirt in question, but I do remember wearing some odd outfits.

Love,

Bad Dresser

This could be controversial, but I don't care that the Star Spangled Banner is being sung in Spanish (Nuestro Himno). First, I don't even like our National Anthem. That really is not my point though. My point is that large portions of the U.S. were forcefully taken from the Mexicans. Sure the Mexicans were thrown some pocket change for the land taken, but they never wanted to sell in the first place. After the US invasion of Mexico they had no choice but to enter into the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which gave us all of CA, NV and UT as well as parts of CO, AZ, NM and WY, for basically 18 million and a few bloody lives. Anyways, now people are freaking out and saying Chicanos are not Americans (why do we call ourselves Americans anyways?) and that we should not allow Mexicans into "our" country.

I saw this video game that CNN was talking about the other day where you are supposed to gun down all the Mexicans running accross the border. You get bonus points for killing "breeders" (mothers with children). This is so disgusting and ignorant. Another CNN episode showed these crazy lunatics burning a Mexican flag and they couldn't even get it to burn. It was hysterical, they looked so ridiculous.

Really, we need to start embracing the idea of having a multi-lingual society. There is nothing wrong with a country where the people have the ability to speak something other than english. It seems like some people here want everyone that lives here to be a white anglo-saxan tight ass. I'm sorry people, but unless you have serious plans in the future for ethnic cleansing its not going to happen.

rice, rice baby...nanananana

Rice Rice BABY
(Vanilla Rice, Earthquake, M. Smooth)
Yo VIP, Let's kick it!
RIce rIce Baby
rIce rIce Baby
All right stop
Collaborate and listen
rIce is back with my brand new invention
Something grabs ahold of me tightly
Then I flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop?
Yo-- I don't know
Turn off the lights and I'll glow
To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal
Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle
Dance
Bum rush the speaker that booms
I'm killing your brain like a poisonous mushroom
Deadly, when I play a dope melody
Anything less than the best is a felony
Love it or leave it
You better gain way
You better hit bull's eye
The kid don't play
If there was a problem
Yo, I'll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it
rIce rIce Baby Vanilla
rIce rIce Baby Vanilla
rIce rIce Baby Vanilla
RIce RIce Baby Vanilla
Now that the party is jumping
With the bass kicked in, and the Vegas are pumpin'
Quick to the point, to the point no faking
Cooking MC's like a pound of bacon
Burning them if they're not quick and nimble
I go crazy when I hear a cymbal
And a hi hat with a souped up tempo
I'm on a roll and it's time to go solo
Rollin' in my 5.0
With my ragtop down so my hair can blow
The girlies on standby
Waiting just to say Hi
Did you stop?
No-- I just drove by
Kept on pursuing to the next
I busted a left and I'm heading to the next block
That block was dead
Yo-- so I continued to A1A Beachfront Ave.
Girls were hot wearing less than bikinis
Rockman lovers driving Lambourghinis
Jealous 'cause I'm out getting mine
Shay with the guage and Vanilla with a nine
Reading for the chumps on the wall
The chumps acting ill because they're so full of eight balls
Gunshots ranged out like a bell
I grabbed my nine--
All I heard was shells
Falling on the concrete real fast
Jumped in my car, slammed on the gas
Bumper to bumper the avenue's packed
I'm trying to get away before the jackers jack
Police on the scene
You know what I mean
They passed me up, confronted all the dope fiends
If there was a problem
Yo, I'll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it
RIce RIce Baby Vanilla
RIce RIce Baby Vanilla
RIce RIce Baby Vanilla
Take heed 'cause I'm a lyrical poet
Miami's on the scene just in case you didn't know it
My town, that created all the bass sound
Enough to shake and kick holes in the ground
'Cause my style's like a chemical spill
Feasible rhymes that you can vision and feel
Conducted and formed
This is a hell of a concept
We make it hype and you want to step with this
Shay plays on the fade, slice like a ninja
Cut like a razor blade so fast
Other DJ's say, "damn"
If my rhyme was a drug I'd sell it by the gram
Keep my composure when it's time to get loose
Magnetized by the mic while I kick my juice
If there was a problem
Yo-- I'll solve it!
Check out the hook While Deshay revolves it.
RIce RIce Baby Vanilla
RIce RIce Baby Vanilla
RIce RIce Baby Vanilla
RIce RIce Baby Vanilla Ice
Yo man-- Let's get out of here!
Word to your mother!
RIce RIce Baby Too cold
RIce RIce Baby Too cold Too cold
RIce RIce Baby Too cold Too cold
RIce RIce Baby Too cold Too cold

Went to the dog park today with one of my good friends. She will remain annonymous, because the story is kind of embarassing. One thing I gotta say about the dog park at hoyt lake (yea it's a soccer field, but there are more dogs there than soccer players) is that I love to watch the dynamics of the dogs and the owners. There is always an alfa, both among the people and the dogs. The dogs form packs and run and run and run. Unfortunately, my friends dog was drinking from nasty puddles. On the way home my friend was driving and I was in the passenger seat. The dog was in the back. This dog is like the size of a small horse. So we are just driving away and talking when out of no where the dog vomits all over me. It was everywhere and it soaked right through my jeans and underwear. She stops the car in the middle of the street blocking someones driveway. Of course someone happened to be leaving at that very moment, and saw me standing outside with puke all over my side. It was quite the spectacle, with my friend freaking out and me just laughing because what else was there to do? Needless to say, when I got home I stripped naked and hit the shower. Even when I got out after like 20 minutes I still felt like there was puke residue all over. Now I have to go to laundrymat. Maybe I'll go to Elmwood and Auburn. I never go to that one cause I always get annoyed there with their side loading washing machines. The top loaders are always taken.

Today I was sitting on the bench in front of Spot with my friend Justin. As we were enjoying our coffee this guy comes and asks to sit on the bench with us. He was wearing a hat with a bald eagle and the US flag. As he takes a seat he says, "Man, that girl in there has big titties." Immediately I felt uncomfortable. Justin decides to strike up a conversation with him. Then he tells us that he hasn't seen titties in so long because just got out of prison after being there for 6 months. Justin asks him what he was in for and he replies, "Oh I would rather not talk about that." I said, "Well you were the one that brought it up." Anyways, he continues to talk about titties. Finally, I said "Look, we don't like titties." He said, "oh, I kind of figured." Justin turns to me and asks if we can go and that was the end of that. Although this man was a teensy bit crazy, why do some guys feel the need to talk about titties to strangers as if they were speaking about the weather?

Today I was at Hoyt Lake and counted 60 dead fish in the water. Those were only the ones that I saw on the surface. There were some signs of life. I saw lots of little fish, but all the fish that were dead appeared to be about 5-6 inches on avg. Heard several fish jumping out of water. Is that because they are happy, hungry, suffocating or having seizures?

Besides the deaths, the park was beautiful as always. Frederick Olmstead is a.o.k in my book.

Would love to hear people's theories regarding the dead fish.