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"

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?

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.

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.