She -- like so many Americans -- could be quite Tyranical in defense of democracy.
-John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany

I went to Rocky Horror Picture Show last night. It was super bizarre and awesome. Then I realized that my mom used to go to that. A lot. Was she really one of those people?????? hella weird.

Sorry(?) I haven't posted in a really long time... nothing to write about, I guess. Merry CHristmas, I guess? I hope it's a good one (without any fear). Hopefully not too much consumerism stressing everyone out... I wish I had experienced the mall so that I could see how stressed everything was... I did all of my shopping at Barnes and Noble, and managed to get my whole family books that they enjoyed. It led to a quiet Christmas since we all had our noses in books, but I was pleased that I didn't epically fail at knowing my families tastes.

I'm part of the way through A Prayer for Owen Meany (thanks efar) and Into the Wild (thanks like 12 angsty teenagers). I've also finished Jesus wants to Save Christians, Rob Bell's latest. He lays out a systematic theology that is much more political/global than anything I've ever read by him. It all centers around Exodus and how God led them out of Egypt and from oppression, and then cautions us from becoming Solomon's Israel and focussing on accumulating wealth and arms. It sounds a lot like anything that Shane Claiborne would write, although much more Biblically focussed. All are great and I recommend them.

damn... 3 more weeks until Blacksburg. Why do we not start around the 10th like normal schools? Oh well, I should be able to knock out a lot of the reading I've wanted to do. I still have something by Brian McLaren and something by Ravi Zacharias that I'd like to read.

One of the funnier things I've seen in a long time...

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

sorry about the language, mom

Micro-lending

Something noteworthy from a book I am reading on Micro-lending:

Development should be viewed as a human rights issue, not as a question of simply increasing the gross national product. When the national economy picks up, the situation of the poor is not necessarily improved. Therefore development should be redefined. It should refer only to a positive measurable change in per capita income of the bottom 50 percent of the population.

One thing that I love about the system that Professor Yunnus, the author, has created is that it is simultaneously holistic and focused on the individual. It truly promotes markets and requires hard work and responsibility.

One thing that I am trying to do while reading this book is to connect successful methods of economic development with the methods we should use for spiritual development. Yunnus is very clear that he wants capital and opportunity and responsibility to be thrust directly on to the poor, not transferred through many hands where everyone gets to take a cut. How often do we spread spiritual fulfillment through local churches and committees and ministries where 10% of the church does 90% of the work spiritual renewal is never taken to the masses. I'll probably be writing more about this book and exploring the economic-spirituality relationship more later, because it is baller.

Brett Favre and the Jets are playing Kerry Collins and the Titans. These guys are old. CBS just showed highlights of the 1996 NFC championship where Brett Favre and the Packers beat Kerry Collins and the Panthers. That game was a long time ago. I watched it at the Ogburns house. This was pre 9/11 and you could hang out past security in airports, and Mix 101.5 did a promotion where they asked people to show up at the airport packed for green bay and they gave away two plane tickets and two game tickets in Green Bay. I went. I was 6. That was a really long time ago. I feel really old.

Sports are weird.

Auto Bailout

This thing is scary. In the words of Thomas Friedmann on Larry King tonight, "The Big 3 are too big to fail but to dumb to succeed."

Please copy the following message or one of your own and forward it to your representative and voice your concern for the Bailout. Taxpayers cannot afford to take care of every industry that is inefficient and dying.

I write to recommend that you oppose the auto bailout currently in Congress. Giving $25 Billion to failing companies, regardless of their size, who have no intention to make changes to their business structure, is far riskier than the reward. Proponents of the legislation point to the success the Chrysler bailout in 1979. However, that bailout occurred alongside significant restructuring. No requirements for major changes in the way that GM, Ford, and Chrysler operate have been given in the current plan. Forcing the Big 3 to enter bankruptcy, consolidate franchises, and restructure Union Contracts will give them the opportunity to return to viability. Not forcing these changes to occur will hurt the American economy and taxpayers far worse than the loss of these companies.

I really don't think we can afford to let this thing pass. Take action!

LET ME OUT

Lately, no music has had the spiritual impact on me that Under Pressure has.

From the Freddie Mercury Tribute, David Bowie and Annie Lennox.


The song's baller. Don't make fun of me.

Most significantly, has been this:

Why can't we give love that one more chance
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And loves dares you to change our way of

Caring about ourselves

It's Bowie and Queen, the purple is crucial.

I feel like the church I'm seeing isn't carrying this message and isn't out front in the fight to give love one more chance. This is rather concerning. I have a big church post coming in the near future.

Too anyone who considers them self to be my friend: if you ever observe me getting so worked up over sports that the outcome of a game dramatically affects my mood for longer than appropriate*, please smack me.

* The following lengths of time should be considered appropriate:
Regular Season, general opponent: 10 minutes (1 hour if it is a last minute victory)
Rivalry Game: 2 hours (1 week if I am in the presence of a fan of the loser. i.e. I get a week to make fun of Grant after Michigan starts beating State again next year) if preferred team wins, 20 minutes if preferred team loses.
Play offs/Bowl Game: 2 hours (win), 20 minutes (lose)
National Championship, Superbowl, Stanley Cup, etc: 48 hours if preferred team wins, 25 minutes (lose).

Note: This is only for games involving mortals. If Brett Favre ever wins another Superbowl, I will cry. And you won't make fun of me (too much).

Cabinet

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/11/obama.transition/index.html

A lot of names have emerged for potential Cabinet posts, including Sen. John Kerry for secretary of state. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska also have been mentioned for that position.

Health care is another priority, and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota is a possibility for secretary of health and human services. See who the top contenders are

Democratic sources also have said Howard Dean, a doctor who had a strong run as the Democratic National Committee chairman, is hungry for the HHS job.

John Kerry? Howard Dean? Tom Daschle?

I was under the impression that Obama was going to bring in youth and fresh faces. This list of also-rans is kind of disgusting. Also rather dissapointed that Obama's sense of "Bipartisanship" is to give a cabinet position to one of the biggest RINOs in the senate. I'm not seeing so much "change" yet.

Card Check

Question: If Detroit's auto industry is dying because of bad deals with the unions on salaries and pensions, why are the democrats trying to make it easier for Union bosses to force workers to sign up? I'd check the campaign donations.

Where are we?

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."

Complacency gave us George Bush, and apathy probably caused us to present no better alternative than John Kerry to oppose him. A very dependent segment of our population seems to have produced Barack Obama. I wonder how long we have before bondage, and what form that will take.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

I like that one better, and it lasts more than 200 years.

According to one blind pole, I make a real good lover

Someone chalked campus last night for Obama. As I was walking to class this morning, some obvious genius noted that they wanted to take a shit on the name Obama and beat up who ever wrote it. He fricken hated Obama.

Happy Election Day! Vote for Bob Barr and Mike Munger!

I forgot to do an absentee. Sad Day.

starting return of the king extended edition at 4am is a bad idea.

Philosophy is hard

In my philosophy class today we were discussing wonderful questions like "A human is a thinking thing" and "minds are different than brains." The professor gave us a list of 15 statements that we had two minutes to determine if they were true or false. In groups of six, we then had to come to a consensus answer on the question. My group got to number four. It was hard. And by hard I mean impossible.
At the beginning of the semester, Dr. Pitt described philosophy as the process of seeking eternal answers to eternal questions. What makes the class so fascinating is that there is no way to answer a question like "is there a mind" or "is there a god," at least from a rational or empirical approach. Yes, I have some idea of a mind or a soul, some subconscious, undefinable part of my existence that is separate from my body but just as much a part of me as my fingers and toes. I have no impression of my soul, however. I cannot see it or hear it. I don't remember an experience that occurred only to my soul and not through my senses. On some level, though, I cannot deny that there is a part of me that is bigger than 5'10 130 pounds (yes, I'm skinny as hell. Deal). Similarly with my belief in a God, I have no rational basis for believing in him. However, there is something that pulls on me that I cannot deny. It isn't based on logic or reason. But over and over, I see that there is something bigger than the world and there is a better way to live than the way the world tells me to. Sadly, this is not a very acceptable answer in philosophy class. We laugh at Descartes argument that because he has an idea of God, he must be real. However, I can not prove he exists in any more definite way than Descartes. I know that to those of you who do not believe in god or see him similarly to the way I do, this is not a strong argument. I just cannot accept him not existing. Despite the lack of a sensory impression of a God, I have to vivacious of an idea that there is a God who actually cares for me.

One of the guys in my group today and I got off onto our own side conversation. He made the claim that the concept of mind is similar to the concept of god -- constructed by philosophers to solve their problems, but never explained or proved thoroughly enough to stand on their own. I asked him how he thought of god, and he replied that he was probably an agnostic, and figured that if he lived a good life, he didn't expect God to reject him. Now, I fundamentally disagree, and I think that in asking him what "good" was, he understood the shallowness of his answer. However, I think that his answer reveals a deep truth that Christians often want to reject -- Jesus Christ was the example of the best possible life for Christians and Nonchristians alike. Regardless of how a human being views the Resurrection and grace and heaven and hell, I do not see any reason that a muslim who makes peace or a buddhist who mourns or an agnostic who is hungry and thirsty for righteousness should not be blessed.

Many philosophers are remembered more for the problems they create than for their solutions, because so often the questions are so much bigger than any answer we can construct. I think that this might be the single element of philosophy that points to the existence of God. This world is so much bigger and more complicated than something that I can comprehend, that I cannot imagine a chance creation. When life is filled with questions as complicated as the ones we are faced with, I cannot imagine a conclusion as simple as death. I need a God bigger than the questions I am asking.

I think this quest for a bigger God is why I've decided not to be an engineer. Engineers are focused on solving material problems; they find answers to the questions on this earth. My questions lately are so much bigger than this world, however. I need to devote my life to asking these really big questions and maybe, if I surround myself with some really wonderful people, together we can answer a few of them.

Last night during SNL (which was PHENOMENAL), a commercial for W came on. I haven't seen it yet, sadly, but plan to, because it looks like a really well made film. Anyway, that doesn't matter. The commercial cites an endorsement from someone saying "One of Oliver Stone's best!" to which Ben, the esteemed roommate, concluded that he must not be a very good director. I asked him if he had seen the movie so that he had evidence to support the claim, and he said "No, I'm a Republican, so I have to think that." Now, I know that Ben is a smart guy and probably doesn't actually think that. Still, though, the fact the comment still supports how terribly ignorant and polarized we've gotten. Why does being a Republican (or Democrat) automatically make it necessary that we think that other Republicans are good at their jobs? Why is it unpatriotic to disagree? We all need to get over ourselves. I think that this mindset has really hurt the country in this election. I know that towards the end of the primary, all Republicans and many Democrats were more or less displeased with their choices on a number of levels (Obama redeemed himself a bit by nominating Biden. McCain, not so much.) The fact that we support politicians on party first, biography second, and policies third often means that we discuss Joe the plumber instead of real macroeconomics or foreign policy.

As for Saturday Night Live last night...

Science...

...is all made up. There is no reason that Sodium should be bigger than Magnesium. Magnesium has a twelve above it, and sodium has an eleven. Twelve is more than eleven.

That is what I have learned from an hour of studying chemistry.

Severe Attention Deficiency

Last night, Andrea and I decided that there is no such thing as attention deficit disorder. It is not a disorder. We have wrongly labeled it as a disorder as a product of lazy parents who think that there is CLEARLY something wrong with their child if they require more stimulus than the television 8 hours a day. There kids are hyper because they don't have anything to do, and so they go to the doctor, and the health care industry sees this as a money making opportunity and doctors give parents scripts for Ritalin and Adderall. Instead, Andrea and I decided that we will refer to the condition where people have a short attention span (mine has been diminishing rather rapidly of late) Severe Attention Deficiency*. I obviously agree that some people have problems focusing; my claim is simply that this does not make them a bad person or imply that there is something wrong with them. It only means that they hate chemistry and would rather blog about SAD instead.

*I don't like the fact that my new acronym spells sad. If you have a better one, please let me know.

Post script:
How many SAD kids does it take to change a light bulb?












Wanna go ride bikes?

No Debate Blog Tonight

Aside from bible study and too much homework, I'm not going to blog the debate tonight, because I just don't expect there to be anything to write about. Campbell Brown pretty much hits it on the head in this article.

From both candidates, we need real answers. And please don't tell us that you are going to cut pork barrel spending and scrub the waste out of every bloated federal agency. I mean, name a political candidate who hasn't promised to cut the fat and eliminate waste in government. Please, no bull. Be straight with us, we can take it. Americans understand the stakes. Just give us brutal honesty, because so far we are not really getting it.

If you have time, watch it. I hope it is interesting and informative and worthwhile, but I don't expect it to be. These campaigns are too stale, and neither is challenging the other to be any better. Both of these candidates are too scared to say anything, when if either would, even if they said something wrong, that would probably attract more voters.

So, I was flipping through channels to see if the Packers game was on on Sunday, and I found something much more exciting -- a Obamaniac rally featuring The Clintons and Bidens speaking together in Scranton, Pa (I wonder if Michael or Jim went...). While the funniest moment of the rally, to me, was a bunch of applause for Bill and Hillary having the same last name (somedays) for 33 years yesterday, the most terrifying moment was when Hillary bellowed "WE SHOULDN'T BE ASKING WHO YOU ARE FOR, WE SHOULD BE ASKING WHO IS FOR YOU!" (thunderous applause).

I'm deeply disturbed by this comment and the strong response to it. I am certainly not a fan of the famous Kennedy remark of asking what you can do for your country instead of what your country can do for you. However, the notion that is so thick in this country of government saving us at each problem is really starting to irritate me.* When the economy gets bad, we send out $2,000 checks. When people made irresponsible decisions in taking out mortgages they couldn't afford, we buy the houses. We take care of retirement and will soon guarantee health care. It is so easy to get a piece of paper saying you finished high school, I honestly don't understand how a person can not do it unless they have extreme financial problems requiring them to work.

A couple weeks ago when I was freaking out about the bailout failing and the country going to hell, Scouse, my RA, told me to calm down and stop thinking about the crisis in large terms. I am a freshman in an excellent University. If I work hard for four years, I will get a good job and make a lot of money and be set. Now, I understand that many Americans do not have my skills or my opportunities. Still, I have to believe that America is still a country held up by individuals striving to do the best they possibly can for themselves, and not wanting to depend on others. I fear that the sense of Independence that has made us great is slipping away, and as we turn more power over to the Federal Government, they will have more and more control over our lives. The government is looking into ways to intrude into the banking industry, and this scares the shit out of me (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/14/miron.banks/index.html). I am for a bailout, on some level, because I think that some sort of a rescue plan to keep the banks solvent is necessary. I just don't trust the government to be as big as it has gotten.

I'm very confused with where I stand politically. I clearly know what I think will make America great, I just don't know how much I like America these days. I feel like we as a nation have been spoiled and lulled into a dangerous position of indifference. Life has become to easy, and it is about to become very, very, difficult. I don't know what I want, but I am pretty sure that neither John nor Barry is going to bring it for me. How tragic.

*I'm writing from the standpoint of an American taxpayer, not a Christian dedicated to serving others

Wanted

If anyone has possession of a wheel chair that they could donate to the second floor of West AJ, please notify me immediately.

We want to hold hall wheelchair jousting contests.

Jousting is not a sport. Therefore, Hall Jousting is not a Hall Sport.

Presidential Debate #2 Blog

I'm back to blog the presidential debate. It's a town hall format. I really don't like it. I'd rather have a supposed brilliant journalist asking hard questions. Oh wait, they don't ask hard questions either.

9:03 - Question: What can you do for me? Obama - rich people are the devil. McCain - we're all friends. Let's cut spending. What spending do you wanna cut, John? you want to expand the military. I haven't heard a ton about social security. I'm going to cut spending by buying up homes. He's right, but come on.

Wow, McCain will nominate someone that we can identify with as treasury secretary. Probably a maverick.

9:10 Obama wants a taxcut for people who don't pay taxes. I still have not figured that one out.

9:11 Is Brokaw actually going to try to follow the rules?

9:11 Wow, a great question. How does this bailout work. Let's see if either of them can explain it. If either can, I will probably vote for them.
Grades: McCain: Tied the problem to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the problem and stated that Obama and democrats empowered them. Did little to actually explain Bailout. B-
Obama: Notes that we need to return liquid to credit market. Notes that we need to increase regulation. Really makes it seem like it was Bush and McCain that opposed regulation, when it had more to do with people like Bill Clinton, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank. Claims that the economy can come back quickly. At least he still has some hope. C
Obama discusses the bailout, McCain is closer on history.*

9:18 Hard working Americans are awesome, and they are all John McCain's friends.

9:19 Obama discusses increases in spending. WILL YOU SAY THAT THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE WAR OR SOCIAL SECURITY???

9:21 How many ways can John McCain say he is a maverick without saying maverick?

9:24 3 Reforms which is the priority: Health care, energy, entitlements.
McCain, please answer the question, stop bullshitting. This is a great question, and people want answers. How is healthcare a national security issue.
Obama says energy is the most important. He mentions a moonshot. Thank you. That may have bought my vote. He prioritizes education before entitlements, because he doesn't want to say that his solution to social security is raising taxes. Why do young people like him? That is our money!

9:28 McCain wants to cut spending for contractors. I think Dusenbury wrote a resolution about that in 07. Whoohoo! If you really want to cut spending, though, John, you need to look at where we are actually spending it -- ENTITLEMENTS. MILITARY. We can't afford this war. We can't afford to be the world's police. It sucks, but we can't.

9:31 Is Obama asking us to put on sweaters?

9:33 Brokaw is asking a question about credit, i.e. monetary policy. Will either of them discuss this? It's doubtful.
Obama - Tax cuts for CEO's, poor middle class, blah blah blah
McCain - Doesn't mention monetary policies, but notes that Obama wants to raise taxes on small business.
Neither mention the fed or anything that directly affects credit. I miss Ron Paul. He would have talked about monetary policy. That's probably also why he lost.

9:37 Let him answer, Tom.

9:38 Will you set a date to reform Social Security? This is another vote changer.
Obama - blah blah blah cut taxes for middle class. Reform social security in my first term.
McCain - blah blah blah bipartisanship smart people to fix Medicare. Force congress to vote up or down. I actually kind of like it. friends.

Brokaw really needs to shut up about the rules.

9:44 McCain clearly does not understand a thing about nuclear waste. He should have watched my contemporary issues in engineering presentation!

9:45 I'm really glad I dropped engineering 1024 so I don't have to watch another contemporary issues in engineering presentation tomorrow.

9:46 Obama brings up basic research. I like it.

9:49 "We need to do all of the things that are necessary to get the job done."

9:56 Obama states that Health care is a right, and McCain believes that it is a responsibility. I haven't decided how I feel. I still don't ever like taking money from one person to give it to another. That is absurd and is not liberty.

9:58 Obama states that he does not believe that markets work.

9:59 Maybe the best question: how does America's economic position support our peacemaking ability. McCain states that the American Military Economic sword is more powerful in spreading peace and freedom than Jesus Christ. I don't think I can vote for him. Obama largely agrees, never uses the term "greatest."

10:11 You shouldn't say you have two heroes, John. Ronald and Teddy? that's quite a trick. Stop trying to show that you are old.

10:13 Brokaw needs to stop worrying about the rules and focus on asking tough questions and getting answers. The range these candidates have is tremendous. No one is forcing them to reveal anything.

10:14 I'm bored.

10:25 Question: would you engage Iran if they attack Israel, and would you wait for the United Nations? McCain - Yes, kind of. Obama - It's an option, but we'll do other things first.

Thought for both candidates: what are we doing to stop Iran from going nuclear. Bullying them probably isn't going to stop them. Are we offering any sort of reduction in our abilities? Will we increase trade with them? Maybe I am being naive and ignoring the fact that Iran hates anything western, but I truly wonder what real diplomacy and efforts at economic development in their backyard instead of nation building would make them think.

I don't even know how either of them did, because Brokaw did such a terrible job. I'm really upset with him.

*I don't completely get it, so if that is false, I apologize.

The worst thing about being a liberal arts major: I can no longer make fun of liberal arts majors.
The best thing about being a liberal arts major: I'm not an engineer.

Bail Out Passes

"I hate it, but inaction to me is a greater danger to our country than this bill,"
-Rep Zach Wamp (R, Tennessee)

The bailout passed. It was a necessary evil. I wish I understood the thing.

Hey, can I call you Joe?

I'm blogging through the Debate:
9:00 I'm glad Gwen Ifill isn't wearing a bathrobe like she was in 04. Possibly the only thing I remember about those debates.

9:03 yes the policies have been terrible for 8 years, Joe, but it has been the policy of letting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac run wild and buy up bad debt to allow people to get loans they can't afford. President Bush and the Republicans tried to tighten it up, and the Congressional Democrats blocked it http://beltwayblips.com/story/bush_called_for_reform_of_fannie_mae_freddie_mac_17/

9:05 Palin is on the mainstream Americans order with the soccer game remark

9:08 Thank you for calling Obama out on not being bipartisan, voting with the Democrats 98%. Maverick Count: 2. Stop winking, Palin. Nice job calling both candidates out for not answering the question, Gwen.

9:14 Biden is already on the attack. ANSWER THE QUESTION, SARAH! Oh wait, you can't.

9:15 WHY DO YOU HAVE TO MOVE ONTO THE NEXT TOPIC IF PEOPLE ARE SAYING STUFF AND ACTUALLY GETTING SUBSTANTIVE.

9:18 Dang, Sarah Tell Biden about being a patriot. That was phenomenal. She is surprisingly sharp. All that was missing was taking my breathe away with the maverick remark. Yes, I stole your line, Emily. Deal.

9:20 Didn't know about that McCain wanted to start taxing Health Care Benefits. Nice Bridge line.

9:24 Palin is looking pretty good with her shpeel about energy. Biden looks like he knows otherwise.

9:25 I was right

9:27 Please, Sarah, how do you want to change Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? Tell us what is wrong and what needs to be done differently. Why can we not go in depth? So far, you've done an excellent job of saying nothing.

9:35 Sarah Palin supports capping carbon emissions. Sarah Palin should read my resolution. The apocalyptic doom one.

9:41 "I didn't hear a plan." So far, the most important line of the debate. As much as he killed me in the economic discussion, that is why I would probably vote for Joe Biden for President.

9:43 Barack Obama has not acknowledged that the surge has worked. What does working mean, Sarah? They're seeing progress, I'm sure they did. When they asked us to leave. If she could tell me what that meant, I would have been thrilled to listen.

9:47 Sarah says nucular. I thought we were done with that. Oh well.

9:49 Sarah Palin, you aren't winning anyone over by mentioning defending women's rights when you don't stand for the one that people that really care about women's rights really care about.

9:53 Bob Dole has a message for Joe Biden. Don't refer to yourself in the third person.

9:54 Tina was right. Sarah Palin gets much cuter when she doesn't know what she is talking about. Forge ahead? is that right? Maverick count: 4?

9:57 The surge principles from Iraq need to be implemented in Afghanastan. With what troops?

10:10 Answer the question about what would be different. Losers

10:11 Dear Sarah Palin, STOP TALKING ABOUT YOUR FAMILY BEING TEACHERS. YOU ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING. Thank you for discussing quitting No Child Left Behind. There is one way to fix education. Pay teachers, but make them earn it. Empower principals, but hold them accountable as well.

10:22 Wow, a bunch of Republicans and Joe Liberman endorsed the Republican. What a maverick!

10:23 I really want to know what McCain and Palin would do about healthcare. I hope someone will ask. If the answer is free market solutions, the next question MUST be is it a free market now, and is it working?

10:25 Biden's answer to the "have you changed" question was phenomenal. A) bring up the supreme court, reminding us of Palin's interview failure. B)I've been around a really long time. C) I've been important for a really long time. Ditto on the Jesse Helms comment.

10:28 Has either candidate revealed anything new? Bipartisanship is a great word, but tell me how. Cutting taxes and spending is great. Where are you going to cut spending? Social Security? Military? Palin's closing statement was completely useless. A whopping load of God Bless America's Bullshit. I'm glad that this at least isn't a Republican debate, so only had one Ronald Reagan reference.

10:31 The highlight of the conventions for me was Mark Warner's speech about technology and basic investment. Neither has really discussed this issue in this debate, and I don't think either has talked about any issue in as much depth as Warner had. I know they don't want to waste this opportunity to talk to everyone, but I really want to believe that I'm not the only person who wants to vote for someone who is smarter than me. If you can talk about something substantively, people will acknowledge that you know what's going on. I really want to hear something deeper than "blah blah blah middle class american blah blah blah"


Final thoughts (expanded from my post on Preston's wall):
I was very disappointed in the level of discourse. Outside of some of the discourse on Afghanistan, I did not hear a lot of real discussion of policy, anyone outlining new ideas. Palin talked a lot about spending, but did not say what she would cut. Transportation? Entitlements? Foreign Policy? No one talked about the status of Iraq. No one really tried to explain what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are, and what roll they played in the current crisis. No one tried to talk about what the bailout is, and what it means to Americans. Who is getting bailed out? who does it help? Who does it hurt? I wish people would outline a plan for getting off foreign energy. They both talked about needing to get off of foreign oil, but how? What will it cost?

Neither candidate train wrecked. They both debated well in terms of appealing to voters. The main thing I am disappointed in, then, is the way we elect Presidents in this country. I'm so disappointed that it has come down to a beauty contest (no shot at Palin or anything). People want to understand who will help them in the most basic way, and then become content. Will you cut my taxes? Will you fight my war? Will you pay for me to go to the doctor? Will you worship my god exactly as I do? I wish we would let them, force them to go deeper than wallstreet vs. mainstreet.

I don't know how to fix that. I guess the best thing I could hope for is a shrinking of the National Government and an expansion of local governments. Let Politics happen locally, where votes matter, where people know each other and can see the effects of their ideas. All politics are local (Tipp O'neill?), but when we try and do local politics for 300 million people just doesn't work.

The NBC analyst just discussed some of the issues not discussed: NAFTA/trade, Social Security Medicare, jobs (auto industry bail-out?). I'll add basic technological investment. They spent five minutes on education (and most of that was discussing who knew more teachers). If we make education happen at the schoolboard meeting and not in Washington, I think we could fix things. Show me the teacher who is being paid peanuts for a phenomenal job. Show me the administrator who is being paid 100k to run a failing school. Let me decide how they are doing from here. I can't vote about what to do about a million teachers, but I can probably give you an opinion about three or four.

I still who haven't decided who to vote for, although I am leaning towards throwing my vote away. I don't have any faith in either party, and don't understand why we picked these two men to hold arguably the most powerful job in the world. I'd love to see Bill Gates and Warren Buffet announce their candidacy tomorrow. I know that is a fantasy, but it would be nice. I think I am going to start researching candidates for local and state issues, since that is where a vote matters more and actual changes can be made.

Final Maverick vote: too high.

CH CH CH CH CHANGES

I quit engineering.

I didn't like it, and had no interest in doing it for the next forty years. I dropped my introduction to Engineering class, so there is essentially no going back. I've been very excited about this all day.

I can apply to change majors in two weeks during course registration. For now, that is a double major in International Studies concentrating in development and Religious Studies with a minor in math. I don't really know whether or not that will stick, but on October 2, that is the plan. IS majors have to become fluent in a second language, something I'd like to do but am not overly excited about, so that one could possibly change to Economics or Political Science, who knows.

What to do with a piece of paper saying that I studied International Development, Religion, and Math for four years at some place in Blacksburg, Virginia? No clue, at the moment. Probably going and hanging out in South America for a couple of years, maybe Grad School and be a professor, maybe Seminary. Who knows? I'm not really concerned. One thing that I've really taken away from a lot of the people that I have talked to about this switch is that as long as you can think, people will want you to do stuff and most likely compensate you for it nicely.

Anyway, that is what is going on in the world of Mike LaHaye today.

34 minutes until the most anticipated vp debate ever, I presume.

Thank you, Chris Newton

So my sister told me to start writing shit, and I am a sheep/bored, so I did.

The first entry will be dedicated to explaining the name.

The guy's hall on the second floor of West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has a wheelchair. It is awesome. Pete's mom is a dialysis nurse, and when she told Pete that they would soon be disposing of a wheelchair, he requested that she bring it up to him the next time he came to visit. His brother also has a wheelchair, I forget why, but Pete decided that he needed a wheelchair to, and so he got one.
It took all of 12 minutes for Pete's wheelchair to become the hall's wheelchair. Probably 40% of the people on the hall have at one point or another sat in the wheelchair, done wheeleys, roll around to be lazy, pretend to be crippled when cute girls walk by, all of that fun stuff. Last week when Marie and Katherine came to visit, they were met by Sebastian coming down the hall in the wheelchair wearing a Barack Obama mask. From a distance, they thought Sebastian was not only crippled but black. It was pretty exciting.
So that is the story of the AJ wheelchair. I'm excited about the fact that I have at least one post that isn't just political ranting.