Ahh.. the political arena... its more gruesome, ugly, and backstabbing than even the Coliseum of Rome in the days of yore...

*Folks, I'm sorry for the long political rant but I need to get it out of my system... please feel free to skip down to the part where it says "STOP SKIPPING!"*

<== START SKIPPING! ==>

It's strange how two parties can bicker and squabble so much... like 2 children (although I do unfortunately favor one over the other) but neither in my opinion are truly great (especially the other, yeah, damnit, I'm partially biased)... I guess it's good that they keep one another in balance but they both have been getting more and more extreme in order to balance one another out... what happened to just trying to be balanced in the first place and work from there? I don't like coloring within the political lines of a party.. its not fun... I'd like to have free reign over my thoughts and going completely one way or the other is simple tyranny... the only difference is that you get to pick your tyrants... Whatever happen to reason, responsibility, and respect? Oh, I forget.. this is politics which we speak of... its sad to see so few politicians who stand firmly on their own ground instead of the grounds of their respective parties...

And this recall? so many of the messages I see are hogwash.... Our state is in a state of defecit... one way or another... we have to pay... it's as simple as that... We can't pay the deficit unless we do two simple things... cut the spending which is not high on our priority list and increase revenue to the state (increase taxes or fees here and there)... of course, we also have to try to maintain a good business environment and keep our infrastructure up to date... but wanting to keep a good business environment doesnt necessarily mean continuing to cut taxes.. and keeping up our infrastructure doesnt mean we need to break the poor camel's back anymore... Asking for a costly recall didnt exactly help either ( but perhaps it might help in the long run?) Look people, we had an economic downturn.. things are going to get bad one way or another... you can't blame EVERYTHING on gray davis... i'm sure there was some mismanagement (I'm sure when the checks were still fat, gray was like a giddy girl on payday or a fat man without his wife around <-- loosens his belt buckle a couple notches)... but even still.. we have to accept that these were gonna be not so good times... no matter how you cut the pie, its not going to taste good if you're cutting a crappy pie to start with... its like marriage... we have to work through the tough times and accept them... we cant just expect things to be merry all the time and blame the significant other for the hard times... in other words... DEAL WITH IT! I dont think things would be all that different even if another governor had been elected... and now gray davis has been made the scapegoat and sacrificed to the gods in our hopes for sudden improvement... even arnold's muscles arent big enough to cast our problems away... and if and when people notice this... what will ah-nold say? "It was guh-ray daybisses fahlt!"

I'm not saying arnold is a bad guy. I'm just saying thats the way politics work. Its like chutes and ladders only the chutes are lies and the ladders are blame. Although I will say I have lost and gained some respect for our state... it's good to see that we will all go out and vote and change things if we dont like them... but its bad to see that for a lot of people the choice was more of a result of bandwagoning than it was of logic and good information.. and I think in some ways our state looks like a joke now... we have the terminator as our governor.. I'm not saying hes a bad person, but how many of us laughed when jesse ventura became governor? how many of us feel like asses with our foot in our mouths now that arnold is governor? Oh well, I just hope he does a good job...

Things seem so simple in life.. but in all the political madness.. things grow complex, unnatural, and simply not right... I dont see how it is the republican duty to destroy the environment even if it is for the sake of business... isn't it common sense that the environment is an important issue? I mean who craps in their own room and leaves it there? No one wants to pollute their own little environment.. its too bad so many idiots cant apply the word environment on a larger scale... apparently they either havent been able to think for themselves or their minds are simply unable to perceive the complex and abstract thought that we all live together on one planet... the world doesnt end west of the pacific and east of atlantic.. yes, thats right... it all comes back full circle because the earth is spherical and they proved that 500 years ago... but for some reason 500 years isnt long enough for it to seep into the heads of people with such thick skulls... I understand that business and money are important but this is the life of the planet and everyone on the planet we're talking about... who cares about money when you have a gun to your head? people with thick skulls of course!

Ok... this seems like a very anti-republican diatribe but I'm not saying everything republican is evil.. its not like i'm going to go out and call them the axis of evil and have all of them hate me*ahem ahem cough* bush! I like the fact that the general mind set or at least the original general mind set for republicanism is being reasonable and level-headed about things... it was about giving people freedom (in fact, abe lincoln who was a republican, is best known for helping emancipate the slaves, GO ABE!) but apparently things have changed.. many republicans are just as looney and fanatical as the liberals they constantly deride... there are few who have stuck to the true path (perhaps john mccain falls into this category) of republicanism... Although there is one "republican" which I will shamelessly make fun of..... the one and the only king of the morons... Dubya! >=O

He's a dumbass or in less harsh and hateful words.. the man is ignorant... plain and simple... the funny thing is many a person will fight that claim... I've been told by quite a few sources "Did you know gore was a college dropout? Bush actually graduated from Yale." They expect me to eat that crap on a silver spoon with sugar on top. Based upon that fact alone, they expect me to believe it. So thats why I ask whatever happen to common sense and sensibility... I mean honestly.. if you were to have not known bush and gore... and then you talk to them on the street as if they were average schmucks and remained unaware of their political biases... I think just about anyone would say Gore must have been the nerd everyone made fun of in class and bush is the slow guy everyone was nice to just because he was slow... I think those people who say he's smart, resembe the fox that lost its own tail and tried to convince all the other foxes not having a tail was cool (its a fable)... Seriously, he's a belligerent little bugger... SNL made fun of him as being some childish dope who would go to war with Iraq as soon as he was made president and then make war with other countries as soon as he had some fun with Iraq... apparently their portrayal isnt far off because thats exactly what he's done... announcing a bunch of countries that he doesnt like was a brilliant stroke of foreign policy.. he certainly made north korea happy... why else would they have nukes now? they want to be just like big brother bush... the guy is against other nations having nukes... and then senate passes a bill to increase spending on nuclear arms development and he approves it... hypocrisy is amongst the greatest evils... we all do it to some extent but goodness.. its beyond tolerability... he is seriously a republican puppet with the hands of the far right wing and special interests far up his butt.... a small mind in charge of a large (and undoubtedly powerful) nation... shouldnt the path to peace be a relatively peaceful one? I know it'll have its bumps in the road.. but hey.. maybe dubya has a better way.. maybe if we all kill one another and there was no one left.. the planet would be a peaceful one and toxic green too!

I will say sometimes liberal ideas are far too lofty and optimistic to be considered realistic... and that spending too much time with your head in the clouds and too little time with your feet on the ground is pretty horrible... but I prefer the optimism (within bounds) as opposed to the hard-nosedness and reactionism of the right..

If I had my own party... one to rule them all... I would call it the party of responsibility... and I would have a person as my party symbol.. and in political cartoons you'll see the person bbq'ing the donkey and the elephant while reading a book.. oh it would be glorious... but I shouldnt linger too long in my dreams... *especially with so much work around here that needs doing*

Anyway, if you've read this then I'm sorry you had to read such a long political diatribe. I'm also sorry for the mild use of foul langauge and the general bad vibes I may have broadcasted via this electronic medium... I normally don't talk about politics because I dislike them... (poli.. perhaps related to the latin root poly which as a prefix means many... tics .. blood sucking parasites)......... but if you read the warning above, you didnt have to read this and you were free to skip.... and if you did read it... then I hope you found it somewhat interesting albeit long winded....

<== STOP SKIPPING! ==> Yes, that certainly is a lot of skipping....

Hey roo, thanks for the strongbad update... truly inspirational.. I now wish to increase my productivity... and I also liked strong bad's "appointment" ... (click on the word appointment on the post it once he's done reading the e-mail for all of you who dont know)...

Yeah, the six plate challenge always ends disastrously... its one of those admittedly stupid things that for some odd reason seems wonderful and enticing... sometimes when you look at it.. you say "oh my goodness, what the heck am I doing?" but for the most part you're inexpicably happy and gungho about it.. like kids that had fun continuously shocking and getting shocked by one another after rubbing their feet on the carpet... Anyway, one glorious day we will conquer the six plate challenge... I know I can do it.. if I had just 30 more minutes last time... I would have had room for my green tea ice cream which would have been my 6th and final plate... it's funny how we swear these things off but oh so stupidly we come back and do it again.... i guess that proves onami is great...

Only 3 plates lisa? hehe.. I guess from now it will be the four plate challenge for you =) I hope you're getting back in the swing of things and able to keep all your little monsters under control while you fill their brains up with the goodness of knowledge and the strength of education... Isn't it reassuring to know that just as fast as the weekends go by, so does the week itself? very soon it'll be friday again and you can set your mind at ease once the bell rings at 2:30 or 3... or whatever time it is that you get out...

And Kim, you're one lucky son of a gun... I wish to be a student extraordinaire like you.. you've worked hard, made it out with a year to spare, obtained a stellar gpa, you're being good about getting your transfer work done, and soon you'll be accepted and going off to learn pharmacy at the exquisite school of your choice... yes, I'm very jealous... oh yes, have fun going to the much closer mraz concert in claremont

In other Albert news.. I'm sorry I'm not sure if I will be able to spend time with my mokroopals this weekend =( Yeah I know... boo on Albert... this will be the first time in a long time.. but i'll definitely try to see you next week... I'm being taken away by friends that I have not seen in a while to go to knott's halloween haunt.. I know many of you dont like it anyway so you wont be missing out on much ( although I typically have a pretty good time there... sweet sweet adrenaline will once again course freely through my veins)... Yes, I'll miss you people too... but who knows.. maybe I'll be able to squeeze in some time with my much adored friends, the mokroopals... anyway.. Forgivuhness puhreez!