It is usually much easier to sit here and do nothing.

I was watching a program called “Return of the Pirates” on the History Channel, and it was pretty informative.

I know this will sound blasphemous to people who are entranced by the mythology surrounding pirates, or even those who just enjoy “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” but… dude, pirates really suck.

I hate how little children are taught the virtues of monarchy, when monarchy is disgusting (not just in its freedom-hating way, but in the incest kind of way), and I’m leaning towards that way with Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates are thieves, kidnappers, and cold-blooded murderers..

You’re probably wondering what’s my problem. It’s all in good fun, right?

Well, there are two problems. Piracy is on the rise, for the first time in over a century. And some piracy can be linked with terrorism, or terrorism linked with piracy. I mean, what would happen if you wrote a movie called, “Terrorists of the Caribbean”?

Alright, maybe we don’t have to go as far as I do, but we should take piracy seriously. They can do some good damage to the world economy. Go look it up.

After watching USC cream Michigan and Florida cream Ohio State, I wonder… if USC had not lost to UCLA, would USC have beat Ohio State? I think yes, but then again, I’m pretty biased. Of course, in that situation, Florida would’ve gotten gypped because if they had performed like that against USC, I think they probably would’ve beaten USC. And after all, USC did lose to UCLA.

I am such an idiot. I was so distracted by that other ruckus involving news-feed that I missed the real reason for implementing news-feed. I knew that “we want you to know what your friends are doing blah blah” was BS, but I didn’t really examine it. Now, I realize what’s going on, and I’m kicking myself for not figuring it out a long time ago. (Note: I actually found this a bit ago, but I didn’t blog it yet.)

So, here’s the real reason:

ADVERTISING! The real reason for news-feed was to insert ads right on your front page. Bravo, facebook. What a brilliant idea. We were so distracted by our “privacy” that no one figured out what was going on. And I still don’t think anyone will really figure it out because the ads are so brilliantly designed. They’re so unobtrusive that people won’t notice them.

I know that my final is over, so I should stop thinking about philosophy, but I’m a philosophy major, so it’s not going to happen. Anyway, a few items on the internets reminded me of philosophers…

In Harebrained hypotheses prove invaluable to scientific debate, Bradley T. Lepper’s points remind me of John Stuart Mill. Without conflict ideas harden into dogma? “Davis argued that when a discipline, which in his case was geology, got too stodgy and conservative, it was in danger of ‘theoretical stagnation.'” Yup. These ideas may actually be right? “Science sometimes needs wild and seemingly harebrained ideas to shake things up and get people thinking outside the box. Davis wrote, ‘We may be pretty sure that the advances yet to be made in geology will be at first regarded as outrages upon the accumulated convictions of today, which we are too prone to regard as geologically sacred.'” Yup. Yeah, totally cribbing off Mill.

The Blog Mob by Joseph Rago rips bloggers to shreds. It superficially reminds me of Nietzsche calling Socrates a decadent. And look, bloggers are a symptom of decay: “And in acceding so easily to the imperatives of the Internet, we’ve allowed decay to pass for progress.”

By the way, Mr. Rago claims, “The bloggers, for their part, produce minimal reportage.” Yet if Mr. Rago had considered the value of the hyperlink, he could have provided evidence of his claims about bloggers. Instead, he is content with the technique of generalization. Also perhaps in the irony department, Neitzsche thinks the decadent philosophers are afraid of change, but here it is Mr. Rago who is behind the curve.

Note: I do not think that bloggers are journalists. They’re mostly opinion-mongerers and diarists. I’m merely pointing out the fact that Mr. Rago does not provide a proper argument. That’s also why it reminds me of Nietzsche, but at least Nietzsche was going somewhere with it. Mr. Rago appears to be taking himself seriously.

As we approach the holiday season, some people are in the midst of finals and some are finished with finals. I thought it would be an interesting time to take a snapshot of student life via facebook status.

• Bill is wondering if he should burn his now obsolete texbooks. Mmm… fire….
• Paige is takin a nap then typin a paper ugh it never ends <3.
• Amanda is excited because Bobby is coming to the bay tomorrow!!
• Heather is no longer having the axe hanging over her head. NO MORE INTROSPECTION!
• Jessica is wondering when her hair will grow. She want more hair. She is wondering when she is going to get invited somewhere to have fun. Hello.
• Cassie is done being raped by cell bio forever.
• Grace is done with orgo, and moving on to bio. gasp.
• Kyle is overwhelmed with stress and tired but he cant help being happy… IT’S FUCKING X-MAS TIME!!!
• Jared is happy to be home.
• Bill is gonna make it through the semester, he thinks.
• Keshav is weqgtqwgr4hhar.
• Cary is Hansel: so hawt right now.
• Akemi is contantly thinking she is almost done with this semester but something new keeps popping up and having to be done for a class.
• Khang is going to a little place called crazy.
• Daniel is failure at orgo.
• Lisa is hating schedules right now. Damn them.
• Ian is waiting for one his finale then coming home!!
• Tym is having a party at his house tonight. Call if you want to come!
• Priya is done!!!!!!!!! and going home today!!!
• Jenny is inundated by chocolate.
• Sarah is finished everything, but Modernism! YAY.
• Tracey is flabby, fat and lazy.
• James is layin it down.
• Luciano is thinking of writing a giant pentavalent carbon on his exam.
• Nicha is going to see how many finals/papers/presentations she can bomb (or rather, hopefully not bomb) in 4 days.
• Daryl is no bueno.
• Jude is sleeping.
• Sarah is exploring SoCal with Elizabeth and Greg and loving it!
• Molly is freezing.
• Araceli is back in the stack =].
• Ashley is stuck at JHU for 4 more days wahhhhh.
• sean is walking the cow.
• Lizz is FUCKING CONFUSED.
• Robert is counting down for x mas.
• Elizabeth is done with three. Two left to go.
• Sabrina is all over Italy until December 26th!
• Emerald is home! =).
• Sharlene is a gigantic bouncy stressball.
• Al is happy because his soulmate is back.
• Chao is not dead yet.
• Ethan is packing up for his flight home tuesday morning.
• Njeri is is wishing her friends good luck on their Orgo, Chem and Econ exams.
• Steve is feeling like he is having a midlife crisis at age 19.
• Steve is almost certain that Life is just fucking with him at this point and not too pleased by the whole situation.
• Jessica is in the Philippines until the 31st. She misses everyone already.
• Andrew is so damn tired from studying he can’t even remember his name.
• Yessen is can’t wait till he gets to Crystal.
• Shana is in Hawaii with her favorites! :).
• Joseph is unwinding at home.
• Padma is not going to do that again…
• Andrew is hyphy.
• Marcus is missing stanford already.
• James is status.
• August is sadly ready to go back to school…
• Alex is back on the 18th.
• Dan is going to see his old pal shlomo.
• Leanne is home for two weeks.
• Jackie is – yes – actually cutting down that tree. But not getting very far…
• Ashley is not even concerned about math right now, cuz she’s back in the BAY.
• Ashley is sad to be away from emma.
• Monica is two finals down, one to go!
• Lauren is not done with exams yet.
• Eric is at home.
• Michael is excited for the end of finals on monday!!!
• Connie is wondering why the heck she’s spent the last hour playing bejeweled instead of studying for her final tomorrow.
• Paulo is giving out presents ;D.
• Ashley is so ready 2 go to China.
• Mary is at home.
• Vikram is almost outta the woods!

And myself?

• Shawn is figuring out how to focus.

Usually, when I do these, I’m checking for humor, but even my status is not an attempt at humor. I find this listlog to be a curious mixture of elation and anxiety. It’s interesting.

PLEASE, I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS

I woke up this morning, wishing it was already done

I dreamt it was half-finished

But it’s not even begun

Argh, discontent. Grumble grumble. Why can’t I work? Just get it done, Shawn. Frederick Jackson Turner, go.

GRAR!

1 ½ pages done. So, at this rate, I will be done approximately… never.

Organized, or organic? This paper is too long to plan out beforehand. While in other classes, I had a scary intuitive grasp of things, this will require much more research. Not good. Not good at all. I’m stuck. I’m stuck I’m stuck I’m stuck…

Well well, another sentence, another half an hour. Bravo.

Slog. That is the one word that describes this. It will not get any easier men; it will be a long, hard slog through the snow. Through the white space, we will leave our footprints. The words will slowly mar the surface until I have traversed the entirety of this essay. Perhaps if you are lucky, you will forget where you are and be surprised at how far you have walked.

You’ve learned the rules already. Break them at will. Go around the mountain instead of a straight line over it. Or perhaps you have dynamite.

Good work requires good breaks. Lunch. Approximately 1/3 of the way done.

Okay, I’m back in, “I’m going to cry mode.” You can’t talk about anxiety in a paper and then not get anxious yourself. Now it’s going to take forever to get back into essay writing mode. No, it won’t. Don’t psyche yourself out.

4 ½ pages done. So, what, over half-way? Not so bad. I feel less panicky. Of course, I may feel more panicky once I have to study for my test. At this rate, I should finish by… 10 o’clock if I’m lucky.

Trying to force it again, as I move to the second half. Organic? Let it flooooowwww… (Also, time for a change of scenery.)

That break was entirely too long. Shit.

Pumping myself up! Eye of the tiger! I can do this! I can do this!!!! Rising up to the challenge…

Blather. Slog. Argh. Still trying to outline in my head. Just write, bitch. You can’t edit what you don’t have written down. Calm down. This music is too exciting. It’s making me anxious.

Ah Chopin, Now I can write.

Over 5 ½ pages done, but now I feel like I’m rushing. Do I care anymore, though? Do I really care? Fuck it, just keep writing. At least it flows to the next section a little better. I might get to drop out Empire too. That makes things easier.

6 ½ I sped up. Didn’t I? But it’s taxing. Rest again. On schedule, I think. 2 pages by 10 o’clock? Yeah, I can do that.

It’s just too much.

Don’t get discouraged. Take a couple minutes to clear your mind. Then, get another change of scenery and finish the damn thing. (But what about my other…? Focus on one thing at a time. Your first priority is to get this done. Period.)

Ave Maria

Is this song too beautiful to write to?

Hooray for block quotes!

I … I can see the end! There is but one page left. (Or two if I’m so ambitious.) It finally appears finishable. (That is not a word, but I don’t care, I’m nearing completion hooray!)

Half a page to go. Shall I talk about empire or not?

My transcendent ending is so much more interesting. Oh how I wish I had started with it. But it is too late. I tire of this affair. It is crap, but I assume other people will be crappier.

I enjoy diversity. I think it’s an admirable goal if a college wants to be ethnically diverse. Does that make me a bad conservative?

That’s what I think about the Republican Party unless we get real and learn how to criticize ourselves. It’s not that I don’t think that all our ideas are tragically flawed. It’s more like our ideas are bread that’s grown mold, if that makes any sense at all (which it doesn’t really when I think about it more, but whatever). Stagnant cesspool of dogmatism. I like that better.

Living with a bunch of college-age peers means you dont think about cussing at all. Then, I go out, and I’m like, oops, there might be children listening.

Grr… Somehow, I have to write two (short) essays today.

But then… freedom.

What a great day for football. The Michigan-Ohio game was very exciting, and then I got to see USC beat Cal. (My apologies to Cal fans.)

Unfortunately, that meant it wasn’t a great day for essay writing. Tomorrow and Monday are going to be hell.

Somebody was asking me questions about something earlier today, and I suddenly remembered this:

Sometimes, we just do things. Then, we make up the reasons afterwards. Or rather, there are lots and lots of reasons we do things, but we like to pick the “real” one when we retrospect. Then, when we retrospect later, our memories change, and we may assign different reasons.

White people aren’t the only ones who are racist. There are dimensions of racism we seem to be afraid to discuss. No, I’m not talking about some black people not liking whites. I’m not talking about the bone-headed concept of “reverse-racism.” If that’s all I was talking about, I’d be kinda racist myself.

No, I’m talking about Asian people who hate black people. I’m talking about how some black people hate Mexicans because they think they’re taking their jobs. I’m talking about Mexicans who say they’re getting those jobs because black people are lazy. I’m talking about Jews who hate Arabs. I’m talking about Arabs who hate Jews.

Yes, I know I’m grossly over-generalizing, but this is real. I can prove it throughout history. Look at every single ethnic group who came into this country, and look how they were treated not only by the white Protestants, but by the ethnic groups who previously came in. Look at the Germans who hated the Irish. And look at all of them who hated the blacks, who didn’t let them into their unions. Look at the ones who hated the Chinese. Think all Asians look the same? Some Chinese hate the Japanese. Oh, and what about what the Americans did to the Native Americans?

Just because groups may be oppressed, doesn’t mean they’ll band together. Women were disenfranchised and blacks were disenfranchised at one point in time. Some of the women’s suffrage tactics turned against the blacks and used blatantly racist and classist propaganda.

Specific racial groups dislike other racial groups in specific ways. We can’t over-generalize the problem of racism. White racism towards blacks isn’t the same as Asian racism towards blacks. White racism towards blacks isn’t the same as white racism towards Mexicans. Now, I’m not saying that the history of the issue doesn’t show that certain groups did more horrible things. Still, I’m trying to analyze the contours of racism in our modern age. If we’re seriously going to be a multi-cultural society, we need to realize that it’s not all about how we get along. Sometimes, we don’t get along. And how we don’t get along is a very complicated issue that stretches between all races (not just between whites and other races), in very unique ways.

We’ve made one important quantum leap in regards to race relations. Society now frowns upon overt racism. To be a racist is to be attached with a stigma. When you’re labelled a racist, people employ an ad hominem fallacy and extrapolate that nothing else you say can be trusted. People don’t want the stigma attached to them. People avoid being called a racist. They refuse to call themselves racist.

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon that I don’t see get much focus. This might be because it’s fairly modern. People will say very plainly racist things, and then refuse to believe that they are racist. There’s a strange cognitive dissonance in effect, and I believe it’s because of the stigma attached to overt racism. People don’t like to believe that they are racists because racists are bad.

The interesting thing about modern racism is that people can act racist without realizing that they are being racist. This may sound surprising, but it isn’t if we analogize it with other mental states. For example, you can act a certain way because you are feeling jealous, but at the moment, you’re not thinking about jealousy. It’s only when you retrospect that you may attribute your actions to jealousy. Of course, someone can also falsely attribute your actions as jealously, when you were really acting on other impulses. Or, your motives may be mixed.

Racism isn’t simple anymore. It may no longer be useful to outright call someone a “racist.” After all, a person can be jealous, without being a jealous person — without jealousy clouding all their actions. I’m proposing that it may be more appropriate to make racism more like a mental state. Or, we could use racist to refer to certain actions and thoughts.

I don’t know how useful that actually is, but it’s something to seriously consider. I’ll repeat it once more: Racism isn’t simple anymore. I’ll present an even more bizarre scenario that is more common in our modern times. I believe that if we think hard, we can probably find people who are racist towards some black people but not racist towards others. Can you truly call this person racist? I say that people can be racist towards a minority group in some contexts, but not in other contexts. Are these people “racists”? There’s something seriously flawed in our usage of the word. That’s why I believe it may be more useful to apply the term racist to specific instances and mental states, rather than to a person as a whole.

That’s not to say that there aren’t racists, as we traditionally perceive them, but like I said, our society doesn’t like overt racism. These people, such as the KKK, have been pushed to the margins of society. I don’t think mainstream America is full of racist people, like the KKK is. Still, I believe racism is a problem. The solution is that we need to redefine racism. People can act racist without necessarily being a racist. Maybe we can introduce a new word.

Perhaps I can also make another distinction for the modern racial lexicon: “Racially offensive.” I’m sure there’s a better way to phrase it, but it’s what came to my mind first. My proposed distinction is that things can be racially offensive without someone ever having the intention of being racist, not even a latent racist sentiment. People must understand that context, especially historical context, can make things seem racist even when the author doesn’t intend it. Yet, such authors should still be held culpable for their negligence. If it’s obvious to most black people that a certain ad is racially offensive, there’s obviously something wrong with the ad even if you can’t figure it out at the time. Just because you didn’t intend for it to be racist, doesn’t mean it’s not racially offensive. You should listen to other people.

Finally, I’m ambivalent on the issue of PC culture. On the one hand, I don’t think it helps because it drives racism into the shadows, and we need to put it in the light if we want it fixed. In addition, it produces blowback. On the other hand, I find myself trying to correct people who use “gay” in a derogatory context.

In the meantime, I’ll mull over my thoughts on the lexicon of racism.

Racial controversy on campus: Hopkins fraternity accused of racism — Black students protest mock lynching, language on Halloween party invitation.

I’m going to take this opportunity to block this week out for meditations on race in America in general, not necessarily specific to this event. I hope you’ll find them interesting and informative, and hopefully you’ll be glad for a break from politics as usual as we approach fever-pitch heading into election day. Please keep an open mind.

Hm, strange that I don’t have a category for this. I should add a broad “Society” category or something.

EDIT: These next entries will not be formal essays. I will be feeling my way out on these issues in a public way. Perhaps the words will lead to essays.

The Raiders are ahead of the Steelers in the 4th quarter.

EDIT: Raiders win! Hahahahahahahahahaha…

Oregon State up 20 points against USC in the 3rd quarter. Goddamn.

EDIT: Didn’t quite come back. Missed the 2 point conversion. 33-31. 4 freakin’ turnovers. Agh.

USC is still going to crush Cal.

EDIT: Texas trailing Texas Tech by 10 at the half. My day just might even out if Texas manages to lose.

I’ll pick a diverse group of well-qualified individuals over a homogenous group of overachievers any day.

It’s easy to forget that this weblog is up on the internets and potentially anyone could stumble upon it. Even though it’s usually just a few people reading it, so I don’t really care what I put, I wonder if I should start caring and start being a little more careful with what I say and how I say it.

Or perhaps I should throw caution to the wind and say what I really think…

Then again, sometimes it’s hard to tell what I think. I sometimes use this weblog for thinking aloud and now I’m wondering if this is the appropriate place to do so.

Anyway, post on religion after TV time. I need to unwind. Enjoy the Chalkboard Manifesto in the post below.

So, I was checking out news-feed and I was surprised to see this (my apology to Tony for letting everyone now stalk him via proxy): “Tony Quintana updated their profile. They changed their profile picture.”

Since when has Tony become two people?? Then, I looked at Tony’s profile and saw he had not listed his gender. So, Facebook is now using “they” as a third person singular pronoun? “Their” is singular?

No! Bad Facebook. Bad!

Having been shaped almost exclusively by the geopolitical events that have occurred in the past five years, it almost seems heretical to ask these things, but throughout my philosophical quest, I got into the habit of questioning beliefs that felt near and dear… Did 9/11 really change everything? Did 9/11 really require a paradigm shift in the way we dealt with the world?

Were we justified in invading Afghanistan? Would a preemptive attack on Afghanistan been justified, prior to 9/11?

Just how big a threat are the various Islamic radicals?

Does the Middle East need democracy? How should we spread democracy? Should America be more patient?

It would’ve been impossible for me to ask these questions yesterday. I thought I felt okay, but on that day, I realized that there was still a big gaping wound. 9/11 still hurts. There is nothing that I love more than my country, and to see it attacked…. I want to say that it feels like someone punched me in the gut, but it goes deeper than that… as if someone was able to wound my soul. 5 years later, I can’t help it. It still hurts.

It was fascinating going through the links Lloyd provided from the kids who were only in 3rd and 4th grade when it happened. It seems like ages ago to them. They couldn’t even fully comprehend what was going on. (And I noticed at least two of them remembering carpet. I don’t know what that means.) To me, 9/11 wasn’t ages ago. First of all, 5 years doesn’t seem as long a period of time as it used to. (It happens when you get older.) Secondly, it still feels like yesterday when it happened. Well, perhaps not yesterday. More like a month ago. It’s like when you stare at a bright light and it leaves an after-image when you close your eyes. That day burns brightly compared to everything else.

There were so many things I wanted to write about yesterday, but I refrained from writing. Yesterday wasn’t about me. For me, every 9/11 will always be about them. The dead.

There were people outside on the street waving peace signs. I suddenly became very angry, even though I recognized that it was probably irrational to be that way. To me, it felt like they were disrespecting the 3000 people who died on that day. I thought, “We tried peace in ’93. They came back 8 years later and knocked the towers down.” That oversimplifies the issue, in retrospect, but I still can’t shake the feeling that these people want to bury their heads in the sand. Yesterday, I was 100% sure Afghanistan was justified because 3000 people died and we helped disrupt al-Qaeda such that killing another 3000 would be extremely, extremely difficult. I felt like they didn’t care about bringing the killers to justice. I thought, “This day is about them, not you or your stupid political agenda. Shut up.” All this just from seeing them on the street. I was completely flustered for many hours afterward. Like I said, it wasn’t 100% rational, but it’s impossible for me to act rationally on the anniversary of September 11.

Every year, I mark the day with one word: Remember. It contains everything I want to say. It’s many things at once to me. It’s a solemn reminder to remember the tragic events. It’s a note of defiance, a warning to the terrorists that we will never forget and we will bring you to justice. It’s a wake-up call: America, don’t let this happen again. I’m not sure how one word can mean that much to me. Perhaps it’s because it takes me back to that day and all the emotions I had at the time. Perhaps it’s not the word. Perhaps it’s just the act of remembering. Just the pure, unadulterated act of remembering. For me, to add commentary would be to taint the memory.

And so, on that day, I will always continue to only put that one word. 9/11 will forever be dedicated to the act of remembering for me, until the day when Islamofascism has been utterly defeated.

Remember.

Lloyd wrote this today:

If only a fraction of the energy and indignation that tens of thousands of college students are now expending on the Facebook fracas be applied elsewhere… to, say, indignation and action over the de facto torture policy of the Bush Administration… then maybe things will get…

…never mind. It’ll never happen. ;p

::cranky::

It’s quite easy to voice your indignation when all you have to do is click “Join this group.” I expended just about as much energy as it takes to turn the TV on. If we applied the same energy elsewhere, well, we’d get just about as much done as we have now.

If we could change Bush’s policy by getting thousands of people to click a button, it could happen… maybe, but keep this in mind: We weren’t going to march on facebook. We weren’t going to hold our ground. If Mark Zuckerberg had held his ground for a month (or perhaps two weeks!), Generation Y would’ve acquiesced quite easily. Bush is a million times more obstinate.

As someone from the inside of this “revolution,” I can say that it was no revolution. We were merely consumers extremely who clicked a button to say that we were dissatisfied with a product, stirred up by a few trouble-makers who took an extremely short amount of time to invent a group.

I think it’d be easier to first get all the people who voted for American Idol to vote for a president. ;P

But do delve even further into the psychology of this generation, it was rather interesting how this was a decentralized phenomenon. Sure, there was one guy who wrote a spiel for the Facebook group, but it easily could have been another person from any of the other Facebook groups against News-feed. It easily could’ve been someone else. To put it in plain English: This outcry had no leader.

If Gen Y is really going to get anything done, it needs leaders. Yet, our current choice of role models is lacking. Celebrities? An incompetent president? The morally bankrupt former president? The stilted former vice president? The current vice president who shot someone in the face?

Can we really say that without Abraham Lincoln, the Union would’ve been as great? Can we really say that without Martin Luther King, the civil rights movement would’ve gone as far?

With political discourse poisoned by hacks like Coulter, who can we look to for inspiration? Who can we look to for wisdom?

I’m not saying that the leader is the end-all, be-all. That would be anti-democratic to say that all we need is a great leader, but it sure helps to have a good leader — to have a catalyst for action by the masses.

Like I said earlier, if Zuckerberg had held out for a month, he surely would’ve been victorious. We need people in positions of power to make a difference. Luckily, democracy provides the means to put these people in power.

Yet, the adolescent hearts and minds of this generation were forged in the fires of 9/11. All those who are in college right now, who are on facebook, they are the ones whose lives are shaped by that one day. Perhaps with the world in disarray right now, we can look back on that one day to find courage and integrity in the midst of a previously unimagined act of despicable evil. Even then, there was hope, so too now, there may be hope.

Of course, I’ve gone a long way from Facebook, but I felt it would be wrong to have stopped writing. All I can say is that I will do my small part and maybe one day become a leader, as I hope to be. I can tell Lloyd that he has a right to be cranky now. On the surface, we look like misfits, but with the right catalyst, something great may still yet happen. Although it looks like courage and integrity are in short supply, we have a powerful example in our past of what these values mean. I just hope it’s enough.

To bring this full circle, I must say that no, this Facebook fracas isn’t a sign of things to come. We expended very little effort to bring this about, and I’ll say it one more time, that if Zuckerberg had held out longer, we would’ve given up quite easily. This isn’t a victory by any means. Zuckerberg was very understanding. We didn’t fight anything. There was an outcry, but there was no battle. Thus, by logical extension, there was no victory. I will disagree vehemently with anyone who says differently. This was no demonstration of will or action. There was no test of our wills. There is no inspiration in this event. If we expended the same energy elsewhere, we’d get stomped down, just like we would’ve rolled over had this (non-)battle gone on longer.

Say that the government planned 9/11. Pretend that you were on one of the flights that crashed into the WTC. Say that the government forced you to change your identity, and now you’re coming out. Say that there are more of you.

Better do it quick. It’s going to happen sooner or later.

EDIT: Or rather, I bet it’s happened already. However, it’s all about timing. With the 5 year anniversary of 9/11 coming up, now is the perfect time. We’ve had just enough distance and we have just enough kooks who will lap up everything you say. With the coming media anniversary circus, you will be able to make the rounds. Maybe you can contact the guy who said Rove was going to be indicted in the Plame case.

From the New York Times front web page…

Headline: “Economy Adds More Jobs in August Than in July”

Blurb: “Unemployment ticked down a tenth of a point, but the average American worker is logging fewer hours and wage gains are minimal.”

Is it just me, or does every piece of economic good news come with a big “but” in the newspapers?

I just found out that Maynard Ferguson has died.

… is slowly slipping through my fingers…

Quote of the Day: “My God, if only the media had revealed the secret Manhattan Project, we would have saved millions of lives!”

Just kidding, there’s no one in the media who could possibly be that full of themselves.

The Agnoiologist presents:

The Latin American Leftist Demagogue’s Guide for Winning Elections

1. Campaign as the candidate for the poor
2. Pretend you aren’t in bed with Hugo Chavez
3. Lose the election
4. Demand a recount
5. Imply election fraud
6. Have your people say there might be violence, wink wink
7. Stage street protests to show how you’re a candidate for the masses
8. When the recount isn’t going in your favor, declare the election a fraud
9. Unleash the mobs… er, stage further “peaceful political protests”
10. Lose the recount
11. Military coup
12. Declare victory for democracy and the people

Congratulations! You have won the election!