I love the word frak. I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica since the new series started last year. The characters use the word frak the same way we use a diffrent four letter word beginning with the letter f. It is most often used as an exclamation uttered in any place where a contemporary character would issue an utterance that might be frowned upon by the FCC. However we’ve also seen a fuller development more akin our f word with phrases like “frak things up”, “motherfrakker”, and even “go frak yourself”. Even the first time frak was used it needed no translation fo explanation. Simply from context the viewers knew exactly what it was. The writers have found a creative and effective way to communicate the emotion and frustration of a given character without compromsising their vision or bringing down the wrath of the FCC.

update: Maybe I should buy www.frakthefcc.com

If only I still wore T-shirts other than when I go to the gym.

A: I can’t say nothing

Sometimes, when faced with something as truly heartrending and gut wrenching as the issue of disengagement (see the post below), it helps to get some perspective from a distance. I have finally found something relating to the disengagement which I feel is crystal clear and simple enough to latch onto in order to try and maintain sanity is these insane times. Noam Chomsky is still a douchebag

I’ve never bothered to post about the disengagement before because I felt that I had nothing to add to the conversation that hasn’t already been said a million times before. After spending the past few days, weeks, and months reading articles, opinion pieces, and blogs online, I’ve come to one inescapable conclusion: I have no idea what I believe. The more I think about it, the more lost I become. I’ve decided to start over at the beginning with the basic things that I know – my moral compass that inherently tells me what is right and what is wrong.

• A democratic government exists by, of, and for the people. Any time a government is prepared to use force against a significant portion of it’s population, something is seriously wrong.
• People exist as individuals. Although there is such thing as a common good, there is a limit to how much an individual can be expected to sacrifice for the common good.
• I know, in the depths of my heart, that It is wrong to forcibly remove people from their houses.
• I also know, that for the future of the state and it’s continued health, it is absolutely necessary.

Amidst all the depressing news and images, I’ve managed to pull the following images. Perhaps there is hope for us yet.

Two observations from the last few hours:

1. It’s incredible how a little nothing organization manages to get so much attention in such a short period of time.
2. I believe that judge Roberts just had his nomination cemented. I would like to thank the Public Advocate of Bigotry for speeding up what we all knew was a foregone conclusion.

For the sake of sanity (cause it’s in short supply on both sides when it comes to judicial nominations), let’s review what it was Roberts did:

There was a law passed in Colorado which specifically excluded gays from anti-discrimination laws. It actually overturned the anti discrimination laws that already existed in Aspen, Boulder, and Denver. Roberts, as a member of the law firm Hogan & Hartson, which was challenging the law, helped other lawyers prepare for the case. The law was eventually overturned by the supreme court 6-3.

I think everyone simultaneously exhaled this morning when the shuttle touched down safely. We all knew it would land safely. Inside our heads everyone knew that the odds of another catastrophe were insignificantly small. At the same time, every was a little late getting into the office today because we were sitting at home watching with baited breath. Even though no one in my office has anything to do with the shuttle directly, we were still a little nervous (that that anyone would admit it outwardly).

However, the shuttle and it’s crew are back safely. The shuttle will have to get flown to Florida on the guppy and get it ready for more delays as NASA management tries to grapple with the impossiblity of ever making anything completely safe.

Some related things:

Well I’m now thoroughly depressed.

It’s a shame that all the people in congress who purport to support states rights refuse to recognize that DC, despite not being a state, also deserves the same basic rights of self determination. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Republican senator from Texas) is trying to rescind DC’s gun ban along with one of my least favorite members of the house – Mark Souder (R-IN). If that wasn’t enough, Henry Bonilla (Republican, also of Texas) wants to rename 16th street NW as “Ronald Regan Boulevard”.

I do not personally oppose either of these measures. I am actually opposed to DC’s gun ban, and don’t really care too much if they rename a street after an ex-President who ended the cold war and stuck my generation with the bill. What I do care about is the way in which it’s being done. We here in DC have our own representative government: a mayor, a city council, an ANC, etc. If we want to enact stupid laws like the gun ban, then that is our right. Congress needs to realize that they are the guests in our city, and not the other way around. I can only assume that Mr. Bonilla would go balistic if a bunch of blue-state democrats tried to rename streets in El Paso after Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, yet he sees no problem with trampling on DC. After all, we have no voice in congress, and no representation, so it must be okay to abuse us – right?

To all the people who think that ID should be taught in science class along with the “theory” of evolution, I have one thing I’d like to point out. I know arguing with you about the general merits of evolution, scientific thought, and biblical interpretation are going to be essentially useless so I’ll just skip it. However you should be aware of the fact that ID is not a scientific theory. It is a religious theory. As such, it belongs in a religion class. (When I was in middle school we had a section on religion as part of social studies, and yes, various creationist theories were discussed). Evolution is a scientific theory, in the same way the radical ideas such as “gravity” and “newton’s laws” are scientific theories. Scientific discussion goes in science class, and religious discussion goes in social studies class. Stop trying to force your personal agenda everywhere you can.

The Philadelphia Eagles started training camp yesterday. After a summer of TO making headlines by demanding a new contract (49 million for 7 years just isn’t enough apparently), it came as a big shock that the Eagles had two players refusing to report to camp. Brian Westbrook and Corey Simon both held out. Wha???. After an entire summer of being villianized by the media and having every one of his statements reported widely, it turns out that the Eagles didn’t have to worry about TO at all – it was Westbrook and Simon they should have been worrying about. Both of them have also been threatening to hold out, and Simon still hasn’t signed his one year tender offer (he’s a franchise player so he doesn’t have many other options). The interesting thing is how they’ve all been portrayed in the media. If TO had been even 5 minutes late to camp, I can guarantee that the media would have gone nuts and the local sports radio stations would have started calling for his head. Instead, we have holdouts by two other players and no one seems to really care. Why? Maybe it’s cause Corey Simon doesn’t dance. Maybe it’s cause Westbrook never spiked the ball on the Dallas star. All I know is we have a funny method of choosing who we demonize in this society.