November 14, 2004

Why Is Jimmy Kimmel Famous?

Why is Jimmy Kimmel famous?
Who is he?
Has he ever been funny?
Does anyone think he is funny
Or entertaining
In even the most slightest way?
Did you ever notice that
Even when he's smiling
He doesn't look like he's smiling?
Which would be okay if he had
A dry sense of humor, but he
Has no sense of humor at all.
Still,
He's funnier than Bill Maher.
Which is saying a lot,
Because Jimmy Kimmel is not funny.

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November 13, 2004

Not Everybody Likes Me

i got the strangest hate mail yesterday. From someone named Annika in the UK, who wants me to either kill myself or change my name. She was vague about her reasons. Here's the complete email thread (start at the bottom and read up):

annika! <coolconnector20@yahoo.com> wrote:

i am 27. You need to grow up.

annika 69<annika_69@yahoo.co.uk>* wrote:

At the grand old age of 26, I feel I am old enough to comment and I'm well aware of what I am saying. If your name was Sue, or Joanne, then thousands of people would share your name and the fact that you are tedious would not be an issue. The fact that the name annika is quite unique means that you fly the flag for a few certain individuals, I suggest you take a bath with your hair dryer in order to excape the monotomy that is your life! Either that or change your name to tracey and I will no longer find you offensive. Have a nice day hope to hear from you soon

Interesting Annika

annika! <coolconnector20@yahoo.com> wrote:
i think you are mean, and not very articulate. its funny that you say you read my journal at the same time as you say it is "borong." Why did you read it then? Not only do i think you are lying, i also think you are probably too young to really understand what you are saying. My advice to you is to please think before you insult people you don't know. There's already too much meanness on the internet, don't start out like that.

annika 69<annika_69@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
because I read your journal you tedious person!!!!!!!!!!!!

annika! <coolconnector20@yahoo.com> wrote:
Why did you leave such a mean comment? Why do you think i am "borong" when you don't even know me?

Reblogger Email Notification wrote:

Comment left by annika_69:

i am ashamed and saddened to share my name with someone as dull as you. stop writing poop and get a life. Annikas of the world rise up against this borong girl who shames our name!!!!

Seriously though, she commented on my Glogspot site, and some of the stuff i wrote back then was real shite, to be honest.

Update: My critic is pretty mild compared to the abuse Risawn got for her M203 picture, which is frickin' hilarious. (Risawn's sentiment, "I Am Not Sorry" is fully endorsed by this blog, btw.)

Via Desert Cat.
_______________

* Not her actual address. i altered it out of politeness. But she did use the "69" in her real address. People who include "69" in their email address are a bit odd, don't you think?

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November 12, 2004

WTF?

What the fuck?

unflag

They just don't get it.

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November 11, 2004

Letter From A Commander

A few weeks ago, CBFTW of My War posted an email from his Battalion Commander in Iraq. You can read the whole thing here, but i wanted to excerpt the following passage because i think it's appropriate on this day, as we remember the sacrifice of our nation's veterans.

The will to be free comes at a heavy price. For some it is more than they can bear. Divorce, estrangement, financial burdens, health problems, depression, and even suicide are very real costs. Sacrifice is rarely recognized for what it truly is because the price of recognition is guilt. Parades, giving medals, issuing promotions,and rousing speeches are simply the thin veneer that masks the desperate need of those who are kept free by our endeavors for absolution from this guilt. Adam Duritz wrote in the song Mrs. Potter's Lullaby that 'the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings.'

I submit that it is our love of freedom, the embrace of our wives or sweethearts, the love of our children or family, and the earned respect ofour brothers in arms that cast the walls that make the will to endure a fortress that can never be taken. I will be proud to stand the watch until my time is at an end, but soon you will mount the ramparts and stand the watch alone. In closing, I leave you with the words of Marcus Aurelius 'Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness.'

Somber, but it does make you think.

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November 10, 2004

Bonus Wednesday Poem (in honor of the USMC and all Veterans)

When you think of the United Sates Marine Corps and the Korean War, one epic battle always comes to mind. Chosin Reservoir. Here's a selection by poet John Kent, which captures the bitter -25° cold experienced by marines during that battle.


Chosin

How deep the cold takes us down,
into the searing frost of hell;
where mountain snows,
unyielding winds, strip our flesh,
bare our bones.

The trembling of uncertain hearts,
scream out to echoes not impressed,
as swirling mists of laughing death,
reach out their fingers to compress.

How white the withered skin exposed,
turns into black and brittle flesh,
and limbs cast out from conscious thought,
still stagger on the arctic frost.

Immobile does the breath extend
as crystal on the mountain wind,
and eyes now fixed in layers of ice,
see nothing through the dawning light.

This road that leads down to the sea,
twists and turns at every bend,
and Chosin's ice that molds like steel,
rains the fire that seeks our end.

The trucks cry out a dirge refrain,
their brittle gears roll on in pain;
upon their beds, the silent dead,
in grateful and serene repose.

Still the mind resists the call,
to lie and die in final pose,
where blood in stillness warms the soul,
and renders nil the will to rise.

The battle carries through the night,
give witness to the dead betrayed,
when frozen weapons fail to fire,
their metal stressed by winter's might.

Still we fight to reach Hungnam,
in solemn oath and brotherhood,
as every able-bodied man,
will bring our dead and wounded home.

Uphold traditions earned in blood,
break through the hordes that press us in,
depress their numbers to the place,
where waves of dead deny their quest.

And on to the sea...


Update: (i moved this poem to the top. Happy Veterans' Day all!)

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Arafat Is Dead

After hanging on, Rasputin-like, for fucking ever, chief Palestinian scumbag Yasser Arafat finally kicked the bucket, according to Fox News. It's not on Drudge yet, but there's a banner on the Fox site.

Update: Reuters now confirms the good news.

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Upon St. Crispin's Day

These days, my thoughts and prayers return often to our men in Fallujah. While the battle rages, i wanted to post a martial poem that might honor the brave marines and soldiers in combat as we speak. In that regard, i can think of no better poet than Shakespeare himself, and the most famous martial speech of all, from Henry V:


Henry V, Act IV, Scene III
(the English camp at Agincourt, before the battle, King Henry speaking)


This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Thanks to Iraq veteran, Marine, and blog friend Eric for the text. Do check out his Open Source Shakespeare site, which is a pretty darned awesome reference tool for Bard lovers.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to the United States Marine Corps! Semper Fidelis!

More: Matt posts Lt. Gen. Jim Amos's birthday message to the 2nd MEF. Smash posts a 1776 recruiting ad for the Continental Marines. And Mike's USMC birthday tribute is full of cool links.

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November 08, 2004

Slouching Toward Theocracy?

You know i think the liberal mass hysteria about the "evangelical vote" is totally overblown. But then i'm a churchgoing Catholic, so that makes my opinion suspect to secularist ears.

But celebrity blogger Michele Catalano, an atheist, is not convinced either.

I do believe the Democrats have just switched one brand of Kool-Aid for another. Their new drink is Jesusland flavored and they are swallowing it by the gallon.

If you read them correctly - and I'm not just talking about the fringe elements here, but your everyday journalists, talking heads, bloggers and Democrat on the street - the Christians are coming and they are going to burn crosses on your door and kidnap your heathen babies.

Oh, sure, I've said that I don't want to see this administration move towards the religious right. The difference between the Kool-Aid drinkers and myself is that they truly believe this is going to happen while I don't.

. . .

The Democrats seem to think that two things lost them the election: Christians and idiots.

. . .

Funny how those of us who voted for Nader or Gore last time around are now considered too stupid to breathe. What a difference four years makes. And I wonder if the Dems aren't being willfully ignorant in glossing over the other mitigating factors in their loss, the most blatant being that John Kerry was just not electable material. No one is talking about swing voters, the war on terror voters, security moms, first time voters. All we are hearing is how the moral majority sunk their claws into the too stupid to think for themselves hicks and brainwashed them into voting for a religious mandate that would sweep the nation and force us all to kneel down on Sunday and praise Jesus.
[links omitted]

i'm afraid that this new anti-religious hysteria is only beginning. It's been festering for a long time, but now, look out. Kerry's loss has given the haters a new excuse to hate.

Update: Celebrity blogger Moxie is another atheist who is not buying the "Jesusland" myth.

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Monday Night Football Pick

i'm locked in a pretty tight Fantasy Football battle this week with a team called Vehement Spittle, run by Bryan from Spare Change. Right now i'm leading 106 to 97, but the Monday night game between Minnesota and Indianapolis will be decisive. i have Marvin Harrison (WR, Ind) and Morten Andersen (K, Min) on my team; Bryan has Brandon Stokley (WR, Ind) and Michael Bennett (RB, Min).

Tonight's real life game between the Colts and the Vikings will be at Indianapolis. The Colts are favored by seven points. i don't understand why. Look at the quarterback comparison:

Daunte Culpepper, MIN: 183/258, 2180 yds, 20 TDs, 5 INTs, rating: 114.2
Peyton Manning, IND: 156/240, 2161 yds, 22 TDs, 4 INTs, rating: 117.4

That's pretty darn close. Is Randy Moss's injury really worth the seven point spread? i just don't know enough about it to say. So i'll take Minnesota and the seven points. i can't resist, since i am Scandinavian and they are the Vikings.

Update: Was i right or was i right? Am i awesome or not? Indy wins by three. i picked the Vikings plus seven points. That means i am, indeed the awesomest! At least this week.

i'm now 5 and 3 for Monday night predictions.

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November 07, 2004

i Am Now Your Representative, Thank You

Yesterday, i got a favorable mention from across the Pacific at BigHominid's Hairy Chasms. His election wrap-up post contains some reasoned analysis, most of which i agree with, along with this very funny analogy on a non political subject:

Fuck fucking Blogger. I haven't had much trouble with Blogger, but every now and again it'll seize up at the wrong moment and ruin my day. It's a bit like humping a sheep and having your dick ripped off by a sudden, violent, ovine pelvic spasm. It's always a nuisance to have to stop what you're doing, dig around the sheep's ass, retrieve your dick, sew it back on, and then keep on humping. If anything, you're too pissed off to hump but you feel, bizarrely, that you owe your spectators their money's worth. So you reestablish your rhythm and pray the sheep doesn't rip your dick off a second time.

I'd written a long post earlier today, only to have it sucked into the cosmos's asshole by an 'internal server error,' followed by a personal message from Bill Gates that read, 'Yeah, baby! Whatcha' gonna do about it, huh? Huh? Huh?' What follows is a severely truncated version of what I wrote earlier, pieced together from anguished memory.

Ah yes. i remember the bad old days, when i was still on Glogger. Thanks to Pixy Misa, i haven't had to worry about anything but self-inflicted blog debacles, since i moved to mu.nu. Regarding the sheep analogy though, let me paraphrase a Bill Murray line from Stripes. Kevin, "there's something wrong with you! Something very, very wrong with you! Something seriously wrong with you!." lol.

Anyways, that wasn't the favorable mention i was talking about. Here it is:

It's simplistic to say merely that 'America is conservative,' as if that were the end of the story. What counts as 'conservative' is always in flux. Well over a century ago, everyone in white America knew it was scandalous for women to expose their ankles. Today, a midriff-exposing, thigh-baring little hottie like Annika represents the righties. Old mores crumble and tumble; change is part of life.
Yes! And as your representative, i will bare midriff and thigh so you don't have to!

i took Kevin's quote out of context though, which is unfair to his larger point, which i also agree with:

There's a huge debate going on right now about the extent to which this election was a referendum on 'morality.' I contend that it wasn't: it was, fundamentally, about the war.

. . .

I still maintain that Andrew Sullivan is on to something re: where the country is trending in terms of gay marriage. Conservatives have a point when they say that the present hysteria about impending theocracy is way over the top. But the right shouldn't be too dismissive of the gay lobby: it needs to get ready for what's coming in a few years. . . .

. . . But what the righties need to remember is that Sullivan is correct to see a huge demographic shift going on. . . .

[G]ay marriage will never become mainstream (which also means that gay marriage is no threat to hetero marriage). But tolerance and affirmation of a gay person's right to marry-- and to receive the legal benefits of marriage-- will become mainstream, probably sooner than many think. If the Dems were unable to see certain realities this time around, I submit that the GOP needs to reconcile itself to the inevitable as well, or risk future marginalization... though not for a few years yet, obviously.

i think the liberal media's focus on the "values" factor is merely an attempt to deflect people from the truth about this election. It was a referendum on the Iraq War and the War on Terror, and the side of pacifism and anti-Americanism lost. (Never mind the fact that their candidate was neither pacifist nor genuinely anti-American.) Instead of accepting the reality that they're out of touch, the media has been quick to point the finger at those evil evangelicals.

The truth is, though traditional "values" motivated a lot of Bush voters, the argument that "values" won the election ignores young conservatives like me. i recognize that gay marriage prohibition will likely die a natural death within my lifetime, and i'm more focused on the fact that there's a bunch of people out there who want to kill me. That, more than anything else, was why Bush got my vote.

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November 06, 2004

The Return Of Aviation Trivia

What is "wrong" with this banner ad, i found while websurfing?

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November 05, 2004

Who Was Really Responsible?

Two things are inevitable after a Democratic loss. One, the liberals will call the American people stupid. Two, they will call their own candidate inept. Newsweek hits hard on the latter point in this fascinating story, which manages to slam their candidate while simultaneously reinforcing the "evil Republican" stereotype with subtle editorializations.

Many voters, i'm sure, were swayed by the Swift Vet ads, but just as many thought that Vietnam was irrelevant. Kerry could not escape his own words, though. In my opinion, while the Swift Vets had their effect, nothing was more devastating to Kerry's chances than his infamous "87 billion" quote. The Newsweek piece reveals the key moment of the 2004 campaign, and its true heroes (or villains, depending on your point of view).

[W]hen Kerry addressed a veterans group in West Virginia, a heckler kept demanding to know why he had voted against more funding for the troops. In his considered but long-winded fashion, Kerry tried to explain that he had wanted to vote for the funding, but only if the Senate passed an amendment that would whittle down President Bush's earlier tax cut for the rich. Kerry voted for the amendment, but when it failed, he voted against the funding. The heckler pressed, and Kerry, losing patience, fell into senatorial procedural shorthand. 'I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it,' he said.

At Bush-Cheney headquarters, Joe Kildae, a 25-year-old campaign intern who monitored the war room (and never seemed to sleep), was watching. In his cubicle he kept three televisions and a battery of TiVos and VCRs. As soon as he saw Kerry make his remark on Fox News, he stood up in his cubicle and caught the eye of his boss, Steve Schmidt. Schmidt had seen the clip, too. The two men nodded at each other. Kildae thought to himself: 'We're going to be seeing this a lot.' He immediately hit pause on his digital recorder, wound the clip back and copied it to tape. Using a program called TVEyes, he pulled up an instant rough transcript. He e-mailed the transcript of Kerry's 'flip-flopping' to an 'alert list' of top aides, who could then click on a link to see the video.

'You gotta see this,' Kildae told campaign communications adviser Terry Holt. 'Oh, my God,' Holt replied. 'You have to send that to me on my BlackBerry.' The video of Kerry's shooting himself in the foot flew around Bush-Cheney headquarters and, very soon, into the hungry ether beyond.

McKinnon and his ad team wasted no time. 'The second we saw it, we knew we had a new ad,' McKinnon later recalled. 'The greatest gifts in politics are the gifts the other side gives you.' It was so simple. All they had to do was drop the footage of Kerry saying 'I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it' into the ad that was already running, chastising Kerry for cutting funding. McKinnon called the new ad 'Troops-Fog.' Much of its airing was free: news shows picked up the clip of the 'flip-flop' and plastered it on screens like wallpaper.

It took a while for the Kerry campaign to even realize that its candidate had been badly wounded. Kerry himself realized he had made a mistake, but at his headquarters, most of the chatter was about the 'weird heckler' who had asked him the question. The Kerry campaign would later insist that the Bush campaign had spent millions that spring to smear its candidate without much effect, but in fact Kerry's 'negatives' climbed in some key swing states. Just as important, perhaps, he had missed an opportunity to define himself in a positive or memorable way. The Bush 'Troops-Fog' act blew enough fog to unsettle voters, to make them wonder about Kerry's consistency and the depth of his conviction.

From there, talk radio and the blogosphere picked up the ball and ran with it. But i wonder how much closer the election would have been if Kerry himself had not provided the Republicans with their greatest weapon in the campaign.

Kerry once remarked to an aide "I can't believe I'm losing to this idiot." Well, who's the idiot now, Senator?

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Great American Smokeout

Physics Geek posted about the Great American Smoke Out, scheduled for November 18th. i'm definitely going to try it this year (again). It's only one day. i can do 24 hours. The date is soon enough to plan for, and far enough away that i can look forward to enjoying many many more cigarettes before the nightmare of withdrawal starts.

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Important Safety Tip

What was this guy thinking?

A Romanian father-of-five needed medical help after he superglued a condom to his penis.

Nicolae Popovici, 43, told doctors he didn't want any more children, reports National newspaper.

The man, from Topraiser in Constanta county, named only as NP in the paper, already has five children.

He and his wife decided to use contraception but the condom they bought was too big so he stuck it on with glue.

After sex, the man realised he couldn't remove the condom and went to his village's medical clinic for help.

A nurse said: 'He even said that he thought the condom could be used several times and that he wanted it stuck on his penis so he could use it again later. We barely managed to remove it in the end.'

Good thing none of the glue leaked during the act. Ouch!

From Ananova.

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November 04, 2004

Yasser Arafat Is Dead?

If it's true, may God have mercy on the evil man's soul.

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November 03, 2004

"W"ednesday Is Poetry Day

From Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), a poem first published in 1793:


Commemoration of RodneyÂ’s Victory

INSTEAD of a Song, boyÂ’s, IÂ’ll give you a Toast;
Here’s to the memory of those on the twelfth that we lost!—
That we lost, did I say?—nay, by Heav’n, that we found;
For their fame it will last while the world goes round.
The next in succession IÂ’ll give youÂ’s THE KING!
WhoeÂ’er would betray him, on high may he swing!
And hereÂ’s the grand fabric, our free CONSTITUTION,
As built on the base of our great Revolution!
And longer with Politics not to be crammÂ’d,
Be ANARCHY cursÂ’d, and TYRANNY damnÂ’d!
And who would to LIBERTY eÂ’er prove disloyal,
May his son be a hangman—and he his first trial!


Gloat on, MacDuff.

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Haa-Ha!

nelsonhaha.gif

Yes, i was right. Kiss my feet, because i was almost alone in my defiance of "the conventional wisdom." (Which i recognized as liberal spin and never wisdom.) My confidence in the American people never wavered. i also don't think it's wrong to gloat. Go ahead, lets all gloat. Feel free, we've earned it, and until the liberals graciously concede, why should we be gracious in victory?

Update: And don't get me started about the so-called "youth vote." Memo to MTV: We chose, you lose! Jonah Goldberg deserves to be quoted in full here:

Look I don't know what the final tally will be. But it's now clear that the youth vote just didn't show. The liberal blogosphere is grumpy and introspective about it. I love it for reasons I will be writing about for months to come. The cult of the youth voter remains, once again, the most absurd, bogus, childish, romantic and misguided joke of liberal American politics. Period.
i couldn't agree more.

Update 2: Kerry is scheduled to concede at 10:00 a.m. PST. i still wanna gloat though. How 'bout i gloat for as long as it took Gore to give in last time? Would that be so inappropriate?

Update 3: Vodkapundit has more on the Nelson Muntz meme. Maybe someone should start a Dick Cheney as Mr. Burns meme. "Eeexcelent."

Update 4: Sarah says "Let them eat cake!"

Update 5: Robbie at Urban:Grounds reveals the dirty little secret behind all that Blue State vs. Red State nonsense.

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November 02, 2004

Fox Calls Ohio

Fox called Ohio at about 9:40 p.m. MSNBC hasn't done so yet. i don't think i've ever seen Chris Matthew look so down. That alone is worth all the aggravation of the last year.

Update: MSNBC just called Ohio and Alaska.

One more point for four more years!

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Election Party Exit Poll (informal)

i took an informal poll of the attendees to the election night party at our house. Admittedly, the results are not scientific since we're all law students, but i thought they were interesting just the same. Keep in mind that my school is decidedly wacky-liberal.

Here are the results, with annotations:

annika: Bush
Colleen1: Kerry
Charissa2: Bush
Lori3: Kerry
Kathy4: Bush
Kimberly5: Bush
Monique6: Bush
Stacy7: Kerry
Erica8: Kerry
Mike #19: Bush
Mike #210: Kerry
Quan11: Bush
Greg12: Kerry
David13: Kerry
Marc14: Kerry
Jeffrey15: Kerry
Professor M16: Kerry

Total: 10 for Kerry, 7 for Bush
_______________

1  Colleen is of my housemates. Her big issue is "the Supreme Court,"� which is code for "pro-choice" voter.
2  Charissa is another housemate. Her family is from Utah. In order to live in Utah, there are two legal requirements, one of which is that you must always vote Republican.
3  Lori is a Democrat from Arizona. i didn't think those existed, but apparently they're about 44% of the voting population.
4  Aka Texas Kathy.
5  Aka Texas Kimberly. It's no surprise that the two Texans voted for Bush.
6  Monique defies conventional wisdom. She's an African-American conservative and voted for Bush.
7  Stacy is one of the top students in my class. Her vote surprised me. i thought for sure she was a Republican until i learned she went to UMass. Then i laughed when she told me she pictured me as a Kerry supporter.
8  Erica is also a one issue "pro-choice" voter, although she doesn't want to admit it. She repeats all the typical anti-Bush arguments, but without conviction.
9  My third housemate Mike is a thoughtful and committed Republican.
10  My boyfriend. He was afraid to tell me who he voted for. i'm mulling over whether or not to forgive him.
11  Yes, that Quan. His family emigrated from Vietnam and raised him to be a good freedom-loving Republican.
12  Lori's boyfriend seems apolitical and i might have swayed him had i known in time that he was undecided.
13  David is openly gay and open minded on many political issues, but like Andrew Sullivan, the FMA made up his mind for Kerry.
14  Marc is liberal Hispanic Catholic Kerry voter who won't forgive the Republicans for trying to take down Clinton.
15  Jeffrey is brilliant, but sorta crazy. He can't sit still and he's always spouting off some insane opinion, usually conspiracy related. He's fun to have around, but there's no sense arguing with him.
16  Professor M is an expert on criminal law and procedure as well as a member of the vast left wing academic conspiracy.

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annika's Election Day Message To West Coast Republicans

Especially to Californians.

The polls are still open. Don't believe what you read in Drudge, it has been debunked already. Stick with HughHewitt.com for your news. He's based on the West Coast, and his site is still working.

Go out and vote. The fact that our state will end up being blue is no excuse for not doing everything we can to increase the popular vote, and thereby increase Bush's mandate.

Remember, today is more than just a Presidential election. It's a referendum between toughness and weakness. Toughness must win. And tough people don't mind standing in long lines to do what is right.

A virtual blogosphere smooch goes out to all who've already voted Bush today! (Even the girls, except it's on the cheek.)

It's not Poetry Wednesday, but here's an Election Day Special for y'all. It's by John Greenleaf Whittier, the 19th Century American poet, abolitionist and friend to William Lloyd Garrison.


The Poor Voter on Election Day

To-day, of all the weary year,
A king of men am I.
To-day, alike are great and small,
The nameless and the known;
My palace is the people's hall,
The ballot-box my throne!
The rich is level with the poor,
The weak is strong to-day;
And sleekest broadcloth counts no more
Than homespun frock of gray.
To-day let pomp and vain pretence
My stubborn right abide;
I set a plain man's common sense
Against the pedant's pride.
The wide world has not wealth to buy
The power in my right hand!


Stirring. In all of democracy, there's no act more exhilarating than casting your vote. Believe it!

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