eateggs

“Bush is smart. I don’t think that Bush will ever be impeached, ’cause unlike Clinton, Reagan, or even his father, George W. is immune from scandal. Because, if George W. testifies that he had no idea what was going on, wouldn’t you believe him?” —Jay Leno

“President Bush is asking Congress for $80 billion dollars to re-build Iraq. And when you make out that check, remember there are two L’s in Halliburton.”

President Bush has said that he does not need approval from the UN to wage war, and I’m thinking, well, hell, he didn’t need the approval of the American voters to become president, either.”

“President Bush is going to establish elections there in Iraq. He’s going to rebuild the infrastructure. He’s going to create jobs. He said if it works there, he’ll try it here.”

David Letterman

“The president finally explained why he sat in that classroom on 9/11 for 7 minutes after he was told the country was under attack. He said he was ‘collecting his thoughts.’ What a time to start a new hobby.'” —Bill Maher

“When Stevie Wonder took the stage at the Kennedy Center, President Bush waved to him. Realizing his faux pas, President Bush turned to his wife and said, ‘Oh my God, do you think he saw that?'” —Tina Fey. Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update”

The Hitchhiker’s Guide Movie Preview

They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people – and neither do we. – George W. Bush

HALLE BERRY: If she makes any more muck along the lines of Gothika and Catwoman, the Academy should send Berry a self-addressed stamped envelope and a letter requesting the return of her Oscar. –FilmThreat

I keep thinking about something my mother, an 8th grade civics teacher, said to me years ago, “A nation usually gets the leader it deserves.”

This idea makes me uneasy. –a random blog

Curiosity
may have killed the cat; more likely
the cat was just unlucky, or else curious
to see what death was like, having no cause
to go on licking paws, or fathering
litter on litter of kittens, predictably.
…
(keep reading)

1. I discovered something very interesting today. Presumably owing to my recent experiences with “altered states of mind,” I am now more keenly aware of the way I feel or my state of mind. What brought on this realization was the way I felt after draining a double espresso this morning. Although I’ve done this numerous times before, I noticed today the way that the sudden rush of caffeine made me feel– I could sense that the caffeine put me in an altered state of mind. It felt as though the neurons in by brain were firing just a little faster, and even when I wasn’t thinking about anything it seemed that my mind was trying to race. I couldn’t concentrate as well as I normally do. This feeling wore off after about 20 minutes. The point of all this is that my self-awareness has been increased and I am now more aware of being sober because I’ve been not sober.

2. I watched Roger & Me today in my film class. I’ve come to a conclusion: I really like Michael Moore. I’ve heard him criticized for various reasons, but for me it comes down to this: he’s someone who sees things in the world around him that suck, and he tries to make it a little better. I think that’s commendable. Some people don’t like his methods of going about it. Fine. At least he’s doing something. I don’t think I’ve ever met a naysayer who has done anything positive or constructive for the world around him/her.

Roger & Me (4/5 stars) was a typical Moore film, wrought with sardonic humor, interesting facts, and (of course) lots of Moore’s voiceover. It chronicles the economic impact of General Motor’s decision to relocate many of their major production plants from Moore’s home town, Flint Michigan, to Mexico. The film also makes commentary on the place and responsibilities of a the idea of a corporation in regards to communities and society as a whole. If one enjoys Moore’s other works, one is sure to like Roger & Me. Likewise, if Fahrenheit 9/11 failed to endear itself to you, Roger & Me is likely to fail as well.

3. There was definitely a third subject for me to write about, but for the life of me I can’t remember it. I was amazingly tired this evening, and ended up sleeping in several interesting places in the Quad dining room for almost 6 hours. Maybe this whole “sleeping-every-now-and-then” thing is catching up. Lord only knows.

4. It’s come to my attention that Blog! looks really bad in Internet Explorer. For those who still haven’t converted to Firefox I’m attempting to fix things for IE users. For the best viewing experience, however, I recommend Firefox.

5. Is it Saturday night yet??

Excerpt from an interesting article on medical marijuana:

The Bush administration argues that Congress has found no accepted medical use of marijuana and needs to be able to eradicate drug trafficking and its social harms.

Eradicate drug trafficking? Social harms? Let’s break this up.

1. Eradicate drug trafficking. On face, it’s not at all a bad idea. Drug trafficing typically is associated with organized crime, which certainly is not a positive or contributing branch of society. Mark Thornton, a professor of economics at Auburn University writes “National prohibition of alcohol (1920-33)–the ‘noble experiment’–was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. The results of that experiment clearly indicate that it was a miserable failure on all counts. The evidence affirms sound economic theory, which predicts that prohibition of mutually beneficial exchanges is doomed to failure.” He continues that ” although consumption of alcohol fell at the beginning of Prohibition, it subsequently increased. Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; crime increased and became ‘organized’; the court and prison systems were stretched to the breaking point; and corruption of public officials was rampant. No measurable gains were made in productivity or reduced absenteeism. Prohibition removed a significant source of tax revenue and greatly increased government spending. It led many drinkers to switch to opium, marijuana, patent medicines, cocaine, and other dangerous substances that they would have been unlikely to encounter in the absence of Prohibition” (source).

There’s nothing I could say to state my point better.

2. Social harms. Aside from the obviously harms associated with the active prohibition of marijuana (thriving organized crime, overcrowded prisons, etc) what exactly are these social harms that the Bush administration is referring to? And isn’t the administration headed by a man who, when put to direct questioning, can only tell the American people that he hasn’t used cocaine (never mind marijuana– he doesn’t even bother to deny using that) for at least seven years? A man who was described by Newsweek as seeming “to have majored in beer drinking at the Deke House” for his college years? (The very same man who now travels the country lecturing students on staying celibate, sober and drug free.) Is that the kind of social harm that our government is trying to protect us from? Being forced to admit that our president used and enjoyed the very drugs that he’s now adamantly fighting against? Obviously he turned out alright (or completely wrong, depending on how you look at it).

Regardless, I’m just blown away by the hypocrisy and frightening puritanicalism that’s demonstrated by the Bush administration with regards to marijuana laws.

I just finished watching the recently remastered and released Star Wars episodes IV, V and VI back to back with my roommates. Go us! The LOTR marathon (extended director’s cuts, of course) in January is going to be insanity. 12 hours of LORT. I just hope I have someone to cuddle with. =)

So here’s the deal. I want to go see The Nutcracker performed on the 3rd of December, but I’m not going to go alone. My goal is to get a date for it. Doing so should be a reasonable goal. We’ll see how things go.