Better video

here

Fucked up!

Ani and I were sitting here doing our taxes when we heard some screaming and running....we look out our window to see three police offers wailing on this guy on the ground in the back parking lot...kicking him and using their night-sticks. The dude obviously ran from the cops, which pissed them off. They were yelling "stop resisting!" even though the guy was just laying there moaning and yelling that he wasn't resisting. They stopped after about 20 seconds or so and Ani yelled at them asking them what was going on: "We arrested someone" "Can you explain why you beat the shit out of him?" "He resisted!" They then roughly threw him in a car as 7 more cop cars showed up. Then they all stood around, staring at us and looking at each other.

Bullshit.

No evidence and our word versus 12+ cops...nothing to be done.

Yeah!

Ipod better!

HELP ME PLEASE!

My Ipod video is stuck on "Do not disconnect" and the computer doesn't see it when I plug it in.
Help me please, my Ipod is the only thing in my life that makes me happy. (Drew certainly doesn't.)

Let me redeem myself for that last one

The Ascent of Man

Oh Gross!

I just dropped my keys in the potty!

Ouch

I feel sorry for McCain. He seems like he should be in bed meeting grandkids on veterans day. Not doing this.

Friend Code!

Since Josh so thoroughly failed to put it up, I am doing so now. We have Dice and Ben's numbers in Josh's system. Unfortunately, until I'm back in CO, only Josh or I can play against y'all at a time. If you see this, send me an email immediately and we'll get it on.

4124-4834-5372

Edit: It looks like multiple people can be on the same system. But this is only confirmed in an online brawl room with no online players. We shall see. Let's set up a game.

Same With Me And The Expos

Only until recently did I find out that the expos logo is an M. I always saw an "elb" which I never understood but never really questioned. I figured the e had something to with Expos, but that was it. I definitely never saw the M and the B inside the brewers logo though.

I'll post my friend codes for SSMB tonight.

Spring

is the new summer!

Holy god damn shit

It took my 25 years of life before I got stoned enough to realize that the Milwaukee Brewers old logo has an M and a B in it.

Here it is.

Japanese Friend

3093-6946-5763

bring the rain.

Brawlin'

I got the "Nintendo's Servers are Too Busy" error code. So, nothing yet... Will Advise.

This thing is AMAZING! Most fun I have with video games ever..

Weirdness

Shit Dustin. You should have called me so I could have seen the scene last night. An hour ago I was was contemplating doing a sake-only fast for Good Friday, but after getting kinda hungry now and reminding myself that Christ isn't real, I'm going to make some quesadillas. Superstition is not normally healthy.

MATT: GIMME YOUR FRIEND CODE
JOSH: GIMME YOUR FRIEND CODE

My Friend code: 0473-7604-9992

WiFi!!

Dustin, sounds like you had a great night.

Great news... they've found out how to do WiFi signals for 60 miles! Every coffee shop should set that up and we'd all have internet everywhere we go. Glorious.

A good night

My tranny neighbor and her boyfriend set up a projector outside on the brick and are tripping balls in tight leather pants/jackets/weird futuristic hat things to a scrolling background of digits.

I love Denver....

Ah bitches!!!

Someone special got capped tonight

Also: as I was walking Arrow tonight these two gay guys came out of the police station, one holding his hands like they were in handcuffs. As I was walking by, the other guy says "I like your Dachshund" and then Mr. Hands says "I like your face." The first gay guy promptly bitch-slaps the other one and I walk by laughing.

Awesome

BRAWL

I will be borrowing a friend's Wii this weekend, and Smashing Brothers... A Mash-Up if you're around. This is Ben's Wii-Buying trial weekend, so he might just be entering this fray later on anyway...

If two people can play online from the same box- you might even be smashing an Aussie brother...

I will let you know... I do have DSラ一ット, and my friend code for Mario Kart is

536950
705602

I'm not that good yet...

Aw

Remember Lost BBQ paries at Zero's house? I miss college.

Brawl

Just gimme your friend codes. I can connect...but I can't get a game going with randoms. I think that Nintendo's servers are to blame.

Brawl!

Dice, you have to figure out how to connect your system. Nintendo's site has tutorials, and if you can get online, you can play against Josh and I!

Five Fucking Years.

God damn America.

YES!!!

I HAVE SMASH BROS BRAWL!!! (but the internet thingy for it isn't working)

EDIT: While browsing for info on Luigi in Brawl, I ran into this story, somehow.

What islands?

Japan islands?!

Ben

This is Ani...I am going to the islands and my boy toy is coming too.

Do you have any advice?

This video is not broken

for all you dachsund lovers out there.

damnit Carl

That video is already broken.....sheeit

Puppies Shmuppies

SAVE HIP HOP

Saddness

I don't know Sigmund, but I grieve his/her death.

Dustin: Well, if I were you, I would try and rent your place out in addition to team Stolzmann renting ours out. It's just so much money. I want to rent my place out for around 3500-4000 for the duration, pay my brother around 400 bucks to stay there in the mean time, and maybe pay Kim to watch the cats??? (Let me know Kim) I don't know if it would work out as well if we stayed at your place, Dustin, because I can't imagine another animal getting along with Soot. She is a real shit.

John: I told you that. Dexter is the total shit. If there were Dexter baseball hats, I would wear one. A hat that said "I'm rooting for you Dexter!!!" I can imagine an expansion baseball team called the "Las Vegas Dexters" and I would maybe have to abandon the Cubs.

Finally remembered my password

I'd add my two cents about puppy mills/humane societies, but I think that discussion is over so screw it.

Sigmund was an asshole.

Logan, my number is 7196514830. I tried calling you, but I guess you have a new phone. I didn't know anyone else was here in the Springs with me. Take me out to all the hot nightclubs and churches.

Who told me Dexter was supposed to be a good guy in his show? How is he a good guy?

Sigmund, no!!!

Our fish just.......died.......

Bonnie/Drew

Ani and I are interested still in maybe setting up a sharing scheme for the DNC. What do you think?

Also: Ani says she is sorry for being a bum with no social life...she worked 12 hours today and has to work 12 tomorrow :(

I think I'm gunna do it

CHA-CHING

Wow

This is the same W that ducked the war in Vietnam, right? That is downright...unholy.

"If I wadn't too busy blowin coke and skippin my duty, I'd've liked to do some a that good fightin!

During a videoconference with U.S. military and civilian personnel yesterday, President Bush praised the troops fighting in Afghanistan, claiming he was "a little envious" of their "romantic" fight:

"I must say, I’m a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."

"It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks," Bush said.

WHAT AN ASSHOLE

Even though I can read it, having Blogger in Japanese makes is less helpful. Oh, the while it has been. Hi folks.

Ben's superfast update- Teaching in the Japanese sticks for another 6 months. Then I'm applying for a great many jobs here. Things I have applications in for:
Japanese Ministry of Education- JET programme coordinator.
Center for a Sustainable Japan- Research Intern: International strategies to combat Global Warming
Madame Jiji Gaijin Thundersexdrome- "Services Provided" (and I am bona-fide 7 diamonds)

I'll be living in Kobe or Tokyo next year- should anyone be coming to Asia. I'll be back stateside or in the UK for graduate work. Before I leave Japan, I am going to do the 88 Temples of Shikoku pilgramage, so if you are interested.

In response to recent events-
Everyone- I love you and miss you.
Dustin- Singapore is amazing, but hot. If you can deal with the hot, you are sorted. I would live there, if I didn't melt. You will also get fucking tubby-ass fat because the food is damn near perfect.
Ani- Where are you going in Thailand? It is awesome. Beware of Kathoey... They are scary.
Puppies- Whale meat tastes gross- Puppy tastes like chicken. (Is he lying, IS HE LYING?)

Check out how much harder Korea is than Japan... (Though Taiwan is hotter...)

I also heard Flo-Rida at Mister Donuts... (WITH THE STRAP!)

This is Ani

Not to change the subject of puupy-mill drama, but I just wanted to thank Drew and Bonnie for the gift. I bought a book on Thailand that will surely provide for many a good travel!

Thank you thank you!

Now you may resume your argument.

Me Jumping In

I'm honestly not trying to be mean here...but I do enjoy when people engage in arguments, want the last word, and in an attempt to do that, preemptively chide people for speaking after them (or at least try to make the person look like a jerk for doing so). Nice tactic...but I don't care if people think I'm a jerk.

For the millionth time (or third), I'm not saying that buying from puppy mills is good. Its the worst thing you can do, obviously. I'm not arguing against that, never have, and never will. I WILL argue that no matter WHERE you get your pet, it increases the demand for pets. The more pets are acquired, the higher the demand, and the more puppy mills spring up. Where the pet comes from just decreases the degree to which you aid the mills. After all, where would you get your abandoned and mistreated animals from if no animals were mistreated or abandoned? Best way to not support the mills is not have a pet at all, but I don't shove that fact in peoples faces (and not just because I have two cats).

And saying that not buying a puppy is the only way you can hurt puppy mills is silly. You can't exactly not buy 10 puppies every day, 365. You are not a hero. Stop acting like one.

Again.

The shelters are doing the work of the puppy mills? That’s pretty far-fetched, but if you want to make that leap, you have to first concede that the puppy mills are doing the work of the pet store customers. It all goes back to their initial demand for puppies. So that would make the pet store customers responsible for the deaths of dogs in the pound. As convenient an argument as that might be for a venomous, self-righteous person such as myself, I’m going to ignore it because its not a very good one. Not adopting from animal shelters doesn’t affect puppy mills. They don’t give a flying fuck what happens to their extra dogs, and neither do pet stores. No room at the humane society? No problem. If they can get away with it, and most can, drowning or poisoning is the easiest way to deal with unwanted dogs anyway.

The bottom line is that if you actually want to stop puppy mills, the one and only thing you can personally do also happens to be something that will do them a lot of damage, and that’s not buying from pet stores. Its simple and shouldn't be all that difficult. And while animal cruelty laws need some serious reforming, that's not going to happen anytime soon -- and it wouldn't be as effective as boycotting pet stores. Take away the demand, and the supply disappears. The fact that a lot of people are too weak to forego instant gratification is what puppy mills are counting on. Those are the people I'm gunning for.

This is my last post. I’m sure that Drew will jump in after me so he can have the last word, but I don’t get off on arguing for the sake of arguing, and I think I’ve made my point, so I’m done.

Right

Drew said my argument better than me....sheeeit

The best way to get rid of mills is through cracking them down and severely penalizing the people who would do such a thing over going after the consumer. Consumers have a responsibility to be a bit informed about where their money goes when they purchase things, but you can't put all or even most of the blame on them when their money is channeled back to something that is unethical unless they fully knew about it and choose to buy such anyway.

It is impossible to be a fully informed consumer....when I go to the store and buy something, who knows exactly where the money is trickling to. People buy things all the time...if it says "Made in China" is it supporting sweat shops (bad?) or instead is it helping that Chinese factory worker make a living to support her family back in her village (good)? Strong regulation of industry to make sure that what they produce is done humanely for both the workers (and in this case the 'product') is a much better approach than expecting consumers to make correct choices all the time when the odds are stacked against them.

And just so everyone knows, I bought Arrow from a pet store (which didn't support mills...they got all their dogs from local a-ok breeders. This is what I was told and I believed them...maybe they lied, but this just proved my point that correct information for the consumer is hard to come by) and Sasha off of Craig's list from a local breeder. So yeah...I guess I suck for choosing the monstrous option of getting a puppy instead of an old dog who was in more need. I don't really think that argument holds much water personally but there you go.

I think that if you want to get into an animal rights argument you need to increase the scope from puppies/dogs to all animals that can suffer, but I think everyone else is going to get off the bandwagon right there and that goes into territory I don't think anyone really wants to get into that much.

In that case yeah...woot online forum.

People want to get together to play Cranium tonight?

Stuff

Carl was pretty well on cue with his random video...I only had to watch 2 seconds of it to know exactly what it was. Literally 2 seconds.

Cassie, I agree completely agree that buying from puppy mills is some stupid uncaring shit. I do disagree with how venomous and self-righteous you can appear online...but then just about anyone seems that way (or an uncaring oaf) over the internet when you disagree with them. Without audio context, big tyme fights break out. Its why message boards are the home of the flame war. I mostly made the argument I did to show that almost any action you take in getting pets is an indirect endorsement of the mills. It is the mills themselves that must be eliminated. What road you take to doing that is neither here nor there.

There is another way that rescue societies enable puppy mills as well. Puppy mills would catch a whole hell of a lot more heat if they didn't conveniently have a place to dump their excess unwanted dogs who can then dispose of them when the public takes a pass on them (which they already have done in the first place). When shelters euthanize dogs, they do the work of the mills for them under a guise of helping the animals. Now I'm not saying the kill shelters are doing this on purpose, but that is how it works. If the mills had no where to dump the unwanted dogs (the no-kill shelters would obviously run out of room fast) then the blame is directly on them when they start killing them or letting them out on the streets. I say let the dogs roam wild until the public has to stand up and take action instead of offing dogs in the name of kindness. Seriously, I'd rather they just let the dogs loose instead of euthanizing them.

In addition to that, taking dogs from the shelters (even no kill shelters) once again takes the heat off the mills. You are allowing them a way to get rid of excess unwanted merchandise with no strings attached. Is that heartless to the respective animals there? Totally. But not really that much more heartless than not rescuing the pets while they are still in the mill's possession. Buying directly from them instead of taking away extra dogs from them just supports them more.

O to the M to the G

Ever have one of those memories that completely vanishes from your daily experience, and then it all comes rushing back in brilliant cacophony??

Not gunning for anyone in particular.

Just wondering why people seem to want to downplay how terrible pet stores are. Every response to my posts has been essentially, "Aw, they're not that bad." All I'm seeing here are attempts to rationalize buying from pet stores, or make excuses for those who do.

The damage done by buying from pet stores far outweighs whatever benefits may exist. Sorry, but talk to anyone better informed than me on this issue and they'll agree, unless they have 800 dogs locked up in the back.

Now, now.

I think it's true that we're probably all on the same side in this argument- we are all animal lovers, or we wouldn't put up with depressed dogs like Zero for so long. Drew and Bonnie adopted their grown up cat, Pro, recently. Cricket was a grown up girl. Girl kitty was a stray almost grown up girl, and 3/4 of the Ocasio's pugs are rescue pugs. We love our animals. Nobody's "gunning" for anybody. This website has a tendency to make our arguments sound pointed, and a tendency to make us argue more because it generates discussion instead of random, indiscernible posts from Carl.

That said, let's watch a funny video about a different kind of torture of puppies. I wish my dogs were this well trained.



I will say, for me, the idea of puppy mills inspires a little interspecies sympathy when I imagine being forced to spend my whole life pregnant, caged and fed bad food. It sounds like something that could happen in some psycho futuristic world where abortion is illegal and Huckabee is president.

Cassie is a little riled up I think?

Cassie is obviously right that adopting pets from a kill humane society doesn't increase demand, but I think more of what Drew is getting at is that just as buying from certain pet stores is supporting something unethical (puppy mills) so to does adopting pets from a kill shelter is supporting something unethical (the kill shelter itself). In this way, you could look at it that adopting a pet from a pet store also has some direct positive benefits (i.e. giving the adopted pet a good life) along with negative effects described of supporting pet mills and increasing demand, just as adopting from a kill shelter has some positive benefits (i.e. giving the pet a good life) along with the negative effect of supporting the institution.

You are getting a little personal there Cassie: who exactly are you gunning for?

No, actually.

Its not even close to being the same argument, Drew. Let's review.

Here's what everyone here believes (or at least wants people to think they believe): buying from pet stores creates a demand for lots and lots of puppies. Thus, puppy mills are supported. Buying from pet stores = demand for puppies = puppy mills. Thus, not buying from pet stores has a direct effect on the ability of puppy mills to do business.

Here's where you're confused. Adopting from a humane society does not in any way create a demand for more dogs to be euthanized. There is no market for killing dogs. Yes, some humane societies euthanize dogs, but that fact is independent of however many adoptions take place at either that humane society or any private rescue group or no-kill shelter. Adopting from humane society ≠ demand for more euthanizations. Your argument doesn't hold.

Not adopting from a kill shelter has zero effect on whether or not that shelter will euthanize x number of animals. The only thing that matters is how many dogs come in off of the streets, and how much space is available. Spaying and neutering animals, tougher cruelty laws, and more funding for humane societies so they don't resort to killing dogs for space are some of the things that can change this.

Just to be clear, since apparently things are getting confusing around here, no-kill shelters and rescue groups are without a doubt the way to go. But equating buying from a pet store with adopting from a humane society "with the only difference being of degree" is absurd.

I can keep proving my point as long as you guys want to make an issue of it. But honestly, I'm wondering why you'd want to.

For Cassie

The argument that you made for why it isn't a big deal to adopt from the humane society and the like could just as easily be made by someone buying from a puppy mill by using the "buying here won't really change anything" and "I'm saving this particular animal from a bad situation" stance. It's the EXACT same argument with the only difference being that of degree.

Similar to why you think that not going to the humane society would not change anything, you could just as easily say that not buying from a mill won't change anything so you might as well save them from dying in the meantime. Really, the only way to end it is make it illegal...unfortunately there isn't a powerful animal rights lobby with cash to burn in DC.

Hipster #1: I'm Brazilian. And Jewish.

So

I got a job offer finally!!!









In Singapore............................wtf........

"I have a man on their boat"

I expect no surprises tonight. What time should I/we come over?

last word

Dustin: I will always blame the pet store customers just as much as the puppy millers. Why shift the blame? The people who run puppy mills do horrible things to dogs to satisfy a demand from mindless consumers who are either too ignorant to know better or too selfish to care. I for one see no reason to let anyone involved off that easy, and I don't understand why anyone else would. I'm not arguing for the sake of being difficult; this is important to me and something a lot of people turn a blind eye to. Bottom line: don't buy from pet stores, and don't put up with excuses from people who do.

Drew: I don't think so, because by adopting a dog from the humane society you're not perpetuating something like puppy mills. You're giving a dog a home who would be euthanized otherwise. I certainly think rescue organizations and no-kill shelters are better than kill shelters, but choosing one over the other won't really affect their practices. The only thing to do about that is to change laws.

Context: This whole thing started when local news reported that authorities were in the process of seizing some 700 dogs from a mobile home somewhere around here, thought to have been a puppy mill. I think it was on cnn.com headlines for a while. Needless to say, I've been a little worked up.

To make this "debate" more complicated...

If you want to make the statement that buying from puppy mills is bad because they treat the pets badly (which I agree with)...could you also say that adopting pets from the humane society where they kill unadopted pets is wrong when you could get them from the Dumb Friends League where they don't off the pets? Just sayin.

LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(are we even supposed to be surprised who the spy on the boat is?)

meh

I agree that if you stop demand you will probably get rid of the problem. It just seems that blaming consumers solely is silly when the people who are running the mills are the ones who are really committing the wrong.

But yeah...there really is no reason to argue about it.

In conclusion, boo puppy mills, yeah happy animals.

What I have to say about puppies:

We put one of Arnie's poops in the washing machine with a jacket that he pooped upon. Said poop ended up being washed like 3 times before my little brother found it with his firefighting uniform. HA!

Don't get a puppy, get a poopy, chunkyass cat.

I don't understand...

Am I missing something? We all got the adorable (albeit cancer-ridden) mutt Zero as a puppy from the human society. Wasn't Eli's dog a stray puppy also? And Josh is absolutely right, so long as people continue to buy from pet stores nothing will change with how they "produce" their "commodity". I think it's pretty obvious that one can find a puppy that they'll love if they are patient and look at the right places, one can find lots of adult dogs in need of homes also (much cheaper, by the way), and purchasing from a pet store promotes unethical practices. So why are we arguing about this?

But Dustin:

Well, I see that Josh has already touched on this, but I've already typed this up and I'm not deleting it now:

Why do those puppy mills exist in the first place? Because there are people who will go into pet stores and buy the puppies they produce. If no one patronized pet stores, most of the puppy mills would shut down. Granted, some will continue to function and churn out puppies for local rednecks to mistreat, but that's inevitable. The people who run the mills are just out to make a buck, as you said. If they can't make money by selling their puppies to pet stores, they'll give up on breeding dogs and find some other shady way to make a living.

As far as your pet store dilemma: don't buy from pet stores. Ever. There's no justification for it. The treatment of the puppies in the pet stores isn't the main issue, its the way their parents are treated at the puppy mill. So that one dog you save from the well lit pet store is condemning all of the adult dogs in puppy mills to (shortened) lifetimes of being used as breeding machines.

Of course getting a puppy and raising it is fun. No one is going to argue with that. But when everyone thinks its their right to buy a new little puppy, it creates such a high demand for them that puppy mills are bound to spring up. And I maintain that its an incredibly selfish thing to do when there is an enormous population of homeless adult dogs who are just as capable of being raised to become good dogs. Most are good dogs already. Sorry, but I don't buy the gratification argument.

Will I ever get a puppy? Its possible. There are plenty of puppies in rescue to adopt. But rest assured I won't be overlooking any adult dogs just because they're not blank slates. Cricket was 3 when I adopted her, and I've never met a sweeter, more loving dog.

If There's a Market for It...

You can blame the puppy mills, but if there's a market for it, it will always be there. Just like you can blame drug dealers, but if there's are users, someone will always step into the market and supply them with what they need.

Anyone want a reason today to hate hippies? I got a Tivo so pretty much I watch a ton of The Daily Show. Rob Riggle did my absolutely favorite report on some protesters in Berkeley fighting against a Marine recruiting center.

Finally, I don't know what it was, but I loved Gumball All Stars. I never understood it at all.

maybe

But I think I would put more of the blame on the people who are running the mills themselves. They are the ones that are treating the dogs solely as things to make money, and thereby efficiency must be maximized.

People buy dogs/puppies for a lot of reasons, sometimes the wrong ones to be sure. There is still something to be said about raising a puppy up to an adult...it's like a child in some ways: there can be a great amount of gratification gained from the difficulty of raising a puppy to be a good dog.

In some ways there is a dilemma: buying puppies from puppy stores that get their dogs from puppy mills fuels demand and helps puppy mills....but not buying puppies from puppy stores still leaves those unfortunate dogs without a home.

What exactly do dog stores do with unwanted puppies? Give them to the humane society?

Really,

its more that that's what happens when people are self-indulgent pricks who need instant gratification and think that purepred puppies from pet stores are somehow better than purebred puppies from real breeders. And don't even get me started on why people think purebred puppies in general are preferable to the mutts and unlucky purebreds in rescue and humane societies everywhere. Not to mention the selfishness of wanting a puppy and thereby not adopting adult dogs who need homes.

Goddammit. People are such assholes. I am so upset.

Bright spot of the day: a hummingbird baby pooped on me this morning. It was adorable. Animals win.

I LIKE THIS NEW NAME!

I also love puppies and am not even going to watch those videos because I feel that I might die if I do.

That's what happens

when living and sentient things are treated as commodities.

Puppy Mill Awareness Day

was back in September. But, I figure observing it twice a year is a step in the right direction. You all need to watch both of these videos. They are incredibly heartbreaking; watch them anyway. I can't believe people still buy animals from pet stores.

Amish Puppy Mill

Stop Puppy Mills

It wasn't me.

Matt named us the Gumball All Stars. Blame him. Send him nasty messages that he will read on his touch ipod. He may or may not give a fuuuuuck.

Matt Update!

I am writing this on an iPod Touch that I got in a trade with Joseph for my regular iPod. That is neat! I like it.

I am heading to Boulder tonight and to Portland this weekend. I'm going to be busy until then, so if I don't see you before I go, I'll be coming back after Portland and I'll see you then.

That's about it!

Dang...

Can you really judge Eliot Spitzer on this one?

Silly Kim

Have you forgotten how really, incredibly gay we all are?

I'll only hold your cigarette of I can have a drag.

So

who the F named us gumball all stars? I think it's really, really gay. Something more appropriate, more applicable, and less retarded should be used.

Here, hold my cigarette.

Kansas

People who live in this state are so fucking weird.

NESS CITY, Kan. - Deputies said a woman in western Kansas sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years, and they're investigating whether she was mistreated.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said a man called his office last month to report that something was wrong with his girlfriend.

Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman’s skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

Olbermann Fans

Make sure to watch Countdown tonight. He will be doing a special comment against a Democrat for the first time.

This is a sweet video!

Frozen in Grand Central Station

Is John in the Beach?

If so, somebody gimme his number por favor.

Lost

This Thursday is no good for us. We will be babysitting in Golden at that time. John told me yesterday he would come up either tonight or tomorrow night (but John said it). Either way, awesomeness will happen at some time.

What is

Sasha?

Also

Kudos to Bonnie and her DESIRE

Wooty

John must promptly come up to Denver.

Lost + Sasha + food at our place Thursday Night?

Kim: probably not......probably. Just a surprising and somewhat scary thing I never thought of before.

Woot

I didn't throw any fish. I babysat a baby and ate dinner with Mikey instead. Mikey is attractive. When will we reune with John? I hope I never have 8 children.
Also, Dustin, we discussed this pharmaceuticals in the water thing at work today. Our official stance is that we think it's way too small an amount found in the water for it to affect anyone. Official is the key word, and I'm too ignorant to know better.

JOHN! and ANI!

JOHN IS BACK YEAH!
Ani I need to see you and give you gift!
Where is MATT?
KIM threw a fish?
My fucking studio rent went up!
I was sick for three weeks.
DEXTER SEASON 2!

Oh, and I got into the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and they sent me a certificate of admission. It says "Bonnie Johnson Stolzmann has been admitted to RMCAD" we "admit only students who exhibit the highest levels of talent and desire." DESIRE!

Time to

move to France!

To Jonathan Letham Fans

Check out the latest Fiction podcast from the New Yorker.

uhhhhhhhhhh

not good

Um,

You want us to come see a cold dead guy?

You guys!

It's the whisper transcripts from LOST!

Fuck That

The only reason I'd move to such a laughably pointless country as Canada is to get a job. Apparently there are a lot of those up there these days.

2 things

On moving to canada

Anyone ever been to Frozen Dead Guy Days up in Ned? I'm thinking about going. Please come with me.

Better News

We might have a filibuster-proof democratic majority next year.

Fucking Awesome.

News Update

America's fucked... we should move to Canada.

Keith Olbermann got a few bad-ass points by calling attention to how Hillary Clinton is a Republican these days.

McCain actually did something decent... he was late for Bush's endorsement, who stood around making a fool of himself.

Keep your left up, cat!

Palmer Update

"A Palmer High School teacher was taken to Memorial Hospital on Tuesday evening after being hit by a driver who fled the scene, Colorado Springs police said.

Bob Crowder, Palmer High School choir director, was crossing Weber Street at Platte Avenue about 6:30 p.m. when he was struck by a vehicle driving east on Platte. Witnesses said he was hit by a blue car traveling at a “high rate of speed,” police Sgt. Jim Sokolik said.

Crowder suffered a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder and was listed in stable condition, said Elaine Naleski, Colorado Springs School District 11 spokeswoman.

He was going to a choir concert at the high school when the car ran him over, Naleski said. The concert was canceled and about 50 of the students and their parents went to the emergency room to await word on his injuries, she said.
Crowder is a co-founder of the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale."

touche

Googling is the least of what I'd like to do to Eric Bana (sorry Matt). Although, they actually had the clip at another website and I did not google him.

Corruption and the American Political system

A few weeks ago I witnessed one of the most disgusting things I have seen in a long time. It has still been mulling around in my mind, so I thought I would put it out there.

A few weeks ago my mom flew out to testify in front of the state legislature about Bill 1011. The Bill was written to overturn Colorado's statute of limitations on sexual abuse. How it works now in Colorado is that after a certain period of time (a few years) after the offense, the sexual predator can no longer be brought to trial. While I'm unsure if a statute of limitations is good for any serious crime, I do know that for sexual abuse crimes it is particularly heinous: this means that if a child is abused at an early age (say 4) that they have to get their shit together and bring a case to court (say by 10 max). That's insane. It gets even worse if the family is involved in the abuse, since this makes it exponentially harder for the child to come forward.

In any case, it seemed to me like an easy bi-partisan slam dunk. This couldn't be further from the truth....

After showing up 30 min late, the representatives finally filed in. There were two bills that needed to be heard before this one came up in the house judiciary committee. The first was a murky bill by the Republicans that was meant to reduce spam by giving out fines to people who spam. How it was supposed to work was that people could sign-up for an opt-out system online, which would then make it illegal to spam them. Hopefully you can see how retarded this idea is. Furthermore, how is this enforceable? Well apparently, they didn't care and alloted $600,000 of the budget to some random corporation to set this up. It passed with unanimous support.

The second bill was another Republican bill that wanted to force all child sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and screen-names with the police so that they could be put on a website. If they refused, they would be sent back to prison. On the surface it sounded ok, and yet...why can't an offender have multiple e-mails? Once again, how is this even close to being enforceable? This time they wanted even more money to be thrown to random places. The Democrats this time pointed out the fact this isn't enforceable in the least, and the Republicans then raised a stink about how they were "supporting the citizens of Colorado, over the sexual offenders." No joke, exact words. The people who came up to testify in front obviously had no idea what they were talking about, and this was pointed out. The bill was pigeon-holed.

Finally the statute of limitations bill comes up. Now, the public can testify for or against any bill. Microsoft testified for the first one, a District Attorney lackey for the second. For this one, their were 38 public witnesses that wanted to testify, including my mom. It was intense. My mom told her horrific story of her childhood, pointing me out of the crowd to say that she really appreciated my support. After her came witness after witness telling their stories about family members, or priests, or step-parents, family friends, etc. Grown men breaking down in front of these representatives saying that they wanted some justice, but the statute of limitations made it impossible for them to do anything. During this time, the representatives starting talking to each other...a few even got up and left for ten minutes, coming back with a diet Coke.

After some more testimony, and sipping their diet Cokes, the politicians suddenly decide that they needed to go on the offensive. Both Democrats and Republicans started grilling witness after witness. "If we remove the statute of limitations, then schools or institutions like the Catholic Church could go bankrupt!" Gasps! If an principal or bishop knowingly covers up sexual abuse committed by teachers or priests - and this can be proven - then yes they could be held accountable...accessory is what they call it. If they had no idea about the abuse, then no they can't be held accountable. Seems pretty straight forward to me, and that was the way it was written in the bill.

And yet...here they were. These Champions of the Citizens of Colorado showing that when a real bill with real consequences comes up that might put some of their corrupt friends, institutions and corporations under the rule of law, they balk.

After hours of public testimony by the 38 witness, some of which could not even be heard at the end, and some of which flew from far away places to tell their gruesome stories, 4 people came to testify against it. One was a sexual offender who felt it was unfair to be held accountable for what he had done twenty years ago, another was a representative of the Catholic church who was afraid of the financial contributions of this bill, the third was a lawyer who thought that the statute of limitations should on principal be in place for every crime, including this one...and the fourth was a crackpot who admired the architecture of churches so much that anything that could possibly hurt the church should be nixed.

Quite possibly the worst arguments I have ever heard - only thinly veiling the corrupt interests that these people were trying to protect. But apparently these arguments were highly moving to our state representatives: the bill was postponed indefinitely and the outlooks are grim. Keep in mind that this is just the judiciary committee who is seeing if the bill is worthy enough to be brought before the whole House and Senate.

Once again, the institutions win, and people like my mom find themselves on the wrong side of the law. The victims of sexual abuse once again have no recourse, and scumbags like my step-Uncle Eldin can go about their business with their skeletons in their closets.

Absolutely disgusting.

Lindy,

you were googling Eric Bana.

what the

Apparently, before he was just a pretty face in big budget films like " The Other Boleyn Girl" and "Alexander," Eric Bana was a comedian in Australia with a silly show called "The Eric Bana Sketch Show." I found this fact surprising.

Here it is!

Come on, Chemicals!

Sex-Changing Chemicals Make Male Starlings Sing Sweet Songs

Confusion!

So did I just get myself into a totally hot bff bonnie kimmie hump off? Or are you gonna kick my ass?