Summer Cleaning

I've got a long list of shit that I've planned to blog about that I want to get out of the way before the school year starts. Topics I've given up writing on include:

• Jews and Dogs
• Fat Piegeons
• Denzel Washington and Conservative Subversion
• College as a referendum on your first 18 years and burden on the remainder of your years
• Un-Intellectual Diversity
• Why I Hate People
• Confessions

If I hear a public outcry to resurrect any of these topics, I will appease the masses and blog it/them. Now to some stuff I did find blogworthy.

Links
Here's some links I've been trying to stick in a post but haven't yet:

• A funny article entitled "Who's Who of the Drinking Scene." Brian Lee fits into at least a half dozen of these categories.
• Speaking of which, another Mr. T Video.
• On the International Federation of Competitive Eating website, they have a link to this.

The Future
After Brown, I'm thinking of getting into the political game and either:

a. working for a guy from America Coming Together (which recently closed down) who's running for state rep.

b. working on the campaign of whoever challenges Mike DeWine (OH-Sen-Republican). DeWine is vulnerable and hopefully Paul Hackett, an anti-war Iraq war vet who almost won a special election for the U.S. House in one of the most republican districts in Ohio (OH-2-Cincinnati area), will run and I can work for him.

c. working on the campaign for governor - our current governor was just convicted of failing to report golf trips he was given and is being pushed to resign by the left and right. Because of term limits he can't run again but hopefully his bad reputation will rub off on the new Republican nominee.

I've been keeping up with all the political races through dailykos.com and mydd.com, the two biggest liberal activist blogs and meat-eating leftist where they believe:

"It's time to give the left a backbone... we've had it with mealy-mouthed, spineless, politically-correct liberals who... listen to public radio [and] Air America... Now is not the time for retreat, now is the time to speak loudly and carry a big brick... Contrary to how the media and the right portrays the left, we are not bong-smoking, Birk-wearing, sitar-playing misfits. We have families, we have careers, we have balls. We are you."

Bottom line, they are the thug liberals that I think the Democratic party needs. I don't think that that means we have to comprimise our values but there definitely needs to be a reframing of them. For example:

	Pussy Liberal	Thug Liberal
Environment	Don't cut down the forests. I like trees. You might hurt the cute animals.	Don't cut down the forests. I need somewhere to shoot deer in the face.
Gun Control	I don't want anyone to be hurt so we shouldn't have any guns.	Guns are for pussies; If anyone fucks with me, I'll just shove my foot up their ass.
Abortion	I believe that women should have the right to choose.	I believe the government should not have the right to choose.
Gay Marraige	I think everyone should do whatever they want. Gay people are cool.	I dont care what those fucking faggots do. As long as its not my son.
Taxes	If we don't pay taxes then we'll run up a deficit and that's not good.	I hate rich people. They don't deserve nothing and we should tax the shit out of them.
Social Services	We should take care of the less fortunate.	For all the shit we get from our bosses, those bastards owe us social security, unemployment, welfare, etc.
Church and State	There should be a strict division of church and state becuase the legal decision of...	I don't want the government backing its ass up into my church.
Torture	We shouldn't torture enemy combatants becuase its wrong. Plus the Geneva Convention says...	We shouldn't torture them because I don't want them torturing my kid.
Death Penalty	The state shouldn't be allowed to kill people. Plus sometimes they execute innocent people.	Don't execute them. That's too easy. Let them get gang-raped for the next 60 years.
Raising the Minimum Wage	We should do it because its right.	We should do it becuase I'm broke.
National Defense	I believe in peace. We should not support the military industrial complex.	I don't give a fuck about those Arabs - I'm not sending my son to die for them.
Unilateralism/ Multilateralism	We should work with other countries to do whats best for everybody instead of just for us.	We're #1. We shouldn't have to do everything, let those French bitches do some of the work.

Comments are welcome.

Don't Drink and Drive
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription required):

Lt. Gov.'s son charged after fatal crash
The son of Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, has been charged with felony DUI in South Carolina after a one-car wreck killed a man the younger Taylor described as his best friend...

Charleston police said Taylor was driving at a high rate of speed when his 2000 Lincoln Navigator hit a retaining wall, rolled onto its roof and slid along the roadway.

Joseph Victor Gennert, 22, of Charleston died at the scene, police said.

According to the report, Taylor told an investigating officer, "I was in Charleston Beer Works. I killed my best friend. I might have had four, I might have had three. Either way, I killed my best friend. . . ."

Anna Marie Gennert, the victim's mother, said in a telephone interview from her home in Willoughby, Ohio, she was unaware her son and Fletcher Taylor were friends. "I've never heard that name mentioned by my son," she said.

Joseph Gennert, her middle son, lived in Charleston and was beginning his second year at Trident Technical College, majoring in business, she said.

Police told her her son wasn't wearing a seat belt and was thrown through the sunroof and crushed when the car rolled over on him, she said.

"It could have easily been my son driving," Gennert said. "I don't think anything was intentional. They're kids."

The incident comes at a politically sensitive time for the lieutenant governor, who is preparing to launch a well-financed campaign for the 2006 Democratic nomination for governor... The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue in the general election.

- - - - - - -

Joe Gennert was a year above me at my high school. We struggled together through French class with Dr. Yedid and Ms. Thibonnier (who also recently died actually) Freshman and Sophomore year. We both had no clue what was going on half the time but we both had a sense of humor about our inadequacy.

He actually was "asked to leave" from U.S. after he got caught selling weed. Funny story: he tried to call the school on their bluff and hired a lawyer to sue the school for trying to expel him. One of the kids he sold to ratted him out though so he "left voluntaily." He was a good guy and he'll be missed by a lot of people. I'm really fucking tired of kids my age dying for preventable reasons so PLEASE take care of yourselves. Rest in peace Joe.