Starting September Off Right

Jeez. I have reached a new low since starting this online journal. In the month of August, I have only poster three blogs. And I haven't been keeping up with the presidential campaign of Rapture Ralph/Blat. Damn you, life!

Anyway, for the umpteenth time, I apologize for my lack of blog postings. With Senior year in full swing, I won't have all the time that I want to blog. Thankfully, fall break is fast approaching and depending on how non-lazy I am, I might be able to crank out a few a week, so pray that I don't fall ill to laziness.

And the hypocrite of the month goes to......: Senator Larry Craig, a (i'm shocked, i'll tell ya, shocked!) Republican representing Idaho who plead guilty to soliciting oral sex from an undercover cop in the bathroom of a Minneapolis Airport. Ironically, Senator Craig, in the past has voted against both gay marriage and civil unions for gays, and voted to impeach Bill Clinton for lying under oath about his affair with one Monica Lewinsky. If the GOP should take anything away from this latest scandal it should be the following: if you're going to keep preaching you're the party of traditional family an moral values, then lead by example.........on second thought - don't. You're not the party of traditional values. You never have been.

The race to the post season: has begun. And this time, just about every race is up for grabs, and there's no way to tell which teams gonna win which division. Will A-Rod carry the Bronx Bombers to to another post-season appearance? Can Jake Peavy, Milton Bradley, and the pitching staff lead the Padres to another Western Division win? Are the fighting Philies good enough to make it to the playoffs? Who is the team everyone will fear come playoff time? And which team will win it all this year? You gotta love September baseball - the drama, the action, and the teams showing themselves if they're pretenders or contenders. Stay tuned, folks.

Lord of the Ring: One Ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all, and in the Darkness, bind them. OK, i'll admit, it's really dorky of me to recite this, but dammit, we're the graduating class of 2008! With the Senior rings we're picking out, then receiving in 4-6 wks., we might as well be the Masters of our school! My ring will look something like this:

class ring - heritage with school chest
ring model - lexington (H33)
metal choice - 14-kt. yellow gold
metal finish - antique (traditional)
stone color - birthstone
birthstone color - september fire blue spinel (chose school color)
accent stone - cubic zirconia
stone cut - sunburst
ring side 1 - school mascot (mustang)
ring side 2 - name (chose my nickname, radio) and design (paw print)
ring band options - full name inside and smooth band
ring year date/size - 2008/9.5
outside initials - JH

This is going to be a bitchin ass ring!

Fall Movie Season: It's fall, and the awards will be in full swing, and there are some great movies this time round. Here are my top 3 movies to watch for:

The Darjeeling Limited


No Country for Old Men


Lions for Lambs

Ramdon Notes: Part Two

As I promised, here's part two of Random Notes. Enjoy!

Making front page news: For the first time in my three years of writing articles for the school newspaper, The Ranch Review, a story of mine has graced the front page! Well, I should say that I did have a partner who helped co-write the story; Katy Carranza, and it it just as much her story as it is mine and it wouldn't be right to not give her credit, so let me say thank you to Katy for working with me on this news piece and for your hard work. I couldn't ask for a better partner. What was the news piece on, you say? It was on Otay Ranch High School's first musical, West Side Story.

MC Rove has left the building: probably the biggest story of the week: Bush's chief political strategist Karl Rove has announced that he will resign at the end of the month.

WASHINGTON - Karl Rove, the political mastermind behind President Bush’s races for the White House and an adviser with unparalleled influence over the past 6½ turbulent years, announced his resignation Monday, ending a partnership stretching back more than three decades.

It was a major loss for Bush as he heads into the twilight of his presidency, battered in the polls, facing a hostile Democratic Congress and waging an unpopular war. A half dozen other senior advisers have left in recent months, forcing the White House to rebuild its staff at the same time the president is running out of influence.

“I’ll be on the road behind you here in a little bit,” said a rueful Bush, announcing the departure alongside Rove on the White House South Lawn. Bush leaves office Jan. 20, 2009.

Is this the last we shall ever hear of ol MC Rove? Doubt it. More than likely he will leech onto another Republican Presidential Candidate (say Mitt Romney?) as a means to further his political agenda of having a permanent majority in Washington.

For the meantime though, I say good riddance to bad rubbish.

24 goes green, right wingers loose their minds: To quote Stephanie Miller of the Stephanie Miller Show, "Let's dive into the right-wing world, shall we?" Jack Bauer, the right-wing's current fixation, has now done the unthinkable: he's fallen into the sinister liberal agenda of conserving the environment.

July 22, 2007, Hollywood, CA – “24,” the Emmy Award-winning series from Imagine and Twentieth Century Fox Television, will strive to become the first television production ever to save enough energy and reduce enough carbon emissions over the course of a season to render its entire season finale “carbon neutral,” it was announced today. In addition to making significant changes to its own production practices, the series aims to educate and inspire its millions of viewers to take climate change and the fight against global warming seriously and personally, before it’s too late, said executive producer/show-runner Howard Gordon and Twentieth Century Fox Television Chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman.

“We care deeply about this issue at ‘24,’ and we wanted to do our own small part to be part of the solution,” commented Howard Gordon. “We looked at how we produce the show, and realized that there were some substantive changes we could implement which would make a real difference. But even more importantly, we hope to inspire our audience to look at what they can do in their own lives to help stem global warming. We think this will be the beginning of a conversation with our millions of viewers that will hopefully inspire them to take action around the world.”

The fringes of the right-wing took this loss to the MSN liberal agenda very hard indeed. The bloggers at the conservative watchdog site, Newsbusters.org were torn over the news.

"Rush is almost always right
July 21, 2007 - 18:58 ET — bulbasaur

You got it bigtimer, Rush is gotta be torn over this.

He thinks hollywood types should shut up and act, but the stars themselves think they aren't respected for their depth of thought. So they pick up brochures and whackpot magazines which give them a way to look intelligent.

You have to sympathize somewhat with them, what are they gonna do, study math?

Going gaga over global warming is a shortcut, but I don't think celebrities realize how transparently phony it is. That's why I feel sorry for them."

"So this nut didn't drop too
July 21, 2007 - 18:03 ET — Rackie

I see this nut didn't drop too far from the idiot tree."

"Lefty Acorn
July 21, 2007 - 18:14 ET — stratman

It is not hard to believe that Keifer is a Liberal who buys into fantastical schemes like Gorebal Warming.

His father is Donald Sutherland, a wonderful actor but a Lefty of repute in the old days.

Should we have thought Keif would turn out any other way?

Side Note: Keifer was fired as Road Manager for a band he hired to his own record label. I guess he's not as bright as his 24 personna would suggest."

One 24 die-hard right-winger, was so distraught, that he even created his own script for how the new season would look like when it goes green.

SIX DAYS LATER

Jack arrives in the Valley in his covered wagon pulled by a team of oxen.

Jack: (to uniformed agent who meets him armed with bow and arrow) Drop your weapon! Now! Do it!

Agent: Uh, I’m a CTU agent. I’m your contact.

Jack: Oh. What’s up?

Agent. Me, about five times a night. (pause) That was a joke, sir.

Jack: (blank stare)

Agent: We intercepted a carrier pigeon from the Kyoto Liberation Army. If President Backofthehander doesn’t sign the treaty within two hours, they will allow this glacier to wipe out the entire valley.

Jack: And the downside is…?

Agent: Uh, think of all the children’s art projects made from recycled paper that will be lost, sir.

Jack: Oh, good point. Ok, here’s the plan. We allow Mother Gaia to use her wind and rain to erode the Santa Monica Mountains down to the point where the glacier can flow over them and into the sea.

Agent: Brilliant!

It makes one wonder, since the fringes of the conservative base are for conserving energy, the environment, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Rule of Law, The Geneva Conventions, smaller government, moral values, etc, just what are they trying to conserve?

Ramdon Notes: Part One

Sorry for the cold shoulder for two weeks. I've been busy with school and the Ranch Review (now Opinion Editor!) and I have a lot to talk about.....in fact, this will be a two parter so without further ado, part one of my little segment, Random Notes!

Bonds is the new home run king: Seriously, am I the only one who didn't give a damn when Barry Bonds hit home run #756 to surpass Hank Arron as baseball's home run king? I'm a baseball fan, but I could not congratulate a cheating jackass like Bonds. What's even more pathetic is the phony speech he gave, thanking the fans for being there. Let me translate what Bonds meant to say to his fans:
Translation: 'thanks for putting up with my piss-poor attitude. Thanks for keeping me in San Fran when no other club would pick my ass up because of the fact that they don't want a cheating s.o.b. like me. I've made history, now i'm not going to play the rest of the game. Remember, it's all about me.'
Bonds, take your 30 pieces of silver, and fuck off.

Harry Potter and the Best Movie in the Franchise: Some critics are pissy that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix lacks the charm of the last four films. Fair point. Yes, Daniel Radcliffe isn't the same 11 year-old boy we loved in The Sorcerer's Stone or The Chamber of Secrets. Neither are the last four movies. But I think the filmmaker, David Yates would be doing a disservice to the spirit of the fifth novel in J.K. Rowling's wonderful and rich series. Like all things, there comes a point were childhood must end and the seams of adulthood must rear it's ugly head, among with the darkness and pain it eventually brings. For Harry Potter, that time has come. Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven since the return of the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). The Ministry of Magic and Cornelius Fudge are trying to dismiss Harry's claim that You-Know-Who has returned, even going as far to insert one of their own, Dolores Umbridge (a wonderful and nasty Imelda Staunton) to shut him up, and to keep the students from learning magic. And Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) avoids Potter at every turn. Add to that, Harry's growing teen problems: anger, growing up, and girls. These are the things taking place in this film. And it's by far the best one yet, thanks to some great performances from Radcliffe, Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, and Staunton as Umbridge, who is the Dick Cheney of the Harry Potter universe; the amazing set pieces from Stewart Craig; the excellent cinematography; and the great direction from Yates. It all adds up to one of the year's best movies.
***1/2 stars out of ****

Bush claims Executive Privilege over Tillman Death: You heard me right. The administration that couldn't sink any lower have yet again, found a new despicable low: by claiming the privilege over the death of NFL Quarterback/Army ranger, Pat Tillman.

WASHINGTON — The White House has refused to give Congress documents about the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, with White House counsel Fred Fielding saying that certain papers relating to discussion of the friendly-fire shooting "implicate Executive Branch confidentiality interests."

Are you fucking kidding me? That family has gone through hell because of this endless and shameful saga, and now the president is withholding documents about how Tillman really died? It was bad enough that the Army lied about his death and it was sickening to learn that Gen. Stanley McChrystal knew that Tillman died by friendly fire but gave him the Silver Star anyway, but this is just nauseating, the kind of shit that the Bush Administration pulled here. The Tillman family deserves closure and better treatment than this, Mr. Bush, and you damn-well know it. Another fine example of how our commander-in-chief supports our soldiers.

Part 2, I will post later next week. Stay tuned.

I'm not dead, i'm just really busy

Hey everyone! No, i'm not dead people, i've just been one busy seventeen year-old: the June issue of The Ranch Review is all sent off, my SAT testing is complete, and all I have left are my End-of-course exams, and then.......summer.

It turns out that a lot has happened over two weeks, so let me try and get caught up with current events.

Paris Hilton's had a bad week: First, the twenty-something enters prison, then after three days, she gets out of jail because he's suffering from "medical problems", and now a judge today sentenced Ms. Hilton back to jail! That didn't sit to well with Paris.

Paris Hilton was just ordered back to jail in Lynwood to serve out the remainder of her sentence! She'll get credit for at least 5 days already served.

Hilton left the courtroom in tears, screaming, "Mom, Mom, Mom." Hilton was also heard saying "It's not right."

One witness said that Paris was "physically escorted" out of the courtroom by a female deputy.

Hilton's mother was later seen pacing the hallways, telling reporters, "I'm paralyzed right now." Paris' father Rick is still in the courtroom.

As someone once said: don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Here's a video of the utter madness of the paparazzi when Hilton was taken to court by the local authorities.



Right-wingers really are stupid: Like you didn't already know this. By far, the dumbest thing i've read this week - Mark Noonan takes a page from the Religious Rights poster-child nutjob Sam Brownback in denying evolution because his religion says it's bullshit. Not only does the discussion about evolution go out the window (as well as the facts that other posters made), but it brings out a lunatic out of the debate who based ALL of his opinions of the matter......on the Bible. The stuff posted from Jeremiah reminded me of reading Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

"The bible, Jeremiah, is a book of man-made renderings. Man, in his need for comfort and reassurance on a sometimes hostile planet, invented a father-like figure to oversee his daily life. A supreme being that would bestow blessings as a reward for good behavior or issue punishment for bad conduct. If this gives particular consolation to an individual, I see nothing wrong with that."


At May 31, 2007 06:17 PM

Let's pick your statements apart piece by piece shall we!

#1. "The bible, Jeremiah, is a book of man-made renderings"

First of all, CO, the bible, CO, is not just a book, it is the infallible Word of Almighty God, based primarily on His instruction as to how we should live! Which is a life pleasing to Him!
The Criteria herein, through the work required for Jesus Christ, Lies the the key to a successfully happy and joyful life, and are proof of His presence within this world is real, and the Faith it requires to sustain each and every life. Words by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--

Words by the [Father].
"The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18

Words by the [Son].
The Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.
Matthew 8:13

Words by the [Holy Spirit]
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Acts 13:2

Notice anything in the last two verses? The key is FAITH.

#2.
"Man, in his need for comfort and reassurance on a sometimes hostile planet, invented a father-like figure to oversee his daily life."

Ivented???? That's pretty shallow there, CO! On top of that it's a pretty dangerous statement to be making too! Every life, CO, is at the mercy of Almighty God, and alot of people have made that mistake all too many times, Just ask the rich man in Hell, remember him? When he lifted up his eyes out of Hell, begging for a drop of water just to cool his tongue!!!!!!!

#3. "A supreme being that would bestow blessings as a reward for good behavior or issue punishment for bad conduct."

You state it as if taking life for grantit. That's a sad depressing way to look at it, doncha think?
You still don't get it do you! God gave you a CHOICE. He even sent His ONLY Son Jesus Christ to DIE, a cruel, CRUEL DEATH!!! He loved you that much, so you would believe and want to appreciate and love Him!!!!

Do you want to serve Him?...Or, Do you want to reject Him and be [eternally] lost, Forever and ever to never see peace again?

#4."If this gives particular consolation to an individual, I see nothing wrong with that."

Then why do you so ignorantly, INSIST, on God as being someone made-up????????????

CO, you may not give a hoot about other people and their relationship with Christ, But I do!!

But you will, one of these days, only then, your worries will have just begun!!

Posted by: Jeremiah at May 31, 2007 07:26 PM

Now granted, I am a Christian, but I don't dive into the depths of denial because a book (which was written and interpreted by Man, not by God) told me otherwise.

And the idiot of the week goes to: Gary Shefield, for this idiotic and racist comment regarding why there are few African-Americans playing baseball.

In an interview with GQ magazine that's currently on newsstands, the typically outspoken Tigers designated hitter said Latin players have replaced African-Americans as baseball's most prevalent minority because they are easier to control.

"I called it years ago. What I called is that you're going to see more black faces, but there ain't no English going to be coming out. … [It's about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do -- being able to control them," he told the magazine.

"Where I'm from, you can't control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is. And that's a person that you're going to talk to with respect, you're going to talk to like a man.

Wrong, jackass. Latinos are playing baseball because it has become a popular sport in places like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and other Latin-American countries, it's not because they can be controlled. I would expect to hear this comment coming from a racist redneck, but haring the kind of comments come from my ethnic background is disheartening and disturbing.

Hoffman gets 500th save, Padres break out brooms against Los Angeles: What an exciting three days of Padres baseball! First, the Padres win with a run and a pair of hits. Then Trevor Hoffman reaches a milestone, not even reached by Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith: his 500th career save. And last night, down by four, the Padres come from behind in the last of the 9th to win 6-5, sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers at PETCO Park.

Now don't tell me that the Padres are, in the month of June, the National League's hottest team.