annika's journal backup blog

"...Even if you were broke, my [blog] don't cost a thing..."

Friday, October 31, 2003

Costumed Foolishness

i wore my seventies funky hippie outfit to work today. Yellow hip hugger dittos with a chain belt, checkered halter top, a big old peace sign pendant, rose colored sunglasses, clunky cork platform sandals and all topped off with a huge black fro wig. i carried some daisies around with me just in case i saw any gun barrels to stick them into.

And yes, i've been reminded a number of times today that dittoes are an eighties thing.

Coincidentally, this black dude named Moses, who works on the floor above mine, also decided to do the seventies thing. He had these fantastically wide bell bottoms and a denim Tom Jones shirt, opened to the waist. i gave him my peace sign to wear. His fro was huge like mine, except it was all real, ha-ha. We decided to hang out together at the lunchtime pot-luck as the funky couple, and he kept me laughing the whole time with his dancing.

Most of the people who dressed up at work were not terribly imaginative. My friend Paul was a vampire. There were a lot of black robe wearing "witches." Another friend of mine who wore so much makeup i couldn't even recognize her. She was an ugly witch, complete with warts and a bulbous nose. She came up to my cubicle and just stood there without saying a word. i actually got a little scared, she looked so frightening. Finally i recognized her when she started laughing at my worried face.

Tonight, my roommate Betty is going to dress as, what else, Betty from the Flintstones. That costume is so simple it's almost cheating. At least i had to go thrift store shopping. All she did was take an old blue t-shirt dress and cut the hem short in a zig-zag shape. She doesn't even need to wear shoes. i suggested that her friend Alyssa dress up as Wilma, since her hair is reddish-brown.

It's actually a lot of fun to work in costume. It's like being in disguise. Not like i'm actually getting any work done today, mostly i'm just eating candy and bullshitting with my co-workers. i'm gonna try and sneak out of here early today. Tonight there is a party in our building and then we're going into Hollywood to check out some different clubs. One last blast before my month-long LSAT and NaNoWriMo hibernation.

Thursday, October 30, 2003

Stop This Disturbing Sports Trend

i'm a sports traditionalist. i don't like the DH. i don't like interleague play. i think expansion has hurt the NBA. i like the old NHL division names. i was glad when they resurrected the Cleveland Browns moniker.

Now, correct me if i'm wrong, but hasn't it always been the rule in basketball, baseball and hockey for the home team to wear white and the road team to wear a darker color? And in football, the home team wears the dark color and the road team wears white, right? The only exception was supposed to be the Los Angeles Lakers with their yellow home jerseys.

So what's with this BS i saw tonight where the Cleveland Cavaliers wore white on Phoenix's floor? They violated a time honored sports convention, just so the Suns could show off their snazzy new orange colors? (Which i like a lot, btw.)

Then i remembered how the "home" jerseys of the Florida Marlins were black! What the hell? i'm telling you, someone has to put a stop to this shocking erosion of sports tradition or there will be mighty big trouble ahead. This nonsense might spread to other sports like an infection. Can you imagine teal at Wimbledon? Uh-uh. Tiger wearing blue on Sunday? No way.

Side note: i turned on the Cleveland vs. Phoenix game mainly to get a look at LeBron James. i watched for most of the second half but i didn't see him. i saw a guy with "James" on the back of his jersey, but since that guy wasn't wearing a cape and flying around the arena, i figured it couldn't have been LeBron.

Democrats Lose Another Election Campaign Issue

i don't know much about economics, but this seems like good news to me.
The U.S. economy roared ahead in the third quarter, growing at its fastest pace in nearly 20 years, fueled by greater consumer and business spending.

Third-quarter gross domestic product, a measure of all the goods and services produced in the U.S., rose at a sizzling 7.2% annual rate, more than double the 3.3% rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. . . .

The third-quarter growth pace was the fastest since the first quarter of 1984, when the economy grew at a heady 9% pace.
How does this compare to other recent presidential terms including the much ballyhooed Clinton years?
The 7.2% rate of growth this quarter is roughly twice what Bill Clinton averaged over the thirty-two quarters during which he held office, and two-and-a-half times Clinton's rate of growth over his first eleven quarters (the same amount of time George W. Bush has held office). To be fair, this rate is also a massive four-and-a-half times the average rate of [George H. W. Bush's] administration (just under 1.8%). It more than doubles Reagan's 3.1% average as well, but to the Gipper's credit, his average jumps to a staggering 4.7% if you begin counting after his tax cut took effect in 1982 . . .
Crosswalk.com via Prof. Hewitt.

'Nuther Annoying New Subspecies Discovered

Homo Sapiens Oldfartodriversaurus: It's the oldster in the parking structure who can't seem to negotiate the 90° turn from the lane to the parking space without stopping, backing, adjusting for error, moving forward two feet, stopping, backing, stopping, backing, adjusting for error, moving forward two feet, stopping, backing, adjusting for error, moving forward two feet, stopping, backing, adjusting for error, moving forward two feet, stopping, backing, adjusting for error, moving forward two feet, stopping, backing, adjusting for error, moving forward two feet, all the while being fully aware that i am behind them, waiting, waiting, waiting.

No Subject

. . . Greta Van Susternernen has gotta be the most annoying pundit on the TV. i can't stand her. How many ways can you dissect and beat to death every insignificant development in the Peterson case? It's an evidentiary hearing, it's not the trial. It's a technical legal thingie, not the movie of the week. They're not doing it to entertain us, they're representing their clients and following the rules of procedure. Sheesh. . . .

. . . Wesley Clark, though cute, is not gaining any traction. Are the Dems really stupid enough to go with Howard Deen? . . .

. . . i've sorta made up with my mom. And i didn't have to apologize, either. i still feel like shit, though. She bought me a copy of We Were Soldiers as a gift. Isn't that sweet? Inside i was thinking, why are you buying me a gift? i was such a total bitch, i don't deserve any niceness. But that's the way she is. She's really a wonderful person. . . .

. . . Ain't no one in the blogosphere who can rebut a jackass better, or more cleverly than Frank J. Really, truth can also be very funny. . . .

. . . The American Red Cross is taking donations for the fire victims here in California. i don't know about you, but i don't trust the Red Cross one bit. Not after they tried to skim money off of all the 9/11 donations. Their arrogance about it was maddening. It was as if they felt entitled to their cut and they didn't see anything wrong with defrauding and taking advantage of the kindness of all those donors. . . .

. . . i slept wrong last night and got a crick in my neck. i need a new pillow. That's another symptom of my particular condition, called lack-of-boyfrienditis. i badly need someone to keep my neck in shape by giving me regular massages. . . .

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

i Swear i Didn't Erase Any Comments!

Just in case anybody thought i was erasing comments willy-nilly, it's not true. BlogSpeak was having some problems (what else is new) and they did it. It's against my blog philosophy to erase comments.

You may now resume commenting at your leisure.

Two Stoners Ready To Pass Around
Their Mid-East Peace Pipe


Yes, America's favorite stoner couple Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pit are heading to the Middle East to do what more sober-headed folks have been unable to do for decades: spark up a peace between the Israelis and the Arabs.

<sarcasm>Danny DeVito is going too, which makes me even more optimistic that they will succeed.</sarcasm>

Seen at Glenn's and Sam's.

Kid Suspended For Drawing A Picture

Linkie thanks to Tim.
A 14-year-old New Jersey schoolboy — whose dad and stepdad are in the military — was suspended for five days because he drew a "patriotic" stick figure of a U.S Marine blowing away a Taliban fighter, officials said yesterday.

. . .

Scott, who turned 14 Tuesday and was headed back to school Wednesday, said he was unjustly disciplined for his sketch of "a war scene."

. . .

Scott's mother said school officials described the drawing as "not the work of a normal mind."
Incredible.
"Truth be told, it's a Marine shooting a terrorist Taliban," [the boy] told The Post. "It's just a picture. What upsets me most is that the principal would dare say it's not normal. To me, it's patriotic."
How did we get to the point where our schools are run by such assholes? Maybe if he had drawn a picture of a palestinian blowing away some Israelis, they'd have given him a blue ribbon.

Another Dating Tip For Women

Ginger found this article, which combines health advice with tips on dating etiquette.

Guys, you'll definitely want to know about this too. Might come in handy with those, shall we say, reluctant dates.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

The Mugshot

For those of you who were referred here by Outside the Beltway, looking for my mugshot, sorry. That link is to my old Geocities page and the trouble with Geocities is that after it spits out about 12 bytes, it shuts down. That's Yahoo's sinister way of getting people to sign up for their pay service, which is why i quit using Geocities.

Anyway, not to fear. If you still wanna see a mugshot, look here.

Fires And Terrorism

Old Skool brings up an interesting point about the fires and terrorism. He links to this report about a possible Al Qaeda link, which seems to have escaped the massive round the clock coverage of the fires by the mainstream media.
The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaeda terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States.

. . .

. . . the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country.
i haven't heard of any evidence or speculation that the wildfires going on right now were lit by terrorists, and i don't mean to imply that i believe they were. But i am concerned because it is easy to see how simple it would be to create a bunch of fires and completely occupy the attention and resources of all our emergency responders. Now would be a perfect time for some terrorist mischief. Isn't Ramadan going on right now, too?

Wouldn't it be a scary and simple thing if a few terrorists drove around Southern California throwing Molotov cocktails out the window? The worst time for this to occur, is coincidentally during Ramadan, when the fire danger is highest due to the dry Santa Ana winds. Then, when firefighters and police were stretched to the limit, the terrorists could strike inside a major city with whatever devastating weapon they chose. i'm not sure we could plan a sufficient response to that scenario.

You Gotta Be A Big Loser If . . .

Bill got a hate e-mail for some comment he made about homeless people, in which he said, among other things:
[W]hat's with the cardboard sign "will work for food". There's a McDonald's across the street. You can work and eat there. What's the problem?
When i worked in Oakland, there was this homeless dude, who sat out in front of the McDonald's every friggin day. i used to avoid him as much as i could, even though i felt guilty about it. Yet, ironically, that particular McDonald's had hired a "special person" as a cashier.

i say ironically, because Bill's right. There is absolutely no reason you can't get a job at a place that hires retarded people. Can you imagine having to tell your friends (or your parole officer):

"Gee, i was so sure I did well in that interview, but they gave it to the retarded guy instead. Damn!"

Side note: if you are ever in a McDonald's and you see one of the "special people" standing behind one of the registers, do not -- repeat -- do not stand in that line. Go find another line if you plan to eat your food anytime soon.

Not that i'm against "special people" having jobs. i'm all for it. i'm glad that McDonald's is nice enough to hire them. But i have found, through experience, that they are gauranteed to fuck up your order in some way, and they'll take their time doing it, too.

Trouble is, you can't get pissed at them either. Normally, when a fast food cashier fucks up, i can give them my pissy "hurry up and fix it you loser" attitude in order to get some quick action. Often i'll get a free apple turnover out of it.

But who can be an ass to one of the "special people?" Well, maybe Bill could, but i certainly couldn't. So i think it's better to just avoid the whole aggravation by standing in one of the non-"special person" lines.

Dating Tips For Women By A Woman

Yay! Amy rises to the challenge! Here's some excellent tips. A sample:
Of tight, short, and low-cut, pick one of three. Sexy is good. Slutty is bad.
Now of course my brother might add that the degree to which the above rule is violated is in direct proportion to the likelihood that he will try hitting on the violator.

Fire Pictures

Jason from Blogging.LA has posted some great pictures of the Simi Valley fire. This is exactly what i saw from my parent's place.

Last night i was over at my parents' and it was raining ashes. Not thick like snow, but little sparse flakes floating down once in a while. i looked at one close up and it was like a perfect little oak leaf, only gray, and it disintegrated when i touched it.

The sky was brownish red at sunset and the smoke stung my eyes and gave me a headache. My mom was having trouble breathing, which was scary, since she's been through countless fires before and never had that problem. She's okay now.

Multiply the experience by a thousand and i can picture what it must have been like for the ancient Pompeiians.

Monday, October 27, 2003

Another Potential Halloween Costume Idea?

How about a gigantic tin foil dick?

Oh, i Almost Forgot

Miami by 2½ tonight.

Update: i am now 5-3 for the year on my Monday Night Football prognostications! Yah! Don't mess with me.

Sunday, October 26, 2003

How About Dating Tips For Women, By A Woman?

Sure, i'll read through any suggestions, not that i need any mind you. But while Ross at Rocket Penguins has a couple of good points, i'm confused about one thing. See, Paul did his Dating Tips for Men a few weeks back, and he is a man. Now we have Dating Tips for Women, by Ross, another man. See what i'm getting at?

What female blogger out there is bold enough to, Paul-like, declare herself an expert on the subject and give us girls the scoop on the do's and don'ts of dating? Certainly not me, i've been out of circulation for too long.

But, perhaps these might help me get back in the game.

What's Going On With All These Fires?

It's gotta be arson. There's just too many of them, and they're surrounding Los Angeles. The police are looking for two white guys in a gray van. The sickos.



i watched the Simi Valley fire tonight from my parents back yard. It was eerie. About ten or fifteen miles away, across the Valley, i could still see tiny flames coming over the hill. Looking through binoculars i could see the individual fires.

Fires always travel faster uphill. i learned that when i lived through all the Oakland fires a few years back. That's cause the fire heats the brush above it and makes it drier and more flammable. Going downhill is slower.

So i don't expect the fire to travel too far into the San Fernando Valley. But i know people who live in neighboring Simi Valley and i hope they and their homes will be okay.

According the the map, the Simi fire is the largest of the eight Southern California fires, at 47,150 acres. i saw the smoke yesterday when it was just starting, too. i was on my way to my LSAT course and i could see the white and orange cloud at the edge of the Valley. Today it was a huge cloud bank covering the entire eastern horizon.

Here's a real good detail map.

Saturday, October 25, 2003

New Blog Showcase Vote

Here it is folks.

Thank You!!!

To the kind visitor who sent me The Manchurian Candidate DVD and also that lovely country music CD, thank you, thank you, thank you so much! i hadn't been to my P.O. box in a few weeks and i was so surprised to find your gift! You totally made my week!

Thoughts On The World Series

. . . i think this series should be counted as another argument in favor of the National League style of play over the A.L. style. N.L. style is: get a guy on base, move him over, move him in. In the A.L. it's get a guy on base, wait for something to happen. . . .

. . . This result is not a repudiation of annika-karma. Quite the contrary. i only saw two teams play this year, and both made it to the Championship Series of their league. i simply misinterpreted the karma, thinking that it would indicate the future World Champion, when it only applied to the League Championship. . . .

. . . Now that Florida has won the World Championship again, how long do you think it will take before they sell off the team this time? And who will go first? How about Pudge Rodriguez to the Dodgers for two minor league propects? Josh Beckett to San Diego for Kevin Jarvis and a player to be named? . . .

Morning After Thought:

. . . Which team was least deserving of the World Championship? The team that already has 26, more than any other sports franchise in history, and wins it an average of once every four years? Or the team that's won it twice in its short ten year existence, both times as a wild card entry, and has never even once paid its dues by actually winning a division race? i think i know why most fans would have preferred to watch the Red Sox and the Cubs. . . .

Friday, October 24, 2003

i'm Out The Door Now

Oh what a day, and what a week this has been. It's been probably the busiest week since i started working at the L.A. office.

Today at 3:30, i was given a rush delivery to the downtown courthouse. The attorney had called a messenger but he was late, so they couldn't wait anymore and i was elected.

Traffic has been bad with the bus strike and to add to the stress, we weren't sure when the filing window closed. As i raced downtown in my faithful little Mazda i was reminded of the final scene in the Blues Brothers movie.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is opening tonight too, and they had the street blocked off. i wasn't sure if i could find parking, but luckily the guard let me into the Music Center lot, which is across from the courthouse. i made it to the filing window with only a few minutes to spare!

Then, of course, the clerk told me i was at the wrong window and sent me to another room on another floor. With five minutes before closing time, i ran up three escalators and down a long hall to the other clerk's window.

i made it! But then i was shocked to find out that the law firm's check for the filing fee was the wrong amount! i had to dig into my purse and write a check on my own account for the difference. What a trooper i am!

If i hadn't known that they would reimburse me, the firm might have been shit out of luck.

So, this long week, which started ominously with my car running out of gas on Monday, is finally over. i'm going out dancing with Betty and Lourdes tonight and i'm on my way out the door now. But i wanted to check in with my poor neglected blog before i left. Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, October 23, 2003

Halloween Costume?

Halloween is just around the corner. Usually i don't dress up, but my roomie is totally pushing for us to take part in some sort of Halloween hijinks this year.

Amy of Fish Out of Water has a great idea with the Harry Potter theme. i could have some fun with that. What's the name of that chick? The smart one who knows all the spells. Not Cruella Deville, that's someone else. You know who i'm talking about. i could go as her.

Another idea i'm leaning toward, because it combines my sense of sarcastic irony with my feelings of homesickness, is to be a San Francisco hippie, circa "Summer of Love." Or maybe push it forward a few years, wear dittos and an afro wig, and be a 70's funk girl. Scary, huh?

Update: How could i forget to mention the lovely Candace and her Pope costume? Is it "miter" or "mitre" or just "pope hat?"

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Bass Players, Yah!

i went out with a bass player for a while, back when i lived up north. Fond memories, he was cool. Bass players are cool. Missie's got it right.

(note: in case of Glogger permalink fuck-up, scroll down to 10/20/03.)

Another New Subspecies Discovered

Homo Sapiens Officeintranetmailfucktardus: Why do some people think the office intranet e-mail system is like their own personal radio station? i am sick of being interrupted by pop-ups saying i have an important message, only to find out that so-and-so's birthday will be celebrated at 3:00 in the lunchroom. Like i care.

Already today, i received four urgent e-mails, one regarding the progress of a former employee's pregnancy, whom i don't know and couldn't care less about; one announcing a get together with another former employee, also whom i don't know; and two regarding the status of some cookies brought in by a secretary: where to find them, how yummy they are, who brought them in, come and get them.

i look forward to the e-mail about the weekly refrigerator clean-out with great eagerness.

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Carnival Of The Capitalists

Jay Solo's latest round in the Carnival Of The Capitalists contains some real gems. i just surfed through it and clicked on some random links.

The most interesting i've read so far is called The Roots of Bolivia's Suffering, which discusses the internal problems that hamstring South America's poorest country.

Also, in Overlawyered, i learned that the late Willy Shoemaker's crazy lawsuit after the drunk driving accident that paralyzed him was prompted by some zealous lawyers' advice. What a surprise.

Walter in Denver explains how over-regulation can increase the cost of importing a bottle of wine, while decreasing the incentive to get into such a business.

Serenity Is Hot!

Serenity posted an awesome 100 things list. A fascinating chick, she is. Scary smart. And guys, she's hot, too!

The Pointy High Heeled Boot

Oh yes, the pointy high heeled boot is on my list. Check out this outfit. Great for work, don't you think? i love Ann Taylor stuff. i've decided that if i'm good this week, i will reward myself on Friday with a pair of those boots. If i'm real good, i'll get the rest of the outfit. (sweater in black and skirt in ivory) i will be good, too. ;-)

P.S. You might wonder what prompted today's lunchtime shopping trip. Well, maybe it's a certain heavenly boy who likes to sit in the very back row of my LSAT class. Mmmmm, maybe, maybe.

Fascinating

John Allen Muhammad's opening statement to the jury is fascinating. He may be crazy to represent himself, but he seems more lucid than the Long Island train shooter was. Read it here.

Muhammad has no idea what he's doing. He didn't do a proper opening statement, but the prosecution only objected once, and very politely at that. i'm told that technically, the prosecution could have asked for a directed verdict after Muhammad's opening statement. The judge is bending over backwards to accomodate Muhammad, too.

i'm sure they're doing this out of concern that if they are too strict with legal rules, they might create grounds for an appeal. So they are letting him bend, and break some of the rules of trial procedure. But if they continue to let him get away with murder at the trial, he might get away with murder literally.

Sunday, October 19, 2003

Monday Night Pick

Tomorrow's game is Kansas City (6-0) vs. my Oakland Raiders (2-4) at Oakland Coliseum. KC is favored by 3.

Forget about it. Oakland is going to get clobbered. After what i saw last week, i don't expect the Raiders to be able to fix whatever problems they have against a team that's rolling like the Chiefs are right now.

It pains me, but Chiefs by at least 6, maybe 10. Look for Priest Holmes to go wild.

P.S. The Niners are schizophrenic. Or maybe the Bucs are. i dunno.

Big Blow-Up

There was a horrible blow-up in my family this weekend and i’m afraid it was all my fault. As you know, it was my mother’s birthday and my brother came down from San Francisco for the occasion. The four of us were supposed to go to Santa Barbara and spend the day together, and come back after dinner.

Well, it didn’t happen. Last night after my LSAT class, i went over to my parents' house. My brother was there. My parents usually ride him pretty hard because of his irresponsibility. Some of that had been going on before my arrival, i could tell. He was already sulky.

As for me, i must admit i was a bit wound up from the LSAT class, because i realized for the first time just how hard it might be to do well on that test. The questions are very tricky. We went over some sample questions and there were quite a few where i was convinced i had the right answers, only to find out i was wrong. To make it worse, i couldn’t figure out why i was wrong.

Without getting into detail, here is how the blow-up happened. The subject of Aunt Sophie came up and i asked my Mom a question.

“Why did Aunt Sophie do x? She didn’t need to because of fact y.”

My Mom told me that i was wrong about fact y. i knew that i was not wrong about fact y. My Mom insisted that i was wrong about fact y. This got my dander up. i proved that fact y was true, then proceeded to ridicule my Mom for disbelieving the truth of fact y. i reiterated my contention that Aunt Sophie was foolish to do act x, because of the existence of fact y. My Mom, correctly, i must add, pointed out that even though fact y was true, fact z made the existence of fact y irrelevant. Game, set and match to Mom.

Unfortunately, by this time i had been yelling for a few minutes. i knew all the while that i should not have been yelling, since the next day was my Mom’s birthday. But i did it anyway. i was caught up in the challenge of the argument. It was a grave error.

My Dad came home from the store to find us all not speaking to each other. My brother had taken my side, and demanded an apology from my Mom. He started yelling, too. Not a smart tactical move, but i appreciated his gesture. However, since i am older and more experienced in the family dynamic, i could see where this fight will lead, and i was already feeling remorseful.

Obviously, there was no Santa Barbara trip. i have now ruined my Mom’s birthday. That’s like dropping the a-bomb. In my family, birthdays are sacred. No matter what differences may exist beforehand, we always set them aside on each others’ birthday. This is, i think the first time that rule has ever been broken, and it was broken by me. i will never be allowed to forget that as long as i live.

i should have been more careful. In order to avoid ruining my Mom’s birthday, i should never have allowed myself to get so worked up over her challenge to me on the existence of fact y. i should have been nicer. i should have apologized right away before my brother jumped into the argument. i could apologize now, but there’s one problem.

In my family, no one ever apologizes. When one family member hurts another family member’s feelings, the solution is always to wait them out. Sick huh? Me and my brother will have to wait this one out. Because we ruined her birthday, we will probably wait a very long time. But eventually, she will start talking to us again. My Dad’s somewhat neutral, though he is obviously going to take Mom’s side if push comes to shove.

i feel really sick about this, though. i understand the consequences of ruining Mom’s birthday and they are huge. i tried to test the waters today by bringing over my Mom's favorite chocolate cake, but she was not interested in speaking to me. The holidays this year will not be fun at all.

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Skanky Bayatch Update

Anna at Primal Purge has an important update on T.S.B.W.I.S.A.W.B.O.H.Y.*


*That skanky bitch who is setting all women back one hundred years.

More Bear Protection Stuff

Kim du Toit has this story of a grizzly attack stopped by a little quail gun. Thanks once again to Publicola for the heads up.

Unwelcome News For The annika-Gyrl

Law school applications are at record levels, and the competition for next year's entering class will be especially tough, according to this article in the California Bar Journal.
Officials from the nonprofit Law School Admission Council (LSAC) expect a final head count to show that more than 100,000 applicants — the highest number ever — sought admission to American Bar Association-approved law schools nationwide this year. The number of applicants shot up 17.6 percent last year, the steepest rise in two decades, and another 11.1 percent for this fall's entering classes.

Nowhere has the jump in law school applicants and applications been more striking, officials say, than in the far western states — California, Hawaii and Nevada.

. . .

At the University of California's Hastings College of Law, for example
[Franci's alma mater], a record number of applicants — a few short of 7,000 — competed for some 420 seats this year. Just two years ago, the San Francisco campus received fewer than 5,000 applications for the same number of seats.

. . .

"What this really means is that it's a lot more competitive,"
[LSAC spokesman Ed] Haggerty said. "And it's more difficult to get into law school."
However, i might still have an edge with my graduate degree and work experience.
As [one student] sees it, he was pitted against too many applicants with years of work experience and proven abilities. "It was much more difficult than normal due to the people coming out of the workforce because of the economy," he concluded. "Kids like me who are right out of college, even though we're really smart, just can't compete with that."

Now, however,
[the student] considers himself lucky. One of his friends remains on several law school waiting lists and is still hoping for a last-minute break. . . .

Law student credentials are on the rise. At McGeorge, the median LSAT score for this fall's entering class is three points higher than it was last year. At Loyola, the median test score jumped two points. And with the stiffening competition, many qualified students are not making the cut.
Making it even more essential that i do well on the December LSAT. i'm not overly worried, though. One thing i'm extremely good at is taking multiple choice tests.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me?

A Martinez and Clemens rematch, seventh game, for all the marbles, in New York? Who scripted this?

Ain't no way in hell i'm missing tonight's game!

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

The Guardian's 100 Greatest Novels Of All Time

Yah i know, it's the bloody Guardian. Still, an argument can be made for many of the novels chosen by The Guardian as the hundred greatest. A valid argument can also be made that many of the books on the list, while good, should not be in the top hundred.

Since i was not an English Lit major like my friend Franci, i am way behind on reading the classics. i tend to devote more of my time to non-fiction anyway. However, i'm not willing to pass up this opportunity to toot my own horn by letting you know that i have read the following books on the list:
  1. Robinson Crusoe

  2. Vanity Fair

  3. The Scarlet Letter

  4. Moby-Dick

  5. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

  6. Anna Karenina

  7. The Brothers Karamazov

  8. Huckleberry Finn

  9. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

  10. The Picture of Dorian Gray

  11. The Thirty-Nine Steps

  12. The Great Gatsby

  13. The Trial (twice)

  14. The Plague

  15. Catcher in the Rye

  16. Charlotte's Web

  17. The Lord Of The Rings

  18. Lord of the Flies

  19. On the Road

  20. Lolita

  21. Catch-22
And that i have read other works by the following authors on the list:
  1. Jane Austen

  2. Stendhal

  3. Charles Dickens

  4. Lewis Carroll

  5. Leo Tolstoy

  6. George Eliot

  7. Fyodor Dostoevsky

  8. Henry James

  9. Mark Twain

  10. Robert Louis Stevenson

  11. Oscar Wilde

  12. Thomas Hardy

  13. Jack London

  14. Joseph Conrad

  15. D. H. Lawrence

  16. Ernest Hemingway

  17. William Faulkner

  18. Raymond Chandler

  19. Albert Camus

  20. George Orwell

  21. J.D. Salinger

  22. J. R. R. Tolkien

  23. John Le Carre

  24. Toni Morrison

  25. Milan Kundera

  26. Philip Roth
Not so impressive compared to some people, but more impressive than many, eh? *pats self on back*

Read Tim's comments on The Guardian's errata at Freespace.

Link props to Professor H. via Blog Critics.

More On Literature

If you're a literature person, and you haven't read Professor Harold Bloom's column about Steven King and J.K. Rowling, which has sparked a bit of discussion and controversy, you may find it here. Whether you agree with Bloom or not may be affected somewhat on whether you're a fan of King or Rowling.

i tend to agree with Bloom whenever i have come across his editorials. Here is a rebuttal to the King/Rowling piece by someone who disagrees. The rebuttal is not entirely idiotic, but the following statement is noteworthy for it's preachy PC bullshittiness:
Bloom's rage seems entirely misplaced to me. Rather than attacking writers, or those who bestow accolades onto them, he should be excoriating the true opponents of creative enlightenment. A short list would include: the deification of consumerism, the decline in funding for public education, the economic inequality that has become the hallmark of late–model capitalism. This culture discourages creativity, and deep thought, because such actions are not profitable. The horrible fact that people turn to Stephen King rather than Saul Bellow is, in other words, symptomalogy.
You idiot. Capitalism is the problem? i suppose they read Orwell in China and Cuba do they? Arrrrgh! do these people ever realize how stupid they sound?

Sad About The Cubs

i tried everything i could from my end. The couch was giving them bad luck so i sat on the floor. When i leaned forward a Cub would strike out, so i tried leaning back nonchalantly. But that didn't work either. Damn.

i thought about wearing my Angels rally monkey, but decided against it. Angels karma might not transfer teams or leagues. And it sure didn't help Anaheim this year, anyways.

Sosa got jobbed by the umpire on that called third strike in the eighth. But hey, what can you say, the Marlins are a good team. Chicago will be back.

My Boyfriend

i watch Emeril Live so religiously that i feel i know him. Why couldn't he be my boyfriend?

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Misc. B.S.

. . . Off and on today, i've been having trouble hooking up to various blogs. The regular sites seem to be okay, but blogs are very slow to load and most of the time i get an error message. It happened at work and at home. And it seems i'm the only one this is happening to. It's very irritating. . . .

. . . The Oral-B electric toothbrush is a great thing. My Mom bought a two-pack at Costco and gave me the other one. It comes with two, count 'em, two extra replacement brushes. Leaves your mouth feeling extra clean and fresh. Mmmmmm. . . .

. . . Sunday caller is history. Y'all were right. If a guy says he's gonna call on a certain day, he should call on that day. Not doing so bespeaks of a lackadaisical attitude toward relationships in general, and this girl in particular, which can only bode ill for future dating material. . . .

. . . i've been so busy at work. i'm trying to write a motion for an attorney that has to be filed this week. It's a horrendous project that i've been putting off for too long. It's a certain loser too. But we have to make the effort because the client expects miracles, even though we warned them in advance that our legal position is not favorable. i'll do my best, and if we lose, the attorney will take the heat. And i want to be a lawyer why? . . .

. . . My LSAT class starts Saturday. Blogging will probably be sparse for the next month and a half because of that and the NaNoWriMo thingie. My hits will inevitably go down. I'll probably drop from being a Large Mammal on the Ecosystem. People will visit my site and turn away in disgust. Hugh Hewitt will drop my link from it's spot of honor on his sidebar. Sigh. But i'll do my best to make it up to y'all in December. That is, if i survive November. . . .

. . . As if the grocery store strike isn't enough, the Los Angeles MTA bus mechanics are now on strike. The bus operators are staying home in support. Traffic was awful this morning. i didn't realize so many people rode the bus in this town. i can't imagine why anybody would; L.A. bus service is terrible. What's going on with all these strikes? Is the labor movement making a resurgence? i have no idea what the bus mechanics want. Perhaps, as Samuel Gompers once said, they just want "more." . . .

. . . My Mom's birthday is this weekend. My brother is coming down from S.F. for the occasion, and i'm so glad. i haven't seen him since June and i miss him a lot. i think Dad is planning to take us all up to Santa Barbara for the day. My Mom is a big seafood person. i suppose i'll be in charge of selecting the restaurant, but i don't know Santa Barbara. Any ideas anyone? . . .

. . . By the way, has anyone else noticed that the LCS in both leagues this year are the most exciting in recent memory, regardless of who you may be rooting for? You really can't afford to miss a game. Besides the competition, something weird seems to happen every day. And that Boston vs. New York rivalry is so intense i'm exhausted after watching each game. And i don't even have a dog in that fight. . . .

The Grocery Strike

There's a grocery store clerk's strike going on in Los Angeles right now. i don't know much about this thing. From what i heard on the radio, management wants to cut health benefits. i don't exactly know if this is just in the L.A. area or if it's a statewide strike.

What amazes me is how cooperative the public seems to be with the strikers. i drove by my grocery store tonight and there were a half dozen picketers and the parking lot was completely empty. It's usually pretty full.

It's kinda weird because i thought most people don't pay attention to strikes. It's been a long time since there's been a major strike, other than sports strikes. The last one i heard about was the L.A. dockworker's strike, which didn't present much of a dilemma for the public on whether to cross the line or not.

i think people are honoring the picket line on this one because we're all still hyped up over the election. People are conscious of their own activism because we just got done with a successful grass roots movement to oust the governor. It was a good time to have a strike, if my theory is correct.

i won't cross the picket line. i studied labor movements in college, which gave me this idea that strikers are a bunch of mean and ornery union thugs who carry baseball bats and brass knuckles. Reading lots of Steinbeck left me with that impression too. Stuff like that doesn't still go on, does it? i heard that some grocery shoppers have felt intimidated in this present strike.

Maybe it's time to call out the Pinkertons. (obscure historical reference, sorry)

Monday, October 13, 2003

The Shooter's Carnival

i want to give a plug to a shooter's related website called The Shooter's Carnival, with some excellent articles that are written for people like me who are, shall we say, ballistically challenged. Two of my friends Publicola and Matt Rustler are listed as contributors, so it's definitely written by knowledgeable folks. There's good stuff in there. The emphasis seems to be on the basics and safety.

Which reminds me about a guy in my high school who shot his brother in the leg when he was supposedly cleaning an "unloaded gun." Dude was upstairs, his bro was downstairs watching tv. Luckily, bro was not seriously injured. That dude would have done well to read an article at the Shooter's Gallery entitled "All guns are always loaded."

Sunday, October 12, 2003

Monday Night Prediction

Falcons vs. Rams. When the league scheduled this game, they were hoping for a showdown between Michael Vick and Kurt Warner. Instead we got Doug Johnson vs. Marc Bulger. Awesome Rams running back Marshall Faulk is also out with a broken hand.

The Rams at home are favored by eleven points and i can't argue with that. i'll take the Rams minus eleven.

It's a beautiful day here in L.A. and i'm going out now to play some tennis and hopefully forget about how much the Raiders SUCK.

Update: Okay, how about the Rams minus 35½?

annika is back to .500!

It's Time To Face The Facts

The defending AFC champion Oakland Raiders officially suck. Bill Callahan is not getting the job done. The defense can't stop the rush. The offense seems to have forgotten that first downs are a good thing. How the hell does Jerry Rice have only one reception for ten yards and Tim Brown have only one for eight yards?

To be fair, the Raiders do have a lot of key injuries:
WR Jerry Porter (abdomen); LB Bill Romanowski (concussion); G Mo Collins (knee); S Derrick Gibson (shoulder); RB Ronney Jenkins (ankle); T Lincoln Kennedy (calf); DT John Parrella (groin); TE O.J. Santiago (hamstring); C Matt Stinchcomb (shoulder); DT Dana Stubblefield (ankle); RB Tyrone Wheatley (back); DE Sam Williams (knee); S Rod Woodson (knee).
But it's still frickin embarrassing to lose to the Browns.

Update: Niners suck too.

Grrrrr . . .

The extreme bullshit from the Democratic Underground forum, properly fisked by Kevin at the The Smallest Minority, makes me seethe with anger. Ever see annika seethe? It's ugly.

The DU trolls are all pissed about the California Recall. They can't understand how any Democrat could possibly lose an election. One of them says:
I came to the . . . following conclusions when I saw the large number of people who voted for Bush back in 2000.

. . . I would dare to assume that most of us here are in the upper 1%-20% of the population intelligence-wise. We must come to the realization that the majority of the population is in the lower 80% to 99% percent of the bell-curve. WE are not the norm.
That really burns me up, i can't even tell you. i am in the top 2% and that's the reason why i am NOT a democrat. The more i use my brain, the more i recognize how idiotic and nonsensical today's democratic party has become. i like what Kevin says:
Give me a hundred engineers, a hundred programmers and a hundred Fine Arts majors and three hundred IQ tests. The engineers and programmers will score higher and will be overwhelmingly conservative.
John at Right Wing News provides more choice comments pulled from the DU forum. These are the same type of people who screamed in my face as i walked to school in Berkeley. Anyone who disagrees with them must be stupid or evil or both.

Friday, October 10, 2003

New Blog Showcase Vote

Alliance Member, Madfish Willie's Cyber Saloon has some recipes and good tips for hangovers. Lots of fun reading material indeed!

At Least Slap The Bayatch!

skanky bayatchSkanky Bayatch seems to be safe from Maryland's first lady for now.
Kendel Ehrlich, wife of Maryland's Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, said through a spokeswoman on Thursday that she was sorry about an off-the-cuff remark she made at a domestic violence prevention conference while criticizing what she saw as the negative influence entertainers can have on youth.

. . .

During the domestic violence conference last Friday, Ehrlich criticized
[Skanky Beyatch's] new sexual image and its message for girls. At one point, she joked: 'Really, if I had an opportunity to shoot [Skanky Beyatch], I think I would.'
Maybe shooting her is a bit much. But i would definitely bitch slap her a few times if she ever got within arm's length of me. Skanky Bayatch makes the rest of us blondes look bad. How can anybody find her airhead/slut act attractive?

Democratic Debate

i read Candace and NRO and now i know all i need to know about the Democratic debate, without the pain of having to watch it.

Candace also has an important post on an often ignored evil: the modern slave trade.

Thursday, October 09, 2003

The Right To "Bear" Arms

Thomas at The Snivel Shack! posted about some people who got killed by a grizzly bear in Alaska. That got me wondering. Since so many of my visitors know about guns, i'm curious about something: if you were hiking in the Alaskan wilderness and you wanted to carry some protection from a grizzly bear attack, what type of gun would you take with you? i'm just curious, i'm not planning to do this anytime soon. (Although it is an ambition of mine to someday see a grizzly in the wild. (penguins too btw)) And don't just say "a machine gun." i'm asking what kind of legally available gun would give a person the best chance of stopping a charging angry grizzly?

Golden Medley Of Links

Stranglehold Baby
Cool Kid Central's Chris puts a stranglehold on a LiveJournaler's lame recall opinion. You best get outta the way!

A Passage To Bangkok
The Coyote is in Bangkok and he's posted a shitload of spectacularly beautiful pictures he snapped in Thailand.

PowerAge!
If you haven't read Bill Whittle's essay Power, do so now. His most recent post takes aim at the Democrats and their out-of-touch attempt to spin the Cali recall.

They Rally Round The Family
Moxie is everywhere! She almost got into the Schwarzenegger victory party! i wouldn't feel too bad, there were far too many Kennedys in that room for my taste.

Take Me Down To The Paradise City
Serenity is loving the extreme weather in Houston. And she's celebrating her six month blogversary today! She's so awesome, that i would never have guessed her blog is only six months old!

i Got Nothing

i got nothing. i've been so busy at work i don't have time to scratch, as my Mom says.

My LSAT preparation course starts a week from Saturday. That's kind of exciting.

i also plan on taking part in the NaNoWriMo project in November. This is a lark, but i'm excited about that too.

It's a beautiful afternoon here in Los Angeles, and i'm cooped up in my cubicle for another fifty one-minutes.

No Hot Water

There was no hot water this morning when i took a shower. So i had to take a cold shower. i hate that.

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Hasta La Vista Davis

Davis is giving a very gracious and nice concession speech as i write this. An unexpected bit of class from a guy who's political career is now over. Bustamonte has not yet conceded, even though the margin of his loss is much larger. He came out and gave a very classless victory speech about the defeat of Prop 54. What an idiot.

California Democratic hit man Bob Mulholland and to a lesser extent, that extortionist extraordinaire Jesse Jackson have dropped strong hints that they will not allow a democratic transition to proceed without a fight. The liberal hierarchy remains as devoted to authoritarian rule as ever. i hope i'm wrong, but they sure sound like they are planning yet another lawsuit to thwart this election.

This is a revolt and a revolution that is much more powerful than the supposed Gingrich Republican Revolution of 1994. Think about it. California threw out a democratic governor. Fucking CALIFORNIA! That's huge, and don't think that liberal politicians all across the country are not wondering whether they might be next. This election is cause for more than just a sigh of relief for Californians. It's cause for conservatives all across the country to pump their fist and say Yeah! Hell Yeah!

Motivational Talismans

What things do you keep on your desk/workspace for motivation/inspiration?

i have a Jack-In-The-Box restaurant Raiders antenna ball, a small bust of Lincoln that i picked up in Springfield, Illinois two years ago, and a Thurgood Marshall stamp, which is taped on my computer monitor. Oh, and how could i forget, my cute little fuzzy monkey.

i'm a strange chick.

Voting

Well, i voted this morning and it was a snap. My precinct used the punchcards and though the room was very crowded, the volunteers were courteous and helpful. i was pleased to see that they checked each card for hanging chads before depositing it into the lockbox.

Walking out of the polling place i felt a bit choked up with pride, which is something i've never felt before in my short voting history. i think it's because i know that, win or lose, i've taken part in a historic event: the first popular revolt of the Twenty-First Century against the forces of insanity. i'm saving my sample ballot to sell on eBay twenty years from now.

Recall Gray Davis? Yes.

For Governor? Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Proposition 53: No.

Proposition 54: Yes.

Monday, October 06, 2003

Sports Wrap-Up

What an incredible night for sports fans. As an Oakland fan, i'm down about my A's losing, but as a sports fan i can't wait to see the Yankees and the Red Sox. That will be some kinda series.

That collision between Johnny Damon and Damian Jackson was horrible to watch. i sure hope Damon is okay. It's amazing that Jackson was able to keep playing. i guess it all depends on what part of your head gets hit, because it seemed like they were both moving at the same speed when their heads hit each other. Ouch. i don't even like thinking about it.

Over on MNF, the game was incredible too. Four minutes left to go in the game and the Tampa Bay defense decided to crumble, losing a three touchdown lead and finally losing in overtime. That call in overtime on the leaping play was bad. Just a bad call, and again, Gruden loses a game due to some bad officiating.

Now i'm 2-3 on the season for my Monday Night Football predictions. And i was feeling so smart until the end of the fourth quarter. Peyton Manning is all that. He's good. In fact i think he's underrated because he's white.

Just kidding.

Oh, another baseball note. i love Barry Zito. He's such a babe. i totally want to rub my body up against his. He's sooo dreamy. i love his beard and those sweet puppy dog eyes. Too bad i won't get to watch him anymore this year.

Besides DJ, there's no hott men left in the postseason to get excited about. Nobody on the Red Sox really does it for me. i'll have to check out the Marlins tomorrow night, since i'm not really familiar with their players, except for Mike Lowell, whom i had on my last two fantasy league teams. Damn good hitter, but not much of a looker.

In Defense Of Arnold

i gotta get home to watch the game, but i want to point out two things about the Arnold grope scandal quickly before i take off.

One, the stunt lady who accused Arnold of accosting her in a makeup trailer on the set of Terminator 2 and taking a picture of her breast is a bold faced lying bitch. Two crew members have come out already and totally refuted the story. According to one, Arnold couldn't have taken the picture because he took the picture, and that the chick wanted him to take the picture. Both say Arnold was not in the trailer at the time. Both say the chick was laughing and giggling about the picture. The groping never happened.

How does someone lie like that and sleep at night. Perhaps a nice chunk of change alleviates the guilt, but i guess we'll never know. i heard this on the radio and i wanted to mention it because, call me crazy, but i don't think the unbiased L.A. Times will be reporting it.

Second, here is a story from 1997* about Davis physically assaulting his female staff members, which was somehow overlooked during the unbiased L.A. Times' seven week investigation of Arnold.
Perhaps you are among the millions never told of Lieutenant Governor Davis's widely known--but long unreported--penchant for physically attacking members of his own staff. His violent tantrums have occurred throughout his career, from his days as Chief of Staff for Jerry Brown to his long stint as State Controller to his current job.

Davis's hurling of phones and ashtrays at quaking government employees and his numerous incidents of personally shoving and shaking horrified workers--usually while screaming the f-word "with more venom than Nixon" as one former staffer recently reminded me--bespeak a man who cannot be trust with power.
Davis' alleged abuse of women makes Arnold look like Liberace. Read the following.
"I guess Gray's biggest lie," says his former staffer who notes he often flies into a rage, "is pretending that he operates within the bounds of normalcy, which is not true. This is not a normal person. I will never forget the day he physically attacked me, because even though I knew he had done it before to many others, you always want to assume that Gray would never do it to you or that he has finally gotten help."

On the day in question, in the mid-1990s, the staffer was explaining to Davis that his perpetual quest for an ever-larger campaign chest (an obsession she says led Davis to routinely break fundraising laws by using his government office resources and non-political employees to arrange fundraisers and identify new sources of money) had run into a snafu. A major funding source had dried up. Recalls the former staffer: "He just went into one of his rants of, 'Fuck the fucking fuck, fuck, fuck!'" I can still hear his screams ringing in my ears. When I stood up to insist that he not talk to me that way, he grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me until my teeth rattled. I was so stunned I said, 'Good God, Gray! Stop and look at what you are doing! Think what you are doing to me!' And he just could not stop."
It gets worse.
Perhaps the worst incident--long known to Davis-adoring editors of the Los Angeles Times but never published by them--was Davis's attack four years ago on a loyal aide in Los Angeles who for years acted as chief apologist for his "incidents."

The woman refuses to discuss the assault on her with the media, but has relayed much of the story to me through a close friend. On the day in question, State Controller Davis was raging over an employee's rearranging of framed artwork on his Los Angeles office walls. He stormed, red-faced, out of his office and violently shoved the woman, who we shall call K., out of his way. According to employees who were present, K. ran out clutching her purse, suffered an emotional breakdown, was briefly hospitalized at Cedars Sinai for a severe nervous dermatological reaction, and never returned to work again.

According to one close friend, K. refused to sue Davis, despite the advice of several friends, after a prominent Los Angeles attorney told her that Davis would ruin her. According to one state official. K. was allowed to continue her work under Davis from her home "because she refused to work in Davis's presence."
You can't say that this is not newsworthy because it's unsubstantiated without also dismissing the charges against Arnold. i ask you again. Does anybody still believe the media is not biased?

The link is here. Please feel free to pass it on to as many people as you like, especially Californians, and hopefully before they go to the polls tomorrow.

*By the way, the story was originally published in 1997 in the now-defunct New Times of Los Angeles, which was one of those ultra-liberal alternative newsweeklies.

Update: By the author of the article i quoted above, an October 4, 2003 recap of how the unbiased L.A. Times sat on the Davis assault and battery story. She says: "[L.A. Times] Put Two Hit Teams on Arnold, Zero Hit Team on Davis."

Winds Of Change, Blogwise

i've been so political lately. Perhaps too political. My post on the Skeletons was not only a seasonal Octoberish Halloweeny themed post, but it was also an attempt to get back into personal confessional blogging. i still have some political stuff in the pipeline (my L.A. Times study) but i think i'm going to try more personal stuff in the coming weeks. What do you think? Which do you like more? i think Fall is the most introspective season of all, so now is the perfect time to emote.

Sunday, October 05, 2003

Sports Talk

My Giants are out. My A's keep losing. My Raiders suck. My Forty-Niners suck too, but at least they beat the lowly Lions today (and the Mooch). And Cal got spanked by the fuckin' Beavers, 35 to 21.

So i'm not in the best of moods, sportswise. Plus, i embarrassed myself in the comments section over at Dawn's blog, by calling Eddie George a quarterback. Duh. So i'm bad with names.

That's just a little background to introduce my pick for this week's Monday Night Football game! Yep, it's that time again.

This week's game is between the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Bucs (2-1) and the Indianapolis Colts (4-0). The game is being played in Tampa Bay and the Bucs are favored by 4½ points.

Here we have another classic battle between high powered defense and high powered offense. Peyton Manning is the third highest rated QB and has thrown more TD passes than anyone else so far this year. The Colts offense is second in points scored per game.

But Tampa bay has the best overall defense and the best pass defense in the NFL. Offensively they have a better overall passing game than the Colts, too.

In last year's superbowl, the Raiders had the best offense and the Bucs had the best defense. Based on that result, i'm willing to say that a great defense will usually beat a great offense. And Indianapolis has a good, but not great offense.

So i'm going with Tampa Bay tomorrow night to cover the spread easily.

Monkey Business: The Skeletons In My Own Closet

monkey businessThis dirty mudslinging that seems to happen at the end of every political race is very disheartening. i'm a political person, as you know. And i can't say i wouldn't consider ever running for office someday. The thought has crossed my mind. But i don't know that my own past would not come back to haunt me.

It's interesting, i was listening to a local morning radio talk show, and the host was discussing Rush Limbaugh's pill scandal. After expressing sympathy for Rush, the host then admitted, quite openly, that he was once addicted to cocaine. It struck me that one talk show host could freely admit to his past drug problem without any fear of backlash, while another talk show host's career is in jeopardy because of the same alleged problem.

i think the difference is in the cover-up. Everyone has skeletons in their closet, but trying to hide them is what gets you in trouble. When you hide your past indiscretions, you are trying to keep the public from knowing the real you, because the real you might be somewhat different from what you would like the public to believe. When the truth comes out, it's more damaging because people call you a hypocrite, and worse.

Recently i read over at Desert Cat's blog: "It used to be said that 'hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue'. Now it seems with some people that the only true sin is hypocrisy itself." i totally agree. In today's secular culture, people will forgive anything, except hypocrisy. That may be why some liberals get away with stuff that would get a conservative canned. Conservatives are more vulnerable to the charge of hypocrisy because we tend to make a bigger deal about living by certain standards of behavior.

In politics, i think the best thing to do is let everybody know what's in your closet before you jump into the ring. Then the controversy happens on your timetable, not that of your enemies. You gotta give people a chance to be outraged, then get over it. An example: Cruz Bustamonte used the N-word a few years ago, there was some outrage, and now nobody even mentions it. (Admittedly, that's a poor example because one reason it's not mentioned is the liberal media's bias in favor of Bustamonte. You can bet that if Fatso had been a Republican he'd have been forced into retirement long ago.)

If Arnold's groping had been an issue years ago it would have been no big deal today. There would have been less destructive value for the L.A. Times to publicize the charges five days before the election. The surprise factor would be gone. Another example: Marion Barry spent six months in prison for smoking crack, and when he got out he was promptly re-elected as mayor of D.C. People got over their outrage.

Anyways, the point i'm leading up to is this. If i ever run for office, say thirty years from now, i don't want people coming out of the woodwork saying annika did this and annika did that. So today, i will disclose publicly, in this here blog, all of my skeletons in order to diffuse any potential future scandals of my own. Be outraged now, so when you see my name on the ballot in 2033, you will have forgiven me.

Below i will mention some of the people who's careers have been threatened by various scandals. Then i will address whether i have anything to disclose regarding the alleged conduct. Most of the time, as you will see, i'm in the clear, since i've tried to live a relatively pure and clean life. *cough* But my record is not totally spotless.

Jimmy Carter: Sure, i've lusted in my heart, who hasn't?

Gary Hart: i engaged in some "monkey business" on board a boat with my ex-boyfriend Colby, back when we were together. Longtime visitors to my blog might remember that story.

Marion Barry: Although i have been in a hotel room many times, there's no way i would ever smoke crack.

Rob Lowe: i've never knowingly been videotaped in the throes of passion. (i sure hope no one has surreptitiously taped me.) And i'm fairly certain i have never been involved in any underage/overage sex. No threesomes either.

Bill Clinton / Dan Quayle: there's no more draft to dodge, i'm a girl anyway, and Vietnam was over before i was born. So i'm okay there.

Bill Clinton: i too experimented with marijuana, but it was a lot more than "once or twice" and i always made it a point to inhale deeply.

Bill Clinton / Monica Lewinsky: i've been naughty at work too (again with Colby), but only after hours. And i never saved any of my dresses.

Bill Clinton: You might be shocked to hear that i have been known to lie. However, i've never lied under oath, since i've never testified under oath. (i should correct that negative pregnant: If i were to ever testify under oath, i definitely would tell the truth.)

Al Gore: i, annika, have been to a Buddhist temple. Or it might have been a Hindu temple. i can't remember. In either case, i'm unaware of any money changing hands while i was there.

Hugh Grant: i've been naughty in a car too, but only with my boyfriend, and always free of charge.

Pee Wee Herman: I've watched porno movies on video, but i kept my pants on the whole time.

George Michael: i've never done anything lewd in a park. No. Never in a park.

George W. Bush / Dick Cheney: Once i was pulled over for drunk driving after a cop saw me driving the wrong way on a one way street. He did a field sobriety test, but since i had only had one beer, i passed and he let me go. That was embarrassing though.

Vanessa Williams / Dr. Laura: i know that there are some very risqué pictures of me and my roommate sunbathing during our 2002 Jamaican trip. They were taken by some guys we met at our resort. i wouldn't be surprised to see them posted on the internet if i ever decide to run for office.

Winona Ryder: i think i tried to steal something once, when i was five. My Mom saw me and got real mad at me too. She yelled a lot and made me put it back. i never tried doing that again.

Bill Bennett: i'm not a big gambler, but every time i go to Vegas, i put $20 down at a roulette table and promptly lose it. i played blackjack once for about an hour and a half and broke even. i never lost $9,000,000.00, though.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: i'm proud to say i've never groped anyone. Well, i did squeeze a guy's tush once, but it was sooo cute and he liked it anyway.

Rush Limbaugh: i'm strictly an over-the-counter pain medication person.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: i never thought Hitler was a good guy. Although i'm half German, my Dad's family has been living in the U.S. since before Kaiser Wilhelm II, so we can't be blamed for participating on the wrong side of either World War.

As you can see, i have been a relatively good girl with respect to the type of scandals that have plagued many public figures over the last 25 years or so. As for my naughty behavior, i don't think any of it is too shocking by today's standards. Hopefully by making these truthful disclosures, if i ever do run for some sort of public office, i will be sufficiently insulated from the politics of personal destruction enough for me to practice it on my opponent with impunity.

New Blog Showcase Vote

Tom's Nap Room!

Überroth's Regret



Damn!  If only I had done more groping!

Shameless Self Promotion

My latest poem.

Update On My Earlier Post Regarding Voting Machines

Back on September 17th, i wrote about my skepticism regarding the new voting machine technology. You can read my wise words here.

Go read this article in the technology website Embedded.com, which is highly critical of the new electronic voting machines' testing and accuracy.
In the case of voting, the only important feature is trust. And few computer scientists feel the devices deliver an accurate count.

Vendors claim their machines work correctly and are tamper-proof, citing the Federal Election Commission's standards. Well, check those standards out. Any computer jock with the faintest knowledge of building good code will be appalled.

The FEC mandates compliance to a primitive set of firmware standards that are woefully incomplete and simply wrong.

. . .

The FEC's mandates are much too weak to eliminate miscounting machines.
The author then suggests a provocative means of improving their accuracy. Use the same testing methods and standards that casinos use to ensure accuracy in their gaming machines.

Link props to Instapundit.

Friday, October 03, 2003

Caption This



"That shit you guys sold me last week
was out of this world!"



Sorry. i couldn't resist. Go ahead and leave your own caption in the comments.

Thursday, October 02, 2003

Does Anyone Still Wonder About Media Bias?

Now we're supposed to believe Arnold is a Nazi? Interestingly, ABC News just happened to reveal alleged pro-Hitler quotes from "an unpublished book proposal" on the same day as the L.A. Times revealed six female accusers, including four anonymous ones, who claim that Arnold groped them.

<sarcasm>Well, i'd like to thank ABC News. Up until now i had been fooled by Schwarzenegger's devious plan to mislead everyone about his Nazism by supporting and contributing generously to the Simon Wiesenthal Center. But now i know the truth. Now i know i should have ignored that misleading story about Alfred Gerstl, Arnold's boyhood mentor in Austria. Sure, Herr Gerstl was a jew who fled the holocaust and helped the resistance, but i'm sure he must have been pro-Nazi too. Thank you unbiased ABC News for helping to open my eyes!</sarcasm>

How did the story about Arnold and Gerstl get past the L.A. Times censor errrrrr . . . i mean editorial staff?

Rifle Poetry

This is cool stuff. By a poet named Robert A. Gannon, USMC. Read them both.

M-1

Rifles

Thanks to Publicola for the links.

Why i Removed The Smoking Gun From My Sidebar

The Smoking Gun website has an e-mail notification system, where they will send updates to subscribers about their latest postings. That's how i found out about the Schwarzenegger Oui interview when it became news on August 28th. But yesterday, "coincidentally" i got another e-mail update from The Smoking Gun, promoting the exact same Oui Magazine post that they published over a month ago. Then today, the L.A. Times published their desperate hit piece on Arnold. Coincidence? Or did someone push The Smoking Gun to republicize the Oui thing?

The editors of annika's journal have decided that we will no longer link to The Smoking Gun.

Too Much News

There's so much in the news today that i want to write about. i could easily take the rest of the day off and blog until bedtime. Take a look at Drudge lately? Rush pops off. Rush pops pills. Rush resigns. Arnie gropes. Arnie apologizes. Fatso may drop out. The Pope nears death. Kuwaitis stop Iraqi WMD smugglers. Koreans making bombs. Iranians making bombs. Wilsongate.

And of course, blogger boobies.

The L.A. Times' transparent and long predicted attempt to throw the California Election five days before it happens is the thing that's got my ire up the most. i purchased that rag this morning and i plan to do a week long examination/fisking of it's most unabashedly left wing section, the Calendar section. More on that after i get home.

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Rush Limbaugh Has A Big Fat Ego

And i am getting a little sick of him. i personally think his effectiveness as a spokesperson for the conservative movement peaked a few years ago.

What he said about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was stupid, and indefensible. He should have known better. Now he's quit the ESPN show because of his big mouth, and you know that has to hurt. He was so proud of himself for being on that show.

But what really gets me is that Donovan McNabb, while not having a good start this year, is far from being overrated. i think he's proved that he can be a pretty decent quarterback with last year's performance. Isn't he the dude who finished a game on a broken leg, and still won?

And what Limbaugh said about the media wanting a black quarterback to do well, implying that they over hyped McNabb; that might make sense if D-Mac were the only black QB out there. But he's not. There are quite a few black quarterbacks whom i would rank among the elite. Since there are so many who deserve legitimate hype, why would the media feel the need to promote a mediocre black QB just to push an agenda? Limbaugh's comments just don't make sense.

Note to Limbaugh: You stepped over a line that should have been obvious to you. Ever hear of Howard Cosell? How about Al Campanis? Jimmy the Greek? Duhh, you're a professional broadcaster, how could you think that making a racial comment would be a good idea? If you wanted to criticize D-Mac, if you wanted to call him overrated, here's how you should have done it: by criticizing his game and leaving it at that. A sports talk show is not the place to spout racially charged conspiracy theories, you fat idiot.

Front Line Voices

Today is the official launch of Front Line Voices. Please go check it out and spread the word about it. This is the type of thing for which the blogosphere was invented, to spread truth and to circumvent those "big brothers" in the mass media who want to spoon feed information to us only after they've filtered it their way.

Front Line Voices is a result of the imagination and hard work of some great bloggers whom i read daily, and admire very much. Here is the official Introduction Statement:
Since, as the saying goes, perception is nine-tenths of reality, those who control what we learn about the war in Iraq and other conflicts have an immense power. They can spin a victory into a failure, and a perceived failure in the fight against tyranny can only strengthen the resolve of tyrants.

It has increasingly been the complaint of many troops that the picture that the media is painting of the progress in the War on Terror is far from reality. The mission of this site is to get out the full story by posting first-hand accounts as written by men and women who have actually been to Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no editing or commentary by those who run this site, and we will print any letter or story submitted by a legitimate source who has served overseas. Our only goal is to offer you the opportunity to read these stories and to find out what the reality is.

[link added]
As of right now, the site already has over 14,000 hits! So here's to your continued success guys, great job!

Comments Update

Looks like comments are back up. Thanks to Hugo for the tip.

Latest Polling Data In Recall Race

The latest polling data is very encouraging for Arnie supporters, or more accurately, those who would like to slow California's inexorable slide down the toilet. This morning i read that Arnie is beating Fatso by eight points and McClintock by twenty-five.

Based on those numbers it would appear that Arnie should win no matter what McClintock does. But i'm still cautiously pessimistic for two reasons. One, i'm not sure the polling takes into consideration the hundreds of thousands of absentee votes that have already been cast. Those votes may reflect an earlier time when Fatso and McClintock had stronger support. Second, if it looks like an Arnie win is a forgone conclusion, many conservatives may be tempted to vote their conscience, i.e. McClintock. Hell, if i had a crystal ball and i knew that Bustamonte would lose, i would vote for McClintock myself. But i won't stop worrying until next Wednesday.

Professor Hewitt addresses the lingering McClintock temptation in his latest column. His arguments are less persuasive now that Arnie is more "pumped up" than he once was. But i do agree that a strong mandate for Arnie would have implications beyond California, and McClintock might cut into that potential mandate.

On the other hand, it can still be argued that the conservative mandate consists of the total percentage of votes cast for both candidates. In that sense, a strong McClintock showing would argue in favor of a stronger anti-liberal interpretation of the electorate's will. In other words, a Schwarzenegger win combined with a good showing by McClintock would mean that Californians are less moderate than previously thought, which is an ideal message to send to the legislature and beyond.

This thing ain't over yet and there's still time for more craziness. i just hope we win, that's all.

Warning To BlogSpeak Dude

Get your act together pretty soon, because Haloscan is accepting new recruits again and i'm about to jump ship, again.