Love and gay marriage...

I'm sure I've made clear my opinions on the validity of gay marriage a scrillion times before, but since it is not yet legal and there are still enough Americans running around our country yelling and screaming about how wrong it is, I will reiterate.
This is a bulletin I saw posted on Myspace...it's a good year-later-follow-up to my "Logic!" post.


1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.


Re-post this if you believe love makes a marriage

Mohamed Atta's father's bright outlook...

Tonight on CNN.com:

Atta's father praises London bombs

Speaking to CNN producer Ayman Mohyeldin Tuesday in his apartment in the upper-middle-class Cairo suburb of Giza, Mohamed el-Amir said he would like to see more attacks like the July 7 bombings of three London subway trains and a bus that killed 52 people, plus the four bombers...

El-Amir said the attacks in the United States and the July 7 attacks in London were the beginning of what would be a 50-year religious war, in which there would be many more fighters like his son...

The man, who gave his age as "at least 70," said he had no sorrow for what happened in London, and said there was a double standard in the way the world viewed the victims in London and victims in the Islamic world.

Has anyone really given any thought to the victims in the Islamic world? Does anyone bother to compare the interviews of terrorism survivors or bereft family members with interviews of Iraqi citizens who have had the same misfortunes bestowed upon them, like in Fallujia? If we are at war with terrorism...why are we still acting like we're being attacked by ruthless savages, when we're running around in Iraq attacking their cities all the time?
We read the thoughts of Mohamed Atta's father as ruthless and evil...but what exactly is the difference between him and the kids in my classes who wanted to "bomb and destroy the terrorists!!!" the day after 9/11...or the other Americans who want to just kill some Iraqis?
We're at war...yes. They are our enemies...yes. But, we need to listen to our enemies. Acknowledge what they are saying. Figure out why they are saying these things. Yeah, we may whole-heartedly disagree with their ideas, and that's totally fine, but totally disregarding them as crazy before even trying to understand is what the real danger is here.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist...

First, Natalie shocks the world by playing a stripper in "Closer."
Then, she shaves her head for a movie and goes to Cannes.
Next, she will appear on SNL and rip up a picture of Moses...

blackbird...

finally...after playing guitar for about 12 years now...i learned how to play "blackbird" by the beatles. i've always wanted to learn it, but i never thought that i would have the patience to actually do it. and looking back on my guitar habits of the past, i was right. i feel like i am finally getting kind of good (or at least more able to attempt to be good).

i love my guitar.

patience...

I hate to admit it, but Guns N' Roses was right when they said all we need is just a little patience.
Things are finally going very well. After the whole car debacle of Fuller Martel, Rachel and I are moved into the new apartment, which is pretty marvelous (yes... marvelous). I start my new job at Sony May 2nd and am finally going to be making a liveable amount of money. I'll hopefully be able to do some boom-miking on the weekends this summer taking care of some internship hours and meeting people. I'll be able to raise enough money to get pro-tools so I can start doing some student films. I feel like shit is finally falling into place. I'm gonna take a second to be really conceded and just say that I'm really proud of myself for being able to pull all this off (of course, with the help from the best parents ever). Remember how I always used to be so cynical about everything (like school and stuff) and never knew what I wanted to do? I am finally away from it and it feels fuckin' good.

I'm not saying I have my whole life figured out or anything (not at all), but I at least I am having the opportunities to start living and seeing where life takes me. I've gotta say, I'm excited...

death and taxes...

growing up sucks.
to quote john mayer, i wish i was six again.
seriously.
when i was six, if i found a quarter, i thought i was rich. if i heard the word 'taxes' i probably thought that person was talking about the place where the astros and the rangers played. life without responsibilities was sweet. of course, now i would be bored out of my mind without responsibilities, but this past month has been overkill.
the car break-in and all the repairs that came with it...then the school payment...then the removing of the wisdom teeth and the pain that came with it...then TAXES, fucking taxes and that money (although, in the end, my refund will end up covering what i paid H&R Block to do them, but those checks don't come for a million years)...and then the moving next week and the bank account drainage that accompanies it.
what the fuck. seriously...what. the. fuck.

i applied for a job at sony a couple weeks ago...i need it. bad. i will probably get it, but i would feel so much better right now, at this moment, if i knew for sure. cause i am feeling really poor. the jeans i'm wearing cost more than what i have available to spend in my bank account.

depressing.

loss of wisdom....

I got my wisdom teeth out this morning and just washed the ink from the frozen pea bags off my face.
Rachel made me mashed pototoes and they are awesome. I still have a giant bowl leftover for tomorrow (and probably sunday). mmmmm.
I finally saw Garden State tonight and I worship it. I will buy it as soon as I can drive again.
I think the vicodin's kicking in....i hope my face isn't 8493922 different colors tomorrow morning, but it probably will be.

I am officially obssessed...

It's been monsooning here in LA for the past 5 days or so...and in normal circumstances, the continuous downpour would have totally ruined my 3-day weekend. Thankfully, though, I had the entire first season of "The OC" to get me through the rain...and I have to admit, this was one of the best rainy weekends of my life. I think I spent a good 11 hours marathoning it on Saturday...can't ask for more from a day when leaving the apartment is the absolute last thing on your mind.
So, thank you Cohens, Coopers and all the fine, yet devious, folks down in fake Newport Beach.



I <3 Seth Cohen

I don't get it...I really don't

"Sometimes, words have consequences you don't intend them to mean. 'Bring 'em on' is the classic example, when I was really trying to rally the troops and make it clear to them that I fully understood, you know, what a great job they were doing. And those words had an unintended consequence. It kind of, some interpreted it to be defiance in the face of danger. That certainly wasn't the case." ~ President Bush - Thursday January 13, 2005

Well, it's great to hear that the newly re-elected President of the United States has finally learned this important lesson that the rest of us learned in elementary school. Words have consequences...who woulda' thunk it?
Has anyone been keeping a tally on how many times the President has apologized for major mistakes in the past 4 years? It really feels like Bush is the husband that cheats all the time and we are the wife that keeps taking him back after he smoothly apologizes to us and lures us back into bed with his charms, even though we know our lives would better if we would just get a divorce.
"Well, it seems we were wrong about those weapons of mass destruction after all. I'm real sorry about that. I was just trying to protect your freedom. You know I love you." [close up on the puppy dog eyes, endearing chuckle, "waaah waaaahh" music, laughter from audience, shot of family smiling and hugging, end scene]

Do the House Republicans have ears?

Yesterday, the Congress formally certified Bush as the winner of the Presidential election...but, not without a little bit of a fight. A small group of House Democrats sent out a letter to U.S. Senators outlining some of the problems that occured in Ohio and asking for support so that the issue could be formally discussed by both the House and the Senate. California Senator, Barbara Boxer, stepped up and objected to the certification. This led to two-hour "discussions" in both the House and the Senate yesterday. I tuned into C-span last night before I went to bed (as usual) and watched some of the House coverage. I was fucking horrified by some of the things I was hearing. The deal is, representatives request speaking time, 5 minute blocks at a time. I watched, probably, a half hour of this madness. One Democrat would step up and talk about the voting problems that occurred during this past election, then a Republican would pretty much rebuttle with statements that showed they were totally missing the point of why these objections were raised in the first place. This is from Reuters today:

California Sen. Barbara Boxer and Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, formally lodged objections because of Ohio, although they said they recognized Bush had won and were not trying to overturn the results.
They said their goal was to force lawmakers to heed problems that had been particularly evident in Democratic-leaning minority and urban neighborhoods and to consider the need for more voting reforms including standard election rules in all states.
"This objection does not have at its root the hope or even the hint of overturning or challenging the victory of the president," Tubbs Jones said. Boxer called it a matter of "electoral justice."

So, instead of discussing election reform and the problems that occurred (on both sides!), the Republicans spent the whole time (that I was watching at least) talking about how these discussions were a waste of the American peoples' time and that the Democrats should just move on and accept defeat. The thing is, the Democrats have accepted defeat, and they've made it clear as day (please see above statements by Tubbs Jones), yet, for some reason, these Republicans had a hard time processing this. So...after every Republican comment, the Democrats were forced to continually reinforce the purpose of these debates. Democrat after Democrat stepped up to the mic and began his/her comments with "Listen, what you have to understand is that this issue is not about red or blue, black or white or who won and who lost, it's about protecting the American peoples' right to vote." It was kind of maddening because these Democrats were out there just trying to be heard and no one on the other side was even listening.

I commend those Representatives who spoke out for the concerns of their constituents and I also commend Barbara Boxer for stepping up and giving those Reps the chance to have their concerns brought to light. I hope that, in the future, the Congress will team up and look further into election reform and work on making the American election process as flawless as possible.

My overdue comments on the tsunami

So, the tsunami hit almost 2 weeks ago and what have we learned? The anatomy of an underground earthquake and the resulting walls of water? How to donate money to the Red Cross online? The difference between Sri Lanka and Indonesia? Awesome.
World leaders everywhere are hocking this tsunami as the worst natural disaster of our lifetime. Colin Powell took a helicopter ride over some of the effected areas and claimed that he'd never seen anything like it. Everyday, we all gasp in disbelief and horror at how much higher the death toll has gotten since the day before. We read the stories about the dead bodies that wash up on the shore, about the vacationers who were sunbathing and then suddenly washed away and the townspeople who are lucky to be alive, but have no home and no town left. This was certainly a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad disaster...but, there are still wars going on, still people running around the earth voluntarily killing one another. This disaster has affected us little civilians...but what about those inflicting death on others? Did this whole thing mean anything to them?! Apparently not.
I can't help but be sickened by the fact that America is wasting billions of dollars in Iraq, killing people (and being killed). As of now, 156,000 people are dead from an "attack" by nature...or God, as the upcoming new American language will probably have us all saying. We're "deeply saddened" by those deaths and rushing to get medical assistance to those who are alive, but wounded. Yet, we were fine with bombing civilians in Fallujia and then cutting them off from accessing their own hospitals. If someone can give me a real explanation for this disgusting hypocrisy, I'd love to hear it (and "well, the Iraqis are our enemies and that's just what happens in a war" doesn't cut it). With all of the money in this world that is paying for destruction, we could have rebuilt these peoples' towns by now and paid for all their medical treatment.

Now, a couple little notes:
- I heard on the Democracy Now radio news program this morning that a meteorological department (or something) in Thailand could have given some warning about the tsumani (apparently, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved), but didn't because they thought the government would be mad at them for putting the country's tourism industry in jeopardy. Good one, guys.
- Also from Democracy now...the suicide bomber who blew himself up at a US military mess tent a month ago was a Saudi medical student, who came to Iraq to fight against the Americans. Damn those Iraqis! Right guys?!