Daddy’s Girl!!!!!!!! This may be the weirdest article I’ve read in a long, long time. It features a rich dad, numerous ex-wives, and a secret marriage between Rich Daddy and his daughter. I am not kidding.

A secret sexual relationship with his daughter was not enough. There had to be a wedding.

And don’t forget the awesome get rich quick schemes (?):

Six years after graduating from the University of Southern California in 1960, the young magnate set out with some friends to create their own country. According to newspaper articles published at the time, the plan involved sinking a mothballed World War II ship 220 miles off the California shore, then piling on concrete, clay, and garbage. The resulting island would be in international waters and outside the jurisdiction of American law. McMahan’s group planned to corner the market on abalone fishing.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/09/27/BL2006092701022.html

Good analysis of the “debate” coming from the White House.

Also Olbermann does a recap on what Bush’s counterterrorism:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/27/keith-olbermann-takes-a-look-back-at-bushs-first-months-in-office-leading-up-to-911/

My brother thinks this was all part of the 9/11 conspiracy, but I think that the Bush administration really was focused on missile defense and Iraq, as opposed to terrorism.

anonymous_banker: http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/006938.html
gs_drone (3:36:37 PM): hehehe, thats kind of funny
gs_drone (3:36:44 PM): it should read as follows
gs_drone (3:37:22 PM): excuse me do you know what the following means: Borokata alomai…Intern: no….supervisor: “out now”
anonymous_banker (3:37:38 PM): hahaha
gs_drone (3:37:56 PM): i am telling you man, they should rename the firm like the temple of goldman sachs

In the most important news ever, there has been the first-ever penis transplant. I am not kidding. The only problem is that “the patient and his wife apparently would rather not have a dead stranger’s penis in their lives. There was no physical rejection of the organ, but the patient and his wife had a “severe psychological problem” with it, and the surgeons had to remove it.”

This is the Thai revolution. Taking pictures in front of tanks, looking like a bunch of yellow mow-rons. And this is the media in America. These are the six things you shouldn’t believe (in case you do, and don’t forget your generic religion or -isms). And don’t forget, the Iraq war made the War On Terror (trademark pending) worse.

In more blog related punditry and fun-ditry:

In the most important news ever, there has been the first-ever penis transplant. I am not kidding. The only problem is that “the patient and his wife apparently would rather not have a dead stranger’s penis in their lives. There was no physical rejection of the organ, but the patient and his wife had a “severe psychological problem” with it, and the surgeons had to remove it.”

This is the Thai revolution. Taking pictures in front of tanks, looking like a bunch of yellow mow-rons. And this is the media in America. These are the six things you shouldn’t believe (in case you do, and don’t forget your generic religion or -isms). And don’t forget, the Iraq war made the War On Terror (trademark pending) worse.

In more blog related punditry and fun-ditry:

George Allen, one of my senators:

Shelton said Allen frequently used the “N-word” to describe blacks and nicknamed him “Wizard” because of the similarity of his name to that of Robert Shelton, a former imperial wizard of the Alabama Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He also recounted an event from 1973 or 1974 in which he, Allen and a third friend were hunting deer. After the deer was killed, Shelton said, Allen cut off the doe’s head, asked for directions to the home of the nearest black person and shoved the head into that person’s mailbox.

Taylor said that during a visit to Allen’s Charlottesville house in 1982, Allen pointed to turtles in a pond on his property and said only “the [epithets] eat them.”

Written Assignment # 2

In January 2003, President Bush met with a group of people including three Iraqi Americans to discuss the likely political situation after the fall of Saddam Hussein (Avard). In the course of this meeting it became apparent that Bush had no understanding of the differences between the three major demographic divisions within Iraq: the Sunni, the Shiite, and the Kurds (Galbraith). Two months later America was in a war with Iraq. The shoddy conduct in which Bush led the country into, and waged the war with Iraq (post-invasion Iraqi unemployment of 60% (Wright, Knickmeyer), disbanding of the Iraqi National Army (Slocombe), etc.) is just one illustration of why it is preferable to have a president who is analytical and deliberative but less politically accomplished than one like Bush, who acts, however effectively, on gut reactions.

Ron Suskind, in his October 17, 2004 article Without a Doubt, presents a very compelling image of Bush’s leadership style. Suskind lays out numerous instances where Bush has demonstrated a pronounced lack of intellectual curiosity, and ignorance of issues pertinent to the office of the presidency. But Suskind argues that, despite Bush’s intellectual shortcomings, he is a leader the American people find very easy to follow and that it is because he does not present himself as equivocal on issues that the American people have found him to be so palatable.

I didn’t even know Europe had a Buddhist country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmykia

Although I guess it’s actually part of the Russian Federation. Check out this gem about its president: “Ilyumzhinov’s election platform for the presidency of Kalmykia included a promise of a mobile phone for every shepherd and the affirmation of his belief that he had previously been abducted by aliens.“

In doing a search for a picture of “jimmy carter israel” (aka finding the picture of the famous Sadat – Begin handshake), I got the result for the “Jew-hater Jimmy Carter” coming from the “Jewish Task Force”. Now, if there is one thing to love about the internet, it’s that crazy people get a forum to be crazy. This may be some of the most absurd shit I’ve read in my life:

Arab Muslim Nazi Mahmoud Abbas Continues Arafat’s Terrorist Genocide

Mahmoud Abbas is given the Nazi salute by members of his own Muslim terrorist PLO Fatah party at a January 4, 2005 “election” rally George Bush and Ariel Sharon have hailed Abbas’ victory as proof that democracy is possible under Islam. The left-wing, Muslim-loving media continues to portray the Arab Muslim terrorist Mahmoud Abbas as a “moderate” The Jew-hater Jimmy Carter congratulates “moderate” Arab Muslim terrorist Mahmoud Abbas on his rigged election victor

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From today’s NYTimes, “In Tiny Courts of New York, Abuses of Law and Power”:

But serious things happen in these little rooms all over New York State. People have been sent to jail without a guilty plea or a trial, or tossed from their homes without a proper proceeding. In violation of the law, defendants have been refused lawyers, or sentenced to weeks in jail because they cannot pay a fine. Frightened women have been denied protection from abuse.

So it starts off kind of serious. Another typical NYTimes hit job on the forces that be holding US back (US being the proleteriat of course). But then it gets a little more interesting with only the help of examples:

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Or you’re just a monkey:

les enfants de la guerre ne dancent pas bien ce nuit
ils penseront a la fin de la vie
et quand l’etoile qui se leve a matin
est tombee dances comme tu es fou lapin

we are asleep please don’t wake us today
I’d like to scream but I have naught to say

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-letter20sep20,1,226790.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true

The sad side of the Iraq war.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060924/ap_on_re_eu/britain_afghanistan

Also the war in Afghanistan is still not over. Interesting overview of communist Afghanistan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan

I had never seen the whole thing, but the AHA video is messed up.

New pics are up on flickr so go check ‘em out!

Today we did some work with local youth on builiding a “vivero” or tree nursery.  We chose a site behind their school and dug a trough for the bags.  Later we built a sifter for removing rocks, leaves and roots from the soil.  Lastly we employed a crap-ton of kids into filling bags with dirt and getting them ready for planing seeds.  The pictures speak for themselves I think…  just look at the album, otherwise the pics will be in the wrong order.

Other than that I am feelin’ healthy and my spanish is improving!

It’s what we are:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11717105/robert_f_kennedy_jr__will_the_next_election_be_hacked RFK Jr’s Rolling Stone article on election tampering. In it a former Diebold employee talks about how in two incredibly Democratic counties they applied a patch during the 2002 election, which supposedly fixed a clock problem. Apparently there is some circumstantial evidence that it actually was installed to throw the election to the Republican candidate. Oh well, no way to tell for sure since there is no paper trail with these electronic voting machines.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060921/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_civilian_deaths

Wow, that sucks.

Also:

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7ZF8LURE_index_0.html

Old and Cold: The North Pole
The New Hotness: Global Warming

http://www.krysstal.com/democracy_whyusa01.html

I haven’t had time to verify these from another source, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I’d be interested to read an analysis of economics correlated with empires. For example, during the Age of Mercantilism England became the dominant impirial force, and I think that there exists a strong argument for calling the US the dominant impirial force during this age of Democratic Capitalism. It’d be interesting to see if you could look at all empires through history and define their reign in terms of the dominant political-economic system.

http://www.krysstal.com/democracy_whyusa01.html

I haven’t had time to verify these from another source, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I’d be interested to read an analysis of economics correlated with empires. For example, during the Age of Mercantilism England became the dominant impirial force, and I think that there exists a strong argument for calling the US the dominant impirial force during this age of Democratic Capitalism. It’d be interesting to see if you could look at all empires through history and define their reign in terms of the dominant political-economic system.

I took a course once called the evolution of war, which tried to explain changes in warfare through out history using 6 elements, one of which was political-economic system. I thought that was the most interesting element.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/us/20park.html?ex=1316404800&en=d2841d33d7ba0c57&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Problems with nuclear power, and why it can really suck.

Of course, there are lots of things that can cause environmental damage. Famous to Bloomington, IN are PCBs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyl

Here’s more info about the mess:

“This section attempts to answer the question: why is the USA so frequently the victim of resentment around the world?

The USA government blames hatred of democracy and envy at the American way of life for this resentment. Many people in the USA and a majority around the world look towards USA foreign policy for the answers. Much of this policy, its history and consequences is under-reported by the American media.

The American people are generally a friendly, kindly and compassionate people. If they knew one tenth of what their governments get up to around the world and in their dealings with foreign governments and people, there would be an enormous outcry. For this reason much is hidden or obscurred. Since the terrible events on 11 September 2001, many Americans have taken to the internet to find out more about the world beyond their borders.”

From the Washington Post article on the rise of crime in a gay neighborhood in the Village:

“My name is Paper. Put that in a big P, in bold. I’m a hustler,” said Alan a.k.a. Paper. Despite the police van just five yards away, and his own low-grade homophobia, he keeps chanting. He pulls in $700 a week just on the strip. “Everyone knows that gays carry mad cash.”

And an NYTimes article on a ‘body-snatcher’ in Detroit:

“My theory?” Mr. Thomas offered. “White people kill themselves. Black people kill each other. Chinese people don’t die.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/18/gardiner-iran/

I wonder where the troops would come from.

Also:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/featherstone/featherstone62.html

I like the pope, the pope smokes dope.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060914-7751.html

Isn’t a patriot someone who is willing to die for their freedom? When did patriot start to mean so afraid that they’ll give their government any power to feel a little bit safer? I’d rather be afraid of terrorists than my own government. I’ve never met a terrorist, but I’ve broken the law before. I’ve never seen a car bomb, but I’ve been inside a police car. I hope they hear me when I drop the f-bomb all over their wiretaps.

http://englishrussia.com/?p=293

Chernobyl. Nature takes her revenge.

OK, so there is a dilemma going on with blog round up. Do I make it funny or do I make it serious? Because there are some issues I take seriously and would like to report on (international relations) and there are other issues that I would also like to report on, but do not necessarily jive with my more.. serious entries (anal sex, hookers, etc). What I’ve decided to do is have the first part be SERIOUS, and then the second part be funny. Now, first you will think, then you will splooge from laughter.

Atlantic Review has an excellent summary about US foreign policy in relation to the War on Terror, and the possibility that the War on Terror is creating as much terrorism as it is removing. I’ve actually written about this in the past (specifically the attempt to remove Hezbollah by force) and agree with the idea that a military strategy is short-sighted, if not completely flawed. Further, “DEMOCRACY” as an end all be all has done nothing but empower mostly extremists in the Middle East. All in all, I think the US pursuit of changing the Arab world has been a double edged sword of maintaining and propping up US-friendly (and often oil drenched) regimes while trying to promote change.

The NYTimes has a great article on MisShapes, the venue responsible for this picture and these 2 seconds of fame. I love nothing better than a NYTimes interpretation of the fag world:

Don Hill’s is little more than a dingy bar, but that night it was packed with art world and music stars, as well as hundreds of fiendishly dressed young people who had adopted the MisShapes style of wearing a heavy curtain of jet-black hair.

And, let us not forget the faggy world of media gossip (roooooaaaawwwwwwww):

Fashion designers have long shown a vampire interest in the style and tastes of fringe groups, sucking them dry, and older houses, in particular, have depended on them for cachet with young fashion consumers. For the MisShapes, there is a danger they will lose credibility if they are seen as being in the pocket of big companies. Gawker, the media gossip site, has taken a number of swipes at the MisShapes, implying that a backlash is under way.

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If you don’t read Slate often, you should start now. Apart from being dead on politically (or at least opening a reasoned and rational debate), they often have articles about sex. And this, to put it mildly, is no prude shit (with some economics to boot). Check out “Hookers.com: How e-commerce is transforming the oldest profession”:

Third, there’s what you might call the eBay effect. Before the Internet, there must have been people who wanted to sell Scooby Doo lunch boxes and Star Wars phaser props, and people who wanted to buy them, but how could they connect? Likewise, 10 years ago, even if I’d had the inclination and the $2,500 to spend on vaginal variety, I wouldn’t have had the faintest idea where to turn. But now, thanks to the Web, exchanging dead presidents for live girls couldn’t be easier. And if, as I tend to believe (don’t you?) there are more men who would pay to be “escorted” than gorgeous women willing to provide that service, then the Internet will pull more buyers than sellers into the high-end market, thereby inflating prices.

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In the middle of a big anti-Iranian (read: PRO-ISRAEL) rally at Harvard, a guy showed up with these signs:

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A poem about 9/11:

peace isn’t profitable

9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11

mission accomplished

9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11

freedom freedom freedom god god god

9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11 9/11

You know why they say the Style section is the place to throw the filler written by a slack jawed English major? Because it is! Evidence is the following, from a recent Washington Post article entitled ‘Japanese Women Catch the ‘Korean Wave’:

She may just have to take a number and get in line. In recent years, the wild success of male celebrities from South Korea — sensitive men but totally ripped — has redefined what Asian women want, from Bangkok to Beijing, from Taipei to Tokyo. Gone are the martial arts movie heroes and the stereotypical macho men of mainstream Asian television. Today, South Korea’s trend-setting screen stars and singers dictate everything from what hair gels people use in Vietnam to what jeans are bought in China.

Slate is finally giving us what we want: plenty of coverage on the anus. How many cell phones can fit in one ass? That’s the question Slate asks and answers (

Come Celebrate And Take Part In A Gigantic Piece Of Human/robotic Performance Art.
Dress Like A Robot! Build Or Bring A Robot If You Can!
Listen To Or Perform In A Robot Poetry Slam.
Stand Up For Robot Rights.
Don’t Let Them Be The Slaves Of The New Millennium.
Dress Up As A Bot And March For World Peace.

Marla’s Slippery and Sexy:
https://www.slashtmp.iu.edu/public/download.php?FILE=cwestnea/41583P5aJjO

Pat’s drum solo recording got messed up, so me and Ryan just fucked with it for a while. The actual drum solo will be less insane and more awesome. Appart for that and a few tweaks (Saxes are a little loud in the verses and the bass drum is a little low), this is the final mix. Exciting!

A big thanks to everyone who threw down comments thus far!

You all really make my day to know that I´m still swimming around up in your heads somewhere! First some clerical things:

I found my alarm clock. My apologies if you have sent it already Mom and Pops.

The powder is indeed dry.

I mourn the passing of Steve Irwin, but I´m happy he went quick. Eric, that stingray apparently had yellow testicles.

This was me last night at Buzz:

http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.htm

A huge amount of data on Iraq, found via Dick Lugar’s website.

So I was at Dick Lugar’s website because I wanted to find out what his position on the military tribunals is. It’s interesting that Lugar has been working with Obama on both energy independence and the reduction of unsecured weapons in former Soviet countries. Indiana’s an odd state in that we are strongly Republican, yet we have a tradition of moderate senators. Also a surprisingly internationally focused group of Congressmen. Lugar is chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, Bayh is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance, and Lee Hamilton, the former Rep., was chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, in addition to being the vice-chair on the 9/11 commission. Also Dan Burton is a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, in which Burton currently serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, and as Vice-Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

All the time:

The question: “On Monday, a Seattle web developer named Jason Fortuny started his own Craigslist experiment. The goal: “Posing as a submissive woman looking for an aggressive dom, how many responses can we get in 24 hours?”"

The answer: “He took the text and photo from a sexually explicit ad (warning: not safe for work) in another area, reposted it to Craigslist Seattle, and waited for the responses to roll in. Like Simon’s experiment, the response was immediate. He wrote, “178 responses, with 145 photos of men in various states of undress. Responses include full e-mail addresses (both personal and business addresses), names, and in some cases IM screen names and telephone numbers.”

I´m with my host family now, and I´m sorry to say that I will be very, very busy for the next 10 weeks.  Apparently this will be the most busy I will ever be during my Peace Corps service.  Allow me to go through a description of my day:

Spanish from 8-12
Lunch 12-1
Spanish 1-3ish

That´s a ton of spanish, so suffice to say my head is a´swimmin with it when I go to bed.  But here´s the best part of my day, our malaria medicine has a sweet side affect called “enhanced dreams”.  This means when I escape from the day I step into the madhouse of my subconscious.  I wake up to some seriously weird dream residue in the morning.

In a moment where the forces of dictatorship and tyranny seem to be pushing back against democracy, the common thread that has successfully aligned nations such as Iran, Russia, Venezuela, China, and Sudan have been the supply and demand of energy. While it is encouraging that the relationships forged seem to be more based on Machiavellian pragmatism then aligned ideologies or long term goals, problematic occurrences and diplomatic realignment have debilitated the West’s efforts to act against undemocratic forces. Increasingly, the ability to act as a geopolitical actor has been taken away from the United States and the UN as powers forge alliances with lesser but energy rich nations, specifically China and Russia with Iran and China with Sudan. Ultimately, the resources are finite and so is the tolerance that the rest of the world should and will have for these deleterious and reciprocally empowering relationships among undemocratic forces.

In third world countries, the production of black gold often hinders successful economic and political growth. For these nations domestically, the nature of the wealth that oil typically creates is concentrated in a few hands that often ascend to political power because of their access to resources. In economically stagnant and wartorn nations like Chad or Sudan, it means the ability to act opressively domestically without fearing recourse from the West out of fear of oil production. In developing nations such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, this means a stratified society that is secured by security apparatuses, oppression, and consolidated power. In more developed nations

Just another month:

In one scene Borat insists on driving to California rather than flying, “in case the Jews repeat their attack of 9/11.” As he tours the South, he becomes terrified when he learns that an elderly couple who run an inn are Jewish. When cockroaches crawl under the door of his room, he becomes convinced the innkeepers have transformed themselves into bugs, and throws money at them.

In another scene Borat returns to his home village and participates in an annual ritual, “The Running of the Jews,” complete with giant Jew puppets that the villagers beat with clubs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060906/pl_nm/eu_usa_poll_dc

The part I found most interesting was that the French were slightly more likely to support an invasion of Iraq than America. They have the stereotype, I think, of being pussies, but perhaps that is not deserved. Actually after the way they intervened in the Ivorian Civil War, I thought it was pretty clear that they would attempt to kick ass if they thought the target deserved it. They were right about Iraq in the end, but maybe they were against it because of commerce? Maybe not?

Actually the Heritage piece corroborates the French line, in that if US companies were banned from dealing with Iraq, but yet were still the #1 importer, then they must have been using foreign subsidaries to import it. Hmmmm…

My kind of work at my kind of place:

Description=Cool, fun, unique ROBOT store on Upper West Side
(close to Columbia)looking for part-time office help. – Order
inventory and track invoices – Respond to consumer inquiries
via email and phone – Coordinate special projects – Update
store website – Create forms for in-store use -Light

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Little bunny fu-fu, and I’ve got something in my front pocket for youuuuuuuuuuu:

If you were an African country where 5 million people had Aids, a pretty simple solution to your Aids problem would be to tell people ‘garlic and beetroot.’ Now, this is a pretty darn good remedy, if you lived Ancient Rome and were also a voodoo priest. But if you’re the Health Minister in South Africa, it’s a little bit of a different story:

More than 60 international experts on HIV/Aids have called for the resignation of the South African health minister because of her stance on Aids.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang tells those with HIV to eat garlic and beetroot.

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Crotch crotch crotch, cat cat cat, dogs dogs dogs, sex sex sex, internet… internet… internet:

I’ve been listening to this band called Dungen. They are Swedish and they remind me a lot of early Pink Floyd, which is my favorite Pink Floyd. Naturally I like Dungen.

eBay Member Profile that you must check out until you have milk come out of your nose and then possibly out of your ears if you really laugh hard and have very little control over your bodily functions.

Excerpts:

My friend’s mommy told me what Chocha means in Spanish. Then she showed me. A++!

I am a robot. I bid on grease and computer chips.

I am new in America! Thank you eBay for wonderful wife! I will beat her often!

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I am so angry
    at myself I
    am in pain

I hung myself
    in my dream I
    felt so free

Oh Earth release me

He’s Coming:

Party in the studio, got some rough mixes done. Well, I improved the mix of Sassy and did a mix of Big Mountain. I also recorded a solo for Big Mountain. I think it sounds pretty good. Here are the links to listen to:

Big Mountain

Sassy>

Whee! Sleep…