Friday, July 16, 2004

Coolest car commercial I've ever seen.

Check it out.

Posted by Nephi at 12:03 PM : (0) comments

Monday, June 21, 2004

How fast can you blink?

I wen't to my very first concert last night. Blink 182/No Doubt/Phantom Planet at the new Ampitheater here in Vancouver. I highlight Vancouver because the bands kept talking to us as if we were Portland! I mean, we're not even the same state! I know other suburbs around the nation may not feel slighted by that, but we endure enough economic and political tyrany from the Rose City that such fudging of the facts does not go over well. Other than that, very good concert. Blink, of course, was far more profane than I prefer, and they got some volume settings messed up for some songs, but they certainly knew how to play a crowd. Worth every penny I didn't spend. I got the tickets for free by trashing some little kids at Super Smash Bros. Melee at a video game tournament. I wasn't even planning on winning, and wouldn't have if my brother was there. So free was a great price, but that $3 cup of water wasn't.

Posted by Nephi at 2:22 PM : (2) comments

Monday, June 14, 2004

More reason why England is screwed up

Apparenlty, there's no such thing as free speech over there.

Posted by Nephi at 10:00 AM : (0) comments

Saturday, June 12, 2004

More testing...

... and the new blogger-by-email system, which should allow me to post
from any email in the world (which means by cell-phone or PDA if I
ever get an internet capable one)

Posted by Nephi at 12:26 AM : (0) comments

Testing some fun stuff, like the gaim-blogger plugin, which lets me log into blogger with gaim, an uber-Instant Messenger client for Linux...

Posted by Nephi at 12:19 AM : (0) comments

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Genius, Sheer Genius

I'm mighty impressed with how well things have gone in the UN. From a purely political standpoint, it was a victory in every way for Bush. He got exactly what he wanted, without making any concessions. Oh sure, there were some vague rumors about the Multinational Force as they like to call it now being completly out of the reach of Iraqi sovreignty, but that was transparent (to me at least) grandstanding to help France and Germany feel like they changed our minds when we finally agreed to say in the resolution exactly what we've been saying all along: that we want a free, democratic, sovereign Iraq and we want to cease the occupation. As a wonderful bonus, Kerry can no longer say "I will immediately reach out to the world blah, blah, blah" and the hippies won't be able to screech about international approval as loudly etc because Bush, true to form, has ripped the carpet out from under them.

On a lighter note, I sorta want the Lakers to win so Malone can get his ring, but I sorta don't because the Lakers always win, but I sorta do because Rasheed Wallace is a jerk.

Posted by Nephi at 9:24 PM : (0) comments

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Posted by Nephi at 11:25 AM : (0) comments

Saturday, June 05, 2004

Posted by Nephi at 11:52 PM : (0) comments

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Whoa...

My template is pretty ugly in Mozilla... wonder how I can fix that.

Posted by Nephi at 3:37 PM : (0) comments

Checking in...

Yes, I'm still here. Haven't done much because of the LAST MONTH OF SCHOOL!!!! WOOHOOO!!! GRADUATED!!! I'm officialy smarter than my mom (but not wiser, she reminds me). Plus, I've been having too much fun with my computer to actually use it. I've been Windows Free for about a week now. Oh, and I also beat a pack of 12 year olds at a Super Smash Brothers tournament and won some tickets to a Blink 182 concert, a free Nintendo game (which I promptly traded in), a hat, and a little radio I've already broken.

Secondly, I've decided where I will go to Law School: Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA. That's Lee as in Robert E. As in he's buried there, with his family... and his horse. And from what I've read the prevailing political winds on campus reflect that. So in mid-August I'll be taking a road-trip from the fair lands of Cascadia to the hills of the Shenandoa Valley in Dixie. Any sights along the way you could recommend would be appreciated.

On the political front... meh...

Posted by Nephi at 3:24 PM : (1) comments

Monday, May 03, 2004

The Appeasers Fight Back... Against Appeasement

I am completely baffled all the time by people on the left. What in the world is so awful about Sharon pulling out of Gaza completely and most of the West Bank? Shouldn't the left be celebrating that those nasty Israeli's are leaving? But no, Sharon apparently can't simply solve much of the problem by himself, he has to negotiate his withdrawals with the Palestinians. He has to get permission to leave, even though the Palestinians have been yelling (and blowing themselves up) for decades to get the settlers out. I think they're just at Sharon pulling the rug out from under all their arguments.

The only marginaly acceptable complaint I've heard was "But this means the other 6 settlements will stay!" This doesn't really even hold water though. People first need to accept that the Palestinians will never get all of the West Bank. It just will not happen. Negotiations require compromise, and for the Palestinians this means not geting all of Jerusalem (maybe still some of it) and not all of the West Bank. I mean, I'd actually be happy about this from a negotation standpoint if I was on the Palestinians side. This means these last six settlements are the only ones that need talking about. Makes the job much easier. Sharon is probably willing to let half of those go (if he ever manages to bring the Israeli people along). He has made the Palestinians' jobs easier, but rather than applauding him for showing some willingness to take action towards peace, the 'world community' and sadly an assortment of former British and American diplomats have lambasted him for not consulting the Palestians about giving them more land back, and blasted Bush for having the audacity to support him.

Posted by Nephi at 11:46 PM :

Sunday, April 18, 2004

My First Full Scale Fisking

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Peace prospects bleak after killing

Are you sure? I thought they were always bleak as long as people insit on blowing themselves up to kill teenager.

Anyone who dared hope that the killing had ended after Ariel Sharon's breakthrough meeting with President Bush in Washington last week, would have been severely disappointed.

Dr Rantissi was killed on Saturday by Israeli forces

Kinda nice how they dignify the zealot with his degree in pediatric medicine, which he pretty much forfeited by violating the Hipocratic Oath "First: do no harm" Kinda a twist for a children's doctor to advocate indicriminate killings

Justifying the latest assassination of a high profile Palestinian militant, the Israeli Prime Minister said bluntly after a cabinet meeting on Sunday that he would continue to pursue and kill "the leaders of terrorist organisations".

While Dr. Rantissi's degree is obvoiusly so legitimate and relevant it needs to be included, Sharon's statement is so obviously meer opinion that it needs to be surrounded with quotes. Perhaps Mr. Davies thinks Hamas is a children's as opposed to a terrorist organi[z]ation?

Having secured US support for his "unilateral disengagement" plan, Mr Sharon appears to be in no mood for compromise or to relax his controversial "targeted assassination" policy.

You bet. I think the disengagement is very near to the perfect amount of compromise the Israeli's should give. Maybe they'll give a touch more once the Palestinians come to the table?

Abdel Aziz Rantissi knew he was a marked man and was expecting to die.

He spoke to BBC News only three weeks ago, when he was announced as the new Hamas leader in Gaza, following the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

"I am not afraid. I want to be a martyr and will die, not at the hands of Sharon, but when Allah wants it.

Well, Allah is one to deliver.

'Justified killing'

"I would prefer to die a martyr rather than of cancer or heart arrest," said the 56-year-old.

Perhaps he didn't expect to die quite so soon.

Many countries and international organisations have criticised the assassination of Rantissi as illegal and counter-productive to the peace process.

Illegal to kill a terrorist? How is it illegal to kill the leader of one of the most deadly terrorist organizations in the world? Shouldn't there be celebrations in the streets over this?

But Israel's staunchest ally and perhaps the only international "opinion" it cares about - the United States - refused to join the condemnation - saying Israel has a right to defend itself.

See that? The United States has an "opinion".

Ariel Sharon is in a strong position after returning from Washington

But even Washington added that it was gravely concerned for regional peace and stability.

Undeterred, and by now accustomed to international criticism, Mr Sharon's government says the killing of the Hamas leader was justified because he had openly supported and encouraged suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians.

Abdel Aziz Rantissi was a devout Muslim and hard-line political figure who firmly believed that Palestinians were justified in fighting to defeat the Israeli government in order achieve their political goals.

Devout Muslim. Ya, sure. Good job incriminating the entire faith there. Hard-line political figure. Just hard-line, not extreemist. They use hard-line to describe Sharon and Bush too. Firmly believed. I have firm beliefs too, but I don't think they quite match up with Rantissi's willingness to send his people's sons and daughters out to kill themselves in a twisted definition of martyrdom.

Sharon dominant

Mr Rantissi had dashed any faint hopes of a more conciliatory approach to Israel upon his appointment saying: "Nothing has changed, there is no-one left who believes in the peace process."

Did Hamas ever believe in the peace process? Oh, ya, I remember their proposal. If we drive the Joooos into the sea, there won't be anymore fighting.

Although there are still articulate and senior figures remaining in Hamas, the assassination of such a high profile figure will be a huge blow to a movement with plenty of grass roots support, but fast running out of leaders.

I feel so sorry for the movement.

Many observers appear to conclude that, for the time being, Israel is in a dominant position of strength.

Um... thank you Sherlock.

Ariel Sharon is driving home the momentum of his Washington visit and, as he's done throughout his military and political career, rarely avoiding a confrontation he thinks he can win.

In the short-term Hamas has promised to hit back, to exact revenge for its slain leader.


The United States has refused to condemn the killing of Rantissi

Dija hear that? We refuse, simply refuse to condemn the killing. Good for us.

While most Israelis support Mr Sharon's hard-line, confrontational policies they also fear and expect a Palestinian backlash.

It has yet to come, due in part to visibly increased security levels in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities.

And the long term?

Well that's anyone's guess. The Israelis and Palestinians are as far apart as they've been for a long time.

Any sense of "normality" or hopes for peace, appear very distant.

Now that last line I can agree with, especially as long as people like Mr. Davies simply ignore the real problems.

Posted by Nephi at 10:29 PM :

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

I need to stop getting angry

because it raises my blood pressure. But it's very hard. Today someone said to my "My condolences for last night." He was reffering to Bush's press conference. He also mention that the Washington Post had called it "High on resolve, low on content." I was ok right then, but I nearly blew my top on the way home. We don't need anyone's condolences. Bush handled himself well, even if he wasn't as 'polished' as a Clinton or a Kerry. What was really pitiful about last night was the press. The questions were ludicrous! "What has been your greatest failure?" "Would you say you have failed as a communicator?" "Iraq has a lower than 50% approval, why don't you quit?" Ludicrous!!! Might have well have asked "Please tell the American people why they shouldn't vote for you." Are these people daft?!? Aargh!

Posted by Nephi at 2:03 PM :

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Bush slams anti-war racism

"Some people think that if you're Muslim, or if you have brown skin, you somehow don't want to be free."

Booyah!

Posted by Nephi at 6:15 PM :

Thursday, April 01, 2004

It's a New Month

And I'm turning over a new leaf by burning my scriptures, converting to norse paganism, and dancing naked in front of a bon fire...

Ok, no.

Posted by Nephi at 6:03 PM :

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

The Left Strikes Back!™

In order to counter the massive conservative dominance of the media, Al Franken has launch his own 'progressive' talk show, starting inside my listen area at KPOJ in Portland. Of ocurse, as we all know, AM radio is the only source of news for 90% of Americans, and liberal views expressed on NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, Newsweek, Time, the Associated Press, Reuters, local urban FM radio like KBOO and so on are simply not enough to counter Fox and the three or four AM stations in each area with conservative talk. Now Franken and Co. are bound and determined to break into the conservative stranglehold of our lives, and awake the progressive America.

Right...

Doh, I mean Left

Posted by Nephi at 6:13 PM :

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Pickering

Saw Charles Pickering on 60 Minutes, and I was quite impressed. Too bad Bush resorted to constituionaly questionable methods of getting him appointed.

Posted by Nephi at 11:46 PM :

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Charles Krauthammer: Bush Derangement Syndrome

CharlesBush Derangement Syndrome: the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush.

This is a pretty old article, but still perfectly applicable today. Other tidbits?

Even worse is the fact that he is now exhibiting symptoms of a related illness, Murdoch Derangement Syndrome (MDS), in which otherwise normal people believe that their minds are being controlled by a single, very clever Australian.

A couple weeks ago I was in my Political Parties and Interest Groups class and a girl behind me, chair of the Environmental Committee with all the views incumbent on such a position, mentioned the horror of "media consolidation" and "limited news sources." That otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people actually believe this stuff is what really scares me.

Posted by Nephi at 11:32 PM :

My first Blogeversary.... and I forgot it!

How will I ever get along with a wife if I can't remember things like this? I began blogging one year ago... last week tuesday. So, I guess what I want is a non-blogspot site. Anyone know of some cheap-o hosting?

Posted by Nephi at 10:02 AM :

9/11 Hearings Flowchart

The 9/11 hearings got you confused? Can't tell who's being honest and who's a slippery fish? Just follow this simple diagram and it will all become clear:

Posted by Nephi at 12:01 AM :

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Happy 255th Birthday!

Yesterday was one of my personal heroes' birthday, and somehow I didn't know it. James Madison was the principle author of the Constitution, wrote the Bill of Rights, and co-authored the Federalist Papers. Madison was a close friend and protege of Thomas Jefferson, and succeeded him to the Presidency. When I attempt to describe my political leanings, a term I invariably call myself a Madisonian Federalist, to distinguish myself from the Hamiltonians who dominated the Federalist party of the early days of America. And almost as invariably, the people I tell this to have no idea what I'm talking about. Madison believed the nation must be united and tied together, but parted with Hamilton when the Federalists began seeking powers for the central government that were not intended by the Constitution. Thanks to Southern Appeal for the tip.

Posted by Nephi at 11:13 PM :

Sunday, March 14, 2004

Polls close in Spain

Spain has suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. Nearly 200 people wer viscously slaughtered by multiple bomb attacks on several trains. So what do the Spanish do? Throw out the government in favor of socialists. Instead of fighting back, they blamed the conservatives for drawing the terorists attention to them by supporting the US in Iraq. Why do they think this way? I don't understand it. It's like this is what they're saying:

"We will stand up to terrorism! We will show them we will not be cowed! Therefore, we will throw out the people who fought the terrorists in the first place and put in the people who will do whatever the terorists say! That will show them!"

I hate to say this at a time of national tragedy for them, but I think its cowardly.

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh has an insightful analysis of this (search for "Aznar"). In short, if other countries' policies can be swayed by the threat of terrorism, mulitnational support becomes that much less meaningful.

Posted by Nephi at 6:17 PM :

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Bush seriously ups the ante on Gay Marriage

As you probably know, Bush has openly come out in support of a constitutional Amendment to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. Many say this was a savvy election year move on his part to pin down his religious base while not alienating the middle. I, however, feel this will be a Bad Thing for conservatives in the long run from a legal standpoint. Bush is basically forcing me and many other conservatives to put several of our core beliefs at odds with each other.

Before Bush made his announcement, there were rumblings and proposals from social conservatives to pass this amendment that were mostly ignored by everyone else. Yet now that Bush has thrown his hat in the ring it suddenly becomes a 'serious' proposal, one that if not squeltched quickly will be examined and cross-examined many times by the congress and the public in the months to come. It may even come up for a legitimate vote, be passed by the requisite 2/3rds of each house, and be referred to the states. If that day comes, when I go to the polls to vote on the amendment I will be forced to pit my love of the robust federal system directly against my religious beliefs. If the Amendment fails, gay marriage will become the law of the land almost immediately. If it passes, Federal power will expand into areas heretofore unknown.

In the first case, you may ask "Why would the failure of the Amendment ensure gay marriage across the country?" Because it would provide perfect justification for the Federal courts in saying "the prevailing opinions and attitudes of the American public are in favor of gay marriage." But wait, passing an Amendment requires a Super-majority of both Houses and a Mega-majority of the States, that only means a minority opposed the Amendment. That doesn't stop the courts. The Supreme Court last year banned the execution of minors and the stupid on just those grounds, that a few states, and even foreign countries, had independently banned it on their own. They'll easily glomb on to the rejection of the 'negative' by the minority as affirmation of the 'positive' by the majority, however little sense it really makes. Thus my own feelings about gay marriage and whether it should exist in my State would prompt me to be as vocal as possible in passing the amendment, because its failure would mean total victory for those in support of gay marriage.

Yet this runs up against my belief that the vast majority of domestic decisions should not be in the hands of the Federal government. I am a Madisonian federalist. I believe strongly that the States and their people should have near total control over local matters, the only exceptions being blatant discrimination by the State on the basis of race or gender. I believe everything from environmental to economic to drug laws on the Federal level should be abolished and left to the individual States. This Amendment would run counter to that belief. It would enshrine in the Constitution a Federal prohibition on the states from doing as they see fit on a social issue. Prohibition attempted the same thing through economic means (sale and manufacturing of alcohol) and, although it failed established greater precedent for Federal interference in economic issues. This proposed Amendment would spark a similar expansion into social issues that until recently have been barely grazed by Federal power.

So I'm left in a bind. If Bush had held off on supporting the Amendment until it was clear how the courts will decide, I wouldn't be facing this choice. But he has made it a serious proposal, I have to decide. I will have to either accept gay marriage nationwide, or yield even greater power to the Federal government than it already has. This will be a very difficult choice to make, and I'm not going to like it either way.

Posted by Nephi at 7:01 PM :

Sunday, February 15, 2004

So...

Today I celebrated Singles' Awareness Day, on account of being turned down six times by the poor sisters in our singles ward relief society who never get asked out. So, after taking my siblings to their non-Single Aware dance, I wnet and bought a movie I had never gotten aorund to seeing, Star Trek Nemesis. I have to say that its touchy-feely-ness was right up there with the last socialist triade of Insurrection, yet was somehow more authentic and thus bearable, especially on the Data/Before relationship. But still, the Romulans looked pretty stupid thorugh the whole thing. First, the Senate didn't notice or even react when the one lady left her little poison-cloud thing. Second, it is later revealed that the Romulans didn't even notice the Remmans were building a massive war-bird rightu nder their noses. Third, their supposed slaves had better technology in the cloaking and evil weaponry departments. Fourth, the lady romulan commander was far too chipper. Not nearly grim enough. Well, enough about weak Romulans, on to the pure silliness. Why in space could the Remmans blow away the bulkhead in front of the bridge? Why was there only one bulkhead? You don't freaken expose the command crew that much to the enemy if you can avoid it, and you surely can with onmidirectional sensors and the like. Why isn't the bridge in the center of the ship. Then, when data ran and jumped toward the Remman ship. Wha? First, he wasn't to scale when they showed him outside. Second, starships in battle usualy are at least a dozen to several hundred kicks apart, even when they had just been pried apart after a ramming (another unrealisticaly portrayed event, the prying aprat, not the ramming). It should have taken him at the very least 15 minutes, assuming an unrealisticaly high velocity. Third, in the radiation matrix room when Picard and his clone are in the knife fight, picard give a sharp wall trim a little tug and it comes loose. Who freaking builds anything to come loose with a tug? If that's the best workmanship the Remmans had available, its suprising their whole monstrosity didn't fall apart with the first glancing phaser shot. The moral of the story? I need a girlfriend...

Posted by Nephi at 12:36 AM :

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Doonesbury, Cirica 1971

Posted by Nephi at 9:17 AM :