Happy Birthday, Mr. President.

As a public service announcement, please know that The Amazing Race 5 starts tonight on CBS at 9:30pm ET. The first episode is 90 minutes.

If you’re in my TAR5 League and haven’t taken the quiz yet, you may be too late for this week. I’ll post the league standings sometime tomorrow, after the quiz is scored and posted on the league webpage.

I finally watched Shrek yesterday and I really enjoyed it. I think I may be one of the last 5 people to see it for the first time. I can’t remember why I never saw it in the theater and I just couldn’t muster the interest in watching the video until now.

I fell asleep at one point (not because it was boring, but because I was on a sugar downer and I made the mistake of lying down on the sofa - as soon as I get horizontal, I fall asleep. I woke up when thunder boomed directly over my apartment building and the power went off for a split second - the split second long enough to require resetting all of the clocks, of course...), so I had to rewind the tape back quite a bit to not miss anything.

And now I’m sort of interested in seeing the sequel, but I’ll probably wait for the DVD to come out.

So in searching for a good link for Ground Zero for the previous post, I happened upon the 9-11 Visibility Project page from January. Front and center is a photo with a couple of folks holding a large banner inscribed with “The Bush Regime Engineered 9/11” in front of the World Trade Center PATH station. I scrolled down to read for a bit to see what this was all about.

The NYC Truth Movement permanently, and completely, took back Ground Zero from the Neo-Conservative false-patriotic agenda. In true New York fashion, 911 Truth activists unveiled the now legendary banner, which read, “THE BUSH REGIME ENGINEERED 9-11” in front of the World Trade Center footprint.

At least 20 women over the age of 40, of all ethnic backgrounds said, “god bless you for being here.” Dozens of photos were taken by New Yorkers and tourists from all over the world (oddly enough, including tourists from Saudi Arabia), and people were dying to get our information. 90% of the people were open to hear what we had to say, 9% were not, and less than 1% were very frightened of us so they did what any frightened animal does, bark as loud as they can. Another small percentage of people disagreed with us whole-heartily, but chose to engage us in intelligent dialogue. This included off-duty military personnel, more on that later in this report.

But it’s clear, and definitive – New York supports the 9-11 Truth Movement.

You know, they’re looking for a conspiracy in all the wrong places, starting with our own President. He was not the one who recruited 19 Saudi men to learn how to turn passenger jets into missiles. Bush haters have lost the real focus of why 9/11 happened and it wasn’t George W. Bush.

No, it was Usama bin Laden who recruited and continues to recruit men (and probably women) to infiltrate our country and kill our citizens. I don’t care who was in the White House on that terrible day, it’s irrelevant to the overall reason why it happened. Al Gore might have been sitting in that classroom, reading to young kids, when the planes went into the Twin Towers. To bin Laden it didn’t matter who was the American President in September 2001, because the plan had been in motion long before the newest President even took office in January 2001. Those terrorists weren’t attacking George W. Bush, they were attacking the United States of America.

The tin-foil hatted conspiracy theorists need to get back to reality.

It feels like Monday, but it’s really Tuesday. I’m taking Friday and next Monday off because I’m going to the Cooties’ for the weekend - Jaynee and I are going to see Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz on Broadway on Saturday. I’m very excited because we have front row tickets and Hugh Jackman is simply dreamy. *girly sigh*

So my plan is to drive north on Friday. Saturday, we’ll head to The City, making a stop at Ground Zero (which neither of us has been to yet) and lunch before the matinee show. I’m hoping we might play a little poker with their friends A&A and of course I’ll get some quality CootieGirl time. Then I’ll drive back on Monday.

This all means that it’s a very short week at work for me. There’s practically no one here today and I think it’ll be that way for most of the week. Hopefully it’ll be quiet and I can catch up on some stuff before I go this weekend.

Monday, July 05, 2004

It’s the mediocre movie rental weekend. I’ve watched two movies that didn’t wow me, which is fine - they can’t all be good.

First up was The Missing. I think Cate Blanchette is one of those actors that I’ll watch in anything because she’s good in everything. She is such a chameleon, which I think I’ve said before. It was an interesting movie and I liked it well enough. What made the viewing a challenge were the technical difficulties with the subtitles on the DVD. Every time one of the characters spoke in a language other than English subtitles came on the screen, which you’d expect. However, they stayed on even when they would go back to English and I was distracted. So I would pause to go to the menu to turn off the subtitles. I think that added easily 20 minutes to the total viewing time, I thought the movie was never going to end. The unexpected cameos were fun.

Second was Cold Creek Manor, which I didn’t like too much. I like a good suspenseful thriller, but this one was unrelenting in the tension and tone. Dennis Quaid was pretty good, Sharon stone was Sharon Stone, and Stephen Dorff was brilliant. He really plays evil very well. What I enjoyed more than the movie were the bonus features on the DVD, especially the deleted scenes and the alternate ending. I wish they had used the alternate ending as the actual ending. I was amused that I discovered that my speculation about additional factors not shown in the actual ending were in the alternate ending. Maybe I should write a screenplay.

Anyway, I can recommend The Missing but not Cold Creek Manor.

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Only 10 comment spam, but still a pain to hunt down and delete. IPs have been banned. Anyone know if some enterprising pMachine user has developed a spam blocker like MT’s Blacklist hack?

UPDATE: Prepare yourselves - if the spam continues and increases, then I’ll be forced to require registration to comment. It’s a pain initially for you, but that’s where cookies are helpful. I’ll go as long as I can without doing it, but I thought I’d warn you.

From dictionary.com:

Declaration Dec`la*ra"tion, n. [F. d[’e]claration, fr. L. declaratio, fr. declarare. See Declare.] 1. The act of declaring, or publicly announcing; explicit asserting; undisguised token of a ground or side taken on any subject; proclamation; exposition; as, the declaration of an opinion; a declaration of war, etc.

Independence In`de*pend"ence, n. [Cf. F. ind[’e]pendance.] 1. The state or quality of being independent; freedom from dependence; exemption from reliance on, or control by, others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of one’s own affairs without interference.

Declaration of Independence n : the document recording the proclamation of the 2nd American Continental Congress (4 july 1776) asserting the independence of the colonies from Great Britain.

From the US National Archives & Records Administration:

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Thanks to the convictions and bravery of a generation of men, today we live in freedom from a tyrannical ruler. My prayer is that our brethren in the newly freed Iraq will remember their liberation and independence from their own tyrannical ruler and that 228 years from now will hold similar remembrances and celebration.

Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans.

Saturday, July 03, 2004

I love a really good movie and Spider-Man 2 is a really good movie.

This is a sequel that surpasses the original. I liked the recap opening credits - it’s a clever way of killing two birds with one stone. I like that it wasn’t just an action movie, but that we got to see some emotional conflict with Peter and those he loves. And himself, for that matter. I like that it was intense but still had lighter moments, a little levity in the right places cut the tension just when it was needed.

Then there’s the action. Wow, are the special effects superb. I mean, really, it’s heads and shoulder above the first movie. Just a couple of years of advanced technology with computer graphics has made such a huge difference. The train scene is something. Poor Peter really takes a beating in this episode.

Was anyone else amused by the street musician? I’m wondering if Gen-Xers will be the ones to get that joke the most. I also really love Mr. Jameson - hilarious.

I highly recommend that you run right out to your local theater to see this one. It’s definitely worth the time and money. And now I wait with great anticipation for Spider-Man 3.

For another, better review, go see Jared.

I got home at around 6pm last night (traffic was light, surprisingly), made a little something to eat, and then promptly fell asleep on the sofa while watching the news. I slept for about an hour and woke up feeling like I could go to bed for the night, but I decided to try to stay up until 10pm in order to have a normal night’s sleep. That I managed, with a helpful late phone call from Dad (we’re going to see Spiderman 2 today). Went to bed and fell asleep instantly - woke up as normal at about 5:30am to the news that someone in Lowell, MA, is a very rich person.

And then I happened to Ith’s where I see that Star Trek’s Scotty is battling Alzheimer’s disease. Did you know that he participated in D-Day with the Canadian forces? I did not know that. Sad.

Friday, July 02, 2004

Take a look at this.

Yowsah!

UPDATE (3:10pm): It’s related, so rather than it’s own post, I thought I’d add the link here. Al has a great re-post of one guy’s experience as a guest aboard a US Navy fighter. It’s pretty amusing.

Someday you may be invited to fly in the back-seat of one of yourcountry’s most powerful fighter jets.

Many of you already have ... John Elway, John Stockton, Tiger Woods to name a few. If you get this opportunity, let me urge you, with the greatest sincerity…

Move to Guam.

Change your name.

Fake your own death!

Whatever you do ...

Do Not Go!!!

Insomnia sux.

I feel like I got about 3 hours of sleep, which makes sense since that’s about what I got last night.