Hearings on the Imperial Presidency of George Bush

Sounds like fun.

NOT "tasteless and offensive..."

But hysterical. I'm calling it the terrorist fist bump from now on. No more knuckle bumps for me.
I do think this is one of the best New Yorker covers I've seen, though. Not subtle at all, but I still don't see why the Obama team doesn't understand the premise behind it. Well, I know it must be understood but that they're afraid some average American might for some reason put down their People and Entertainment Weekly to stumble upon a piece of enlightened work like the New Yorker and not pick up on its sarcasm.
Something I figured you folks would dig was this article on futuristic materials.
More cool technology here and here

Aight, that's about it for me for now
Cory

Kinda funny, and yes, Wikileaks is back.

Just thought this was funny.
Also, I was happy to look at Wikileaks a minute ago and see that it was indeed back. I guess this is old news since Patrick's post was from quite a bit ago. Now that it's back and pretty again, I can scan it for real.
I hope we can get this blog rolling again. I haven't been keeping up with the news like I used to because it's just so ridiculous. I'm afraid for the future of our country and the world these days. I'm afraid that with all the environmental issues we face, coupled with a culture of willful ignorance, distraction, and disconnection from reality, that it's going to be too late before people realize that the world we live in and the ways of live we lead are ensuring our destruction. (that sentence needs editing)
On top of it, our brand of government based on the empowerment of the corporation and the marginalization and economic enslavement of the majority of the citizens has led to masses of people living check to check, in debt with no end in sight, and with a misguided patriotic duty to consume. The American dream is indeed a dream, but I'm afraid that waking up is going to leave a lot of people grumpy and confused about how to live.
Even with new leadership and a drastic change in leadership, we're going to need to make some serious headway in energy consumption and independence, as well as efficiency in general with regards to our resource management (material, mineral, water, energy, waste).
What are you guys going to do? (I have interesting answers)
Do you see the problems as being as large as I see them?
Do you consider yourself to be well-informed about environmental issues and their connections to politics and the economy? (Mostly, but I must learn more every day)
What is going to happen? (hmmm)
Will our generation be witness to the end of suburbia and the "American dream?" (I hope so)

Enjoying summer? (YES)

I just might just...
Cory

Fighting Back

I don't know if you guys are buzzing about this back in the States because I still can't see the blog. The news is starting to look good for the political world. We have Mike Gravel the baller pushing for a new investigation in to 9/11, Kucinich pushing for impeachment,  Karl Rove possibly getting arrested and forced to testify, and a retired general accusing the Bush administration of war crimes. If you know anybody in New York tell them to go sign that petition. Oh and can anybody read this and tell me about it through Facebook or e-mail, I thought wikileaks was shut down. Ok well I have to write a paper about China's environmental problem that I might post if I actually like it. Peace.

China's All Seeing Eye

Interesting article. I'll keep an eye out for this while I'm in Beijing. The funny thing is, the more people that I talk to the less they actually seem to know about the world. So I can see how this would be easy to implement. All they knew is: China - Good Boosch - Bad.

Corruption, Betrayal, and Campaign Donations

I couldn't make the story more interesting if I tried. Just read it.

Chinahhhh

I still can't see the blog, which sucks because this is completely one sided. Next week I think I can get to a place where I can see it. Hopefully.

China is boring me right now. Chen laoshi sprung this whole teaching adventure upon us suddenly. I sort of knew about it, but I didn't think it would last two weeks. The Mexican students who are here knew nothing about it. Most of them barely even speak English. I've been here in Hongzhou for about 9 days now and I really hate that I'm not with the rest of my group. We got split up into 8 or 9 schools, and I am with an asian guy, Jamie, and two Mexican girls, Prescilla and Tania. I'm pretty sure I'm the only white guy to come around these parts in a while, or at least that is how everybody looks at me. Staring is not rude in China.

The school is straight, but Chinese customs are strange for guests. They won't let me do anything for myself except for teach, and for that they never criticize me. So I decided to have a little bit of fun and teach some good ol' U.S. slang. The children now know such phrases as "sup, holla, whats happenin', not a thang, no biggie, peace out", and my personal favorite "roll out". The teachers here are obsessed with talking about me getting a girlfriend, so no matter what I do, it always comes back to me increasing or decreasing my chances of getting a girlfriend. Shaving my beard was a definite decrease for me. They plan cool activities for us to do during the day so I got to go pick my own green tea in a green tea farm, paint Chinese caligraphy, and learn taiji.

This Sunday was interesting because I was invited to the headmasters house for lunch. There isn't much to talk about with a guy who doesn't speak English, in a room with two Mexicans, one guy who barely knows any spoken Chinese, and a guy who looks Chinese but (surprisingly to them) doesn't know the language. There was a lot of pointing and motions, but eventually we just gave up and ate. I tried my first pig ear! It honestly tasted pretty good. Well homeboy kept filling my bowl up with beer so I kept downing them, and I was fairly drunk by the end of lunch. I had nothing on Jamie who has really never drank before, but didn't want to be rude and ignore the perpetual refills. Well we ended up at a teachers house to watch a movie after coffee, and her husband's parents made us some dinner. I got to try my first fried chicken foot (not leg) and stewed turtle (he was all there). I ended up playing with my food for a little while because it looked like some voodoo session, and I think I offended her parents. Oh well. On the subject of strange food, I also tried cow tendon on Saturday. Not recommended.

We finally get to meet up on Friday and be a big American group again. I'm feeling a little sick, but I hope it isn't anything serious. Today we had to stand up in front of the whole school, which consists of about 1,500 people total, and scream silly English phrases. They got the idea from some Canadian guy on T.V. who teaches English. "Crazy English" as they called it, is when the guy screams into the T.V. and expects people to repeat after him on the other line. So after the freaky communist national anthem ceremony, we got up there and yelled phrases such as "I can do it!" and "one world, one dream" into the microphone. I honestly had to bite my tounge to keep from laughing the whole time. I hope these people don't actually take me serious.

Well, thats China. There really isn't anything happening here, except that I read a lot and make fun of the Chinese people a lot through e-mail. Otherwise, I'm just counting down the days until I return to beautiful, smoggy Suzhou and continue my language studies. I finished "The Party's Over" and am scared shitless about what is happening. I've got all sorts of plans for when I get back, but that seems like so far from now that I feel helpless. I hope you guys (and girl) are enjoying your summer, I wouldn't know. Peace.

Still Can't See the Blog

But I can write, so that's all that really matters. I don't know if anybody has pointed this video out yet, but the Reaper is a terrible, terrible thing. On top of that, only to reinforce my fear, there are plenty of people telling us to brace ourselves for the peaking of oil supplies, and the unavoidable depression that would follow. I am going to start getting ready once I get back to the States.

The news that I'm reading from Western sources about the earthquake in China are completely different (I know thats still MSN) than the news I'm hearing in China. They have CCTV constantly playing videos of the scenes of people being helped, fundraisers being held, and plenty of soft rock, "band together" support songs. The people seem to all be giving their hearts and souls to Sichuan. Honestly I'm behind China on this one, they appear to be doing a great job with this tragedy and the U.S. media is spinning it to make it seem like they aren't giving aid to some people.

China Update #1

So I haven't really gotten a chance to get on the blog because the school computer won't let me. The coffee shop would but I haven't been in Suzhou for a few days. Not that any of you understand that.

China is crazy. I am honestly at a loss for words, but I'll try for your sake. I took off at about 9PM on Sunday the 11th and arrived in Shanghai at about 11 PM Tuesday. We arrived at Suzhou shortly after and went for a walk around the city. I was amazed on the bus ride at what now seems normal for me. The smog, the buildings, the people... there is so much of all of that. The bus nearly hit like 200 people on the ride, apparently people getting knocked off bikes and mopeds is not the strange around here. There are far more bikes than cars, and they swarm around the streets constantly.

Suzhou is supposed to be "the Venice of Asia", but only because it has a few canals. I haven't been to Venice, but I can already tell you Suzhou is nothing like it. The city has a few nice gardens around and some old trees, but otherwise it is a bullshit Western-style country like the rest of China. Everywhere you go there are stores full of usless shiney shit that nobody ever needs, and fat white tourists to buy them. There are beggars everywhere (they no longer need a permit) because it is a business to trick Western tourists by carrying your baby around with you. I can tell that China was a great country at one point, and has the industrial capacity to completely own any other country in the world, but has given in to Western capitalism and consumerism. The corporations and businesses here are more aggressive than America. EVERYTHING has an ad on it, I mean everything. Every little nook sells something. If you go in a store to buy a shirt they will say "100 kuai", you say "tai guile" and leave, and they run after you yelling "30!30!30!". There are plenty of sex slaves for any retired, unhappy Australian businessman to satisfy himself with. Our running joke is what the men on the street yell at us, "massage... Massage!.... SEX!!!"

Anyway, from Wednesday to Friday we hung out in Suzhou. The Mexican students arrived and we went out for free drinks for 100 kuai all night (7 kuai: 1 dollar - so a little under $15). The Mexican students are good people. We were talking about bullshit Democracy and bullshit NAFTA the first night. One is English teacher, Juilo, and the other guy, Edwardo, knows real good English. Otherwise, the rest are just kind of chubby girls. Suzhou university is huge, and our student helpers are so funny. They think we are the coolest people in the world. Their names are Brooks, Mandy, and Thomas, better than most English names I've come across, turtle, orange juice, and eleven hahaha.

Shanghai was intense. It is just breathtaking, no pun intended. We went to an ancient garden, which was about the only beautiful thing about Shanghai. Then to a market where you couldn't even turn and every three steps somebody says "watch, bag, rolex?" The Chinese acrobat performance that night was amazing, I honestly had no clue that people could do that with their bodies. The next day we went in a tower and you could just see buildings as far as the smog will let you. It is real hard to describe, you'll just have to see the pictures in a few weeks. For now I am an English teacher in a small (not really) city call Hangzhou, which is right below Shanghai. I would write more, but the other teachers want me to go to my Taichi lesson, so I better bounce. I'll tell you all about the school tomorrow because I have an excessive amount of free time here, which is good. I need time to study, write, and read anyway. Alright folks, be easy.

Patrick makes an entrance...

On the serious side, I hope this doesn't affect him

Florida: The New Salem

This wizard claims he is worried about getting future jobs. He can always work at Hogwarts.

Spaghetti Monster I Lift Your Name on High

The Pastafarians gain legitimacy. Soon they'll have a letter on the coexist merchandise.

A sign of what's to come?

This article, although it describes a somewhat different situation, brings to light many of the issues caused by a sudden and unprepared for lack of oil. Just sit and think about everything you do (or use) in a day that requires an abundance of this proven to be dwindling resource...

Edit:
Many Northeast US residents facing utility cutoffs

Noose Incident at ASU

I didn't think much of it when I got the e-mail, but this noose issue is kind of messed up. I hope things get clarified at the forum tonight, though I'm sure more students are planning to get arrested protesting this... 

Mindless Patriotism and International Arrogance -- That is the American Way!

I just wanted to start out by saying that I fixed the second Colbert video below and that everybody should check it out if you haven't yet.

I've always been interested in politics because of the government's ability to control truth. The power to change reality for a whole nation lies in the ability to alter language to make issues and events sound less tragic or urgent, while withholding the actual facts or presenting alternatives that legitimize the weak argument of the opposition. It's all in the wording -- It isn't escalation, it's a surge; we don't torture, we use enhanced interrogation techniques; It isn't called an invasion, it's called a defensive pre-emptive strike. This is propaganda, and our country is not above this.

This one particular article caught my eye about the bickering between John McCain and Barack Obama over 60's radical William Ayers. Ayers was a member of the group 'The Weather Underground', which was a violent, Communist opposition to Vietnam and American imperialism. The issue was brought up during the recent debate in Philly because of Obama's comparison of Ayers to Republican Senator Tom Coburn , "who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions." This prompted McCain to criticize Obama for not denouncing Ayers. To go back to my point on wording I wanted to just show a couple excerpts from the article (emphasis added).

Sen. John McCain highlighted Sen. Barack Obama's affiliation with a Vietnam-era radical yesterday, the latest indication that the general election campaign is likely to see a heavy dose of cultural politics.

Yesterday, McCain (Ariz.) drew a sharp distinction between Ayers and Coburn, arguing that Obama's analogy showed the Illinois Democrat holds values that are out of the mainstream.

Obama's relationship with Ayers, McCain told Stephanopoulos, "is open to question.... Because if you're going to associate and have as a friend and serve on a board and have a guy kick off your campaign that says he's unrepentant, that he wished bombed more -- and then, the worst thing of all, that, I think, really indicates Senator Obama's attitude, is he had the incredible statement that he compared Mr. Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist, with Senator Tom Coburn, Senator Coburn, a physician who goes to Oklahoma on the weekends and brings babies into life -- comparing those two -- I mean, that's not -- that's an attitude, frankly, that certainly isn't in keeping with the overall attitude."

The comments underscored the enormous generational gulf between the two men -- a contest between them would represent the largest age gap between two presidential candidates in U.S. history -- but differences dating back four decades are likely to be in play regardless of the outcome of the Democratic contest.

"Cultural Politics" is a buzz word I've never seen until now, and the thought behind it is frightening. Political culture is defined as "the sum of the fundamental values, sentiments and knowledge that give form and substance to political process", but that only makes up part of a culture. Political culture is a safe, debatable part of government and is the part of a culture tied to the political process. Political culture only measures the differences between left wing, right wing, and everything in between. The broad phrase culture covers more than just civics. Wikipedia says, "anthropologists understand 'culture' to refer not only to consumption goods, but to the general processes which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become embedded. For them, culture thus includes art, science, as well as moral systems." Therefore, I am led to assume that cultural politics is the contest between two or more distinct and separate cultures with differences in science, art, and morals. It is the idea that the election goes beyond political culture and will embody basic ideals and beliefs as political positions.

McCain argues that Obama isn't in line with American values, but who is he to determine what those values are? Cultural politics scares me because it draws that line that we all know exists between Americans. This is not generational as the article suggests, but goes deeper into ideology, tradition, and religion. The split is between those who unconditionally support an American empire and those who want moderation and peace. This unconditional support is dependent on a belief that the U.S.A. is the greatest country in the world, and that Americans deserve the best despite the methods needed to maintain this position. I've taken notice of this rift more recently. For example, one man I waited on last night told me he supports McCain because "we need to remain strong because the terrorists have a black hate in their hearts and will be coming back to get us." Somebody I know also stated that she believes that an American life is greater in value than an Arab life, and that this justifies our policies. This is the other side, the other culture. When beliefs go so deep that neither side will moderate or consider the other side, and these beliefs become political issues, then the political process breaks down away from logic and turns to emotion. Is anybody else unsettled by this? I tried my best to explain it.

Also for those who think that there is a difference between Clinton, Obama, and McCain, this video sums up the Democrat's willingness to 'totally obliterate' Iran if they show signs of threat toward Israel. Either party we vote in, we get war.

Speaking of Israel, if you didn't know they have been spying on us in the past. It's not that big of a deal, though.
Also, check this out. I knew our generation had mass protest in them..