Interesting Fact....

In a new poll only 26% of Catholics asked said that it was never okay to torture. That is less than the general public and much less than protestants. I think its time for a speech from the Pope.

http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2006a/032406/032406h.htm

so how about that new spiderman movie?

With his secret now revealed to both Mary Jane and Harry, Peter must face the consequences of his actions and his new life together with Mary Jane as they finally form a relationship. Yet their newfound open display of love has yielded some unfortunate results, not the least of which is Peter's upset boss determined to make his life hell for causing his son emotional distress. Not helping is a young investigative reporter named Eddie Brock who Jameson has hired to find out why Mary Jane dumped his son for Peter - what's Parker's secrets?

At the same time an escaped prisoner hiding out on a remote beach is caught in a dreadful accident and finds himself turned into a shape-shifting sand creature. Peter's investigations into the past of this 'Sandman' brings him in contact with two very different things that will inevitably alter his life. The first a young woman named Gwen Stacy, daughter of the city's new police chief who is developing a soft spot for Peter. The other, a black substance from an accident scene which 'merges' with Peter's costume and gives him new found abilities.

Things come to a head however when Harry Osborn, determined to take revenge against Peter for his father's death and now equipped with what he needs to pull it off, teams with The Sandman in a new variation of his father's Green Goblin guise and causes mayhem. In the ensuing chaos lives are lost, including people very close to Peter, whilst the black substance covering his suit separates from him and merges with a distraught Brock to form something else entirely - a creature unlike anything he's ever faced. A 'Venom' that he may not be able to stop.

Immigration and National Identity...

I read an interesting story in the New York Times today. Its about immigration and President Bush's policy towards it. And most people would be shocked to learn that I agree with his policy or at least most of it. His deal is the "Guest Worker Program". Of course this has his usually loyal conservative base up in arms against him. Now this issue has many arguments on both sides and most of them are debatable. But there is one point mentioned in the article that I feel makes no sense.
The argument that an influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants would cause the loss of the American culture and "national identity". I really don't understand how the conservatives can argue this. I mean first of all they hate modern American popular culture. They are always protesting art and movies because it offends their delicate sensibilities and will warp their children's "fragile little minds".
And as far as their "national identity" all I have to say is "what national identity?" I mean if you ask other countries what they think of when they think of the U.S. they will probably tell you "cowboy". Well the only cowboys Americans invented are the gay ones. Cowboys are a Spanish tradition brought to the U.S. by way of Mexico. Some would say that they are afraid of losing their language but how can that be when for every Spanish speaking immigrant entering the United States there is an Indian or Chinese guy learning English so he can take one of our jobs*, so English will always survive. I think we should be teaching immigrants English and helping them integrate themselves into society. That would probably help American national identity. I mean Mexico is a younger country than the U.S. and it already has a much prouder national identity.

rejected titles for brokeback mountain++::...

- "PRANCES WITH WOLVES"
- "JEREMIAH'S JOHNSON"
- "BUTCH ASSIDY AND THE BUNDANCE KID"
- "THE MAN WHO SHOT ALL OVER LIBERTY VALANCE"
- "HOW THE WEST WAS HUNG"
- "THE LEGEND OF THE LONG RANGER"
- "DOC'S HOLIDAY WITH BILLY THE KID"
- "LONESOME DOUG"
- "DESTRY RIDES AGAIN... AND AGAIN"
- "MCCABE AND MR. MILLER"
- "HI, PLAINS DRIFTER!"
- "THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN INCHES"
- "QUICKLY DOWN UNDER"
- "BAREBACK MOUNTING"
- "BONE-NANZA"
- "DON'T MESS WITH TEX' ASS"
- "HOME ON THE RANGER"
- "OKLAHOMO"
- "ROOSTER COCKBURN"
- "LITTLE BATHHOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE"
- "BALONEY PONY RODEO"
- "TUBESTEAK COWBOYS"
- "SILVER-ROD-Ohhh!!!"
cheers

In Bocca Al lupo

Who's running for Texas governor? Part III: the "sheesh cut me some slack, I'm in spring break" edition

Democrats, always seen as the greatly lagging party in Texas, but actually, for nearly one hundred years, they were the dominant party in Texas. Also, South Texas seems to continue being highly democratic, its reasons why are still unknown. Some sociologists have theorized that it is due to the outstanding number of minorities; but no confirmations have been made. The only thing I am grateful for is that there is one guy running.

Democrats

• Chris Bell
• Chris Bell's first and foremost issue is rebuilding public education. He begins by stating "By some estimates, the dropout rate in Texas public schools now tops 40%. We do such a poor job retaining quality teachers that fewer than half of all certified teachers in Texas are still in working in the classroom. By any standard, this system is broken." his second statement is an attack on Rick Perry that says that his taxes on various products in order to help plug the funding gap for education. He states that we need to create a bipartisan commission that will bring all sides to the table to seek real solutions and common ground. He addresses the issue of ceasing the partisan censorship of Textbooks. To sum up his issues on public school reform Chris Bell states "Texas deserves the best public education system in the country, but we won't achieve this goal until we stop letting politics constantly interfere with the process."
• Chris Bell also plans to make Higher education a priority of his. [he has a huge page for it, but luckily he made it easy for me to sum up]

• Higher Education in Texas: An Agenda For Opportunity

• Ending tuition deregulation to keep college affordable for middle class families.
• Giving our public universities the state funding they need to remain world-class.
• Giving students a break at the bookstore by making textbooks tax-free.
• Vigorously defending the TEXAS Grant program and other initiatives to make a college degree accessible to all Texans willing to put in the hard work.
• Recognize the role community colleges fill in our state's economic development.
• He also wants to give our national guardsmen a tuition grant, based on the bill, H.B. 2691, the Rick Noriega Military Assistance Act. This legislation would grant tuition exemptions to guardsmen attending state colleges and universities.
• Chris Bell states that he is advently for protecting children and helping those who are child abuse caseworkers. For more information see his issues page.
• Chris Bell also states he wants to fight for Rural Texas, he states that there is a rising problem of Meth amphetamine production and use in Rural Texas, and as leader, he would stop it.
  
• Chris Bell is for the research of stem cells. He also wants to expand Home ownership
• And finally, he wants to find common ground with the republicans, he states that he is tired of being stuck in this partisan trench.

So that's it, those are your candidates for Texas governor. I suggest you go and read more about them, send them emails, ask questions. And finally make a decision. For the meantime....hehe kinky.

What happened to Democrats???

... the suspense is killing me ... and im too lazy to look up stuff on my own


gtg bye

They asked for it...

At the end of the Scientology episode, Matt and Trey asked for it. They asked Scientology to try and go after them. And they did. But it was from a surprising place. It turns out Isaac Hayes is a Scientologist and now he has quit the show. Thats right. Chef has left. No more "Chocolate Salty Balls". Matt Stone has said this, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem - and he's cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians." I can't wait until they put their response in cartoon form.

Link to the story:
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/ap/20060313/114230238000.html

Folk Songs of the Far Right Wing

Damn them for taking down the Natalie Portman video!

anyways, i thought this was kinda cute, either that or they just spent way too much time on this:

http://folksongsofthefarrightwing.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

Ms. Portman at her best.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tQ7bJQGlfJY

go!!!!!!!!!!!!

So who is running for Texas governor? Part II

So it is day 2 in my ongoing project to educate on who is running for Texas governor, and we come up on the Republicans. We have Two players coming in from this party, one some of us may already know, Rick Perry has been our governor for the last term, and he went to go speak at Carlos' and my graduation ceremony. On the other ticket of the Republican party, we have what looks like a farmer, Star Locke is his name and cutting back Taxes is his game (i've always wanted to say that :). ) On to business.

The Republicans

• Rick Perry
• Rick perry begins with education, according to www.rickperry.org, governor Perry states that over 1 million students in 2004 have enrolled in a Texas University, and more Texas students have taken Advanced Placement tests. Also stating that Texas has helped lead Texas to higher standards in the classroom, as well as insituting tougher assesment tests and also making Texas the first state in the nation to have a college prep curriculum as the standard coursework for all students.Governor Perry states that under his leadership, Texas was the first state to institute personalized study guides to students who fail the state assesment. He also helped the ability for schools to tailor graduation plans for students at risk of dropping out. He states that Texas also joined other charitable organizations in investing $130 million dollars in the Texas High School initiative to help reorganize and reconstitute failing schools. He has proposed meaningful progress incentives for economically disadvantaged students and help students master the english language. He wants to help struggling schools as much as possible, and give the commissioner of Education greater authority to shut down failing schools if they refuse to change. Finally, he wants to give better teacher compensation, by giving $6 million to reimburse teachers who pay out of their own pocket for supplies. Also a merit-based bonus, and better pay for Texas teachers.
  
• Coming in second is Perry's beliefs on Jobs and Job creation, Perry begins with Workers compensation for those injured on the job. He states that he signed a reform in 2005 that will help injured workers return to work sooner, and will also lower costs for employers. One of Perry's major beliefs is has always been lawsuit reform. Perry states that "Frivolous lawsuits are one of the top job killers in America." Cracking down on junk lawsuits, Perry signed signed a law cracking down on junk asbestos claims and another to prevent trial lawyers from sueing fast food industries on behalf of clients with obesity related issues.
  
• "In 2005, Perry secured $200 million to help Texas attract growth in high-tech fields like biomedicine and nanotechnology."
• Governor Perry has secured $3 billion dollars to help accelerate transportation construction projects in metropolitan areas. He also has helped procure an additional $600 million to improve Texas highway safety. n 2005, Texas began construction on the Trans Texas Corridor, Perry will leverage the private sector resources to build public roads faster and cheaper. It combines roads, rail, utilities and energy pipelines into a single corridor that requires less land than traditional methods of expansion.
  
• Rick Perry believes in cutting property taxes, n 2005 he worked to pass the largest property tax cut in Texas history – more than $3 billion - but lawmakers did not act on a final plan. He still believes in pushing a property tax cut that he believes taxpayers deserve.
• In 2003, Perry insisted that government reduce spending instead of raising taxes to overcome a $10 billion dollar shortfall. Clearly showing that Perry is against no new taxes.
  
• Perry is adamantly a pro-life polititian, and believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman. In 2005 Perry signed a law forcing underage girls to get parental consent before getting an abortion. "Perry supports a ban on human cloning and will veto any legislation that provides state dollars for embryonic stem cell research, a process that ends a human life." He has also made recommendations to put more caseworkers on the field to cut down on abused children and adults by putting out more caseworkers on the field. For more information, you can visit http://www.rickperry.org/
  

• Star Locke
• Star Locke was first mentioned in a gamespot article when he first stated that he wanted to put a tax on violent videogames and people who perform abortions. He makes his issues clear by putting them into acts that he proposes to set up immediately after being voted in governor. His first act, known as the "incentive and productivity act" is basically there to reward workers and give them a tax free bonus for being productive and would receive it from the Tax payers. Although, " To be eligible to participate in and receive an ‘INCENTIVE BONUS”

  the employee must:

  [1] be actively a member of any Local, State or National Civil Service

  [2] be an employee of any company or organization working on a

  project or job that is paid for with TAX dollars.

  [3] be a member of any local , state or National Credit Union or

  Cooperative.

  [4] be a member of the U.S. Armed Forces"

• He also plans on giving back to those who recycle in his "Deposit and Recycle Act"
• Bringing in what made him recognized, his "family security and Protection and Act". This is the famous act that puts a tax on violent videogames and on anyone involved in aborting a human female. It also helps keep children away from dangerous products and helps keep the government away from certain items that he deems are rightfully ours.
• As for immigration in Mexico, he wants to stop taking in any applications whatsoever, for immigration in the US for the next 10 years; and that we need to "clean house" before we start taking in any more immigrants if ever. Any new applicants inside our borders need to go home. "Having jewish or christian "friendly" visitors come in to the US is one thing....but people with unknown motives and agendas...forget it."
• For more information you can visit http://www.starovertexas.com/
  

So there you have it, these are the candidates on the republican ticket. Tomorrow, I will end it all with the Democratic candidate. Thank you and Goodnight.

So who is running for Texas governor?

Pretty soon the Texas gubernatorial elections will be coming up, and I, as a fellow Texas citizen encourage you to go out and get educated on who is running. There are a few out there that are quite interesting running on different tickets. Some are interesting just by the fact that they have an interesting view of how things in Texas should be run, and others are interesting not just by their ideology, but by the fact that they have the name "Kinky" in their name. And if you ask me, if you have the name Kinky in your name, people should really take the time to look you up and see what you're about. Anyway, on to business, During the course of the few days, I plan on giving you some information on the candidates, I will be as unbiased as possible. Leaving only my opinions on the comments section. The only opinions that you will hear on the posts will be those of the Candidates themselves. I feel this is a good idea because I feel we all should be informed on those who are running and vote on who we feel is the best candidate for the Job. Today I will begin with the Independents, tomorrow, I will continue with the Republicans, And finally ending it all with the Democrats. Please at least take the time to read what i have posted, and if you would like to debate, question, or criticize, the comments section is, of course, open.

The Independents

• Kinky Freedman-
  
• as an independent, Kinky makes his case clear. He states that texas politititans are clearly giving themselves to lobbyists, and big donors. while also reminding the voters about recent indictments of Corruption and money laundering in Texas Legislature, Kinky tells us that the seat of power should be given to someone who is "unafraid to give new ideas and honest anwers".
  
• On education, He Reminds us that We have the highest drop out rates in the country with $6,000 below the national average in teachers salaries. Kinky states that he "will work to make sure that teachers are paid what they're worth. Period." Finally, he attacks the TAKS and TAAS tests as not substantial means of ways to make children learn the material.
  
• Kinky discusses Healthcare beginning with " Texas ranks rock-bottom in providing for the basic needs of its youngest and poorest residents. More than one fifth of Texas children have no health insurance at all." He mentions that the cutting of the children's health insurance program, and how it isn't helping the future of Texas. He believes it is reckless and shortsided, and no way to invest in the youth of Texas.
• Kinky Also discusses Renewable Energy, He wants to encourage investment in innovative technologies like biodiesel and new methods of electricity generation. He puts a case on how these are not "fringe technologies", saying how Texas is 51st in the nation in using such technology, but also states that cities like Fort Stockton, and Fort Worth already use them.
  
• For more information on Kinky Friedman, and his issues, I recommend you visit his webiste: http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/
• Carole Keeton Strayhorn
• Miss Strayhorn is also Running on the independent ticket but, her cause is still a little unknown, so far she is also claiming better public school systems.
  
• She claims that Rick Perry has divided Texas too much with political parties, and doesn't want such a thing during a Strayhorn administration.
  
• She calls herself a common sense fiscal conservative, She says she would rather pay 98 dollars a month, and insure a kid with prescription drugs rather than pay $6,700 for staying one day in the hospital because of giant property taxes. She also says she would rather educate our kids than incarcerate them.
• She is adamantly opposed to illegal immigration, and rights towards illegal immigrants, which is kind of like breaking tradition in Texas.
  
• She still has not put a set page of issues on her web site, but she did have an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC; which is where i've gotten this information, if you would like to keep up with Miss Strayhorn, I also recommend her web site, it is: http://www.carolestrayhorn.com/

Tune in when I discuss the issues of those running on the Republican ticket and their issues.

Eat it up Ren and Neto

> God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the
> archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired
> of God, "Where have you been?"
>
>
> God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction, and proudly pointed
> downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."
>
> Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?"
> "It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put Life on it. I'm
> going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of
> balance." "Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused. God
> explained, pointing to different parts of earth , "For example,
> over there I've placed a continent of white people, and over
> there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things,"
>
> God continued pointing to different countries "This one will be
> extremely hot, while this one will! be very cold and covered in
> ice."
>
> The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land
> area and said, "What's that one?"
>
>
> "Ah," said God, "That's Washington State, the most glorious place
> on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams,
> lakes, forests, hills, plains and valleys. The people from
> Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent
> and humorous, and they are going to be found traveling the
> world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high
> achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as
> diplomats, and carriers of peace."
>
> Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then proclaimed,
> "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance."
>
>
> God smiled, "There is another Washington...wait until you see
> the idiots I put there."
>
> !