not to advertise, but…

Saint Leo just got mentioned in an MSN article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22219591/

thought this was cool

apparantly, everyone with blue eyes comes from the same ancestor…..which i find to be cool.

here’s the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22934464/wid/11915773?GT1=10815

Edwards drops out

why am i not surprised that he didn’t have a successful campaign? i’m not saying that he didn’t have good ideas, it’s just that he spent so much time on helping those who are disadvantaged, instead of helping those who are disadvantaged while also talking about the other issues that are important.

plus, he has no experience. everyone that i know of who are apprehensive about obama say that his experience is a big factor in why they don’t support him, but look at edwards: he’s a 1-term senator, and he didn’t even complete that term because he ran with kerry in ‘04. i guess pretty-boy lawyers aren’t what this country wants as their leader.

on another note, the video of the day is the roommate series done by curry’s own Turo Virzi:

i guess this is all for now, i’ll talk to y’all later.

Edwards drops out

why am i not surprised that he didn’t have a successful campaign? i’m not saying that he didn’t have good ideas, it’s just that he spent so much time on helping those who are disadvantaged, instead of helping those who are disadvantaged while also talking about the other issues that are important.

plus, he has no experience. everyone that i know of who are apprehensive about obama say that his experience is a big factor in why they don’t support him, but look at edwards: he’s a 1-term senator, and he didn’t even complete that term because he ran with kerry in ‘04. i guess pretty-boy lawyers aren’t what this country wants as their leader.

on another note, the video of the day is the roommate series done by curry’s own Turo Virzi:

i guess this is all for now, i’ll talk to y’all later.

taken on a roller-coaster ride for the day

today’s been a mental roller-coaster. i was able to get everything done for my classes, but since the atm on campus went haywire, i wasn’t able to withdraw enough money to get the books that i still need. oh well, i’ll get them tomorrow. it isn’t something that’ll be the end of the world yet, since it’s still the first full week of classes. but i do need to get them tomorrow, or else it’ll turn into the end of the world.

i still have a full thing of popcorn, so again, if you want some, please come and get some. or else i’ll eventually end up eating the entire thing on my own and then wake up in a few weeks in a hospitial recovering from a heart attack (jk about the hospital trip, not so much about eating it).

out of boredom, i decided to go onto one of those online church websites, the ones who ordain you as a priest for free. and, as a joke, i signed up for it just to see if they were serious, and what would happen. well, as a result of my actions, i’m now an “ordained minister” in the universal life church; wherever that is.

i know several people, including one of my mom’s friends, who are legitamite priests within their respective faiths, so i’m not going to walk around flaunting the fact that this church, wherever it may be, made me a priest just because i went to their website and clicked on a link about becoming one.

did anyone catch the state of the union last night? my roommate’s been havin trouble getting the cable to work, so i wasn’t able to watch it. did bush manage to ask congress to let him invade iran, or is he at least realising that he’s not going to be able to do it? hopefully he didn’t propose anything too radical.

the video for the day is the video that the pet shop boys did for ‘its a sin’

i guess this is all for now, talk to y’all later.

the shortcomings of being a loner

over the past couple of days since my roommate told me that his friend wanted to swap rooms i’ve been going through alot of what i went through towards the end of last semester; loss of interest in things (radio included), irritability/apathy towards others, essentially all the basic signs of depression. i’ve been telling myself that my current roommate and i don’t get along well enough to stay as roommates, and that maybe the guy i’ll be rooming with won’t be all that bad. the only problem though, is that i have yet to find a legitamite reason to dislike my roommate. no, we’re not “best friends”, nor are we even friends; we get along well enough to live with one another, and that’s it. rather, i get along well enough with him to live with him. he could see it as something completely different, so i’m not going to put words in his mouth.

one of my biggest fears is rejection. rejection by family members, peers, classmates, professors, roommates; basically anyone that i interact with on any social level is someone who i’m afraid will reject me as a person. the impression that i’ve gotten over the past couple of days since returning here from my roommate was that he wanted the room swap to happen just as much as his friend did; not just because his friend would be moving in with him, but also because it’d mean that he wouldn’t have to deal with me. i very well could be wrong (and i hope i am), but that’s the way i percieve the whole thing.

i don’t know if and how i’ll ultimately react to the whole situation once i actually move. it could turn out for the better where his friend’s roommate is someone who i can get along with, someone who doesn’t get along with his current roommate, but who might be better off living with me. i simply don’t know, so i’ll wait that part of it out.

another one of my fears is becoming one of those socially-awkward loner people that no one ever bothers to befriend, i.e. the guy who gets his stapler stolen in Office Space. someone who people just put up with because they have to. i’ve always been more reclusive than most people, anyone who’s known me over the past 6 years would know that. and i don’t want to be one of those awkward loner people who lead dead-end lives and end up dying with nothing but their name.

one of my teachers back in high school said that i had a tendency to “reach out for attention, and then retract from attention”, and maybe that’s what i’m doing now. honestly, i have no idea, but what i do know is that i haven’t had a “seek attention” phase that’s lasted this long, nor have i had a period of time that’s been taken up by feeling down-and-out that’s lasted as long as this.

tomorrow’s my one free day before the weekend, and before my shifts at the station start for the semester, so i should probably go make an appt. at the counseling center at some point during the day.

if only i could find the courage to trust yet another psychologist.

anyone want some popcorn?

as of right now, my parents are in florida with a group of their friends for a mid-winter getaway from the new england weather. before they left though, my dad decided that it would be a good idea to send a giant tin of Dale & Thomas’ up here to school. and by giant, i mean this:

(file photo)

it is a giant 6.5 gallon popcorn tin. who has enough popcorn to sell 6 and a half gallons of the stuff at one time? yet again, the satisfaction of knowing that i’d have to walk across campus with it is something my dad would totally seize the opportunity to do. because he’s just that kind of man.

and so, if you’re here at school, and you want some popcorn, stop by my room or ask me about it if you see me on campus.

in other news, the State of the Union address is tonight at 9 (i think). with everything that’s going on right now, does bush even matter anymore? he has been a lame duck for a little over a year now, and with the final stretch of his presidency now in full gear, his relevence has diminished to little, if not nothing (and with the recent events that have occured, i guess the same could be said about his predecessor). but whatever. he’ll be gone within a year.

i guess this is all for now, the video of the day is, naturally, a clip of the Today Show with none other than Dale & Thomas popcorn on it:

i’ll talk to y’all later. and don’t forget to get some popcorn if you want some.

study questions for spring ‘08

for those of you who are in the MWF 8:30 intro to politics class in hafer 312, here are the study questions for this semester. they’re due every monday. every week i’ll put the old one in italics, so that it’s easier to know which one is due next.

1/28- Position yourself on the political landscape. In what community do you live? What form of government does your hometown or city have? What are the community’s characteristics, demographics, and political culture? Who are the elected officials? In which Congressional and state legislative districts are you located?

2/4- Should abortion rights be expanded, restricted, or limited? Be sure to balance your opinion with the opposing viewpoint.

2/11- take-home exam #1: Explain how Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel & Dimed invalidates the mythology of the American Dream.

2/20- Is affirmative action effective? Is it fair? Should it be abolished? Be sure to balance your opinion with the opposing viewpoint.

2/25- Based on viewing Eyes on the Prize, was the success of the Civil Rights Movement (1955-65) the result of African-Americans’ self-empowerment at the grass-roots level, or was it due to the charismatic leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr.?

3/3- take-home exam #2: According to Jamieson’s Everything You Think About Politics…, does negative campaign advertising work? Define the different types of negative ads, as discussed by Jamieson. Incorporate examples from the 2008 Presidential election campaign.

3/17- Research and organized interest group (e.g. Greenpeace, NRA, NARAL, etc.). What is the group’s mission, agenda, representation, membership, and strategy? (Hint: Use the Internet, library, or personal communication, i.e. visit or phone call to the organization’s office.)

3/24- Should the government ban controversial scientific research (e.g. cloning, stem stell, human embryo, and other biogenetic research) on moral or ethical grounds?

3/31- Imagine that you’ve been elected to Congress. What kind of legeslator would you be? Should you vote your conscience (trustee/oracle)? Should you vote the will of the people (delegate/mirror)? Or should you be pragmatic and do whatever works, compromise, and make deals (politico/broker)? How would you handle an issue, for example, same-sex marriage, where your opinion is opposed by a majority of your constituents?

4/7- take-home exam #3: Discuss examples of conflict between traditional culture (jihad) and modern society (mcworld), as defined by Barber, in politics as well as everyday life. List as many examples as you can find, or discuss a specific case in depth.

4/14- research a federal, state, or local government agency. What does it do and why? What is its mission and jurisdiction? How big is it, number of employees, and budget? Who runs it, and are they elected or appointed; if so, by whom? (Hint: use the Internet, library, or personal communication)

4/23- Should the Supreme Court declare capital punishment unconstitutional? Explain or why not with respect to justice and fairness. Your personal opinion is valid, whether based on religious or political principles, but your argument should acknowledge the opposing viewpoint.

4/30- Consider education as an example of public policy. Are public schools doing their job, which is toeducate? If not, how should the public education system be reformed? What ideas for reform should be tried?

5/5-12- take home final exam: is the media biased? Research an issue (e.g. gun control, Iraq War, presidential election campaign) or “hot” news story and how it is covered in one or more types of media (i.e newspapers, magazines, TV/cable news) for evidence to support your opinion. Be sure to integrate discussion of Nichols & McChesney’s book and how the authors’ perspective runs counter to the conventional wisdom about media bias.

word doesn’t work.

since my copy of microsoft word seems to not want to cooperate, what i’m planning on doing is writing all of my assignments here on blogger, and then post them on here after i’ve turned them in. the post date’ll be when i write it, so don’t be surprised if a random post shows up under another post.

and since wordpad is considerably different from word, it’ll be harder for me to get the margin requirements and all that other stuff right. plus, since blogger auto-saves everything, it works the same way (at least in that regard) as word. in addition, as long as i have an internet connection, i’ll be able to access everything on here.

just wanted to give a heads up. the video of the day is the video for Melissa Ethridge’s new single Message to Myself, because i need somethin to lift my spirits up a bit.

politics hw due 1/28/08 (incomplete)

Position yourself on the political landscape. In what community do you live? What form of government does your hometown or city have? What are the community’s characteristics, demographics, and political culture? Who are the elected officials? In which Congressional and state legislative districts are you located?

I live in New Canaan, Connecticut, a small town in the southwestern part of the state. Its government consists of a Board of Selectmen, a Town Council, and a Board of Finance. The Board of Selectmen consists of three members, one of which acts as the First Selectman. The current First Selectman is Jeb Walker (R), and was elected in 2006. The Town Council is the legislative body for the town, and consists of a 12-member board, six of which are up for reelection every odd-numbered year. Each serve a four year term. It is currently headed by Mark DeWaele, Christine Hussey, and Tom O’Day, who act as Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Secretary respectively. It is responsible for constructing the Town Code, which is a set of laws for the town. The Board of Finance is responsible for reviewing and approving the annual budget, setting the annual mill rate, while also approving town account transfers, special appropriations, administering the pension fund, as well as bond issues. The First Selectman acts as Chairman for it.

The 2000 US Census put New Canaan’s population at 19,395. Of that, there were 6,822 households, and 5,280 families living there. The racial makeup of the town is 95% white, 2% Asian, 1% African-American, 0.04% Native American, and 0.01% Pacific Islander. An additional 1% is interracial. Of the 6,822 households, 42% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69% were married couples, 22% were non-families, and 7% were headed by females with no husband present. Out of the 19,395 people in Barthel, 31% were under the age of 18, 3% were in the 18-24 age group, 25% is between the ages of 25 and 44, those aged 45-64 made up 26% of the population, and 13% of the town was 65 years old or older. For every 100 females, there were 91 males.

The median income for a household is $141,788, while families bring in $175,331, making New Canaan the highest-paid town in Connecticut. Males typically make $100,00 per year, compared to the $53,924 that females make per year. Approximately 2.5% of the town’s population were below the poverty line, 1.5% of which were families. 2.2% of those under 18 and over 65 were also below the poverty line.

The political culture of New Canaan is very conservative. Religion plays a major role in most New Canaanites’ lives, and plays a role in their social views. In addition, with how high the median income level is in the town, most residents lean towards conservative economic and governmental views where the government should play a minimal role and taxes should be lowered.

New Canaan’s elected officials work in all of the major parts in local government. The Board of Selectmen consists of Jeb Walker (R, First Selectman), Robert E. Mallozzi (R), and Sally T. Hines (D), the Town Council consists of Mark DeWaele (Chairman), Christine Hussey (Vice Chairman), Tom O’Dea (Secretary),Kenneth Campbell, Kit Devereaux, Paul Foley, Elizabeth Jones, Stephen Karl, Tucker Murphy, Johnny Potts, Richard White, and Penny Young.