Monday, February 27, 2006

Awesome!

If this doesn't give you chills and make you a little misty-eyed, then you have no soul.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Why?

Quick question - why is pot illegal? Seriously, why? I don't smoke, but I have friends and family who do. Drinking alcohol is legal, and judging by ads, it's promoted. But why is pot stigmatize? Our friends in Canada, Great Britain, and the Netherlands have decriminalized pot use and possession, shouldn't we as a society take a real look at this?

Some say it's because pot has a high abuse potential. Marijuana law is based on the Controlled Substances Act, which classifies certain drugs in various schedules based on how dangerous they are. Schedule 1 is for:

Drugs with high abuse potential and no accepted medical use in the United States.

Well, here's what the US Government says:

Although few users of marijuana develop
dependence, some do. But they appear
to be less likely to do so than users
of other drugs (including alcohol and
nicotine), and marijuana dependence
appears to be less severe than
dependence on other drugs." (National
Institute of Medicine (IOM). Marijuana
and Medicine: Assessing the Science
Base. National Academy Press. Washington
DC, 1999


So, here's the logic the DEA uses in criminalizing pot:

*Marijuana is illegal (because it has a high potential for abuse).
*People who use an illegal drug are abusing it by definition (theirs).
*Lots of people use marijuana.
*Therefore, there is a high potential for abuse and it should remain illegal.

Now, what about this part "...no accepted medical use in the United States." ? Um, haven't several states passed laws legalizing the medicinal use of pot? Just trying to figure this shit out - doesn't make much sense to me.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

What Happens When You Come In 2nd On The Apprentice?

Remember Tana from The Apprentice a couple of seasons ago? The one who lost to Kendra? Well, she's back on TV, selling, you guessed it, The Bedazzler! Check it out here.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Guess Hoos got a winning record in the ACC?

That's right - my Wahoos, who beat #13 BC tonight, 72-58, to move to 7-6 in the ACC, 14-10 overall. Pretty damn good for a rebuilding season, eh?

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Australian TV Releases New Abu Ghraib Photos

Australian TV has released new photos of tortured Iraqis at Abu Ghraib. And no, I'm not "for" the terrorists. I'm for my country doing the right thing. We Do Not Torture - that's what They do. What the Hell is happening to my country?

Warning, these photos are pretty graphic.

the SBS Dateline program plans to broadcast about 60 previously unpublished
photographs that the US Government has been fighting to keep secret in a court
case with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Although a US judge last year granted the union access to the photographs following a freedom-of-information request, the US Administration has appealed against the decision on the grounds
their release would fuel anti-American sentiment. Some of the photos are similar to those published in 2004, others are different. They include photographs of six corpses, although the circumstances of their deaths are not clear. There are also pictures of what appear to be burns and wounds from shotgun pellets.

Yeah, that's pretty damn painful


Here's a look at the damage a 28 gauge shotgun can do from 30 yards.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Oops


I've accidentally deleted my most recent posts. Long story short, we've bought our 1st item for the new place - a 50" TV.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Listen up!


Hey, all of you idiots who think it's okay to leave a mountain of snow on top of your car as you speed down the road - IT'S NOT OKAY!!!! I nearly got killed today when a huge wall of snow came flying at my windshield as I was driving home from the store today. CLEAN YOUR SHIT!

Beautiful


It's snowing here in the DC metropolitan area - has been since around 3:30 this afternoon. Few things are as peaceful and beautiful as snow falling at night, except maybe a sleeping baby. My dog Kaleb absolutely loves the snow - we'll be spending the better part of Sunday playing in it.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Just a reminder

2267 American fatalities to date. Mission accomplished?

What up, Sri Lanka?

Sara and Leo, just wanted to send a shout out your way! Sitting here on a gray, dreary day here in DC. They're calling for up to 10 inches of snow - which means it'll probably warm up to 70! Anyway, I've got my Sirius satellite radio playing and guess what song just came on? "This Slide" by NickelCreek, so I had to say "waddup" to my favorite ex-pats! Miss you guys!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Nike finally gets it


When you think of soccer here in the States, you probably think of middle class kids, driven to games by their parents in minivans or Volvo wagons. And the soccer haters in the sports press harp on this all of the time - either it's elitist or it's too foreign. Meanwhile, in every other country, soccer (football) is the sport of the working class - holding the same niche that hoops does here. Nike finally seems to have realized this, and their new ad campaign for US Soccer features baller Clint Dempsey of the New England Revolution back home in Houston, with Deuce, XO and Da Beatzsmith. Check it out here. If we're ever going to win the World Cup, we need to tap into our urban youth - black, brown and white.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

More on the Cartoons

The funny thing about the cartoons (and by funny, I don't mean ha ha), is that in the hyped up reaction in many parts of the world, the cartoons have become, in a way, true.

The Flash!

Your results:
You are The Flash
The Flash
75%
Spider-Man
65%
Superman
60%
Robin
60%
Green Lantern
55%
Hulk
50%
Iron Man
45%
Supergirl
40%
Wonder Woman
40%
Catwoman
30%
Batman
15%
Fast, athletic and flirtatious.
Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Monday, February 06, 2006

House Hunting, Part II

Well, the FW and I went out on Saturday with our realtor and looked at 3 places, and totally fell in love with one of them. We put together a bid, submitted it today, and it was accepted! We are now homeowners. Totally cool! I feel so grown-up now. Details to follow.

Why the outrage now?


By now, everyone's seen the images of angry Muslims burning Danish embassies, all because of a cartoon they feel is disrespectful to Islam. But did you know the cartoons were published way back in September, 2005? Why are people in the Islamic world now outraged? What took so long for them to be pissed off? Read this interesting piece from the a Daily Kos diarist for an explanation.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

House Hunting

Well, the FW and I finally started "The Great House Hunt". We met with our mortgage banker last Friday night to find out how much money we can get. Turns out we can get quite a bit - kinda scary. Our next step was to get a realtor - the bank sent us a list of real estate agents that they work with and we picked one last night. She's great, she called us right away and already has several homes she wants us to look at on Saturday. The mortgage dude is faxing me a good faith estimate (pre-approval letter), so if we see something we really, really like, we're going to go ahead and get it!

We live in Alexandria, just across the river from DC (my commute is only 25 minutes or so - it's 6 miles from our front door to my office), so housing costs are absolutely ridiculous, unless you live in Manhattan or San Francisco. Hard to tell my relatives that yes, we may end up spending 1/2 a million or more on a home. That just looks and sounds obscene, doesn't it?

State of The Union

I'm not going to repeat what a million other blogs are saying about W's speech last night. Just wanted to add this, he's the President of the entire country, not just the GOP. But you'd never know it listening to him.

Am I a Snob?

My high school 20 year reunion is coming up this summer. Yep, I'm officially old now.

First of all, kudos to all involved in planning our 20 year reunion. I know it can't be easy. That being said, I've just looked at the website for the company assisting in the planning, www.greatreunions.com and see that the cost is going to be $89 a person. Not a big deal, except that it's being held at the VFW Hall. I noticed that Falls Church High is having their reunion, for the same price, at a Marriott, and Lake Braddock is having there's for less at the Hilton in Arlington.

A few months ago, some friends and I e-mailed our former classmates in charge of the reunion, asking them why they decided to hold it at the Dale City VFW Hall. We were told it was to keep the cost down. Um, that doesn't seem to be true. Am I a snob for wanting my 20th reunion held someplace nice and with a little class?