That said, as long as they remain peaceful, everyone has the right to practice their religion in whatever way they deem appropriate – particularly as it applies to dress. The Amish wear neutral colors and large belt buckles. Pentecostals cover the hair of their women and wear long dresses. Monks wear robes in bright oranges and brown. Mormons wear their modesty undergarments. Muslim women wear veils.

That is, until France’s lower house “overwhelmingly” passed a ban on Muslim veils. Not all veils, mind you – just Muslim veils. Will cancer patients be prohibited from wearing masks? No. Will a deformed individual be forced to go out unshielded from prying eye? No. Will Halloween masks be banned? No. Will Catholics be banned from wearing crosses? Nope. Wiccans from wearing robes? No.

They claim it is to protect the women. That the veils are inconsistent with France’s views on equality. I argue it is a choice to wear that veil. This is France we speak of, not Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. These women chose to practice their faith, they chose to wear the veil. And France has all but taken that choice away from them. Where is the equality now? Where is the freedom of religion?

I am outraged that this anti-Islamic law – and that is what is truly is, xenophobia at its best – has been passed in a country that claims to be progressive! How progressive can you be when you are taking away the rights of the people? The only hope that remains is for France’s Constitutional watchdog to do the right thing and deem this law unconstitutional – as it does seem to violate France’s freedom of religion sections.

For shame, France. I never cared for you but now at least I can justify this bitter dislike.

Then, there was but only because we were not holding it right.

Now, there is but not really – the signal bars incorrectly displayed a signal when there wasn’t one (read: blame AT&T)

Come fucking on. Exactly how dumb do you think we are, Jobs? Sure, we keep buying your iPods even when we already have iPhones or could get the exact same (or better) device for 1/2 the price and not have to download your software and bloatware (read: who the fuck uses Quicktime?!). And yeah, we signed up for contracts with AT&T knowing full well their service was craptastic to begin with and would only get worse now just so that we could get your “innovative” phone.

And yeah, nearly a million people bought a phone that – on the release date – had already been eclipsed in innovation and technology by HTC (HTC beat you, really Apple!?)

But we are not so dumb as to believe that you didn’t fuck it up, Jobs. The iPhone 4 sucks. In an effort to squeeze a better signal out of a crappy network, you made it impossible to hold the phone normally (who holds the phone by the top?). You made an already bad problem worse.

And now, you just insult us.

I do not miss my iPhone – at all.

To me, and the majority of the 119 students who attended SJ, she was so much more than a college. She was our home, our life and our family. Hidden away on that island in Alaska, cut off from roads, and occassionally even from the internet, we learned to depend on eachother. Often in the winter we would go two or three weeks without cable, internet and barely a phone signal. We adapted. We relied on our fellow students and faculty to lend support when needed.

When one of the students experienced a death in the family and couldn’t afford to fly home, many of us pitched in to help. When couples broke up, we flocked to the injured party to lend support.

In 2007, the school closed after years of struggling financially and poor leadership. It was devestating. We were given no notice. She was closed over summer break and faculty was fired with zero notice (same day). In a matter of minutes, our close knit family had been thrown apart – tossed across the country.

Now, after three years (nearly to the day), and still not reopening, the Board has fired the man I blame for my home being taken away. Dr. David Dobler (officially Rev. Dr. David Dobler, but he can kiss my ass if he thinks he deserves that title). The man at the helm who promised us everything only to take it all away.

SJ will never reopen. Perhaps there will be another institution on her beautiful grounds one day, but SJ is gone forever. I can accept that. I don’t want to, but I can. But I wont forgive him for what he did. I hope, with this little piece, I can keep alive the knowledge that he brought down that school, that family, without a second thought. And for three years, he did nothing to repair the damage – and now it never can be fixed.

And so, let this be my final farewell to a place that was so much more than a college to me. SJ was my home, Sitka is where my heart truly belongs.

The People. You, your neighbor, the kid down the road, me – we were supposed to control Congress. Congress answered to us! We funded their campaign and if they neglected to do our will, we removed them. A Congressional position was not a career – it was a public service one would hold for a short while before returning to the private sector. What has happened?

Corporations, now more than ever, run elections. Politicians are bought and paid for by special interests. No longer does it matter what the people want – the people are merely pandered to, told what we want to hear. We argue amongst ourselves – red state vs. blue state, right vs. left. When will we open our eyes and realize we have been scammed?

Our tax dollars, our children’s tax dollars, paid for banks to steal our life savings. Our politicians passed laws allowing BP to have oil rigs in our waters, flagged in another country for the sole purpose of avoiding our environmental protocols – and now look at what has happened. Health care reform law is a toothless tiger because Big Insurance doesn’t want to pay out. Consumer finance reform is a weak beast because banks threatened to stop lending. Net neutrality wont exist because communication companies don’t want to compete. But oh no! Online gambling can get your bank account frozen! And GOD FORBID you download a song you didn’t buy – that could land you in jail!

What have we allowed to happen? Under our watch, Big Business has taken over the government. Our “leaders” have become dependent on the funds Big Business provides – why would they change? And so, we must force change. Our great Founders saw that this may happen and they provided us with an option. In our Constitution exists the right to call a Constitutional Convention – a chance for the People, through their State Legislators, to propose Amendments that force their government to change. It is time we do this. We must force business out of politics. We must return the power to the People. We must reform how elections are brought.

If we do not, we must accept the consequences and understand that the future America might have had, will be forever tarnished by the will of Big Business.

In the English language, there exists many words to describe frustration. Dissapointment, annoyance, bummer, chagrin, disgruntlement,resentment, unfulfillment and (my favorite) vexation. Not one of these describes how I feel when I think of the fact that for fifty four days and nights, our oceans have been being raped by BP’s negligence.

Anger does not describe this feeling. Nor does acrimony, pique, outrage or fury.

Hatred. Bitter, cold hatred is what I feel. I despise them. I despise what they are doing and what they are not doing. I despise them so much, in fact, I have moved my account from JP Morgan Chase (who owns 30% of the public stock of BP). I have refrained from buying gas at any station affiliated with BP (thus costing a whopping $0.32 more per gallon by not filling up at AMPM).

After 54 days, BP has done practically nothing to stop the spewing of oil into our Gulf waters. They have, however, spent $50 million on a PR campaign to make me think they give a damn. Do you know what would make me think BP gave a damn? Let’s see, shall we?

If, perhaps, they had not accounted for a whopping 97% of “flagrant” safety violations over the last three years. Holy shit! 97%? That is 862 violations compared to Sunco (number 2!) with 127. Oh yea, Tony, I am sure this wasn’t your spill.

If, perhaps, Tony Hayward had not said “I’d like my life back” when discussing why he wished the oil spill crisis would end. Would you, Tony? Because I bet the dolphins, whales, fish, birds, turtles and (lest we forget) workers would like their lives back as well. But, see, they are innocent in all of this – you are not.

Or if Hayward had not asked “what the hell did we do to deserve this?” Okay, perhaps he did not know of their 862 safety violations. Let’s be sure to remind him.

Or if BP was not blocking media access. What are you hiding, folks? A massive diaster, the likes of which the world has never seen?

It will take years, if not decades, to simply clean up the mess that BP has made. Perhaps it will never be better. There are species down there that are barely back from near extinction. We may well lose them forever.

This, yes THIS, is why I was against deep water drilling. This, exactly here. The technology does not exist to do it safely. I hate BP for lobbying our government to allow this bullshit. I hate our government for allowing this bullshit and I hate the fact that in a year people will no longer be talking about BP and how they decimated our coastline.

But for now, I can still say it: Fuck you, Tony Hayward. Fuck you, BP. Fuck you, JP Morgan Chase. Everyone else might, but I wont forget what you have done, what you have allowed. What you have destroyed.

According to the Arizona Guardian

Gov. Jan Brewer said in a recent interview that her father died fighting Nazi Germany. In fact, the death of Wilford Drinkwine came 10 years after World War II had ended. During the war, Drinkwine worked as a civilian supervisor for a naval munitions depot in Hawthorne, Nev. He died of lung disease in 1955 in California.

Originally, Brewer had told the Arizona Republic that

The Nazi comments… they are awful. Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that… and then to have them call me Hitler’s daughter. It hurts. It’s ugliness beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.

Is it, Brewer? Is it truly ugliness beyond anything you have ever experienced? Is it uglier than claiming your father died at the hand of Nazis, when in fact he died by his own hand (lung cancer caused by smoking) ten full years after WWII ended?

How dare you disrespect those who have fought, and died, for our freedoms in such a manner? To claim your father died a hero’s death is disgusting. He fought, and fought bravely – but he came home. Do not belittle those who never came home, only to deflect criticism away from  you and the fascist, racist law you signed.

But to make it worse, Arizona Governor’s spokesman Paul Senseman blatantly lies when responding to criticism that the Governor “embellished” her tale, stating that

wasn’t embellishing the story at all. Brewer’s father ultimately passed away after inhaling toxic fumes while working at an ammunition factory during World War II. You’re reading something into this that isn’t there

Senseman, Brewer stated her father died “fighting the Nazis” not as a result of “fighting the Nazis.” There is a difference. His death came a full ten years late and at the hand of lung cancer. He was a smoker. Most likely, that heavily contributed to his death.

Stolen valor is a crime, as should be borrowed stolen valor in the name of deflecting criticism. For shame, Brewer. Your father would be ashamed of your actions.

That is the number of American men and women who have died since October 7, 2001. That is about one person every 13 hours.

20.2

That is the number, per 100,000 service men, who commit suicide in an active war zone (or shortly after leaving) every year. It is an unspeakable tragedy, and one no one seems to want to address.

1,309,492

That is the total number of American deaths in The Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Phillipine-American War, War of 1812 and Mexican American War.

To all of those who have made that ultimate sacrifice so that we can sleep peacefully at night, without fear of an invading army, I thank you. It is your sacrifice that enables me to sit, anonymously, behind my computer and speak my most honest thoughts without fear of retribution or punishment from a tyrant. To those who continue fighting today, I pray for your safety and I can only hope these wretched wars end and you can come home soon, and safe. You are loved, you are blessed. You are remembered.

See, I wonder if you know the level of assinity that you have stooped to lately. You lie. You fake photographs. You alter video to make the President appear awkward.

You lie nearly everyday. You ask questions that have no right answer such as, “is the President racist, or does he just hate American?” You know that has no good answer – and you know it is not the only two options. But you ask it with a straight face.

You fake photographs of your events, and other events, to make it appear as if more (or less) people showed up than actually did. Those 9/12 project photos were particularly terrible. Come, on! At least pick photos that are for the right season/year. There were buildings missing in your photographs, Fox! If you are going to attempt to lie to the nation, have the balls to do it right!

But the most recent, and the one I find particularly appalling, was the video of President Obama addressing WestPoint in regards to ending the Iraq War. Below, see the video you put out there and then the official video shown by every other news company. Notice a difference? Yours lacks applause.

Now, why? I can tell you why you did it. The President looks very awkward in your video. It appears the cadets have no respect for him. Or his plan. Now, you may say you used a direct feed and therefore it did not pick up the applause. Possible. Likely. But why choose to air that clip? Why those two minutes out of his 30 minute speech? To make him look bad. You know it, I know it, the entire thinking world knows it.

You know what upsets me the most? You know what you are doing. You know you are hypocrites. You must. I can show you a direct video of you stating one thing 2 months ago, and then a video of you stating the complete opposite 2 days ago and you will say it is not the same. Or it was edited poorly. Or different situation. Whatever. It is hypocritical and you know it. You thrive on it. And worse! The simple minded folks who watch you believe it. You are taking advantage of these people and using them to further your agenda.

That is all I wanted to say, Faux. Just letting you know that I know what you are doing, and I know you know what you are doing.

It started March 26 when the South Korean Cheonan warship was sunk. South Korea blamed North Korea and hurt the short little psycho’s feelings. Then, North Korea decided to retaliate and expel all South Koreans from a jointly held border factory park. So South Korea started denying North Korean cargo ships to pass through South Korean waters. So North Korea said South Korea cannot fly through North Korean airspace. So South Korea started blaring border-level psychological warfare propaganda. So North Korea started blaring border-level psychological propaganda. So South Korea stopped all trade. So North Korea mobilized their 1.2 million member military and told them to prepare for war.

All over some hurt feelings because the South said the North sunk a ship that killed 46 people. How the hell many people do you think are going to die when the North starts shooting the rockets we know they have? And have you thought about us, South Korea? Because we have some 30,000 troops there to “keep the peace” and you know damn well they would be involved if you two childish fucks cannot keep your heads out of you asses.

It has been 57 years since the cease fire was called. FIFTY-SEVEN YEARS. Give it a damn break. Live in your own countries and leave eachother the fuck alone! I get it, you really really hate eachother. I don’t care. South Korea, you cannot rely on the North to be sane here. You have to placate that little crazy man. You know why? Because it is highly likely that he has nukes and I do not think he will show restraint. Good God, he is ready to go to war over hurt feelings! And North? Come on, it doesn’t matter that the whole world thinks you sunk that ship in some weird display of power. You have managed to keep the world at bay for 57 years. That counts for something!

But in the end, I just hope they don’t go to war. The US cannot afford another war. The world cannot afford for Kim Jong Il to have an excuse to use his weapons.

1. I don’t like Delta. It isn’t that I really dislike them (well…that is not so true, now) – I just don’t particularly like them.

2. I am, admittedly, a little attached to my dog. I name my site after him, after all.

Now that those two facts are out in the open, let me share some outrage with you. Delta lost someone’s dog. Josiah was visiting Mexico when he saved a stray dog. He got the dog vaccinated, washed and vet checked. He bought carriers and paid the fee to bring Paco, his new pup, back to Canada with him. When Josiah arrived, Paco was nowhere to be found. Delta assured Josiah that Paco would be on the next flight and delivered to Josiah’s house.

Now, let’s stop there for one moment. Delta, let’s chat, hmm? If I were Josiah and you lost Ludo, you better fucking believe you would not be delivering my dog to my house. Hell no. You would be delivering me to my dog wherever the hell he was and then you would be delivering my dog and me – in the cabin of the plane – back to my house. You already lost my dog once, you think I’ll give you the chance to do it again?

It seems Josiah is more lenient. But, the next day when Paco did not arrive – he called Delta. Delta says Paco “escaped” and no one knows where he is. They offered Josiah “future travel” credits for $200.

Fuck you, Delta. Paco is not a piece of luggage. He is a living, breathing creature that is somewhere out there and YOU need to find him. You fucking think Josiah is ever flying with you again? No. You need to refund the cost of getting Paco to Canada – since you clearly opted not to do that – and you need to find that God damn dog!

Josiah, I hope you get Paco back. You did a wonderful thing by trying to rescue him and I know it must be heartbreaking to have him lost. Paco, I hope wherever you are that you are ok, well fed and happy little guy. Delta, I hope you go bankrupt and never recover.