:: The Bitch Girls ::

:: Sunday, April 06, 2003 ::

The Bitches Are Moving On In Life
Come visit us at our new digs! We now live at www.thebitchgirls.us. We're still re-decorating the place, but we hope you'll still enjoy your visit.

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:: Bitter 10:13 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Public School Problems There are reasons that a) I'd like to leave New England, and b) I'm not opposed towards pushing more private options in education. Anyway, I'm not only a product of public schools, but I work in one right now. While I do public relations related work for the school, I have to handle a lot of information on No Child Left Behind. I put together newsletters from the main office that covers all sorts of issues from NCLB to community service projects for the schools. I'm so happy the College "donated" the money for the position because I love it. (And I don't feel bad about taking taxpayer money!) I will admit that a big benefit is the fact that the district is small. People actually care. Anyway, not on to my point. I just found this story in the Boston Globe about the new provisions of NCLB that school districts are quickly trying to meet.

One of the newest pieces of information - and the most controversial - is the evaluation of teacher credentials as the law seeks to hold adults accountable for student achievement. In addition to learning how many of their schools' teachers are licensed, parents also will discover what portion of core classes - such as English, math, science, foreign language and history - are taught by teachers who are ''highly qualified,'' or knowledgeable in the subject area they teach.
School districts also must tell parents that they can request information about teacher qualifications while notifying parents if their child has been taught for at least four weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified. The reports are to be made available to parents in a variety of ways, including being sent home with students or being posted on websites.
The move to measure teacher qualifications and report them to parents has rankled some in the classroom, who insist there's much more to being a good teacher than simply knowing your subject. The ability to communicate a lesson, for example, is not reflected on the report cards.

I can understand concern that some parents might interpret grades a little differently than they are intended. (For example, reading anything less than an 'A' as not good. I don't know about y'all, but I know many parents out there consider 'A' to be the standard, when it is supposed to be for excellent work.) But the tone of the article seems to me to have a problem with putting the information out to the public. The taxpayers are the people that are picking up the tab. I think they have every right to have this information readily available.

As for the criticisms that it's hard to express the actual ability to teach, as opposed to just what people know, in the form of a grade, I agree with those concerns. However, I don't think this problem applies below middle school. Beginning at the middle school level, what you know means just as much as your ability to teach it. If you have a great repoire with students, it won't change the fact that you might not know anything to teach them. Considering how competitive colleges have become over the last few years, it is vital that we have teachers who actually know content. Call me crazy, but I don't think it is too much to ask.

Now, what does this have to do with leaving New England? Most people here bitch about everything that requires anyone to hold any kind of responsibility. What does it have to do with private schools? There are lots of flaws in public schools and the fact that they are up in arms over this just proves that there are probably many more we will find out in the process of getting these report cards out.

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:: Bitter 5:57 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Public School Education Indoctrination For the record, I'm not saying that merely showing the film is indoctrination. I just wanted to get that out of the way.

The principal of Lynn English High School stopped a teacher from showing the Oscar-winning documentary ''Bowling for Columbine,'' saying it was inappropriate because it contains antiwar messages. English teacher Jeremy McKeen showed 17- and 18-year-old students the movie, which was directed and produced by Michael Moore and released well before the war in Iraq began. The movie has a strong antigun and antiviolence theme. While accepting this year's Oscar for Best Documentary, Moore expressed his disdain for President Bush and the war with Iraq. Principal Andrew Fila said the documentary sent the wrong message while troops are fighting overseas. English department head Jane Balesta said McKeen began showing the movie to open up dialogue among his students.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the teacher's idea of "dialogue" doesn't include views differing than Michael Moore's rhetoric.

Oh yeah, Spooky and I debated with a reader the other day. I'd like to point out to him that even the Boston Globe thinks BFC has anti-gun messages. Just a point, dear reader...

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:: Bitter 5:17 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Too Late For April Fool's Day This afternoon when I finally got around to getting in touch with the real world, I saw a post over at Instapundit that caught my attention. I told Spooky about it on our way out to dinner. She thought it was an April Fool's Day joke. When I mentioned it was from the NYTimes, she laughed and pointed out that there's not always much of a difference.

AMHERST, Mass., April 4 - It is not easy being an old lefty on campus in this war.
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Here at Amherst College, many students were vocally annoyed this semester when 40 professors paraded into the dining hall with antiwar signs. One student confronted a protesting professor and shoved him.
Some students here accuse professors of behaving inappropriately, of not knowing their place.
"It seems the professors are more vehement than the students," Jack Morgan, a sophomore, said. "There comes a point when you wonder are you fostering a discussion or are you promoting an opinion you want students to embrace or even parrot?"

Coming from the point of view of a student at a mostly residential liberal arts college, much like Amherst, I don't think I'd be the only one put off by my professors marching into my dorm to protest. There are public spaces on the campus for it. Hell, most have no issue with using their classroom as their personal soapbox. I obviously wasn't there for this protest, but I would venture to say that more students were put off by the invasion of personal space by their professors. I don't go marching with pro-gun signs through the dining rooms of their homes.

Across the country, the war is disclosing role reversals, between professors shaped by Vietnam protests and a more conservative student body traumatized by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Prowar groups have sprung up at Brandeis and Yale and on other campuses. One group at Columbia, where last week an antiwar professor rhetorically called for "a million Mogadishus," is campaigning for the return of R.O.T.C. to Morningside Heights.

Let's see if I understand this correctly. It's "not easy being an old lefty on campus" because students that don’t lean the same way as you politically decided to start clubs. I also think it is interesting that they flat out say the student body is more conservative because a few conservatives got active on a few campuses. I can vouch for conservative student groups, there aren't many that are large here in New England.

Even in antiwar bastions like Cambridge, Berkeley and Madison, the protests have been more town than gown. At Berkeley, where Vietnam protesters shouted, "Shut it down!" under clouds of tear gas, Sproul Plaza these days features mostly solo operators who hand out black armbands. The shutdown was in San Francisco, and the crowd was grayer.
All this dismays many professors.

People aren't doing exactly what we want them to. They might even disagree with us. Oh, the humanity! I never imagined telling one of my professors to get over himself to his face, but if one were to say something like this then it would probably be said with more colorful language than I typically use here.

"We used to like to offend people," Martha Saxton, a professor of women's studies at Amherst, said as she discussed the faculty protest with students this week. "We loved being bad, in the sense that we were making a statement. Why is there no joy now?"

Why don't you students like to get yourselves arrested? Why don't you like to risk your personal safety in an unruly mob? What I find more amusing is the fact that it's implied in her comments that it's okay to offend conservatives. People like her made it against the rules for me to offend liberals (her). I would face punishment that could include being kicked out of school for offending her. Don't think I'm lying, there's a history on my campus of bringing up students on charges of “threatening the community dialogue” for being openly conservative. It may be a million times better now, but this was within the last decade.

Certainly not all students are pro-war or all faculty anti. But "there's a much higher percentage of liberal professors than there are liberal students," said Ben Falby, the student who organized the protest at Amherst only to find that it had more professors than students.
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"It's a lonely place to be an antiwar protester on the Amherst campus," said Beatriz Wallace, a junior. In the dining hall, students have set out baskets of ribbons, some yellow, some red, white and blue.

Call the President. It's a national emergency. Hell has frozen over. How dare the student body have the audacity to hold their own opinions? I tell you, kids these days are just getting out of hand with their crazy independent thinking.

Prowar students say they feel just as alienated. "The faculty, and events, has a chilling effect on discussions for the prowar side," said David Chen, a sophomore.

Let's go back to that comment I made earlier about professors using their classrooms as their personal soapboxes. Let's reference Spooky's post from the other day about the anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-Yale, anti-our college, anti-woman professor that handed her midterm back with grades in pencil with the warning that the students better behave because pencil marks can be erased. I can't imagine why pro-war students would feel uncomfortable.

Still, he (Amherst Prof. Austin Sarat) and others expressed wistfulness for days gone by.
"In Madison, teach-ins were as common as bratwurst," he said. "There was a certain nobility in being gassed. Now you don't get gassed. You walk into a dining hall and hand out an informational pamphlet."

A nobility in being gassed? Good lord, what drugs were they taking back then? What happened to rational and respectful debate? Am I crazy for looking for an intelligent discussion by reasonable people on an issue? I must be very out of touch with society for thinking such crazy thoughts.

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:: Bitter 12:29 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Another Thing To Piss Me Off I was so against it when it happened in 2000, so it better not happen in 2004.

John Edwards' presidential aspirations are competing with the equally pressing task of shoring up his political support back home.
The Democratic senator from North Carolina has not ruled out running for a second term in 2004 if his White House bid falters.

You either have the balls to make the run, or you don't. In my own reality you should make up your mind and not run for multiple offices hoping that you might possibly get one.

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:: Bitter 4:46 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Some Not So Good News I've been out of touch with any kind of news or blogs today, so forgive me if I'm late to this, but I'm pissed off. One of my friends called me this morning to chat for a couple hours about our plans to celebrate her birthday next weekend. She had CNN on and said that they were holding up Jessica Lynch's dogtags. I flipped on the television and just missed it. I saw them swinging some dogtags in front of the camera for just a split second. I couldn't read them, but if my friend was right then I'm pissed off. What the hell would CNN be doing with them?

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:: Bitter 4:35 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Good News At least the crazy vegan parents that I blogged about a while ago were found guilty yesterday afternoon.

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:: Bitter 4:31 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Godspeed Someone very special to me is leaving for Kuwait this morning. I ask that you keep him and me in your thoughts and/or prayers.

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:: Anonymous 7:57 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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As Spooky And I Head Out We noticed that a floormate is blasting Barbara Streisand on a Friday night. That is sad.

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:: Bitter 10:44 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I Am Saved By some miracle of God, the proctor could not locate the exam for my class, and my professor is out of town and can't be reached. I swear my prayers have been answered.

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:: Anonymous 7:37 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Posting Might Be Light I'm working on a personal project. I had a lot of work to do at work this morning. I need to take my car into the garage later today. Oh yeah, and my wings from last night weren't any better this morning for breakfast. And just to note, girly drinks and buffalo wings don't mix well. I'm not sure what I was thinking.

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:: Bitter 12:49 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Rumors The Bitch Girls might be growing up and moving on in life. I'll let you know more when I know more.

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:: Bitter 4:46 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Blah I am not a fan of children. They make me nervous and uncomfortable. There have been 2 in one of my offices today. The second I hear them, I just tense up. Strangely enough, my other job is for a local school district. Fortunately, I don't have to deal with kids in that position, except when I'm going to photograph them. They are actually kinda cute then.

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:: Bitter 3:42 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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One Of His Greatest I have to say, Juan Gato has outdone himself. I don't think he's ever written anything better than this post.

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:: Bitter 3:40 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Women In Combat Reader Mark Jankus emailed us today with a request for our opinions on women in combat in light of the POW videos and rescue. Most of us have at least a little something to say:

Baby: I can't believe that she is only 19. I'm 19. I am the same age as her and yet she seems so much older because of this life experience. Craziness. While I personally would be scared shitless to have to go to war, I admire anyone, men or women, who do this service to us and should (forbid it!) the draft be reinstated in my drafting years and women were made a part of it and I was called, I would go and not skirt around it.
As for women being in a situation where they can be captured by Saddam's or any other enemy regime, if it is their duty to be there, then so be it. I don't want to see a young man of 19 become a POW any more than I do a young woman of 19. I would say that anyone of that age will be equally terrified and yet equally trained by the Army on how to handle the situation, but on a second thought, I think anyone of any age would be fearful in a situation like that, but trained to "handle it" as best they could. Being a POW is a very real possibility but one I imagine many don't think about when they join up. Besides all this, if we're worried about women being taken hostage by Saddam's "thugs" (hehe. had to throw that one in there), can we also worry about women being abducted every day here. I mean, it's not every day that young American women are taken up by Saddam's folks and put in a POW situation, but it is everyday that young American women are abducted or raped or killed or something... just a little something I wanted to throw out there. Why don't we be "emotionally against" that, eh?
As a final thought, Mark asked us as women what we thought about the Jessica Lynch situation and said that he felt emotionally against it. After reading the story on CNN about the rescue, I would ask that as men, do you think that you would feel differently about rescuing a young female POW than a young male POW? Is there some sort of inherent chivalry involved here? (Not that chivalry is a bad thing) This whole thing is like the ultimate rescuing the princess from the tower mission except that the princess isn't dainty and could probably kick serious ass if her legs weren't broken... And that thought that men would act differently seeing a woman in said situation or in another situation of danger is an argument that I have heard to say that women should not be on the front lines because it would effect the performance of the male soldiers. Anyway, just some food for thought and I would appreciate some male answers.

Bitter: Yesterday Instapundit linked to Phil Carter's thoughts on women's roles in the armed forces.

America's daughters fight hard and they fight well. It's disingenuous and wrong to say that women like SPC Johnson and PFC Lynch don't belong at the front lines. They've earned the right to be there, and so far in our war, they've proven their ability to stay here.

As a woman about the same age as Pfc. Lynch, it's certainly something interesting to think about. I'm certainly proud of all those that serve in the military, women included. (Plus, aren't these chicks hot?) It's hard for me to say that they shouldn't be there.
The first time I thought about this issue for more than 2 minutes was a couple of years ago when one of my floormates was signing up to serve. She told me that she always wanted to be a Ranger. She's one tough cookie, so I have no doubt that she'd succeed. Except she has a vagina. She can't even try to succeed because of her gender, something she has no control over. I can't say that the idea of that kind of discrimination sits well with me. I have a few feminist tendencies, I will admit. I will also say that there are a few arguments against women serving that hit home with me. I don't buy the arguments that we'll be a distraction, nor do I believe that we are physically incapable. Hell, even the NYTimes op-ed from March 24 that got some people up in arms over the issue of women in combat roles said that with the sophisticated machinery and weaponry of today, women can hold their own against men bigger than them.
I do understand the rape problem. It's something that is one of the first things likely to be done to a female POW. However, it happens everyday here. Does that justify women being deliberately put in positions by our government that make it more likely to happen? It's hard for me to say that I support it when I know that the regimes we're going to fight in the future will torture men and women they capture. I can't imagine too many world situations now that will have us going against a regime that will agree treat anyone decently. I mean it's not like we haven't learned to put up with political bullshit. (We haven't bombed France yet.) Our enemies from now on (at least I believe this to be true for my lifetime) will be terrorists or countries that aid them. Right now these enemies just happen to hate women and all the freedoms they enjoy in our country. They have a history of raping the wives and daughters of their own citizens. What the hell will they do to ours? Rape isn't a one-time thing. It's not like a gunshot wound that can heal relatively quickly with proper medical care. It's a wound that lasts a lifetime. I know far too many rape survivors for me to take it lightly.
It's obviously not an easy issue. Because our military is voluntary, in the end, I think women should be able to volunteer for these kinds of risky positions. If a draft that included women were to ever occur, I might feel differently about it. I will still be concerned about anyone, male or female, that has been captured. It will just be a little harder for me to think about the women that have been in a POW situation.

On a side note, there was one thing about that NYTimes article that caught my attention. If women are able to take on men equally with the weapons available to them today, shouldn't these feminists then celebrate women using firearms as a tool of self-defense in the real world? Yay, guns! :)

Look for additions to this post from Spooky and possibly other Bitches later today.

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:: Anonymous 1:34 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Yup, It's That Time Again, Part II This is a depressing post. I'm scared of the real world!!

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:: Bitter 12:11 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Yup, It's That Time Again It's the time to go check out Jeff's gun stuff. :)

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:: Bitter 12:07 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Being A Good Blogger I know we aren't always the best about being responsive to readers. (There's still some emails that have just been sitting in the inbox that no one has claimed yet. Maybe someday we'll get around to replying to them. I hope. I hope you don't hate us if you are one of those people. We get distracted easily.) Anyway, even though I shouldn't cast a stone, I will go ahead and say that Pejman should be more responsive to his readers. You have to read the comments to understand.

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:: Bitter 11:58 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Gotta Read More Carefully For a moment, I thought Glenn was directing readers to a post on where to find men. I guess it's that whole "been going to a women's college since I was 18" thing catching up with me. But I cried when I clicked the link. Now you should go read it.

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:: Bitter 11:38 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Good Lord How spoiled do you have to be?

Actor Jim Carrey's ex-wife wants a judge to award her more child support, saying that their daughter must get by on $10,000 a month and cannot afford her own bodyguards, personal trainer or Pilates equipment, according to court papers obtained by an investigative Web site on Wednesday.

Wow. Bitchy Mom and I were expected to deal with $200 a month, and we never actually saw any of that very often. I often think I'm spoiled, but maybe I'm not as bad as I think.

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:: Bitter 11:34 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Hmmm Sometimes there's news that just makes you go "hmmm." Now I expect to see some improvements for women come out of this news.

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:: Bitter 11:31 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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The F*cking Stupid Dixie Chicks So Bitchy Mom tipped me off to a story on Inside Edition. Natalie Maines did an interview with an Australian television station where she said that she’s more proud that she used her First Amendment rights the more she hears about it. She said that she was shocked that she “wasn’t allowed” to speak out.

What the hell? She was allowed, and people were allowed to disagree. If you want to have more Dixie Chicks related fun, check out this wonderfully nice and polite post by Rachel Lucas.

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:: Bitter 7:11 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Women In Combat We're putting together a group post on women in combat situations. Look for it later.

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:: Bitter 1:53 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Who Woulda Thought I'm so shocked to hear that Cuba may not be as cool a place as our buddy Fidel makes it out to be. People keep trying to leave. I just can't imagine why!

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:: Bitter 12:51 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Grr Well I planned on doing a lot of blogging tonight to make up for the shortage due to Blogger's f*ckups. Now I just got word that our internet connection will be down starting in 5 minutes. Have fun everyone!

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:: Bitter 11:56 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Not That Any Of You Can See This, but the official response from Blogger to my inquiry as to why our blog has been gone for about 20 hours is:

This problem appears to be a result of a hardware failure. We are taking steps to correct the problem. In the meantime, do not make changes to your template! Selecting a new template will (as it always has) erase any changes you had made to your previous one.
I can assure you that your blog was not hacked and the template you had before the trouble started is recoverable if you do not select a new template and overwrite your old one.

Stupid Blogger. Wasn't the Google buyout supposed to make things better??

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:: Bitter 4:21 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I Want To Join! I'll be looking forward to this. Can I have a slave girl? Better yet, can I make the girls I go to college with my slave girls?

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:: Bitter 12:13 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Vermont Themes I just thought I'd link to another Vermont post today because a) I know many people who agree with the sentiment, and b) it's obviously a day to talk about Vermont.

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:: Bitter 1:27 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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My Favorite Part Of Attending Expensive Elite East Coast College: When the women you attend classes with are f*cking stupid. Everybody makes jokes that public school kids need a war to find a country on the map, but private school kids aren't always better. Today in class, while the professor was drawing a map of the US, he started to draw Missouri when a girl from New England chimed in to let him know that Missouri is on the east side of the Mississippi River. Bravo, dumb bitch. Okay, so I shouldn't condemn her for one little slip. It was a comment she mouthed to her friend after the whole class reminded her of how wrong she was that pissed me off. "Why should I care about where a state like that is anyway?" It reminds me of a time during my first year when a girl actually said to me, "Now, where is Oklahoma again? I think I've heard of it before."

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:: Bitter 1:24 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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It's Pretty Common Here Howard Bashman points to this story about a Texas couple that went to Vermont for a same-sex civil union. Now they can't get divorced. Texas doesn't recognize it is existing in the first place. My understanding is that Vermont only grants divorces to couples with at least one VT resident. This has happened quite a few times here in New England. I have to admit, I kind of find it funny in way that I shouldn't. I guess it just goes to show that you should really know what your getting into in these kinds of situations. (I think it also means we need more states to recognize and grant civil unions.)

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:: Bitter 10:44 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Hell Has Frozen Over The first sign was that none of us blogged yesterday. We took an unexpected day off. Spooky and I had fun though. Remember that meeting I mentioned? Yeah, the one where the reservations woman didn't "understand the politics of why [our group] wanted to meet" in a room on campus? Well, just as an update, she "forgot" to submit the reservation to the campus police to open up the room for us to use.

The second sign that hell has frozen over is the news of a pro-troops rally in San Francisco.

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:: Bitter 10:28 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Too Much Work As with Spooky, I have a mid-term later this week and on top of that I have a presentation for the same class tonight. I'll get it done and survive. Aside from school everything has been pretty wonderful here lately. If only the weather would go back to what it was last week, then my mood would be perfectly complimented.

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:: Anonymous 9:38 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Yeah, What He Said Any post that includes the following words has to be worth reading.

That's how it should be. In my world that's how it would be.
Serenity now... serenity now...

So go read it now!

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:: Bitter 3:43 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Great Morning I had such a great morning. It started with waking at 8:00 AM (on a Saturday mind you). I sort of got myself together and headed off for breakfast. At 10:30, I met up with some more like minded students and we all went to a pro-troop rally not too far away from our school. It was the best feeling having all these people honking and all of the flags that were there. It made me actually have faith in the future of this state. There are really normal people out here. It was just a great feeling to be there with all of these people who are supporting our men and women in uniform. Well I better get on with the drudgery part of my day. I get to prepare for a presentation on the legality of military intervention in Iraq. Great stuff, right? At least I'm formulating the arguement for the Colation.

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:: Anonymous 1:25 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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"Spring Break Out For Peace" I know several college campuses are participating in this. They handed out flyers for the program on our campus. This is the main picture they featured on it. Cops shooting protestors. Fun. The picture on the back was just ugly. I have no complaints about it, just ugly. But when I was looking for these pictures, I found that he really likes the theme of cops killing and/or beating protestors. Since he appears to be on the side of protestors (what they are protesting is unclear), I'm starting to think he's into kinky masochistic things...

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:: Bitter 11:40 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Friday Night I'm too tired to do anything. But I still did something. Spooky took me to her house tonight. She lives like 30 minutes away, I've known for more than 2 years now, and I just now went to her house. Anyway, she and I then went and got some ice cream. Yay for us. Now you know that I'm not completely pathetic for posting on Friday night. Oh yeah, and it's nice to have a night to myself and back on campus. California was alright, but I have to admit that I was gone for quite a while. I almost missed this damn place.

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:: Bitter 11:09 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Assumptions Much? Gotta love the campus mindset:

k so I'm a bit Teed off that my friends in the Middle East keep sending me links of pictures and articles on AlJazeera and I can't get to them. about two days ago the site was accessible and i sent it to lots of my american friends all over the country. a ton of them e-mailed me back and said they couldn't get to the site. Now I can't get to it anymore. the The US government has no right to block the site. I want the truth! At least aljazeera is showing us the other side. I thought if i enabled my arabic windows then maybe i could get to the site. I started downloading it in Arabic and at first the pictures were coming in then all of a sudden my screen went blank with blue streaks. The only picture i saw was of a procesion of coffins...I thought this was the United States of America; Freedom of the press. This is not Saudi Arabia, where they filter a lot of internet sites that go in and out of the country. Bush has no right to decide what americans should and should not see.

At least one person made a point after posting that they'd been suffering numerous hacking attempts.

It is very strange that you should assume that the US government would block any site. You're right--this is not Saudi Arabia.

One more person reacted a little more dramatically, but I can't say that I was sad to see it.

I actually heard about why there have been so many problems w/ the Al-Jazeera site. There have been massive problems with the site b/c MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE ALL TRYING TO LOG ON TO THE SITE 24 HOURS A DAY! I am quite sure it has nothing to do with the President. As much as I don't like him, he is not foolish enough to try and block a website. Perhaps the website is experiencing additional problems due to hackers, but before you blame the US Federal Government of limiting our access to free and open media, which would be a violation of constitutional rights, consider that Al-Jazeera has said itself that the website is experiencing severe technical difficulties and they are trying their best to keep up with the insatiable demand.

One would almost think that there's some hope for at least a few students here. I honestly love how people are screaming censorship because a website is busy.

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:: Bitter 7:56 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I Don't Like This Guy

Yellow ribbons and all other war memorials have been banned from public property here, a decision that has drawn criticism from residents and business owners who want to show their support for American troops fighting in Iraq.
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"Where would you draw a line if you started allowing the use of public property to exhibit whatever cause anyone wanted?" Tyler told The Trentonian of Trenton for Friday's editions. "Suppose someone wants to tie pink ribbons, or black flags, or a Confederate flag or a Nazi flag on public property?"

God forbid we actually let people get a message out! How dare we let anyone that wants to have a say, have one! What kind of crazy people are you thinking that the rights of assholes are protected, too? Even worse, how insane must you be to not understand that we want to ban all kinds of symbols in public spaces to "protect you" from people you might not like? I just don't like that kind of reasoning. (Link found on The Command Post.)

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:: Bitter 12:50 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Paper Post What paper post? You mean the post I had up here asking for cool quotes to use in my paper? Oh yeah, that post! Well it's gone now because I'm about the email the prof. my paper and I don't want him to put this site with me because I do reference our site in it. Hell, I referenced at least 25 blogs in my paper. So many links...

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:: Bitter 9:53 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Kinda Freaky Here's some news on Google courtesy Plum Crazy. It really is kinda strange because it gave me details on 2 people that I looked up.

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:: Bitter 9:02 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Guns! Go check out this and you'll put me in a better mood.

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:: Bitter 11:38 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Now Wait One Minute Weren't Dems recently told to back Daschle no matter what? Now why on earth is he backing off? Hmmm. I'm starting to think that the Dems found that the public doesn't think the prez failed.

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:: Bitter 10:46 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Sucks To Be Them I laughed, but I know I shouldn't. Like I said, I'm not in the mood to be crossed this week.

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:: Bitter 10:27 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Pissing Me Off is not a good thing to do this week. I will take your head off. Now this guy just better hope that I never run into him. (Just to clarify: Contrary to what some might think, I mean the guy in the picture, not Lee.) :)

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:: Bitter 10:24 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Public Safety Alert We now have proof that the duct tape advice wasn't useless. Please go out and stock up now! (Link stolen from Tim Blair.)

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:: Bitter 10:11 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Not All Hope Is Lost Not all hope is lost for the women here. This poem was on the chat board, posted by the sister of a marine.

I Got Your Back

I am a small and precious child,
my dad's been sent to fight...
The only place I'll see his face,
is in my dreams at night.
He will be gone too many days
For my young mind to keep track.
I may be sad, but I am proud.
My daddy's got your back.

I am a caring mother.
My son has gone to war...
My mind is filled with worries
that I have never known before
Everyday I try to keep
my thoughts from turning black.
I may be scared, but I am proud.
My son has got your back.

I am a strong and loving wife,
with a husband soon to go.
There are times I'm terrified
in a way most never know.
I bite my lip, and force a smile
as I watch my husband pack...
My heart may break, but I am proud.
My husbands got your back...

I am a soldier...
Serving Proudly, standing tall.
I fight for freedom, yours and mine
by answering this call.
I do my job while knowing,
the thanks it sometimes lacks.
Say a prayer that I'll come home.
It's me who's got your back.
by: an unnamed military chaplain

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:: Anonymous 4:06 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Grrr Because a woman on campus doesn't "understand the politics" of why a group I'm part of wants to meet, I can't reserve a room on campus for the meeting. I promise I won't do the "I hate my school" rant again.

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:: Bitter 1:31 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Great News like this just makes me want to crawl back into bed and ignore the world.

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:: Bitter 9:08 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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I Miss Boys!!! That is all.

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:: Anonymous 5:45 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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You Want Economic Reasons Not too surprised about this.

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:: Anonymous 4:38 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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I'm Scared Spooky and I are watching The Bachelor and it's scary. These women are absolutely disturbing. Most of them are talking about how they'll do anything to get a ring on their finger. One had a family that actually did a cheer of "Go, Fight, Win" as she left. I'm very scared.

Spooky's Thoughts: If your permanent address is your parents' house then you can't get married!

Bitter's Thoughts: I'm older than 3 of the women! It's so disturbing!

Shared Thoughts: If you say that it's like getting ready for prom (when getting dressed up to meet the bachelor), then you're too young to get married.

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:: Bitter 9:32 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Something To Brighten Your Day At least it brightened mine.

"I went straight and got the .357 Magnum," she said.
"I would have used a shotgun, but I had just had new countertops done and I didn't want to tear up the kitchen."

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:: Bitter 6:48 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Price of Freedom I was eating lunch yesterday in one of our dining halls. I saw this girl walking around with a sheet of red paper tied around her neck. I was curious as to what it said, because I know that the seniors aren't harrasing the freshmen anymore. What she had tied around her neck, was a sign with the break down of the cost of the war in Iraq. I had to ask myself, what the hell kind of point is she trying to make? How can a person who has the freedom to speak and act as she chooses put a monetary price on the freedom of someone else? How can anyone put a monetary price on freedom? These people are really starting to make me sick. They say they want to help the oppresed people of the world, but protest an action that will free an opressed people.

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:: Anonymous 3:38 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Detestable I have no words. This story just makes me angry.

Silva Swinton and her husband, Joseph, followed a strict vegan diet in their Queens home. They swore off meat and dairy products and existed on a regiment of vegetables, grains, seeds and nuts.
When Silva gave birth to a daughter, Ice, in July 2000, they put the newborn on the same plan. Instead of breast milk or baby formula, Ice Swinton got herbal tea, flax seed oil, fruit juices and a homemade soy drink.
The result, authorities say, was a health catastrophe that rises to the level of a crime. At 15 months, the girl weighed only 10 pounds and had no teeth. She could not sit up or talk and had a swollen abdomen.
Doctors diagnosed her with severe malnutrition and rickets, and the Queens district attorney said it was one of the worst cases of neglect he'd seen.
...
Both parents were suspicious of doctors and medicine, and Silva Swinton delivered Ice at home. The girl weighed three pounds, according to a bathroom scale, Swinton later told a social worker. The Swintons also refused to have their daughter immunized.
The prosecution's case has focused on the severity of Ice's medical problems and her parents' apparent lack of concern.
The doctor who examined Ice in November 2001, after an anonymous tip about neglect led to the intervention of children's services, testified last Wednesday that the girl, then 15 months old, looked like a newborn. He said her spindly arms and legs were bowed by rickets, her belly was distended and her skin covered in "the worst diaper rash you ever saw."
...
The EMT who took Ice to the hospital told jurors her hair was matted and filthy and her fingernails were so long and dirty as to resemble "claws."
The girl spent nearly four months in the hospital and in a rehabilitation center. Another physician, an expert in childhood malnutrition, testified Monday that Ice was "at a severe and critical risk of dying" when removed from her home. Dr. Roy Brown also said Ice may be dogged throughout her life by developmental delays caused by a lack of nutrition to the brain during her infancy.
Prosecutor Eric Rosenbaum also called a nutrition expert and practicing vegan who said the couple did not seem to be practicing a mainstream vegan diet. Amy Joy Lanou, of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said that vegans are encouraged to breast feed their children or use a manufactured soy-based formula instead. She also pointed out that the Swintons gave the baby cod liver oil, an animal product vegans avoid.

Lock them up. Throw away the damn key for all I care. Anyone that abuses children should get their own asses kicked in prison for many years. I can't imagine a parent in the world that would consider the condition they found that child in to be reasonably healthy.

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:: Bitter 12:46 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Sucks To Be Him But I have no pity for him since he's at fault.

A state ethics panel Tuesday charged Gov. Paul Patton with doing favors for his lover, saying he intervened to make her construction company more likely to get state aid.
If the four charges from the Executive Branch Ethics Commission are upheld after a hearing, Patton could face a $5,000 fine and a public reprimand.
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State and federal prosecutors are also investigating the case.

And we wonder why the public has little faith in their public officials.

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:: Bitter 12:39 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Stupid Haloscan They just deleted a bunch of comments. They are silencing dissenting voices. Bastards.

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:: Bitter 12:09 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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The Perfect Candidate He's already got the scandal behind him. At 18, that's quite an achievement. Amusing that he's probably using some of the money he gained illegally to pay for his campaign.

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:: Bitter 10:25 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Support For The Troops Update For those of you that may not have seen the comment I left on Preppy's post, we've got an idea that we're trying to turn into a campus effort. We'll have details later as more people sign on (if people would check their damn email, that would seriously speed things up) and we get things organized. It's appropriate for college students given our limited incomes that the school takes the second we get the paychecks and it is as non-political as possible. I think an email that Jeff received the other day is representative of why we have to ensure that it is as non-political as possible. Being on a college campus, we walk a fine line with trying to get people to help even though most don't agree with "current foriegn policy decisions." (Sometimes I swear that I'm the queen of being non-political while still being active. The other day I had a woman convinced that I was against this war because of my use of language which she twisted in her own mind. College has taught me to bullshit.)

UPDATE: I think this is a story I'll print to put on the table we set up to do our little project. Yeah, I'm all girly. I cried a little. It's sad.

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:: Bitter 10:21 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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What's Wrong With These People? Check this out.

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:: Anonymous 8:46 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Hey Bitches! This is for all the Bitches since I don't normally get to see them all on a regular basis. I've been thinking about Spooky's recent posts and some of the suggestions that they generated. I really want to do something to help and I was thinking maybe we could organize something here on campus to support our troops (for the Bitches here where I'm at). I want to make sure people that have an opinion other than what seems to be the popular one here in academia are heard. So what do y'all think? Would any of you be up for doing something, anything? E-mail me if you are.

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:: Anonymous 1:50 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I've Been Wondering About That As sad as all the losses have been, I've been thinking about the comparision to other wars. Fox just said that we've lost in a week what we lost (on average) in every single hour of every single day we participated in World War II.

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:: Bitter 1:27 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I'm Not A Fan I'm just glad that I didn't vote for him.

Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner today vetoed a proposed estate tax repeal that General Assembly Republicans championed this legislative election year despite Virginia's persistent state budget crisis.
Warner also vetoed a bill authorizing the state to issue a "Choose Life" license plate, which abortion opponents had won over the protests of abortion rights advocates and others who complained about the message.

Stupid estate tax. Death and taxes and then taxes for dying. It's not the "rich" that suffer under this silly tax. It's that people that fall just barely over the limit by technicalities that suffer the most. It's kind of like welfare. Many times it doesn't end up helping those that really need it and are really trying to make it. I threw the license plate in there because that was also stupid. They should be able to get it if they want. There should also be a pro-choice plate if someone wants to design one and go through the proper process to have it made. Let the citizens govern themselves, jerk. I have a pro-gun plate and no one complained. Someone can have an anti-gun plate and I wouldn't say anything other than stupid. I wouldn't want it banned or anything like that. I'd just feel sorry for them because they don't know the joys of shooting. Sorry, pissed off mood again.

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:: Bitter 12:57 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More Air Force Bitching Will this story ever get any better? In other words, will anything ever change? I have absolutely no faith that it will. I think women will continue to be raped, and they will be punished even more severely for reporting it. I think they will eventually be on the receiving end of threats or ridicule from other cadets. From everything that has come out, it really is deeply embedded in the culture there. I'm very pissed off about this.

Ever since she says a fellow cadet raped her a year ago, in her freshman year at the academy, her dreams of flying F-16s, and her love of the Air Force, have crumbled.
At age 18, Mountjoy-Pepka was a first-year cadet at the academy, but even in that elite group, she was one of the very few in her class who had a private pilot's license. In November 2001, she was chosen as the year's first freshman to fly an Air Force plane, roaring above the academy's football stadium before a game.
Her downward spiral began a year ago when a senior cadet whom she knew slightly from the academy's Aero Club raped her in her dormitory room, she said. What she did not know then is that the same senior, DonCosta Seawell, once a star of the academy's boxing team, had been accused of sexually assaulting a civilian in California three months earlier, as well as another freshman cadet at the academy more than a year before that.

Quality cadet. Really. What the helll was he doing there?? Do we really accept assholes like this in our military academies? I don't think that every cadet is that bad, but I think it points to the fact that the problem is in the leadership of the school.

Thus began Mountjoy-Pepka's dizzying fall from grace. Struggling academically and athletically, emotionally devastated and, she says, harassed and hounded by the academy's leadership for minor disciplinary infractions, she finally quit last Christmas.
The academy did not discipline Seawell for his alleged on-campus assaults because academy officials said evidence was lacking.

Did they do a serious investigation? I find it odd that so many of these cases have evidence that is "lacking." I know that rape is a difficult crime to handle, but it's a little odd.

While Mountjoy-Pepka remains upset about the sexual assault, she is angriest about her treatment by the academy's majors, colonels and generals, who she says turned the tables on her after she reported the assault. She said some officers criticized her for acting affectionately with her cadet boyfriend, said she was "no lady" and suggested that her behavior was generally promiscuous.
"It's not a problem of a few bad cadets," said Mountjoy-Pepka, now 20. "It's a problem of a few bad generals."
...
Although academy officials expressed sympathy for her in conversations with her father, the academy did not press charges against Seawell, apparently for lack of evidence. Nor did they allow her to take a semester off, as the academy's own Physical Education Review Committee had recommended.
Her case is similar to that of MacKenzie Isackson, who told People magazine that Seawell sexually assaulted her in August 2000. In both cases, the women worried they would be stigmatized as troublemakers for reporting the incidents; and in both cases, academy officials suggested that they had been promiscuous.

And think about how many women don't report rapes.

UPDATE: Some changes ahead? Well, not as punishment. It's all part of a normal rotation. Obviously, what did you expect? We keep seeing over and over that the Air Force doesn't actually like to punish those that commit crimes.

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:: Bitter 12:50 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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War Blogging I think I'll try to start tonight. I needed a day or so to catch up with my own life. I'm still in the process of doing that. Emails are mostly done, but still a few are way behind. I'm still taking this whole thing in. Keep in mind that 12 years ago, I had just turned 10 and I'm the oldest Bitch. Baby, obviously the youngest, was only 7 years old.

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:: Bitter 12:25 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Freedom Obviously, it's a concept that Massachusetts schools don't really understand.

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that a federal court in Massachusetts has ruled that a high school was wrong to suspend students for handing out candy canes with religious messages on them.
The ruling, by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, says Westfield High School violated the kids' First Amendment rights and barred the school from enforcing similar speech restrictions in the future.
The students, members of a Bible club at Westfield, had been told that they could distribute the candy canes with a "Happy Holidays" message, but were forbidden to attach a message containing a prayer and a description of the religious origins of the candy cane.
The court rejected the school's claim that the Constitution's Establishment Clause required them to censor the religious speech of the students, holding that while school-sponsored religious speech is forbidden by the Constitution, student religious speech is constitutionally protected.
The court also rejected the school's claim that the religious messages could be barred because they might be offensive to non-Christian students. The court held that by singling out religious messages for censorship, the school had violated "a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment" that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because it might be disagreeable or offensive.

You would honestly think that the place where this whole crazy idea of American independence and freedom started would have a basic understanding that the government can't tell people that they can't practice a harmless religion. I'm also shocked that with all the discussion that has happened over the last few years regarding school prayer that the lesson hasn't sunk in. I think I'm expecting too much from Massachusetts.

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:: Bitter 11:08 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Letter From A Friend A friend of mine sent me this email that she sent to the major media outlets today asking for my opinion. It's something that I certainly found moving, especially given her situation which I don't really want to discuss in detail. The large picture is that she has a close personal friend that was shipped out overseas and his family doesn't know her to let her know if anything happens to him. That said, here's her letter:

Yesterday, it was announced that 10 American troops from the 507th Maintenance Company had been captured by Iraqi forces and taken prisoner. Four of the soldiers were subsequently executed and their bodies videotaped and shown on the Al-Jazeera network, a direct violation of the rules of the Geneva Convention. Images of the imprisoned soldiers were shown as well.

When I first heard this news, I was upset at the thought of these incredibly patriotic souls being treated this way and having their lives taken from them. What horrified me even more was the thought of American news outlets airing these images. In the case of fallen soldiers, of course, the family is notified by the military prior to any public disclosure of his or her identity. However, there are many friends and associates of these people who might only find out through seeing shocking photos on TV, the Internet, or in newsprint, either of their bodies or prisoners undergoing harsh interrogations by their captors.

News directors need to show responsibility and discretion on choosing what is aired and should take into account the feelings of those connected with the individuals, and the American population at large. It is inconsiderate, disrespectful, and distasteful to the survivors and demoralizing to our country. These decisions can also serve to incite those opposed to the war, who should be doing all they can to support the troops instead. I will say, too, that it is also a poor choice to broadcast close-up, graphic images of Iraqi fighters killed. To do so makes those involved no better than the war criminals exploiting Al-Jazeera and American casualties for their own savage purposes. Whether in this instance or future tragedies, I urge you to make responsible, compassionate decisions when choosing what is aired. The American people rely on news agencies for information and sensationalitazion for the sake of ratings is completely unnecessary.

I know that people have mixed feelings on what the news networks should show, but I thought that some people might appreciate this letter.

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:: Bitter 10:16 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Remember To Read This Don't forget to check out The Command Post for the latest updates. When I finally get the nerve to turn my television on to something relevant to the world, I'll be joining in. Right now I'm gonna go sleep. Oh yeah, and don't forget about TroopTrax, another beautiful Michele creation.

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:: Bitter 12:53 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Emails I'll take a look at them later. I promise.

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:: Bitter 12:47 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More Of The Dixie Chicks than you might want to see. That's right, I said I managed to save the picture, and I'm delivering. :)

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:: Bitter 12:43 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Gun Fun! I won't be able to afford to join in yet, but this sounds like a fun idea!

In the spirit of Meryl Yourish's "Eat an animal for PETA day" I'm starting the official Buy A Gun For Michael Moore Day. Pass the idea along.
If you don't own a gun. Get one. If you do. Get another.

Someday... (Link stolen from Misha, again.) :)
P.S. Yes, guns make me less bitchy.

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:: Bitter 12:35 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Amtrak And Stupid Old Women So let me tell you how much I hate stupid old women. I took the train home for break right. So I decided that on the way back to school I would carry on my large suitcase because the train was running late and I wasn't sure about how I was going to get back to school from the train station (I was glad to see Baby and First waiting for me when I got in). So to make a long story short, I went to sleep thinking everything would be alright, wake up in Buffalo (two stops after Cleveland) and find my suitcase gone. Some stupid old women took it off the train with them at Erie and then left it at the station prompting them to call my house in Ohio. Hopefully my bag is on the train headed East today. If not Amtrak and I have a problem, because one of their staff helped these old women take the bag off the train, and they told me that it would be on today's train. For the love of Pete, almost all the clothes I wear on a regular basis are in that bag along with the stuff I just bought over break. Well I should try to do some work that I neglected over break (hey it was a break from all of this, I can't be expected to do work). I have to be at the station before 4:00 this afternoon and then back here to school before 5:00 so I can go to work and then later to class. Stupid old women...grrrrrr.

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:: Anonymous 10:15 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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I'm Alive But I'm late to class, expect some posts tonight or tomorrow. I have quite a bit to say. (Shocking, I know.) Sorry I've been in a bitchy mood lately. I will explain more later.

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:: Bitter 8:12 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Missing Ohio Already I'm missing Ohio already. It's been great being at home the past week. I think it was especially good for me to be here with my family and in this area when the war broke out. It's just a totally different attitude here than in New England (or at least "elitist women's college in rural New England"). There is such great support for the troops and administration out here. It's really made my break a good one. I was also semi-productive. I was able to visit Ohio State Law School. It's where I'm supposed to be after undergrad. I walked around campus a little bit and I remembered how beautiful the campus is (yes, a large state university can be beautiful). The law school itself was perfect. It's so small and the students I met seem so laid back. It was a great experience and I hope to get in. As it is my LSAT/LSDAS registration has been sent in, and so I will soon be preparing for the LSAT in October. Well, I should go try to get some sleep or something. The brothers and sister are watching "1941", so I may go join them. Back to New England tomorrow (leaving at about 4:00AM).

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:: Anonymous 9:19 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Back Again I'm sending an email to my Senator, what are you doing right now? (Yes, it's about guns. He's about to get another one from me on the Air Force rape issues. I want to wait before I send it though. I'm curious to know if more is coming out, and I'd like to read it a couple of times. It's a tough issue to tackle because of protecting privacy, overcoming reluctance to testify, and punishments appropriate to everyone involved.)

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:: Bitter 8:47 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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It's Almost 5 PM Here Even the reporters are calling the protestors crazy. One woman apparently walked out into the middle of the street with her baby and kept trying to get the police to come after her. Some of the media have been attacked with spray paint. (Wait, are they trying to do it so that they can claim their voices are being silenced?) The reporter said that even though she's been downtown all day, she has yet to see a protestor being beaten, but of course they claim otherwise. Some claimed they had video coverage, but they "refuse to produce it." Of course, it's so convienent that way. I'm getting frustrated and am going to go away now.

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:: Bitter 8:04 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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A New View I hadn't thought about the war coverage this way before, but now that I have...

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:: Bitter 7:49 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Is He Taken? I want the guy that does these videos. He's hot and funny as hell. (Link swiped from Misha.)

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:: Bitter 7:41 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Late Again But, I did remember to post the link that I know you've all been waiting for! That's right, it's Jeff's weekly table on Yahoo's bias against guns.

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:: Bitter 7:31 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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WeatherSlut Update I just realized that WeatherSlut has been with whatever boy she's with for too long. (Is this still Penn State boy?) I have unilaterally decided that now she'll be with a boy from Tulane for her spring break which just started. Look for a change after she returns. Hell, look for another boy during spring break. If she gets drunk enough, maybe another girl. Or maybe not.

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:: Bitter 7:27 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Just A Thought Boo-f*cking-hoo.

The outfit due to be worn by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony has been stolen from the designer’s car in London. British designer Scott Henshall said the dress, along with jewelry, accessories and other gowns earmarked for guests at the annual glitzy show in Los Angeles, had been stolen from his car in the Knightsbridge area of the British capital Wednesday evening.

I still don't have a dress for Senior Ball next month. If I wore Angelina's size, then I'd start keeping my eyes open...

P.S. Remember kiddies, banning guns solved all of England's crime!

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:: Bitter 7:13 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Stupidity Isn't Limited To The West Coast It's in Boston, too.

''I pledged to myself that if war starts, I will get arrested at a federal installation,'' said Jonathan Cook, 42, a Brookline environmental activist who said he is between jobs. ''It'll get my message across to those who are interested . . . that I am willing to put my body on the line.''

I remember the first time I read a publication put out by a group that First Bitch is involved in. It was my first year and I was totally put off because they had an article on the joys of being arrested. But I love Jerry's response to this whole thing:

Jerry, a construction worker and veteran from Wakefield who would not give his last name, spied the protest from his job site on Cambridge Street, got into an argument with an activist, and blasted protesters for not being at work. ''Oh, they're all on welfare,'' he said.

Funny as hell. Of course what do you expect average people to think of those that think like this jerk.

A few hours after leaving the protest, Greg Banks, 33, of Jamaica Plain, sat in the lobby of the South Boston police station, waiting for his friends to post bail. He was glad the protests had finally taken this turn, he said, but added that he is worried about terrorism -- and doesn't want to drain the resources of the police at such a crucial time.

Let me see if I understand this. You think there will be terrorist attacks. You're probably one of those people that honestly believes the police will be there to stop every crime and therefore people shouldn't have tools available to defend themselves. (Sorry, I forgot this wasn't a gun post.) So you go out and intentionally commit crimes so that the resources of this police department are tied up dealing with you instead of protecting against murderers, rapists and terrorists. Now why should I support your actions?

''To be honest, I haven't come to terms with that yet,'' he said.

Yeah, I haven't figured out how you got hit with the stupid stick so many times yet.

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:: Bitter 6:43 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Oh I LOVE It! It's innovative. (Link found via Pave France.)

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:: Bitter 6:27 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Dixie Chicks Thing, Again I just wanted to put my two cents out there because it's my blog and I'll bitch if I want to. (That was bad, so sue me.) My attitude has been that they were stupid, the comments were uncalled for simply because they didn't criticize policy at all, and the group deserves whatever people want to do to their pocketbooks. They only apologized after backlash began that did hit their bank accounts. I don't believe that they mean it at all. That's fine, it's their reputation. They can kill it if they want to. I do have to admit that I like Travis Tritt's suggestion to them. I'll be curious to know if they respond at all.

"The bottom line is ... what's going to happen is going to happen. To be a good American ? regardless of which side you're on ? you have to get behind President Bush. More important, you have to get behind the troops," the singer said recently.
...
"If the Dixie Chicks really wanted to do something to prove just how sorry they are about those statements, they would volunteer to go and perform at some military base," suggested Tritt.

Maybe instead of their upcoming US tour, they should do performances for the troops. Perhaps people that are very upset about this could contact stations that will be promoting the tour to encourage the Chicks to take Tritt's advice.

I guess my views can be summed up like this: They are protected by the same First Amendment that protects us. They should also have to deal with the same consequences. Very few people would have their jobs protected if they started spitting off political views in the workplace. The same applies to Hollywood and Nashville. We, as the people who pay the salaries of the stars, have the right to no longer hand over their pay check if they do things that we don't approve of. Of course I love the response of the people at the concert that Spooky attended the other night. :)

UPDATE: At least someone was thinking for the Chicks in this situation.

The Dixie Chicks — who took a lot of heat after one member of the group made anti-Bush comments — narrowly averted another controversy with some of their red-blooded fans. The Scoop was startled to learn that the country and western crooners posed for one of those “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” ads for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — but the ad was never released.
THE TRIO POSED in a field of flowers, wearing nothing but blossoms and their strategically placed instruments. A photo of the ad can be seen on the photographer’s Web site, sebreephoto.com.
It turns out that the Chicks are staunch animal-rights supporters, but at the last minute the group’s management put the kibosh on the ad.
“The Chicks themselves were lovely about the whole thing, but their management got worried that some of their fans were rifle-toting, Bambi-shooting types who would take offense at an anti-fur, pro-animal message,” says a source. “They forbid release of the ad because they were worried about backlash or boycott. They even tried to pay PETA $10,000 to say it never happened.”

Now that we know they have a history of lying for money, even offering to pay people off to stay popular, what do they have to say for themselves?

The Chicks’ spokeswoman didn’t return calls for comment.

Of course not, that would mean taking responsibility for one's actions. We can't promote that or anything.

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:: Bitter 6:12 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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A Funny I don't think I've ever shared this funny story with you all before. It was probably because at the time the situation had me fuming. I was speaking with a woman from Germany when the subject turned to gun rights. (See a theme today? Maybe it's because it's been all of four days since I went shooting.) :) Anyway, she said that a European would never consider a firearm as a defensive tool. I then asked her why a French girl asked me where to take classes on basic gun safety so she can learn how to shoot less than a week before if Europeans would never think like that. She blamed it on American culture and was horrified that we had done such a thing to the girl.

Now I'm amused and somewhat proud if we really have "corrupted" this girl.

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:: Bitter 5:24 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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So Damn Annoying I'm listening to the local news right now and they are reporting that "things are getting violent again." People are throwing rocks, breaking police car windows and opening hydrants. Reports have varied saying that between 350 and 500 have been arrested. More protests are planned for 5 PM to block traffic. At that point they aren't even stopping "the capitalist machine," they're keeping people from getting home to their families. They are keeping single mothers away from picking up their children. Oh, I could have fun playing with their little heads if I were there. At least I haven't seen anything as strange as this yet. Granted, I've been a bit slow on watching tv, reading blogs and checking emailing. It's easy to get distracted by my company here.

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:: Bitter 5:05 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More Guns! As disconnected from the world as I've been since I've been gone, I am pretty happy to find out good gun news. Thanks to reader James Foster for sending us this link on North Carolina reciprocity. It's about time. If they pass it, I'll have to update my list of permits that I can get as a non-resident to carry in as many states as possible.

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:: Bitter 3:25 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Also On Guns Thank goodness. I'm happy for my Colorado friends. Actually, I only have two that I can think of, and only one likes to shoot. She's actually been in Virginia for a couple of years, so she's not really from Colorado anymore. I guess I'm happy for her family then. Whatever, I'm happy.

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:: Bitter 3:11 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I'm Glad I'm Not The Only One Eugene Volokh also notices when basic gun safety rules are broken in photos. Now how about movies? My friends get annoyed with me when I watch a movie with guns in it.

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:: Bitter 3:08 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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One Possible Reason for my bad mood might be this post. I appreciate the coverage that Winds of Change is giving to this issue. Even in times of war, we have to pay attention to these stories. If we don't, we aren't acting any more civilized than the people we are fighting right now.

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:: Bitter 8:20 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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On That Insulting Note I laughed outloud at this news. I just drove over the bridge late last night after I arrived. Speaking of my arrival, I'm staying with a friend that lives in such a bachelor pad. No food to speak of except for frozen foods, various condiments, Hamburger Helper (with no hamburger meat around), and quite a bit of alcohol. Shame, shame. (Link stolen from the comments at Right Thinking.)

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:: Bitter 8:14 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Connie Chung Is An Idiot I just wanted to put that out there because I'm in an insulting mood right now.

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:: Bitter 8:09 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Stupid f*cking Macs. That's all I have to say on this subject.

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:: Bitter 8:05 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Juan's New Job I think he's qualified, don't you?

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:: Bitter 8:05 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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A Little Odd I just can't believe the coincidence! /end sarcasm

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:: Bitter 8:03 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Concerned What could cause this much concern in DC? Has a terror threat been discovered?

Tactical officers armed with automatic weapons, bomb squad technicians and fire department hazardous materials specialists were among the more than 100 public safety personnel involved in the incident.

Then I laughed.

The incident began around noon Monday when a man wearing a military medic's helmet drove a jeep and trailer carrying the tractor and a motorcycle into Constitution Gardens, a federal park bordered by the Washington Monument, the Vietnam War Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. After driving the jeep into the lake, the man drove the tractor off the trailer and into the water.

I know I'm late on this one, but that's what being on the west coast does to you. I'm still amused.

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:: Bitter 1:01 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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For The Good Of "The Children" "The Readers" Juan has a new glossary so you can better understand the world around you.

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:: Bitter 12:57 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More Traveling I'm leaving LA tomorrow to head up north to the Bay area. Because I have lunch plans and then I have to pack afterwards, don't expect much from me tomorrow. I just realized that due to the time difference, it will really be today on the blog. Wish me luck in traveling. This time I'll be traveling with booze in my bag. Yes, I'm allowed to as long as I don't have any fuses. That's what the Southwest guy said on the phone. He also said that if I bring any in my carryon that I have to give one to the captain. Hmmm...

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:: Bitter 2:50 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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That's What You Get I love the Dixie Chicks. I'm sad to see them getting banned from radio stations around the country. But then when you say something as boneheaded as ``Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas,'' you really should know that country music fans aren't going to respond well. Natile Maines did try to save her ass, but it didn't seem to work very well.

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:: Anonymous 8:22 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I Don't Like Orange I won't be color coding my wardrobe with the terror threat or doing anything to match because I don't like the color orange. I haven't seen a link yet, but I've heard from someone that has a reason to know that the threat level will be raised tonight after the speech. I'm sure this will be the first page to change when it does happen.

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:: Bitter 7:22 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Oh, I Played That Game As A Child Juan has his "Imagination Cap" on and yet, he fails.

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:: Bitter 1:22 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Biased Media I don't like when media is anti-conservative or anti-liberal. Reporters need to know their place in this world. Not that I'm somehow saying they are lowly and should bow down...well...no, I don't think I'm saying that...yet. Anyway, if you choose a field like that you should have some sense to understand you should report the basic facts and include both sides if you are going to include one. It's not that much to ask.

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:: Bitter 1:09 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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First, A Personal Update I went to the range yesterday with Cool Friend Ian. I would like to thank Armed Liberal for both the recommendation and the wonderful company. He's the first blogger I've met, so it was very exciting. If other bloggers are anything remotely like A.L., then I look forward to meeting more of you. It was a great day overall. I'm keeping this short because there's more posts on the way and more stuff I want to do.

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:: Bitter 1:03 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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At Home Needless to say, I am now at home. Taking the train was a new experience. I can only say that I really wish that it didn't take 12 hours to get from New England to Cleveland, and then have a 2 hour drive home. I really haven't been doing much. Hanging out with my family and all that. I am writing a post on my laptop, so once it is done I will get it up on here.

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:: Anonymous 10:41 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Quick Update Sorry, I've been busy here. Cool Friend Ian and I have been hanging out, playing Monopoly, and drinking. Yay for drinking. Actually the biggest reason I say that is because I'm very picky about my beer and they have my favorite kind out here. I bought a couple of 6 packs. I am a happy woman. In a little while Cool Friend Ian and I are headed to the range. I'm gonna get to shoot out here in crazy California. I'll tell how it compares to shooting in crazy New England when I get back.

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:: Bitter 3:41 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Guns! Maybe there is some hope for Ohio.

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:: Bitter 8:20 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I Suppose It's Kinda Alright that they are being honest. I like Pejman's question though.

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:: Bitter 7:22 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Catching Up This is something I meant to link to the other day. I suck at the game, but I'm addicted.

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:: Bitter 5:25 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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"Just A Job" Get the crazy bastard out of power now. I have this feeling that certain kneejerk often left leaning people (not rational ones, I'm talking about the ones that don't think about their positions for more than 2 seconds) would be behind this effort 100% if it weren't a Republican leading it after reading this. What about popular phrases like human rights abuses? Where does all that rhetoric go when it is most appropriate?

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:: Bitter 5:15 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Quiz Fun It's been awhile since we've had a quiz frenzy going on over here. I found this one at InstaPundit.


Libertarian - You believe that the main use for
government is for some people to lord it over
others at their expense. You maintain that the
government should be as small as possible, and
that civil liberties, "victimless
crimes", and gun ownership should be basic
rights. You probably are OK with capitalism.
Your historical role model is Thomas Jefferson.


Which political sterotype are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

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:: Anonymous 5:11 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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A New Business Model I guess it's one way to solve problems.

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:: Bitter 5:09 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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All Done All done and going home tomorrow! I can't wait to see my neice (now three months old), my dog, my mother, my brothers and sister (even though they did tell my mom to let me sit in downtown Cleveland all night all by myself) and my cousin. I do need to call OSU Law and schedule a vist. But I'm so happy now!!!

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:: Anonymous 5:06 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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It's Different Juan Gato's take on the criminal justice system.

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:: Bitter 5:03 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I Want More These demands aren't enough to satisfy me.

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:: Bitter 5:02 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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One Last Note For Now I still haven't gotten used to my new nails. (I can't grow them because of my nail biting habit, so I buy 'em.) I may make some fairly screwy spelling errors on top of what I normally make. Ignore them, especially if they don't make much sense. Meanwhile, I'm going to go get in a catfight just so I can get some good use out of these things.

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:: Bitter 1:42 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Will It Ever Get Better? Here's the weekly link to the gun debate bias chart at Alphecca. Really, a bit of improvement is all I'm hoping for. Unfortunately, it never seems to happen.

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:: Bitter 1:23 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I'll Send The Letter along with a note telling them about how I'm doing it with a reformed vegetarian.

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:: Bitter 1:17 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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He's Right

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:: Bitter 1:13 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Morning Laugh What can I say other than I love it.

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:: Bitter 1:11 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More Stupid People Stupid human shields. I would say they don't deserve the space it takes to put their story up, but it is good for a laugh.

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:: Bitter 12:53 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Stupid People There are lots of them in Massachusetts. Not all of them there are missing a few cards from the deck, but a notable majority are. This is just more evidence.

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:: Bitter 12:40 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Perhaps It's time to be concerned. If it happens three times, I'm calling for help.

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:: Bitter 12:33 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Silliness So I made here. It's damn hot. I have a blog post that I wrote on my laptop about the trip that I'll post later. Until then, I just wanted to share that when Cool Friend Ian kicked on the computer, this is the first story we caught.

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:: Bitter 12:07 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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I Love Leno While I was rewarding myself with a break because I had gotten so much work done, First and I decided to watch some TV. Yeah for rotting our minds even more!!! Well, of course late night, means the late night shows. We caught the replay of Leno. Can I say it had some hilarious moments. I really like the footage of "Saddam" riding the razor scooter... straight into a concrete wall. And David Spade... funny!! He was taking digs at all of the celebrities who think that a) they know anything at all and b) that anyone cares what they think. It was great. Well I better get back to writing my paper it's now due in less than 12 hours, but add in time to eat, and for class (yes only one class, as I'm skipping my other two so I can get this paper done).

UPDATE: As of 2:00PM EST my paper is done. I need to print it out and turn it in and I will be free from the shackles of academia (well for a few days anyways).

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:: Anonymous 3:26 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Vacation Time! So I'm about to leave for my final spring break. Obviously, I'll be posting less frequently. Don't worry, I'll pop on over every couple of days. I have a few days with relative freedom and computer access, so look for random flurries of posts. :) I would say that this means the other Bitches have to pick up the slack, but it's midterms and lately there have been a lot of slow news days. Enjoy you day everyone!!

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:: Bitter 7:28 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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So F*cked I have a paper due Thursday at 3:00pm. I have to read a 130 page excerpt in order to write said paper. I still have 113 pages of said excerpt to read. I'm driving Bitter to the airport in Rhode Island tomorrow morning. When I return to campus I should go to a Japanese Tea Ceremony for a class which I must blog about later, however if I still have said 113 pages to read, I will not be going to the ceremony. I see no way I can possibly get this reading done before tomorrow evening when I need to write the paper, as I have class all day Thursday and should not skip in order to write the paper. I feel so f*cked right now, and it's only half way through the semester. I'm going to be a mess at finals. Someone get me out of here!!! I swear I'm paying to end up a chain smoking, alcoholic with hypertension.

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:: Anonymous 3:15 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Is It Too Late To Sign Up? I wanna take a class with Glenn now.

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:: Bitter 12:12 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Blah I'm ready for vacation, I don't want to work today.

UPDATE: I'm packed! I'm sorry that I keep talking about this, but I'm ready for it. This is my very last spring break, so it has to be interesting. 7 hours until breakfast with Preppy, 8 until we leave...

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:: Bitter 8:34 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Travel Warnings I feel like this story is a travel warning for me. As you may recall, I was already concerned about whether or not I could take a sewing kit aboard. Now I'm really thinking about what is going in my carry on. I think the list at this point is:
1) A printed list from TSA's website of items I'm allowed to have on board.
2) 2 pairs of shoes
3) 2 changes of clothes in case they lose my bag
4) My sewing project
5) My laptop so I can type Baby's transfer recc and a story for a club newsletter
6) A book or two
7) Gifts for my friend
8) Toiletries
9) Whatever crap is in my purse, which may or may not include brass from my time at the range. I should probably check that...
10) My kubaton because I'm not leaving without it. I doubt they even notice, but if they try to take it, I'll make them retrieve my checked luggage to put it in. I refuse to surrender absolutely all control of my safety over to a government that I don't always trust and I don't want to depend on.

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:: Bitter 8:33 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Can't Resist So I was chatting with someone on AIM when we started talking about dogs. I looked up one of my favorite breeds, the miniature pinscher. Here are a few reasons this is the perfect dog for me:
Reason #1 - Reason #2 - Reason #3 - Reason #4 - Reason #5 - Reason #6

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:: Bitter 11:43 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Yeah, We're Tough Don't mess with us, or we'll show you.

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:: Bitter 9:47 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Reasonable People in Ohio? After all the looney stuff that seems to be coming from the state these days, I was shocked to read this.

Talk show host Jerry Springer, who has said he might run for the Senate, scored the highest unfavorable rating in the 14 years that the Ohio Poll has been taking the state's political pulse.
Springer, a Democrat and former Cincinnati mayor, drew an unfavorable response from 71 percent of those surveyed in the Ohio Poll. Thirteen percent had a favorable opinion, while 14 percent knew little about Springer and 2 percent had not heard of him.
Springer's unfavorable rating surpassed the 65 percent logged in 2000 by real estate magnate Donald Trump, poll director Eric Rademacher said Monday. The Ohio Poll began tracking such numbers in 1989.

It's possible for people to have not heard of him?

UPDATE: Funny enough, Pejman posted almost this exact same thing and a very similar post as the one below in the same order only an hour before I did here. Great minds think alike. Or at least I'd like to flatter myself and say that. :)

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:: Bitter 8:38 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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My Eyes! If I thought I was blind before, well, I should go have my eyes checked now. Warning, don't click unless you are in for the shock of a lifetime. Or rather, unpleasant surprise.

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:: Bitter 8:35 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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What To Say I saw this story yesterday, but I didn't really know how to react. Today, I have a reaction.

HEAVILY armed al Qaeda thugs practiced storming a school, shooting children and taking hostages in a videotaped training exercise, The Post has learned.
The terror rehearsal took place under the mandate of al Qaeda's operations chief, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
...
The video shows bullet-ridden blackboards and cut-out targets in classrooms, apparently representing students and teachers, said former Green Beret Keith "Jack" Idema.

But school zones are gun free zones.

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:: Bitter 8:23 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Bitchy Mom sent me this picture yesterday. The person who wrote on it asks a good question.

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:: Bitter 4:38 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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No Words Words tend to escape me when I read something like this. The only thing I can say is those poor indoctrinated children. This is the reason why there will be no end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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:: Anonymous 3:56 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Vacation Countdown Just under 54 hours until I'm in California. Woo hoo. Only about 40 hours until I leave!

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:: Bitter 3:54 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Strange How on earth would you deal with news like this?

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:: Bitter 11:24 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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What The Hell? Sometimes I wonder just how much women get paid to wear stupid shit like this.

UPDATE: And to think, she didn't get paid...

UPDATE II: Here's a few more. Scary.

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:: Bitter 11:16 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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No, No What the hell is he thinking?

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:: Bitter 11:15 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Check This Out If you haven't checked in on the TroopTrax initiative in a while, read the site today. There's a letter posted from a solider to his anti-war mother. Very moving. Also, check out Michele's progress with it. Amazing. That's all I have to say.

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:: Bitter 11:08 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Video Lawyers Killed The Radio Star People will find any reason to sue nowadays.

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:: Bitter 11:03 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Random Comments Before Normal Blogging I overslept today. It sucked because I missed a class. This is a class that I can't miss. And I'm missing it on Wednesday because I'm flying out. The prof. has known about Wednesday for a while. I just hope that today didn't piss him off too much. I emailed him and apologized profusely. I wake up at 7 on weekends, I don't know how I managed to sleep until 10 today. Hell, I even went to bed early. When someone called me late last night, I don't remember the conversation, just that I was babbling about something and he told me that I was way too asleep to be talking on the phone. I hate that. If someone talks to me when I'm asleep or trying to fall asleep, I will do my damnedest to talk back. Sometimes I'll kind of dose off in the middle of a word. That used to drive my ex crazy. He'd wake me up to ask me to finish the sentence and I'd have no idea what he was talking about.

So yeah, all of you California readers, I need you to listen up! I need you to get me some better weather while I'm out there. Do you realize we are supposed to get hit with a snowstorm the morning I leave? It's the middle of *various curse words* March and we're still getting major snow. Do you know how many inches are still on the ground outside? It's miserable here. The days that it does get above freezing, we get all excited because it finally starts to melt a little, then it all freezes again that night. What was snow shoved onto the dead grass becomes huge areas of ice frozen on our sidewalks and roads. So I want some nice weather! Right now you crazy LA people are going to having your annual 2 days of rain while I'm out there and the temps are falling literally the day I arrive! I'm bringing shorts with me people. I want to wear them. You folks up north have a little more time to get this crazy weather out of your system. I won't be up there until the 18th. Again, I want to be able to wear shorts or skirts and tank tops or short sleeve shirts and sandals. I'm bringing exactly 3 long sleeved shirts with me for 12 days. Don't make me wear them until I'm flying back here to miserable New England.

Normal blogging to resume now...

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:: Bitter 11:00 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Damn Good Advice This girl knows what she's talking about.

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:: Bitter 10:27 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Gas Taxes This is a chart of state gas taxes. Let's take a look at New England states:
Rhode Island - 30 cents
Connecticut - 25
Maine - 22
Massachusetts - 21.5
Vermont - 20
New Hampshire - 18
Look at that! For once Massachusetts doesn't have the highest taxes on something. Shocking, I know. Now, Preppy, when you drive me to the airport in Rhode Island on Wednesday, do not fill up my car there with the gas money I'm going to give you. If you need to fill up, get it somewhere else. You shouldn't need to fill up anyway. I'm just giving you the money in case you need to get a little extra before you pick me up on Sunday.

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:: Bitter 1:07 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Blogroll Updated, Finally! I finally got around to updating our blogroll. I was going along my merry little way of cutting and pasting when I got distracted. So, if there are repeats of any that I don't notice, let me know. If they don't lead to the right sites, let me know. If I accidently left one off that was either previously there or was supposed to be there, let me know. Distraction is a bad thing. Now I just need to get around to doing my school work and hopefully not get nearly as distracted.

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:: Bitter 11:14 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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This Actually Makes Me Sad The story about the Iraqi soldiers that surrendered before war even started actually made me sad. The Brits couldn't take prisoners because there was no war taking place. Now these guys will probably be killed, along with their families, if Saddam and his thugs can figure out who they are. With widespread coverage, he'll do his damnedest to find out. Saddam is trying to down in the record books, he doesn't want to be made to look like a fool.

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:: Bitter 10:42 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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More On Air Force Rapes I know that many of you are probably getting tired of this. I'm just livid, so you get to deal with it. It also reminds me of something that I know goes on at many women's colleges. If you've ever looked at crime stats for a women's college, you'll see a surprising trend in domestic violence problems. All of the bad guys are male. Oddly enough, when two women are involved in a situation that would normally be considered a domestic violence situation, it suddenly becomes a "residential life dispute." Most of the women's colleges that I can think of off the top of my head work by similar honor codes that the military academies do, minus the military punishments.

Anyway, we received a heads up on this post on the topic over at Winds of Change. Make sure you read it. It calls for major reforms that I don't know if I support completely, but it also revisits this question that I asked when I first heard about the cases.

I'm curious to know how us charging a rape victim for "having sex" is much different than those bastards, many of whom live in Middle Eastern countries, that kill or beat women who have been raped for "having sex." Someone explain the difference to me.

For the record, no one ever explained it to me. And to think, my money is being used to pay for this.

I think what upsets me the most is the fact that nothing will change. As Trent points out in that post, they are simply expanding the "solution" offered by contacting the rape counseling program to include more people that have actively worked to cover up these rapes. Good solution. Wonderful. Bravo.

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:: Bitter 10:38 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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