Michael Braun's Blog

Before you start reading, this is a pretty long post. Long and hopefully funny. Let me know what you think.

The State of the Union address may be the most important speech a president gives, and the president gives that speech every year! So golly, when that speech comes up, all Americans across the country tune in. Every single American watches the State of the Union. And because that statement is SO COMPLETELY WRONG, I thought I would sit with my computer and type out my thoughts to what Bush is saying. Because I know most of my readers will not watch the speech, this will be a great way to get to what really matters – my opinion. Millions turn to me for insightful views on everything from pop culture to politics to personal matters. That’s right, millions, millions of fools.

No, actually no one turns to me for opinions and the world is better for it. But if you are interested, please continue reading. The address starts in 9 minutes. I need to go get my roommates to stop playing Mario Cart. One moment please.

Alright, that’s taken care of. Only one broken finger to inhibit my typing. Anthony just expressed his excitement with all the “rich white people who control the country.” Laura Bush just entered. She’s so dowdy. And I think she just wears the same pants suit every event. John Roberts just entered. Alito is so much more disgusting. John Roberts looks like a moderate compared to him.

Condi Rice just entered. I’m reminded of the Dave Chappelle skit in which she was given away by the Blacks during the Racial Draft. That was a brilliant skit. Woodie just said he doesn’t want to see an assassination ATTEMPT against Bush, which Anthony was excited about. John Roberts is going bald. Alito looks greasy. Woodie just called for the assassination of Bill Frist.

Anthony just pointed out that only the cool states are democratic. California, New York, Illinois, Wisconsin. Let’s hope good old Wisconsin stays that way. Now we are watching the door to the House chambers, and nothing is happening. I am getting prepared to be nauseated. Bush is so disgusting. “Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States.” Anthony is now doing the Bush laugh, “heh heh heh.” Some more bawdy jokes are being made. Bush has on a soft blue tie. Okay, here we go.

Bush always looks so smug. Anthony suggested someone stab Bush with a pen. We are all going to be arrested for terrorism. Bush is talking about the death of Coretta King. But, as Kanye West said, Bush hates Black people. Now Bush is starting out about how humbled he is. That’s why he rules so humbly… oh wait. “Tonight the state of our Union is strong and we will make it stronger.” ‘We will pursue the enemies of freedom.” “We will build the world economy.” Bush is really ugly.

Okay, he should be getting to some points here. I don’t want to have to make any more criticisms of his monkey-like face. He just said how important freedom and democracy are. But he didn’t mention Hamas. “The peace of the world requires [...] freedom” to bomb whoever the fuck we want. He’s going on about terrorism now. But he’s only talked about Sept. 11 once. After WWII, did anyone bring up Pearl Harbor anymore? Oh yah, actually they did. Strike that line. “We love our freedom, and we will fight to keep it.” Anthony – “Freedom is such a vague term.” I agree.

Alright, Issue One, we can’t leave Iraq because if we do terrorists will attack the United States (seriously, dude, think about it). “We will never surrender to evil.” America will not pursue a strategy of isolationism, like Bush proposed in 2000. Oh wait, Sept. 11 changed everything, like the fact that we have rights. “We are proud to be [the Iraqi's] allies in the pursuit of freedom.” From this speech, I believe that our victory in Iraq is not only certain, it is also imminent. “We are in this fight to win, and we are winning.” Decisions to reduce troop will be made by military leaders not members of congress, until they refuse to give you a blank check anymore, you idiot. “Second-guessing is not a strategy.” We must continue to let our soldiers die. Hey, we all stand by the troops, Bush. Support our troops, bring them home. Anthony is again shocked by how Bush gets away with all his misleading. Bush just winked at someone. Yuck. “The only way to defeat the terrorists [...] is by offering political freedom and change.” Now he’s talking about Egypt and their elections, which Woodie said were hardly democratic. Now Bush has said Hamas, democratically elected, will have to recognize Israel and abandon violence. Why?

Okay, Issue Two, democracy is the new savior, the second coming of Christ, started a while ago. Bush is talking to the Iranian people, saying that we respect them and their country. But now we must take the offensive to spread hope and fight disease. Anthony said he meant fight hope and spread disease.

Issue Three, I have too many issues to deal with so my speech will have no flow. We must fight terrorism here at home. We must fight malaria and AIDS. We must suck off Alito because he will overturn Roe vs. Wade, thank you lord Jesus. Bush calls for the renewal of the PATRIOT Act. Bush said he didn’t know about the attack before it happened, but he did. Lesson for Bush, watch Fahrenheit 9/11, it’s about your favorite subject, yourself. He has called for more wiretapping so we know if someone talks to al Qaeda. He wants to install television screens in every home, where someone may tune in at any time. He is back to talking against isolationism. And once again, it relates to terrorism. He is once again making the same points. I mean for real, I think that the teleprompter is on loop. He really is repeating himself.

Issue Four, the economy is SO strong which is why there is no unemployment at all, anywhere. We cannot retreat on the economy. Tonight, he claims, he will set out a better path for the economy. He is about to propose making the tax cuts permanent. Has he never had a course in economics? You want your tax code flexible, not rigid. Anthony just backed up my point; he’s an econ. major. Bush said that he is cutting more than 140 government programs, including some that help poor people who are evil.

Joke 1: Baby boomers are getting older, and two of my dad’s favorite people will turn 60 this year, me and Bill Clinton.

Issue Five, Social security won’t be around to give you people money. He said that last year congress did not act on his social security plan. All the democrats got up and started cheering and clapping.

Issue Six, immigrants are important, especially those from Europe ’cause they look like us, not like those spics and negroes.

Issue Seven, Insurance is important, and I have great insurance, so why don’t you? Lawsuits keep 1500 counties in the US from having an OB/GYN. So we must pass reform that will limit malpractice awards, so when a doctor cuts you open, leaves a rag inside, and you die from the infection, your children can’t get any money.

Issue Eight, we need cars that run on hydrogen, just like Jimmy Carter said in the late 1970s. Bush has said that we need to move away from dependance on Middle East oil. If we do that, we will never have to attack Iraq again.

Issue Nine, we need to lead the world in creativity and innovation. Bush wants more math and science education, ’cause he never got any himself. He wants more money for science grants and stuff. Especially for research towards proving there is a god. The American Competitiveness Initiative, he’s calling it.

“I urge you to holla at my boy, Alito.” – Anthony

Issue Ten, our culture is horrible, activist courts who try to redefine marriage and corruption in government. I’m sick of the reactionists like Alito who try to turn our country into a hellhole. “We must over turn Brown vs. Board of Education.” Just kidding, he didn’t say that.

“I have successfully eliminated one more bitch from the Supreme Court!” – Anthony

Issue Eleven, ban human cloning because we could make the terminator or something. Or clone Bush and shape him into a good person. How much of his stupidity is genetic?

“Can they make a goat man?” – Anthony

“I want Bush to wear a flag hat.” – Anthony

Issue Twelve, AIDS is bad. Thanks for the info. We are going to work with Faith-based groups to stop the spread of AIDS, groups that preach abstinence only. Excellent plan.

Issue Thirteen, better wrap this up before I start sounding too stupid.

“May god bless America.”

This post is SOOO long, good job for reading it all.

Oh how my wild dreams have come true. A blog post of mine has generated some real debate! And all that needed to happen was the death of 7 children. To tell you the truth, I think it was worth it. But that post and the deaths of these children has sparked a big debate as to how responsible the parents are who told their 15 year old daughter to drive their car. I am going to give a wrap up of the issues and encourage anyone with anything else to say to go ahead and leave a comment.

A) The driver of the truck killed these children. No matter who was driving this truck driver failed to stop. Whether breaking the law or not, the van has the right to stop without being hit from behind, even if the driver is driving illegally.

B) The parents of the children no doubt feel themselves responsible for the deaths of their children and neices and are hugely remorseful. They will suffer because of their choice to let their daughter drive for the rest of their lives.

C) Nevertheless, the parents were wrong to tell their daugher to drive. No matter the difficulties the parents were under, no matter anything that may have made riding the bus difficult or impossible for the children, no matter the parents’ work situations, no matter how responsible the daughter is – the parents were not correct (morally or legally) to let their daughter drive their van.

D) The parents are not victims. Because they told their daughter to drive their van and made a mistake in doing so, these parents cannot be called the victims of the accident. Only the 7 children who died can be called victims. And the children and driver of the bus who were injured.

E) The consequences of our choices determine what the punishment for those choices should be. In this case, should these parents be tried for allowing their daughter to drive, the consequences of that choice ought to be greater than had the daughter gotten pulled over for speeding. At the same time, the fact that the parents broke the law does not mean they will not be punished without a trial. If they are never tried, convicted or sentenced, they are already in prison. And they will live in that prison for the rest of their lives knowing that they themselves created the prison. They are being punished.

I believe that these five points are indisputable. But I might be wrong. Let me know if you agree or disagree. It’s been a great debate so far.

A couple days ago, in a north Florida town, seven children were killed in a fiery car crash, when a tractor-trailer smashed into their van, pushing it into the back of a school bus. Witness reports said the van exploded and was not recognizable even immediately after the crash. 5 of the children shared the same parents, and 2 others were cousins to the other children. This accident is truly quite awful.

I found the circumstances to be extremely interesting and so I read more about what happened. And in doing so, I cam across one very stunning fact – the driver of the van was 15 years old. The legal age to drive in this country is… last time I checked… 16. And drivers with a learner’s permit are not allowed to drive by themselves; they must have supervision. In learning this fact, I decided to read more about the family that had all these kids.

As it turns out, the family is quite religious. One of the children (the driver) was their biological daughter. The other four children belonging to the parents were adopted. And the parents were preparing to adopt more. People in the community interviewed after the acccident praised the family for their willingness to give homes to those children without. The family was priased for their charity. Indeed, the articles that I read (at least 5) all went on about what a tragedy this was, how wonderful the family was, and so on. In only one article was there mention of the fact that the driver was breaking the law in operating that vehicle, and that mention was deep in the other garbage they were spewing out.

This accident was a tragedy. It was awful. But here’s what was most awful about it. Why was that girl driving the van in the first place? I don’t know this, but I would suspect that she was told to do so by her parents because they lacked the resources to come and pick up their children themselves. If they had been responsible people, they would not have let a 15 year old BREAK THE LAW and drive their van.

I am sickened by these parents and I hope they go to prison. If they had done what they should, none of these children would be dead today. And even more, I am sickened by the news reports that continually fail to mention that a a 15 year old cannot legally drive. I don’t want to blame the Christian majority in this country for corrupting the news coverage, but if this family was Muslim and the same thing happened, don’t you think the first thing that would be reported would be the fact that the family told their daughter to break the law?

Yesterday, I read a news headline that stated, in the Palestinian elections, the Fatah party had won 46 and Hamas just 30. In my elation, I didn’t bother to read farther. Now I realize that this must have been seats so far decided in the 130+ seat parliment, because when I woke up today, I was shocked to read that Hamas had won a mojority of seats in the newly formed democratic government.

The United States has labeled Hamas a terrorist organization because of the suicide bombings they have carried out. But Hamas has said, if elected, it will be open to negotations with Israel and ran on a platform of cleaning up the corruption in the Palestinian Authority. Apparently this message reached out to Palestinian voters, because Hamas has won.

What will this mean for the Middle East peace process? I don’t know. But the US, through jerk-ass Secretary of State Rice, has said they will not work with Hamas. So all of a sudden we have a body the US had really wanted to work with, the Palestinians, in order to promote peace and democracy in this region, who go through the changes necessary for the US (i.e. hold democratic elections and elect a ruling and representative body), who now, because of these changes, the US won’t even TALK TO? It’s not a good sign, people.

I don’t know what will happen to peace in this region, but my guess is Hamas will try to negotiate with Israel, but Israel may not talk to them. With Sharon out of everything now thanks to health problems, it seems possible Israel will also elect a more hardline government. So with two more extreme parties trying to work together, it’s hard to stay positive about the chances for real peace.

In other news, the US attack on Iran was kept off for another day by Germany announcing support for Iran to accept enriched uranium from Russia. This will allow Iran the nuclear power it wants and will not send bombs over Tehran. So, one small victory against war, one giant leap against peace. Why don’t we just pull all our troops out and forget about Israel and Iraq and oil and all that stuff?

You think I work hard? You think I’m always busy? You think I am that industrious and entrepreneurial? You think that I study all the time and work when I’m not studying and go to bed at 2 and get up at 6 and run 12 miles everyday? You’re wrong. But I know how you could feel this way. Let me elaborate.

I had to take place in a conference call for Apple today. At 8 AM. Now this time is no doubt a bit early for some of the lightweights who are currently employed as campus reps. Others may just have porous minds. Whatever the reason, 4 of 8 reps. did not join in on the call. Those that did were also not able to wow the administrative types who were joining in. Myself, on the other hand, when speaking on behalf of UW-Madison floored Bob and Jason with my descriptions of “all” the activities we are taking part in here on campus. I made it sound like we work harder than a swarm of bees trying to sting a child to death.

But in reality are we working that hard? Of course not! In fact, I don’t feel especially busy with Apple stuff at all. So what’s the secret? 1) Numbers, numbers, numbers. I always make sure to tell everyone how BIG these events are. For example, I always toss around the 30,000 number when talking about All-Campus Party. And we will reach 30,000 students. Is it directed marketing, however? No! So that 30,000 students only reflects how many people attend all these events total throughout the week. Well, big whoop. The number doesn’t mean a lot. Additionally, on Friday we are participating in a music event, and I was sure to mention that it involved 5 LOCAL BANDS! This sounds huge to people at a school like Northwestern, because they don’t even have 5 bands on campus. So we sound awesome because of it. In reality, UW-Madison is just a big school, so everything we do sounds big. 2) Expansion. I like to make it sound as if we are constantly entering new markets, so I tout something like our recent expansion into Union space. Previously, we had not been allowed in the Union, but thanks to our new student org. we are. So is this exciting, yes! But only because it hasn’t been done before. 3) Lists. I like to list off all the events we are doing and roll right down that list when speaking. It makes it seem like we have events going on everyday. The structured nature of my comments make people naturally relate it to how structured a day, week, month are. And it works great.

Some of you also seem to think that I am a crazy good student because I am busy all the time. How do I cultivate this image? Again, it’s a matter of simple mind tricks. 1) I keep my away message as ‘Studying’ even when I’m not! I might be doing anything while you think I am slaving away over a book. I might be surfing the net, reading a magazine, or making a ice cream sundae, and you wouldn’t even know it. Tricky, huh? 2) Report the hours. I am always quick to note how many hours I have spent outside of my apartment and class. That means if I was at the library for 5 hours, I report this as evidence that I was studying the whole time. But remember, I always go to the library with friends, so that means I may have gotten involved in a debate over the legalities of wiretapping without a warrant and have completely forgotten about the 100 pages I have to read for the next day. Just ’cause I’m at a library doesn’t mean I’m studying. 3) Talk up class matters. I try to make it seem as if each of my classes discussed information that is very important, and make it seem like I get a lot out of each book that I read. In reality, the novels that I have to read usually just represent good stories to me, not a lot of in depth themes.

It’s these kind of appearances that make people think I work really hard all the time. But I don’t! Tricked you! On the other hand, I do put in a good number of hours for Apple every week. And I do spend a lot of time studying. And I type up all my notes from classes and always have my readings done on time and always have something to say about the readings in class. And I don’t turn in assignments late and I don’t procrastinate. So maybe, just maybe, I am working harder than everyone else, even if I, oh so sneakily, think I inflate this information. Maybe I really am working harder than you, I’m just too modest to realize it.

Oh, the joy of not having class on Monday. I slept until 9, then got up to waste time listening to public radio and typing on this blog. I had intended to get up at 8 and go running, but my bed felt altogether too warm and the outside air much too cold, and alas I couldn’t motivate myself to rise. To a degree, I wish that I had gone (not to say I couldn’t go right now), but after doing a careful Cost/Benefit Analysis, I realized I was getting more out of not moving than I would be from running around a track 50 times.

Other news first, the child first mentioned in the post “A New Edition?” has been born. My aunt, at age 44, gave birth to her third child, yesterday right after midnight. It’s a girl, born 2 weeks early, but weighing in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce, so it was good that it came out. She appears to be in good health and will be able to come home on Tuesday. I won’t be able to see her until Saturday, but I look forward to it greatly. I’m old enough to be the kid’s father, but I’m sure glad that I’m not. What would I be doing with a kid? Augh! Why did I even bring this up?

Anyway, the real business for this post is the matter of trust in relationships. I believe, for any relationship to succeed, there must be a significant level of trust. The two parties must have that kind of respect for each other in that they believe the other person has the capability of making proper choices for himself. Lately, however, I have been observing a lot of instances where this does not take place and I believe we need to reevaluate the health of our relationships in general.

Being angry at someone for making unprecidented choices when you yourself have not been in said situation either displays a lack of trust. While this example is a bit goofy, let me give it to you. On the popular MTV program ‘Made,’ in which a young person is taught how to be something they are not, a young woman sought to be a skateboarder. Due to the intense physical nature of this type of transformation, her training was taking up a lot of time. She decided to relax one afternoon by having some friends over to her pool. Her coach, however, showed up and took her away for more training. The young woman’s best friend felt hurt that her friend would decide to skateboard instead of spend time with her. I believe that this friend does not trust the budding skateboarder. She does not believe that her friend is making the correct choices for her life. She may also harbor feelings that she is no longer worthwhile in her friend’s life because of this new interest. Because neither person had been in this type of situation before and because that particular friend had no experience making these types of choices, the belief that her friend was wasting her time skateboarding is evidence of a lack of trust. If she trusted her friend, she could recognize that while she did not understand why her friend wanted to skateboard, her friend must be making the right choice.

These situations occur all over. We get angry at people we love because we see them making choices incorrect in our eyes. Sometimes these situations in which we get angry are repeats; we have seen our friends in them before and get frustrated to see them make the same choices. But more often than not, they are unprecedented. I, myself, am guilty. I often find myself upset at Anthony for not studying in the ways I have seen him study in the past. He will often spend more time in his room than he will going to a library. Yet I have no knowledge of his grades before or after he changed his study habits. What my feelings show is a lack of trust that Anthony is getting the work done that he needs to, but also a feeling of hurt that somehow his not going to a library with me shows that he no longer values that time spent with me. What I need to do is trust that he has the abililty to get his work done in whatever way he decides. That is the sign of a true and good friendship.

I believe that this analysis goes against many prior thoughts about how a friendship ought to operate. I think that many people would say that a strong friendship is one where both parties feel great concern for the well-being of the other person. I think that the so-called concern for well-being may, in many cases, simply be a selfishness in the person. We do not want to let our friends do things that hurt us, and we often cover this up under the guise of doing what is best for the friend. While I do not believe that selfishness in a friendship is wrong (stay tuned for another post on that), I think that a good relationship should be one in which we can let the friend go and make their own choices with the knowledge that he or she is capable of choosing correctly his or her path into the future.

I am sure that my long absence from posting has been noted (and enjoyed) by you loyal readers. No doubt your mind was filled with new and wonderous thoughts because you did not have to contemplate the mundane drama that fills my life and which fills the posts of this blog. I can only imagine the new heights of productivity that you have achieved, your time being freed up from reading annoyingly long posts that I have been pounding out every day or so since December. I’ll take this time to say, you are welcome.

With the onset of classes, my time has been consummed more than it had been all break. Indeed, I now have things to do during the day (i.e. go to class, study, read textbooks). And classes have been going well. My schedule is nearly entirely sorted out, and I should be able to finally enroll in the class for which I was number one on the waiting list. This will allow me to look ahead to graduation and the future. So far, all my classes seem interesting. They also seem to contain a reading load lighter than that which I had last semester. This pleases me greatly. Fewer papers too.

The title of this post alludes to a subject I have been meaning to take up in this forum (you can post comments, see, so that’s why it’s a forum) – the belief that the greatest pleasure and entertainment in life is derived from random occurences.

This notion is present all over our society. Pop culture embraces it fully in television programs such as ‘Family Guy.’ A random and unexplainable event will occur as an attempt to elicit laughter from the audience. Because of the prevelence of this idea, it is no wonder than many people also find the notion applicable in their own lives. I have noticed the phenomenom especially with teenagers, often those who are newly able to drive. There seems great pleasure in doing activities such as wandering around a store or in talking to a random person or going somewhere for no express purpose.

This idea bothers me. These people, in their embrace of the randomness of life, seem to lose the motivation to plan. If pleasure comes from activites that occur at random, then an activity that is planned out in advance becomes nothing but a let down if it must compare to something completely unplanned. In taking pleasure from the random, anticipation becomes merely a pain. When anticipation becomes painful, we lose our ability to wait.

Life then becomes a constant journey for the next fix, the next thrill. And when these thrills come from activities that we neither plan nor expect, our motivation turns to a continual desire for stimulation. I don’t mean to sound like some sort of old cogger, but the ability to have patience is being lost in this world of the NOW.

I don’t know where I am going with this argument, and I too laugh at the randomness of popular television and movies. But my experience with these people who gain so much pleasure and fill their lives with random activites is that these people exist in a constant state of boredom. When they participate in a planned event, it is always a let down for them. That doesn’t seem to be a positive way to live one’s life.

Today was the first day of classes. First impressions are very important, so I dressed in a nice grey shirt and a tie. I wore jeans, but only because I am fashion conscious (i.e. I don’t want to look like a jerk). My shoes were nice, but not super nice. And I wore my grey “Coldplay” jacket, as it has been dubbed by my roommates. I had four power lectures in a row. That was a little rough, but because it was the first day of class, I didn’t worry too much. I will be dropping one of those classes, hopefully the class I had right away at 9:30. It seems interesting, but 4 lit. classes is too much. I will only drop it, however, assuming that I can get into this other class. The prof. loves me, and I am number one on the waiting list, so I am not worried. I am so not worried that I went and bought the books for that class and not for the class I am planning to drop. Anyway, my dress today was all about politics. I was there dressed that way for a reason – to make a good first impression.

Some minor Apple drama is going to unfold, I predict. Bob wants us all to participate in a bi-weekly conference call lasting around an hour. This seems reasonable. The trouble is that the system works by having all participants call into a central location which then facilitates the call. The number to call in is toll-free, but when you use a cell phone it still charges you. Because Laduma, Jeremy, and myself only have cell phones and indeed do not even know anyone with a landline, we would be forced to pay for this call. I raised this issue with Bob, who had no solutions, and to Jason, a guy who works for Apple in Chicago, who suggested I look into expensing the minutes. Business phone calls are covered as an expense, so I e-mailed the coordinator of the campus rep. program to ask her about expensing it, and so far she hasn’t gotten back to me. The way I figure it, if I go over my minutes, it costs $.25 a minute. That seems to be what the cell phone company values per minute. They only cut me a discount rate because I buy in bulk. So I think that I should get $15 for an hour long call. They are my damn minutes and I am not giving them up to Apple for free. I get free incoming calls so I give out my number freely for business purposes, which is a lot more than other reps do. If I get that much money, one hour on the phone will net me $25! Pretty awesome, but I suspect this plan is going to meet with some flack.

But we are very good at playing politics over here in Madison, and I sent out an e-mail detailing the problem of not having a landline. Jeremy responded soon after that he also needed a solution to this problem because he didn’t have access to a landline either. This perfect political play means Bob is about to have a full-scale revolution on his hands, and we are sure to win. Way to go, Jeremy! It was a brilliant move.

Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, said yesterday that New Orleans will once again be a “chocolate city.” What he meant of course is that those residents with skin color darker than pale will be given help to rebuild their lives in the city and that they should not be afraid to return. New Orleans, after all, pre-Hurricane Katrina was 67% African American. He also made some references to the will of god, which were neglectible. But a lot of people are in an uproar now about what he said. I think he could have made his point with more tact, but god damn it, haven’t those people suffered enough? George Bush does hate black people, and brown people, and yellow and red people, purple and green people – if you ain’t pale, he’s got no time for you. So isn’t it about time that we see some more statements like that from powerful people like Mr. Nagin? I think so. I stand behind him, even though I think his points could have been made in a way that represented what he meant so he didn’t have to go around explaining it to everyone. But I feel him and support him.

Hilary Clinton made the news too for a statement she made on Monday in which she compared the House of Representatives to a plantation. People are upset by this, probably because she is a woman and her comments make sense. Think about it – the House is run by a bunch of rich, white, land-owning, Southerners. The difficulty in her statement comes in when you try to fully carry our the analogy – who are the slaves? But even with this difficulty, I still stand by her statement. I appreciate what she had to say.

Of course, both these figures were put on the political chopping block for making statements that seem to imply we do not live in a society completely devoid of racial prejudices. Well, what do you know, as much as Republicans and other idiots would like to deny that racism is not institutionalized and is still a problem in the world, THEY ARE WRONG! So thanks to you, Mr. Nagin and Ms. Clinton, for bringing up some of these problems. And for giving me the opportunity to talk about politics in this post.

Classes start tomorrow, putting an end to our shorter than usual winter break. I will be back in the saddle for 12 credits, which means I have to drop one course. It will mean being back once again for papers, exams, discussions, and lectures. And it will mean being back again for the last time. After this semester, I will no longer be an undergraduate. It’s been a good life as it has lasted. 7 semesters of classes I have taken, some better than others. I have definitely enjoyed my time here at UW-Madison, and hopefully this final semester will continue on the same track.

These last few days have been pretty uneventful, sitting around, playing video games, reading books. Overall, it has been very nice. The last few days of summer were dreadfully dull, but in this case relaxing has been a pleasure.

I need to go and buy textbooks today. I don’t know why I haven’t gone yet. Perhaps because I am scared at how much they are going to cost, when I really don’t have the money to afford them. But I’ll whip out my good old credit card and wait to pay things off later. So far, I have never once in my entire life held a credit charge long enough that I had to pay interest on it. I always pay my bill in full, but who knows now with graduate school applications being due and me still waiting on a large check from Apple, which should have come but hasn’t and my roommates owing me over $150 for electricity.

So anyway, best of luck for those of you starting classes tomorrow. I know I’m looking forward to it.

Yah, rock out!

Today was pretty much devoid of human contact. I did venture out to State Street to buy Brittany a card for her birthday. I went to Pop Deluxe and found a delightful card. Hopefully, she will just flip when she sees it. I have never seen someone flip and therefore have an intense interest in witnessing a “flipping.” But other than that, I sat around my apartment watching playoff games on television. I am such a man. The Colts lost, which was amazing, and the Steelers are looking great. I haven’t seen Denver play so I don’t know what will happen between those two teams for next week, but I am excited to find out. The Bears lost as well, to the Panthers, and I wasn’t surprised by this. I was impressed with the Bears season, playing the whole time with a rookie quarterback, Kyle Orton, who recorded the second most wins ever as a rookie. Woodie doesn’t like the Bears, but I was really proud of what they accomplished.

I fell asleep while watching, so that was nice. But then I got up and stumbled around for a while. I can’t even think of other interesting things that I did. So why am I even writing this post?

Krista joined FaceBook, I just learned, which is pretty crazy. And I talked to the mysterious and elusive Lea Gardiner today online, which was nice. She said that she has read my blog, which I find amazing and flattering, and no doubt she will see this. So, shout out to you, Lea, if you read this. If you don’t, let this shout out echo into the silent future. Forever, forever, forever…

Today, Brittany, Dan, and I went snowboarding. For myself, it was my first experience participating in any downhill sports. Though my sports’ performances usually do go downhill, this was the first time that this seemed expected. We left here around 10 and got there around 11. We were on the slopes by 11:30 and off by 3.

Immediately, we started by going up the big ski lift to the way way top of the mountain (Cascade Mountain, hardly a mountain at all). This was very exciting. I had never ridden a ski lift before. You really get high and its quite fun. Of course, getting off was difficult and I fell down, as did Dan and Brittany. Dan got going right away, down the large hill. Brittany and I took our time, making sure to fall a dozen times or so on our way to the bottom. By the time we made it down, we realized that the bunny hill was where we were destined. So we took the smaller lift this time and were much happier for it.

Boarding down the smaller hill, it’s a lot harder to get hurt. And I think I only hit my head a couple of times when falling on that hill. And falling isn’t as bad, because you don’t get going as fast. Still, as my fear level rose, I fell more. And the more I fell, the more I feared. I would say that I improved, however, and I would absolutely go again, even though I ended up somewhat battered.

In other news, Dan rented some movies today – The Notebook and Spanglish. We had previously watched The Notebook together over the summer. I believe I wrote a blog posting about it. And so there we were again watching this romantic movie, cheering on main character Noah at the key moments when he does what he needs to in order to win the heart of young Alli. And she fell in love huge with him too. It’s unfortunate that those things don’t happen in this day and age. And least… not to me and Dan.

I believe that people become upset (as a general term) because their views on how something should be conflict with how things actually are. Therefore, when something makes us upset, we can look to see how our views conflict with reality. Then we can choose to change reality or change our views.

I pride myself on having a pretty clear picture of reality and therefore, I am not upset very often. When I do get upset, I am also pretty good at changing my views or doing something that makes me feel like I am changing reality. Overall, I am extremely happy because of these abilities. But that means when a disappointing situation comes along, it gets me down more because I am not used to it.

I misunderstood a person I met last semester, thinking that she and I had a friendship that might be able to extend beyond the classroom. At the end of the semester, we had studied together and hung out more than we had. There had been things she had said that made me believe she enjoyed spending time with me. I tried my best not to think about a relationship, but I did get a crush on this girl. I was excited to return to Madison partly because of the possibility of hanging out with her before classes start.

On Monday, I called her. She didn’t answer her phone, but I was used to that because she had told me that she was really bad about answering it. I patiently left a message and started waiting. She didn’t call me back that day, but that didn’t surprise me either. After 24 hours had passed, however, I started to feel negative. Dan cheered me up some saying that because she was bad about her phone and because it was break, I should expect to have to wait 2-3 days. When the outer most limit of his time frame passed, I gave up hope.

This leaves me down. If she is trying to send a message to me by not calling, that’s fine. I would prefer that the message be delivered more directly, but it’s her choice. This means that I really misinterpreted a lot of signs. If she is not trying to send a message, I think it’s just as bad. It means that she simply does not make me a priority in her life. She doesn’t care enough about me to call me back. I probably get lumped into the same group as a lot of people, people she doesn’t deem worth her time. So she doesn’t hate me and may even enjoy spending time with me, but because of her personality, she doesn’t want to take the time to socialize. Or she may have something going on, a family member in the hospital or something, and therefore isn’t able to talk to anyone right now. Who knows.

But I’m still upset, no matter the reason. I had this girl figured for someone who she is not. We have a class together next semester, so we will see how that goes. Right now, though, I’m feeling down. A lot of people have helped cheer me up, and I appreciate that a lot. But I’m still working on adjusting my views on reality. It’s not entirely what I thought it was.

I’ve been feeling frustrated about the state of my romantic life lately. Well, let’s just say I feel frustrated a lot, but especially much lately. My observations of some women (the women I am around) is that they do not want to enter into relationships. They are happy just being single and seeking out attention from men when they feel low, but not seeking to engage themselves in commitment. The men that I am around seem to be the exact opposite. They all seek to be in a relationship, even if they are not actively searching. They are waiting for the right woman to come along so that they can commit to her.

This dichotomy is puzzling to me. It seems to me that as we grow older, the differences between men and women ought to bridge themselves. When you are younger, many superficial ideas separate a boy from a girl. The idea of long hair is enough to make a boy be called a girl. There is not an understanding of what truly differentiates a male and a female. Through middle school, the differences, even as they change, keep boys and girls apart. Come high school, however, it seems that there is a push to mix. Maybe it’s the sudden realization that our hormones (commonly) push us towards the opposite sex. High school is a great time of mixing when a person is likely to have good friends of both genders.

Once college arrived, however, at least for me, my friendships with women ended for the most part. There were a few female friends that I had, but had I not already been in a relationship, they would have become women I was interested in, rather than just friends. My strongest friendships formed with Anthony, Dan, and Woodie, and these are the friendships that last today, whereas the women I was friends with have all faded out of my life. Even today, I really only consider myself to have one female friend. Something has obviously changed between high school and college.

Here’s what I think it is. Male friendship, to a certain degree, is superficial. Friendship can form over anything – talking about sports, about women, about classes. Men can carry on conversations about these subjects knowing that the other male is probably going to have something to say. With resonable certainty, I can ask a man whether he thinks Reggie Bush or Vince Young will get picked first in the NFL Draft. The superficial nature of men’s friendships extends into the realm of women as well. I understand when a male friend starts to date a women. I understand that being with a woman is much more important than being with me, because there are certain things that cannot be achieved in a male to male friendship, things like sexual intimacy.

I do not think that the same feeling exists in friendships between women. In my experience, when a woman begins to spend more time with a man and less time with her female friends, the female friends become jealous, begin to hate the man, and try to break up the relationship. This is obviously a huge, sweeping generalization, but let me give you two examples. When I started dating Megan way back in high school, her best friend Ann became hugely upset. She started to act irrationally and got angry at Megan when she chose to spend time with me rather than with her. This kind of fighting led to the complete and utter end of their friendship. When Brittany started to hang out more with me than she did with Mai, Mai became upset. Mai made critical comments about me and began acting in a very passive-aggressive manner. She is better now, but I do not think that she can accept that Brittany chooses to hang out with me. I think, to a certain degree, these types of feelings go on among all women.

Herein lies the problem. If a man wants to enter into a relationship, he has the backing of his male friends. They all encourage him to go for her. If a woman wants to enter into a relationship, she has to realize that her action will probably result in changing relationships between herself and her female friends. She has to realize that her friends will feel that she is somehow betraying them. What a leap of faith it is, then, to abandon other friends simply to be in a relationship. Isn’t it better for her to just find a hookup rather than looking for a relationship? What do you know, that is exactly what I have found.

So women readers, prove me wrong. I would love to hear some great and inspiring stories about how your friends supported you fully when you were interested in a guy, and after you got into a relationship with him, these single friends were extremely supportive and completely understood your feelings. Maybe if I read some stories like that, I wouldn’t be feeling so frustrated myself.

Oh jolly! My post with an inflammatory title (“I’m Trendy and Christians Suck” – the latter part) got some feedback from my sister! It is nice to have this kind of debate going on. Let me refresh you readers who do not remember by listing some of the points that I made. I actually made very little reference to my sister in the post. My general outline for what I was going to talk about was “my sister’s growing dependence on religion as a strong and guiding force in her life, the hypocrisy behind Christians, and how I am distrubed by her choices.” But in the post you may note that I never actually got to points one or three. I did not discuss how my sister seems to have religion in her life a lot lately or how this bothers me.

My sister responded with this statement. “Michael, I know you have a right to say whatever you want to on your website, but I’m extremely hurt that you would attack my choice of beliefs in such a public way. My faith is no one’s business except my own. You don’t even appear to understand what it is that I personally believe. I don’t question your belief system and will continue not to do so. Please extend me the same courtesy unless you take the time to understand what it is I do believe.”

The points that she raises are important, but I do not believe that I actually ever questioned her faith, nor did I ever state that she believed in the ideas that I discussed. Indeed, her comment makes it seem as if I attacked her. If she does believe in the ideas I tried to debunk, then I did criticize her beliefs. I believe, however, that this kind of discussion about beliefs is very important. What I have written below is a defense and explanation of my actions.

If the minute someone questions a person’s beliefs, the questioner turns into someone attacking those beliefs, how can a person grow and increase his or her own understanding in what he or she believes? Do I attack someone if I point out that something they believe doesn’t appear to follow the rules of logic? If Brittany happens to believe that Bascom Hall is heaven and John Wiley is god, am I wrong to point out to her the reasons why her beliefs do not seem to be logical? Similarly, am I wrong to point out to people that a constant comparison to god seems to be counter-productive when one wants to live a good life? This belief, as I proved, is illogical if your goal is to become a better person in the most efficacious way possible.

Pointing out problems in logic with tenants of the Christian faith does not mean that I criticized someone for having a belief in a higher power. Indeed, Christianity is only one of hundreds of religions that center around the belief in a higher being or beings. As it happens to be the religion I know the most about, have been exposed to the most, and because of forces within it, has become an extremely repressive religion in the United States and abroad, I am apt to criticize it. Because it is so prevalent in our society as well, it is easy to criticize. Even if I made a low blow on an easy target, I still never said that 1) someone who believes in god is not obeying the rules of logic, 2) whether or not I believe in god, or 3) I think my sister’s beliefs are illogical.

Had the title of my post been “Brittany Sucks” because of the illogical beliefs that she held as I wrote about above, a justified criticism would be that I had hurt Brittany by saying that she sucks because she holds illogical beliefs, but not because I was attacking her beliefs. If the beliefs that I showed to be illogical can be shown to be held by Christians, then any criticism should be because I chose to say that these Christians suck rather than that I was attacking their beliefs.

In this world of quick thought and action, we often do not sit down and think about what are the guiding forces in our lives. There is seldom time for a detailed analysis of what our beliefs are and how they affect the choices that we make everyday. I believe that this is a great weakness in our society. I enjoy taking the time to critique both my own beliefs and the beliefs of others. In doing so, I believe that I make myself a better person with stronger convictions. The questioning of these beliefs are what shapes them into the logical principles that guide my choices today.

The purpose of my post was an honest critique of logical fallacies I perceive to be pervasive in the Christian community. I did not take the time to question anything that my sister believes; the outline that I provided was incorrect. If my sister does hold the beliefs that I criticized, I would hope she is able to either adjust her beliefs so they do not suffer from the logical pitfalls I pointed out or provide for me and all you readers a detailed argument highlighting the places in my logic where I was incorrect. I believe she owes it to herself to choose one option or the other.

I am sick of tolerance. It once was the word of the day for many different movements, including racial and sexual minority groups seeking greater acceptance. And in this day and age, I still hear people say across many different stratae (from religious to political), “Be tolerant of those different than you.” But I am sick of tolerance. Tolerance is not enough.

I was reading an article in Time magazine about a new show called ‘The Book of Daniel.’ It has no affiliation with E.L. Doctorow’s masterpiece of the same title, but rather is about an Episcopalian minister with a lot of problems who talks to Jesus as they ride around in a car together. I’m sure the show has a lot more depth than that, but the point is, the show deals somewhat controversially with religion. Jesus is kind of a cool dude, and the minister has a gay son whom he loves. So here come the Christian Right to tell us that this show is evil. Then the article discussed how tolerant the Episcopalian church is towards the LGBT community and so on.

I started to think about this and about my experience with so-called tolerant religious people. Their position on homosexuality is often, while your lifestyle is against my religion and I believe you are going to hell, I accept you for who you are. Only trouble is, they DON’T! That statement is a boldfaced lie. It’s like kicking someone down and then helping them back up again. You cannot simotaneously condemn someone and then tell them that you accept them.

This is where tolerance has gone all wrong. This message of tolerance as something to work to achieve merely gives people a license to hate. I can hate a person of African descent as long as I do not do anything to keep them out of my neighborhoods. I can hate a gay person as long as I do not try to discriminate against them based on their orientation. But what good does this do our society? If all we are asking people to do is TOLERATE someone, what about the next step? What about UNDERSTANDING the person? Understanding what they go through, understanding how their life is different from our own, understanding how we can all work towards common goals, understanding that we really aren’t different at all.

So if you have hate in your heart, let it out. I don’t want anyone covering up their bigoted views any more under the guise of tolerance. And expect me to do the same. If you are a racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted person, you should expect me to hate you. I will never tolerate you. I will work to make sure you are outcasted from society as a relic of our sin-ridden past. Please, show me your views so I can pick out each and every one of your kind and make sure you can never hide under your veil of tolerance again.