Michael Braun's Blog

Lauren and I made some pretty amazing food for dinner last night. We started with a recipe in the Indian cookbook that we bought a while ago, after eating in an amazing Indian restaurant.

First we fired up the Wok and cooked some onions, cumin seeds, raisans, and spinach (all spiced with cinnamon and cloves). Then we took that off the heat and mixed in some feta cheese. Then we took 4 chicken breast halves and filled them with the mixture. We put those in the electric skillet, then added watercress and tomato sauce, before leaving it all to simmer for around 15 minutes. It turned out incredibly and wasn’t as difficult as I first thought it was going to be.

This type of success makes me want to buy cookbooks on food from other parts of the world. It has also given me new joy in cooking. Time was, I scorned recipes, preferring to go it alone and invent anew. While this resulted in some great dishes (an excellent spaghetti sauce, the amazing terriyaki lime chicken stirfry), I felt stuck, unable to do anything more without stepping out of my element. But now, I’m free! though stuck with a book, too.

In other news, April has been an amazing blogging month. 16 entries in 30 days! This comes from the suggestion that my ability to blog might be threatened by what I write. So while I’m watching my back and checking my steps, I refuse to let my voice be stiffled. If you’ve got a problem with something I write, you know how to contact me. And you know you can leave a comment. And you know I’m gon’ bring what you said to the forefront and address it straightup. So don’t stand behind your quiet lies, spying eyes and blithing cries. Bring it to my face or watch me bring the pain.

I just read an interesting article about Iran trying to restrict its barbers from cutting “Western” haircuts. Check it out here. The crazy thing is that the people of Iran will have to go along with this psycho law if the government expects to enforce it. The people must give their consent to be governed. That’s some famous scholars original idea; it’s not mine, but it bears mentioning in this instance.

What would happen, do you think, if all Iranian barbers said, we’re going to cut whatever our patrons want. And what would happen if the people of Iran said, I’m gon’ have whatever damn haircut I feel like; if that means I’m going with the Ahmadinejad, sweet, but I can also go with the Bono or anybody else I bloody want! What’s the government going to do? Arrest everyone? If the people don’t give their consent to this, don’t view the government as having a legitimate reason for enforcing such a law, then the police can’t do anything. And if they try, there would be blood on the streets.

But the problem is there are enough people in Iran who believe that their crazy government is doing the right thing that they are likely to go along with it. Yes, yes, they will say, of course this seems more restrictive than the things you have in the West, but this is Iran and we must follow the laws of Islam. Well, fuck Islam if that’s all it’s got to offer! Stop trying to remove the rights from individual citizens. Let the laws of society restrict someone from getting a haircut; we do that in the West, and it works very well. No one gets a 8-inch mohawk and expects to get a job as an investment banker specializing in client relations.

There’s good example of the psychos who are willing to enforce these laws in the book, “The Kite Runner.” Now, personally, I thought the book wasn’t very good at all, but it does a good job of explaining how some people will go all out to enforce what they believe in. Either that, or because they see there’s power in it, or ’cause they just think they’re so hot right now. But whatever the reason, these people go crazy to make sure people are living by their ridiculous laws. I recall a while ago some market vendor in Afganistan (or some other Islam country) was arrested because the display of his fruit could have been construed to represent male genitalia. Insane!

And the worst part is America could easily go this way! We’ve got enough psycho-Christians walking around who want to restrict people’s lives, spread lies about the world, and rule everyone under Jesus’ name. Well, I’ll tell you what, when that time comes, you bet I’m gon’ be out in the street, fighting for my freedom. Either that, or I’m moving to Canada.

So, I’ve almost completely decided to move come June. Why, you ask? Well, let’s see. 1. I’ve got a bit of a moving bug having not lived in the same place for more than a year during the last 5-6 years. 2. I feel removed from Madison, living out in Cross Plains, and am willing to spend more to live in the city and accept 10 minutes onto my commute to work. 3. I’d like to be a little closer to Lauren. So that’s why. But of course the process of moving is a long and difficult one. It can be very difficult to find an apartment that suits.

So I whipped up a spreadsheet to layout the places I’m looking at and will shortly start the process. Hopefully my rent won’t increase too much, but even if it does, I’m more than willing to pay more to get a better apartment (and hopefully one with two bedrooms!).

Anyway, not much else going on here. Yesterday, with Lauren off to Ripon, I gave Tony a call and found that he was coming to Madison! So I met up with him and crew at a bookstore on Park Street. Then, it was off to Star Cinema to see movie “Hot Fuzz,” which was excellent. Then onto Edo Japanese Restaurant on Park Street for some good food. Then to Borders to look at Books.

I then went to hang out with John over at Old Chicago, where he was watching a hockey game. We stayed there until around 11 and then went to a bar (Mickey’s) on the East Side. We played some darts and talked. I ended up getting home around 2.

Unfortunately, this morning hasn’t quite lived up to the busyness of yesterday. I’m enjoying a quiet moment, and hopefully doing some laundry eventually this morning. Other than that, not much going on. It’ll be another week starting tomorrow. So that’ll be something, anyway. Hope everyone else had a great weekend, unless you are a person who is reading this who should not be. In that case, I wish you get eaten alive by maggots. Peace, y’all!

I’ve been buying a lot of music lately. The iTunes Music Store makes it so easy, plus I love music and I have the money to spend. But in order to find the music to buy, I often read reviews of music. This helps to steer me towards artists I would otherwise have not heard of.

Recently (last week) I bought an album by The Fratellis – Costello Music. It’s pretty good. You may know one of their songs, Flathead, which you may know, as it was featured it an iPod commercial. Ba du ba ba da daa daa daa daa, et cetera. Now, I like the song okay, but I much prefer some of the other songs on the album. And overall, it’s one of those albums where no song stands out as truly amazing. They only work because it’s a fun collection of tracks.

But a review I read (in the Onion’s AV Club no less) suggested putting that song on a mixtape and losing the rest of the album. I was shocked! Just because it’s the most well-known song of the album doesn’t mean it’s anywhere close to the top of the best song. I’m shocked the AV Club would sink to such commercialism. Plus, aren’t we all a little sick of hearing the song on television anyway? Would you really want to risk becoming sick of a song you put on a mixtape before the other songs grew equally tired?

It’s just like all those “Greatest Hits” collections. For some artists, they work great. I would never want to purchase an album by Styx; for me, their greatest hits is MORE than enough. But for artists like Queen, who produced some amazing albums, I sometimes feel limited and regretful that I bought their greatest hits (of course, I was about 9 when I got that album). I just don’t think you can sum up an entire band who produced great albums by putting together those tracks that were released for radio play. Of course the singles will become the greatest hits. The other songs don’t have a chance. But that does not mean they are even close to the best songs the band produced.

Anyway, music is awesome.

Shiiit, I’m gon’ crush you! Mortar pestle, grind you up. Who watches the watchers, those creepy kids with the high tech spy gear? The one’s who know more than they should, who would use it to get back at you, abuse their privledges, watch your every move.

It’s NBA Playoff time! This year it’s not quite the same as last (without NBA fan roommates who insist on watching the games) but hey, I’m still following the games. Next up on TNT is Mavs Vs. Warriors. Mavs, my favorite NBA team, lost in the first game, but are sure to recover. Dan’s got them picked to go all the way to the finals for the second year in the row. I’m not quite as optimistic, but they definitely have as good a chance as anyone else.

Nothing else going on. It’s raining again outside. I just got down with some grocery shopping. I went to Cub Foods instead of Woodman’s. It was nice, but I think I’ll go to Woodman’s next time. I like Sentry too, but it’s much more expensive than Woodman’s. Cub is only somewhat more expensive.

Lately, every time I go grocery shopping I try to buy a new spice. That way, I build up my collection one or two at a time. So far, I’m doing pretty well. I definitely have a lot of exciting possibilities to cook with.

What’s up with you? Anything? You been busy? Relaxed? Is your semester coming to an end? Do you have a job? Who are you?

Go Mavs!

I like art, making it especially. Now, I’m not much one for drawing and painting and all that stuff, as I don’t have any talent in it. But I do like to write and make music. It’s so wonderful to play a piano or sing or rhyme or do a million different things and record it. And it’s great to write poems and stories. I wish I did more of it. I always get stuck between the idea and the start of writing. For some reason, I have trouble making that jump, though I’m working on it. Journaling helps, as it gives you practice in organizing your thoughts into coherrent sentences. And blogging helps too, as jumbled and crazy as this one may be.

Anyway, here’s a poem I wrote today. Its stanzas are haikus.

Sky High

A PR Campaign:
So much heaven on their minds.
“Get the big reward!”

New advertisements,
message blankets the airwaves,
yells, “The King is here!”

“Believe for freedom!”
Sin scrubbed from perm’nent records.
All mankind set free.

So they purported.
And the price to see truth (death)
seemed just about right.

Many paid their souls
to get in on the ground floor.
Heaven is sky high.

I like the poem and I think there is enough content there for some actual analyzing. Kind of cool.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Alberto Gonzales – this dude has lost his mind. He can’t remember anything. Everything he told congress turned out to be not true, contradicted by emails. Ends up he was a lot more involved in the firing of 8 US Attorneys than he let on. So then he goes to talk to them again, and all of a sudden he can’t remember much of anything about the whole situation. He doesn’t know who put together the list of attorneys. He can’t remember asking for a list. He didn’t bother to review the list. He didn’t bother to check the selected attorneys’ performance reviews. He didn’t give them a change to rebut their firing or tell them any reasons why they were being fired. Well, I think we should all do him a favor and let him know exactly why he needs to go.

Paul Wolfowitz – this guy is just a moron. First he architects the very successful Iraq war, and then Bush sends him off to head the World Bank. At first I thought, maybe this won’t be so bad. The guy is a psycho-neo-con, and that means he thinks democracy should be instilled by force as it will solve the world’s problems. But that also means he’s concerned with the world problems (or at least how they relate to the US). Trouble is, this guy thinks he can use his power to give money to anyone he wants. First, he gets his girlfriend a cushy with the State Department. Then he makes it so his staff at the bank make huge salaries. Now when he gets in trouble about it, he says he did wrong, but won’t resign.

So why not? Why not resign after bring shame on the position you hold? ‘Cause these folks are members of the Bush administration. They think that they are better than everyone else and can do whatever they want. And when Bush stands up and supports them, it sure makes it easier. Still, Rumsfeld left, so maybe there’s still hope. It’s time to weaken the prospects of Bush’s legacy. A few more resignations will surely help!

That’s what everyone’s favorite mass-murderer, Cho Seung-Hui, was declared by a Virginia judge. He was taken to a mental health facility, where he underwent psychiatric evalutation and was released, doctors recommending that he continue to get outpatient treatment.

But then he was able to purchase a firearm? Therein lies reason one that this incident may not warrant changes to gun laws. If we keep people who have a history of mental illness from legally purchasing weapons, it becomes more difficult for them to get one to commit mass-murder.

But was there more that police could have done? Was there more the University could have done? When he was later reported, due to his violent stories, to the police, did they have some leeway to recommend that he again be brought before a judge who could have ordered him to undergo another psychiatric evaluation? Was there something the University’s housing system could have done to make sure he was getting help? Were there policies in place that would have kept this young man from making the choices he did, and more importantly, saving the lives of all those who died?

These are the kinds of things I would like to see come out in whatever investigations are pending. While I am sure no blame will be tossed around by those organized to investigate, hindsight is 20/20. Let’s be sure to take advantage of that.

For more information, check out this article from CNN.

So I’ve heard numerous news sources say that the shooter at Virginia State, Cho Seung-Hui, was from South Korea. But wait a second, he moved here with his family when he was 8 years old. Doesn’t that mean he’s pretty well integrated into America? Further proof that he’s an American, he engaged in a great American tradition – the mass shooting of people to express anger, rage, and mental illness! I guess the media would be saying the same thing if he had moved here from Brazil or Liberia or Canada, but it still bugs me. As far as I’m concerned, the guy is American unless he expressly stated that he didn’t consider himself such.

In other news, I recently purchased the New Super Mario Brothers game for Nintedo DS. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the game. It does remind me of why I never played the games on any other system; I’m not nearly as patient as is necessary for success. Nor are my reflexes good enough. But, I’m working thru slowly.

It’s much nicer than the first Mario Brothers game I ever played, whatever the first game was for GameBoy. With that game, there was no way to save and no way to go back on the screen. This game looks beautiful and has a lot of fun new features. My reflexes have also improved since those early days. I’ve got Lauren playing as well, recounting her early video-gaming experiences.

There was a recent question on Slashdot, asking if gaming was better back then, and I’m not sure I know the answer. Certainly there are a lot of games I’ve enjoyed much more than games 10-15 years ago – Halo and Grand Theft Auto 3 and later come immediately to mind. But those games are awful complicated. Halo especially requires you to use two joysticks, and I’ve seen even the most experienced gamers have trouble getting used to it. There would be no way I could get Lauren to play a game like that; she would have no ability to get immediate pleasure from the game.

Hopefully the Wii can solve that (though I have yet to get my hands on one). More simple and intuitive gameplay means more fun for everyone! And there you have it, from terrible massacres to video games. That’s the genre bending I’m after on this blog.

I’m sure by now all of you educated and brilliant readers have heard about the mass shooting at Virginia Tech University. A lone gunman opened fire at a dormatory and then later at another building, killing more than 30 people before turning the gun on himself. This terrible tragedy has me thinking about what I would do in such a situation. While none, except those who have been in such situations, know what we would do, it’s hard to say, but I have a feeling I would not be one to stand around and take orders from a killer.

But let’s say I did something like that. Let’s say I rushed at the gunman to try to get the gun away from him. First, would it be possible for him to still shoot me? If it’s a rifle and I am in control of it, or at least latched on, would the gunman be able to turn the gun towards me and fire? I’m skeptical, especially knowing that such a bold action would probably incite others to assist.

Let’s say that I decided to run, a mad-dash sprint towards the nearest exit. The shooter would no doubt be distracted by my flight. In his hesitation or attempt to get a shot off at me, others would have time to intervene and tackle him. Plus, a weaving target (as one must run from a person with a gun, thank you Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook) is much more difficult to hit than a stationary target.

But that all didn’t happen, evidently. Instead, said one report I read, the gunman lined up people against a wall and then shot them. Why didn’t people jump into action? Why did they think he would spare their lives? Why would they stand idly by while others next to them are shot? Isn’t it better to die so others may live, if you are for certain going to be killed anyway?

But let’s say someone had taken that course of action and then failed. Everyone would label that person an idiot, especially if the police were able to gain control of the situation and end the terror. Is success the only thing that makes a hero? I don’t know the answer to this question and I am not willing to find out. But overall, the entire situation is incredibly disturbing. How are these people breed and born?

Kaboom, drop the bomb shell.
Perfume is not my glam self.
Her tomb stops the gem wells.
Go blue and not the fem welts.

‘Eh, whatever. It’s like Sunday and all, so like I can’t even be thinking of stuff like this. The weather’s getting nicer, finally, after that bit of a cold stretch (almost a couple of weeks). The snow’s almost all gone, after it rained on my parade Tuesday and Wednesday. It didn’t last long. Might be time to actually do something outside. Lauren and I have discussed a bike ride, perhaps. We’ll have to see how the weather is actually shaping up. 50s and windy might still be a bit chilly.

Lauren and I went to a party that Steph was throwing yesterday. Much fun was had by all. Lauren and I realized that, as party goers, we’re more the “find somewhere nice to sit and have conversation with each other” types. It’s nice that we’re both that way, though it probably wouldn’t kill us to have one of us be the “walk around and have hilarious conversations with everyone” type. Ah well, one cannot ask for everything in life.

That was probably the most exciting part of the weekend. On Friday, we went to see the latest Disney animated film, Meet the Robinsons, which was a hearty batch of non-stop silliness. Overall, an enjoyable picture. The villain was especially wonderful. The best part of the movie: the villain relates his tale of evil, including a return to a “villainous lair,” which is a pink fairytale-themed restaurant, where he and his evil bowler hat scheme over milkshakes.

Tonight, the first in many Indian food cooking experiments. I’ve a recipe picked out, and Lauren and I will be cooking like crazy to put it together (it’s really just a stir-fry, so cooking like crazy is probably not an accurate description). But it should be delicious and should provide a nice ending to a beautiful weekend. I’ll let you all know the results (if they’re notable enough).

I’d crush you myself, Imus in the Morning, Don Imus! But it’s too late because you’ve been dropped by CBS Radio who syndicated your show and MSNBC who simulcast the show on television. That means you’ve got nowhere left to spread your hate-speech. And your comments about the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team were just the last straw. You’ve been spewing hate for years now. Enough, we’ve all said. Yahoo!

But this whole scandal has got me thinking. Wanting to hear what he had said as he said it, I turned to, where else, YouTube! After watching a CNN newsstory on what he said, I read the comments. What a mistake! Most of them expressed racist White outrage about how certain racial groups can make comments and other’s can’t. Anytime you remove a certain phrase from the lexicon of a White person (especially White males), a lot of them get upset. “What? I can’t call women nappyheaded ho’s., but a Black woman could say that?” Shut the fuck up!

Anyway, all those comments got me thinking about something Imus and a lot of other people just don’t get. Oftentimes the deliverer matters as much as the message.

Now, I know regular readers of this blog are smart enough to know this already, but to those of you stumbling on this post, or stalking me for whatever reason may not have the brains, so let me break it down like this. Let’s say somebody you hate comes up to you and says, “Oh my god, you are such an idiot!” Well, big deal, you let that roll off your back like nothing. It doesn’t mean much because the person doesn’t mean much. But let’s say your mom came up to you and said the same thing. All of a sudden a comment that wouldn’t have mattered from someone you didn’t care about has a mean sting to it.

Now let’s say some moron on the street comes up to you and says, “those women on the Rutgers basketball team are a bunch of nappyheaded ho’s!” After fighting your urge to shove the jerk to get him the hell away from you, you walk away shaking your head about racial ignorance and misogyny in America. Now let’s say that a nationally syndicated radio host says the same thing on his live program. All of a sudden, you’ve got a message going out from someone whose opinion has been deemed important (or inflammatory) enough to sell ads and make money.

Imus had a duty, a responsibility to understand his position. He’s broadcast to millions of people nationally. His opinion is set up to be influential. And he recklessly charged forward with statements that were sure to be disastrous. Not to mention, these comments were so off-the-cuff that they no doubt came from deep-seated racial hatred, much like Michael Richards’ racist rant a few months ago.

Now, some of you, perhaps, are thinking, but Michael, you’ve made comments critical of people before, and you have a blog that’s available worldwide, how are you any different? Good question. Number one, I’m ready to confront any critic that I have. Number two, I’m a young, idiotic, nobody. Number three, there’s a difference in criticizing a single person with evidence and logic and criticizing an entire group with racist and sexist comments.

So anyway, cheers that he’s gone! It’ll be much easier to wake up without Imus in the morning.

Everytime I find myself struggling to write in my blog, I try to associate it to a reason. Oftentimes, I’ll find that I’ve been quite busy, or the converse, I haven’t been busy at all. Sometimes, I just won’t have anything interesting going on in my life. Those are all very good reasons that will quickly change. Just as a lull may come suddenly, so too may a boon of inspiration. But the most frustrating reason I have for a decline in posts is my own desire to write coherrently.

I try too often to keep my posts related to themes. Well, it’s hard to come up with a post where all the paragraphs associate with one another, where there is some semblance of logic, some flow, narrative, storyline, plot. And because this takes thought, I sometimes reject a desire to write because I can’t think of a real topic.

Well, enough with that! I admire greatly what Tony has been doing lately. Frequent posts, often with a picture, describing something going on in his life or the world, short and to the point. My posts can stretch paragraphs, which can often be too long. It’s time to start trimming the fat in the hopes of putting out a better product.

I read the news a lot, often scrolling thru Google News quickly several dozen times a day. I often find myself with comments to make on various news stories (two you have seen recently – abortion rates and Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Syria). Here are a few more comments I have on recent stories.

1. Scientists find that diets do not affect weight in the longterm. Is anyone surprised by this? It’s not briefly changing eating habits that lead to lifelong changes in weight; it changing the habits that keep you at that weight. If you drink 5 sodas a day, try cutting that out permenantly and see what it does for your weight. If you have trouble working out consistently, work on establishing a pattern that you can stick to. Set reasonable expectations and rules. Long-term changes to behavior have long-term effects; is that so shocking to realize?

2. The father of Anna-Nicole Smith’s baby has been revealed, and it’s not Howard K. Stern, it’s Larry Birkhead! I was rooting for O.J. Simpson or Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband. Oh well. Good luck to you, Mr. Birkhead.

3. All charges have been dismissed against Duke Lacrosse players. What a mess that whole situation has been. I still want to know – what were these players doing having a party with a stripper? What went on that triggered her to make the accusations? What was the DA thinking in speaking out so frequently at press conferences (about how he was 100% sure a rape had occured)? And finally, has anyone addressed the weird comments the players had made to each other after the party (I recall some comments about murdering strippers or something)? Yuck on the whole thing.

4. North Korea set to dismantle their nuclear reactor. What? Diplomacy works? Give a little to get a little? Who the hell ever heard of that?

So BAM! There you have it. Long, yes. Rambling, yes. Devoid of theme, sort of. So, mission accomplished, not in terms of accomplishing the mission, but like Bush’s sign on that Aircraft Carrier.

So I just upgraded my blog engine, WordPress, to version 2.1.3. So far, this seems to have not caused any problems. I’ll reserve judgement for now, give it some more time to see if it’s working. There seems to be a slight key delay when typing in this window. I will have to play around with this some more to see if I can get it working better.

Anyway, I wanted to write some about a favorite television genre of mine, Reality TV! That’s right, I love Reality TV. I think it offers not only great entertainment, but also a chance to observe real people forced into performances. The wide variety of reactions to this makes for great entertainment even when the show’s storyline lags. But as Reality TV evolves and tries to remain both fresh and, more importantly, profitable, I’ve noticed some frustrating trends.

1. More and more scripting. It seems like when a reality show first starts, producers are happy to see what happens and let the flow of the show go as it will. That means a lot of wild stuff, cut and mashed together to form a storyline. It also makes for some very refreshing television. Who can forget the first seasons of American Idol, The Apprentice, and Joe Millionaire? Not anyone who has seen them, anyway. The interactions were largely unedited, and there seemed to be a lot more trust from the producers. But soon enough, American Idol and The Apprentice became more and more chopped. Particularly frustrating was the edited and rerecorded boardroom interactions in the second season of the Apprentice.

2. More product placement. Ah yes, slaves to the ever-present dollar. How many times in American Idol do I have to see pictures of Ford automobiles? How many times do I have to hear Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model rattle off the prizes the contestants are competing for? I understand that shows must make money, but at what point in time does the ridiculous lengths to get the product name out there actually turn people off?

3. Smarter Contestants. This is especially evident on shows like MTV’s Real World. The participants know that the more drama they cause, the more likely they are to get screentime. And the more likely they are to get screentime, the more likely they are to make it onto further opportunities. The worst-behaved people often end up with spots on further MTV shows. They also hog the camera and create compelling storylines, yet often keep the show from focusing on other participants.

Of course, Reality TV will never get the kind of credit that non-reality shows get, because there are fewer recognizable artistic elements. But the purpose of television (for me anyway) is entertainment. And I love how Reality TV provides that. But I worry that the further pushing towards cheaper production (more scripting) and greater profits (product placement) combined with more and more participants understanding how to manipulate the camera, could lead to the death of Reality TV. Oh golly!

Some interesting news today – Wisconsin’s abortion rate is down for the third year in a row, at an incredibly low 8 per 1000 women between ages 15-44. So, .8%. Check out the article here. That’s lower than the national average of 15 per 1000 women. Now, as no statistics expert, but those numbers seem a lot lower than some anti-abortion folks would have us believe.

1.5% of women have an abortion every year. That’s it?! In high school, I went to a churchy youth group for a while, and one Wednesday the pastor gave a mini-sermon on holocausts in history. He said there were three – the Jewish Holocaust, the Rwandan Holocaust, and… abortion in the United States! Now, besides his claims being completely ridiculous (there have been a lot more Holocausts), it seems like his numbers are a little confused. In the Jewish Holocaust during WWII, in some European countries as many as 90% of Jews were killed (source). 90%! Per year, if 1.5 percent of women have an abortion, that’s not even close to the numbers from the Jewish Holocaust.

So where does the outrage come from? Where does the fervor occur that leads people to demand that abortion be made illegal? I guess it comes back down to religious crazies, anxious to mix religion and government even more.

In other news, last week Nancy Pelosi returned from her trip to Syria, to complaints from the Bush administration that she never should have gone. I admire Pelosi for her guts to do something against the administration. In my little way, I feel some kinship to her. I’ve often found myself on the opposite side of various administrations. As I was driving home today, I was thinking about this and realized that maybe the problem for people like Ms. Pelosi and myself is that we are happy to play by the rules, when we know what the rules are.

After struggling thru nearly an entire year of publishing my high school independent newspaper The Algoma Student Press, I was offered the chance to publish it with permission from the school (meaning I could use fast copiers, et cetera) if I ran the issue by the principal first. I was more than happy to do so. I felt I knew how he would judge it, and I respected his views. When I knew the rules, I was happy to comply with them.

But too often, I’ve had to operate in situations where there are no specified rules, or at least no rules that are stated. Rather than have that make me cautious, I become ready to flex my freedoms, find my borders. It’s like when you’ve just gotten a rebound in basketball, but are being guarded heavily and can’t move. Your first instinct is to rotate back and forth, swinging your elbows to clear some space. And, every once in a while, you happen to bloody some noses.

And now, with Bush in office, there seem to be 1000s of unspoken rules about how we are supposed to represent America. Pelosi is supposed to know all these rules, and should she cross them, the White House PR machine goes into overtime, trying to smear her all over the map. Well, enough! Either tell her the rules, or back the hell off. Don’t leave her to try to figure out what she can and can’t do, or she’s sure to keep bloodying noses. Keep swinging those elbows, Ms. Pelosi!