W on the pavement.

We all know the coolest people run.

Today's Dose of Leftist Intolerance

Please read this whole post from DU.

"I had a free movie pass and the kids wanted to see "Aliens of the Deep" in IMAX (a B+, by the way) , so we hopped into the old Ford Escort and began the 39-mile drive from San Francisco to the apparently all-brand-new bedroom community of Dublin. We got to the exit, Hacienda drive, and I didn't have to look for the theater because I could see the hulking structure with "Regal Cinemas" written on it from across the freeway.

Upon reaching the parking lot, I was taken aback by the fact that the parking lot for this theater in an outdoor shopping complex was HUGE. Several football fields, filled almost entirely with late-model SUVs. I finally found a spot to tuck my little car in between all the behemoths, and we started to go in. It was an uneventful day at the movies, but somehow, I felt so out of place here - all the clothes seemed so... trendy. All the mens' and boys' haircuts were so identical and short. We got inside and clutching my bag brought from home with drinks and little bags of cheetos (total cost = $2.75), I passed by the long lines of people queued up to by $4.95 popcorns and 3.95 buckets o' soda, and then we waited for the movie - first ones there, so we got great seats, and the movie was very cool - IN 3-D!

So, you ask, did my "no W" button cause some freeper encounter, or was my "Bush-beneath contempt" sticker scraped off while we were in the theater? Nope, no confrontation whatsoever. In fact I'm sure that most of the people out there were basically decent folks.

But being out there, in that little stucco island of cinema in that sea of SUV's, next to the OldNavyBurlingtonCoatFactory, with the Macaroni Grill and Olive Garden islands nearby, made me feel how acutely out of touch I am personally with the prevalent values of white middle class people in this country.

I saw around me people whose apparent primary function is to consume, consume, consume, and they seemed to do it dutifully. Later, they would go home to their brand-new McMansions so that the next morning, moms could put Lunchables and CapriSun in sons' bags, and drive them to school in the SUV. Homes out here (and anywhere in the bay area) cost a fortune. How the HELL do all these people afford $600K mortgages AND SUV's AND the weekly consumption ritual? I just don't get it...

And we headed back to the beautiful city of San Francisco, where everything is NOT new, or sanitary, and the people most certainly do not all look alike. Back to our little 2-bedroom MIL apartment, where we felt comfortable, and not so embarrassed at being unable to afford the binge of consumption all the others around us had been engaging in.

And now my wife is taking the kids to school - one, to the wonderful old converted gymnasium that serves as our son's daycare - they teach in English and Japanese, and the children there are from all walks of life.

The other goes to a great bilingual elementary school, again the focus being on Japanese.

I'm so happy for them that they are growing up here, where they won't be trained from day one to just eat burgers and fries and sugar-water - SF schools have banned it, and are now serving teriyaki chicken bowls and the like in the school lunches - and they can hopefully learn to be something more than just dutiful consumers.

I love the Bay Area - suburbs and all. I have no idea whether Dublin leans blue or red, but it is remarkable that the shopping complex we visited looked EXACTLY like the suburban shopping complexes we used to occasionally visit in Miami, which looked EXACTLY like the ones popping up in my hometown of El Paso. I'm not even trying to rail against it - I guess it's just a fact of life today, but I do find it remarkable that so many people still choose a lifestyle where everything seems so corporate and artificial.

I'm obviously not a writer, so I don't have a nice little bow to tie up this little bunch of observations - it was just another day when we happened to venture out a bit further from the city than we normally do. If Dublin is any indication, America's economic engine is still humming - at least for some people."

This rant exemplifies everything that those on the left cannot see about themsleves. Condescending, mean, ugly, and assuming.

First of all, why did the writer expect to be harrassed about his bumper sticker? At school last trimester, I got heckled or stared at while driving into the parking lot with my Bush/Cheney sticker at least once a week. My ethics professor said it "offended"her. I never said a word about being bombarded with gay/lesbian/animal rights/diversity literature on EVERY WALL in the school. One day out of curiosity, while driving in, I counted the ratio of Bush/Cheney stickers to Kerry/Edwards stickers in the parking lot. The ratio was 1 (mine) to 24. I figure, "live and let live." Can you say "projection?" When you yourself are intolerant of others, you will assume they are of you. Why else would he be surprised that nobody paid attention to his bumper sticker?

And maybe these people can afford 600K mortgages because they have jobs that pay enough. Maybe they won the lottery. Maybe they found it under a rock. So what? Why are you so worried about it?

Here is one of the most telling lines: "I felt so out of place here--all the clothes seemed so...trendy. All the men's and boys' haircuts were so identical and short." Place that shoe on the other foot. If A suburbanite went to the city and pointed out that everyone looked the same to them, wouldn't they be called bigoted? These people remind me of the "cool kids" in high school, exept they graduated years ago. Get over your "I like art and cool stuff like bilingual Japanese schools and old buildings and you can't even understand what it is like being this bitchen" self.

Why do those on the left have so much unmasked contempt for the way others live and call everyone else intolerant? I'm just asking.

I will what?

Check out Stanford Review

I am now a contributor to Stanford Review's blog. Stanford Review is the conservative paper on campus, at--you guessed it--Stanford. I will be making a permalink for them in my links section too.

Will Summers be executed?

Poor guy. Like I keep trying to drive home, it is the left that is intolerant. All of this over the mere suggestion that men and women have inate differences in mathematical abilities. Gees.

Harvard President Faces Faculty Revolt Over Sexism Claims

Greenspan Endorses Soc Sec Changes

Well, another brilliant mind on board with the idea that we shouldn't wait until AFTER the system collapses to try to fix it.

'Ownership' Key Soc. Sec. Goal-Greenspan

The Democrats are, of course, sticking to their motto of "shut up. We win."

Mid-Terms

Well, it's been a week and a half of mid-terms and the last one was today. It will back to the usual posting schedule tomorrow.

"Fascism"

Here's today's DU craziness.

"In Bush’s vision of Social Security, every U.S. citizen who signs up for so-called “privatization” will be required by the government to hand over -- to corporations of the government’s choosing -- a portion of their hard-earned money.This is the final push towards fascism.

"They already have the executive, the legislature, the judiciary, the military, and the so-called church. And now they’re attempting to completely erase the line between corporations and government. They are trying to convince us that it’s just fine and dandy for corporations to levy their own taxes.

No matter how they phrase it, that is EXACTLY what is happening with Social Security right now. Instead of handing money over to the government to the benefit of many, they want us to hand money over to corporations to the benefit of few.

If we do not contact our senators and representatives, and let them know exactly what is at stake, we are finished. Ask them to stop using code words like “privatization” and “personal accounts” and “investments.” Don’t forget, these are the same people who were so easily tricked into using language like “weapons of mass destruction” and “eminent threat” and “liberation.” Try to educate your leaders. Most of them do not understand what’s going on.

This is the end game.

This is the final push towards fascism."

Fascism? That's funny, I thought it was just an idea for how to get Social Security, designed and built upon 1930's economic paradigms into the 21st century. I also like the way a voluntary opting out of a portion of Social Security (like most government employees have--when I was in the Army the Department of Defense had what was called the Thrift Saving Plan) and into a much better return turns magically into corporations "levy[ing] their own taxes."

My favorite breakfast food

New York Paves the Way

I know most of you disagree with all of this, and I understand why. But the truth is, gay marriage in America is just a matter of time, there is no stopping it.

Here is the article about the court decision in New York

A little busy right now

I haven't posted in a couple of days. Mid terms are coming soon and I am stuck on statistics. Anyone have any tips or short cuts for understanding the following concepts?

Bi-nomials
Chi-Square Test of Association
Chi-Square Goodness of Fit
z-Test
t-Test

And the related topics?

Every time the professor introduces a new concept, I envision my PhD slipping away into the blvd of broken dreams because of one stupid class.