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... I don't need your dating so and so ...

F You, Texas

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zogby Poll

I saw this Zogby poll last week and thought it was very interesting. Things are heating up. Things that I thought were far off don't seem all that far away anymore. Can anyone say "revolution"? Read...

Released: July 23, 2008

Middlebury Institute/Zogby Poll: One in Five Americans Believe States Have the Right to Secede

Survey finds 18% would support a secessionist effort in their state

UTICA, New York -One in five American adults - 22% - believe that any state or region has the right to "peaceably secede from the United States and become an independent republic," a new Middlebury Institute/Zogby International telephone poll shows.

I believe any state or region has the right to peaceably secede and become an independent republic:

Agree - 22%

Disagree - 73%

Not sure - 5%

The level of support for the right of secession was consistent in every region in the country, though the percentage was slightly higher in the South (26%) and the East (24%).  The figures were also consistent for every age group, but backing was strongest among younger adults, as 40% among those age 18 to 24 and 24% among those age 25 to 34 agreed states and regions have secession rights.

Broken down by race, the highest percentage agreeing with the right to secede was among Hispanics (43%) and African-Americans (40%). Among white respondents, 17% said states or regions should have the right to peaceably secede.

I would support a secessionist effort in my state:

Agree - 18%

Disagree - 72%

Not sure - 10%

Politically, liberal thinkers were much more likely to favor the right to secession for states and regions, as 32% of mainline liberals agreed with the concept. Among the very liberal the support was only slightly less enthusiastic - 28% said they favored such a right. Meanwhile, just 17% of mainline conservatives thought it should exist as an option for states or regions of the nation.

Asked whether they would support a secessionist movement in their own state, 18% said they would, with those in the South most likely to say they would back such an effort. In the South, 24% said they would support such an effort, while 15% in the West and Midwest said the same. Here, too, younger adults were more likely than older adults to be supportive - 35% of those under age 30 would support secession in their state, compared to just 17% of those over age 65. Among African Americans, 33% said they would support secession, compared to just 15% of white adults. The more education a respondent had, the less likely they were to support secession - as 38% of those with less than a high school diploma would support it, compared to just 10% of those with a college degree.

To gauge the extent to which support for secession comes from a sense that the nation's current system is not working, a separate question was asked about agreement that "the United States' system is broken and cannot be fixed by traditional two-party politics and elections." Nearly half of respondents agreed with this statement, with 27% who somewhat agree and 18% who strongly agree.

I believe the United States' system is broken and cannot be fixed by traditional two-party politics and elections:

Agree - 44%

Disagree - 53%

Not sure - 3%

The telephone poll, conducted by Zogby International, included 1,209 American adult respondents. It was conducted July 9-13, 2008, and carries a margin of error of +/- 2.9 per cent.

The sponsor of the poll was the Middlebury Institute, a think tank for "the study of separatism, secession, and self-determination," based in Cold Spring, NY. Their web site address is: MiddleburyInstitute.org.

Most interesting to me is the fact that 44% of people polled feel like the system is broken. 44%?!?!?! Wow! That is nearly half of the sampling. What would happen if that number continued to grow? What would happen if those people were just a little more angry... oh boy.

Sheeple!! Wake up!!

My friend Jason sent me this link this morning and I thought it was really relevant to what I see in our world today. What does this mean to you? Do you think everything's ok? Read it... really read it and think about it. Right now, we are in the apathy to dependency stage... not too far off from bondage... cool, eh? Vote Barack and we can get these CHANGES on even quicker.

When the thirteen colonies were still a part of England, Professor Alexander Tyler wrote about the fall of the Athenian republic over two thousand years previous to that time:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.

-- Alexander Tyler

Triple Treat

So, I was paging through the listings in the iPhone "restaurants" application again last night and came across this jewel from Little Caesars. I have never had the pleasure of enjoying any of the culinary masterpieces from this fine establishment (and I think I will keep it that way), but never the less, I thought this was hilarious. See annotated image below...

In other news... this weekend was a good one. Here's the recap that I know you all love to read (all 3 of you):

Friday night: V went to class as it was her last before testing for her senior green belt (more on that in a minute). When she got home, we were trying to figure out what to do for dinner. After some thought and debate, we finally ended up going to Trudy's. It was delicious... I had not been there in a while. When we got home, we promptly, and in normal fashion as of late ,conked right out.

Saturday: We slept in a bit then got up and got ready to go to the sports center for V's testing. My stomach was NOT feeling all that hot. I think that what I ate at Trudy's just did not sit right with me. Aside from my squirming in my chair, her testing was really great to watch. I am really happy that she invited me. I thought that her form went really well. She did a really good job on it. I was really proud of her b/c I know she was very nervous. Her sparring was even better to watch. Not only were there numerous hook and roundhouses delivered to other people's heads, but straight up sucker punches to their stomachs. Now, I guess you can't really call it a sucker punch b/c you are sparring. It's funny to watch how people will just leave themselves open and get it. Needless to say that was also really good to watch. I was very proud of what I saw. Hopefully, I can sit closer next time =).

As I mentioned before, my stomach was killing me, so I literally drove home at like 80mph. I'm sure that excusable by law, right?

When we got home, we decided that it would be good to finally set that other computer up using my old table as a temporary desk. Then we decided it would be better to swap the futon and desk. THEN we decided that we need to run cables across the room to do that.

I am now the proud owner of 300 feet of Cat5e cable, a crimping tool, and RJ45 jacks. Incidentally, if you need any Cat5e (network) cables made, let me know. I'll be happy to make one for you and 1/2 store cost =).

Anyway... the office now looks a WHOLE lot better and more comfortable. I will take some pictures and post soon.

We also did some work in the garage organizing stuff.

Unfortunately, we did not got Ben's party. I just did not want to be away from facilities for too long, my stomach was killing me.

Sunday: We slept in a little bit again, but then got back to doing stuff in the house. We did some more stuff in the office. It's pretty much done. We got A LOT done in the garage too. That is almost done as well. We also were able to get the futon for the outside front porch weather treated so that it will be all ready for the cushions which are scheduled to come either today or tomorrow. Once it's no longer in the triple #&(@ing digits here, it will be nice to sit outside.

Today... back to work... waiting on cushions, getting grass cut, going to KF to practice with Troy, then teach my class.

Currently pissing me off: Windows Vista Home Basic. Why the FUCK would you remove the ability for someone to connect remotely to your OS. M$ assholes. Most VNC options really suck and are not reliable at all. If anyone knows of a NON-VNC RDP alternative that does not require installing an additional client (like PC Anywhere) OR if anyone knows how to enable or ADD terminal services to Windows Vista Home Basic, please please please let me know.