Bush Whackin'

I have a new favorite hobby: photographing political protests. The emotion and energy present at a protest makes for some nice shots. I walked a few blocks over to the Science Museum this afternoon and spent about an hour among the disgruntled masses, studying their ways and laughing at their funny signs.

Some of my favorite parts of the afternoon:
1) The very angry sixty-somethings leading chants. "Not my president, not my war! Not my president, not my oil!"



2) The kids were also pretty funny. It was fun to watch them carry around signs and chant about things they don't fully comprehend.



3) This sign:



Also, apparently being angry at the government has the wicked side effect of making a few protesters unable to shower. There were some smelly, smelly smells out there today.

I took around 50 photos and uploaded them all to Facebook. If you want full size copies or don't have a Facebook account, post a comment here or send me an IM and I'll hook you up.

Hiding in the Bush

I was thrilled to find out that President Bush plans to appear Thursday afternoon at the Science Museum of Virginia for George Allen's campaign fundraiser. The event, just a few blocks away from my apartment, is sure to attract a number of protesters, so I'll have my camera ready in case there are any outrageous signs.

Though I consider myself a liberal-leaning moderate, I would have voted for Bush in the 2004 election. I say "would have" because my absentee ballot never arrived, but I can still say that he was my definite choice. John Kerry was just too plastic, emotionless, and indecisive for me and, I believe, many other people. The 2004 race was gigantic failure for the Democratic party because it was their's to win. We should have a Democratic president right now (and I'm not talking about a second term Al Gore, either). I voted for Wes Clark in the primary, but I would have readily stood by John Edwards or possibly even Howard "Byah!" Dean had either of them gained the nomination. However, at the time I could not justify a vote for Kerry. Would I prefer him now, knowing what I do about Bush's second term? Who cares? We can't change the past, only the future.

On November 7th, we have the opportunity to vote in a major, major election. Make it count! Vote for your Senator, vote for local officials, and, for goodness sake, please vote 'No' for the so called "Marriage Amendment." There's a long post about that amendment in the works, but I haven't been able to write it yet. It should appear in the coming week.

I'll try to have president/protester/riot pictures tomorrow night.

Interesting note: on the eve of the gubernatorial election last year, Bush came to VA to stump for Jerry Kilgore. Here's hoping he has the same effect on Allen!

Can you hear me now?

Good news for some of you Sprint cellular subscribers looking to get out of your contracts; Sprint has raised its text message rates, meaning you can cancel service with NO PENALTY thanks to a clause in your user agreement. While this doesn't apply if you have unlimited text messaging, it's otherwise a great opportunity to leave your shitty service provider and start using a better company (*cough* Verizon *cough*). Details can be found here: http://cbs13.com/topstories/local_story_277132304.html

I'm expressing myself! On the Internet!

Well, it finally happened. I broke down and got a blog. At first I was skeptical of the whole blog idea and somewhat turned off by its similarities to the much maligned MySpace. I have never been a big fan of that teeming pit of media for a variety of reasons.

First and foremost, MySpace means teenagers. And teenagers suck. Nothing personal to you minors out there, but the age group collectively falls short for me. Teenagers are largely self-centered. Teenagers don't understand how life works. Teenagers are loud. And obnoxious. Especially in groups. Teenagers feel the need to let everyone know they exist, while failing to realize that no one who hasn't seen or dreamt of seeing them naked cares that they exist. These characteristics vary only slightly for those in my age group, but I'm talking about teenagers, dammit.

Additionally, where there are teenagers, there is over expression. MySpace, by allowing users to fully customize their profile pages, has provided an outlet for all this teen spirit. A few years ago, LiveJournal posters were quite happy with the provided template and the occasional variance in text color that the site allowed. A typical MySpace page these days has an oversized image of Heath Ledger in the background which obscures the already difficult to read pale white text, inexplicably WrItTEn LIkE tHiS. An embedded video file plays the new Lindsay Lohan video while pictures of the user and her BFFs scroll across the page. I can go scoop myself a tasty bowl of ice cream in the time it takes a page to fully load. This is actually a good thing, though, because after what seems an eternity of waiting, we get to experience what I really, truly dislike about MySpace. I'm talking about the journal entries. And what goes better with a sad story than ice cream and a good cry?

A diary entry can be many things, but one thing it should not be is public. The real problem with these journals is that most of them are just public diaries. Feelings get hurt, friends feel betrayed, and it's all out there on the internet where you can't take it back. It's just not something with which I want to associate. Instead, I have a blog.