Donald Trump: Birther. Sure, why not?

So now Donald Trump, having thrown his hair -- sorry, I meant his hat -- into the 2012 presidential race, has come out as a Birther. To quote Hercules: "I wish I could say I was surprised." But the only thing that's actually surprising me is that I'm not surprised. And without having my dictionary handy, I'm not sure if that's irony, dichotomy, ennui, or just me being so jaded by the whole thing that the part of my brain which handles emotional response has disconnected itself from my eyes.

But then I remember, the thing about birthers: logic is not one of their strong points. These are the same people who see conspiracies everywhere; they think there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll; they think that "the Masonic president" FDR added the masonic symbols to the back of the dollar bill to prove Masons had taken over the country. For these, I offer these three points:

1 - Birthers. Hawaii's state policy is that only immediate family members have the right to have access to someone's birth certificate. The Freedom of Information act only applies to federal documents, and how many of these pricks would like if it Obama called up their home state and asked for their birth certificate? Aside from that, freakin' Bill O'Reilly of all people has said he thinks the birther conspiriacy is absurd, pointing out that Obama's birth was announced in both Honolulu newspapers, and sardonically wondering if people think he was somehow smuggled into America as a newborn.

2 - Okay, the Warren Commission's report was so technically dense and poorly written that it didn't do itself any favors, but I can at least understand this one. It's comforting to see a more sinister force behind Kennedy's assassination than some everyman. I don't think it can be put any better than it was by Gerald Posner in Case Closed: "It is unsettling to think that a sociopathic twenty-four-year-old loser in life, armed with a $12 rifle and consumed by his own warped motivation, ended Camelot. But for readers willing to approach this subject with an open mind, it is the only rational judgement."

3 - Yeah, FDR was a Freemason. So was George Washington. So was Benjamin Franklin. But the symbols on the dollar bill are the reverse of the Great Seal of The United States. You know, that cool arrow-holding eagle with the shield. And just for arguments sake, let's say that Franklin intentionally used Freemason imagery when he designed the Seal, and that FDR ran the country according to Masonic principles. WHAT KIND OF SHADOW GOVERNMENT ADVERTISES ITS TAKEOVER? "See, that's what they WANT you to think!" But then again, that's the thing with conspiracy theorists: you can't win. Everything is just another layer to the conspiracy, until you end up like The Question: "Not conspiracies: conspiracy. Singular."

Japan's Nuclear Now

Okay, I want to make it clear right off the bat that I did not write what is quoted below. That would be my best friend of some twenty years(God, I feel old).

"MSNBC is on its anti-nuclear kick (which, as an environmentalist, really bugs me - if you're going to take a real stand against air pollution and climate change, then nuclear power is the only viable alternative to coal/gas power plants at this point. If you're against both coal plants and nuclear plants, then you're just making noise) and they made this comment about the situation:

"The really terrifying thing about a nuclear accident is that nobody knows what the worst case scenario is, nobody can say just how bad it might possibly get."

What?!? Um, see, the thing about nuclear science is that it is an "exact science". Yes, we can say exactly how bad it might possibly get. We know how many fuel rods there are, what they're made of, what they decay into and what kind of radiation each step down the elemental ladder releases. So yes, we can say how bad it can possibly get. That's easy. Take all the fuel rods. Remove the whole power plant, its containment shells and cooling mechanisms. Now drop the fuel rods on the ground. There you go. That's the worst case scenario.

I'm not making light of the situation, because it is and has the potential to be catastrophic, but "nobody knows the worst case scenario" is mind-bogglingly ignorant fear-mongering. It's like these people who keep worrying about radiation in the United States over this. People, it is very literally on the other side of the planet. Are they not aware that we had dozens of nuclear bombs exploding in the midwest, just a few states over? It's almost an insult to the people in Japan struggling with all this to worry about the few extra rems we might get."

Ten Years Gone

I tried to put this on my wall, but it was too long; hence the link.

So, given the date, I was wondering: what were all of YOU doing when our world changed? September 11, 2001. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. I had gotten home and just finished watching WWF Raw, and decided to play some Perfect Dark. However, my VCR(to which I had my N64 hooked up) didn't have an "Input" button, so I always had to turn to channel 2 and then go backwards to the A/V channel. So I turn it to channel 2.

And there's the World Trade Center burning. I remember thinking it was a rather odd fire patten, then I heard one of the anchors talking about how a plane had hit the building. I also remember them wondering just how a pilot could not notice that they were flying toward a building. And just about then....another plane flies into the second tower.

I watched as the news reports flowed in; the Pentagon being attacked, a plane crashing in Pennsylvania(which I thought for a moment could have been Air Force One). And when the first tower came down...for those of you who have seen his newscasts, you will understand the impact it had to hear PETER JENNINGS at a loss for words. He couldn't get anything out for about ten seconds.

For the next few hours, I barely moved. The sheer vastness of the situation affected me, and I had a hard time getting to sleep. I can still remember the wide shot of both towers, and of the plane flying into frame and into the second tower. Unbelieveable. And truly horrifying.

Who else remembers their actions/thoughts on that day?

Car-ma...

So I get out to my car yesterday morning, only to find that my right front tire has gone flat during the night. No problem. I go back into my store and buy a can of stuff to fix the leak and reinflate the tire. Problem. Not only does it not work, but I can hear the leak continuing, the tire is too flat to drive it the hundred or so yards to the automotive center, and additionally, I don't have the money to have them fix it anyway. So I yank out the doughnut spare and get the tire changed.

So now this morning, i have to go to the tire place and see if they can fix the real tire, and, knowing my luck, buy a new tire when they tell me that for whatever reason they can't fix this one.

Chilling...

Because I forgot to turn up the heat before I left for work last night. Oh well, that's easily fixed.

Let's see, let's see...Sticking with my exercise routine and diet, restricting myself to one soda a day, and started up a new game of Overlord so I could get the Achievements I'm missing. Beat Mirror's Edge, getting the "Test of Faith" Achievement(go through the game without shooting anyone) and now I've just got to get all the hidden bags. The Time Trial and Speedrun Achievements I'm not going to worry about for a while, instead I'm going to focus on other games.

Saw "Yes Man" with Jim Carry and Zooey Deschanel. Couple of good things: 1, Zooey Deschanel; 2, Molly Sims doing something(haven't seen her since Las Vegas ended); and 3, Terence Stamp. Terence F'ing Stamp.

D/l'ed the Robot Chicken Star Wars 2 from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Funny shit.

And now off to go eat macaroni.

Christmas time is over...

And so it is. Got some pretty good stuff; Mirror's Edge for 360, some CD's I wanted, some movies I wanted, some clothes I needed. Got my friends some good stuff and got some in return...and I did it all in less than $400! Yay me.

Just got done with my cardio routine(HIIT) and then showering, probably gonna go play some more Fable 2 or perhaps start up Mirror's Edge.

Which brings to mind a funny statement I saw on GameFAQs. On the Mirror's Edge board, there was, of course, a topic asking how hot do you think Faith(the player character) is. One guy said "That's the ugliest Japanese chick I've ever seen."

The next post was something along the lines of "She's not Japanese, she's Korean."

Interesting weather...

So here I am. Just played some Gears of War 2(which, by the way, rules) with my buddy Brother Love a while ago, then got online to check my email, surf the net, etc. And now I'm sitting here listening to my new Loreena McKennitt Christmas album A Midwinter Night's Dream and what should I hear but...wind.

Not just a breezy wind, a rather majestic, forceful wind that's actually blowing the curtains in. A whistling wind that's cooling mi casa quite nicely. The clouds thicken, rain threatens, the wind blows... Loreena sings "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" as I type this post... A sense of peace comes over me. This is a good day.