read karl's blog

do it. here is the link. his post 'i am unoriginal, but i love car talk' is really funny. i would just post it here, but i dont want to take credit for it, even though he apparently just cut and pasted it from somewhere else. but its a fun friday (or any day) read.

endless summer

so last night at 11:40 i got the call (well, actually missed the call, but got the message).

'hey kent, its kris (yes, he, spells it with a k). brandon (brown, of chilli davis fame), nick (lyon, of no fame) and i are all going to do a little night surfing. nick is coming over to my house right now and we are going to head on down to the water. we'll stop by on our way to the beach. there is a full moon tonight and the water is about 70-75 degrees (an over exaggeration. its probably 68-69. which is still quite warm. and while that may not seem like much of a difference between 70 degrees, you can really tell the difference in 1 degree warmer when it comes to ocean water. and the difference between 68 and 75 degrees is like comparing ugly betty with jessica alba. there is no comparison. jessica alba went to condit elementary school and el roble jr. high, both located in claremont, ca (remember how it rocks?), she is clearly superior).'

anyways, i was tired last night and my first response was to not go. i even took out my contacts so that i could use that as an excuse when they came by. plus, i had to give a presentation/argue in class today and i really hadnt done much preparation for it. but then zach jumped on board (pun intended) and i figured that its my last year of law school, and these types of phone calls rarely come around, so i better aprovechar, or for all you non-spanish speakers, carpe diem (or carpe moment).

so i threw all reasoning off, put on my boardshorts and headed out. and let me just say, it was spectacular. the water was warm. the moon was full. you dont have 100% visibility. you can see enough. you can see that a wave is coming, but you cant really tell until the last minute how big it really is, which makes for some gnarly wipe-outs for a beginner like me trying to catch a wave out of my league. but maybe its actually a better way to learn. if i could fully see the wave developing and see what i was getting into, id probably back out, but because i couldnt, i just had to go with it. and its not like the waves were so big they were dangerous or anything. just bigger than ankle slappers (im really trying to use a lot of surf lingo to fool people into thinking im so so. cal and really surf a lot since i live in surf city usa).

anyways, for as much talk as i do about the east coast and how great new york is and i should move there blah, blah, blah, there are moments, like last night, where i dont think that any living arrangement could beat what i have (well, besides the obvious one. but even that one could be contested at times. some days im pretty sure id rather be single in huntington than married in ontario). but, i really feel that it is my duty as a single twentysomething year old to act irresponsibly and to play instead of work. i mean, isnt that why we are all still single?

an american tragedy

what is the biggest tragedy of our generation, or of the past 20 years? well, probably 9/11, but in a close second, doesnt it have to be the demise and personal destruction of michael jackson? im sure that if you asked any person in the eastern block why they are depressed, they would tell you its because michael jackson stopped touring and has essentially stopped making music. sure, chernobyl was bad and has caused many physical deformities, but michael jackson has emotionally impaired millions and caused them to mourn. the governments dont think they'll ever recover. why arent their economies improving? because they are all depressed and cant find any reason to bother go get a job or an education. yes, michael did tell them to look at the man in the mirror and start with him to change his ways, but without him touring, the only thing looking back in that mirror is a sad and depressed image, which just worsens the situation. mirrors are banned on public streets now. its a real scary and concerning situation.

awhile ago i did a post about britney spears. i mentioned how sad it was that she fell apart. and it is a sad story. after writing that, my sister paige asked when and if i would give any thoughts about michael. ive wanted to for awhile, but the michael situation is just so much deeper. its more than just your typical talentless pop princess turned talentless crack addict. (so sad, but the saddest part was really just that she now looks terrible. remember how attractive she was? dang.) because britney falling apart didnt really effect anything besides the 'us weekly' ceo's bank account. michael on the other hand, has left millions of twentysomethingyearolds a little depressed and thus affected an entire generation and probably completely altered the course of history.






the other day i was driving with my friend and i asked her how much she would pay for a ticket to a michael jackson concert. without missing a beat she said $250. i said that i would throw down $300 without thinking about it. i know! $300 bucks BEFORE i would start to question the purchase. the other day i wrote a post called 'the trifecta' where i talked about 3 great bands that i am going to see. a ticket for each concert was roughly (after all the insanely crappy and terribly nazi ticketmaster charges) $50. and for each of them i questioned going because of the price. especially the white stripes. ive almost tried to sell the tickets on ebay a few times. mainly because i havnt seen them, so i struggle spending the money. ive seen arcade fire and muse before and believe me, both of them put on fabulous concerts. both bands are great in concert. true musicians. they sound just as good live as if they had 20 takes in the studio. yet i still questioned buying the tickets. my muse purchase was influenced by a woman (blasted attractive women) and arcade fire was influenced by remembering how happy i was after the last concert, and for my little bro, who loves them but cant go because at that point he will have completed 2 of his 720 days as a missionary.

the point is, many of us are suffering and would go to great lengths to see michael perform again. i mean, he is without a doubt the greatest performer of all time. everyone now just tries to replicate or some way recreate something that he once did. he was going so strong and everything seemed fine and then he suddenly fell off his merry-go-round or something and has never been the same since. im not really wanting to discuss the crazy life he has had and what may have caused him to end up in the position he is in. all im saying is that there are a lot of problems in the world, and i dont think that sociologists, economists, or even presidents are considering that many of the problems we face in society could very well be a result of the fact that michael jackson fell apart.

people call my generation the 'me' generation. we are a very self-centered, self-gratifying group of people. i was discussing this with my mom the other day and she was asking why i thought our generation turned out like this. i rambled off some stupid answers about increase in technology, demise of the family structure, lowering of morals throughout society etc. just baseless answers that couldnt logically have any sort of connection with why our generation is becoming self-serving and self-centered. at the time i guess that it just never donned on me that while there may not be a 'correct' or 'definitive' answer to this question, a main factor in us becoming the 'me' generation has to be that we were deprived of michael and lacked michael in our ever so crucial and formidable high school years. the ways in which he would have affected us are numberless. his impact would go way beyond just the fact that he stopped producing music so we were subjected (and still are) to endless dances where dj's play the ever undanceable 'billie jean' or 'beat it' and force us to move awkwardly back and forth for an excruciatingly long 3 and a half minutes. only 80's high schoolers knew how to awkwardly move on the dance floor for so long. that song was for them. we never had songs for us. and thus we suffered. and it continues.

when you have a minute, do a youtube search of michael jackson concerts. look at the fans. these people have found purpose, meaning and complete joy in their lives. how do i know? because they are all passed out. and thats what all the evangelists do when they hit their joy climax at church. they pass out. so i think that if we could integrate some michael into our lives, we could get this joy in our lives and our lives would have greater meaning. it only makes sense. unfortunately, he doesnt tour. that was always the easiest way to get some michael. i suppose there are other ways. cousin dave the other day posted a video on his blog of people that have integrated michael jackson into their lives. most people would look at this group of people and assume they didnt have anything to live for or were depressed, but they clearly are enjoying what little they have in life, and its surely due to the fact that they have michael again in their lives.

i dont really have answers. i find it easier to just ask questions anyways. so i dont really know how to integrate some 'michael' into everyone's life. but the next time you are depressed or perhaps questioning society or where we as a human race are heading, before you let your brain come up with possible answers or solutions, just listen to your heart for a moment and consider how much better life would be and a different course we would and could all be on if we all just had a little more michael in our lives.

vacation, all i ever wanted

so last night i noticed that the 'go-go's' are playing at the house of blues in anaheim sometime next month. i mentioned that i thought it would be fun show to go to and that we should get a group together to go. i was ridiculed and laughed at by my peers for saying such an 'absurd comment.' incredible. who doesnt like the go-go's? and even if you dont, wouldnt that still be a wildly fun night if you went with the right group of people? clearly im hanging out with the wrong crowd. they are only dragging me down in life.

anyways, i havnt posted in awhile. i did the whole family vacation thing. ill try and be more consistent now that school is back up and running. the vacation was great. my family, meaning my parents and the three singlets went to nyc, then upstate new york, and concluded our trip in washington dc. it was an oustanding trip. its late and i really dont want to do a recap of the whole trip, plus i think that a lot of people would find it rather boring and im sure dont care to read about it. if you do, send me a text or something and ill tell you more about it.

nyc - oh this wretched city. i wish i never knew you. but thats just it. i dont really know you and it eats away at me. i loved being there. even though it was sweltering hot and we almost died of heat exhaustion waiting for the subway one day. new york was a great time as always. there is so much to do there. for me, its sort of unfulfilling as a tourist though because i want to live new york, not just visit and sightsee. id really like to be a visiting student out there for my last semester of law school. i should have gone out there this fall when the weather is nice and then come back to huntington in the winter when its nice here and freezing there. but im sort of late planning this so i might just have to go there for the miserable winter. it will be cold, but hopefully ill be able to get rid of this itch i have about living there. we'll see if life even permits it in the first place. and by life i essentially mean the ladies situation. because isnt that pretty much what drives and determines decisions and paths you take in life as a single person in your 20's?

the first photo btw, is at the statue of liberty. we were sure to thank the photographer for taking our photo. did he think we didnt want the statue in the picture? we just wanted to travel all the way out to the island to take our family photo and we wanted him, the stranger to do it. thanks guy. the other photo is what we did most of the time at the met in new york. mom and dad left us, the singlets, to travel the museum on our own. so we just walked around and acted out statutes and paintings and took pictures. good times.

upstate - it felt a lot like the south for some reason. ive never been to the south, so i dont really know what it feels like, but i bet it feels a lot like upstate new york. it was really pretty though. really green. we made a stop by cooperstown to go to the baseball hall of fame. im glad we did because we were in the area and it was only about 20 miles off of the highway we were on. but if it was 30 miles off the highway we were on, it probably wouldnt have been worth it. and im a big baseball fan. huge angels fan. spent all my childhood money on cards. played little league. suffered a career ending injury at 12 but have always remained a part of the game. but the hall of fame was pretty boring and really a no big deal thing. if youre in the area, stop by, but i dont think it is by any means worth traveling great distances just to see.

for mormons - the church history sites: they were good. and just good. neat to see, but in a way, just like any other historical building or site out there. neat to see that this is where joseph smith once lived, but when it comes down to it, its not like he's walking around there right now or anything.

however, the sacred grove is fantastic. so fantastic, i dont even really feel like i should talk much about it in this blog. dont travel 3,000 miles to see the baseball hall of fame, or the smith home. DO travel 3,000+ miles to see the sacred grove. its worth the travel, effort, hassle etc. to wander around that forest for a few hours in your lifetime.

dc - i love unexpected and unplanned pleasant events on vacations. for instance, while traveling to the statue of liberty in new york, we nearly died of heat exhaustion on the subway and stumbled out into union square. we didnt plan it, but we were all dying underground so we surfaced at the next stop and luckily it was where there was a farmer's market and a great sandwich shop and not some red light district in east harlem.

so i guess stopping by gettysburg on our way down to dc was planned, but it was unexpected how much i was going to enjoy it. i do like history, but the way they have preserved the area and mapped out everything that happened in that battle is really impressive.

dc was great. by the time i got there, i was sort of sick of sightseeing. lincoln memorial is extremely impressive and very fitting for such an amazing man. no need to worship the man, but i have no problems if they erected a new monument for him every day. sadly, they dont, but the lincoln memorial is just as good as if they did. the korean war memorial was also very touching. i think because i didnt even know that it existed. i heard so much about the vietnam memorial, but before you even see that one, there is the korean war memorial looming off in the distance with shadowy ghost soldiers staring blankly and confused at you. cold, tired men, fighting a war they probably didnt understand. almost wandering and looking for guidance and help. hoping that its not their number that is next. its not fair.

the other stuff in dc is cool as well. i liked the city more the longer we were there. it has a really cool downtown and nice big city feel, which i enjoy. my friend tyler said the other day that if he was still single, he would definitely move to dc or somewhere on the east coast. i dont know what the attraction is. would i really enjoy it out there or is it just 'the grass is always greener on the other side' type of feeling? even though in this case, things actually are a whole lot greener over there.

dang it. i really want to shorten these posts and i didnt mean to make this some diary of my travels. oh well.

the trifecta

today i found out that 'arcade fire' are playing at the hollywood bowl on september 20. i recently saw them. here were my thoughts. cousin dave was also there. here is what he had to say. the same ridiculous situation and problem that he so well describes will again be an issue if i see them at the hollywood bowl. but i love arcade fire and love sitting at the hollywood bowl on an nice warm evening. so ill probably go.




later today, my friend texted me and told me that 'muse' announced a concert in irvine on september 21. i saw muse a few months ago and they were amazing. after the concert i said that if i saw them again id want to be in the pit so i could dance and 'rock out' because muse puts out an incredible amount of energy. they had the whole stadium standing for the whole show, which is hard to do in a large arena. so my only regret was that i was standing in front of a seat which impeded me from shakin my groove thang. otherwise the show was perfect. muse is good. real good.








about a month ago, i bought 'white stripes' tickets. for what day? september 19th of course. they are playing at the forum. 3 concerts in 3 days. it sounds excessive, and it is. not to mention a lot of money (more on this later). but i really want to go. all great bands. two guaranteed great shows. im sure the white stripes will be too, i just havnt ever seen them.







so ill probably try and complete the trifecta. why not? its all on daddy's credit card (i accidentally used my dad's card to buy the white stripes tickets. it was saved on the ticketmaster account. an honest mistake. really). anyone else interested? lets rock.

c-l-a-r-e-m-o-n-t-r-o-c-k-s, claremont rocks, oh yes!

that was an awesome cheer i remember my older sister doing for cross country in high school. and claremont does rock. check out this article. bam! have some of that. especially all my beloved oc (dont call it that) ignorant fools. claremont is really lovely and im happy its finally getting the recognition it deserves. well, not sure if it necessarily deserves this recognition, but it is a lovely town. although i do think the cons from the article are rather funny. you cant breathe or afford to live here, but otherwise, the place is a dandy. my brother and i discussed the article and both agreed that we enjoyed growing up in claremont and think it is a great town, but not sure if its worth the money it would cost to get in a home. average home $700,000! thats ridiculous. i remember my friend lindsey mullinax's family selling her home back when i was a senior in high school in 1998. i cant remember what it was selling for, but something between the 700K and million range and their home was huge, and easily two to three times my parents home. now that home would probably cost around 1.7 million. its outrageous. but if you have the money, its clearly the place to be. or if you are there, its probably wise just to remodel your home and plan on staying for the long haul.

but sometimes its hard being from claremont. because no one knows where it is. im always amazed at how little people from l.a. know their geography or where they are in relation to everything else. and i dont know if its their fault or just l.a.'s fault. meaning that l.a. is so spread out and unconnected, well its all connected, but not closely connected. there isnt really a big city feeling at all. so while there are 11 million+ people in the county, youre not really in close proximity to any of them. except while in your car in traffic, but you dont get much person to person interaction in traffic. its not like a new york or something where you throw everyone so close together you cant help but know the city (i think manhattan is only 7 miles long or so). granted, ive never lived in new york, so i dont know that its like that, but i feel like people there are more aware of their surroundings. l.a. is tough because its filled with tons and tons of suburbs. tons. and claremont is just another suburb. so i dont really expect people to know exactly where it is. i dont know where all cities in l.a. are located. ive heard of most of them, but i couldnt tell you where they are exactly. but im always shocked when people dont even know freeways. how are you getting around? oh thats right. youre from the oc and you dont ever leave except maybe to make the long journey down to laguna beach. no. not all oc people are snobs. but they all are ignorant fools.

so here is what happens. people will sometimes ask me where i am from. ill say claremont. sometimes they will have heard of it, sometimes not. which is amazing that some people havnt even heard of a city that is only an hour away from where they live. if i said i was from bisbee, arizona, id expect them not to know where it is. but im not. im saying claremont. its only an hour away. but thats fine. so when they ask where it is, im happy to explain. which i usually do by telling them how they could get there on the freeway. i usually say that its out off the 210 freeway. but this is when things can get interesting. some people are sort of familiar with that freeway, others have never even heard of it. so ill say, 'you know. its the pasadena freeway.' and they will say, 'oh right. ive heard of pasadena. so claremont is near pasadena?' 'well, no. i mean, sort of. claremont is closer pasadena than to huntington beach, but the 210 connects claremont and pasadena.' again, i dont expect you to know where claremont is, but now you havnt even heard of a large freeway.

so theyll usually look at me like im strange for mentioning a freeway they havnt heard of. if i was in utah or another state or something and trying to explain where claremont is, i would have just said its sort of by pasadena. if they havnt heard of that, ill just say, near l.a. but because im in huntington beach and really wanting to let this person know im from a great little legit town, i stick with it. so ill ask them if they are familiar with the 57 freeway. they usually are, as one side of the 57 freeway ends when it hits the 5 freeway, which a main freeway running through parts of the oc. but of course they arent familiar with the other end of the 57 freeway. (the 57 essentially goes from anaheim - near huntington beach to san dimas - near claremont). but sometimes they werent even aware of where that freeway originated. i think some people just think that freeways run forever in all directions. i think some people actually think that if they got on the 405 and drove south that they could make it to chile. so its shocking news to hear that the freeway ends, and no less near my city, which they still havnt heard of. again, i dont expect people to be freeway experts. im not exactly sure where the I-15 ends. or even the I-5. i know it goes up towards sacramento, but i couldnt exactly say where it ends, but i know its general direction. but at least in l.a. i know where it passes and what cities and freeways it intersects etc. but i dont know all of it. and i dont expect others to know either. but the 57 is only about 50 miles long. maybe you havnt driven all of it, but to act like you had no idea where it went once it left orange county is a little embarrassing for you, right? maybe not. probably not. nevermind. youre right. the 57 once it leaves orange county is irrelevant.

so now all i am left with is to start naming cities nearby and hopefully they have heard of one of them. so i usually begin by naming other nice cities in the area. upland, glendora, san dimas, la verne. these are all small communities like claremont, that are also nice, just not as nice, evidenced by their omission from the list. but people usually havnt heard of them, so im left in between a rock and a hard place.

a rock - pomona, a.k.a. 'p-town.' pomona is a hole. its the ghetto. and not just like someone from beverly hills calling a place like santa monica a ghetto (an otherwise really nice town except for homeless people scattered throughout - because it is a beach city). p-town isn like compton bad or east l.a bad. but when the l.a. riots occurred, there wasnt rioting in all of l.a., just a lot of the poorer, shadier neighborhoods, including, some lovely parts of p-town. p-town represented for our area. thanks guys. but pomona is a large city. there are also about 5 freeways that go through or near pomona, so chances are, even your infrequent freeways travelers have gone through pomona. so if i say claremont borders pomona, then they probably know where it is, unfortunately, they also are now afraid of claremont.

the hard place - the 909. you see, a little bit ago, ignorant fools started stereotyping people from cities with a 909 area code. true, i believe that stereotypes exist for a reason. if they werent true, the stereotype wouldnt have started. so the 909 stereotype is that people are white trash, raised ford truck driving, white beater wearing, nascar loving inbreds. and the 909 covers a lot of ground. san bernardino, fontana a.k.a. 'fontucky,' rancho cowabunga, hemet, rialto, ontario etc. basically its a lot of san bernardino county. not just the largest county in the u.s, but also the largest arm pit in the nation. so while the stereotype could be true in certain areas of the 909, its not in claremont. somehow, the people that made the area code put claremont in with all of those other cities, even though claremont isnt in san bernardino county. so if i dont opt for pomona, i have to say, 'well, its out in the 909.' people automatically think its 'super far out there in the middle of no where, with people sitting in their large trucks on their unmowed, brown front lawns all day waiting for it to cool down so they can go out at night and pick up on shady women in their daisy dukes at the local dairy queen.'

but they couldnt be more off about claremont. it doesnt even have a dairy queen. or any fast food for that matter. it wont allow it. nor billboards. nor parking on the street at night without prior permission from the police. and no lawn is brown. when my parents remodeled their home, they let the lawn die because after the home was finished they were going to remodel the yard. the city knew of this remodeling. my parents had to get city permits to remodel. they knew my parents had all intentions of fixing the yard after the house was done, yet the city still sent warning notices to my parents telling them that they were going to fine my parents if they didnt fix their yard. claremont. its a great little anal town. one of the top 5 in the nation. i would dare say. in fact, i will say it. and ill even back it up if necessary.
well, this turned into a long rant and i hardly made any selling points about the city. but maybe i dont want to. not because im ashamed or anything. maybe i like people not knowing the hidden gem that is claremont. (and yes i meant gem, its the proper word here. its like a diamond in the rough in that the areas around it may not be so nice and unless you gots lots of diamonds, there is no way you are affording a house there). im fine with it being a little obsure or undiscovered or not well known to the ignorant fools. those that bother to run into it or famliarize themselves with it, then they deserve to see that its a great little place, and everyone else can miss the two freeway exits and drive right on by judging it as another city similar to those that have 'defined the area.' and im sure other people will attack me when i dont know about their nice little town even though i 'should' because its so great. or their city too is misjudged or overlooked or i should really get to know it. people might even say im hypocritical when i dont care to go to their town or when i dont even know where it is on the map even though its great. is it because im becoming an ignorant oc fool living in huntington beach? perhaps. or maybe its, yep, thats right, i just remembered. your town isnt one of the top 5 in the nation.

an confusing truth?

so this isnt the usual type of post for me. but these are thoughts that have been mulling in my brain and just the other day i was emailing a professor about it and he gave me such a great response that i wanted to post it.

first of all, the professor is gary daynes. he was a professor of mine at byu. i took 'life and thought in the united states' from him. an excellent class. not only because it was interesting reading about the thoughts of influential american people from history, but professor daynes always had insightful thoughts to contribute as well. basically, it was just a class of reading people's thoughts and then discussing them for a few hours each week. a 'true' or 'pure' university experience.

so after the class concluded prof. daynes and i kept in touch. by kept in touch it basically consisted of me stopping by unannounced at his office or sending him emails and asking for his thoughts on various subjects. i was never much into politics and he was very well read on most subjects including politics, so i could just ask for his opinion or explanation on certain events going on and he would always give me an explanation and his viewpoint, which usually turned into my viewpoint. not that i wasnt a free thinker or anything, he always just presented things so rationally.

so anyways, the other day i emailed him asking for his opinion on global warming. im a little confused with it all. i watched 'an inconvenient truth.' it was alright. i enjoyed the information that was presented. it was essentially just a glorified power point presentation. i got bored with the 'al gore' segments. the parts when he was being driven around in his escalade and it would show him staring out of the car with his reflection in the window and he would give his personal thoughts on his life. i didnt need that. im sorry you lost gore. you gave it a good effort. perhaps the balloting was even rigged and you should have won. but its over. its been 6 years. no need to let all of america let you know you are still bummed about it. thats like telling the girl that dumped you that its been a year and you still sit at home on the weekend and stare out your window and wish that it wasnt your reflection but actually hers that was in the window. buck up little camper! move on. put yourself back in the public eye through other means, like scaring them about global warming.

alright, so i dont just think he is scaring people. i felt he was presenting legitimate information, until another video came out about other scientists that refute the main argument in 'an inconvenient truth' that humans are responsible for global warming. im not exactly sure what the opposing argument is, im pretty sure that they essentially say that its just natural warming that humans couldnt have done anything about and that 'an inconvenient truth' is just a big scare.

so my first reaction is a loss of faith in science. science is wonderful, but at times it gets upsetting because i feel like no matter what the theory or idea, there is a scientist out there that can find data or support the theory. its like in the movie 'thank you for smoking,' where they talk about the tobacco industry and how they found a german scientist that could 'prove' that smoking didnt cause cancer and so the tobacco industry hired him and he was 'their' scientist. the movie is of course fiction, but i think that idea occurs a lot. here, there are scientists on both sides stating that global warming is caused by humans and others saying its not.

so my second reaction is that im upset. why? because i feel like this is turning into a two party struggle. well, a conservatives and liberals struggle. perhaps two party, but im not quite sure. and im upset that it has come to this, because i dont know what is exactly going on, but i think there is a legitimate problem, or that the planet is being destroyed, but somehow people are taking sides on the issue and i dont know what to believe or who is correct etc. i feel like there is a big problem and if there is a way to fix it, then id like to know what i can do. i should probably by a 'clean' car anyways, just because it is good for the environment, but will it really make a difference? if it will, then why are people saying it wont? can humans really do anything? im sure this is a weighted issue and there are a lot of things filtering in on both sides and probably lobbyists and who knows what groups that are trying to sell the public on the issue. but in the meantime, i dont really know what to think.

so these are essentially the questions or confusion i brought to professor dayes, wondering what he thought about the whole issue or situation. i asked him other questions about his opinions on certain presidential candidates and other matters, but here is what he said concerning the global warming:

'It makes sense to destroy as little as possible when living on the earth for basic conservative reasons--we have a debt to our children to leave the world in good shape, and we have to believe that reckless destruction of anything is a (small-l) liberal activity. And I think we have to face up to the dilemma raised by the fact that if even a portion of what is predicted happens, the poor are going to get screwed again. So if only because the lives of Bangladeshis and Chadians are, at least in God's eyes, as important as my life, then I ought to do what I can to avoid actions that are going to lead to a worsening in what are already difficult living conditions. (Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren...) I didn't see Gore's movie. I don't understand the appeal...'

bam! i told you this guy was rad. what a great response. he has such a great viewpoint on everything. he is always thinking about and looking out for the little guy. realizing that everything filters outside of america's borders and affects so many more people that are outside my immediate realm or sphere of influence. he stays out of the two party arguments and focuses on the actual issue and forms his own opinion accordingly. were i like him i would form my own opinion instead of just latching onto his, but im not. so who knows if this is all a scare. regardless, i definitely believe that if nothing else, a responsibility exists for me as a human just to do whatever i can to not blatantly and deliberately destroy this world. not sure if that makes me 'green' or just an opinionless clone of prof. daynes (his opinion is just so sensible and logical is it not?). either way, sorry about the political rant. ill get back into useless pop culture thoughts next time. this was just something i was thinking about and wanted to put it out there for all 6 of my readers to enjoy.