My early take on the presidential candidates: Mike Gravel

Mike Gravel: It's not pronounced like playground gravel, it's GravEL.

Pros: Supports gay marriage! There's one. He doesn't have a chance but it's nice to know.

I think he's probably an excellent candidate but I don't know if he'll get through the mess.

I watched a short CNN interview with him and he's got some good ideas, and a great personality. It's too bad we don't vote for people like that.

During a debate he said that someone scared the "bejesus" out of people, and asked "Who the hell are we gonna nuke!?" He says what we're thinking. I like it.

He's be a fun vice president.

Cons: I just don't know who this guy is. There isn't (yet) any name recognition.

My early take on the presidential candidates: John Edwards

Just so I'm clear, these are in fact MY opinions of pros and cons. By no means do I speak for anyone else.

John Edwards: I voted for him last time so he's got a slight lead on the others this time.

Pros: He's young! He might actually know what the hell I was talking about if I said something to him about ANYTHING I do on a regular basis.

Excellent record for women's rights, and gay rights (though he opposes gay marriage...of course).

He discusses practical things like education and health care just as much as he talks about the war.

He is also very present online, and has a lot of information on his webpage.

I've liked him since long before the last election when I saw him on C-SPAN talking about affordable education, and how crippling it is for students to graduate into a mountain of debt.

Cons: Having some current issues with hypocricy. Yay middle class, yay expensive hair cut! I don't really care what the guy does with his hair, but it doesn't look very good.

He's a lawyer. They are all lawyers but he's made a ton of money at it. That means that someone probably get screwed along the way. Not cool.

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I am a big John fan. I think he would like to do things to change the bigger picture rather than bandaid the issues. Everyone wants a quick fix right now. Bring the soldiers home, impeach Cheney, get Bush out and it'll all be ok! Well, that's not gonna work. You can't go in, smash a country to bits and then leave it that way. We need to fix some shit first so that the civilians who are left alive have a change at a normal existence, THEN we can get the hell out. He's aware of this.

In addition to that he's a personable guy, he has cute children, and he's handsome--very presidential look. He'd look great on a stamp. Can you picture George on a stamp? No way.

Presidential Candidates: Chris Dodd

Chris Dodd:

Pros: Supportive of women's rights judging by his voting history.

Supports civil unions.

Received a 0% from the Christian Coalition for an "anti-family" voting record. (That basically means he doesn't tell me what I can do with my uterus.)

Cons: Apposes gay marriage. (I know this is going to come up every time but it matters to ME so I'm going to put it here.)

His webpage is terrible.

He seems like he could possibly be gung-ho over the war and not the presidency as a whole. Maybe not but, I'm voting for a whole president not just a war blocker. Preferably anyway.

He's kind of scary looking which doesn't help, and he's 63 and has very small children. Way to go but it's weird. I just don't get anything off of this guy. He's very blah.

My early take on the presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton

We all know who she is so there's no need to tell you about her.

Pros: As far as I can tell, Hillary and I agree on virtually every major "issue." She's the first female presidential candidate with any kind of reasonable support. That's pretty cool. Like her or not, I think she knows what she's doing.

Cons: Let's face it, the only REAL problem with Hillary is that she's Hillary. Lots of people, I will go out on a limb and say mainly males, will not vote for her just because. It's funny that men want to vote for men, but DEFINITELY won't vote for a woman that acts like a man. There is skewed logic somewhere in the equation.

Assuming that Hillary won't win (who knows) the problem here is that she might negatively affect the outcome of the election because she has support enough to do OK, and support enough to remove some from other more-likely-to-actually-win candidates. It's that old third party Independent problem we have since not enough people vote and those who do are pretty evenly divided...one might be a worthy candidate for their party but is it worth it to risk sacrificing the White House to the other side?

My early take on the presidential candidates: Joe Biden

My early take on the presidential candidates:

-Senator Joe Biden from Delaware.

Pros: Very present on the web, this means he's aware that younger people do vote.

Advocate for affordable education, again with the awareness.

Wrote the Violence Against Women's Act.

Middle name is Robinette, has a lovely smile, had a grandpa Finnigan, and uses public transportation-250 miles a day. His mother lives with him and he says his sister is his best friend.

Cons: He's so-so on reproductive rights. (Though he says he's uncomfortable enforcing his own beliefs on all others. Basically.)

Voted Yes on prohibiting same-sex marriage, but No on a constitutional ban. He says that same-sex marriage is "inevitable." Not a great attitude.

He's a bit too Catholic.

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His first wife and 13 month old daughter were killed, and both sons were injured in a car accident while Christmas shopping in the early 70s. As anyone who hasn't lived a charmed life knows, these kinds of things keep you in the realm of reality.

Personality and aura wise I like him quite a lot. He's got character. He seems like a normal, reasonable person who actually thinks about what is coming out of his mouth. He's not overly shiny (fake), and seems to kinda know what he's doing. He's not my ideal but there is no such thing.

Apparently his mother watches CNN religiously and askes God for forgiveness everytime she curses at George Bush.

If you want to know a bit about him I'd suggest watching the C-SPAN interview on his website.

http://www.joebiden.com/welcome/

Excitment of living in Hays.

We saw the lights and hoopla while browsing garage sales, but we were betting on a meth lab rather than a harmless pipe.

Errant tube becomes a bomb scare for police
May 25, 2007
By STACIE SANDALL
Hays Daily News
Just before Hays residents could get settled into a three-day Memorial Day weekend, the chaos of sirens, flashing lights and a loud “bang” penetrated the air late Friday afternoon.
According to Hays Police Sgt. Dan Koerner, at about 4:41 p.m. Fort Hays State University campus police officer Tom Meiers found what appeared to be a pipe bomb laying in the middle of the intersection of 13th Street and General Custer.
After it was exploded, it was determined that the device was nothing more than registration papers for a flat fed trailer owned by High Plains Roofing.
Koerner said the object was a six-inch piece of galvanized pipe, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. It had end caps and a hole that looked like it was fuse-ready.
Meiers called the police department, and both HPD and the Hays Fire Department responded. Several blocks were cordoned off and the decision was made to call the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Wichita Police Department’s bomb squad was dispatched to the scene.
“They detonated the device and retrieved part of it for evidence,” Koerner said. “They use a very small amount of explosives that is going to basically preserve most of the evidence.”
But there weren’t any wires or a detonator. Instead, it was simply the registration papers.
Tom Phillips, owner of the company, was unaware of the incident until a call from the media Saturday morning.
“It’s just something we put together for years to keep the registrations dry and handy — until they fall off and cause a commotion,” he said. “What a way to get some publicity.”
Most of the tubes are welded to the flatbeds, though some are strapped down. High Plains Roofing uses the flatbeds to haul materials and equipment to and from job sites. Phillips said 13th Street is a common route for his trucks to get back to the office.
“If a roll of insulation fell off a truck, you’d notice it. But not one of those tubes,” Phillips said.
The event consumed a lot of manpower, time and resources, Koerner said. The entire ordeal took around six hours and drew a lot of attention from onlookers.
“We have to treat every incident like this as serious,” he said. “It did appear to be a pipe bomb. It was a damn costly deal for registration papers.”

I think this joke is hillarious.

The Magician and the Parrot

There was magician on a cruise ship, and he was really good.
He was performing the highlight of his show when a parrot walked onstage and squawked, ''It's in his sleeve!''
The magician chased the bird away.

The next day the magician was performing his highlight again (in front of a smaller audience) when the parrot walked onstage and declared, ''It's in his pocket!''

The next day, as he was performing the highlight, he saw the parrot in the crowd. But before the parrot could ruin the magic trick, the boat crashed into a rock and sank.

The magician was lucky enough to find a board to hang on to. On the other end of the board was the parrot.
They stared at each other for three full days, neither of them saying anything, when suddenly the parrot said, ''I give up, what'd you do with the ship?''

Webpage Update

http://www.geocities.com/kathayj/

I added some new files to the Academic Shrine, and a while back I added a whole load of pictures. Go take a peek, and don't forget to sign my guestbook so I know you came to see me.

The good stuff in Kansas.

Friday night a monster tornado decided to pay us a visit here in Kansas. This big fella wiped out nearly all of the town of Greensburg, which is about 100 miles south of Hays. The town is now evacuated and crews are trying to clear roads so that people can come and see if there is anything left to be salvaged. These are the significant numbers:

90% of the town is gone.

1 building without structural damage- the courthouse.

9 fatalities resulting from Friday night.

Round 2 on Saturday had tornadoes in 12 counties and wind up to 90 MPH.

If you're wondering about the good stuff I was referring to here it is:

Within hours of the Greensburg tornado, which happened around 9:45 PM, crews were coming from all areas to help with search and rescue, and clean-up. Some from over 200 miles away.

The KWCH/KBSH news team (channel 7 on my rabbit ears) was on the air for 27 straight, commercial-free hours with damage reports and weather warnings. They were completely amazing. I checked another station but it was on commercial at that moment. This is why I watch CBS instead of ABC.

Luckily (and strangely) the storms wrapped all the way around Hays, and we have fared pretty well this weekend. There is a bit of a thunderstorm over us right now but it's very calm a lovely. (So I say now.)

Georgie Jr. has been on the ball today declaring emergencies and disasters and all that official stuff. The visibly and obviously distressed citizens of Greensburg and the surrounding areas are not feeling sorry for themselves, and seem just as concerned about the future of their town as they are about their personal belongings. Every person interviewed says that the most important thing is that most people are OK, and now they just have to figure out where to start cleaning up and rebuilding.

Though it is lacking in several areas, this is the beauty of the Midwest. Shelters were set up immediately in nearby communities. Supplies were being collected from communities all over Kansas by the next morning. Search and rescue crews, as well as regular people with the right equipment, came from all over to help out. Our Kansas representatives went to the President immediately to request aid. And best of all, everybody is ready to start rebuilding. First thing's first--clean-up before rebuilding. Less than 48 hours ago nearly everything they own was demolished; they don't know when or how but they will get things back to normal because that's the way we do things in Tornado Alley.

My Rules of Acceptance

My Rules of Acceptance
http://www.geocities.com/kathayj/Rules.html

Thanks to the Beamer brothers I was inspired to make a list. I'm sure it'll make me a better person in the end.