Disclaimer: This newsletter contains explicit language and adult situations, and is sent to more than forty subscribers with great hair, fresh breath, and winning personalities. The views expressed in this newsletter belong solely to the editor and the writers, who are all completely insane. If you would like to stop receiving this newsletter, do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself around. Darn it, my shoelace broke. Ergh.In this issue:
Cat's Official Week
Topic 1) My Cultural Experience
Topic 2) Cheney Was Saddam's . . .
Topic 3) Playing At the Pool
Topic 4) Song of the Week
Topic 5) Webpage of the Week
Topic 6) Quote of the Week Cat's Official Week:
Adopt a New Culture Week. Speak in tongues while you're at it. Topic 1) My Cultural Experience: - By Me (Cat)
Very recently, I attended a "misa en español" (Spanish mass) at a local Catholic church (but not my own). I was basically doing this just to knock out some points for Spanish Honor Society, but I ended up getting more out of it than I thought.
I dragged my mom along, which might have been a mistake, considering the last time she spoke Spanish was in college thirty years ago. (I'm not exaggerating either.) I translated some of what was said, but most of it I couldn't really understand.
For the songs and prayers, even though we had sheets with the words in front of us, we basically just mouthed "watermelon watermelon" throughout the duration of the service because Spanish is such a fast language to speak. Some of the songs were translations of songs that we knew before, including one I did in Chorus in 7th grade that we sang in Hebrew. I still can't believe that I actually remember that song.
The ujer (usher) behind us caught on to the fact that we were not even one ounce Hispanic. That was probably pretty obvious by just looking at us. If my hair were darker and my skin a different shade of brown, I might have blended. But Mom would've had to seek out Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon to make her transformation. The usher talked to us (in English, eventually) after the mass. He only understood my name when I said it with a Spanish accent, though.
I think it's really strange how I can go somewhere in the town I've lived in for almost my entire life, and all of the sudden I don't even feel like I'm in the same country any more. I'm so used to all the diversity, but at the Spanish mass, my mom and I were the only minority. America is such a strange place.Topic 2) Cheney Was Saddam's Biggest U.S. Supplier: - By Grant Richmann
While Dick Cheney was its CEO, Halliburton sold more technology to Saddam Hussein than any other U.S. corporation. Starting in 1998, at least two Halliburton subsidiaries sold Iraq $23.8 million worth of oil industry parts and equipment. These deals were arranged by Halliburton and routed through subsidiaries to avoid political exposure. More than any other U.S. company, Cheney's Halliburton helped Iraq restore its ability to earn the money to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Hard to believe? Maybe this article from the Financial Times of London will convince you: http://financialtimes.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=410961153
How does Cheney explain this lapse of judgment? He doesn't. Instead he lies about it. Here's an excerpt from ABC's "This Week" with Sam Donaldson from August, 2000:
Donaldson: I'm told, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Halliburton, through subsidiaries, was actually trying to do business in Iraq?
Cheney: No. No. I had a firm policy that I wouldn't do anything in Iraq - even arrangements that were supposedly legal.
I guess ABC doesn't have much of a budget for research, because Sam Donaldson failed to cite any sources or documents to challenge Cheney. (Who was it who "told" Sam about the deal? A cab driver? The janitor? Didn't ABC have documents or other sources? The deals, after all, were public and had to be cleared by an international sanctions committee.)
Can't you still hear the press crying "Liar Liar" at Al Gore every time he got some irrelevant detail wrong? Here Cheney tells a blatant lie about a matter of national security--and gets away with it. So much for the Liberal Media!
Incredibly, Cheney recently had the gall to support a ridiculous GOP ad accusing Tom Daschle of supporting Saddam Hussein.
As Bush's approval ratings sag we get closer to another war with Iraq. What is the reason for this next war: to protect national security or just to get Bush back up in the polls? If Iraq is really such a threat, then why did Cheney supply it with crucial technology? Topic 3) Playing at the Pool: - By Travis Griffin
This past summer, I played in a band with three of my best friends in the world. We were brought together in April of 2001 to play as a house band for an improvisational show of the Central Gwinnett Theatre Department. Up until this time I was strictly a guitar player, but this experience made me expand my musical horizons.
Piotr Stapor, Joe Zezima, and myself were chosen to play the improv show because we are all very active in the theatre department. When we were talking after Mr. Tucker told us about the show, we found ourselves in a dilemma. We had two guitar players and a drummer; this is not a very good combination for a three-piece band. Joe is a better electric guitar player than I am, so I was voted to learn bass. We found a real connection between ourselves when we played the show, and we continued to play together afterwards. We brought on Kevin Snyder for vocals, and we had our band.
We spent many hot hours practicing in the basement of my house with hundreds of watts of sound shaking the furniture above. Our love of music and the high of four musicians hitting their stride at the same time made the long hours worth it. To quote Joe Zezima, ?To be quite honest, some of the best memories that I?ll ever have took place this past summer, down in that room, with my four best friends.?
We played multiple gigs around Lawrenceville, including many gigs at pool parties in my neighborhood. We had our ups and downs both onstage and off. We no longer play together, but we four are still best friends. Every now and then we play together though. I play in a band with Piotr, and Joe and I play acoustic guitars in coffee shops every now and then. The music and memories of that summer will live in my heart always. I hope that the same connection between music and people will happen again to me one day. I hope. Topic 4) Cat's Song of the Week:
In honor of my outing, "Ven Conmigo"--Christina Aguilera's Spanish version of "Come On Over" Topic 5) Webpage of the Week:
Build Your Own Cow! http://www.sillygirl.com/link.php?LSerial=3089Topic 6) Quote of the Week:
"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." - Mark TwainClosing:
Hey, the site has a smidge of a different look now. (Thank you, Val.) Go check it out. (Since I know most of you are too lazy to go back up to the top to get the address, here it is again:
www.oocities.org/thelitterboxnewsletter ) It's got the archives, all the sites of the week, the quotes, and a guestbook and all that. We'll call it Val's masterpiece. You can also submit articles through it. Lunchtime Politics begins next week--feel free to voice your opinion. Have a good week everyone.Previous Edition | Next Edition [ Get Involved | Home | Songs | Archives | Quotes | Websites ]
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