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9 . 2 8 . 0 1 If you have a moment, donate to the International Red Cross, I figure that this org will be helping the victims around the world, those in New York as well as in the future. Bill Maher on Politically Incorrect got into some trouble by suggesting that sending cruise missles and bombing countries by plane is cowardly, in light of the cowardly act of terrorism against America. Have to say I agree with him. Too bad he got a lot of his sponsor pissed off and he got yanked from the air on several channels. Guess freedom of speech isn't one of those freedoms that we're supposed to be fighting for. Went to the beach yesterday, pretty empty. Showing the signs of the Hawaii economy slowing down mainly due to the lower number of planes coming into the islands. for a State that relies so heavily on tourism, we've taken a pretty bad hit. And as money makes the world go round, it doesn't look too good for the outlook of our other social institutions, namely the University of Hawaii, public education in general, our criminal justice system, etc. Watched Dr. Strangelove by Kubrick this past week in class. Lot of strikingly similar situations and ironies played out with the current situation. 9 . 2 3 . 0 1 in the midst of national crisis it seems like there is a lot of BS still going on in the world. I mean the events of 9-11 mark a pretty big jump in perspective and definition of the world in the 21st century, but it doesn't seem to sink in to many people very quickly. or so it seems. I guess its partly because as a whole many of us are caught up in our own little worlds and nuerosis. I wonder if the rest of America is taking the time to read an article or or two about another side of this crisis. Verizon messed me up with the phonebill, actually considering getting rid of it, the long distance is nice, but not at the rates that I've been getting nailed with extra air time. at least with Voicestream had that free incoming minute. So much to do, so little time. 9 . 2 0 . 0 1 Had a spark of inspiration today, actually a couple. Today was a slow day in the court, Judge wasn't in leaving the staff to do a lot of catch-up work. I took advantage of this time to sit down and read the casefiles for the upcoming week, something that I haven't had a chance to do since I started working there. Had to admit that the Criminal Law was getting a little repetative, I can see how Justice can get alienated from the practice, not to mention the human element. Seems like its a little too easy to get lost in the paperwork. have to remember that there is a life attached to these pieces of paper. Later this evening in my Poli Sci class we discussed the makings of the 9-11 tragedy in the greater global perspective, my proffessor gave his honest and energetic opinion and analysis. Sellable points too, we are at the dawning of new times. Lets hope that the idealist post-modernists are right and we don't FUCK THINGS UP. Also worth mentioning is that I am not alone where I believe that there are some stupid dumbfucks in this country. Still working on some official paperwork to get hired by Public Safety, won't be seeing any revenue for a bit, so for now I'm officially broke. Spent most of yesterday working with Barry getting some of my research data into the database, amazing how many cases he's been tracking for the past 10 years. Interesting thing is that working with so many files you start to associate deeds and stories with names. Some of them have some pretty ironic names. Or influential cellmates who inpsire one to preform amatuer surgeries. 9 . 1 8 . 0 1 "An eye for an eye makes the world blind" - Mahatma Ghandi Part of me thinks I need a vacation to some remote island where people don't know about world politics or even care. oops I'm already here. At least maybe people just don't seem to cater to do a little research and pay attention to history before passing judgement. Have to say I was pleased with the opinion article in today's Ka Leo (UH's student newspaper) had a very "un-American" opinion expressed about America's relations with Isreal as at least a partial cause of the attacks last tuesday. Of course there are a lot of different Opinions on this matter. I feel like I'm repeating myself when I say that people don't seem to understand, but I'm starting to think that maybe I'm just as confused. anyway, back to life more or less. Today in court someone gave a victim statement in response to a breaking and entering of his boat. The defendent was brazen (or high) enough to come back the next day to steal more stuff. Judge asked him if he was on drugs in the court, to which he replied "no". I later found out that she would've given him a break if he had owed up to it. he was pretty buss and glassy. can't fool Judge. Been discussing the world events with her from time to time, seems like we both share a little political fringe not too common in the CJ system. I asked her what she thought about controversial topics in the law, made for some interesting discussion. She also knows of a Mari Matsuda who is published in several civil rights literature, trippy thing about this afternoon is that Milner mentioned her name several times in class today. More stuff to read. I got a letter today from Wisconsin saying that I still have deficiencies in my degree. Maybe I need to drop a certain Dean a line. Hate to bug him again but a little too much is riding on this one. 9 . 1 5 . 0 1 Another day wakes, more reports from CNN and worries of WWIII. Its coming I'm pretty sure. Makes me think that this is the beginning of the end of the world. Those who know the superstitions in me might recall some prophecies made by some old mystics, namely Nostradamus et al. Couldn't help but remembering all these mysterious TV shows and what not talking about the end of the world, the 4 horsemen of the apocolypes, etc. Name of "mabus", something like that, the Anti-christ for those who follow the Crhistian faith, then again maybe just a really evil one. Believe it or not, I recall reading someplace that it isn't so much the existence of this individual that is significant, it is his downfall that marks the end of the world as we know it. Of course a lot of this stuff is on the internet, so therefore the validity goes down. the one thing that I recall was pretty freaky was reading a skeptic's site in which he defutes the claim, stating that many ppl have been adding words and twisting the interpretation to make it the prediction BS. he then proceeds to quote the actual translation, ending his case. I still think it sounded pretty freaky. L'an mil neuf cens nonante neuf sept mois Du ciel viendra vn grand Roy d'effrayeur Instant grand flamme esparse sautera, Quand on voudra des Normans faire preuue, The year 1999 seven months From the sky will come the great King of Terror. In an instant a great scattered flame will leap up, When one will want to demand proof of the Normans. Couldn't find the original site I looked at, but heres one similar. Prophecy or not, I think that theres a pretty good chance that we're all fucked. Not too impressed with the critical thinking skills of this country's citizens on a whole, too much of that 20th century Roman-empire rhetoric has turned our minds into mush. I mean jeez, the arrogance towards the rest of the world is sickening. Especially that of our fearless leader. Apparently there was pretty nutz parties at the UH dorms last night, can't see how anyone could be partying at a time like this. Maybe the detachment of the islands keeps ppl's emotions at bay. Unless its talking about making the middleast region a big crater of nuclear fallout. Some people are fucking idiots. Looks like some of the chickens have come to roost. 9 . 1 4 . 0 1 Got up at about 5:55am this morning, had a kind of disturbing dream. Probably post more of it on my random thoughts page later. This morning's paper had an account of an Arab-American gas station owner in Gary, Indiana who had 21 shots fired at him by a ski-masked man. A Madison account suggests the possibilities of American media propaganda with the reports of Palestinians celebrating in the streets following the WTC attacks. According to this person, the film is from the Palestinian reaction to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. There is no way that the film showed and commented on by millions of American news could be in reaction to this weeks events as the sun would not be shining in the middle east at the time the video was initially shot. Food for thought. Spending time at work xeroxing court cases and discussing particulars in American state and federal law, sitting at the copy machine still digesting the events really puts a spike in my train of thought. I mean with this new heightened sense of reality much of these paper principles and theories of organized society, "law" seems meaningless. In perspective of terrorism being in non-compliance of every "international law" in existance it makes talks of human rights, rules of war, etc seem petty. Who cares if a group of recognized leaders who supposedly represent the world just say how things should be, while ignoring or excluding alternative perspectives that just don't jive with the norm. Because if agitated or driven enough, those factions might come back to haunt. Like many things, sometimes things on paper don't mean shit. Watched a interview with a CEO of some big company who lost 700 employees. he was devastated to the fact, like the captain of a ship who survives a sinking. There is a peace march at UH today at 11:30am HST. 9 . 1 3 . 0 1 Have to say that these past few days have been Been commenting on my online course in international relations, I'm so far one of the only ones that seems to have mixed feelings about US foreign policy. My grad courses in Poli Sci were a little more surprising, besides the natural (and understandable) response of "go kill em towelheads" (although not literally expressed) there were several students who agreed to more humanitarian standpoints. Worth mentioning is that the threat of overzealous nationalism that might take form against not only several countries in the Mideast, but Arab-Americans and *gasp* Liberals! Already listening to some of the newsradio and media, very angry, but very biased. I heard this one talkshow host cut somebody off the line who was expressing concern about the anti-arab rhetoric being strewn around on the airwaves justifying his actions that America didn't need to hear any "irrational views". Conversation today with some people brought up a very good point: it is disturbing how ignorant some Americans are to how the rest of the world operates, let alone to the fact that there are many people from other countries that hate us. People as ignorant as that cannot even begin to understand why. Coyne thinks that we're headed to war. One that is a little different than past operations, no cruise missiles this time, no long ranged bombing missions. Rather ground troop invasions to overthrow unfriendly governments. Probably reinstating the draft in a couple years too. 9 . 1 2 . 0 1 Rough day yesterday, a little difficult to describe in words, just that the shockwaves have been felt all over the country, as well as the world. Woke up at about 5am Tuesday morning, Sept 11, 2001 to my father telling me that the world trade center in NYC had been bombed. I was a little groggy at first, but the words itself startled me awake. We watched the TV for at least an hour or two, and I was late for work - the state courthouse was open, but all federal buildings were closed. Can say that I wasn't very focused on work at all. Class yesterday had a dark mood to it, Milner offered commentary on the events of the day, the president's speech. I wonder if the politics and culture of Hawaii create a more reasonable response in terms of the humanity involved - I had been listening to the radio all day with angry callers and radio commentators (although rightfully so) calling for the nuking of Afghanistan, assisination orders, full scale military mobilization. Also discussed was the issues of the sudden turn to Nationalism, patriotic songs playing on the radio, rushed statements of anger, and promises by politicians and citizens alike. Wonder if we as Americans have learned our lessons from the last day of infamy. Some interesting perspective, or perhaps frustration. 9 . 7 . 0 1 So Wisco has a tough game tomorrow against Fresno State. Who would've thought that this game would mean anything. Pretty pumped for it, gotta hand it to Fresno, they knocked off Colorado and Oregon State. One prob is that I need to get up at 6am to watch the stinkin game on ESPN. Picked up a packet on grad school rankings thought crossed my mind on the reality of rankings. Just finished undergraduate, and I don't really seem ready to go to the next level just yet. did register for some board tests, need to get into a study schedule for themt too. Feeling a little bit of apathy in the area of the next level, as if it really doesn't matter. Actually was expecting more of a cutthroat edge, but it seems like its not as much of a factor. Smiles abound. Been in a good mood lately, the deja vu has been absent, which give me a little bit of an anxious state of mind as the internal regualation has been a sort of psuedo predicting factor of some kind. Part of me feels like I'm re-writing my life. Kind of like a novel that has no point, direction, but still is entertaining. did that sound like a pathetic attempt at a metaphor? Secured some part-time employment at Public Safety, office/clerical work, but will also include some research and statistics. more number crunching, this time for some monetary gratification. I may very well be on my way to getting some of my taxes back. Also reading some interesting perspectives on public policy & research methods. The challenge will be to apply theory to actual data and come up with recommendations that will not be lost in uninterested ears. Picked up a copy of the Hawaii Herald today, read so much about it in ethnic studies/history courses about the AJAs in Hawaii, but never actually had a chance to read it. Talked to Yvonne today via internet phone. Pakes alike I guess. reception was pretty bad, even with a LAN connection from the dorm, I wonder if I should go try and get one. Roadrunner should suffice. 9 . 4 . 0 1 Days are going by pretty fast, and I'm getting into a schedule. Week 3 of working for the Court, Week 2 of UH, and Week 1 of working for Public Safety. Coyne said that I could come in as soon as I'm ready. need to push more paperwork though. sheesh I'm busy. I still want to squeeze in some Kendo and some surfing time too. we'll see. Somewhere I need to study for a LSAT and a GRE. possible? Madison trained me for this lifestyle, I'm used to it. which reminds me I should start making a log of my experiences and reflections with the court. Lots to learn everyday. Turned in my health form today at the UH Health Services to clear my hold on my registration. Ran into the 140lb 1997 State champion. He's going to Med school now, looked pretty good. Hope we can bump into each other on campus, talk story. Funny how he's in Med, and I'm heading towards Law. Never know when one's paths will cross. Kind of strange, being home after 4 years on the mainland, I don't think theres too many people in my situation, gathering perspective from Hawaii nei and back is something else. Honolulu has definitely gotten more crowded since I last was here for more than 3 months. or maybe its just because I've been driving downtown. Ran into Jonah, Chad and Kelly at the Row, everyone is getting real jobs now. School at UW-Madison just started up today, been getting some emails from the kids up there, some confusion with the club, should calm down a bit soon. Also need to start working on the Alumni club down here. Gotta contribute my kala to da cause. Hawaii has a teacher's shortage, about 300-400, biggest ever. Anybody who wants a teaching job in paradise? Hey pay my pal Yvonne a visit. She's kicking it back in the Madtowne, in some ways I envy her situation, in others maybe not. heh. Like her site though. Sarcastic Irony? Ironic Sarcasm? You decide. |