Bob’s Blog

Glassjaw is playing December 22nd in Detroit. Damn you, Toledo. Why do you have to be such a crappy city that can’t bring in a decent show every now and then? It’s been over 2 years since I’ve been to a show (the work I do in UAO doesn’t count for me) and I’m dying for one, and Glassjaw might be the fix I need. Especially how they put on a ridiculously awesome show.

So, I read a lot of liberal blogs. In fact, I read quite a few blogs, from both sides. It’s where I normally get my news from considering how I really don’t watch a whole lot of tv. And, really – if you read both sides, you’re going to get a more fair and balanced approach then say, Fox or MSNBC or something.

Make no mistake – I’m a liberal. But there’s something that bothers me about most liberal blogs.

And it’s the constant bitching (and at this point, I would say whining) about President Bush and the Iraq war. We can all agree at this point that the war is a mess and was a mistake. And we can all agree that President Bush has not been a good president, generally speaking. Yes. Conservatives have overspent. Yes, there is a lot of corruption. Yes, there is a lot of scandal. And yes, there are many people on the right who are incredibly hateful and ignorant.

And so, I read these blogs. More specifically, Americablog and The Daily Kos and one thing keeps reoccuring to me over and over when I read them: What are your solutions to the problems at hand? It is, without question, very easy to criticize and point fingers at Bush and his administration. In fact, it’s like shooting fish in a barell at this point. But, let’s move beyond that. And reading some of these posts…they come off as incredibly hateful and close minded to the conservative ideology (it is my opinion that it’s incredibly stupid to write off an entire ideology or belief. There’s almost always some merit to the major beliefs and ideologies in our world). Which is ironic given that these authors are supposedly liberal and are supposed to be more open minded and tolerent of others.

Let’s stop stating the obvious. Let’s stop rehashing the same, tired arguments and rants against this man, this war, the Republicans, and his administration and let’s come up with some solutions to the current problems we are currently facing, namely – Iraq.

Places like Americablog criticize him for wanting to send more troops over. So then what are we supposed to do? Just pull out and let the entire country fall into a civil war? Look – I’m no fan of this war and I’m not happy with the fact that our troops are dying. But if we pull out now – we’re looking at more problems in the future. We think Iran and Syria are bad to deal with now? Throwin Iraq in a few years time and we’re going to have another country against us in the Middle East. We have a long history of fucking up in the Middle East and meddling into their affairs and making things worse for us (see: Iran and the CIA in the 1950’s) This would be the icing on the cake. Part of the reason why Arabs are upset with us is because of our past involvement, our hypocrisy on issues, and picking up and leaving when jobs aren’t finished.

I actually agree with Bush and his plan. Reintensify the training. Have the Iraqi troops step up and take some responsibility and ownership in what’s going on. That’s the only way you can truly win freedom – by fighting for it yourself. Not having it handed to you by a foreign invasion. We then could pull out in 6-12 months time.

But, what do I know?

So, is it depressing that the only thing that I really want for Christmas (besides money) is a nice, casual sweater?

I feel like an old man.

“I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod. If this is your primary focus in life – the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America. Did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? I really fear for the United States, because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there.” – Bill O’Reilly

3 Things.

1) I guess most  Americans in this country are “computer geeks” since most of us own an iPod/an mp3 device or have at least some point in our lives have owned portable CD and tape players.

2) I guess Bill is also upset at the U.S. military for using computer games that simulate war and battle situations in order to help train troops.

3) Taken from Bill’s website. I’ll let it speak for itself:

Gwen Stefani’s music is ruining my life. Her solo albums are consuming me.

Help.

I went up to the store today to see how bad things were. They’re closing on December 7th. The entire store is wiped out. All the departments are condensed down, and on the empty shelves are rows of single item products. Where the yogurt used to be? Cases of Diet Coke.

From talking to some of my co-workers there, it seems like a lot of people are unsure of what to do next with their lives. For many of these people, this is the only thing they knew and they are now out of a job. It’s disheartening. And it really couldn’t have come at a worse time. They’ve all been kept in the dark in what has been going on. I see nothing has changed since the summer.

The store is open tomorrow. I don’t understand why. There’s nothing there. Close the store. Let the workers go home and be at a place where they’re actually appreciated, and not lied to.

Take some time and be appreciative for what you have, and for those that you care about and mean something to you. Because you never know when these things, or people will be taken away from you.

Gears of War for the X-Box 360 totally rocks. And, generally speaking, so does the X-Box 360.

Maybe I can swap this with the Gamecube and my brother won’t notice. Hmm.

Is there any better holiday then Thanksgiving? Good friends, family, and food.

These three things are all you really ever need in this life.

This student teaching experiance this semester has opened my eyes and has scared the daylights out of me. I’ve been confronted with so many things that you are never told about in education courses. You are not at all prepared for the work load, the parents. But you are most definitely not prepared for the emotional weight that comes with being a teacher. Sure, you expect it. But you’re not prepared for the magnitude of it.The suicides, the kids cutting themselves, the announcing of a students hit lists in the middle of my class, the kids with just the overall issues…it’s just like…geezus. It honestly makes me wonder how the hell I’m going to be able to handle this for the rest of my life.

It’s gotten to the point where I genuinly care about these kids. And I seriously worry and wonder about what some of them are doing. I’m going to continue to worry about them even after this is all said and done in 3 weeks.

You see them for 50 minutes a day, maybe talk and hang out with them at lunch…but that’s about it. And you are simply left pondering what type of impact you are actually making on them.

Dirty secret confession: I like a lot of really bad pop music. Soulless, coprorate produced cookie cutter crap. It has a special place in my heart. Example: The new Gwen Stefani song, “Wind It Up”

It’s absolutely atrocious. It sounds like she took 2 or 3 songs in Pro-Tools and copied and pasted them together. She yodels. Everything about this says, “AWFUL”

Yet, I still find myself listening and watching this damned thing.