A Couple Jerks Writing Obscure Articles On The Internet
here’s my impression of congress
congress: oh no the finance sector is collapsing due to bad credit and stupid decisions! here have seven hundred billion dollars
TWO MONTHS LATER
congress: oh no a service industry whose death will have predictable and devastating effects internationally while forcing millions of blue collar workers into unemployment is collapsing due to bad business practices and little oversight!
The results of DC v. Heller are finally in, and it seems to be a momentous victory for owners of both firearms and a sound understanding of the English language. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States reaffirmed the Second Amendment of the Constitution as an individual right to bear arms rather than a collective, a distinction that Justice Antonin Scalia outlines in a rather unsubtle verbal jab at fellow Justice John Stevens in his writing of the majority opinion.
In any event, the meaning of “bear arms” that petitioners
and JUSTICE STEVENS propose is not even the (sometimes)
idiomatic meaning. Rather, they manufacture a
hybrid definition, whereby “bear arms” connotes the
actual carrying of arms (and therefore is not really an
idiom) but only in the service of an organized militia. No
dictionary has ever adopted that definition, and we have
been apprised of no source that indicates that it carried
that meaning at the time of the founding. But it is easy
to see why petitioners and the dissent are driven to the
hybrid definition. Giving “bear Arms” its idiomatic meaning
would cause the protected right to consist of the right
to be a soldier or to wage war—an absurdity that no
commentator has ever endorsed. See L. Levy, Origins of
the Bill of Rights 135 (1999). Worse still, the phrase
“keep and bear Arms” would be incoherent. The word
“Arms” would have two different meanings at once:
“weapons” (as the object of “keep”) and (as the object of
“bear”) one-half of an idiom. It would be rather like saying
“He filled and kicked the bucket” to mean “He filled
the bucket and died.” Grotesque.
i have a dream that keeps playing through my head. not the kind of dream that will change the world, or even the kind of dream that will change you. not even the the kind that will change me, and maybe that’s why i have this dream
this is the dream i dream when i’m red-eyed and wide awake, mind wild and racing numb. the dream i dream when i’m on my knees sitting uncomfortably, and making an imprint of the carpet on my forehead and elbows. the crash after the high with the giant question “why”. and the answer that stings in the place you feel warm when you’re happy and cold when you’re sad.
the dream is simple: i’m running on rooftops, chasing a kid with a smirk on his face. i don’t catch him.
that part comes in a different dream. that’s the dream than could change me. maybe even you. maybe even the world.but i don’t know yet. i’m still running.
hey. this is interesting. a conversation. or, monologue.
”It was intense, And sorry for going on about this, but can you imagine? And it’s such a Lauren thing to do, sitting in the bathtub, naked, with that sardonic smile on her face, knowing that she’s finally been caught. Really, it was like I was there, it was that moment when you know, and he doesn’t know, but you’re about to kill him, and it’s exhilarating. And I felt that. And she felt that.”
This is a boy. He had a dream. That was his dream.
mmmmm. I saw Ashley over Thanksgiving. You may not know who that is. But she gave me a bunch of her thongs because I need them, and she doesn’t. And a jacket. And a pair of shoes. And a bag. And AIDS.
No, I don’t think it’s weird. She’s sweet.
Oh, and my aunt got married. Does anyone know Diana Sun? She’s a senior at plano west. We are now step-cousins.
… jeeeesus. I feel bad for her. It must be tough.
look. this is all ridiculous. and irrelevant. But interesting, hopefully, at least.
ummmm. that’s what i think life is, pretty much.
So, as many of you are likely to know by now, the Writer’s Guild of America will go on strike. What does this mean? Well, for starters, any TV shows you may enjoy that employ WGA writers, will start dropping into reruns; talk shows and topical comedy routines will go first, as they’re largely written the day before they air, so no more Letterman, Conan, Daily Show, Colbert Report, etc. If it continues, the start of midseason shows like Lost, 24, Battlestar etc will likely be delayed, and shows currently in production will run out of written scripts and likely move into hiatus, or worse, start airing sub-par episodes which have not had substantial amount of editing done to their drafts.
But other than that, what’s the big fucking deal?
On my way into the office today, I was listening to some NPR, and there was a story on how Asian Americans are starting to send their children to swimming instruction in droves. There are a bunch of swimming teachers in the US now who were once Olympic swimmers in China. The reporters played it up like swimming is some new Asian past-time, but I remember, growing up here in a Plano, how my parents (and those of other fellow Asians) would line up at 5-in-the-morning at the rec. centers across the city to sign us up for swimming lessons. I mean, every summer, I’d be in a swimming group that was at least 75% Asian! I think that when I was a kid, the Asian youth ‘blueprint’ called for piano lessons, swimming instruction, and art classes. Every Asian kid I knew went to each of those things at least once.
