Oh How the Right Has Fallen

Is it just me, or is the religious right failing to live up to their own standards? Ted Haggert. Larry Craig. Bob Allen. And now South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.

People are not meant to be monogamous. The point of life is to spread your genetic material as far and wide as possible. Have as many offspring with as many people as possible. "Monogamy" is a fallacy invented by the religious right fundamentalists. Homosexuality is natural. There are many repeated scientific studies which show that animals exhibit homosexual tendencies. Religious fundamentalists disagree. Being human causes us to ask questions. It is within our nature to want to explore the world to find out why it is the way it is. Religion teaches us that some supernatural power created everything. Religion teaches us not to ask questions, not to wonder, just to accept things as they are presented and to do what we are told. It is not in human nature to accept something from a book or doctrine. It is within our human nature to explore. Religion is not natural. Just as monogamy is unnatural and a fear of homosexuality as well. Religion was created by a powerful few in order to control people. To brainwash people.

All religion bashing aside, it pains me to see all of these people act so self-righteous and perfect, when in reality, they are not. When Barney Frank, an openly gay US representative from Massachusetts, was discovered to have hired a male prostitute in 1989, who was it who lead the movement to have him impeached and removed from office? None other than Larry Craig. Who's Larry Craig, you ask? The man who elicited gay sex from an undercover police officer in a bathroom in Minneapolis. Can you say hypocrite?

Nobody is perfect. I understand that. I, most certainly, am not perfect. It is unacceptable to me that these conservative religious people to act like they are perfect and they are acquiescing to the rules of their religion by fighting against gay marriage and abortion rights when really, underneath it all, they are big phonies. They are hypocrites. They are sanctimonious and frauds. When liberals are discovered to have had affairs, it is not such a big issue because they don't build themselves up into towers of self-righteousness. They don't try to fool their constituents into believing that they are faultless.

I want everybody who reads this to know that I do not hate all religion. I hate it when people are so religious and fundamentalist that they are fighting to take away the rights to abortion, gay marriage, a true scientific education, environmentalism among many others. When religion gets in the way of progress in basic human rights and freedoms, religion becomes an issue.

Please stay tuned for more stories of this average life.

The Bus. I Love It!

I really love the bus. It really is the way to go. During the school
year, I lived on campus. Now that it's the summer, I'm living at home
and working on campus and I'm going to take a class or two. It's
amazing. There's an express bus from the park & ride 5 minutes away
from my house that hops on the freeway and doesn't stop until it
reaches campus.

Heaven.

This bus is heaven. It's so nice not to have to drive. Traffic is
hell. Especially here. The bus gets me to campus within 30 minutes. No
parking. No headaches. The university that I attend offers $100 bus
passes for the entire quarter.

I'll admit. It's not the best system. Busses are late. Sometimes, it
can take a few hours to get where you want to go. For me, the pros
outweigh the cons.

Sometimes, mass transit really is the answer.

Please stay tuned for more stories of this average life.

The Fallacy of Sports

I, unlike the mass majority of people, do not believe in sports. To
me, major league, and even college sports, are nothing more than false
god worship. We make these football players under a microscope and
atop a pedestal, and for what? All they do is work out and practice.
They spend all of their time preparing for games, practicing and
working out, when they might only play a game not even once a week.
And, they have 6 months off in the off season.

We idolize these people with posters and commerative memorabelia and
for what? So that they can be traded to another team so they can be
paid another few million dollars a year. We idolize these people and
often forget that they, like us, are just human. We seem surprised and
even outraged when they are caught with a DUI or are arrested because
of a pub brawl. They are people. They aren't perfect. They have flaws
too.

Also, for the most part, stadiums and player paychecks are paid for
through taxes. Why is it then that it costs a family of four well over
$150 to get good tickets for a game? If we the taxpayers are
subsidizing most of the funding for sports, then why does it cost a
few arms and a leg to go to a single game?

Sports create such an unneseccary rivalry. For example, at a
convention for a large organization with atendance from all around the
pacific northwest, a candidate for office from my school was highly
disrespected by people from our rival school. Here we are at a
convention that promotes volunteerism and inclusiveness and even
there, sports and rivalries prevail. Why?

At my school, similar to every other public school and institution in
the country, we are facing a double digit state funding budget cut.
This same year, they announce plans to overhaul our football stadium,
which has the largest capacity of any stadium in the state and is not
by any means inadequate. I understand that a majority of renevations
would be paid for via tax dollars and not student or university
funding. Still. When our university is facing %30 state funding cuts,
even though the stadium would be paid for in other ways, our first
priority should not be renevating a stadium, but instead, restoring
our school's funding.

Sports, indeed and no doubt, do have a place in our society. However,
I do believe that we place too much of an emphasis on sports. Sports
create an unecessary rivalry and should not be a priority for our tax
dollars.

Please stay tuned for more stories of this average life.

The Heat of Study

Do you have any idea how hot it is here in the library? Wow. Can't concentrate. (Obviously.... blogging when I should be doing homework....) I am seriously bringing my little fan with my tomorrow when I come study.

I thought this library was the only library on campus with air conditioning... Well, where is it? I'm feeling hot under the collar and hot under my armpits. Seriously! Whoo! They are seriously detracting from student concentration and performance by not turing on the AC. "It grinds my gears!" says a friend. Agreed!

Can I get a what what?

Please stay tuned for more stories of this average life.

Feeling of Failure

Don't you hate it when you take a test, be it quiz, midterm or final where you spent many an hour studying and preparing for it, and when you find out your score, it doesn't nearly live up to your expectations and feelings going into the test?

I hate to say it, but it has become a regular occurrence for me. I have begun to stop pretending to have those feelings before tests. I have stopped being optimistic when it comes to tests. I have to admit, with this newfound pessimism, I don't prepare for tests as much as I should because I feel that no matter how much work I put into the test or assignment, I will still be disappointed.

Please stay tuned for more stories of this average life.

My Love for Computer Science

I hate Computer Science. I understand that there is a need for computer science and programming. But why must we force computer programming on people who are doing a completely different major?

Our CSE teacher on our first day of class told all of us that as far as CSE is concerned, about %1 0f students are complete naturals at it. These people have been programming since they were in diapers. These people could teach the class. These people are so insanely good at CSE. The teacher said that there was a second group, another %10 of the class which includes people who CSE comes easy to. No biggie. They actually enjoy doing the assignments. Then there are the other ~%89 of people who need to work really hard to keep up. It is a struggle for them to keep their head above the water. I fear that I am in this last %89.

I am perpetually lost. I only seem to finally grasp a new topic, subject or technique once I've completed the assignment. They need to offer two versions of intro to CSE classes. They need to have a version for people who need to take CSE for their major. A version of CSE that allows you to lean the basics and a much slower rate and have it be taught in a language that normal people can understand and not have impossible expectations for the rapidity of new material. Then they can have a different version of CSE for people who are intending to be CSE or CS majors. Hard. Tough. Fast. They can handle it.

Can I hear an Amen?

Please stay tuned for more stories of this average life.

New to this...

I don't have much to say. I just felt like starting a blog.

I'm sure that I will keep everybody posted in the future with more stories of this average life.