penguinpride

Christmas was awesome! Thank you EVERYONE for all the presents. I got:

- Lip Balm
- A foam penguin
- Reversible Steelers Hat
- Guitar Hero World Tour
- Picture of us <3
- Pittsburgh Penguins socks
- Aeropostale shirt
- Penguin tea timer:

- Bible verse cards
- $15 Starbucks gift card
- Domain cologne
- 2009 Steelers calendar
- 2 movie tickets
- iPod Classic 120GB
- USB power adapter for iPod

Basically I had a great Christmas. I finally got that iPod!
In other news, my horoscope for today was:

You totally forgot to get something, but you’ll think of the perfect thing just in time!

I totally DID NOT forget to get something, I just didn’t get anything. For my sister, that is. But at the last minute, it came to me: I’ll get her the first book of Twilight! And make her obsessed with Edward like every other girl on the planet.

But at least she’ll have a present from me, as well as a little bear I picked up in New York for her. Speaking of which… pictures of the New York trip coming soon!

Finally, I asked myself if democracy was always the best government, and came up with this answer.

EDIT: One thing more… the BBC ran a test… apparently:

The free online resource Wikipedia is about as accurate on science as the Encyclopedia Britannica, a study shows.

Rest of article.

Happy holidays!!

Almost Christmas! I’d say I’m mostly ready for it. I’ve finished buying gifts and wrapping and such.

But we won’t have any present-opening until Saturday. This is stupid, my dad’s basically forcing us all to wait until Saturday to open presents just so his girlfriend can open with us. I’d personally rather open gifts tomorrow with my actual mom. But whatever…

Me and my dad had an argument/debate today about the direction of America. Of all the retarded things to argue about right before Christmas. Basically he’s obsessed with Chuck Norris’ new book Black Belt Patriotism, which says America needs to go back to the way “the founders intended” (as if Chuck Norris were the expert on our Founding Fathers), which apparently includes reinstituting prayer in schools and other “Christian” values. Basically chucking separation of church and state out the window.

This coming from my dad, who voted for Obama last month. Now he’s a huge reactionary out of nowhere. The man’s confused.

In other news, I took the 43things personality quiz today:

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I’m a Self-Improving Extroverted Builder

I just signed this petition to stop the divisive “Federal Marriage Amendment.”

It’s an election year, and Republicans are in deep trouble. Instead of addressing the things Americans really care about, they’re trying to change the subject and use wedge issues in hopes of distracting from their failures and dividing Americans to win elections.

This time, LGBT families are the pawns in their political game. And this time, the American Constitution is their political playing field. They want to amend the Constitution to deprive gay people of equal rights under the law.

With your help, we can a powerful message to Republicans that legislating discrimination defames good people. Please join me by signing
this petition:

http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/lgbtdiscrmntn/fcvpwf

Thanks!

http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050105/CPW/34461025

The Royal Army of Nepal has killed about 30 Communist freedom fighters. Click the link to read more info.

Then formulate an opinion for yourself.

 This came off of their website, at www.sealandgov.org:

“Sealand was founded as a sovereign Principality in 1967 in international waters, six miles off the eastern shores of Britain. The island fortress is conveniently situated from 65 to 100 miles from the coasts of France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. The official language of Sealand is English and the Sealand Dollar has a fixed exchange rate of one U.S. dollar. Passports and stamps have been in circulation since 1969, however, contrary to many misleading websites and news articles, Sealand passports are not for sale, and anyone offering such are selling forgeries. Within a radius of 500 miles of Sealand live more than 200 million people who enjoy some of the highest standards of living in the world. This area also encompasses the financial, industrial and cultural heart of Europe.
The history of Sealand is a story of a struggle for liberty. Sealand was founded on the principle that any group of people dissatisfied with the oppressive laws and restrictions of existing nation states may declare independence in any place not claimed to be under the jurisdiction of another sovereign entity. The location chosen was Roughs Tower, an island fortress created in World War II by Britain and subsequently abandoned to the jurisdiction of the High Seas. The independence of Sealand was upheld in a 1968 British court decision where the judge held that Roughs Tower stood in international waters and did not fall under the legal jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. This gave birth to Sealand’s national motto of E Mare Libertas, or “From the Sea, Freedom”.
Prince Roy’s heir apparent, Michael of Sealand, wrote the following statement in relation to a recent incident involving a fake Sealand passport. It can be extended to other situations where basic facts regarding Sealand have been misrepresented. This website is the only official website of the Government of Sealand. The website that was originally constructed for Sealand is located at http://www.fruitsofthesea.demon.co.uk/sealand/, and is maintained there for historical purposes.
“We would like to make it clear that after 32 years of pioneering work, and the blood sweat and tears that have been part of the rich adventure in the formation and establishment of the Principality of Sealand, our web site is the only official web site of the Principality of Sealand. It has come to our attention that others are claiming to represent us on the Internet and in the press, even showing photographs of my family and offering membership of business foundations, fake Sealand passports, and other services. Some of these people, it seems, were involved in the terrorist attack on Sealand in the 1970s that nearly resulted in loss of life, and did involve an international incident with the British, Dutch and German governments.” ~ Michael of Sealand”

Going back to what I was saying before, before World War II, nobody just decided that they wanted to found a new country. What does this say? It says that our world is splintering. Before World War I, everyone was experiencing patriotism in their countries. Military parades were held very often. Now, there are hundreds of breakaway groups seeking to form their own nation. The word Country has taken on a new meaning.

Here is an excellent index to some of these groups:

www.microfreedom.com/

Runaway Jury is a great movie that proves the statement that “Justice is blind.” The members of the jury only voted the way they did because of their own personal emotions, not based on the law. Also, Nick was tampering with the jury in order to continue his personal vendetta against Fitch because of what happened in Indiana. Everyone was keeping secrets from everybody. What the jury eventually found was only because Nick forced the one guy to get very extreme, and made it sound like the jury could either support him or Mrs. Wood. Of course, the jury voted for Mrs. Wood. They didn’t even discuss constitutional matters at all. The Second Amendment should have prevented such a moronic verdict but because in this case everything was so blind this did not happen.

Runaway Jury is realistic because jury consultants really do exist and are hired by lawyers to help the jury make the right decision. But Runaway Jury is more unrealistic, because in real life many things would never happen. First, jury consultants don’t usually commit so many illegal acts. Second, the process of jury selection would have excluded Nick because it is too careful to pick somebody who just wants revenge. Finally, the verdict would never happen, not merely because it is plainly obvious that it is not the gun company’s fault if somebody gets shot, but also because when the Second Amendment is considered, everyone clearly has the constitutional right to own guns.

If I were a juror, I would have voted for the defendant because the Second Amendment protects the rights of citizens to own guns and a gun company selling guns to these people does not violate any wrongs. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. The fault lies with the shooter and the shooter alone, and no gun company should be forced to pay for some random person’s crime.

John Edwards has dropped out of the running for the Democratic presidential candidate today, following his defeat in the Florida primaries.

That’s the main problem with the Democrats today. While the Republicans can’t agree on a platform (think John McCain vs. Ron Paul), the Democrats have the same exact platform. The difference between the candidates? One is a white woman, the other a black man. Why would someone vote for one over the other? Depends on if you like blacks or women better.

However, there are some factors left to consider. Obama has very little experience in Washington, having served previously as a state senator before being elected to the US Senate. Clinton, on the other hand, has served as a US Senator since 2002, and previously as First Lady for eight years. And she was not an inactive First Lady. Then again, many people consider her just a bit too radical and “crazy” to be able to handle the role of President of the United States.

So it comes down to the inevitable: Obama or Hillary? We shall see…

We’re starting up a Democratic Party group at our school. The purpose is to get people interested in politics and voting. They can assist in party campaigns as well. The seniors, who get to vote this year, actually can get involved in other ways.

But.

The problem, I suppose, with starting a political club is that people tend to want things to be a certain way. I can picture one person taking control of the organization, following which there could be some sort of power struggle. But that was just my imagination running away with me.

Stephanie asked me yesterday if it was right for her to join a Democrat club if she was libertarian. I told her if she identified with Democrats she should for sure be a member. Libertarianism is an ideology, not a political party (well it is, but it’s too small).

Fred Thompson dropped out of the race last week. You know, the old guy from Law and Order. What’s really embarrassing though is how he sometimes mixes things up a bit.

Edward Paul, an employee of the Delta Dental Plans Association, asked the question Monday, but had trouble being understood.

“I’m proud to say that in January 2008 New Hampshire has passed a law facilitating civil unions here…What is your belief for federal civil unions to be passed?” Paul asked.

“Soviet Union?” Thompson responded.

“No, civil unions,” Paul said.

“Oh. No, I would not be in support of that,” Thompson said.

Paul said he wasn’t surprised, or impressed.

“I think he needs to do more homework on whatever state he’s in and I don’t think he did on that question,” said Paul.

Source

It’s understandable, I guess. I mean, it’s obvious that all gays are communists. *rolls eyes*

I just had one of those awesome personal experiences that teaches me forever why my vote matters, and why “young people’s” votes in particular matter.

I attended my district’s Democratic Party club meeting last night. And we took a straw poll on who should be the DP candidate.

 The results were:

Hillary Clinton—12

Barack Obama—11

John Edwards—10

The rest of the group was a bunch of older folks. Me, Amanda, and Stephanie were the only three members under the age of 50. Amanda voted for Obama, and Stephanie and I voted for Clinton.

If we hadn’t have been there it would have been a three-way tie.