With war on the horrizon, I'm sure we're all thinking about the same thing- Who will win American Idol this year? I didn't watch a single minute of American Idol last season, nor this, until 8 days ago. My evil roommate (that's Richard, he's the evil one) turned on FOX, and immediately I was hooked. I don't know why. I've never really been too much in to the hype of celebrities, and I'm not really someone who loves to hear people sing. As soon as I began to watch, it was all over. But enough about me, here are my pics for the series, begin with the most important category:

Hottest- Carmen Rasmussen... I doubt I'll have the chance to meet her before she turns 18, and then it will all be legal. I don't think she'll win, though, she needs more oomph or something in her performance.

The person who actually wins the show- Ruben, the big guy from Birmingham. Great voice, great personality, and he just looks like a nice, normal, cool guy.

Runner-up... Clay. Do they even announce a runner-up? I guess they cut it down to two the last week, that would make sense. Anyway, the judges love this guy, it's amazing how much sound comes out of that small body. He seems like a really nice, somewhat quirky guy.

There are two things that separate those two guys versus the rest of the last 11. They have genuinely great abilities, as in singing, emoting, etc. They act like normal people, they don't seem like they're trying to be superstars, just themselves. Maybe Corey, for instance, really does act like he does on the show all the time (in which case, maybe that's even worse), but I found it a bit grating when he kept telling the crowd how much he liked them and blah blah blah. Plus I think his speaking voice is annoying, like he's trying to copy Snoop Dog but just doesn't quite have it. Another big plus for my two boys is that they didn't choose songs from The Wiz.

If Julie looked as good this week as she did last, she would have given Carmen a big run for her money in the Hottest category. The two Kimberlys are out because I'm just not attracted to one, and the other is just a slightly older Britney-type. The same might be said for Carmen, but I think she's hotter than Britney.

Later I will return with a more intellectual discourse. On the other hand, there should be nothing shameful in reporting on popular culture. Someday archaeologists will pore over Entertainment Weeklys culled from the "waste room" of the late 20th century "homegirls," fascinated by the importance and power bestowed upon the "fashion designers," who create strange tribal wrappings for the students of the Academy to encase their bodies in for the annual Oscar assembly.

George W. Bush's Speech

My translation "While the our country is not the world's police, we are our own police, and if someone commits a crime against us, we will go after them. If the rest of the world is unwilling to help us capture/destroy those that try to hurt us, then we will go it alone. Saddam has commited crimes against us, he has supported others who have committed crimes against us, and we have evidence that argues that he is planning more crimes against us. We will not let him hurt us, or anyone else, anymore, and thus we give him 48 hours to leave Iraq. If this demand is not met, we will send in troops to capture [or kill?] this criminal."

All in all, that's not so unreasonable. How anyone could deny that Saddam is a criminal is beyond me. And how all these people can continue spewing the crap about how "War is never the answer" and "We won't send our children to war," when Saddam has killed, and continues to kill people at a rate probably exceeding what the casualty rate in any impending war will be. If things get out of hand, well that's just the powder keg called the Middle East finally exploding. Anyone who doens't realize that a blow-up will happen there eventually no matter what is crazy. Maybe, maybe, if we were suddenly attacked by aliens, the world might unite. But other than that, I see no hope for true world peace anytime soon. We haven't been truly at peace ever, in the entire history of the human race, and letting Saddam do whatever he wants is not going to lead down that road, nor is the glory of the United Nations going to suddenly make everyone love their neighbor. Taking Saddam out of power, however, will save a lot of lives in the long run, and, if it is done fast enough, we can hope the rest of the Arab world does not get involved, that the conflageration does not spread to Israel and the Palestinian parasites that feed off the hatred spread by Arafat and his ilk (please, do not mistake this as a condemnation of all Palestinians, I only condemn the ones that are so steeped in hatred that they cannot even see that they are sending their families off to die). My sincerest hope is that Saddam is taken out quickly (one way or the other, to be honest, I don't care as long as he no longer is in a position to hurt people), that the recent capture of the Al Queida guy leads to the arrest of more terrorists and the world slowly begins to calm down, and that the Palestinian "nation" will calm down a bit, accept one of Israel's previous, very reasonable offers, and try to enter the 21st century. Who knows, maybe it will happen. We can only hope.

Well it turns out that I 99% got that job. I'm very excited, even though it's only entry level, the company seems to be growing quickly, so hopefully I can grow with the company. And I'll learn a lot about the financial industry. At any rate, assuming everything goes right, I should be starting there in two weeks or less. Which means I'll only be working at Domino's for maybe another month (although it would be good for me to do it longer, and maybe I will a couple of nights a week, just cut out that horrible Sunday shift). It will be great to have my weekends free, and I should be writing a lot more if that happens. I think I want to start a second blog with only book reviews. Unfortunately I don't read as much as I used to, with 35 movie channels, there's almost always something cool I want to watch.

They found Carrie's body last night. I didn't know until this morning when I walked in to work and a co-worker said "I'm sorry about your friend." So I got online to see and then had to leave for a few minutes. I called Kevin, though I didn't really have anything to say, I guess I just wanted him and Christine to know I know, so they wouldn't ahve to call me to tell me. I'm tearing up while I write this. I can't do any work right now because my database is messed up and the network admin is on the phone and obviously very harried and I don't want to bother her. I had a job interview yesterday that went really well. Sp maybe I won't be here much longer.

Every time I decide to come write something, I see my last entry, and I feel sad and go do something else instead. But I want to put in at least one thought each weekday, so here's the latest on Carrie. There is no latest. No news at all, really. The last new thing, which I knew already yesterday, was that the mailman that goes to Carrie's house said that he remembers a man answering the door either Monday or Tuesday, late afternoon. That does not bode well for the "she just wanted to get away from everyone for a week." Of course that would be totally out of her character to go off somewhere without telling anyone.

After beginning a friendship with Carrie, I quickly found myself falling for her. I even went so far as to fly out to Baton Rouge to visit her. We had a great time, but I realized we really were not compatible for a romantic relationship, especially due to the long distance thing. I remember meeting some guy she was friends with, and after seeing her boyfriend's name mentioned in article about her disappearance, Lee something or other, I think that that's who I had met. They weren't dating then, but they seemed too get along real well, and were both very outdoorsy people.

OK. That's it on Carrie for now, until I have new news at least. I'll write on something else and continue my prayers. I'm not such a believer in god, but at times like this, asking HIM for help can't hurt.

My friend Carrie Yoder, a doctoral candidate at LSU, is missing. She's been gone since March 5. So far the events surrounding her disappearance are leading people to believe she was the 5th victim of a killer who has been working the Baton Rouge area for 18 months. Carrie is a wonderful, friendly, beautiful person, inside and out. I pray she's ok, and if she's not, I pray they catch the guy and and let me take care of the punishment.

Here's my plan for the UN. I admit ignorance on Security Council voting procedures, but, assuming that the entire vote goes through, even if someone vetoes it, then the US should see what the rest of the votes are, and, if we have enough to pass our resolution (ignoring vetoes) then we should go ahead with our plans. That will show the Un that we do care about approval, but we don't care about France's opinion. It will also send the signal that the UN is useless as it stands and changes need to be made. The UN, in case you didn't know, was formed to create an international venue for dialogue between countries, with the hopes of stopping wars from happening by using diplomacy. The UN, however, was never intended to take away anyone's soveriegn right to make decisions in the best interests of their country. The UN is not a government, despite France, UN Secretary Generl Kofi Annan, and Jimmy Carter's opinions that for the US to defy the UN is immoral. It's immoral for any democratic government to give up their right to make their own decisions to any outside body that was not elected by the country's own voters. In other words, the United States, for better or worse, elected George W. Bush to be our President and he and our Congress make decisions on war, but the UN. No vote has been taken by the American people to give our sovereignty to the UN. Our government has agreed to cooperate with the UN as much as possible, but certainly not to allow the UN to make our decisions for us. Soon the world will realize that the United States bows to no one, especially not France. The fact is, a large number of countries agree with us ont he Iraq issue, just not the countries that the UN has given veto rights to. I saw an article today with quotes from the foreign minister of Portugal in which he says that his country sides with the US, acknowledging that in the event of a war they feel that the US would gladly come to their aid, whereas France and Germany, the two "major European powers" (in quotes for sarcasm) would probably not be willing to, and even if they were they do not have the military power to hurt a fly, much less protect Portugal. Most westernized countries realize this, that when it comes down to the end, the US has the power to protect the peace, or to end a war, and the UN hasn't the power to a damn thing for anyone. The UN's only real power is rhetoric, and that is quickly wearing thin.

Three years ago Dr. Michael Adams, President of the University of Georgia, decided to hire Jim Harrick to coach the school's basketball team. This hiring was done against the advice of the Athletic Director, longtime UGA man Vince Dooley. Jim Harrick came to UGA with a long history of problems. He left UCLA on probation, and he left Rhode Island reeling from accusations of harrasment. He came to Georgia promising the new start would lead to a new Harrick. Now it's three years later and Vince Dooley has been proven right. I don't need to tell you all of the allegation, go look in the sports section of just about any newspaper. My problem is with Dr. Adams. He hired Harrick, despite Dooley's wishes, and now Adams is making everyone else pay the price but himself. Harrick is suspended with pay, his son has resigned (by force, I think, but I'm not sure on that point), and the team cannot compete in the SEC tourney or the big dance. First, why is Harrick being suspended WITH pay? He ought to be fired. The players, who had nothing to do with any of this, are being punished unfairly. They don't get paid in the first place, they play because they love the game and hope to make it to the next level. And now you're taking away their only reward, the chance to represent their school to the country. So why is it that Harrick gets such a light sentence? Being suspended with pay when your team won't be playing any more games anyway is more a slap ont he wrist than anything. The players, however, are getting totally screwed over, as are the fans. The big problem, however, is Adams himself. He knew Harrick's history when he went over the AD's head to hire him. Now Adams should take the fall. He screwed up, not the players, and, in a way, not Harrick. Harrick was only doing what he's always done, and seeing as he keeps getting hried, who can blame him for sticking with what works, NCAA legal or not. Adams is the moron. Adams is the idiot who decided to ignore the past. Adams should resign. He can have my job and I'll take his, because I know I would never have hired Harrick. I would have kept Jirsa, he wasn't so bad.

Thanks to the power of fan disgruntlement, one NBA team is doing something that no other profressional sports franchise has ever done, to my knowledge. The LA Kings are opening up their books to examination by a fan. The fan, upset along with many others around the country at the constantly rising cost of seats and hot dogs, yet continually bombarded with stories about how his favorite team was losing money, made the offer to the president of the team's parent company. To his surprise, his offer was accepted. So Philip Propper, money manager and (you heard it here first) my pick for future NBA exec., will get his chance. His findings will be posted online at www.letsgokings.com in about two weeks. Here's hoping he finds some reporting errors that allow a significant drop in hot dog commodities over the next fiscal period.

Still haven't seen my letter to the editor in the AJC. I guess they lied to me, the bastards. I did, however, notice that Cynthia Tucker wrote another column I can disagree with. This time she discusses how anti-war protestors are being harassed, and how how that makes all pro-war people automatically evil. As her main selling point, she mentions the guy that got arrested for trespassing in a mall, ostensibly because he was wearing a t-shirt announcing his desire that we all give peace a chance. Well more information on that little dispute has come out, changing the entire meaning of the affair. It turns out the dude was not just wearing a shirt, but harassing normal customers, trying to push his opinion on them. Only after they received complaints about this guy's solicitation of his opinion that they found him and asked him to either remove his t-shirt, or turn it inside out. When he refused, he became a trespasser, and that's when they had him arrested. I'm so tired of the left making martyrs out of agitators. The media always helps, leaving out important facts so that everyone gets outraged. NMow you and I know the truth on the matter, but I doubt that 75% of the papers that ran this story in the first place will then go back and print another article with the full truth of the affair. Then their martyr would disappear. That would go against their agenda. I've become more and more anti-left, but I still wouldn't call myself conservative. The dishonesty of the left has driven me away. The right may be a bunch of money-grubbing greedy bastards, but at least they're predictable.

For those of you that jumped up at the crack of dawn this morning so as to be the first to see my letter to the editor in the AJC, sorry, it wasn't in there. Either they're printing it tomorrow, or they decided not to print it since they printed another letter taking the same stance as I that was... Well, it was better. I need to work on my future letters, because this could be the first time (out of 4) that my letter hasn't been printed.

I was thinking about video game consoles last night and came up with a plan for any company to quickly sell a whole lot. Design a powerful system, something more powerful than you really think you need, so that it will be ahead of the game for a while yet. Use a proprietary game loading system, like the small discs on GameCube. Make sure it can also play CD's and DVD's in as many formats as possible. Then make the system extremely hackable. People will be able to do what they want with it, but you'll still sell software because there wil be no way for people to copy the games short of putting them on a hard drive, but they'll lose a lot less from piracy than if they just used regular discs, and the system will become the system of choice among real gamers because it's hackable and they'll be able to do practically anything with it. The company would need to really embrace the hacking, they must realize that some of their users will come up with ways to use the system the designers would never have thought of, and those new uses will only attract more buyers. This could be the first system that doesn't need susidization.

Have you noticed the quick up and down swings of patriotism in this country? Right after 9/11, everyone wanted a flag tatooed on their face so everyone else could see how much they love their country. Now schoolchildren in Maine are coming home crying because their teachers bashed the kids' parents for being in the military and shipping out. The most disturbing thing I have read about is a teacher out west somewhere who wore a button to school that said "Not My President, Not My War." I dislike Dubya as much as the next guy, but if you are a citizen of the United States then he is your President and if you don't like it, get the hell out of my fucking country! The implication of the button is her opinion that if she didn't vote for something, then she doesn't have to follow it if it wins. I, on the other hand, do not imply, I state, in no uncertain terms, that if you are a citizen of this country, then you have agreed to follow by the laws and rules of this country or face the consequences. And that includes standing by the decisions of the American people. That is not to say that you cannot protest something you dislike, but George W. Bush is the legally elected President of this country, and I think that anyone who lives here and says he's not THEIR President is spouting traitorous words and ought to move to another country where they can live happily under their president, whomever that may be. The teacher in question, by the way, was not punished, but was told not to wear the button as it goes beyond the bounds of decorum expected of teachers, yet is protected by the First Ammendment. I think she should be punished in a much harsher manner. This button tells the kids in her class more than that they have the right to protest peacefully, but that they have a right to disregard their government. That's not a good lesson for high school kids. As many of you do sometimes, I'm sure, I break the law on occassion, but I am also aware that I am breaking the law, and willing to face the consequences if caught. That teacher has a lot of influence over her students, and should use that influence properly, not subversively.

The link obviously didn't work, so here it is again....

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/03/05/offbeat.big.cheeto/index.html

If you get the chance, look in tomorrow's (Friday) letter's to the editor section of the AJC. I have a letter being printed in there, full of scathing commentary regarding Cynthia Tucker's column in the March 5th edition. She was writing about the whole Augusta National thing, saying that Hootie Johnson should back down simply because the KKK agrees with him. I wondered if that means she thinks that anti-war protesters should pull out guns and run to the middle east just because Saddam also doesn not want war. I wondered if the Braves should purposely lose all their games just because some of their fans are less than savory characters. Cynthia Tucker is a thoughtless idiot, and I tire of seeing her words in print. I plan to respond to each and every one of her columns until they get rid of her, or hire me.

Instead of a quote, I decided to add a link to the most ridiculous article of the day...

I hope that worked right. I want to talk about some good books I've read, but I think I want to create a second blog for that kind of stuff, and leave this one to items that will appeal to a larger audience. I think I'm up to like 5 people now. I wish there was a way to check the number of hits I'm getting. I'll have to look in to that. Ta ta for now.

I had this fantastic entry about how some people want to cut arts funding to schools annd I think that's dumb. It was, of course, very eloquent, but when I went to publish it, Blogger screwed up and I lost it. So I gotta I save my stuff just in case, at least until this blogger/google merger thing is over. I decided my art thing was a little pretentious anyway.

To be much more superficial, I am very excited about tonight's episode of the greatest TV show ever, Are You Hot? On tonight's show, we will be introduced to contestants from "Hot Zone 4," which I think is basically California, Nevada and Arizona. Smiley and I like to watch every week and try to guess who will go on. My tastes tend to run to the male fantasy type girls, blonde with big boobs and nice butts, and the judges tend to lile the exotic ones more. I'm surprised at how well I do guessing the guys, though. I just think "If I saw these people in a club, which guy would make me most envious?" And that guy usually gets picked as hot. The best part of the show, without a doubt, is Lorenzo Lamas and his rather embarassing statements. Two weeks ago, when faced with a winsome young lass that could have been his daughter, he stepped up to the plate and delivered the very meaningful words, "I got a burrito cooking down south and it's almost ready." The next week he followed up with the equally charming, "I've got a lump in my pants," or something to that effect. I wish I had Smiley here, he's like a walking encyclopedia of Lorenzo Lamas quotes.

My sister is coming in town for a week beginning Friday night, plus good pal Dave Gewertz is coming in for the weekend and bringing his ultimate household tool, the Kirby Cleaning System, the very best vacuum money can buy. Trust me, I tried seeling them during a short period of desperation. They're expensive as hell, but they suck the life right out of your carpet, and who the hell wants life in their carpet? I know my carpet needs some serious cleaning. For any of you that are also in need of a good cleaning, I reccommend showers over vacuum for personal hygiene. I wish blogger had a spell check. I also wish it had a discussion forum type deal so people can respond to stuff.

That's it for now. I'll get back with my quote of the day.

Since I live in Atlanta, I think I should post some Atlanta-centric stuff. We used to have this thing called Freaknik, which was black college spring break. Tens of thousands of spring-breakers would descend on the city creating chaos and turning our highways into parking lots. It was fun for me, but not so much fun for people that had jobs and such and couldn't avoid the masses of people. Due to increased police interaction the whole shebang left Atlanta. Then we had NBA All-Star weekend, which had all the same problems. Well now we have some hip-hop convention or something coming here in April. I have no problem with it myself, but a lot of people do. Apparently the conference only yeserday applied to the city for the use of Turner Field (where the Braves play) and the city is actually thinking about denying it. That's so stupid, all these people are coming anyway, so why not work with them to try to create a nice weekend of fun for everyone instead of denying the permit and letting all those people find their own place to congregate. In the absence of offical venues, the most likely spot for the partying is probably going to be the highway again, and that's just a pain. Hopefully the city council will use some common sense and show the country that Atlanta can handle a major event without disaster.

And my quote of the day:

This exchange takes place at a recent news conference. A reporter, said to be Iraqi, asks Powell if it is true that only 13% of young Americans can locate Iraq on a map. Powell says that this may, indeed, be true, but .. "unfortunately for you, all 13% are Marines."

I got this from Boortz.com, Neal Boortz being a libertarian radio talk show host in Atlanta, and someone I tend to agree with the majority of the time. Anyway, I'm not all about war, but I do think we're heading to a point where a war is gonna happen, and needs to happen. Unfortunately. I saw an article the other day with quotes from UN Secretary-Generals and Security Council members going back to 1998. Each of the quotes, and there were like 10 of them, consisted of someone saying that such and such resolution was Saddam's last chance to comply with UN disarming demands. How many last chances are they gonna give him? The UN has lost all credibility with me. Any oprganization that puts Libya in charge of their Human Rights Comission obviously has no interest in trying to make the world a better place. The UN is all about countries trying to grab power. For what reason is France still a permanent member of the Security Council? Since when is France a top 5 world power? Not since before WWII, and maybe not even then, as far as I am aware. The UN either needs some serious restructuring, or the United States needs to move on. We're the most powerful country in the world, and though I don't think we should just go out and do whatever we want on the world's stage, I also don't think that France, Cameroon, Libya, or any other small, weak country desperately trying to hang on to power, or gain some influence, should have any say in OUR foreign policy. The UN needs to face reality and get with the 21st century.

This is my first real entry. Anyone know how I can change the title of my blog? I suppose I could start a new one, but this one is off to such a flying start. I suppose I should tell you (since I'm sure there are millions out there reading this right now) a bit about myself. I'm Ben, I'm 25, and I've lived in Atlanta, GA my entire life, including the five years I spent attending Georgia Tech. Now I work two jobs, one delivering pizza and the other doing sales support for a just started internet company (which you can check out at tapn.com). I like movies, McDonald's, music (blues, The Beatles, and, recently, The White Stripes), beer, superficial blondes with nice butts, deep, meaningful brunettes with nice butts, and I read like a mna possessed. Er... Well, I've never met a man posessed, but if they read, I imagine they'd be just like me when I sit down with a book. I really want to be a writer, but I haven't been writing much lately. That's the reason for the blog, I'm hoping that this will help spark my inter est in writing. If I could just write as much as I read then I should be very prolific. The reason I'm using blogger instead of a competitor is because I've met evhead a couple of times, and my sister and brother-in-law, Courtney Becker-Skott and Lane Becker, live in San Fran and are pals with him. Actually I'm not sure what Courtney decided to change her name to after the wedding, but I think she ought to do Courtney Becker-X-Skott. How many people do you know with an X in their name? I think the real reason she decided to keep Skott is because my parents didn't give her a middle name and she's always felt like something was missing. I think it's been a real hang-up for her.

Oh yeah, before I go on, spcial thanks to Mike Skott, my cousin, for allowing me to use his domain, sleepingfeet, for my blog. Check out his sleepingfeet.com, as he designed his own content system. He's a bit more proactive than me. Plus I'm all about the writing, not so much about the computer part. I started as a computer engineer at Georgia Tech, but quickly tired of math and switched to history. At one time I was a big name in the pre-internet explosion ANSI art BBS scene, a very small group of nerdy kids nationwide, but once I got to colege I left behind th intense nerd thing and decided to become a frat boy. I enjoyed that thoroughly, but I probably would have a bigger salary if I stuck with engineering. Oh well, I'm happy enough sicne I finally moved out of my parent's place a few months ago. Now I live right across from one of the biggest urban parks in the US, Piedmont Park. I have two roomates, Adam Thompson (aspiring filmmaker, very creative, very brooding, just like a film person should be), and Richard Smiley (computer science, very smart, also creative, not quite as brooding, and very good at long grinds on Tony Hawk 4), and we spend a lot of time not doing all the productive things we had planned to do when we moved in together. But we do have fun.

Ok, that's it for now, feel free to write me, if anyone actually reads this. I plan to make this more of a channel for me to express my views on world issues and such boring things like that, and not to have too much personal stuff, but this is my first real post, so I wanted you to know where I'm coming from. And where I'm going. Except I'm not so sure about that myself. I know I'm going to Cali in a month or two for a bit, and I'm probably going to Florida for fishing, but other htan thast I don't know where I'm going.

Obviously not a natural, since this is my second try.