Wedding Pictures - 1

This is officially my new all-time favorite picture:

Me and my TWO BROTHERS!!!Laura was the most beautiful bride I've ever seen.Scott and Melanie are so cute together.Mom looked like an Angel.

Check back for more photos soon!

Complications

On Tuesday, June 27th, 2006, a constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration narrowly failed to pass in the U.S. Senate.

In case you were unsure, that is good news. Here's why:

- In cases decided in 1989 and 1990, the US Supreme declared that banning flag desecration (such as flag burning) was an unconstitutional infringement of the Right to Free Speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

- We cannot allow the government to decide what we can and cannot say in dissent of our government and our country. If we allow the government to decide that dissenting by burning the American flag is not allowed, how long until a president renews John Adam's Alien and Sedition Act, which makes it illegal to criticize a sitting president? Perhaps you think that the two aforementioned issues are unrelated or too far apart to be logical, but consider the words of our Founding Father - James Madison, "I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people, by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations." I think Madison had it right. The government is not going to come right out and say that they plan to control what you say, and they most likely do not plan to, but gradually it becomes easier and easier and more and more necessary for them to do so, and the next thing you know you are not allowed to criticize a public official.


That being said, I must say that burning or desecrating the American flag is just about the most idiotic and ridiculous thing you can do.

Why? It's very simple.

The flag represents America and America's ideals. The flag represents the Freedom of Speech and all the other freedoms we have in this country. The flag does not represent the government 's actions or administration policy. If you are planning on burning the flag, you might as well burn the Bill of Rights.

In closing, I would like to recognize some of the brave senators that stood up for the Constitution:

Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut)
Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)
Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts)
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-New York)
Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin)
Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware)
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Senator Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont)

Senator Inouye is a World War II veteran who lost an arm in combat and was awarded a Medal of Honor. Senator Inouye had profound words to defend his vote;

"Our country's unique because our dissidents have a voice. While I take offense at disrespect to the flag, I nonetheless believe it is my continued duty as a veteran, as an American citizen, and as a United States senator to defend the constitutional right of protesters to use the flag in nonviolent speech."

Senators that voted FOR the amendment to ban desecration (and should have known better):

Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada)
Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana)
Senator Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota)
Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska)
Senator John McCain (R-Arizona)

P.S. There are many senators that voted for this amendment that I did not include in this list. I chose to list these people because they are the ones I respect the most, and was most troubled by their support of this amendment.

The Decline

"The Decline"

~ Nofx ~

Where are all the stupid people from?
And how'd they get to be so dumb?
Bred on purple mountain range
Feed amber waves of grains
To lesser human beings; zero feelings

Blame it on:
Human nature; man's destiny
Blame it on the greediocracy
Fear of God
The fear of change
The fear of truth

Add to the Bill of Rights, subtract the wrongs
There's no answers
Memorize and sing star spangled songs
When the questions
Aren't ever asked
Is anybody learning from the past?
We're living in united stagnation

Father what have I done?
I took that .22
A gift to me from you
To bed with me each night
Kept it clean
Polished it well
Cherished every cartridge, every shell

Down, by the creek, under brush, under dirt
There's a carcass of my second kill
Down, by the park, under stone, under pine
There's a carcass of my brother William
Brother where, have you gone to?
I swear, I never thought I could
I see so many times
They told me to shoot straight
Don't pull the trigger, squeeze
That will insure a kill
A kill is what you want
A kill is why we breed

The Christians love their guns
The church and NRA
Pray for their salvations
Prey on the lower faiths

The story book's been read
And every line believed
Curriculum's been set
Logic is a threat
Reason searched and seized

Jerry spent some time in Michigan
A twenty year vacation, after all he had a dime
A dime is worth a lot more in Detroit
A dime in California, a twenty dollar fine

Jerry only stayed a couple months
It's hard to enjoy yourself while bleeding out the ass
Asphyxiation is simple and fast
It beats seventeen fun years of being someone's bitch

Don't think (Stay)
Drink your wine (Home)
Watch the fire burn (Be)
His problems not mine (Safe)
Just be that model citizen

I wish I had a schilling
For every senseless killing
I'd buy a government
America's for sale
And you can get a good deal on it
And make a healthy profit
Or maybe, tear it apart

Start with assumption
That a million people are smart;
Smarter than one

Serotonin's gone
She gave up, drifted away
Sara fled, thought process gone
She left her answering machine on
The greeting left spoken sincere
Messages no one will ever hear

Ten thousand messages a day
A million more transmissions lay
Victims of the laissez faire
Ten thousand voices, a hundred guns
A hundred decibels turns to one
One bullet, one empty head
Now with Serotonin gone

The man who used to speak
Performs a cute routine
Feel a little patronized
Don't feel bad
They found a way inside your head
And you feel a bit misled
It's not that they don't care, yeah

The television's put a thought inside your head
Like a Barry Manilow, jingle
I'd like, to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
A symphonic blank stare, yeah
It doesn't make you care
Not designed to make you care
They're betting you won't care

Place a wager on your greed
A wager on your pride
Why try to beat them when, a million others tried?

We are the whore
Intellectually spayed
We are the queer
Dysfunctionally raised

One more pill to kill the pain
One more pill to kill the pain
One more pill to kill the pain
Living through conformity

One more prayer to keep me safe
One more prayer to keep us warm
One more prayer to keep us safe
There's gonna be a better place

Lost the battle, lost the war
Lost the things worth living for
Lost the will to win the fight
One more pill to kill the pain

The going get tough, the tough get debt
Don't pay attention, pay the rent
Next of kins pay for your sins
A little faith should keep us safe

Save us
The human, existence
Is failing, resistance
Essential, the future
Written off, the odds are
Astronomically against us
Only moron and genius
Would fight a losing battle
Against the super ego
When giving in is so damn comforting

And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth, but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
Why go against tradition when we can
Admit defeat, live in decline
Be the victim of our own design
The status quo, built on suspect
Why would anyone stick out their neck?

Fellow members of
Club "We've Got Ours"
I'd like to introduce you to our host
He's got his, and I've got mine
Meet the decline

We are the queer
We are the whore
Ammunition
In the class war
We are worker
We love our queen
We sacrifice
We're soilent green

We are the queer
We are the whore
Ammunition
In the class war

X-Day is Almost Upon Us

Well, it's been a long time coming, but finally it's almost here.

On Friday, in 2 days, X-Men: The Last Stand is going to premiere.

Now, I know what you're saying, Rat, you're obsessed.

Well, you're right.

But the good news is I've stopped trying to deny it.

I guess I realized I was obsessed while I was watching The Da Vinci Code (absolutely first rate movie by the way - don't believe the anti-hype), which stars Ian McKellen (who also plays Magneto in the X-Men movies).

In one particular scene, McKellen's character kind of goes off the deepend and starts yelling histerically. At that point, I leaned over to my friend and said, "Magneto's lost it."

It was a sad state of affairs. But at least now I've accepted my particular dementia and can move on with my life.

So anyways, X-Men: The Last Stand comes out on Friday and you should go see it.

- The Desert Rat.

The Profound Nature of Becker

Wow, who would have thought a tv show could make so much sense and be funny at the same time? I watch quite a bit of television, and every once in a while, I catch an episode of Becker, starring Ted Danson.

I don't know if it's just the episodes I've seen; but they have made some terrific points:

1. "What about all the violence that happened before we had television? I suppose the Spanish Inquisition came off a bad episode of Gilligan's Island"

2. "There is no money because the federal government cut taxes - which is all anybody seems to care about any more. That means less money for the states, which means less money for the cities, which means we have to cut services, which means fewer cops, fewer firemen, bad air, bad water, crappy schools which will turn out yet another generation of voters who are too stupid and greedy to think about anything else besides cutting taxes."

Jack Bauer Facts

Here are some interesting facts about Jack Bauer:

1. Killing Jack Bauer doesn't make him dead - It just makes him angry.

2. You can lead a horse to water - Jack Bauer can make him drink.

3. Jack Bauer doesn't miss. If he didn't hit you it's because he was shooting at another terrorist twelve miles away.

4. Jack Bauer is the reason Waldo is hiding.

5. Jack Bauer has been to Mars - Thats why there's no life on Mars.

6. Jack Bauer doesn't sleep with a gun under the pillow - He could kill you with the pillow.

7. There were originally five horsemen of the apocalypse. Jack Bauer said he would travel by foot.

8. The only reason you're conscious right now is because Jack Bauer doesn't want to carry you.

9. Jack Bauer could get off the Lost island within the hour.

10. When the boogie man goes to sleep - he checks his closet for Jack Bauer.

11. Jack Bauer can hit two birds with no stones.

12. When Google can't find something - It asks Jack Bauer for help.

13. Simon Says you better listen to Jack Bauer.

14. Jack Bauer once won a game of Connect 4 - in three moves.

15. Jack Bauer played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun - and won.

16. Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin - Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.

17. Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas.

Take A Stand - 1

X-Men: The Last Stand.Awesome.

Introducing Lisa Ann Salerno

Hey Everyone,

As my regular readers surely know, I don't generally focus my blogs on my friends, but this just has to be said.

I'd like to introduce you all to a good friend of mine, Lisa Ann Salerno.

Lisa and I met when she started working at Chili's a while back. I don't generally get involved with coworkers outside the restaurant, but Lisa was different. Over the past couple of years, we've become great friends.

Now I know what you're thinking, but it's not like that, we are just truly good friends. I'm not saying I didn't try to start a relationship. But as I've come to realize, everything happens for a reason, and just at the point in my life where I had decided I didn't need another friend, and all I wanted was a girlfriend, Lisa shows up and proves me wrong. Nevertheless, She's a sweetheart and I love her.

That brings me to the real point of this post (no, it's not just an endorsement of Lisa's sparkling personality).

Long story short, in addition to everything else she does, Lisa is a member of a community service Sorority/Fraternity, and every year about this time, her Sorority takes part in this "Relay For Life" campaign, as part of the American Cancer Society.

Basically, Lisa is accepting donations for the Relay For Life, money that will go towards cancer research, and I'm officially asking all of you to consider donating money for this great charity.

If you are interested, you can check it out and even make a donation, through this link: Relay For Life.

I hope you'll all consider making a donation to this great charity, even if you can only donate a little bit, that's all it takes. We all have good intentions, unfortunately, cancer patients can't live on good intentions, they need money for research and care, and anything you can donate will go a long way to helping these people.

To all who can donate, THANK YOU!

- The Desert Rat.

Spiderman 3

Recently, Superherohype.com posted a new picture from Spiderman 3, coming in 2007. The picture allegedly shows according to SHH! and the official Spiderman 3 website Spiderman in a black suit, which they claim Spiderman will be wearing in the next installment.

But here's the reason I think this is a ruse to throw us fans off. It just doesn't make any sense. Why would Spiderman be wearing a black suit? That's first of all. Secondly, they have already stated that Venom will be in Spiderman 3, and Venom looks very similar to Spiderman, except that Venom wear a black suit, and Venom has an open mouth of sharp teeth, where Spiderman's suit doesn't have a mouth. But therein lies the problem, in the picture, "Spiderman's" mouth is covered by his arm. Very suspect.

Have we seen a picture of Spiderman in a black suit, or is this a coy way of showing us Venom? Only time will tell.

P.S. Both SHH! and the official Spiderman 3 site have said that this is NOT a black and white picture.

- The Desert Rat.

Batman: Anthology

The other day, I realized that I had come to a point in my life where I could no longer live without the Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997.

For those of you that know me well, you know that I am a HUGE Batman fan. I'm obsessed with pretty much everything Batman (except the lame 1950s TV show). So it was basically only a matter of time before I bought the anthology, and I'm a little surprised I held out as long as I did.

As I'm sure many of you are, I'm weary of buying Special Edition DVDs (especially when I already own the basic version) but the Batman Anthology just seemed too good to miss.

Well, it was.

It is probably one of the top 10 things I've ever bought in my life.

There are so many features in this anthology, that there is no way I can list them all, but here are some of the greatest features:

The Box: The box looks awesome, pure and simple. Weird to say, but it really captures the mood of the Batman saga.

The Movies: Sure, I've seen them all before, and I only really like two of the four (Batman & Batman Returns) but it's a collection, and there are things I like about all of them, and I wanted to own the update, restored, digitally rendered versions of all of them. Not to mention Batman was ten times better with the improved picture and sound.

The Menus: Seeing as though the original Batman was one of the first movies to come out on DVD, the quality was questionable, and the menus were nearly unusable, it was a chore just to get the movie started. The new menus are terrificly simple.

Director's Commentaries: Each movie has a complete director's commentary. It's terrific. Tim Burton really gives some great insights into the first two films, and it's interesting to hear what the hell Joel Schumacher was thinking when he made Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.

Other awesome features include 9 music videos, 18+ hours of special features, 50+ documentaries and featurettes, and more.

Ok, so like I said, there is entirely too much for me to describe to you, so you're just going to have to go out and buy the anthology for yourself, or at least go out and get the special editions of Batman and Batman Returns.

If you're a Batman fan, you're guaranteed to enjoy this collection.

- The Desert Rat.

Video iPod Problems

Hey Everyone,

It's been a long time since I've written a blog, mainly just because I've been so busy.

My life right now pretty much consists of school, work, and sleep (with the occasional chance for relaxation).

Anyways, one thing that has been awesome is that I finally got my iPod (actually I've had it since Christmas).

It's completely awesome, a black, G5, 30 gig, Video iPod.The problem is; I can't figure out how to put videos on it. Being a huge movie fan, I want to get the trailers to some up coming movies on my iPod, but I can't get the videos from my computer to my iPod.

Apparently, they need to be in a certain format, and the only way I can find to get them into said format is to go online and buy quicktime 7 pro for about $30 bucks.

Now I know what you're saying, "But Desert Rat, $30 isn't that much money, why not just spring for it and get videos on your iPod?"

You make a valid point, but personally, I'm getting pretty damn tired of Apple seeing a $300 iPod, then charging you $80 for a car adapter, $35 for a decent case, $30-$200 for a speaker attachment, and $30 for any other feature/accessory you want.

So, ok, maybe those things are a little over-priced, but they are add-ons, and you can use the iPod without them, but You'd think that for $300 you would at least be able TO USE THE FEATURES ON THE IPOD!

So if anyone knows how to reformat videos for the G5 iPod (on a PC, not a Mac) please let me know. Thanks.

- The Desert Rat.

Awesome

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick check in to tell you that I finish the painting/redecorating and it came out really well...Much better than my first attempt, the downstairs bathroom (which came out alright).

Scott's room (aka the guest room) was a lot of fun but it was an unbelievable about of work. Apparently, getting 25 year old wallpaper off of a wall is a major pain in the ass. I had to take off the wallpaper, because it was only a wallpaper border on a painted wall. It was basically a six inch tall strip of wallpaper that went around the entire room (which isn't that big). You'd think that just getting a small border off wouldn't be that hard.

I'm not bullshitting when I tell you it took me at least 6 hours to get it all off. Unbelievable.

I had planned to get the job done slowly throughout the week, but I ended up getting a burst of energy Tuesday night, pulling an all-nighter, and getting the job done in about 48 hours. Luckily I had a day to recover before I had to be back to work.

Anyways, the work was worth it, I really think the room looks great. Pretty much by accident, I matched the paint color to the futon cover my Mother bought a few months ago, and to the color of the flowers on the table runner Mom put on the computer desk in here.

Hopefully when Mom gets home, she'll be able to get me some digital pictures of the room, so you can all have a look (I can do the grunt work, but I leave the technical work to the computer programmer extraordinaire).

Well, Mom and Dad get home tomorrow (technically today) from Florida, at about 11:00 pm. It will be great to have them back, it's weird being in a big house all by yourself.

- Rob

The Return

Hey Everyone,

Well, it's been a while since I wrote a blog, and I have a few minutes now so I figured I'd write a quick update.

Not much is new with me. Lat summer my parents went to New Hampshire for a week and I totally redecorated the downstairs bathroom for them, as a surprise them. It's something enjoy. Anyways, I tell you this because my parents are in Florida for the week and tonight I am going to redecorate Scott's room. my mother has wanted to do this for some time, but she's too busy doing everything for everyone else and trying to maintain her own sanity, so I am going to do this for her.

She has her computer in here - I say in here because I'm on her computer now, since mine is all screwed up - and she spends a good amount of time in here and I think it would make her happy if the room looked a little bit nicer and was a little more organized. Luckily for her, I happen to be a master of organization & spatial design.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully my computer will be fixed soon so I can return to my normal blogging rate.

- Rob