The fact is, these excuses are not really good enough. It’s time to get my lazy butt back to work, so here is my first new post. I’ve got a lot of ground to cover, of course, but I won’t be going into depth about everything. No need to recount the holidays. No need to look back on the year that was. I’m going to keep it breif-ish, though who knows how long it’ll get once I get to the personal stuff, so let’s get started, eh?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

So when I say I haven’t blogged in a while, it was actually sort of a lie. I’ve actually kept up blogging through my reviews, which I know doesn’t really count for readersof these posts as much, but hey! I’ll take my bonus points where I can get them. All of my recent reviews have been on video games, which is something of a shame, seeing as how I saw some movies I would have liked to review as well (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Sherlock Holmes 2 being the most notable of these.) But for those of you who live life on the gaming sie, you migth be interested in my reviews of ICO (from the HD PS3 collection), To the Moon, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. It has definitely been a good year for games.

Of course, that’s not all I’ve been playing. League of Legends is something of a habit. Of course that’s largely because it’s one of the main ways I hang out with my friends. But lately there have been some lousy bits that has discouraged me in my time with the game. First off is the fact that two of my friends are more or less tired of it and want to play other things. Now this isn’t so bad, but finding those other things that we all enjoy on a regular basis is difficult. I’m not really an MMO guy, for instance, and the only one I want to try out (Star Wars: The Old Republic) is a monthly payment, which is blah for everyone. I’m kinda hoping the recently announced new additions to the Co-op versus AI mode in League of Legends will draw those friends back. Even if for a little while.

The other major drawback though is that Riot has more or less nerfed Jax a whole lot in the recent rework.

Poor little Jax

And that’s not even taking into account the terrible construction of his Counter Strike ability. The stun is almost worthless for the cooldown time, especially since using the ability telegraphs the oncoming stun 1.5 second before you can actually use it. Any self-respecting player can dodge the stun 75% of the time, and that 25% is because Jax used it before leap-strike, which negates the whole dodge mechanic’s use entirely. – Dyrus said it before, and it’s true. Jax’s kit is hypocritical. Is he an assassin? Is he a brawler? Both and neither. He simply isn’t good enough at either one, and two crappy halves don’t make a complete whole. He’s still playable at least, and I keep trying out new builds. Hopefully they fix some of these problems in the future.

Meanwhile I discovered a new mini passion for minecraft. Building on my single-player fortress was fun, and all, but it’s also lonely and boring at times. So when Scott invited me onto the PandemicCraft server as a villager in Westphalia, I thought it would be a neat way to give the game new life. And let me tell you, it’s working. Now that I have a community to live in, my scope has shrunk (no giant fortresses at the moment) but my artistry has grown. The house I’m building across two plots is going to be really cool when it’s completed. I feel like I own a part of a larger world, now. It’s sort of addicting. This tiny little outpost in the winter biome is steadily growing. There’s a town square. Houses, and an Inn. And somewhere out there is an Empire that is pressuring other settlements to join with them. Thankfully our Baron is tough in the face of such pressures. We Westphalians live free out in the wilderness. ^_^

Part of what makes it all worthwhile is the economy system, where people actually do own pieces of the town, and these towns can expand. And people have jobs and specialties. The Innkeeper and his assistant actually grow food, buy meat off of hunters, and sell it to the villagers and travelers at low cost. It’s fascinating and fun. I think the system needs some expansion, though. It’s far too easy to become rich, with little to show for it. I don’t know if the server’s mod can be modded further or not, but it seems like cool things could be done with it.

Well, I’ve been yammering on about what I’ve been enjoying lately, so let’s take a detour into some less pleasant waters…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Of course, less pleasant waters doesn’t mean it can’t be funny at the same time. How about those Republican Primaries, eh?

I tell you, watching this circus has been at least as fun as it is depressing, which makes it ok in my book. I mean seriously, these are the nominees? THESE are the nominees? The idea of any of them as president is stomach churning. Even Ron Paul, who at least is the most honest and least-politically corrupt of them all, would be a terrible president. Romney would be predictable, boring, and dangerous in his own right, but could you imagine Newt Gingrich as president?

Oh my sweet lord. The question would be whether we bomb Iran right after the inauguration, or if we wait a day. Don’t get me started on Santorum.

Of course Obama hasn’t been a particularly good president either, but at least he’s a little more inclined to do what’s right than these jokers. And that’s really all I have to say for now. Until the end of this, I think I’ll just buckle up for the roller coaster ride and hope there’s a smooth stop at the end, and not an abyss.

Abysses aren’t fun.

Which is why, thankfully, the internet was able to keep us from jumping into another kind of Abyss entirely. The SOPA and PIPA legislation are currently falling apart (woo-hoo!) Of course that doesn’t mean they won’t come back in some sort of new and deadlier form. (Why is it that legislation acts so suspiciously like Final Fantasy boss fights?) It was pretty cool to see so many internet powerhouses throw their weight against the bill, though. I guess sometimes the people can win. Fancy that.

But that’s enough of the entertainment an the political, let’s move on to the personal…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I’m married guys!

Of course I have been for 3 or so months now, and should have said something on here sooner, but let’s not dwell on that…
While this topic deserves a full on recounting with details, descriptions, emotions, chronology, etc. I think I’d rather keep it simple and say it was a beautiful wedding. And I had a top-hat!
I plan on putting up a picture gallery eventually, but that will take more time, unfortunately. Until then I will leave you with two things. The first is our vows to each other. Me and Katie wrote them out (though I must admit I wrote most of it with her input >.> ) and we alternated speaking the different lines to each other. It worked out wonderfully. The second thing is a picture of the little wedding-decoration place we mad in our Duplex. It’s not finished yet (we’ve got to get a picture to put in the frame) but I think it’s already very nice.

Our Vows –

From all the times together, thick and thin,
We found a bond in our joys and rest.
The grand adventures shared through paper, pen
And dice, or pages turned, or buttons pressed
Were just the start. Beneath the fun and play
was deeper love. A love that waits beside
Your sick bed; Love for which we pine and pray.
A love that age and death cannot divide.
This love’s worth more than worldly wealth, or woe
Its lack may bring. May God look on this love
And smile, as when he sparked all life to grow,
Or when he woke the galaxies above.
My hand’s outstretched to you and my heart’s doors
Are wide. All I have, all I hold, are yours.

I, Edward Lee Cheever II, and I, Katie Michelle Guth, in front of family and friends, before God and man, do pledge myself to you.

This is how we read them:

Me: From all the times together, thick and thin, we found a bond in our joys and rest.
Katie: The grand adventures shared through paper, pen and dice, or pages turned, or buttons pressed were just the start.
Me: Beneath the fun and play was deeper love.
Katie: A love that waits beside your sick bed;
Me: Love for which we pine and pray.
Katie: A love that age and death cannot divide.
Me: This love’s worth more than worldly wealth, or woe its lack may bring.
Katie: May God look on this love and smile,
Me: as when he sparked all life to grow,
Katie: Or when he woke the galaxies above.
Me: My hand’s outstretched to you and my heart’s doors are wide.
Katie: All I have, all I hold, are yours.
Me: I, Edward Lee Cheever II,
Katie: and I, Katie Michelle Guth,
Me: in front of family and friends,
Katie: before God and man,
Both: do pledge myself to you.

Married life has pretty much been great, as well. Of course there are the little things, like chores and such that things can get tense over, but otherwise, living with the person I love the most, whom I can both have fun with and be serious with, has been wonderful.

Settling into the duplex has been a process of course. As has mashing two lives together. Finances are particularly… fun… But we’ve got some of it sorted out now. Still lots to do, of course, but when isn’t there? Job-wise I haven’t been doing the serious job-hunt that I probably need to do. Part of my hang-ups are all around the certification test I’m supposed to take at some nebulous time in the future. At least I FINALLY got some information abut it out of the education department and I can start preparing for it (by the way, could this material be any more dull and lifeless? Or useless for that matter? I think the people behind this live in a fantasy world somewhere between Mathland and MotivationalSpeakervania.

In any case, I still have my job as a writing tutor, which I am very thankful for, and I’ve been doing a rather lot of substitute teaching over at CTA. So finances are better than they otherwise would be if I didn’t have a job. I think the bills would really start eating away at us if not for that promise of my soon-coming paychecks and Katie’s recent raises and long hours.

I’ve been trying to think of a way to segue into this final topic, but I really can’t think of one. It’s much like asking the question, “When is the best time to hear the news of a death?” There isn’t one. No time is ripe, and no segue can ease the issue.

My friend, Jarret Wade, is dead. He died of cancer some time ago, now. I’m honestly not entirely sure because time seems to flow so swiftly. Has it really been a week and a half?

To say I knew a lot about him would actually be a lie. I didn’t know his family, I didn’t delve into his personal life much, and we only really interacted at school. And yet I have little hesitation to say he was a great friend. Part of that, I believe, is because there was nothing about him that wasn’t genuine, and completely open and honest. He was completely himself at all times. A few conversations would be all it would take before you felt like you knew him for life. Like he was a friend from your earliest days.

So unlike other acquaintances I’ve known who have died, I felt a real shock at the news. I learned about it early in the day during a time I was substitute teaching at CTA, and it was difficult not to break down when I would mention him during prayer requests at the start of every class period. My voice would falter, and I can only imagine how red my eyes grew over time, holding back tears that blurred my vision.

I knew it was coming of course. We’ve all known for some time of the cancer that was eating away at him. I last spoke with him over the phone while on my honeymoon. We were in Seattle, and though he said he would call, and show off his beloved home city to us, we never heard from him. I called him up to see how he was doing, and he had just gone through another serious treatment. He didn’t sound good, then. He apologized for not being able to show us around. Of course I said it was nothing, and that his health was more important. He said he’d make a trip down to visit Keene soon. That he looked forward to seeing us all again, and to meeting my wife.

It was a trip he would never make. And while I know that there was no real way I would have been able to, I constantly think that I should have made time to go see him again while I was there…

I’m not the poet I once was. I have a tendency to write them far less than before, and I usually make them boring and emotionless for trying to make them structured or fancy. But occasionally, something happens that gets that emotion stirring again. It’s not the greatest poem I’ve ever written, but I feel like It has my heart in it. Here’s to you, my brother, Jarret Wade.

Jarret

I see the rain on the western shoreline
Pouring into a hole that never fills.
I know the shadows of those blackened clouds.
I know the brim of that endless cold cup.

Like the echo of a distant tempest,
The strong vibrations of thunder long since
The blinding light of the lightning strike,
Your going shook me, and my earth stilled.

Till the trumpets ring from the mountain tops,
Till the silvered bells toll at sea.
Till the bright cloud comes from the east.
Till then, rest ‘neath the trees.

You found the deepest roots of all our hearts.
You could see their dark gnarls, their twists, their cramps.
You always knew how to water them,
With smiles, and hugs, and conversation.

The world was not a stranger to you.
It was a lonely friend in desperate need.
Not an unknown mist of vague statistics,
But a painting of minds, faces and eyes.

Till the trumpets ring from the mountain tops,
Till the silvered bells toll at sea.
Till the bright cloud comes from the east.
Till then, God holds Grave’s Key.

His hand hovers over the sepulcher
Holding out that golden metal Work,
Trembling with desperate impatience to swing
Wide those black and silent gates that stand closed.

And past that unknown date, what triumph waits?
A son of heaven comes home! You will ride
His chariot, And wear a crown of gold,
bejeweled for lives you’ve touched. A friend of God.

Then the trumpets ring from the mountain tops,
The silvered bells toll at sea.
The bright cloud comes from the east.
And then, at last, be free.

For now, there are dark clouds out to the west.
No rain, no tears, no grief, can fill torn hearts.
You lit so many candles on your way,
You left your light in all of us.

Edward L. Cheever II

Sorry to leave it on such a low note, everyone. But sometimes, the world gets serious. And laughter is a little far away. Good-bye, friends. I hope to have you here again soon.

Don't I Wish My Days Were Stuffed With Relaxing

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The amount of entertainment I’ve been able to consume has been cut drastically short lately for a variety of reasons which I will get to. However! This has not stopped me from enjoying certain elements of popular culture.

First of all, League of Legends continues to be my primary time-sink for my off-work hours. Not that I have a lot of time to sink, mind you. This is for the usual reasons of course. It’s one of the few times I can hang out with all my friends and do something that is usually fun. The game is as fantastic as ever. Yadda-Yadda.

But what it has really done to capture me lately is the introduction of the Dominion game mode beta. I rarely ever get a chance to try out this fantastic new mode, but my word how fantastic it is. It is blazing fast compared to your bread and butter Summoner’s Rift, with all sorts of nuances and strategies that are in their infancy stages. Right now every game is chaos. Players running in all directions, getting lost in the jungle, picking fights hey shouldn’t. It’s a good time to be a Jax player, like myself. Tanky DPS champions are kings of the hill right now.

Of course I’m hoping that as players grow more experienced with the mode, and as complex team strategies and maneuvers develop, the dominance of the Tanky DPS will lessen and go back to merely carrying like normal. The most shows tons of promise, and most importantly it is FUN. I just can’t wait till I can play it any time.

In other news, Minecraft has been grabbing what time I don’t give to League of Legends. My stronghold gets more stronghold-y every day, and I’m looking forward to going and exploring the world around me when I’m done. Or mostly done. You’re never really all done in Minecraft.

As for Doctor Who, we’ve caught up to the most recent episode and we’re having to wait week to week for the new ones to come out. I’ve grown so accustomed to marathon television shows that these week long gaps are especially painful. Otherwise, we’re enjoying it as much as ever.

On a side note, there’s a rather funny and interesting article on Doctor Who mania over at Cracked.com right now that draws some fascinating parallels and differences between the Doctor and the concept of a god (or rather “God”). At the very least, it’s an interesting read.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

There are so many things to commentate upon in politics. I could talk about how ridiculous the Republican debates are (and if you’re watching the debates without simultaneously following the commentary tweets by @RepublicanDalek and @ASupremeDalek then you just aren’t doing it right). Etc. Etc. But I’m going to focus a little on foreign relations and politics for a moment.

First on the docket is King Abdullah, of Saudi Arabia, giving women the right to vote and run in local elections. Now, let’s make no mistake, this isn’t some sweeping change in the fortunes of Women in that country. If I’m not mistaken, they are still not alowed to drive. But this still represents a solid step in the right direction. The Arabian Spring has provided many people of the Middle East with new opportunities, and Women in this, one of the most conservative countries in the region, have gained some valuable ground. I applaud the king for being as revolutionary as he is, even if his government won’t let certain reforms through (Seriously? Driving?).

In other news, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has called for consideration of military action against Pakistan. The argument goes that the terroristic attacks on American troops in Afghanistan is being funded and aided by the Pakistani government directly. As these are hostile action, hostility is the best response.

This is ridiculous. For a number of reasons.
1. Unsubstantiated ideas concerning the military power and actions of foreign nations is what got us in this Middle-Eastern mess in the first place.
2. Your best plan to get Pakistan to stop killing American troops (if this is even happening at half the scale that is being assumed) is to send more troops over to get shot? Good job Einstein.

Good news, guys! We've got a new plan to stop the violence! Shoot more people!

I really have nothing more to say about that. I frankly see this being burred soon and never being heard of again *knocks on wood*.

Finally, and probably most controversially, the attempt for Pakistanis to gain their own independent state. Needless to say, the bold steps being taken in the UN right now are popular amongst the Pakistanis, and needless to say, it’s not popular in Israel or in America.

I say controversial because I think I’m coming down on the side of the Pakistanis. Israel has ever right to exist and defend itself after some fifty years of existence. I am not suggesting otherwise. But we are hypocrites to say that self-determination is a good, noble thing to desire, and then deny this to the Pakistani people. I think that concessions should be made on both sides to achieve this. Perhaps not all of the land that Pakistan wants should be given (I know there are concerns about opening up Israel’s heartland to artillery range from the border). I also think that it is right and proper to let the Pakistanis have their land for themselves. Surely there is a middle ground in there somewhere.

Of course this will not happen. At least not for a long time. Hostilities are far from ending in the land of Abraham’s descendants.

Now, on to my latest bog section…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

This section will be dedicated to any scientific articles that I find the urge to comment upon, or social issues that are more or less dominated by the science that inspires it.
Oh, and I’ll probably talk a lot about Robots and Lasers too.

But the introductory topic and article I’m going to focus on today is This One Over at the Associated Press About America’s Allergy to Global Warming.
I have long felt that I needed to see more proof that Global Warming was real before I made up my mind. I always stood by my decision that the reason why we should care for the environment was because we should want to keep the planet beautiful, and if that also kept us from disaster, then great! But this reasoning isn’t enough and never will be enough for oil barons and other captains of industry who simply won’t be able to ad another level to their Scrooge McDuck Money Bin if they don’t keep the profits rising, so screw the environment.

I find that I can’t just sit in my comfortable “keep nature beautiful” mindset anymore. It’s not a motivation for most people. And this is becoming serious. I’m convinced of Global Warming.

Two of these things are looking pretty familiar right about now.

So I think we should take this as seriously as life and death. If they are wrong, what’s the worst that could happen? That we live in a prettier, less polluted world? Oh the horror!

Now, I was going to move on to talk about personal stuff, but I think I’ll save that for another time, when I have more information about what is coming up. Instead I’m going to finish off with a story that I find perfectly hysterical.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

So apparently Nicholas Cage was, at some point in the past, woken up by a mostly-naked man with a fudgesicle. There really is no better way for me to put it. Apparently the man was mentally ill, and somehow found his way into Cage’s house, bedroom, and closet, where he took Cage’s leather jacket. He promptly wore it while eating a fudgesicle by the side of Cage’s bed.
That would have been terrifying.

Though I'm not sure who felt more terrified, now that I think about it...

And on that note, it’s time I left you for today. There’s a lot of stuff to do yet. Have a great one, everybody!

Edward L. Cheever II

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Despite all how busy I’ve been lately, I’ve managed to fill in the small times and breaks with a good amount of interesting media, etc. If you’ve been paying attention to my reviews blog, you’ve known that I’ve been going through a pretty serious reading kick lately, and let me tell you, it’s good to have my nose back between a couple sheets of slaughtered and processed forestry.

You know… in a less environmentally morbid sort of way…

But I say all that to introduce my latest book review, in which I cover “Coyote Frontier,” the third book in the Coyote trilogy by Allen Steele. I won’t spoil my own review here, so go read it. I will say, however, that I would recommend the series so far to fans of science fiction literature with relatively few reservations.

THERE ARE WORMHOLES IN THIS BOOK

My caveat here is that the film is directed by Zack Snyder. This could be either a good or a terrible thing. “300” was fun, if utterly brainless, and “Watchmen” was a triumph of comic adaptation, though not entirely a triumph of cinematic storytelling, so he can do good work when he’s given source material.

But Snyder also directed (and wrote I think – if you call it writing) “Sucker-Punch.” I despise “Sucker-Punch.” Aside from the neat visuals, that film is a travesty. It called into question a lot of the good will I had given Snyder for his work on “300” and “Watchmen” (especially “Watchmen”). We shall see.

On the positive side, I’m down with the new costume, which feels more like a suit, and less like a Halloween costume, which is easy to do with superhero outfits. The only issue I have is also only an issue to ½ or so of the audience. That is, the obvious bulge. I bring this up because, well… it’s just so obvious. I mean, it was the first thing Katie commented about when she saw the costume, and I suspect she holds back on calling out things she likes on a lot of hot actors and so forth to protect my wee little mind about such things (lol). It’s impossible not to see it.

Whatevs. On to new topics.

Ever since I started watching, my love for Doctor Who has known no bounds. I want the merchandises nowplease. When I build my future house one day, the door is going to look like the doors of the TARDIS and I am NOT even kidding. I can’t wait for people to hear the doorbell.

So you can imagine my sadness at the changing of the guard. That is, the departure of David Tennet as the Doctor in favor of Matt Smith. This is as bad as my depression over the first change, when Christopher Eccleston switched out for Tennet. Of course, I think that that first switch was so powerful because that it was the first time it had happened to MY Doctor (you never forget your first), and Tennet’s was more powerfully set-up, if perhaps bordering on melodramatic (but when you’re in the moment, melodrama is wonderful). That one last time seeing Rose, especially inferring the Doctor’s feelings for her, was really sad, and they really couldn’t have had him see anyone else last.

It will no-doubt take some time for me to warm up to Matt Smith. It took me some time to get used to Tennet, too. But I’m hopeful that I’ll grow to like him as much. (Some hard-core Doctor Who fans have said that they have actually ended up liking Smith’s Doctor the best, which has me intrigued.)

There is reason yet to hope.

So when I’m not watching Doctor Who with Katie, we’re playing League of Legends again. As long as I keep my cool, and treat it as the game it is, I tend to have a ton of fun. I mean the same kind of fun that got me addicted in the first place. A lot of the new champions are interesting too, even if I don’t really “get” some of them (a.k.a. I’m bad at them – I’m looking at you, Skarner), others are terrific. Being a Jax player, it seems inevitable that I would gravitate towards the Monkey King and Lee Sin, both of whom have abilities similar to Jax’s jump. I’m not as good with either (I don’t even own them yet. Too much IP cost) but I enjoy playing them.

Jax fixing his lamp-post after bashing it into people's faces.

THERE ARE WORMHOLES IN THIS BOOK

It sounds like I just consume tons of media (and I kinda do) but the majority of my time is being absorbed in quite different ways…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

…to be specific, I mean student teaching. Waking up at 6 a.m. Every morning is a real killer. I mean sure, lots of people do that every day, but I am not a morning person. Not by a long shot. Night-time is my time. That, combined with an inability to get to sleep any earlier than 1 a.m. most nights means that I am also dead on my feet starting at about the second I get home from school.

I plan on working on that, however. I want to get my bed-time to at least midnight, and 11 o’clock would be ideal. With some extra time asleep, I could use my afternoons more wisely, or at least more fully.

Until then... I'll just... take a little... ZZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzzz....

I tend to like my classrooms a little noisy. Not a din, where I don’t feel like I’m being heard, but where the entire class is participating, throwing out ideas, and talking about the material. Now don’t get me wrong, I like more sedate classes too. I’ve had a day, maybe two, where I felt like I couldn’t really get a firm hold of the situation, when the students were too hard to corral. But that has been rare so far, and I’m getting better at bringing them back down from a conversation explosion to get across my next point.

Interestingly enough, my nerves haven’t been the constant bother I had worried that they’d be. Every day gets a little easier to get in front of everyone and talk. Not to say I’m not swatting butterflies before each class period, but its a little more field-of-flowers than Monarch-migration.

Truth be told, I so far find it more engaging, satisfying, and less stressful than working as a reporter. Or perhaps I should say it’s more fun. (It also doesn’t suck the creativity out of me the way writing for the paper did.)

Of course, I’m only teaching one class so far, English II. I’ve still got to pick up World History (which I’m starting the week following next week, or the 12th) and English IV, which I don’t know when I’m picking up, but I’m hoping later rather than sooner. For whatever reason, I really like the Sophomore class, and the seniors are closer to my age, college age, which has some inexplicable bearing on the matter.

Oh, and the other English Teacher here is retiring at the end of the school year. I don’t know what my chances are of obtaining that job, but I think it’d be rather fantastic to work alongside Mr. Jones teaching English. I know I want to teach in a public school first to increase my chances of being hired anywhere later, but first and foremost I will go where the job is, and if it’s CTA, well, I won’t complain.

For those of you who are curious, the Wedding plans are coming along, if much more slowly than any of us would like. I’ve got some responsibilities and tasks to own up to, among them folding the invitations (yes we have them now, and yes they’re gorgeous.) with any luck, some of you will be seeing them before the end of next week.

I’ve also got to settle some elements of our Honeymoon, and I need to get in contact with Jarret Wade (you out there, man? I’ll be sending you an e-mail before long!) to figure out what sights we should do in Seattle and the Washington area. That should be fun. ^_^

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today! Have a great one, everybody,

- Edward L. Cheever II

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I’m usually a pretty calm guy. Most people who know me know this. But there are rare cases where I get legitimately mad, and no I don’t mean when a League of Legends match is going poorly (my exclamations there are just to blow off steam). The situations I’m talking about are those when injustice, ignorance and ignoble acts of disseminating misleading information are perpetrated to the detriment of the innocent.

And I’m mad as hell right now.

Hulk Smash!

And to all the Class Warfare stuff? It’s like a guy pulling the trigger on an AK-47 into a crowd going, “What do you mean war?” More like Class Massacre. Yeah, it could be worse, but it damn well should be better.

Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy Two Golden Bullets... Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and...

How dare they live their posh lifestyles on the backs of the poor billionares?

What I will post a poll about is this little article I found about seven ways Rick Perry wants to change the constitution. There are all sorts of topics I could talk about here. From his hypocrisy about the Constitution being a near-holy document that is wrong to change, and then he is okay with all of this, to the hypocrisy about big government in some areas (abortion, gay marriage) and eviscerated government in others (healthcare), to his strides to eliminate checks and balances in Washington and other problems I have with just about all of these, but I’ll leave that alone for now. I want to hear what you think.

That’s my rant for today folks. If this has made you at least half as mad as it made me, remember this come time to vote. Good-bye for now!
- Edward L. Cheever II

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

As you no doubt have noticed by a review I posted over a week ago, I’ve started a new science fiction series lately by Allen Steele by the name of “The Coyote Trilogy” recently. We’ll I’ve got the second book’s review up and ready to read right here – “Coyote Rising”, and I’ve already finished the third book, “Coyote Frontier” and I’ll be plowing through “Coyote Horizon” shortly, I hope. I know this seems like a sudden burst of reading activity, and it sort of is, but really, I read through book series’ at a decent clip, I just have a hard time starting. Once I’d read “Coyote” it was a done deal, so long as it was good, which it was.

This segment is mostly a plug for my review of “Coyote Rising”, but as I’ve finished “Coyote Frontier” already (keep an eye out for that review sometime this next week), I thought I’d share a few of my opinions of the series as a whole. This will be lightly spoilerish for the series, and I’ll be assuming your familiarity with the material. Some of this will be reiterated in the “Frontier” review, no doubt, but I might as well explore those waters now.

Speaking of exploration, if I have one great disappointment with the series, it is the lack of the exploratory sensations of the first book being carried into the rest of the series. There were brand new horizons, uncharted waters, strange new life forms, etc. in “Coyote.” You get glimpses of new places and terrain in the following books, but never anything particularly exciting. There is a notable exception if you count the native inhabitants, but it is a small serving that doesn’t satisfy my hunger. Perhaps I shouldn’t have come into the second book with expectations, but then that upsetting of expectations is consistent across the whole series so far.

And that is at the heart of what I wanted to say here. These books, for all that they build off of the of one another, and for all that some mysteries or threads get tied up, never feel like a “Trilogy” so to speak. What I mean by that, is that each one wraps itself up very nice and tidy, except for some particular strings that never get satisfactorily followed up on in the next installment. The overarching plot of the three books, the theme so to speak – if perhaps more appropriately called tone, is different from one book to the next. I’ve not been really disappointed with the sequels, as you will discover in my reviews, but neither have I been truly satisfied. Steele has create a great new world here, and in some ways I wanted to step through the pages and turn aside from where he was taking me, to explore this world myself.

I just noticed that I essentially complained this series wasn’t a video game. That actually sounds like a really interesting idea.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Speaking of Video Games, have I got a story for you. See, apparently, the founder of Pay Pal, and one of the early investors of Face Book (aka a super rich guy) by the name of Peter Thiel has taken up the cause of creating A Wholly Independent City-State in the Middle of the Ocean Based Entirely On Libertarian Theory of Government. The idea is essentially to build an oil-platform type of construction in international waters where like-minded individuals can come and escape “the laws, regulations, and moral codes of existing countries.”

And really, aren’t these people entitled to the sweat of their own brow? No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor. No, says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to God. No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to every…
Wait…

Sound Familiar?

These people have either played too much Bioshock, or not enough. As I’ve said elsewhere, the game clearly depicts the idea that this sort of scenario simply doesn’t work. It breaks down somewhere. Part of the problem is that you’re asking a bunch of people to come and live out in the middle of the ocean on a political whim, which basically restricts it to rich people, and then you’re inevitably going to need people to keep this place running from a mechanical standpoint.

There's Also The Basketball Team to Think About

Oh, and one of the values they are trumpeting is looser building codes. Looser building codes? On a floating platform in the middle of the ocean? These people WANT to die in a terrible accident.

Paradise!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Finally, I want to talk briefly about my recent change of occupation, in a sense. I’ve gone from working on the Burleson Star to working (I use the term loosely, as I’m not paid) at Chisholm Trail Academy as a student teacher. Now, I miss the paper. The work was rewarding, and not too tough if you’re a reporter, and a number of the people I worked with there were great (though I think I’d have had some serious arguments with most of them if I ever brought up politics), but the job was creatively taxing in a way I didn’t expect. Writing articles may not be my favorite kind of creativity, but it uses the same brain muscles, and so I was always too worn out to write anything, despite the fact that it wasn’t too hard of a job. Also, I had issues with some of the management decisions, and the way certain employees were treated, but what are you gonna do, right?

I can’t speak to it through a lens of experience, but student teaching already feels different. I don’t feel exhausted by the idea of work. In a way it’s energizing. If working as a reporter was going outside and getting your hands dirty, then this is like staying home. I’m a school kind of guy. I always have been. The learning process is refreshing. Dwelling in ideas and subjects that I love is thrilling, as is working with old friends. It won’t be easy, necessarily, but I think I’m going to like it.

Of course I say that now, while I;m in the observing/planning stage. Put me in front of a class of students more or less by myself three times a day and we’ll see how that changes.
I’m counting on you, my boundless charisma!

My Inevitable Results

Anyways, I’ve got one last piece of news. A bit of excitement. You see, my sister, Kimberly, recently got engaged to Chris. *Cheers* I called it, I have to say. I’m able to gloat when I want. If he’s taking her home to meet the family…. in CANADA – land of the lush and beautiful landscapes – then it was, I said, almost certain that he was going to propose. Well, they did, and his parents were hiding in the bush to give us photographic proof.

I’ve got to say, though I haven’t met him much, out of all the guys she’s dated or been chased by, Chris is the nicest – the best overall choice – of all of them. Here’s hoping it works out! *crosses fingers*

Oh, and really guys? Trying to steal me and Katie’s thunder? Classy. /Sarcasm. The only real loser here is my parents who have to plan a whole new wedding only six months after mine. Those poor, poor people.
Anyways, that’s all for today, folks!

Thank you, come again,

- Edward L. Cheever II

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The “Entertain Me… nt” segment will be where I talk about any of my hobbies or interests in the realms of media, games, books, etc. It’s fairly self explanatory, and you will probably see this one most often outside of the next section…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“The Voters Booth” is where I’ll post all my lovely political rants and raving. I’ve also got an idea to include a poll for most of these so that it’s easy for you all to give some form of feedback, even when you don’t have time to comment. Just as controversial in nature is my next segment…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“To the Side of the Pulpit” is going to be my religious segment, and, as the name and image suggest, it will be full of my opinions that don’t necessarily match up with any specific religious authority, though as with most things there will be overlap. You probably won’t see this one as much, as religion has always seemed to me to be something of a very personal nature. Speaking of which…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Peeking through the Window” is going to be the segment where I talk about things happening in my life. You won’t see this one much, and I’ll be rather vague at times to protect the privacy of people I love, but you’ll also get some sense of who I am outside of my interests and opinions. The last segment that has a prepared image divider is…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“But I Digress…” this segment will be my catch all. If there’s somethin weird or wacky that doesn’t specifically fall into all the other categories, it goes here. That crazy Japanese “Pon Pon Pon” video from last time? Here. NASCAR Prayer Auto Tuned? Here. Somebody built an island out of bottles and hubcaps? Right here. The nature and meditation of Gardening… well, if I ever wrote something like that (not likely) it would be here.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

There are two other segments you will also see in the future, including a segment specifically for writing, and a “Mad Science!!!” segment where I’ll talk about lasers, robots and space travel (Or the lack thereof – R.I.P. space program *tear*).

Along with these segments I’m instituting new rules on myself. No post will be longer than 1,500 (or so) words. There will be no more than 2 posts per week, and no less than one. If I write something above 250 words long, and I haven’t reached the 2 post cap for the week, I’ll post it. Etc.

The idea is, I want to make this blog easier for me to deal with throughout the week, and make it easier for you all to read in one sitting. i hope you like where I’m taking the blog.

For that matter, I hope I like Where I’m Taking the Blog! O.o

Have a great day!
- Edward L. Cheever II

It's a Bumpy Road, Y'all

So, let’s get this ride started *revs engines*

Appropriately enough, I thought I’d point out this wonderfully hilarious country-songification of that NASCAR prayer you probably heard about.

It’s just so ‘Murican don’t you agree?

Now NASCAR on a road like this? That might be fun to watch.

Is that not a badass Tree-chair?

Sticking with the Norway theme, it’s inspiring to me that their leaders can see how this act could lead to the same sort of rash and paranoid behavior that we Americans inflicted on ourselves after our own tragedy. Their Prime Minister recently called for cooler heads before making any rash decisions about changing the laws of their otherwise peaceful nation.

Doing otherwise would let this mad-man win his twisted little game. I feel this is a lesson we didn’t fully grasp. We lost that game, and in many ways we’re still losing. Go us? Maybe we should take Mr. Stoltenberg as an inspiration. That’s a period there, not a question mark.

Brief geeky squee note, I love dice, ja? You love dice too, double ja? Are not these the coolest dice??

That reminds me, I need to prepare the next D&D game for my party. Yeah we still be playing. Right now we’re actually painting some terrain miniatures and props that I’ve recently purchased. When we’re done you can look forward to seeing the images up on the site.

Let’s talk pirates real quick. No, not the “AAARRRR!!!” type, but the illegally downloading type. Now, I’m going to assume that you’ve not red any studies on the subject recently (or rather news article on the studies, like me) and ask you this question: “Who do you think spends more legitimate money on media entertainment: Pirates or non-pirates?

Not these pirates either.

"Yar! We're only boarding yer ship ta see if we wants ta pay ya fer it."

Now, because we really can’t avoid it any longer, let’s talk about the debt ceiling one last time before the bill is put up to a vote – (and to cover my backside, if you’ve heard the results of the vote, but haven’t yet seen my commentary on it, keep an eye here for an update). -NEWS FLASH, WE HAVE AN UPDATE, SCROLL BELOW FOR MORE -

First, my take on the bill, which is to state, with a blank face, well, it’s a compromise, I guess. But really only in the sense that this one might – MIGHT- pass both the House and Senate, and not in the general idea that both parties gave as good as they got.

What we have is a Democratic party that has more or less capitulated to the Republicans. Republicans got a lot here, no raised revenues, more cuts than ceiling raising, a vote on the constitutional amendment (and let’s not kid ourselves, this is a bone tossed to the Tea Partiers than anybody with brains sees as a hollow gesture destined to die in the Senate), etc. What have the Democrats gotten in return? The promise that some of the cuts might -might, I tell you- come from defense spending and… nothing. Wow. Good job Dems. I mean, I can see that you had to do something. There is no such thing as a clear head amongst the Republican extremist wing (which is more like the entire body by now), and you forced yourself to be the saner ones and be political martyrs for the sake of the country. But still, this is just stupid.

These Tea Baggers just want to win at any cost while looking good to their political base.

Everybody does this. President Obama admitted it for himself, when it was pointed out that he at one time decried raising the debt ceiling.

Here, take a look at these poll numbers and tell me that Americans don’t want taxes on the rich. The fact that current tax breaks weren’t rolled back, at the very least, tells me that while we might get out of this with our credit rating in tact, the people have lost this round.

UPDATE: So the bill passed. Yay?

I mean, we didn’t default but otherwise isn’t this the worst case scenario for democrats and the American people? You know what, I’ll just let John Stewart sum this up for me.

If that doesn’t make you mad, take a look at this article about another recent bill the House passed that makes our Internet Service Providers (ISPs) spy on us and keep records of it. THIS is big brother folks.

The same people in the House decrying “big government” because we might want to tax people who have more money than they can possibly use, are the same people who passed a law forcing corporations (and in turn the government) to watch every click of the keyboard or mouse we make, and then keep that information for at least 12 months.

Yeah, Mr. CIA, I know you’re reading this right now. Did you read that sentence I just deleted a second ago? Yeah, that’s exactly what I think of you and what you’re doing.

Is it sad that I consider this next story a palette cleanser about how one Wal-Mart Security guards temper tantrum ruined the lives of two innocent people?

Yeah. That’s pretty sad. You know what, I’m not going to waste commentary on it. Tell me what you think of it, and anything else I’ve written here, in the comments.

Now for a real Pallette cleanser. Oh you nutty Japanese people! Is this not the craziest thing you’ve ever seen? Well… aside from the current behavior of a certain governmental body anyway…

Till next time, folks,

- Edward L. Cheever II

We all know our representatives are being idiots. They are children. This isn’t even up for debate anymore, it’s just a fact of life. Despite the age limit for congress we have kindergarteners playing tug of war with the toy that is our economy.

So I’ll take a slightly different angle that, while it’s been talked about before, here and elsewhere, recent developments have shed new light on the topic: the destruction of the Republicans via the Tea Party.

I come from a traditionally republican household. My dad is a conservative, my mom is a little less so, but still very much a conservative, I honestly can’t say about my brother and sister, anything further than that and you get in some pretty wacky straight-up conservatism in most of my family. Before I went all Moderate I also voted fairly regularly as a republican. Heck, I helped vote in President Bush twice. So I’ve had a lot of exposure to republican ideas and people, and some of them are still reasonable, who merely have differing opinions from me, and I can live with that. But increasingly, the Republican party has been infected with an extremism that, while always present, has been distilled into a pure strain of ideological cancer that is your run-of-the-mill tea party.

I’ve always maintained that this ideological sub-species is a dangerous beast, not just to America but specifically to the party that birthed them, the Republicans. A sane Republican can see when to compromise. A sane Republican knows that a house divided against itself will surely fall. But half of the republican party is no longer sane. They are having an identity crisis where the paranoid schizophrenic voice in the back of their minds has become a full character, their bipolar other half, the black and scared side of Two-Face, and this dichotomy is tearing them apart.

You can see it in the way Majority Leader John Boehner can’t even pull his own party together to pass a bill in the House they control.
This is their seat of power. They are trying to pass a lame bill that doesn’t do nearly enough, just like they want, and even still they can’t pull together enough to push it through. Forget about it dying in the Senate, or being vetoed by the President. It’s going to die in the House.

This isn’t even talking about some of the Tea Party’s grander aspirations, like that stupid Constitutional Amendment that would handcuff the government in an emergency. John McCain, their last would-be president, called the idea “bizzaro” recently. There simply isn’t any way such a measure would pass, and thank goodness for small favors.

UPDATE: Boehner caved to the extremist side of his party and managed to squeak out a bill or two in the House… which promptly died in the Senate thanks to the addition of the “bizarro” amendment that was tacked on last minute. Some Republicans may see this as some sort of win: “Oh yeah! the House passed a bill when the Senate hasn’t boo-yeah!”. But this is the same sort of childish one-upmanship thinking that is killing America right now. Congratulations, you managed to defecate a dead bill right into it’s coffin. Hope that makes you feel better about yourselves. /Update

The Republicans are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. If they keep acceding to their extremist right wing, they’ll never pass a bill and America will default, and it will be obvious it’s their fault, except to their right wing nutters who will only become more staunchly extremist in the face of failure. If they don’t accede to this extremism, maybe they compromise and save America, but their extremist voters will say that the Republicans have failed them, and maybe the Tea Party starts thinking they could do better without the Republican party, and the rift grows a little wider.

I can see what the right decision is, but remember, we’ve already established that these are children in Congress. We can’t count on them to see the clear choice. I consistently hear from Republican politicians and pundits about how fed up they are with these freshman Tea Party members in Congress. Well, congratulations, you’ve just realized that the friend you’re carting across the river is a scorpion. Looks like you’ll have to live, or not, with the consequences.

On a side note, did anybody see what That Idiot has said lately? It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad. Ah, who am I kidding, that’s hilarious!

Till next time,

- Edward L. Cheever II

*All Comics can be found on The Week and are not the property of this blog.

Instead of making a giant list of pros and cons at the start, I’m going to talk about chunks of it at a time. We may get to a pro and con list, but it’ll be later. First chuck I’m going to talk about was Nintendo’s presentation of the system at E3.

Simply put, Nintendo really dropped the ball in presenting the Wii U. Not because there weren’t neat things to show off, but rather because they didn’t have a clear and cohesive message:

Is Nintendo after the hardcore? I don’t know. On the one hand they’ve promised some games, but on the other, they’re calling this thing “Wii U” which is an incredibly dumb name, and it calls up almost nothing but bad images to the mind of every hardcore gamer. The games they’ve promised may include things like Darksiders II and Batman: Arkham City, but what took up the majority of the time on stage? Mii games, minigames, casual titles. There was no talk of online functionality either. The sheer amount of confusion and misinformation swirling around that conference and it’s aftermath was amazing. Is this a new system or is it a Wii peripheral? Will there be more than one controller for the system? Pricepoint? Launch titles? Etc?

The entire conference was a load of promises that there is no guarantee of them actually fulfilling, and their handling of the Wii and 3DS doesn’t make me particularly confident. And that’s not even talking about the disappointment the community has felt over the failure of things like Operation Rainfall. Nintendo simply doesn’t seem to care about it’s fan base. Even if this is a misconception, it’s a killer misconception that they have to do something about, but aren’t.

But that was the presentation, and really it’s the least important element of this whole thing from my gamer perspective. Let’s talk about the special sauce that makes the Wii U something other than a pearly white Xbox 360 mutant; the controller.

For those of you who don’t know by now (and if you don’t then you need to read more video game commentary than my little blog) That image you see above is not the whole system, it is not a Wii peripheral. It is a controller with a large touchscreen in the middle of it. Special features include gyroscopes, a camera, two “circle-pad” things, and all the buttons otherwise associated with a modern gaming controller. I think this is fantastic conceptually. I mean, I love this this if it were just a level map that I could draw on (just imagine a -good- Harry Potter game where you have the Marauder’s Map in your hands!) or just an inventory system (Batman’s toolbelt, ftw), but the possibilities go far past that. The Alternate Reality capabilities are very intriguing. My two favorite ideas I’ve heard since the AR abilities have been talked about are similar. That is Eagle vision for the Assassin’s Creed series, and Batman’s cowl mode for The Arkham games. It’s an extremely novel idea that balances out the use for both systems. To me, it was always annoying to turn on Eagle Vision mode, but for whatever reason, I think holding up the screen to use it makes it more appealing to me. The Batman cowl mode, meanwhile, was too useful, and leaving the mode was the exception, rather than the rule, and having to use the controller screen may make it more likely that I will be able to see the art of the game world. There are lots of potential uses, I just want to see them happen.

It’s not the gimmick that concerns me, it’s just about everything else. The circle pads are something of a breakthrough for handheld controls, but that’s for handhelds; not consoles. If I’m going to be playing a console game of some sort, I want to have the best controls I can have, and when it comes to character movement that would be analogue sticks. First person shooters, especially, aren’t that great with the circle pads. We need analogue sticks. And then there are the trigger buttons on the back of the controller. They need to be analogue triggers. Not just extra buttons. Triggers are simply better for input, not just in FPS games, but also in racing games, third person shooter, third person action, pretty much any game I can think of would be better served by analogue triggers rather than simple buttons. Otherwise, I actually like the form factor.

My other concerns with the controller are about price, and number available to each system. Nintendo execs have come out and flat said that the controller is expensive. I have no idea how expensive, but it is a worrisome thought. Of course that won’t be an issue if only one controller is useable with the system, which is a persistent rumor that Nintendo STILL hasn’t clarified. The thing is, one controller may solve the cost issue, but it raises whole new ones for me, because I’m the kind of gamer who likes to sit down on the same couch with my friends and play some games. Local multiplayer has always been a Nintendo strength, and it has been a necessary strength in the absence of a good online strategy. Now Nintendo may be ditching local multiplayer, but they have no real online strategy at all to compensate, and that’s if I preferred online over local, which I don’t. And sure, you can use Wii remotes with the system too, but that is not how I want to play multiplayer games. The Wii remote has very definite limits, which was handily discovered during the Wii’s lifetime.

Simply put, the controller has awesome potential, but a lot of looming doubts and drawbacks.

As for tech specs, well we don’t have specifics, and the graphics demo they showed during the conference wasn’t particularly impressive, but it seems like there is potential there. This is especially true after seeing the glorious Zelda HD demo. Man, I can’t wait for them to make a game like that! (assuming they don’t pull another Wind Waker switch.)

PleasePleasePlease!

Don't Worry, The World's Not Ending.... Yet....

Blog time, yo!

Let’s keep this simple. First, I’m going to bring up a slew of topics which I’m going to give my brief opinions on, and then we’ll get into a brief rant on a certain “ceiling” and the idiots who are banging their heads against it. Let’s get going, shall we?

Wow there has been a lot of entertainment stuff lately.

In terms of movies, I’m afraid I’m not going to get around to writing a Green Lantern review, so let me just say that it was okay, choppy, and mostly forgettable. Harry Potter 7.5 deserves a full review, and I’ll give it one later, when I have the chance. The same goes for Captain America, but if you want the long and short of my opinion: “Huzzah! I Loved it! Go see it!” I hope you still want to stop by the review later!

The Review, WHERE IS IT!?!?

I’ve read a couple sci-fi novels lately and both are pretty great. “The Light of Other Days” by Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke was the first, and “Coyote” by Allen Steele was the second. You can find my review for ‘The Light of Other Days’ at this link,

It really is great.

Video-game wise, I managed to play some more Legend of Zelda: Spirit racks, and I think I may just finish it eventually.

No, Not really...

Which is sad, because there are definite charms to the game that I love.

I had planned to do an extensive E3 post like I did last year, but I never found the time. As it stands, I think I’m going to tackle individual topics out of the show at a later date. Look out for my opinions on the PS Vita and the Wii U specifically in the coming weeks.

League of Legends is still awesome, but thankfully it isn’t taking up as much mind-share lately, giving me more time to do things like read and watch Dr. Who.

Oh. And Dr. Who. DR. WHO!
It took me forever to get around to watching this show, but I’m already in season three and I love it. Silly, campy, dramatic, exciting, adventurous, imaginative, emotional. Dr. Who is just brilliant. I started with 2005 and Christopher Eccleston, who was a brilliant Doctor, and now I’m watching David Tennent who is an even more brilliant Doctor. If you haven’t watched any yet, please do.

Now onto more real-life stuff.

First, Amy Winehouse’s early death is tragic if not exactly surprising. I don’t know too much about her music, I’m really only familiar with her as the butt of alcohol jokes. There’s really not much else for me to say about that, and that is a tragedy in and of itself.

Some of you may be aware of the recent tragedy in Norway in which a mad-man used a car-bomb before gunning down over eighty young people in the name of “anti-jihad” or rather xenophobic and polytheophobic crazyness. Keep Norway in your prayers and/or thoughts as they suffer through this tragedy. It’s another window into how utterly nuts our world is.

Even peaceful nations can unwittingly be the birthplace of hate and violence.

On a lighter note. Gay Marriage in New York. Good for them! I hope they live happily ever after and all that. Can’t see the appeal personally, but that’s me, yeah? And guess what? That’s all that needs to be said.

I’m starting to feel like I’m just turning into a news aggregator (I’m drawing Agro, yo!), so let’s move on to the main event, shall we?

The Debt Crisis. What else. The funny thing is, I’m not really ragging on Republicans in general at the moment. No, you see, some of them have expressed frustration with their own members at the lack of willingness to compromise in the face of economic FAIL. No, who I’m ragging on, as always, are the bat-s**t crazy Tea Party members who were carried into office last November on a wave of ignorant fear and hate mongering.

It’s one thing to have a different opinion, politically, from others in office. This happens all the time. We don’t particularly always like it, but we cope. It’s the nature of a world with more than one person in it. But these wackos have forgotten that, if they ever even knew it in the first place. You can’t go at this Uni-laterally (I’m looking at you Boehner). There are three levels of government here that you have to learn to live with. You can’t change the nations fortunes using the House alone. You NEED the Senate and the President. And that means compromise.

Is this really such a hard concept to grasp? (see what I did there?)

I don't think either of these two really kno what compromise actually is...

Makes the Tea Party look classy for sticking up for their own interests rather than those of the American majority opinion, eh? Lovely. Aren’t Hypocrites charming? /sarcasm.

"Do I want the politicians in Washington to stop being self-centered morons? hm... lemme think...

Till we meet again,

- Edward L. Cheever II