GUANTANAMO.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the opening of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Somehow, this atrocity of justice has been glossed over by the media and raises marginal, if any outrage in American citizens. For a country that is supposed to stand for freedom and justice, a country that supposedly fights against tyrranical abusive governments around the world, turning a blind eye to such an obvious miscarriage of justice is unforgivable. The United Nations has called for the closing of Guantanamo, but much like mounting the Iraq offensive, we've continued our actions with complete disregard for world opinion.

Here, courtesy of Amnesty International, are some facts about Guantanamo:

No Guantánamo detainee has been convicted of a criminal offence by the USA in five years

3 men died at Guantánamo in June 2006 after apparent suicides. More than 40 suicide attempts in Guantánamo have been reported

Up to 17 detainees were under 18 years old when they were taken to Guantánamo; the youngest were as young as12 and 13 when they were arrested. To date, at least 4 are still detained. There was a 5th, but he was 1 of the 3 detainees who died

Only 10 Guantánamo detainees were charged. They were never tried, as the US Supreme Court ruled that to try them before military tribunals was illegal.

380 men have been released after years of unlawful detention without ever being charged or compensated

Nearly 400 detainees from 30 countries are still held at Guantánamo.

775 detainees have been held in Guantánamo since 11 January 2002. Their unlawful detention has forever affected their lives and those of their families.

Now, I'm in favor of preventing terrorism. But at what cost?

Can you imagine if some other nation, say North Korea, captured US citizens and said they were a threat to their nation and were being held as terrorists. Regardless of the validity of the charges, our nation would be enraged and quite possibly mount a military offensive to resolve the situation. But here we are, taking citizens of another nation and putting them in a military prison. No official charges filed. No evidence presented. No criminal convictions. Detainees are tortured, taken from their families and kept without justification. Just recently has a list of detainees been made public. It boggles the mind that the US acts with such ignorant impunity. I love this country. But how can we stand for truth, justice and the american way when black eyes like Guantanamo continue to exist?

Before you agree or disagree with me, just check out some of these articles:

Background
Index of AI articles

The Real Housewives of OC

I wrote this awhile ago and forgot to post it:

I've never seen this show. But I have seen a poster promoting the show. In fact, I sat and stared at it for almost an hour on my train ride to work. The longer I looked at these ladies, the more it seemed to me that they were transvestites. With the exception of the brunette in the center of the poster, each woman looked like she was possibly a man dressed in drag.



Especially the lady in the blue dress. Awful. If these are the kind of wives being rich and living in the OC gets you, I'll pass.

Ugh.

McAnnoying.

If I had to guess where it started, I’d say Grey’s Anatomy; this horrible new way of talking that many girls seem to think is clever and witty. Yes, I’m referring to the practice of adding “Mc” to a word and using it as if it were someone’s last name. The television writers who affectionately had female doctors refer to Patrick Dempsey as “McDreamy” have inspired a nation of wanna-be jokester ladies to start quipping that they or their friends are McSomething-or-other. Drinky McDrunk. Shoppy McShopShop. And so on. Well, ladies, you’re being Annoying McIdiots by continuing this trait and it makes me want to McPunch you in the face. Leave the “Mc” where it belongs, with nuggets and other McDonald’s creations. It’s delicious there.

2006 RESOLUTION REVIEW.

Here is a list of resolutions I made at the beginning of last year, along with an review of how successful I was at achieving them. The wording of the resolutions is unchanged from the original document.

(not listed in order of preference)

Less television. More reading and writing.
Success. After moving into an apartment that has no cable, I dramatically reduced the amount of television I watched. This lead to more reading and, yes, even more writing.

Keep a journal.
Fail. I think I successfully made one entry in a computer journal, a la Doogie Howser, but keeping a journal made me feel like an egocentric jerk.

Do at least one thing each week that I couldn't do in any other city.
Toss up. I did a lot of things last year, but not in the way I meant. I meant go see more art exhibits, more photography shows, more weird things, etc. I did see a lot of stand-up comedy, thanks mostly to Brooke.

Get back into shape. Join a gym.
Succeed. From June through October I was in good shape; then it all went to hell. But I did join a gym, so I think I can count this as a win.

Talk to family and close friends at least once per week.
Fail. My phone-aversion still dominates.

Make it to Aaron's wedding in Tahiti.
Fail. But I'm going to the USA reception in LA this weekend.

Go to bed and wake up earlier.
Success. Recently, I've been able to do this. I guess when I have to, I can be a grown man.

Improve massage technique through practice.
Fail. No steady ladies this year. Wow. That's sad.

Pay down credit cards.
Success. I'm 2/3 the way to done.

Acquire fishing rod, reel and tackle. Go fishing.
Fail. Although my brother got me a fishing pole to use in San Diego. I tried fishing with it in Mexico, but only succeeded in breaking the line.

Play more golf.
Success. More than 2005, yes. But still not enough.

Play some soccer.
Success. I played in two co-ed leagues and played in several pick-up games over the course of the year. It's fun.

Be more assertive.
Toss up. I'm still a coward, but I'm getting better.

Visit friends in England and California.
California, success. England, fail.

Reduce amount of fantasy sports played.
Success. I've reduced the quantity, but replaced it with bigger, better, more expensive leagues.

Remember birthdays and send cards.
Maybe 4 out of 27. Fail.

Grow new appendix.
Unknown. I need an x-ray to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure I did it.

Improve portfolio, get better job, do better work.
I'm going to say fail. I'm very critical of my career and I'm not where I want to be yet. Shit.

Complete at least one non-work related creative project.
Fail. I would say I've completed many blogs, which are sort of creative projects. But Homeless Joe says these don't count, and I'm inclined to agree.

Do something charitable.
Toss-up. I give change to homeless people, especially bent-over-guy, who lives by me. I also tried to launch a fundraising idea for the homeless (and by tried, I mean I talked about it to a few people) and had no success.

Have more fun while drinking less.
Fail.

Learn new music.
Success. Thanks mostly to Heather, Shannon and Christos (sign up for Christos' MP3 of the day).

Buy a good black suit.
Fail. Didn't need it.

Overall, I failed. But the fact that I even had a list of resolutions and that I did some of them should be considered a victory. I win.

THANK YOU LORD JESUS.

For ten cent wings and for Jessica Alba playing football in a bikini.

MANUAL.

During each of my last two train rides, I've seen people reading the manuals for things they own. Last night a guy was sitting and reading the manual for his Honda Accord. People actually read the manuals? If you don't know how a car works, you shouldn't have bought it. The manual is there for you to look at when something goes wrong. But this guy was reading page after page, like it was a mystery novel. I guess your car is a pretty important purchase, so knowing more about it wouldn't hurt, but reading the whole manual? Strange.

Then this morning there was a guy reading the manual for his Texas Instruments Financial Calculator. I'm not even sure what to say about that. He didn't even have the calculator out, so he wasn't trying out different things or following instructions. He was just getting some more knowledge about calculators.

If I had to write a manual on not being a nerd, the first page would simply say:

Stop reading manuals. Including this one.

The book would be one page long.

WELCOME TO 2007.

We'll open 2007 with a little story from Santa Monica, CA, courtesy of the Hawk:

"Leaving the grocery store, I saw a woman w/ an ohio state sweatshirt pass by, and instinctively said "yuucckggghhh". She heard me, yelled "excuse me?"... I said Ohio State is disgusting, and she gave me the finger!

Ha.

GO FLORIDA.

Gator chomp."

It's great that he actually told her Ohio State is disgusting. It makes me feel proud, even though Michigan got stomped in the Rose Bowl. Oh well. You can't spell Lloyd without two L's.

The only good story I have from New Year's Eve this year took place at 4:45 am. Laying awake on an air mattress in a friend's guest room, I was listening to the party wind down. At some point I heard the last people leave. Then came the sounds of glasses and bottles being shuffled around. It quickly went from that to the sound of loud crashing, like someone was cleaning up by collecting all of the bottles around the house and throwing them into the sink. I listened for about ten minutes, becoming more and more disturbed by the loud, awful crashing noises of glass breaking. I kept thinking, "Man, this girl must be really wasted or really mad to clean up by breaking all of this glass."

Eventually I had to get up and go see what the situation was. Turns out, there was no cleaning taking place. Instead, there was a dog party, involving two dogs who had been trying to get at the appetizers on the kitchen counter. Unfortunately, the appetizers had been shielded behind a wall of beer bottles and wine glasses, which were now shattered all over the floor and sink. I reprimanded the dogs and pulled them into the guest room, effectively ending their glass breaking party, and went back to bed.

The next morning, amazed that no one else had been curious enough about the repeated shattering of glass to get out of bed, I asked my brother if he heard it. His answer? Yes, he heard it, but he thought it was Beth cleaning up.

Both of us must have strange ideas of what cleaning sounds like.

I better accomplish something in 2007. That's my resolution. Accomplish something. Anything.