Only Jack Bauer can save Antonin Scalia

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. What a lunatic:

Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles...he saved hundreds of thousands of lives...are you
going to convict Jack Bauer? Say that criminal law is against him? 'You
have the right to a jury trial?' Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I
don't think so.

To be clear, Jack Bauer and all his torture tactics could not stop the nuclear explosion in Valencia, killing over 12,000 people.

More importantly, though, is this: 24 is a television show! It's not real!

What's more, the generals, among them U.S. Army brigadier-general Patrick Finnegan, are trying to educate the American people that it's not real:

The kids see it, and say, 'If torture is wrong, what about 24?' They should do a show where torture backfires.

I thought Bush told us to listen to the generals.

Forget the terrorism bit for a moment. If Supreme Court Justices can quote fictional television shows to make their point, what's next? Hey, while watching Cartoon Network, I saw this scene in one episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends...

Defiant

A 3-3 draw at home doesn't faze the New York faithful.

That's it

No more favors ever again. Ever.

F***.

Three blank pages left on my passport

Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be...wait, no. July 15th, that's when.

I'll be in Shanghai, China for three weeks. I'll be taking lots and lots of pictures. Especially of this.

By senior year of college, I had already been accepted to my first teaching stint in Japan. Before I moved away, I visited my old high school to see my teachers, among them my orchestra teacher. Simone, the young family member of this orchestra teacher, always came to the high school after her school was finished to wait for her to finish work. Everyone who did fine arts knew Simone, and you'd be pretty stupid not to play hula hoops or wall ball with her in between the end of school and rehearsals.

So she recognized me after four years out of high school, and for no reason, gave me this heart. I think you iron it on to a doll's clothing or something, otherwise it has no use.

Except for me to take pictures of it with my camera, wherever I go.

This is a photo of it on my wallet while I held Japanese class in Chicago. I have pictures of it in New York, Tokyo, and Frankfurt, among other places.

And for three weeks it will be all over Shanghai. I'll let you know how it goes.

Don't encourage him

On Friday, Billy Donovan announced he would leave his high-profile job at the University of Florida to coach the Orlando Magic. Interest in a left-for-dead NBA franchise shot up. The media in Orlando gave him a standing ovation. Over 200 season tickets were sold over the weekend, according to Andy Katz.

On Sunday, there are reports going around that Donovan wants the Magic to rip up his contract because he wants to go back to Florida.

Maybe it was the pressure. Maybe he saw the list of college coaches who tanked while coaching in the NBA. Maybe he's just wishy-washy. Whatever.

Just. Don't. Encourage. Anyone. Else.

Maybe I'm the only one thinking it right now, but the soccer fan has to be reminded of another player who decided to join the professional ranks in America after fame and fortune and success elsewhere, but may have second thoughts about the whole enterprise, and could be encouraged to go to his would-be new employers and ask that they rip up his contract.

So, thank you, Billy. Way to go.

I expected Lou Dobbs to rush the stage

At tonight's presidential debate, Wolf Blitzer asked for a show of hands among those who thought English should be the official language. Surprising to me, only one raised their hand. Even more surprising, it was Senator Mike Gravel from Alaska, who is, besides this issue, either the most liberal candidate on the stage, or the least sane candidate in the lower tier.

His rationale is sound, that people can and should still learn other languages beside English even if it is the official language. Gravel himself knows French on top of English. However, Senator Barack Obama was the first to give the right answer, that BS issues like the official language are the mainline weapons of conservatives to divide the American people. Not between the native-English speaking and the native-(everything else) speaking, but between the tolerant and the intolerant. Something that one particular brown people-basher who somehow passes as a true American on CNN doesn't understand.

Senator Hillary Clinton is perhaps a bit inaccurate that hospitals would be prohibited from providing translation services to non-English speakers, but schools and polling places would be forced to print all of their materials in English. Ask what conservatives think about that, and they would probably picture a world where immigrants would have to motivate themselves to learn English.

Then take them to a parent-teacher conference at a public school in Chinatown, and they will get the world they are looking for, where the school can't afford a translator anyways and the Chinese parent has to make do with their child translating for them. Chinese is not an option in any official capacity to begin with. Do you think that mom is motivated to learn English at the moment?

It's easy to score points with white people when their world is all about hot dogs and NASCAR and the idea that, should they ever leave their little towns in middle America, everyone around the world can accomodate them by speaking English. The practical and realistic sure gets in the way, however.