Wakka Wakka!

an honest question for the president and vice president

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 16:39:18 GMT

The following is an email that i just wrote to Vice-President Cheney in response to the Federal Government's role in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans:

dear mr. cheney,

my name is daniel lewis, and i am a freshman at Bard College. I know that the chances of an aide of yours reading this are slim, and of you seeing this even slimmer, while the chance of my getting an automated reply thanking me for my mail is probably 99.999%. My having named the college I attend most likely makes the former even smaller. But anyway, i figured that i'd give it a shot. Who knows?

over the past few days, i have been working hard at not only starting classes, but in keeping up with the news. I am from brooklyn, new york, and this has been a major change for me to not be constantly connected to current events through the newspaper and radio. Since I arrived on campus a few weeks ago, I have felt this desire to understand the reasoning behind the workings of this country even stronger than I did in my last years of high school, and I have to admit, I am completely dumbfounded by the lack of a useful response from the federal government to the people of New Orleans. Why do you insist on spending so much money on a war when the entire city has become a no-man's-land? There is anarchy and discontent on American soil, and yet there is still rhetoric
spouted about fighting terrorism. I am not saying that terrorism isn't a
problem, but I do not want to get into a rant on why I disagree with your
government's foreign policy and the war in Iraq.

the United States were founded on the principle that it would b e a government for the people and by the people, but, as in many of your decisions on domestic policy, it does not seem as if you are truly taking this to heart. why all the tax cuts when the revenue could be used to aid the survivors of Hurricane
Katrina? How can you sit in Washington and ask people to donate money for aid when you cannot even get an effective response into Louisiana? it has been five days since the hurricane hit: why has there been no real response? this is a disaster akin to the recent tsunami in asia, and although I disagree with the meager aid that the federal government gave to the asian governments affected, I would have thought that you would have cared more about your own nation than this. This is a disgrace.

My question is why can't the federal government take just a fraction of the
budget from the war in Iraq to aid our own people? I realize that the sloppy
planning of the war left us no real exit strategy and the military is now
entrenched in Iraq, but you must realize that if anything, this will affect the politics of this country. Your response is not only hurting thousands of
desparate Americans, but you and your party's political power. Frankly, you are out of touch with our nation. This is something that needs to be changed. Please, Mr. Cheney, Mr. Bush: please forget about your friends in the oil business for a minute. Americans are dying, not just in Iraq, but in our own country. Please, stop with the bullshit. The people of New Orleans do not need platitudes and promises of aid; they need help, and they need it now. If you are at all the patriots that you claim to be in your speeches and your campaign ads, you will respond to this disaster.

Your country needs you.

Sincerely yours,

Daniel Lewis

NOTE: apparently, as the mailer daemon told me a few seconds after I sent this email, vice.president@whitehouse.gov has been deactivated.

When i was looking at the transcript to find where things went wrong, the word "vacation" kept popping up.

- D

im out

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 16:15:57 GMT

alright, so while i've been here at shire again, having the best time of my life, i've realized that i really don't need this thing anymore. therefore, i'm gonna stop writing in this, and if you wanna find out about whats going on in my life, you're actually gonna have to interact with me in some way. adios.

- danny

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 21:11:43 GMT

i'm in an internet cafe in costa rica right now, and this place is fricken cool. i'll be home in a few days though, and i'll do a whole big thing about this then, but i am alive.

thoughts flowing through my head

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 04:40:47 GMT

i'm watching the task force x episode of jlu right now. deadshot and captain boomerang kick ass (dorky names aside).

tonight was really short. performing arts awards were nice (but hot. and long.) also, kinda disappointing that we didnt end up doing anything.

i played hackey sack for an hour today in my courtyard.

tomorrow is our manhattan island walk. im meeting some people at the 2/3 train tomorrow at 8:30, which we'll take to the very top of the island. we'll then walk the entire length to the bottom. We'll see how far we last.

goodnight.

Tue, 31 May 2005 05:12:12 GMT

i'm bored

at last, high school work is over

Wed, 25 May 2005 04:04:16 GMT

my senior project presentation was tonight and i can honestly say that this was the first time i enjoyed public speaking. theres something about pouring a years worth of effort and research into something you really love to do and then trying to share it with an audience that really made me happy. thanks so much to everyone who came, im so glad you thought it was good. and anyone who has questions about comics or wants to borrow them, you know who to come to.

BC'ers!

Tue, 24 May 2005 02:43:26 GMT

senior project presentation tomorrow at 4 in the performance space. be there or you suck and need a damn good excuse.

Sat, 21 May 2005 04:47:14 GMT

because i am bored and tired but don't want to go to sleep for fear of waking up and having to go work, i have decided to make a playlist of all the songs we were singing at sam's at 5:30 yesterday.

EDIT: if anyone can remember exactly what songs we sang, i think i'm missing a couple in my memory. feel free to jog it. also, i think being at laid's earlier killed my good mood. i have no idea why. meh.

EDIT #2: my computer's desktop is now that photo julie took of the sign at the bob dylan concert that says "the bob dylan show." i am now slightly happier.

Fri, 13 May 2005 05:40:49 GMT

HIGH SCHOOL IS FINISHED FOREVER

YES

Fri, 06 May 2005 20:47:23 GMT

euro is finally done! wa-hey!

Mon, 02 May 2005 04:13:34 GMT

i no longer have high school classes. 2 weeks of high school finals and i'm done with high school forever. woo!

Dylan Concert

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 23:01:54 GMT

Bob Dylan is a Golden God. The concert last night was easily the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. Just a couple more things on my list and I can die a happy man.

A year of work...jesus

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 18:50:01 GMT

oh my god. i think it's done. my project is done.

WAH-FUCKING-HOOOOOOOOO!

Alright, I'm really bored still, so here it is:

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 04:23:02 GMT

just what you've all been waiting for, the complete list of the songs that i posted a few days ago. Good job people, I'll probably have another the next time i get really really bored.

1. Mine's not a hige horse - the shins

2. Gates of Eden - Bob Dylan

3. Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin

4. Sweet Wine - Cream

5. Hey Love - stevie wonder

6. Won't be fooled again - the who

7. Part-time lover - stevie wonder

8. Mexicali Blues - the grateful dead

9. Melissa - the allman brothers band

10. long tall sally - a cover by the beatles

11. think - aretha franklin

12. Big, Bright, Green PLeasure machine - Simon and Garfunkel

13. Play with Fire - rolling stones

14. Hey now - ray charles

15. Birthday - the beatles

16. One more saturday night - the grateful dead

17. I can't turn you loose - otis redding

18. are you experienced? - jimi hendrix

19. what a wonderful world - louis armstrong

20. the end - the beatles (how fitting...)

Random Update of the Moment

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 03:02:58 GMT

I have just discovered the Ramones. Just thought you'd like to know.

au hau hau (snooty laugh)

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 02:18:34 GMT

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated.

You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

who knew? i guess that explains this craving for fine cheese and part of my hatred of bush? heh

Back, by popular (heh) demand

Sat, 09 Apr 2005 06:44:45 GMT

ok, because i'm bored and its late and i still dont wanna sleep, im gonna do another one of my lyric things. name the song and artist if you can. here goes:

1. You were so poorly cast as a malcontent.

2. With a time-rusted compass blade, Aladdin and his lamp Sits with Utopian hermit monks Side saddle on the Golden Calf, And on their promises of paradise, You will not hear a laugh.

3. You hurt and abused tellin’ all of your lies, Run around sweet baby, lord how they hypnotize.

4. Who wants the worry, the hurry of city life. Money, nothing funny; wasting the best of our life.

5. When you are near me I go through a change or two, Hearing your footsteps I hurry to catch your eye And I stand there waiting, yeah, But girl, you just walk on by

6. I'll move myself and my family aside If we happen to be left half alive I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky For I know that the hypnotized never lie, Do ya?

7. Call up, ring once, hang up the phone To let me know you made it home.

8. She said her name was Billy Jean and she was fresh in town. I didn't know a stage line ran from Hell. She had raven hair, a ruffled dress, a necklace made of gold, All the French perfume you'd care to smell.

9. Again the morning's come, Again he's on the run, Sunbeams shining through his hair, appearing not to have a care. Well, pick up your gear and Gypsy roll on, roll on.

10. Gonna tell Aunt Mary 'bout Uncle John, He says he has the blues but he has a lotta fun. Oh baby, Ye-e-e-eh baby, Woo-o-o-oh baby, Havin' me some fun tonight.

11. I ain't no psychiatrist, I ain't no doctor with degree. It don't take too much high IQ
To see what you're doing to me.

12. Are you worried and distressed? Can't seem to get no rest? Put our product to the test. You'll feel just fine now.

13. Your mother she's an heiress, owns a block in Saint John's Wood, And your father'd be there with her, If he only could .

14. Did ya ever wake up in the morning, Just about the break of day, Reach over and feel the pillow Where your baby used to lay? Then you put on your crying Like you never cried before.

15. You say it's your birthday, Well it's my birthday too--yeah. You say it's your birthday,
We're gonna have a good time. I'm glad it's your birthday, Happy birthday to you.

16. Everybody's dancin' down the local armory, With a basement full of dynamite and live artillery. The temperature keeps risin', everybody gittin' high; Come the rockin' stroke of midnite, the whole place gonna fly.

17. I cant turn you loose now I'm in love with the prettiest thing I never, never turn you loose now Because of all the sweet love she brings

18. Trumpets and violins I can hear in the distance, I think they're calling our names. Maybe now you can't hear them, but you will.

19. The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, Are also on the faces, of people going by. I see friends shaking hands, sayin' "how do you do?" They're really sayin' "I love you"

20. And in the end, The love you take Is equal to the love you make.

goodnight.

wow...

Fri, 08 Apr 2005 20:42:42 GMT

That's it. The apocalypse is coming.

WAHOOOO!

Tue, 05 Apr 2005 22:56:25 GMT

Senior Project pt. 2 done, onto the thrid and final chapter: The Grim n' Gritty 1980's and the Return to the Basics in Modern Comics (probably something a little bit more concise than that, but hey, i'm really tired from having been writing this essay all day and i had track, so gimme a break, eh?)

in other news, it's looking more and more likely that i'll go to bard, but still hold out and see what happens with oberlin and vassar. this trip to reed has a good chance of falling through, to tell the truth.

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 06:12:53 GMT

Happy Birthday to me ^_^

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 00:15:16 GMT

And the countdown 'til legality begins. Any suggestions for lotto numbers?

cool

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 07:08:33 GMT

okay, scratch my last entry. Stealing Harvard is quite a fine movie, but Clerks can kick it's ass any day of the week. I saw that tongiht wtih laurie, charlie and laids. Man, seeing laurie's face when she realized what had happened in the bathroom...priceless. That made my day ^_^ plus she loaned me the motorcycle diaries soundtrack, which i just listened to the whole way through. i should see that movie again...maybe force my brother, since he refused to see it on the grounds that everyone told him he should see it because he idolizes che. now i'm listening to the bob dylan de cuba, according to o'connor. good stuff. couldn't make the night better. and now i'm done.

- dan(ny)

yay for vacaciones

Sun, 20 Mar 2005 06:03:24 GMT

This has been a really good few days. St. Patrick's day was fun, went out and hung around 5th ave with laurie, gil, ted, sam, charlie, julie, wei and louis, friday night just chilled at teds and watched "Stealing Harvard" (best movie, swear to god), and then did absolutely nothing today. I need to go try out some mouthpieces this vacation sometime for the baritone, and practice a whole lot, get my sound improved. yeah. well, i'd say this is done now.

adieu,

dan

hehe

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:44:40 GMT

you know, there's just something kinda off with fighting for good and that last part...

dude...(just read the whole damn thing)

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 00:49:06 GMT

i'm back from Berklee. This is my weekend.

we were a noncompeting band because of some screw ups.

so we had to wake up to not compete at 9:00 AM.

We played really well.

So then my combo switched with Pete and Nikki's combo, since they practiced more than us, and they could compete.

They played amazingly.

As soon as they stopped playing, Bernstein announced that we were, in fact, going to be able to comptete at 2 PM.

We flipped out jubilantly.

We sat around for a few hours.

We went to the room at 1:45 to set up.

We played "Doggin' Around," "Happy-Go-Lucky Local," and "Boogie Stop Shuffle."

One judge was nodding his head the entire time.

After we were finished another said: "Did anyone ever tell you that this music was supposed to be hard?"

My combo played at 2:45.

We were alright.

We sit around until 5:45

We go to the auditorium and sit in a group.

We wait through the awards ceremony.

First up were the vocals (didn't matter to us), but next were the small groups (combos).

Charlie won outstanding musician.

Next, Jeff also won an outstanding musician award.

Soon after were the big bands.

Charlie won another outstanding musician award.

They announce the winners for our class.

Honorable mention...nothing.

(tense)

3rd place...nothing

(more tense)

2nd place...still nothing

(literally almost pissing my pants)

1st place...us

that's right, bitches.

we own.

and my combo was worth $4600 at the school auction.

we own even more.

WE WIN.

DONE.

- Danny