A collection of thoughts and observations from the weekend:
* In the book One Bullet Away, which I started reading, the author says that aspiring Marine Corps officers are given a class entitled "Killology" in which a psychologist tries to prepare them for the trauma of seeing fellow soldiers killed. Part of the training includes watching a slideshow of dead soldiers from the Vietnam War. But another, more realistic part, involves sending soldiers up from their base at Quantico, VA to a hospital in Washington, DC for a weekend summer night to see all of the gunshot and stabbing victims carted in.
Just imagine how many victims there would be if we didn't have gun control. (yes, that's sarcasm)
* Watched Bush's speech without any pre- or post-spin. Thought it was fine. Still has the deer in the headlights look somewhat but the substance was good. If you watched, listened and still think we should bug out from Iraq ASAP nothing will change your mind.
* I'm still amazed at the liberal mindset of this town. Met a fifth-generation San Franciscan Friday night who was very excited when I mentioned that I used to live in the Netherlands. She said it was someplace she always wanted to go because it was so tolerant and liberal (moreso, seemingly implied, than the U.S.). I mentioned that in soccer games in the country that when the Ajax club, whose fans call themselves the Jews, play against other teams that opposing fans chant anti-Semetic slogans often related to the Holocaust. Black players having bananas thrown at them is not unheard of either.
She recoiled at this as it was obviously news to her. It made me think once again of how despite the fact that people like to talk about how rampant racism is in the U.S. that the rest of the world, even those countries with a reputation for tolerance, are far from perfect.
* Later that night found me at Eighteenth Street Lounge where I was introduced to a gay Romanian named Vlad (I swear, you can't make this stuff up). I mentioned to him that I spent a summer living in Budapest which prompted much ranting and raving about the Hungarians and what horrible people they are. Vlad paused for a second and tried to think up an analogy and came up with:
"It's probably how you feel towards people from Nebraska."
Me: "Dude, I was born in Nebraska."
Vlad: "Oh, then people from Montana."
What the hell? Then to top it off I was introduced to a girl from Saudi Arabia who had what appeared to be an alcoholic drink in her hand. My interest diminished when I found out she wasn't a princess. I also had to extract myself from the conversation before I said something really horrible.
* Could not agree more with Morgan Freeman's comments on Black History Month in his profile on 60 Minutes tonight. (here for video)
Update: Oh yeah, was talking to a Korean-American guy Saturday night and the subject of organized crime came up. I asked him why you have hard-core gangs from Laos, Vietnam, the Chinese triads and the Japanese yakuza but you hear nothing about Koreans. He said that's not true and claimed the existence of the "Korean Killer Playboys" gang based in LA. I told him he was making that up but he swears it's true. Anyone have any answers?
Again: Forgot to mention, after Vlad was through bad-mouthing the Hungarians he declared that he was "all for Europe" (meaning European integration efforts).
* In the book One Bullet Away, which I started reading, the author says that aspiring Marine Corps officers are given a class entitled "Killology" in which a psychologist tries to prepare them for the trauma of seeing fellow soldiers killed. Part of the training includes watching a slideshow of dead soldiers from the Vietnam War. But another, more realistic part, involves sending soldiers up from their base at Quantico, VA to a hospital in Washington, DC for a weekend summer night to see all of the gunshot and stabbing victims carted in.
Just imagine how many victims there would be if we didn't have gun control. (yes, that's sarcasm)
* Watched Bush's speech without any pre- or post-spin. Thought it was fine. Still has the deer in the headlights look somewhat but the substance was good. If you watched, listened and still think we should bug out from Iraq ASAP nothing will change your mind.
* I'm still amazed at the liberal mindset of this town. Met a fifth-generation San Franciscan Friday night who was very excited when I mentioned that I used to live in the Netherlands. She said it was someplace she always wanted to go because it was so tolerant and liberal (moreso, seemingly implied, than the U.S.). I mentioned that in soccer games in the country that when the Ajax club, whose fans call themselves the Jews, play against other teams that opposing fans chant anti-Semetic slogans often related to the Holocaust. Black players having bananas thrown at them is not unheard of either.
She recoiled at this as it was obviously news to her. It made me think once again of how despite the fact that people like to talk about how rampant racism is in the U.S. that the rest of the world, even those countries with a reputation for tolerance, are far from perfect.
* Later that night found me at Eighteenth Street Lounge where I was introduced to a gay Romanian named Vlad (I swear, you can't make this stuff up). I mentioned to him that I spent a summer living in Budapest which prompted much ranting and raving about the Hungarians and what horrible people they are. Vlad paused for a second and tried to think up an analogy and came up with:
"It's probably how you feel towards people from Nebraska."
Me: "Dude, I was born in Nebraska."
Vlad: "Oh, then people from Montana."
What the hell? Then to top it off I was introduced to a girl from Saudi Arabia who had what appeared to be an alcoholic drink in her hand. My interest diminished when I found out she wasn't a princess. I also had to extract myself from the conversation before I said something really horrible.
* Could not agree more with Morgan Freeman's comments on Black History Month in his profile on 60 Minutes tonight. (here for video)
Update: Oh yeah, was talking to a Korean-American guy Saturday night and the subject of organized crime came up. I asked him why you have hard-core gangs from Laos, Vietnam, the Chinese triads and the Japanese yakuza but you hear nothing about Koreans. He said that's not true and claimed the existence of the "Korean Killer Playboys" gang based in LA. I told him he was making that up but he swears it's true. Anyone have any answers?
Again: Forgot to mention, after Vlad was through bad-mouthing the Hungarians he declared that he was "all for Europe" (meaning European integration efforts).
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