Despite the dubiousness of the IQ-vote chart that's been circulating, here's a more solid piece of evidence of the stupidity of people (who just happen to mostly be Bush supporters).

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/html/new_10_21_04.html

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Oh if I had more time...

Jake posted a very solid argument, and a refutation is actually going to take some research on my part. So, I will only respond to parts at a time.. once again.

This post deals with the unemployment rate. The key flaw in Jake's argument is that he looks at specific points of unemployment rates instead of trends. In November 1994, Unemployment was 5.6 percent. This rate decreased steadily to 3.9 percent, until January 2001, when it began to rise to 5.6 percent by January 2002. The rate rose more to 6.3 percent in June 2003, and has dropped to 5.4 percent as of september 2004.

Now think about who was president during these intervals. Clinton went from 1993 to 2001. Thus it would be fair to say that Clinton certainly contributed to decreasing the unemployment rate by a third of what it used to be. It took him six years to do this.

Now bush took office in 2001. In just one year, the unemployment rate went back up to 5.6 percent. One might then say it took Bush one year to reverse Clinton's work. How is that success?

This was way too short, but i'm out of time. All of my data is from the US DOL bureau of labor stats.

Vote kerry, because it's the economy, stupid.

Okay, I'll update, but this blog is now in political mode.

Here is the first installment of a brief issue-by-issue justification of Kerry's superiority, most facts have been obtained from Wikipedia:

1. Economy
Kerry supports balancing the government's budget, raising minimum wage and linking it to inflation, as well as creating barriers on businesses that move overseas. Balancing the budget means no more stupid deficit spending, and probably less government spending in general. This equates to less government interaction into our lives, which is what you (Jake) want. Minimum wage is clearly not a livable wage right now; linking it to inflation would be a step in the right direction. And as Jake said, there needs to be some regulation of businesses so that they don't swindle people. After all, Adam Smith Capitalism works pretty well generally, but look what happens with Enron, Halliburton, etc. Besides, keeping jobs in the US helps the US economy, and I think lessens the neocolonialism that our businesses do (Remember Jihad vs. McWorld?). Not to mention it's really hard to understand some of those Indian tech support people.

Kerry would also roll back the tax cuts for the rich. This of course involves the income tax, which is not as bad as Jake makes it sound. If you want the government to do anything at all, it has to have some money. It gets that money from taxes, and frankly a tax based on your earnings is an appropriate way. The rich are more capable to give to the government, and thus they pay more. And taxes aren't the same thing as the government making your decisions. It's more flexible in that you can write-off taxes by donating to the charity/npo of your choice. Thus you either give to the group of your choice, or let the government distribute it. Remember, everything the government provides must be payed for eventually. Bush doesn't seem to understand that.

Anyways, that's all for now, because I have a math midterm tomorrow.

Vote Kerry, this election is going to be way too close.

For those who didn't know, I was gone the past 2 weeks on an east coast tour with the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Overall it was lots of fun visiting and playing in Boston, New York (Carnegie Hall), Vermont, and Portland, Maine. We really kicked ass in Jordan Hall and Carnegie, the other concerts were mixed. And in the great words of Forrest Gump, That's all I have to say about that. I might post pictures later.

The Fourth of July was awesome. At the airport on Saturday, my friends and I from PYP decided to go to the Fort for the Fourth, as sort of a last get together since we are all going our separate ways. So on Sunday, after sleeping in for the first time in two weeks, I did some much-needed laundry, and then some family friends came over. I grilled burgers, hot dogs, and salmon - all cooked to perfection by yours truly.

At a quarter til seven the real fun began when Zach picked me up. He hasn't had his license for very long, and I could kinda tell by the way he drove, but we got to Claire's house alright. At Claire's we met up with Allie and Brianna.

Even though we were in the same orchestra for two years, I never really knew Allie until on the tour. But that happens when there's 90 people in the orchestra. On the third day of the tour, when I had pretty much just met Allie, Claire apparently found out that we were both interested in each other and decided to make it her quest to get us together. Her attempts provided much of the humor and good-natured embarrassment of the trip, but in the end I must say I'm grateful, as she succeeded.

Anyways, back to the fourth, we were dropped off at the Fort and met up with some of Claire's friends. The fireworks were nice, but the best part was just being with Allie. Afterwards, we all looked at Claire's pictures from the tour, then went to Safeway and picked up some Ben & Jerry's. It may not sound like much, but that night was great - a mixture of fun and sadness, as it will probably be the last time we're all together. Zach's going to Indiana, Claire's moving to Ohio, Brianna's staying here, Allie's going to USC, and I'm going to UW. It was great to get to know all these friends, and I'll miss them.

I know, I know. It's been awhile... again.

Some highlights since the last episode:

• Recorded a new song with Rick, Ken, Chris Larson, and Ben Perry


• Got a 100 percent on the UW math placement test


• Threw a party for Ms Hattan and got most of the math team to fence


• Had some good times at a concert/overnighter at The Resort


• Finished presenting my senior project, once and for all

And that was that. Let's go into detail about recent events.

Yesterday was the senior breakfast at the quay. For 5 bucks we got some good eggs and bacon at the fancy joint. They showed the senior video, also known as the Megan Leverenz video, which was basically 30 minutes of still shots of most of the seniors, and 5 minutes of offkey singing Wide Open Spaces. Good for watching once, but definitely not worth 15 bucks. The Man wanted us to go back to school after the breakfast, but we seniors collectively decided to screw that, and I bet about 3 seniors went back. Me, Jake, Jerry Sims, Gus, and Flieder treked the long and arduous journey to Jake's house where we played ping pong, monopoly, gamecube, and ate pizza. Good times. I keep telling myself I should relearn ping pong, because I used to be good, but now I'm just average. I completely suck at putting spin on the ball, and can only slam it half the time; at least I can still play decently using my innate Asian abilities.

Jake and the others went to see Harry Potter 3, but I had a senior celebratory dinner at church to go to. It was actually quite enjoyable though. Noelle and the Graef twins were there - Tim was at his Prom - along with some other seniors. After the dinner, we went into the sanctuary and they showed a slideshow presentation of each senior, from baby pictures to senior pictures. There were lots of sighs from the parents and the girls. Then a message from each senior's parents was read, and there were even more sighs and some tears. Heck, even i got sentimental, it's something to think about, seeing our past and how we've grown and changed.

This brings me to my thoughts on graduation. A big part of me is sick and tired of this daily high school grind. I'll be glad to have more control over my education, and at a new school. A part of me is glad to start anew, make new friends, have new good times. It'll be great to live on my own, by my own rules.

But then another part of me regrets leaving. There are so many people I'll probably never see again. Some I've known for the past four years, some for the past 12 years. I'll miss being a senior, on the top. I'll miss the weird semi-popularity I've got. I'll miss walking through the halls and always seeing someone I know. I'll miss being The Violinist. I'll miss doing songs with Rick and Ken. I'll miss the girls I like.

In the end, I'm looking forward to graduation, but I haven't lost sight of this great senior year and the awesome people that have made it so fun.

Well hello there.

Let's travel back to last Saturday. Ah yes, Prom. As I said, it was great; I'm glad I went with Stephanie because she was very fun and utterly gorgeous. After picking her up from her MYS concert we headed to Il Fornaio for dinner, which turns out to be an expensive version of the olive garden (with valet parking, and very very good bread). At the restaurant we meet up with Erik's friends. Afterwards, we show up late to the dance (fashionably, of course), just as they're calling my name for prom court. Luckily, I suppose, Jeff Talbot and Casey won, and they played Kiss From a Rose by Seal, which I found kind of ironic. So we enjoyed what was left of the dance, and then decided to go with Tyson and his date to play pool at this place in downtown vancouver. He'd still probably be lost in Portland if I hadn't led him out, and it took him quite some time to find the place in vancouver. Either way, we eventually got there and had fun because we all sucked (even Tyson for some reason).

We left around 2 am, and I took Stephanie home, who lives all the way out in Hockinson. Getting to her house was pretty straightforward, but getting back to mine wasn't. So for the first time that night, I got a little tiny bit lost and ended up going back home through Battleground. Still, it was fun, only a 10 minute delay.

Sunday was fun in that it wasn't really fun at all. I woke up early to recieve the church scholarship that I won - then I studied. That's about it.

Monday was fun too in the same way. AP bio was decent, considering I hadn't studied at all. The MC was moderate and I had some extra time for the free response, so I wrote a poem:

There once was a guy named Matt Wu
Who with his test was quite through
With the time left remaining
He sat there complaining
While writing a poem or two

AP Physics sucked, mainly because I had just taken the bio test. The MC was way too difficult, and I think the Kaplan review helped very little for it. The free response was nice though, but i didn't get a huge amount of free time at the end.

Tuesday and Wednesday - stuff happened. Comp gov test was pretty easy, had some extra time in which I composed a violin/cello duet.

Thursday, ah yes thursday, that's today. I just got back from the talent show, and I must say I am very pleased. Chris was awesome, in all 3 of his acts, very stylish. Rick and Ken were great as usual, no surprise there. And Ben Perry pulled through wonderfully. He was nervous, and I could relate to it, because not too long ago I remember being a classically trained violinist struggling to improv. It's hard at first, but once you get it you're gold because your classical skills give you a huge advantage. After spending two hours working with him on the intro to Back at One, I believe that Ben Perry will be very good at improv. We played excellently and the crowd loved us. Knowing that you did a good job and that the crowd appreciated it, makes it all worth it.

I'll leave you on that happy note.