Jenna's House of Idiosyncrasies Version 10.0 [Focus.]

Disclaimer: If you hate politics, if you hate being preached too, and if you are going to flame me rather than leave tasteful thoughtful comments about your differing views, you might just want to skip this entry.

[Bob Barr is the] 21st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom & Privacy for the American Conservative Union. “I think that [Biskupic and Mitchell] could have done their job, and if they had been in charge, they could have stopped those terrorists prior to September 11 without the Patriot Act.”

New powers aren't needed and weren't needed to prevent those attacks, he said, if agencies did their jobs efficiently without inter-agency bickering. Instead of focusing on improved job performance, the government is putting its energy against fundamentals of American freedom, Barr said. “Even back in the heyday in the war against mind-altering drugs, we always had the 4th Amendment which came back and was a bulwark against executive government power.”

Barr said the great danger of the Patriot Act “is that it represents a fundamental philosophical shift away from that and in the direction of telling the people of this country that the government can invade your privacy; they can gather evidence to be used against you without any probable cause whatsoever, without any suspicion that you have done anything wrong, simply because the government says it is necessary to fight the war against terror.”

The fear of being soft on terrorism has too many politicians and citizens afraid of openly criticizing these new laws, Barr said, adding that Congress may not be influenced to act for preservation of personal liberties until 2005, but he is glad to keep the discussion active.

“I don't think that we will win the battle to preserve our civil liberties in the war against terror unless we bring all the different groups together: Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, liberals, very involved, uninvolved. It's absolutely essential, because the power of government is so large to begin with that these little incremental steps aren't seen by many in the public. It doesn't even register on their radar screen,” Barr said.

J. Decker, "Patriots Decry Act", Flagpole 1/28/2004, Athens, Georgia

You know something's up the day I agree with freakin' Bob Barr.

Anyway, today I'm (re)registering to vote, because I moved and I need a new card. If you are of age, you should too. Simply because if you don't vote, you can't lament that your voice isn't being heard. I don't have much faith in the whole process, and I don't feel very strongly about any candidate, but I am stauchly with the Anybody But Bushies, and I feel strongly about change. Come hell or high water, I want to feel in December that at the very least, I participated in the wonder that is democracy—something that (I feel) citizens of this country are more and more often taking for granted. Wouldn't you like to at least say that you weren't left out?

Come on, it's a license to complain!

No school today.

(True, I only have the one 2:30 class, but it's still nice to skip it.)

More excuses to just stay in bed.

I have something stupid and very web geeky to say, but it's important to me, and that is this:

If you want to comment on one of my journals, whether it was two journals ago or one from two years ago, comment on the journal that is relevant to whatever the hell you are saying, not the most recent journal just because you think I won't read your precious words or because you are too busy to click in the right place or whatever the reasoning is. This is a huge pet peeve of mine, mostly because this place, this journal, while being entertaining for you or keeping you in the loop or acting as your source for collecting blackmail material, is really an archive of my life, one I am trying to keep relatively organized.

I have ways of finding new comments, and if you are really that worried, just e-mail your thoughts to me (which you can do using the e-mail function on the frontpage without logging in anywhere).

Finally, if I turn comments off (as I did in this journal) that isn't a mistake. I means no comments, not please-take-it-upon-yourself-to-comment-on-the-entries-directly-surrounding-thank-you. Again, in those cases, just e-mail me. That's what I'm trying to encourage.

These are not “rules”. This is the Internet and I can't make anybody do anything. It is my intention to make my stance on this known, and nothing more. Just think about it, faithful reader, next time you'd like to make your stance known on something.

Thank you.

Good. You know your music. You should be able to work at Championship Vinyl with Rob, Dick and Barry
Do You Know Your Music (Sorry MTV Generation I Doubt You Can Handle This One)
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Guster, Two Points for Honesty Read More »

My inner child is forty-five years old!
I've never really liked children, not even when I
was one. I want things neat, ordered, and
adult--fine wine instead of french fries, pina
coladas by the pool instead of beach sand
between my toes. Now if only my fellow adults
would stop acting like such, well, children!
How Old is Your Inner Child?
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Congratulations!! You're a shot of some good old
hard liquor!
What Drink Are You?
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And now, I sigh.

I feel very estranged from everybody out there for some reason.

The phrase "everybody out there" seems a bit telling now that I have typed it out.

It's not really anyone else's fault, the blame is ultimately only with me. I suck at keeping in touch, especially in certain cases when I'm terrified of the conversation that will ensue.

I've found I've entered a brand-new phase of insecurity. Just sheer loneliness, coupled with a refusal, by my body or my heart, to do anything about it. This was a reoccuring theme in younger, angstier times, and I thought I had outgrown it.

But now, nearly 21, the world as my oyster and all that, I feel alone and abandoned, left behind in search of something better. Like everyone realized at the same time that I'm not a charming or fun or even “cool” young woman, but just a fat, selfish, depressed and withdrawn little girl, and they should keep their distance, like my flaws are disease you can catch.

This is all, of course, my sincerest yet most unfounded phobias driving me mad. This is what I continue to tell myself. That I needn't be so hard on myself and things will pick up again eventually, that all people get busy, and that a brief disengagement from the world at large is healthy, even if it feels antisocial.

Oh, how late nights inspire such ridiculous amounts of melodrama. Christ, I need to grow up already. Such far out, arresting mood swings are so 1998.

Yeah the truth is
That I miss you so

And I'm tired
I should not have let you go

Charleston was good. Saw 5 shows in three evenings (3 Dockstreets, a Tinkers, and a Will), shopped a little, and wondered around the charming part of the city by myself at length. It was definitely a long-overdue vacation and I felt I got a whole lot out of it without having to do too much. Very relaxing.

I think the word for Charleston, for me, is cute. I was asked by a few different parties during the course of the trip if I "love Charleston as much as we do", and the short answer is, I don't. It's a nice little city, not lacking in southern charm, lovely walks and excellent shopping, but it struck me as too damn wholesome, and the debauchary that I felt goes along with the real character of a city of any larger size was missing. Most places closed in the early evening, sometimes even before the hours posted on the door. The night life seemed to consist of a few dives you could count on one hand, and it didn't seem like you could eat anywhere after midnight. Not one all-night diner?

The good news is, in a city like that, where you have to get up during the day to do anything, and anything consists of shopping, walking or reading in the park, you get a whole lot of thinking done. Charleston tends to lend all it's beauty to sorting things out. Read More »