Hello? Hogs? Hello?

Sorry, I was just calling the Hogs. Don't know that they were answering, though.

Thanks to a great friend of mine, I got to attend the opening game for my Razorbacks. "We" played Troy (yeah, I had to wonder the same thing... not sure just where they are from, either). It was a great time, fun atmosphere. Whenever Mr. Obnoxious, who sat two rows down, would sit down, the seats were really great. They were on the 25 yard line, looking almost directly down on the field. I think most people stay sitting out of fear that if you lean too far forward you might just fall straight down on top of the home team. The stadium is built in a way that every seat is a good one.

I'm a little concerned with the way this season is going to turn out. McFadden is a powerhouse, as is Jones. "We" can run the ball, and... let's see... "we" can run the ball... and then there is the run. That about sums up the team this season.

On another note...

remember my post about the wonderful man (?) who designed the Chevy Astro van? Yeah, he stuck it to me again. This time, its the A/C tube. Guess where the hole is... yeah, under the dog house.

I brought the van in to the mechanic down the road, told him my a/c wasn't working. No problem, he said, we'll just hook it up to this here machine that will spend a few hours sucking out the old freon and adding new, along with some dye, so that "we" can check it later if it starts running out of freon again. I'm OK with paying a mechanic a fair wage, but machines just don't have wives and kids at home, and, imo, shouldn't be charging me the same hourly rate. I can give it money to go get a sno cone or something, but c'mon. Anyway, after $175 of personalized machine service, we were,once again, enjoying the comforts of warm air blowing at max in the middle of the summer.

We made it to a good friend of mine, who looked under the hood, then climbed under the van, reached his hand up, and felt the big wide gaping hole where the tube rubbed up against the transmission. Fortunately, he didn't charge me for his 2 1/2 minutes of mechanic diagnosis (although I would have gladly paid it).

Now, why is it that the guy I pay to fix the air has to hood it up to a sucking machine for two hours, just to SEE if there might actually be a leak (isn't that why I brought it in?), but then didn't look to SEE if there was actually a leak, and my friend, who is not (yet) a paid mechanic could find it by simply reaching up and touching the hole?

Now, I get the privilege of paying some $400 to replace a tube, which wouldn't be quite so bad if it wasn't in ADDITION to the $175 of wasted freon.

Stirring up the Ark

Well, my letter got printed in the Arkansas Traveler, and the response has been wonderful. One insightful writer, a former journalist, went off on me because she is being stripped of her rights and doesn't know it (or I don't know it, or somebody in Iraq doesn't know it?)? Yeah, figure that one. Another assumed that because I don't like media bias, I don't know much about the war in Iraq, and neither does anyone who else who watches Fox News. (I just wish I could get Fox News.) And then there was Mr. Sturtevant, an Education graduate, who finally got to me. His wisdom and insight left me to ponder things about myself, and I realized that I just think too much. I learned that I have led a sheltered and insulated life. So, after much reflection, and lots of Cutsie Curic, I decided I needed to publicly recognize Mr. Sturtevant's contributions to my life.

Liberal letter enlightens (How do you like that headline?)

Please thank Mr. Sturtevant for bringing to light my unfortunate disposition toward being easily misled. Having reflected upon this personal fault, I am now a changed man. There is no bias in the media. Rove's comments were properly sandwiched between arguments against the administration, and under a headline, which clearly and properly colored his visit and comments in shrouds of protest. I can ignore that such treatment was not given to any of the many stories reporting on activities promoting the illustrious left (e.g., Judge Griffen's story, or the Oct. 9 story regarding the former CIA agent promoting Bush lied to us.)

I can accept that Bush lied to us, even though this greatly distorts the definition of "lie." I can ignore the actual fact that my president acted on faulty intelligence, and patterns of behavior and threats made by Hussein.

Judge Griffen correctly stated that no one invited us to depose Saddam. I can simply ignore the fact that thousands of dissidents had been begging us for years to do just that.

People of faith have no business expressing their moral opinions. Pointing out to another where one thinks that person has gone astray from moral virtue, standing up to protect society from what one considers to be deviant behavior, and defending what one perceives to be morally right is intolerance, and should not be tolerated in our society!

The loss of 2,809 soldiers in a three and a half year war to defend me from terrorists, and the world from madmen who killed hundreds of thousands of people and threatened to use weapons of mass destruction to destroy me and my way of life is too high a price; and not contrasting it to the number of soldiers killed in previous wars does not misguide or mislead people. This number should be placed in front of me at all times so that I might feel the guilt.

Finally, I am convinced that when my school paper speaks to issues outside of campus, it should be to reform those misled conservatives. Leave fair and balanced to Fox News. I should have been more supportive of my fees going to support liberal campaign material.

Again, thank you, Mr. Sturtevant. You have changed my life. By simply ignoring the facts, I shall no longer be misled.

Sam Eastman
Graduate Student
Law

Please Write Responsibly

Thought you might enjoy this letter to the editor of the Arkansas Traveler. I doubt it will be printed (it turns out it exceeded the wordcount). Enjoy.

Dear Editor,

Shame on you and your staff. You have taken what should be a quality student paper and turned it into nothing more than a shameless rag of propaganda. It is unfortunate that as a student I have no choice but to fund such a machine.

Let me direct your attention first to the visit of Carl Rove, the president's political advisor. One would think that the visit of a man of his position to Fayetteville, Arkansas would be the news story, whether you like him or not. Instead, how are we told of his visit? The front page screamed that he was met with protestors, accompanied by a large picture of two old people carrying three large signs. The article mentioned very little of the substance of his appearance, but seemed to relish in the notion that a few people were unhappy that he chose to come here to campaign for candidates that agree with his ideas.

Contrast that with Monday, October 23. Judge Wendell Griffen of the Arkansas Court of Appeals appears in a church on Sunday, to lecture about how evil Bush is, how much he loves his country, and how bothered he is that people of morals actually wish to promote those morals. It is, of course, his right to promote his morals (although people of morals shouldn't promote their morals politically?), but it would sure help if he would have incorporated a few actual truths into his ramblings (he must have forgotten that a large number of Iraqi dissidents and Kurds had been begging for the US to help get rid of Saddam Hussein for years). But in this instance, the substance of his irresponsible sermon is hailed on the front page of our school paper as a priceless lesson on the need for our nation to be more neighborly (the Good Samaritan was not in the process of battling terrorists who had just blown his right arm off). Interestingly, this appeared directly over an article about the rights of journalists and biases in the media. I wonder where these biases are born.

And then the Opinion page, of course, contains nothing more than further anti-war, Bush hating (or very strongly misliking) bluther, with more misguided references to the number of soldiers killed contrasted against the highly speculative high numbers of Iraqi casualties and more "just tell us the truth, Bush" commentaries. (Maybe you just can't handle the truth?) Interesting, what with the elections so close.

Freedom of speech is great. But please try to be a little more responsible with my fees.

The value of an education in Arkansas

It looks like the U of A is truly concerned about giving us an all-around education. In what appears to be an opportunity to explore all career paths, the big sign in the student union reads:

"See what it is like to be homeless. Come learn how to build a cardboard house!"

I suppose if law doesn't work out, there's always...