By Mark Boudreau 11 Sep 2002
Here’s to everyone having a really boring and uneventful Sept. 11. I just wish the weather wasn’t so reminiscent of last year.
<p>Take care folks. Try not to let everything get you down or overly paranoid.</p> By Mark Boudreau 08 Jul 2002
I don’t know if anyone around here knew or cared who Ted Williams was. Well, I knew and cared and I’m extremely sad that he has passed from this earth.
<p>When I was a kid, baseball was my life. Seriously. It was the only reason to keep living as far as I was concerned. Williams was Thor to my 10 year old eyes. And one year, when we had learned in school how to properly write a letter, I wrote to him. I wish I knew what I wrote. All I know is that I told him how much I looked up to him, how much I loved his book (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671621033/qid=1026148635/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-6265247-3896909">The Science of Hitting</a>), and that if he had a spare moment, could he send an autographed picture to my cousin who was sick and in the hospital. Well, he sent two autographs, one for my cousin and one for me.</p>
<p>That wasn’t much of a thing to do. But it meant the world to me and my cousin back then. My cousin really was sick at the time. And this man, this god amoung ballplayers, veteran of two wars, and one hell of a fisherman, he did something to make a couple of young kids happy and keep them from realizing that the ballplayers of today were mostly made up of overpaid cry babies (See Roger Clemens).</p>
<p>Thanks Ted.</p> By Mark Boudreau 03 Jul 2002
And I’ll meet you at the station…
<p>Wee. I’m taking the train to Boston today. 7 hours of sitting around watching movies on my laptop. <a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080748">The Buddhist Fist</a> and possibly <a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0068935">Return of the Dragon</a> look likely as the in-cabin entertainment. My <a href="http://www.holyghostclaw.com">boss</a> has become obsessed with Hong Kong cinema, and it’s rekindled my interest in the genre. Anyone have any recommendations for some good movies from the East?</p>
<p>I hope everyone is happy and has a safe 4th of July.</p> By Mark Boudreau 07 Jun 2002
I noticed that most of what I’ve posted lately has been harsh, political, drivel. I’m sorry. I pull the diamond from my ass that was formally a lump of coal (awkward Ferris Bueller reference for the unedjumacated).
By Mark Boudreau 07 Jun 2002
The drug war has failed. It is not winnable and it is the largest source of attrocities of the American government on both American and foreign citizens.
<p>But even when we’re not <a href="http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/papa/panamaus1989.htm">invading other countries</a>, <a href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/peru_americanplane_010422.html">shooting down planes of missionaries</a>, or <a href="http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-180es.html">bastardizing the bill of rights in this war</a>, and we actually try to help treat drug users, our country screws it up.</p>
<p>Read about the <a href="http://www.theagitator.com/straightfox.php">tough love treatments</a> some of the Drug War’s biggest supporters would advocate (Including our ambassador to Italy and the Bush family). Read about the <a href="http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/07/Floridian/_In_the_middle_of_a_n.shtml">victims</a> and what they now have to live with. Why do we as a country put up with it? And why do we allow the people who advocate these attrocities to run the country?</p> By Mark Boudreau 06 Jun 2002
I know this isn’t cutting edge news, but I was wondering how people felt about the distribution of the Daniel Pearl murder video. Has anyone here watched it? Has it changed the way you feel about the US/UK/Western Nations war on terrorism? Or the India-Pakistan strife? Or the Israel-Palestine conflict? Or American foreign policy in general?
<p>Should the <a href="http://prohosters.com/pearl/">video</a> even be shown?</p>
<p>I’ve seen people all over the net debate this topic. I’m interested in what the folks at Thraxil have to say.</p> By Mark Boudreau 31 May 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34880-2002May30.html
<p>However, I can’t think of what else to call these changes in law enforcement and government surveillance. The <span class="caps">FBI</span> is going to be allowed to go to any public gathering to “look for signs of terrorism.” And although the administration is promising that this increased surveillance will only be used to fight terrorism, that can change at any time. Also, I question how we know that the <span class="caps">FBI</span> isn’t moving back towards the J. Edgar Hoover days when they had files on most citizens.</p>
<p>Do these changes bother anyone else? Do cameras in public places used by law enforcement go too far in monitoring our society? Does the fact that the <span class="caps">FBI</span> will be able to access commercial databases whether they have a case based need bother anyone else? Or is this all necessary if we want to be safe from terrorism?</p>
<p>I’m sure you all can guess where I stand.</p> By Mark Boudreau 16 Apr 2002
Try this day on for size:
<p>1) Started the day designing a stupid announcement page for my organization. I was given one set of directives from one person. His boss gave me a whole different set of directives after I had created a design. Grr. The resulting design by committee is one of the ugliest things I’ve ever produced.</p>
<p>2) Was heckled by a homeless guy who informed me that I can’t help being a racist (?!?!?!), that it’s in my blood. He needs to get my label straight. I’m an elitist, capitalist. Sheesh.</p>
<p>4) Tried installing <span class="caps">SGL</span> again. The machine hangs while trying to run Lilo. Ugh. When does the next Red Hat come out? <strong>dejected sigh</strong></p>
<p>3) Tomorrow I get to continue with #1</p> By Mark Boudreau 28 Mar 2002
http://www.johngaltpress.org/pressreleasesquelched.html
<p>If none of you Batesies know what the John Gault Press is, I encourage you to check out the archives. It’s really too bad that the school refuses to support a competitor to the <em>Bates Student</em>. I know the editor pretty well, and he is one of the hardest working, politically minded individuals I’ve met. He also has a bit of integrity left, which the <em>Student</em> lost after Sean O’Leary graduated.</p> By Mark Boudreau 04 Mar 2002
Not everyone who visits this site went to Bates, but for those of us who did, I thought you might appreciate knowing about this:
<p><a href="http://www.bates.edu/x23053.xml">http://www.bates.edu/x23053.xml</a></p>
<p>The details that have been released so far say that basically, some Bates students got into an altercation with some locals, and a kid from the class of ’02 was stabbed to death.</p>