"It isn't exactly the dream I had about how I wanted to go out," Lutes said. "But there was a lesson that we all learned. People may think that sports is their life. But when you see somebody's life flash before you, you realize there are bigger things in the world than a baseball game."

As noted by Handy, the California Supreme Court has struck down that state's essential ban on gay marriage. Score one for the good guys (and gals), as I for one tired quite easily of anyone denying anyone, anywhere, any of their rights.

On a more predictable front, we have good ol' Dubbya scoring points for all manner of hate, foolishness and ignorance the world over. Comparing the Democrats, and parenthetically Obama, to the pre-WWII European diplomats who appeased Hitler? Really? Um, wow. I have railed in this forum about the politics of fear, how tiresome it is, and how it needs to be done away with.  What we have here today, ladies and gentlemen, is fear-mongering at its very very finest.  I loathe this man, I did before today, but he's taken it to a whole new level.  It's nearly criminal what he's done, and what he continues to do. It makes me want to puke.

Speaking of Dubbya and his cronies, at least there is hope for justice at some point down the road.

In a related note, at least there is someone out there who has the stones to stand up to Bush and speak in the kind of elementary school language he can understand.

Oh, and on the off chance that McCain beats the Democratic nominee (probably Obama at this point, right?), at least we'll be out of Iraq in time for my 30th birthday.

Ugh.

Just saw that we went over 500 page views this week... thanks for reading, that's pretty awesome

So, apparently I'm really bad at keeping blog-related promises. This is actually somewhat surprising, considering that I like to think of myself as a fairly dependable guy. I mean, I even have extra time on my hands now that classes are over, and I'm just studying for my comps. It would seem, however, that every time I make a promise of something funny in this here forum I fall into some random existential funk. Seriously, it's not cool. So rather than lay a big literary turd on all of you, I'm still working on getting the manifesto off the ground. Look for it soon-ish, I hope. Once I'm done dealing with my own shit, I'll get right to it. In the meantime, keep yourself entertained here, with a debate about friendship and the sexes, and here, because hey, everyone needs to know a little more about whiskey.

Sorry guys, I know I've been promising something funny, and I was working on it , but then this happened earlier today.

A quick summary:

"A Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed with a military assault rifle late this morning when he confronted at least two robbers who had just held up a Bank of America branch at a Shoprite supermarket in Port Richmond.

"Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey identified the slain officer as Stephen Liczbinski, 40, a 12-year police veteran assigned to the 24th District in Port Richmond who recently had been promoted to sergeant. Liczbinski’s wife, Michelle, and their three children — Matt, Steven and Amber — were escorted into the hospital by police officials.

"Liczbinski ran into the robbers sometime after they fled the bank. Officials said the weapon used to kill him may have been an AK-47 style assault rifle, used by numerous armies and insurgent groups around the world."

After speaking with a 92nd District officer at work before I left tonight, I can confirm that the weapon used was an AK-47 and that Sgt. Liczbinski was shot 8 times as he got out of this patrol vehicle, executed before he even had a chance to be prepared to defend himself. I can't begin to explain how angry and upset I am over this... No public safety officer should ever have to face this type of incident... I understand that violence is a part of the job as a cop, especially in such a violent city as Philadelphia, but any officer should be able to rely on his or her bulletproof vest to protect them, but Sgt. Liczbinski had no such luck, and that's just wrong... I take some comfort in the knowledge that one of the three suspects was shot and killed in another confrontation with the PPD shortly thereafter.

There have been two legitimate executions of police officers in less than a year... One shot and killed when he walked in on a robery during his daily trip to Dunkin Donuts and now this. Maybe it's just that I don't understand the culture of violence, or if I'm just horribly out of touch, but this whole situation saddens, confuses and infuriates me. To be honest with you, I don't particularly care one iota if either of the two remaining suspects ever sees the inside of a jail cell... I hope that the PPD finds them and gives them the justice they deserve, which does not involve being housed and fed at state expense for the remainder of their life, if you understand what I'm saying.

RIP Sgt. Liczbinski... I hope you all will join me in praying for him and his family during this horrible time.

UPDATE: Closure before the funeral.

Coming Later Tonight (hopefully):

Graduate Student Manifesto


UPDATE: Tired. Manifesto tomorrow. Deal with it.

ANGST ALERT, CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED

So, lately I've been wicked stressed about school, trying to finish my semester while studying for my comps. Simple solution? Push the comps test back to mid-May, graduate in August, Problem solved, less than three months difference, a world of stress lifted off my shoulders.

It also gives me more time for a real job search. I already have one job app out, to the Penn Museum archive, which is being reviewed as we speak. The posting only closed today, so it's not as though it's time to get worried about it. By the end of the day tomorrow I expect to have three more apps out to different museums in Philly, and by the end of the week another one out to the Naval Academy for an assistant archivist position at the Nimitz Library. I think at this point five applications is good, more to come if need be. I've scrapped plans for that job at the lawyer's office, I've decided I can't spend another year or more of my life doing something I hate. I already feel like I've wasted so much of my time at grad school, I can't stomach the idea of wasting even more time pushing paper mindlessly...

I guess the worry I have stems over the fact that I'm officially entering a new phase of my life. No more school to fall back on, it's time for a job, a real one, a career-track type job. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity, but of course it brings worry and angst, I can't help it. I mean, those of you who know me know all too well that for the last year all I've wanted is to be done with school and get a real job. Worst of all is the fact that the job at Annapolis is pretty much my dream job, it pays well, and the benefits would be awesome. The drawback of course is that it's in Maryland and C has a year of school left, and it would be awful hard to move to Maryland alone, seeing C and Dixie only on weekends, assuming of course that we both have weekends off. I suppose it's a bridge we'll cross when we come to it, but it is difficult to think about.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, all you PA readers out there, don't forget to vote later today!