It's time for another dirty monkey post...

Thanks for all the love. It's VERY appreciated.

Happy birthday to me.

Opened a can of worms, eh?
Responses to some of the comments (in italics), and hoping for some continued discussion.

#1.
I see why you may think this is so stupid, and when legal action is taken, it definitely is. 
However.
The honor roll sucks for smart people, too.  It makes the school out to be like a communist labor camp. These awards are like incentive for people to work, and rather than focusing on the student, they end up treating human beings like mindless cattle; focusing on grades rather than how well they actually understand information.  Instead of "hey, good job," I get "hey, let me see your homework so I can copy it.  You don't want to give it to me?  You fucking cunt I hate you."  So in a case like this, I'd much rather not have an honor roll.  My grades are my business.
Posted 1/25/2004 at 8:34 PM by Beelzebub

i disagree. the reason students are treated like cattle and with a communistic work camp attitude is because of the student to teacher ration(sic)(EDIT - i originally meant "ratio"). smaller class size would lead to a more human approach to teaching and the relationship in general. as it is, most teachers are underpaid and over worked; it's no puzzle why most of them don't give a shit.
Posted 1/25/2004 at 9:23 PM by saturnalia

When it comes to grades, the only objective is seeing a 100 on the paper.  Students will do anything to get that, whether it be by studying or by cheating.  And the only reason why is to please mommy and daddy, to make the transcript look nice, or both.  How well the student understands the lesson is not even taken into consideration.  I have consistently placed in the top 5 throughout my four years... either because I'm smart or most likely because I'm surrouned by jackasses.  I am perhaps the laziest person on the planet yet I manage to maintain an A average.  Some kids just learn better than others, it's that simple.  If I get a C on a test it's not normal.  People assume that something's wrong at home, I'm just not myself, etc.  Since everyone knows my business, it's expected of me to do well.  My point is that the concept of the honor roll is entirely fucked up and should be eliminated not because of the stupid kids who suck and do nothing but bitch about it, but for the well-being of those who do well, and who want to succeed, without having the entire school population knowing their personal information.
Posted 1/26/2004 at 7:48 AM by Beelzebub

grades themselves are a measure of the students work throughout the year. final testing is a measure of how well the student understand the concepts taught to them. in theory, that is. it sounds like you have more of a problem with students being taught to regurgitate facts, and being taught WHAT to think rather than HOW to think (something i agree with) and your own privacy concerns.

#2
I don't really see the correlation to the KV story. They illustrate two different points. KV was painting a portrait of an extreme communist society. Everyone is exactly equal, and trying to achieve personal success is sin.
Eliminating the honor roll is not about keeping all students equal, rather an attempt at placating parents and trying to keep their childrens feelings from being hurt, resulting in frivolous lawsuits.
This is more a study in how our lawsuit-happy, greed-driven society can manipulate our schools and our students right to recognition.
Posted 1/26/2004 at 8:45 AM by suede1976

You drew the correlation yourself; "Everyone is exactly equal, and trying to achieve personal success is a sin." That quote is exactly the correlation. In the story, having any kind of advantage, whether inborn or learned is against the law. In the news report, they want to do away with the honor roll because it makes the kids who haven't made the roll feel bad. What kind of retarded (and I mean retarded in the truest dictionary definition) logic is that? "You shouldn't be acknowledged for your success because it makes others feel bad", is what they're (the news story) essentially saying, which is what the essence of the story is.

#3
and the honor roll...    some kids have to work hard to get on the honor roll and to some kids it just comes natuarally. ive made the honor roll once or twice when i actually worked but usually im too lazy and i dont give a damn...  but theres no reason for it, it just makes all the other kids who dont make it look incredibly stupid
Posted 1/26/2004 at 2:33 PM by dreamingxsilently

i disagree. the kids who look incredibly stupid look so because they make themselves look that way. you said it yourself; you've made the honor roll when you tried but you're too lazy to try, so you don't make it on the roll. now, i'm not saying you're stupid, i'm saying the reason you don't make it on is because you're lazy (again, you said it yourself).
Posted 1/26/2004 at 3:04 PM by saturnalia

ADDENDUM:
like i said in the previous post, most kids just need to get off their lazy ass and do some homework. and, no, it doesn't make them look incredibly stupid in the least. like smarticus said, it's a congratulatory pat on the back for hard work done and achievements earned.

#4
your fuckin sit sux! so does mine but damn!!! your fugly too.
Posted 1/26/2004 at 5:11 PM by The_Choosen_Gothic_1

hey, thanks for your intelligent, informed opinion. my response to you is start using dictionary.com (it's free!), spell check (it's also free!) and psychiatric help (sadly, this isn't free).

This is the most fucking awful, asinine thing I've ever read. Instead of whining about how the honor roll makes your kid look like the lazy jag off he/she is, try getting them off their ass and doing some homework.
This fairly reeks of Kurt Vonnegut's short story Harrison Bergeron.
In "Harrison Bergeron", Kurt Vonnegut presented a scary view
of a future society, where everyone was equal. "Nobody was
smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody
else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else."
(Vonnegut 1988:7). It was the job of the agents of the United
States Handicapper General to keep it this way. Beautiful people
had to wear ugly masks. People not heavy enough had to wear
handicap bags full of lead. Clever people had to wear a radio in
their ear tuned to the government transmitter, which sent out
sharp noises to keep people from taking advantage of their
brains. It was a world where competition was the greatest of
sins.
- quoted from "Uniformity and Deformity in 'Harrison Bergeron' ", an essay by Marek Vit.

Read the short story in its entirety here.

Reason #81 why I love my job:

Owen (we'll call him) said to me, earnest in his slurry, impaired speech, "Richid, Richid. You a good man. You a good man. If anybody messes wif you...I kick her in the face."
Hilarious.

Racist Asshole on Xanga!
I don't know about you, but I don't want this bullshit on Xanga. As of this posting, I've reported this site to abuse@xanga.com. I hope you'll do the same. Here's a link for your convenience.
Here's some quotes from his weblog:

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Saturday, January 17, 2004
What is a National Socialist in America?
To make this more understanding, a National Socialist is anyone White who walks through a Black (Harlem, D.C., Oakland, etc.) or Hispanic (Los Angeles, East Palo Alto, etc.) neighborhood at night and comes out alive.
Upon survival, I believe you can certainly see racial inequalities.  I believe it doesn't get any more easier or clearer than that.

Thursday, January 8, 2004
The NAACP's original purpose was demanding civil rights and encouraging protest in response to white aggressions such as lynchings, disfranchisement, and segregation laws.
Well, every single one of those goals have been achieved, what else do you want?  So we let you become our "Equal", and now you are more dangerous to whites than men are to women.  And lastly, you make up 50% of the prison population.  What a good deal.
If Whites are blamed for everything and protected by nobody, then why is the NAAWP on the list of hate groups?

Tuesday, December 16, 2003
My first day in Charleston I was mugged by a nigger on a bike who pulled a knife on me, "Empty your fucking wallet", luckily I only lost $5 dollars.

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Be sure to check out/report to abuse this blogring while you're at it:
WHITE POWER

I'd like to point this out, directly quoted:
Terms of Use
Member conduct
Xanga's Terms of Use is designed primarily to protect our members. To help maintain a safe and fun environment at Xanga, you must agree not to use Xanga's products or services to:
upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable

The full Terms Of Service can be found here.

You can read John's say about free speech on Xanga here.
The post brings to light that the Terms Of Use are somewhat vague. The aforementioned site and blog ring and clearly violate the Terms Of Use, vague or not.

Now, I'm all for free speech in America. However, I am fully against the perpetuation and dissemination of a belief system based on fallacy, hatred and fear.

So, in something I've been keeping secret (for fear of jinxing the whole thing), it's seems I've been found and contracted to do a set of advertisement designs for this site, hummer.com, to do a series of ads for the new H2 SUT. As of Friday afternoon, the contract was official. I'm REALLY excited about this, because A) it's an amazing amount of money and B) it's not so much a foot in the door as it is jamming my whole leg down the industry's throat.
With some hard fought permission, I'll be using my Xanga readers as a small test audience. Please give an honest opinion.

HUMMER2 SUT AD*

* Did you know the word 'gullible' isn't in the dictionary?

looking down and to the right;
i'm thinking about you,
about the softness in your eyes,
longing for the simple clasp of two hands.
thinking about the sheer shine of panties over skin,
about distances unbridged, breached and vast enough to swallow hope.
about incoherent thoughts at five ante meridian.
a psychic drunken lurch and stumble over my words in eastern standard time.
simple wishes that could never be so simple.
a kitten on my bed waiting to curl up.
would that you were there too.

[BombScare] i beat the internet
[BombScare] the end guy is hard

[protected post¹]

[Also, gone to take photos. Somewhere. Not sure yet. But i'm going.]

[I loved you in a sick and tender way, like hazy too bright fever thoughts².]

1.
When you see this, check your protected posts. You know who you are.

2.
An errant string of prose that ran through my mind last night and made it to paper.

Random Link #1