Month: November 2005

Last month, I wrote about Cornell du Houx, a Bowdoin College senior who is development director for the College Democrats of America and co-president of the Maine College Democrats. He opposes the Iraq war, and the Bush administration’s policies, but he is a United States Marine, and when he graduates he will be deployed to Iraq.

"Regardless of my opinions regarding
the war in Iraq, it is my duty as a U.S. Marine to serve and I am ready
and willing to do my job to its fullest extent," he said.

Others on campus, particularly his political opponents in the Bowdoin
College Republicans, feel differently about his service. Daniel
Schuberth, a leader of the Bowdoin College Republicans and College
Republican national secretary, said, "I applaud Mr. Houx for his
service, just as I applaud any other soldier who is brave enough to
take up arms in defense of his country. I find it troubling, however,
that one of the most vocal opponents of our president, our country and
our mission in Iraq has chosen to fight for a cause he claims is wrong.
Mr. Houx’s rhetoric against the war on terror places him in agreement
with the most radical fringes of the Democratic Party, and I am left to
question his logic and motivation."

I blew a gasket when I read Daniel Schuberth’s remarks, and wrote,

Boy, it sure is cute how Daniel Schuberth tries real real hard to spit out his Mehlman-ordered
talking points, but has he listened to what he’s saying? Daniel
Schuberth, who should probably earn some sort of award from Operation Yellow Elephant,
has the fucking nerve to criticize a brave soldier who is following
orders, even though he doesn’t believe in the war, when he won’t enlist
himself. He may claim that Cornell du Houx is a representative of the
"most radical fringes of the Democratic Party," but it’s pretty clear
that chickenhawks like Daniel Schuberth are in direct agreement with
the mainstream of George Bush’s Republican Party. I’m sure he has
"other priorities", just like Dick Cheney did during the Vietnam War.
What a brave, brave little fighting keyboardist he is!

Today, I read on the Operation Yellow Elephant blog that Mr. Schuberth has apologized to Cornell du Houx, and retracted his remarks.

College Republican National Committee Secretary Dan Schuberth (Bowdoin ’06) has retracted
his criticism of his classmate, College Democrat (and Marine reservist)
Alex Cornell du Houx, who opposes the war in Iraq but is doing his
military duty;

In a letter to the student newspaper, Schuberth
wrote, "In my attempt to deal a blow to a political opponent, I made
the mistake of questioning his patriotism and motivation for choosing
to fight in Iraq."

"While I strongly disagree with Alex in terms
of his political beliefs and his demeanor towards those who disagree
with him," Schuberth continued, "it was inappropriate of me to question
his patriotism and motivation for joining our armed forces. As I stated
before, I have nothing but the highest degree of respect for any
soldier who is brave enough to take up arms in defense of his or her
country. This respect is offered regardless of a soldier’s political
beliefs.

I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my remarks."

After personally trashing John McCain, his wife, and their children in the 2000 South Carolina primary, George W(orst president ever) Bush told McCain, "It’s just politics, John." McCain reportedly replied, "Not everything is politics, George."

If Shuberth is sincere (and I have no reason to doubt that he is), he’s
earned my respect by admitting that he was simply trying to score
political points with the extreme right wing of the extreme Republican
party and apologizing for it.

I wonder if any Congressional Republicans will follow his example?

I screwed up the starting date for the WWdN Friday Game at PokerStars this week, so it looks like WWdN #5: Toby039 Invitational is happening tonight.

That is a mistake! Tournament number 14687178 is cancelled. I have unregistered from that game, and created WWdN #5.1 for tomorrow. If you’re registered in the Invitational that is set for today, drop out and re-register in the correct game. Sorry about that!

However, to make this even more complicated and confusing, there is a West Coast Warmup tonight, which starts at 10:30 Eastern (7:30 Pacific).

Details:

What: WWdN West Coast Warmup #1
Where: PokerStars.
When: Thursday, November 10th. 10:30 PM EST
Password: monkey
Tournament number: 14855882
Buy-in: $10+1

Details for tomorrow’s correct WWdN Friday game:

What: WWdN: Toby039 Invitational
Where: PokerStars.
When: Friday, November 11th. 7:00 PM EST
Password: monkey
Tournament number: 14856143
Buy-in: $10+1

I hope to see lots of people in both games!

This dovetails with the post I wrote the other day about being who I want to be, instead of who I think I’m supposed to be:

"…maybe it was going to be my responsibility to keep upping the
ante. I was in an automobile accident in 1960 with three other
guys…All I know is that I was sitting in the car… and the next
thing, I was in a field, far enough away from the car that I couldn’t
see it. The car was crumpled like a cigarette pack… and inside it
were my shoes. I’d been thrown completely out of my shoes and through
the windshield.

"…I had the feeling that my life had been spared to do
something… not to take any bullshit, to either go whole hog or not at
all. Before that, I had been living at less than capacity. That event
was the slingshot for the rest of my life. It was my second chance, and
I got serious."
                                -Jerry Garcia

Via Seth Godin’s blog.

As a result of my duties as a Technology editor at Suicide Girls, a fiercely proud representative of Team PokerStars, and writing for The Onion AV Club and writing for CardSquad, I find myself without a whole lot of free time right now. When I do find some free time, I’d rather spend it with my family than with The Interets, and that means less time blogging.

I thought about that, as I walked Ferris Berris and Riley Monster this afternoon: I’ve had such a fabulous time blogging about whatever here in Exile, I don’t want to let regular posts fall down to once or twice a week. It’s easy to fall into this trap where I think everything I write here has to be so fucking important and meaningful . . .  I am always on the verge of taking myself a little too seriously, and that’s just not what this is all about.

To keep perspective, and to keep blogging fun, I’m going to see how putting up whatever the hell I feel like works out for me, starting with this, which I found earlier today at boingboing:

Replica of Charlie Brown’s Xmas tree


Urban Outfitters is selling a replica of the "pathetic" Xmas tree Charlie Brown took home in A Charlie Brown Christmas:

The tree is an exact replica of the tree from the famous cartoon, made
of wire branches and plastic needles with a criss cross wooden base.
The bendable branches allow you to make it look just how you want,
super pathetic or just kind of pathetic. The tree comes with one red
Christmas ball ornament.

 

Jason Kirk, a blogger with whom I sometimes play cards, wrote an introspective post where he mused,

"I get distracted by what I’ve somehow come to think I ought to be instead of who I already am. I let others’ ideas, and ideas fed to me by a part of myself that’s
dedicated to being counter-productive, get in my way. When I do that I
lose focus of what’s important in my life."

That struck a chord with me, because I could have written those words myself around the time I wrote the blogs that became Just a Geek. I’ve grown a lot since those days, and I’m happier and more secure than I’ve ever been (not counting a time when I was too immature to know better.) Why is it, do you think, that it feels like a luxury to get to this place, rather than a natural and inevitable part of this life?