yeah I'm opposed to war...

But this is the man we're defending?

RATHER: I want to make sure that I understand, Mr. President: So you do not intend to destroy these missiles?

Pres. HUSSEIN: (Through Translator) Which missiles are you talking about? We do not have missiles that go beyond the prescribed ranges by the UN.

RATHER: I mean the missiles that Hans Blix says that he wants a commitment from you that they will be destroyed.

Pres. HUSSEIN: (Through Translator) No violation has been made by Iraq to anything decided by the United Nations. If the intention is to rewrite those resolutions, then we will be entering a new framework, a framework in which the United States will be made to forsake its own position and take a new road towards harming Iraq.

Full Text

breaking charter legislation news

The Indianapolis Star reports that Limit on charter school funds OK'd

Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, chairman of the House Education Committee, converted House Bill 1322 into a charter school funding quick-fix.

His proposal, passed 8-6, would give charter schools no more than $6 million in each of the next two years. The vote was along party lines, with Democrats supporting the measure.

With 1,350 students in the state's 11 charter schools, the cap would give these schools about $4,400 per child. At a traditional school, the average spending per student is $8,100, the state Department of Education says. Three more charters opening this fall will have to share that.

"We would all have to close," said Kevin Teasley, who runs the 21st Century Charter School in Indianapolis' Union Station.

This is ridiculous. Why are charter schools having their funding limited? Presumably to try to fix the current traditional public school funding crisis. The problem is that in many cases, this bill would only cripple the charter schools, not help the traditional schools. Just because Signature School would receive less funding doesn't necessarily mean that students would stop attending Signature--and even if they did, many would attend a private school in the area instead of the public high schools.

Porter claims that this bill "is not an indictment against charter schools. We have a fiscal crisis." That's ridiculous. Yes, there is a financial crisis. But charter schools did not cause it and are only a minimal contributer, if at all. The fact is charter schools need MORE money than the traditional public schools do for the short run. Start-up costs range in the millions and unlike well-established high schools, public schools have no previous years' surpluses to draw upon. To give charter schools significantly less money is a poorly planned quick-fix for the public schools' funding.

Yes, I know this bill is ridiculous. A march on Indianapolis may be organized soon. I'll post details as I found them out.

slam poetry callout

Lisa White is starting a Slam Poetry Venue in Indiana. It'd prolly be held at the Wadi Cafe. Anyone, students, college students, adults, if you are interested, contact me or Lisa

congrats

Signature students who have advanced to the second round of Project XL (and now receive "Certificate of Achievement and Commemorative Keychain" for advancing past the first round):

MUSIC:
Katherine Beyers
Alex Boostrom
Chris Berry
Ryan Murray
Sean Gates

PERFORMANCE:
Celeste Eno

2D ART
Whitney Oliver
Lindsey Fry
Frank Jaccard
Cassandra Wedekiing
April Minton
Mary Beth Judy
Amy Herman

3D ART
Celeste Eno
Mindy Steinkuhl
Karolina Pampuch
Nicole Holder
Rachel Goldman
Kyle Taormina

WRITING
Ashley Tinnell
Lisa White
Joshua Crouch
Amy Reitz
Katie Boarman
Celeste Eno
Maggie Trible
Molly Warren

Enjoy your keychains!

WINTER STORM WARNING

Snow, heavy at times. Accumulations of 3-5 inches are possible. Low 26.

Translation into Sigese: Two hour delay.

spirit week

Signature is trying out a "Spirit Week" next week for the one year anniversary of the approval of Signature's charter. Here is the schedule:

Monday: Rainbow/Tiedye/Mismatch Day

Tuesday: Wear Signature colors (black, white, gray) or Signature apparel

Wednesday: Duct Tape accessories/Crazy Hair Day

Thursday: Dress up as a member of the international community

Friday: Superhero(ine) day

Yeah, I hated Spirit Week back at Reitz. But I think I'll actually try to "feel the spirit" this week. Especially for Duct Tape/Crazy Hair Day. That's two things I am very adept at.

Reitz Speech Invitational

Signature actually had a full team at this meet, with the exception that due to duo doubling restrictions, Phuc could not do Poetry and Amy was out of town giving her state Rotary Club speech--which she got third and won $50!

But anyway, with a full team Sig had a decent showing--with some former Reitz speechies coming out of retirement and some novi stepping it up, Sig did pretty well. Here are the results:

DI:
2nd- Katherine Beyers

HI:
6th- Rachel Goldman

Poetry:
3rd- Rachel Goldman
5th- Will Craven

OI:
1st- Sibo Lin

OO:
1st- Sibo Lin
6th- Ashley Frary

Imp:
2nd- Tara Zuber
4th- Katherin Boarman

DX:
3rd- Nirav Shah
4th- Emilie Wasserman

Disc:
2nd- Chrissi Gentry

Scripted Duo:
6th- Lisa White/Phuc Nguyen

Interesting notes: There was an error is calculating OO. The "3rd" place orator actually was last place. So Ashley Frary placed 5th, really. There were only two contestants in FX. Kate Schoenberger won the Individual Sweeps award. Mater Dei won the Hawkins traveling trophy. For just this year, Reitz earned 119 points, Mater Dei earned 85, and Sig came in third with 72.

Speech sectionals is March 8th. We still need contestants in DI, HI, FX, DX, Radio, Discussion, and Duo. PLEASE PLEASE IM me (AIM: seebol) and ask about these events if you can compete! I don't care if you've had no previous experience, we have two weeks to whip you into shape!

school service announcement

Don't forget, National Honors Society applications are due TOMORROW.

physics I

Anyone seeking help on #22, the uniform ladder problem, a detailed explaination of the solution can be found here:
why can't the man just use a mountain climbing system and come from the roof?

"Even a short war could cost the world one percent of GDP per year over the next few years."

Study: Short Iraq War Would Cost World $1 Trillion

sorry for all the short posts, but I have a speech meet this Saturday and I've gotten some insane Spanish/Physics/Chem/Calc homework this week.

rahr

These articles' stories really aggravate me.

White House: Iraq Can Pay For Its Own Reconstruction

Bush: Protests Won't Change Iraq Policy

march on washington!

Taken from MoveOn.org:

On February 26th, every Senate office will receive a call every minute from a constituent, as they receive a simulataneous crush of faxes and email. In Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, "anti-war rooms" will highlight the progress of the day for national media. Local media will visit the "anti-war room" online, to monitor this constituent march throughout the day.

With your help, every Senate office switchboard will be lit up all day with our anti-war messages. This will be a powerful reminder of the breadth and depth of opposition to a war in Iraq.

Go to http://www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar/ to sign up.

snow day?

No, as of right now, tomorrow Sig will have a 2 hour delay.

The NATO supreme commander seems to agree

Bush must be elected out of office to stop war. Or at least this thinly veiled unilateralism.

US becoming a colonial power: Wesley Clark

no school

It's President's Day today, we're off of school!

The way the ice/snow has held up, we might miss tomorrow too. Check 14 wfie's website to find out.

the only way war in Iraq will not occur

The recent meeting of the UN Security Council was supposed to be Iraq's judgement. To the surprise of Colin Powell, Dominique Galouzeau de Villepin, France's Foreign Minister, rebuffed the US--and received rare applause from observers and press in the always reserved Security Council.

Despite the rift in the EU, NATO, and UN, France looks resolved to continue to oppose war against Iraq. France is representing the view of the majority of the world, as shown by the Valentine's Day demonstrations worldwide. The demonstration in London were Britain's largest demonstrations ever. In Australia, the only country that has committed forces to Iraq already besides the US and Britain, demostrations were widespread. Polls show that the Australian public is against war, and most believe the normally poll-responsive Prime Minister is only trying to warm up to Bush.

Yet despite stiff French resistence and opposing world sentiment, Bush is still going to go to war.

"duh, mr. obvious"

Sure, everyone knows that Bush is as resolved for war as the French are against war. Perhaps the best explaination of why, however, is provided by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times.

Henry Kissinger summed up the logic of conservatives: "If the United States marches 200,000 troops into the region and then marches them back out . . . the credibility of American power . . . will be gravely, perhaps irreparably impaired."

The painful parts of Washington history have often been about men trying harder to save face than lives.

With or without the fussy Frenchies, we're going to war. For this White House, pulling back when all our forces are poised for battle would be, to use the Bush family's least favorite word, wimpy. (full text)

I can only see one way for the US to not go to war--if Bush is elected out of office or forced to accepted a more peaceful stance toward Iraq during the primaries. Yes, I realize that any such event is a far way off. But really there is no other way the US will not attack Iraq.

After all, polls show that the American public is not convinced that a war on Iraq would be prudent. What a squandered chance in the mid-term elections. Bush could have been sent a message of "NO, you must compromise." Instead, we elected more Republicans into Congress.

Maybe in 2004.

email from Claire Lascelles from UTNIF

Question:
You're walking down a deserted street with your wife
and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous looking
man with a huge knife comes around the corner and is
running at you while screaming obscenities. In your
hand is a Sig .45 and you are an expert shot. You have
mere seconds before he reaches you and your family.
What do you do?

Liberal Answer:

Well, that's not enough information to answer the
question!

Does the man look poor or oppressed?

Does he have low self-esteem?

Have I ever done anything to him that is inspiring him to attack?

Could we run away?

What does my wife think?

What about the kids?

Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand?

What does the law say about this situation?

Is it possible he'd be happy with killing just me?

Does he definitely want to kill me or would he just be content to wound me?

If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me?

This is all so confusing! I need to debate this
with some friends for a few days to try to come to a
conclusion.

Conservative Answer:
BANG!

Texan's Answer:
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
click... (sounds of magazine being ejected and
fresh magazine inserted)

community announcement

NBC 14 is broadcasting, "The Vanderburgh County sheriff's office is asking that you do not drive unless absolutely necessary." Yeah, I went outside and the roads around here have 2" of ice particles (not solid ice sheets, more like cold, white, sand).

Dah. On the same day as the first Video Game Club tourney.

Daredevil review

It's basically Spiderman only with more gore and less romance. It's plot plausibility (even though its a superhero movie) is weaker than Spiderman's. But the Daredevil soundtrack rules.

Yes, I will compare all Marvel films to Spiderman. For instance, The Hulk looks like one-fifth of Spiderman. X-Men 2 looks like it'll be Spiderman or up to eleven-tenths of Spiderman!

Jennifer Garner is hot.

video game club

Tomorrow is the Video Game Club's first tournament. Mario Tennis at Elliot's house, 2:30.

bad bad weather

I was at Barnes, studying some Calculus, minding my own business, when my stomach told me to go get some food. I had drank one of Phuc's mom's free Boosts for "dinner" since I had a late lunch. But now I was hungry.

So I walk out of Barnes and notice that the ground is covered in snow. Wow, quick snowfall, and its still snowing.

Wait...no...not snowing....hail/sleeting. I decided to skip the Subway and go straight home, because I hate driving in bad conditions, and conditions were only going to get worse.

The drive home took me 40 minutes.

The police shut down the majority of the Lloyd because it was too slick. I had to take backroads until I got to St. Joseph Ave. Insane.

ElliotoGozoto: jeez...why doesn't this happen when we have school

Sumo Heavies Throw Weight Behind Crime Fighting

TOKYO (Reuters) - Massive sumo wrestlers used to muscling loincloth-clad rivals out of the ring in Japan's national sport are being mobilized to fight rising crime.

About 10 wrestlers from Isenoumi Stable, as sumo gyms are known, began nightly patrols in their neighborhood in the east of Tokyo this week, hoping their bulk would deter would-be crooks.

"Our stablemaster thought that as crimes such as arson were frequent in the neighborhood, we should cooperate to prevent it, so he suggested the patrols," an official at the stable said. (full text)

district congress

The Hoosier Heartland district's congress competition was supposed to be tomorrow. But due to bad weather in North Indiana, the meet was postponed.

watch out!

They have already infiltrated our instructure, from the entertainment industry to our hockey teams to chinese restaurants to insurance companies. Now they're going in for the kill!

Ducks.

Earlier this week, government officials advised Americans to buy duct tape (no doubt Duck duct tape, since it has taken over the largest American corporation, Walmart). The tape supposedly would help seal us safely away from biological or chemical terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, it would also cause our rooms to run out of fresh air, causing us to pass out in five hours. A small price to pay for safety from airborne Ebola.

But the Duck tape conspiracy goes deeper. Reuters reports that Terror Experts Skeptical About Duct Tape:

"It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me," said Greg Evans, director of the Center for the Study of Bioterrorism and Emerging Infections at the St. Louis University School of Public Health.

One problem, he said, is that people wouldn't know when to seal themselves in, because terrorists would release germs or chemical agents without warning.

"We're only going to know about it when we start coming down sick, and that's too late to go into a safe room," he said. For biological attack, the first symptoms might not appear for days, he noted.

What's more, he said he doubts a room could be completely sealed, meaning tiny amounts of potent chemical or biological weapons could still seep in.

Randy Larsen, director of the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security, a nonprofit research institute in Arlington, Va., agreed that the strategy is useless against biological attack as well as bombs or plunging jetliners.

In a chemical attack, "it might be of some limited value," he said, "but do you have adequate warning? Do you have time to do it? Can you really seal off the room?"

Fight the ducks! We will survive and prosper.

new bin Laden tape

Ok, so for those of you who haven't heard, an audio tape probably from bin Laden was released earlier this week, urging Iraqis to suicide bomb invading Americans and calling all Muslims to arms against US hegemony (what's new?).

Well, supposedly there's a new tape. Here is the surprising part of the new tape:

"In this final year I hurl myself and my steed with my soul at the enemy. Indeed on my demise I will become a martyr," the al-Qaida leader purportedly says.

"I pray my demise isn't on a coffin bearing green mantles. I wish my demise to be in the eagle's belly," he continues.

Seems like bin Laden is planning to die in a final act of terrorism in the United States within the year. If bin Laden wanted to make people queasy, this sure did it.

material breach

A material breach of UN resolutions has been found. Experts have found missiles with ranges longer than permitted under UN resolutions.


Yes, the revelance of the UN is at stake, but I don't think France and Germany think the security of the world is at stake. The UN won't approve war until something more substantial happens.

I still <3 Alan Greenspan!

No, not in the Allen Ginsberg way. But Greenspan has been receiving heat lately for the poor condition of the economy--he's no longer the Wizard he was during the late 90s.

I think it's clear that that's the fault of unforeseeable expenses in the War on Terror and reckless spending by the Bush Administration. Tax cuts? (which are designed to give more money proportionally to those who don't need to spend anymore) An impending war against Iraq that has spiked oil prices?

Greenspan noted all this and more today. As the NYTimes puts it, Greenspan Throws Cold Water on Bush Arguments for Tax Cut:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 — Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, today rebutted many of President Bush's arguments in favor of big new tax cuts, saying that the economy probably does not need any short-term stimulus and warning that budget deficits could spiral out of control.

key club

Today the Key Club threw a Valentine's party for the Evansville Children's Psychiatric Hospital. There was food, fun, and arts! Thanks tot he ECPH for letting us do that, and Cari Tuna rules for planning to whole thing out for us!

VERY INTERESTING

Franco-German Plan Floated to Avert Iraq War:

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Germany and France are working on a new plan to try to avert war in Iraq that would compel Baghdad to admit thousands of U.N. troops to enforce disarmament and tighter sanctions, a magazine said on Saturday.

Chinese New Year's

Last Saturday was Chinese New Year, but today Owensboro held a belated celebration. Signature was represented in the volunteer server population by me, Phuc Ngueyn, Lisa White, and Matt McConnell.

It was interesting when the sweet and sour chicken combusted upon contact with the tablecloth.

And hey, it's 5+ service hours.

FYI: Red is a lucky color in Chinese tradition. White is the color of death and funerals.

SWIFA

Signature's Speech team, through illness and conflicts with jobs, was forced to take a small team of 10 contestants to SWIFA. But Signature managed to place 3rd! Reitz and Mater Dei were neck and neck for first place, but Reitz came out on top.

Individual Results:

HI:
Rachel Goldman- 2nd

Poetry:
Rachel Goldman- 1st
Sibo Lin- 3rd

FX:
Amy Reitz- 2nd

DX:
Emilie Wasserman- 3rd

OO:
Sibo Lin- 1st
Ashley Frary- 3rd

Duo (Scripted):
Lisa White/Phuc Nguyen- 7th

If Sig ever manages to get a full team, we could challange Reitz and Mater Dei! As of right now, Mater Dei is winning points mostly through mere numbers--they stack their contestants into all the double-enterable events, and just place through lack of numbers from Reitz, the former "forensics hegemon." Reitz may be cutting it close, but they are winning through quality over quantity. Reitz had 19 places; Mater Dei had 22.

In honorable mentions, North High School placed 4th. They stacked the less crowded events (FX, DX, discussion, impromptu), and their numbers prevailed there. Mike Hassel also managed to pull a major upset in FX and beat out Melody Berry and Amy Reitz.

Don't mess with Texas

I find this pretty humorous. Disgusting, but funny.

texas takes on the world:

HOUSTON (Reuters) - An unrepentant Texas said on Thursday it would ignore a World Court order demanding it stay the executions of two Mexicans, a decision likely to create more friction between the United States and its allies over capital punishment.

"According to our reading of the law and the treaty, there is no authority for the federal government or this World Court to prohibit Texas from exercising the laws passed by our legislature," said Gene Acuna, a spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The state is by far the nation's death penalty leader.

full text

yeah good stuff

actual text of Powell's speech today

powell presents

Former Inspectors: Iraq Deception Goes On

Friday off!

Sig has no school Friday--it's a potential snow makeup day. Unfortunately for the EVSC, when they canceled school, Sig only called a delay. So the EVSC has to go to school Friday.

proof?

Powell announced that the US would present suspicious photos and transcripts:

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell will present photographs of mobile biological weapons and transcripts of overheard Iraqi conversations to convince allies that Saddam Hussein has potent arsenals in defiance of U.N. disarmament demands, an administration official said Monday.

Interesting how the administration's leading dove has become exasperated in recent months, morphing into all but a hawk. Powell mentioned that there would be no "smoking gun" in the presentation, and that most world leaders won't be surprised by the photos or transcripts. But if these photos and transcripts are legit, they will play a key role in reversing world opinion on Iraq and the United States.

state debate

results:

Amy/Nirav- octofinalists
Sibo/Alex- 3-3 in prelims, missed octo cuts

Chrissi Gentry- Congress Finalist!
Yabtsega Moges- Congress particiapnt
Emily Ballard- Congress participant

Congrats to Chrissi! Unforunate, illogical decisions kept me and Alex from breaking and Amy/Nirav from advancing. It's never our fault. We sooo won, it's not even funny. I mean the counterplan permutational turn ought to have outweighed all stock issue issues. Ok, I'm just rambling. But Carmel team: we will get you next time! You know who you are!

edit: full results can be found on the IHSFA website

space shuttle tragedy

I just got back from the STate Debate meet, but I'm sure that anyone who watched TV or listened to the radio today knows the news: space shuttle Columbia broke apart while landing & died onboard the shuttle, and human remains have been found. The last few transmissions with Columbia were as follows:

Mission Control radios: "Columbia, Houston, we see your tire pressure messages and we did not copy your last."

Columbia's commander, Rick Husband, calmly responds: "Roger, uh, buh ..."

For several seconds, the transmission goes silent.

Then, there is static.

Many think the problem began on the left wing, damaged during takeoff.

And although no one suspects terrorism, the nation is as uneasy about the space program as it's ever been since the Challenger.