The end of the semester could not have come fast enough.

It did, however, come way, way too fast and all at once.

As projects and papers and exams were quickly building up, the operetta "Amahl and the Night Visitors" was rehearsing and being built for the Spotlight Series at Alpena Community College.  It was a bit much to juggle everything at once, but it all worked out.

The semester is now over, and as a vacation and reward to myself, I'm driving back to Washington, DC to visit friends and family and ring in the new year. I'll be there between 12/25 and 1/7 if anyone needs me.

As school is the first and last priority with me, I'm quite pleased to have gotten a 4.0 for all my hard work. I don't brag much, but I feel this is worth it... since it hasn't happened since Kintergarden!

With this Good ending, this Bad boy is very Sleepy...  See you in 2009!

Also, don't forget to check out the newly rebuilt SOLID ARTS section of my gallery!  I put up the step-by-step process of how the KINSHACHI were made, and photos from "Amahl" as well as "Curious Savage", the play I was Technical Director, Set and Lighting Designer, and even actor!

"We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we will all hang separately." - Ben Franklin

In a recent "exit interview", President Bush was sked what he regrets most about his time in office. As Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post pointed out, he regretted that the intelligence community (IE: other people) failed at their job, which made him fail at his. Bush was pleased that he "kept America safe" in this war against "ideological thugs".

What is an "ideological thug"?

If you look at the phrase, it would be easy to assume that it is someone who resorts to violence to impose their ideology on unwilling or unable to accept it. Any ideology can have thugs: militant environmentalists, pro-life clinic bombers, violent jihadists,  tyrannical governments.

Although Robinson pointed out a littany of things Bush cited in his revisionist history, he left a few others out. He pointed out the wrongs of invading a country under false intelligence, but he did not carry it through to its logical conclusion. What about 'harsh interrogation techniques' (torture), or 'extraordinary rendition' (kidnapping)? What about giving the intelligence community carte blanche to violate the 4th Amendment? What about neutering the National Guard by sending them abroad and stationing Federal troops domestically for "crowd control" and other "helpful" activities that state-level troops are more than capable of? He has the power and authority to - if he did not approve of - immediately step in and intervene to stop these completely un-American practices.  Beyond a cocktail party faux pas, or a big company decision that costs millions of people their pensions, invading a sovereign nation, violating human rights, suspension of haebius corpus, posse cometaitus, and line-item vetoing the Bill of Rights is not something you simply 'regret' and walk away from.

Taken together, these bitter pills ammount to a poisonous phrase: War Crimes. When will the lady standing vigil at Ellis Island get her day in court?

If what he is doing really is in the name of 'spreading democracy' and western ideologies through violence, then he has become the same 'ideological thug' in which he rails so hard against.  By his own logic, a country bearing the banner of freedom and liberty should storm our shores, depose the leader of the state and hold him accountable for these unbearable wrongs.  Perhaps he should be shown the same "justice" we showed the toppled leader of Iraq.  Let him have a "fair and balanced" trial, hope that cellphone spectators don't deprive him of his dignity in the last moments before facing yet another judge, one to whom he will have a much more thorough accounting.

Call his actions for what they are. Criminal. Call him what he is. An ideological thug.

President Bush cannot realistically be impeached in the remaining few days in office. When the gears of our government try to move that fast, they invariably grind worse than a new driver behind the wheel of a stick shift.  He can, however, be brought to justice after President-Elect Obama is sworn in. Unlikely, but neccesary. What is justice when some can just walk away?

Bush is no OJ Simpson. The glove fits.