Download my Goodbye Provo music mix

Making a mix CD is always an interesting way to communicate with people. We make mixes in hopes of making people feel a certain feeling. Or we try to make the listener think a certain way about the maker. For example, one message would be “Look at how good my taste in music is, I am a man of the world". "I am so eclectic and cosmopolitan.” Another popular message is “ Come on baby, you can trust me to be the person to make out with.”
As I look back at my Provo experience my memory could have a sound track to it. My first reaction was to do a greatest hits mix, a nostalgic trip of songs that remind me of this person or that moment living in Provo. While I have really strong beautiful feelings of my life here in Provo that mix would be too hard to make.
The music from this mix is music that I have been loving lately. This mix is schizophrenic. There are dance songs and slow songs. I have epic songs and poignant ones. This is because I am trying to represent the good emotions I remember about Provo. It is celebratory and weirdly nostalgic just as I want to remember Provo. There will be songs that you will like and other you wont. That’s mixes right!?
As I go away from my home I will miss all the lovely people I have met. We had some good laughs. As much as I like to tease those BYU alumni parents that come and tell us young wiper-snappers that The Brick Oven used to be called Heaps-a-Pizza, I fear I might do the same thing. “Hay kids there is The Dojo!” Kids rolling eyes.

Listener, you are awesome and I love you. I will miss you.

Peace!

Download mix HERE (Click on free and then wait 90 seconds then a blue download button will appear ... sorry)

Track listing

(mike e gave this song This song represents the death Of our first born) Siger Ros 

Rebellion (Lies) The Arcade Fire
DREAM CITY FREE ENERGY
Two The Antlers (The song that feels like leaving Provo)
People Got a Lotta Nerve Neko Case
Raindrops Basement Jaxx
Now We Can See The Thermals
Pop Nonsense Dogs Die in Hot
Dull To Pause Junior Boys
The Hottchord Is Struck Still Flyin
The Wolf Miniature Tigers
All The World U.S.E
m79 Vampire weekend
nothing to worry about Peter bjorn and john
Evangeline Handsome Furs
So Human Lady Sovereign
Waiting for a War (benders cover) The Submarines
California Dreamer Wolf Parade

Make your own freash air!

Go ahead make it why don't you? Don't know how? Oh well it is easy. You need a bit of a green thumb. You need four shoulder high Areca Palm per person. You need to wipe the leaves once a week. You need to take the plant outside every three to four months and grow it with hydroponics. (insert stupid drug ref.) there are two other plants that you need to make clean fresh air. To find out watch this. It is only 3 minutes.



There that wasn't so bad. Now breath! BREATH!!!

Big news in the lifes of the Pierotti's

You recently may have had a long conversation with me about art, life, and growing up. I have been using my friends and family as a sounding board. I was having a small life crisis. Not that my life was small, but that the crisis was small. I sent out 9 grad school applications. I threw the bones into the air hoping that the fates would smile on me. But I kept getting rejection letters. After the 8th rejection I started looking at alternative routes. Architecture seemed interesting, I thought. Oh by the way, Ohio University sent me two rejection letters. Maybe because of my low GPA they thought I couldn't read. Okay, I get it! You are glad I applied but you can not accept me. I get it, geez. I didn't want to be a Bobcat anyway. What a wimpy mascot... Now the Ram, now that is a regal animal. That is an animal that can represent me on a shirt or at a sporting event. The Virginia Commonwealth University Ram Bucks offered me a place in their ceramics graduate school. After much prayer and fasting and thinking. Andrea and I feel strongly that we are to take our family to Richmond Virginia to go to graduate school. This is an exciting and a scary time for us. We have the most anxiety about finding Andrea a good teaching job.



VCU is a really good school.

Here is some information about VCU:

Grants and Awards
3 MacArthur Genius Awards ($500,000 each) in the last 5 years!

$75K Tremaine Foundation Grant

American Academy of Arts and Letters Awards (3)

3rd Simultaneous $120,000 US Dept. of Education Jacob Javits Fellowship

Guggenheim Fellowships (3)

Pollock-Krasner Awards (4)

Windgate Fellowships (2)

International Sculpture Center Outstanding Student Achievement Award

National Rankings

Sculpture, #1 overall

Graphic Design, #4 overall (#1 among public university programs)

Painting, #8 overall (#3 among public university programs)

Fiber Arts #4 overall (Dept. of Craft/Material Studies) (#1 among public university programs)

Glass #5 overall (Craft/Material Studies) (#1 among public university programs)

Multimedia/Visual Communications #9 overall (likely a combination of our departments of Communication Arts, Graphic Design, Photography and Film, and Kinetic Imaging) (#3 public university ranking)

Ceramics #12 overall (Craft/Material Studies) (#6 among public university programs)

Things I should have done. Eating my heart out.

I spend time in the library looking at magazines. My favorite magazine has been "domus" (tag line) contemporary architecture interiors design art
This magazine makes my mouth drop offen. I am wowed over and over by the slick cool objects that are highlighted in this publication.
http://www.domusweb.it/

http://www.hidra.it/main.php?lang=EN



http://blog.bellostes.com/?p=2099




http://www.kvadratclouds.com/


While i am listing things i think are cool here is that cool BMW i like.

http://i.gizmodo.com/5015266/shape+shifting-bmw-concept-car-is-made-of-cloth?autoplay=true

Haruki Murakami's "The Seventh Man"

I think sharing what you like with others can be a powerful way of expressing yourself. I think what the person sharing, hopes for, is that the sharer and the sharee can experience something together. It is more than just having something in common. It is experiencing similar thoughts and emotions as someone else. It is having an experience together. This might be where the true value of art lies. As my i-pod gives me experiences I wish there was someone else that was hearing the same thing I was hearing.

I must admit that I thought this was the "spirited away" guy. I was surprised because I don't really love Miyazaki movies. But I really loved this story. It makes sense that the stories have different sources. The first part of this link is the story i would like to highlight. The Seventh Man as read by John Shea. http://huffduffer.com/Clampants/2575

Telling people i am an artist fells like the beginning of a joke.

It must shock the hearer when i say i am an artist, because the response seems to be overdone. "wow, that's great" or "what do you want to do with that?" maybe i get "(spit take) cough, sputter... what?"
i am seen as a magical retard by the general population. they see the artist as someone that can do things that no other mortal can do and at the same time they believe life will break the artist for his/her optimistic embrace of life. As my parents (general population) you want to protect me. "Gian, look fire, HOT!" you parents also want me to transform the fire to ice cream. enough with the metaphors.
i am writing this post because right now my life feels like it is on hold. Andrea and i are waiting for grad schools to respond to my application. this time has made me think about what it means to be an artist and how crazy it is. i found this talk on creativity. the writer Elizabeth Gilbert is good at explaining creativity and artists. you will know me a bit better after you see her explanation.

Art 21 Gabriel Orozco | "Mobile Matrix"

Art 21 has given me a large part of my art knowledge. It might be uncool to admit that but thems the facts. Here is a clip were you get to see the construction of a public work of art. You also get to hear the artist speak about the art. I was surprised to find that a whale skeleton looks like a giant tadpole.

BFA final show at the Sego

On 5 December 2008, the Sego Art Center will open What ought to be, an exhibit of new sculptures by local artist Gian Pierotti. The exhibit will feature an adjoining critical essay by writer and art historian Megan Whittaker.

In the Aristotelian tradition, art functions as an imitator, showing us what is, what ought to be and what might be. Though typically imitation in art is couched in the notion of representation, it is the imaginative process of imitation that is communicated tacitly, even instinctively, through the work in Gian Pierotti's new show at the Sego Art Center. Evolved from their earliest stages as formal variations on a Minimal theme, Pierotti's latest porcelain sculptures encase small polygonal shapes in architectural exoskeletons that may be disassembled and reassembled. The results are a playful advancement of an archaic process. The unique forms are deliberately accidental, artificially organic and defy any one direct referent.

Yet the work is both immediately familiar and immensely satisfying. Fitting together the pieces of one of Pierotti's works is as gratifying as locking together two Legos or snapping Construx into place. The toys of childhood are the tools of imaginative imitation, teaching us how to act as adults. Pierotti's works, fantastic constructed entities that call upon us as viewers to animate them, remind us to embrace childlike wonder in the gallery. In the aftermath of Postmodernism, the trend in art has been toward what ought to be – both formally and contextually. The reward of Pierotti's work at Sego Art Center this month is that it offers up what art might be. And what art might be is fun.

I have been listening to podcasts for more than a year now.

My top three are:
1. Radio Lab... The two hosts have a great sense of humor and are able to present science in a way that helps you understand how you fit into this world. It is an artful approach to science. They give new wonder to the world around us. Here is one of my favorites. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/08/05 click on "listen to the whole show"

2. My next favorite podcast is 606 5 live call in show with Danny Baker. It has got to be the one with Danny Baker because Alan Green and Tim Lovejoy are both pratts, Spoony is alright, I guess. Okay, now stay with me. Usually this is your regular English football call in show where people windge about the refs. But on Tuesday night Mr. Baker turns it into story time. People call in to tell stories about topics like "what crazy object have you been hit with while attending a football match." or "where have you seen people wearing English football jerseys outside of England?" This link has an American calling in this is not the norm http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/606withdannyb/audio.shtml

3. The classic Tales podcast With BJ Harrison. This guy was in my old ward. He reads scripture very well. He can really project. The classic tails podcast is Bj reading from classic literature. I put this in as my third place pick because this podcast really lets me get taken away with the story. Just today I heard the story Rikki Tikki Tavi. I had forgotten how good that story is. Maybe I am a sucker for "a boy and his mongoose" stories. I couldn't find the rikki tikki tavi story but you can't go wrong with an O Henry story. http://cdn1.libsyn.com/classictales/CT_83_Thanksgiving_in_NY.mp3?nvb=20081129035054&nva=20081130040054&t=01d8acd5da7d0800d173d

My winter 09 mix

1 Red Yellow And Blue (White Williams Mix) ...Born Ruffians

2 Kettle Drum (I Left A Note) ... Pale Young Gentlemen

3 Undo... Björk

4 Voice in Headphones ... Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron and Fred Squire

5 Vänerhavet ...Detektivbyrån

6 Compass ... Absolutely Kosher Records

7 Royal Blood ...The Witchies

8 The Hundredth Time ...Gigi

9 All the Way Down ...Nik Freitas

10 Bloody Sunrise ...Neil Gaiman

11 Phantom Anthills Chad ...VanGaalen

12 Tonight ...Lykke Li

13 Track 01 ...Okay ??????????????

14 Diamond Rings 2007 ... Deer Tick

15 Be Kind To Me ... Michael Hurley

16 Rolling Sea ...Eliza Carthy

17 Blood Red Roses ...Sting

18 Bully In The Alley ...Three Pruned Men

19 Hog-Eye Man ...Martin Carthy & Family

Bjork's "Undo"

I know because of my infrequent posting you hardly come to my blog. Its okay i don't blame you. I guess what i want to share with you is my re-admiration for Bjork. I really think she is great. For my english class i had to do a analysis of a work of art. i chose "Undo" of of the Vespertine album.
Andrea and I were just talking about how brilliant a thing can become if we invest time and focus to it. Undo was a pretty song. Now to me it is a masterpiece. Here is my analysis of Bjork's "Undo". And a live performance at the Royal Opera house in London.
This is an analysis of the song “Undo” by Bjork.

Bjork and I go way back to 1992. In high school I thought you pronounced the “j”, like an English “j”. Boy was I wrong. Now in college I know that foreign words with “j’s” have a “yu” sound.
This song has very simple lyrics. The arrangement of the music feels simple but when looked at closely one finds the progression of the song is unpredictable. It has many subtle layers. Sonically, the song matches perfectly with the lyrics and its total concept.
The main theme of the lyrics cover the fact that life is not supposed to be hard. “It’s not meant to be a struggle”, sings a chorus of angels. Bjork then gives you a soft loving pep talk. She wants you to see that life is good. “It’s warmer now”, as she kind of whispers to the listener. The lyrics are simple and profound. But the music of the song is the moving force. The message of the music is one of reality. What is real, and is reality all that great? The song answers these questions in combination with both the music and the lyrics. Its answer is, "It’s all real and yes, reality is so great."
The music has an otherworld feeling to it. But the lyrics let you know darn well she is talking about earth. The instrument that best gives an otherworld sound is the synthesizer. The synthesizer at once has a feeling of alienation and familiarity. The sound is generated with perfection yet we know it is not real some how. The title of the song “Undo” is linked closely to the synthesizer or the computer. Undo is familiar to us in this computer age as a “do over”. To “undo” is to right a wrong. There is a strong duality of technology and biology in this song and I find it clever that both are used to create this song. The first sounds you her are a sort of piano sound but maybe you are using ears that have water in them. Bjorks voice comes right in at the beginning but it has all sorts of vocal effects like an echoing delay, her inhales seem exaggerated, and there are two vocal tracks running at different times, this makes an echoing refrain in the beginning. A rich life filled texture is created with her inhales and exhales. These sounds are so familiar to us. We breathe all our lives. Sonically different sounds are weaving into and around each other. The music moves slightly closer to earth with a recognizable instrument. The sound of the harp flutters into the song letting you know it is not outer space you are hearing but heaven. Then comes the biology technology. Sound effects are creaking, shaking, there are biggish sounds, and rustling. A count or two later the beat comes in. The beat gives an important toehold to the listener who is used to the Pop music aesthetic. It should also be mentioned that at the time this song was made, beat driven music had a strong presence in America that had recently come across the Atlantic. The beat is not straightforward, but it gives the listener something familiar. Maybe it is a recording of a heartbeat of someone with three hearts, a mother with twins or maybe a celestial being from another galaxy. As the beat begins there is a floating feeling to the song. The chorus and all the sounds float with us for a few minutes, there is a calm euphoria, and then one by one the layers of sounds go away. The volume of the chorus comes down. The stringed instruments begin to fade away. Our ears are left with a lower toned harp sound and Bjork’s soft positive affirmations. The beat stops and the song winds' down. The sound becomes distorted and fuzzy, not in an analog way but in a digital way. The sounds are not dissonant. They are strangely comfortable. And then you are left with silence that sounds good not because you are glad the song is over but because everything is magic and everything is more real even the silence.

Hi ho friends, here is a post about my art show at the CUAC

I have an art show up at the Central Utah Arts Center. I have the opportunity to share the space with the painter Sunny Belliston. The opening has already come and gone. I am grateful for the friends and family that made the long journey. There will be a lecture given on Thurs. @ 7:00pm by Jeff Lambson of the BYU MOA. He is the current Contemporary Curator and has already made an amazing impact.
I did a short interview for the local public access TV guy. You can see it on YouTube here.

Okay, i wonder if you will like this.

I found a funny little phone prank. you can hear it here: http://www.fluxblog.org/2008/05/strobe-light-was-my-mind.html
click on the link that says this:
Andrew Earles & Jeff Jensen "My Friends Call Me Ditchweed. Don't Ask. Okay, Go Ahead and Ask."

The weekend of Sept. 22 and 23

on Saturday night by the state mental hospital, Midwife Crisis will perform another last final show for the last time... again. Matt has decided he wants to come back to utah to play the songs we used to play. we will be the last act of the sago arts festival. I approach this date with great excitement and trepidation. I get nervous just thinking about it. NOT! It is cancelled. Not the sago fest but the midwife show.





Sunday on PBS there will be the first part of the the Ken Burns documentary "The War". I saw Mr. Burns (ha) speak when he came to BYU. he is a great speaker and i like his approach to history. He doesn't see life as ordinary and he finds many extraordinary stories. as he spoke in the marriott center, i found myself feeling like i was proud to be an american. i think i had this feeling because the true stories told of the people of the second world war, were stories of selfless sacrifice told with humility. i hope you will check out the clips found on this site. http://stripesandvelour.blogspot.com/

My scooter has been stolen.

As i went out to the garage i pulled open the door and my heart dropped. there was no cute green scooter in there. after some light cursing i called the police. i am sick just writing about it. as sad as this is deep down i accuse the Hispanic family next door. i don't think they had anything to do with it but i think it helps me feel like i have some control.

Proun History Bright Future

The Pierotti family has decided to follow an English football club. After lots of research i have decided that the team for our family is Aston Villa. they are a mid-table team that is poised to be a more successful side. They have an american owner (Randy Lerner) and a highly rated manager (Martin O'neil). Nike is the new kit sponsor and they have a brand new training fasility.
I do admit i am a bit jelious of the bigger clubs like man u and liverpool they get most of the top players. but i like an underdog... but not too much of an underdog.

It has been a while

what can i say? i haven't been so busy i couldn't write. it is not like there hasn't been anything to write about. i mean come on, Paris Hilton went to jail. i could have given my speculations for the up coming lost season. i have been on two vacations. i got andrea pregnant. i know that you all have stopped checking this blog. but i will try to get things going again.

Rickey's laugh

Remember The Office? The one in Great Brittin.
I found some XM radio clips of Karl Pillkinton, Stven Merchent and Rickey Gervais on YouTube. I thought they where great fun to listen to. I can't help but giggle along with Rick.

rick steve karl

The Beaver Rich Little. The rich little beaver.

If you have spent a good amount of time in Utah, you might know the film maker Trent Harris. His most famous movie is "Rubin and Ed". I guess his movies are best described as strange. Finally his movie "The Beaver Kid Trilogy" is on youtube. You can watch the whole thing in ten parts. http://youtube.com/watch?v=L18CSMd93BU
There is a good interview and explanation the "This American Life" people did.
http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/02/226.html

oldish art new photos

thanks Mo Fritz

you are probably thinking jeez Gian lighten up

I can read your mind. I read you loud and clear. I realize I have tried my hand at trying to talk about things that really matter to me. At first thought I thought that might be political issues. What is more important than the power struggle that has been going on for like a googolplex of years? It is obvious when the question is put, "What really matters to you?", to answer something along the lines of family and friends, oh we can throw God in there too. I know He reads this. I've got Kolob coming up on my google analytics.
Honestly speaking Andrea really matters to me. She is my greatest cheerleader. I mean that literally. there is a lot of cheering going on at the Pierotti home. She is so cute! Just look at her holding my nephew.
In future I will let you know what is going on around me. In short less politics more human interest. put even shorter, less p more hi.

The Christian Right Jean Bethke Elshtain

I have been taking advantage of the Forums at BYU. I think it is a wonderful way to hear different points of view. I realize BYU will not bring anyone too outrageous, but they have brought some very brilliant and accomplished scholars. On most Tuesdays I walk to the Marriot Center to hear an academic speak about their focus of study.

Sometime in October I listened to Jean Bethke Elshtain address her take on stem cell research and abortion. It was fascinating to hear her defend her pro-life and anti-stem cell research position in a logical way. This was the first time a conservative person didn't only focus on the fact that "babies are dying! Don't you care?!" She, with the help of Elder C. S. Lewis, made it a philosophical question. For example "what is the value of a life?" and "what is human?" This stuff is right up my alley. Before you start wondering about my possible conversion, I must let you know that I did disagree with her on some points. She conveniently only brought up anecdotes that supported her position. This may have been because of time. But, it made her presentation seem like she was over simplifying the issues.
You can hear her speech: http://speeches.byu.edu/index.php?act=browsespecialized&mediatype=&year=.5

You can also read about her theories about justifiable war and Iraq.

Jean Bethke Elshtain Responds
By Jean Bethke Elshtain
Summer 2006
Whether in agreement or demurral, one reads Michael Walzer with interest and respect. His work is a welcome contrast to the vicious rhetoric of accusation and denunciation that is so much a part of our public life. The basics of Walzer’s argument are straightforward: is regime change a just cause for war? (Presumably this means can regime change as such ever be a just cause.) My answer to this question is, No, not in and of itself as an abstract proposition. However, in a given case and in light of other factors and additional information, regime change may well be one feature of the deployment of justifiable force. This is not equivocation but a recognition that the just war tradition does not present a series of boxes to check, and, should you get more than a given number, then war it is. Just war doesn’t function like that, as Walzer points out in his classic work, Just and Unjust Wars, a text that has played a central role in the revival of just war thinking in our time. The just war tradition is thick with the soot of history and cannot be wrenched free from particular cases, as Walzer insists. It is true that regime change was not a stipulated goal at the onset of World War II. As the war went forward, regime change came into focus as a compelling and legitimate war aim. (Even as bringing an end to chattel slavery gained momentum as a war aim during the Civil War, although it wasn’t the casus belli at the outset.) It would be odd for someone to claim that “just cause” in the Second World War was besmirched because regime change wasn’t articulated from the get-go as a sine qua non for the use of force. The fact that regime change is not articulated as overriding at the outset does not invalidate an otherwise strong case. Whatever one thinks of regime change in Iraq, the argument that the use of force in such matters is always illegitimate unless it is undertaken collectively is false, as the UN charter demonstrates. Any argument against a nation’s use of force, including pushing for regime change, must proceed on other grounds if it is to be compelling. Walzer recognizes this in a way many of the loudest voices do not.I dissent somewhat from Walzer’s claim that in the classical formulation of just war “aggression is regarded as the criminal policy of a government, not as the policy of a criminal government.” This gets tricky. It may not be a rule, but there is a very strong probability that a criminal regime—whether Fascist, communist, or Baathist—will engage in criminal policies externally and internally. Such regimes “bear watching.” This leads us to ask what criteria are deployed to determine whether the internal abuses of a regime are of an egregious and systematic sort that may—if other factors are present—trigger intervention. Here we arrive at “humanitarian intervention.” But under whose auspices, given what criteria, and to what end or ends? This is deeply contested, as is the norm of a “responsibility to protect” (RTP) now proffered routinely as an international duty of a sort. RTP derives from a hard-hitting document issued under the auspices of the United Nations that declares that a UN member state or group of states may be justified in intervening in the internal affairs of a criminal or rogue state engaged in systematic and egregious crimes against its own people or an identifiable portion of its people. For some of us, RTP was important in evaluating Iraq and the use of force.Walzer’s overall position in these matters might be described as “minimalist universalism.” For example, a nation or group of nations may have just cause to deploy force to stop genocide, but the same cannot be said for the practice of genital sexual mutilation. That disturbing custom, and how to modify or end it, is best left in the hands of a given country and open to pressure from international human rights groups. This is Walzer’s position as I understand it. There is no “bright line” here. Each case must be evaluated along the entire menu of just war considerations. Additionally, cultural transformation is not so easily severed from political change—as Walzer appears to suggest. The cultural transformations attendant upon regime change in post–World War II Japan demonstrate the legitimacy that enforced cultural transformation may acquire over time. The character of the Iraqi state told us a lot about the nature of the Saddam regime and the culture out of which it emerged. These political-cultural factors were not irrelevant to the negative assessments of that regime by several American administrations. To be sure, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) featured foremost in the denunciations by then-President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who declared that Saddam’s Iraq possessed sufficient WMD to “destroy all of humanity.” Given that the nature of the Iraqi state was such that effective internal transformation could not be anticipated, such statements played into fears about WMD and assessments of Saddam’s willingness to use them, given his horrific attack on the Kurds. The culture of a “republic of fear” is surely relevant to how one makes determinations about the use of force.THIS MEANS THAT the Iraq case is something very different from the possession of WMD as a stand-alone fact. Here, the empirical record—I’ve mentioned the Kurds, but one must include the brutal suppression of the Shiite uprising, the destruction of the way of life of the Marsh Arabs, the horror of Saddam’s children’s prisons, systematic torture as a policy, arbitrary arrest, and on and on—all figure into how one weighs concerns about possession of WMD. Significant as well, and adding additional heft to the WMD issue, was Iraq’s defiance of the terms of the truce ending the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Any state in breach of peace terms and believed to possess WMD will trigger a more negative assessment than a relatively transparent democratic state not similarly in breach and in defiance. Or, for that matter, a very nasty regime that has, up to this point, stood down from terrorizing its own population systematically or actually using WMD. Regime change in Iraq cannot be severed from these, and other, considerations. Walzer throws down the gauntlet to those of us who supported intervention by claiming that the “post–Persian Gulf War containment system” prevented both WMD development and mass murder. But who knew for sure? Unless Clinton, Gore, Albright, and Prime Minister Tony Blair, as well as President Bush, were, or are, all “lying,” there was sufficient compelling evidence of WMD to raise the level of concern and enhance the case for intervention.I am not convinced that the mass murder question is settled by observing that the gassing of the Kurds and the slaughter of Shiites, together with other egregious abuses, were all in the past. There are other forms of culpable killing; for example, the fact that by UN figures as many as eighty thousand Iraqi children per year were dying as a direct result of Saddam’s “gaming” of the oil for food and medicine program—a shameful episode in the history of a shameful regime. As well, embargo and sanction policies, although they may be justifiable in specific cases, are not necessarily ethically preferable to the use of force. The burdens of these policies fall disproportionately on a society’s most defenseless members: that is another debate for another day. For now, the upshot of my remarks is that a regime’s continuing policies, should they lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent victims as a matter of policy, not unavoidable happenstance, must be taken into account as one fleshes out a case for—or against—intervention. Walzer’s claim that containment was a better option in the Iraq case than war is a prudential judgment flowing from the factors he takes into account and how he evaluates each. If one values sovereignty highly, as Walzer does, preventive war is very difficult to justify, but not impossible. Walzer is correct that there are occasions when “preventive force” can be justified. I believe that, on balance, the 2003 war against Saddam’s Iraq was one of these; Walzer does not. This is a “family quarrel.” I suspect that I am giving heavier consideration to the earliest formulations of the just war tradition (for example, St. Augustine’s), which argued that an outside party may be justified in intervening in a state in order to prevent certain harm to the innocent. Fascinatingly, these early formulations connect directly to the current norms of humanitarian intervention and RTP.TWO FINAL POINTS: it is annoying, as Walzer points out, that many of the Western European leaders calling vociferously for maintenance of the containment regime were unwilling to put their shoulders to the wheel by way of personnel, equipment, and treasure in order to ensure its enforcement. The elites and leaders in Western Europe present a troubling picture. Much of the time they seem not to be at their posts. It is vexing, to put it mildly, when the (alleged) moral high ground is seized by those prepared for the United States to provide for the defense of the West generally as well as its own security, even as anti-Americanism is rampant and American culture is treated with burning contempt.The hard fact of the matter is that many alternatives to the use of force cannot be implemented or even initiated until coercive force is deployed to stabilize a situation. You cannot use “soft power” effectively in the thick of a situation akin to Hobbes’s war of all against all. Although I do not share Walzer’s overall hopefulness where “indirection” is concerned, I join hands with him in a commitment to minimal justice for all beleaguered peoples, tormented by the brutal, that we too readily ignore or forget.

I fouind a fun game to play online

I know what you are thinking. And no it is not War Craft III. It is called line rider and it is really fun and simple. Maybe you have heard of it.
Check it out. http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/40255643/

I have a religion class

My teacher is a nice guy. You know toughs well meaning good people that are doing there best. He is a huge cougar football fan. He loves God and his job. He is your regular blue blooded Mormon. He is different from me and I think he is an asset for the church.
Last Thursday I felt really uncomfortable sitting in his class. There was a power point presentation that didn't sit right. Before he showed us what he prepared he had a disclaimer. He said that he was not trying to say God let this terrible thing happen. He said it was a wake up call. So for 10 minutes in silence he showed us these images mingled with scripture.

(Slides have been removed)










I don't know what to do with this. I am trying hard to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. It seems to me that he is saying "nine one one", happened because God let it happen. Its like when people say "Now I'm not a racist but _______." Now I'm not one to gossip but ______." His implication is so strong in the text and images. He implies that we should fear God and do what is right before something like this happens again. The text by itself is good advice. But the choice of images seems random. There are problems with the USA. People should be better than they are. We would be a better nation if we came together and loved each other. Fear is a motivator but it only lasts so long. It doesn't promote true change. It happens on a personal level. It happens when a person chooses to change and is committed to that choice. Said person may have made the choice out of fear but it is the commitment and the choice to keep it is what keeps the change.

I think my teachers points are valid. But, they should have nothing to do with 911. I think he used it as a tool to appeal to emotion. I felt like he was trying to manipulate me. Maybe his plan worked. I think most of the people in the room were moved. I guess I might be stony ground. I am too old and jaded. I am past feeling. I wonder why he didn't use the katrina incident. I think you could make the same points. Maybe because last General conference our leaders said the recent natural disasters where not God punishing the wicked.

Steven Groo utah film maker

Tribute to Utah

The next few posts are brought to you by Steven Groo. He is a local film maker with a passion for film and aqua type music. I dare say he is the Trent Harris of Provo. Steven is such a prolific film maker. I am impressed by his fearlessness to tackle tuff issues like braking up, sailing, and space travel. Unlike most local artists, Steven and his crew confront the ills of our socioty. They are willing to admit that there are people out there drinking and wearing short skirts.
I love that there is someone here in the area that has a real passion for something. I hope he has all the success in the world.
Here you are, a tour of Utah.

Save Me-Nickleback

This one is my favorite. He sings both parts.

Salior Song

I am not sure what to say.

Major Tom

This one is kind of sweet. they come back to there wives in safty.

Boys of Summer Music Video

I was a boy of summer once.

Hypnotized

I'm in a trans as well.

Here is something right up my ally

Jared, knowing my politicalness and interest in the difference between "The Right" and "The Left", sent me this image in an email. I wonder if it is an accurate portrayal of the two sides. Keeping in mind that this is speaking in generalities, I would be interested in peoples opinion about this diagram.
I wonder if it reads differently to both sides. My first reaction was that it was accurate. I kept thinking "Do conservatives think the world is basically hostile? I think the world is basically good". I think this image brings up some interesting points. Thanks Jared!

You can read about the artist and get a better look here. http://thediagram.com/5_1/mers.html

Scared fat kid

I must let you see this one.

Just a quick one. More Soccer

School is just starting so the posts might be minimal. I haven't had a math class for 12 years. I need to focus. Anyway, I found this really cool map of england yesterday. It has all the UK football teams and there location. So if you where wondering where Reading is, well now you can find out. You can just go here http://footballclubs.dyndns.org/?co=england&league=1

Mixing Latter-day saints with politics

Today I took a cyber walk down memory lane. There was a site I used to frequent that is a Mormon myspace. I think we all know the site to which I refer. Within this site there are discussion forums. The one I would frequent was the political one. Because I haven't been there for months I was not ready for what I was about to read. Here is the beginning thread.

"Global Warming Unstoppable for up to 100 Years, even if humans disappeared.
Better hurry and pass some international laws, eh? Actually, many scientists say it looks unstoppable for about 300 years due to the lag time, meaning that it's too late to correct. Just for fun, let's assume this is true. Should we focus more on coping or fighting a lost cause in prevention?
Or.... do those urging global legislation have another motive entirely?"

"Rationalguy" links to a National Geographic page that explains there are some models that predicts polar ice caps melting for hundreds of years after today. That is if we stopped all emitions today. A gloomy picture to be sure. Near the end he makes an implication, by asking the question, "Should we focus more on coping or fighting a lost cause in prevention?". He implies that we shouldn't waist our time cutting down pollution because it is hopeless. Okay so my mind is half blown. I forgot people think like this.

Let me tell you how the other half was blown. This next post huffed and puffed and said, "I think the end of the world will come before then anyway so it might not be anything to worrry about." What I was about to say was "what about after toughs few hundred years?" But the young scholar "Banndor" pulled the rug right out from under my idealistic crocs, with me in them. Well check mate! All I could say was "this is a joke, right? ... You guys are joking."
Remember in the early years of the Internet when you could trust a person’s self-chosen title, you know the good old days. Well Rationalguy you really muffed this one. Maybe you ment Nationalguy.

Dear Nationalguy,
I can understand why you are resistant to change. It hurts. Change makes you do new things. New things cost time and money. But, arguing with progress could cost more time and money in the long run. Lets have some hope in humanity. Even after reading your post I still have hope. Well honestly I have a little less hope because I am reminded that there are people really short sighted.

P.S.
Dear Banndor,
Not even you know when the end of the world is. I know your level 12 Wizard "Banndor" scored high far-seeing points when playing Dungeons and Dragons. Banndor, you aren't a wizard you are a guy that wishes he were someone else.