Award @ MindSay 
competition
I do sincerely hope that Barach Obama will learn about the "Hidious Cruelty" in the performance of "Abortion!" Most people do not realize this, including the parents that choose it! Partial Birth Abortion is the "Most Hidious" of all! I believe that we aught to allow all beings to be born, and if they prove to be in a condition that can not be helped, and they are 'Truely suffering,' than "Humane Euthanasia" should be allowed! It is the "Human" thing to do!
The more that I get to know John Mc Cain, the 'less I like him personally! Especially after he chose for a running mate, that "Murderer of Defenseless Animals!" (Just the one to teach 'Ethics!') This Selfish, Thoughtless, and Non-Compassionate Low-Life does not 'know the meaning of the word Ethics!' Certainly, she is not 'Killing' because she 'Needs to!' It's just a "SPORT" don't you see, to take away another's "LIFE!" And just so that this creature can be 'More Abnoxious" she has a voice pitch that 'sears' your eardrums! Also, it certainly appears from his 'voting record' that John Mc Cain will continue along the same path as George Bush... Basically, more benefits for the rich, and less for the poor!
Yes, I might choose Obama over Mc Cain, for as the 'First black American President, I don't think that he would want to 'Let His People Down!' And he would, if he were a 'Bigoted' president! No one would forget it, and it would be another hundred years before anyone would 'Trust' another black president!
Besides, he can always be "Impeached" if he "Behaves like a racist!"
Certainly people of every race, admire "Martin Luther King," for he was "Not A Racest!" I wish that his name were on the Presidential Ballot in November. Perhaps Barach Obama should read some of his writings.
So I'll go ahead and do that now... a month and a half late.
10/ The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
09/ Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
08/ The White Stripes - Icky Thump
07/ Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
06/ Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
05/ Battles - Mirrored
-I was voting for one of my favorite bands (MuteMath) in an online awards thing that was judging the best acts and new bands of 2007. I saw that a band I had never heard of (Battles) was up against some other band I knew nothing about. To give each a fair chance, I gave their sample song a listen. It was only 30 seconds of the song "Atlas" but it was enough to make me run to Best Buy the NEXT DAY and buy their album. There aren't really a whole lot of words I can use that would successfully describe this record but three come to mind: Rhythmic, percussive, and quirky. "Race: In," "Atlas," "Tonto," "Rainbow," and "Race: Out" are my favorites.
04/ Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
-Animal Collective is one of my favorite bands. I bought their 2005 album Feels because I had heard the song "Grass" on a friend's MySpace profile page. Ever since then I've been waiting for the new album and it is just as incredible as I expected it to be. I had heard a handful of the songs from this album from bootleg recordings of their concerts and was excited to hear the studio versions. The day it leaked I immediately downloaded it and was blown away. The amount of times I listened to that album in the first week that I had it was jaw-dropping. When it finally OFFICIALLY came out in September I bought it up on the first day and listened to it all day long. "Peacebone," "Unsolved Mysteries," "For Reverend Green," "Fireworks," "Cuckoo Cuckoo," and "Derek" are my favorites.
03/ LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
-I knew very little about LCD Soundsystem when I bought this album. Pretty much all I knew was that it was basically one guy and he had a crazy song called "Daft Punk is Playing At My House." But it was topping (if not #1 then #2 or #3) all these Best Album lists (this was early January). I figured that since it was really high on nearly every list I saw it on that it couldn't possibly be bad. I bought it on January 2nd and I cannot tell you what my favorite song is. Every single song on this album is like... holy shit. You just have to dance to everything on this album. If you don't like this album your ears are FUCKED UP. I EVEN PUT IT ABOVE ANIMAL COLLECTIVE WHO IS PRETTY MUCH ONE OF MY FAVORITE BANDS OF ALL TIME. THAT is saying something.
02/ Panda Bear - Person Pitch
-Perfection. Utter perfection. Every single song on this album is masterfully crafted and I would consider this the best album of 2007 IF Radiohead weren't my all-time favorite band who delivered an album that basically delivered upon every single expectation I had for their new release. BUT! That aside, let's focus on this BEAUTIFUL album. Panda Bear is actually Noah Lenox from Animal Collective gone solo. I'm not sure what led him to make this album but I am so glad he did. If you took Animal Collective, The Beach Boys, Liars, and the softer sides of The Velvet Underground and put them all in a blender and then immersed the new blend in a hot bath of reverb, you would get a similar sound to what's on this album. I'm not sure what else to say other than some will love this, some will hate it. But coming from someone with a vast musical background/taste, it's incredibly close to being my top album of 2007. Unfortunately...
01/ Radiohead - In Rainbows
-Radiohead took the cake. In every sense.
A long time ago I heard "Creep" on the radio and it was one of those "hey I kinda know the words to this song... whatever" types of songs. That was basically how Radiohead and I rolled until late 2000. I was in Atlanta and my Dad and I stopped by this shoddy little music store that still sold new vinyls and I was browsing the CD section. I saw Radiohead and saw !NEW ALBUM! IN STOCK! DISCOUNTED! Just under that sticker was their just-fresh album Kid A. I picked it up, knowing that they had been advertising it like crazy on MTV, made itself comfy at the #1 spot on the Billboard Top Albums list, and that they were "that band that did 'Creep.'" So I picked Kid A and Fatboy Slim's new album and took off. After listening to it a few times, I decided it was pretty cool but a little weird. I went back to listening to other things until 2003, when I found Kid A in the closet. Putting it back in the CD player to give it a fresh listen... I fell in love with it. I didn't know what to think. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before.
Shortly after, I was on vacation and picked up Hail To The Thief and fell in love with the band a second time. Now we're at 2004 when I flat out bought the rest of their albums all at once. OK Computer! Amnesiac! The Bends! What love! Soon they had sealed the deal as my favorite band of all time.
I was curious to know what they were doing, so I joined the fan site ateaseweb.com. Lucky enough for me, it was also a haven for the "elite" fans that had alllllllll the B-Sides, Unreleased material, and Live recordings I could get my hands on. After scooping up a large knowledge of Radiohead history, I soon planted myself in the garden of LP7 (the "codename" given to Radiohead's 7th LP record [now In Rainbows]) to wait for it to grow into a new album. 2006 now comes along with Radiohead premiering a large amount of new songs on a tour that I, unfortunately, could not make it to. I listened... I exploded with excitement... this was it... it was finally NEAR! 2007 comes along. Nothing. So little information coming from the band... just pictures and blogs that described bland studio sessions that didn't seem to be going anywhere. Until September 30th! Jonny Greenwood posts his oh-so-famous blog entry that states "We've finished recording the album. We've called it In Rainbows. It comes out in 10 days. Love from us all, Jonny."
10 days later, Radiohead release In Rainbows to the public via their website as a download only album. I bought the $80 discbox so that I could get the mp3 album on October 10 and the vinyls and CDs (with bonus disc of extra songs) in December.
This album delivers on every single expectation I had for it. From DAY ONE when I started waiting for it, this massive expectation had accumulated that SURELY no album by Radiohead could meet. But this album met it. By tenfold. This album caused me to revisit that sense of wonder and amazement that I had when listening to Kid A after rediscovering it in my dusty closet.
I'm stopping here... enough is enough. This was my favorite album of last year and I consider it to be the best album of last year. Please buy it.
It is incredible.
Honorable mentions:
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Eisley - Combinations
Burial - Untrue
Liars - Liars
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Dear Emily,
You have been nominated by your RA Jessica as an outstanding
floor member in her community. As the Associate Vice President for Student
Affairs, I constantly look to support and thank those students who have a
commitment to others in their community. You are one of those
students. Jessica notes that, "Emily is consistently attending programs, is a resource for other residents and is very involved in GPI. Unfortunately she is graduating this year so she cannot apply to be an RA, but I'd love to see her efforts and positive energy recognized."
Emily, this is top praise from one of our leaders in Residential Education. I do hope that I have the opportunity to meet you personally over the semester. My office is located in Kimmel, room 601 and I hope that you continue to be a strong positive presence in our residence halls.
Thanks for all you do!
Sincerely,
Tom Ellett
What a friggin' hilarious trip that is. Me. Top ANYTHING. I love Jess. I'll have to thank her for telling Tom when I see her on Sunday. So funny. I don't even do anything special or spectacular. I wonder if Zach nominated Renee or Brenda. Or, if Mike says, they all really love ME :).
I guess it's only funny/worth mentioning if you lived here, ey?
February 4, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. Police-Writers.com announced the 2008 Book of the Year and 2008 Author of the Year.
What Every Chief Executive Should Know: Using Data to Measure Police Performance, (Looseleaf Law Publications, 2007) by Captain Jon M. Shane (ret.), was selected as the 2008 Police-Writers.com Book of the Year. In December 1985, Jon Shane Joined the Newark Police Department (New Jersey) and was assigned to the South Police District. During his 20 year law enforcement career, he worked a variety of assignments and worked his way through the ranks of detective, sergeant and lieutenant, eventually reaching the rank of Captain.
Jon Shane’s book stood out among the entrants because it significantly advances management decision making in the field of law enforcement. The book provides models and mathematical approaches to management questions like: “How many officers do we need? Are we efficiently using the ones we have? Is there a relationship between the number of officers we have and our crime rate? What is the status of our patrol car fleet? Are citizens satisfied with our work? What is the cost of our special programs and what are the actual benefits?”
One Police-Writers.com judge noted that Jon Shane’s book “took a daunting subject and broke it down into pieces that anyone could understand and put to use. Not only did he give simple and easy to understand explanations, he also provides examples of types of data and how to work with that data to make intelligent decisions. Plus, he provides a CD with ready-to-use Excel spreadsheets for an executive to use right away.” A second judge noted, “Shane’s book goes beyond the use of math to solve management questions in policing. The hidden value in the work may be that it demonstrates new ways of thinking about crime. Potentially, it could help put the word “analysis” back into “crime analysis.”
James H. Lilley was selected as the 2008 Police-Writers.com Author of the Year. The author of the year selection was based in part on writing ability and in part on career and community service.
James H. Lilley began his lifetime as a United States Marine in 1961. Shortly after his discharge, he joined the Howard County Police Department (Maryland), graduating first in his class. During his career his received numerous honors such as Medal of Valor, four Bronze Stars, four Unit Citations and the Governor’s Citation. James H. Lilley has published six novels, articles in Police Chief Magazine and authored an International Association of Chiefs of Police training key. Moreover, he began studying Martial Arts in the early 1960s and is a 8th Degree Black Belt in Shorin Ryu Karate; the first American to achieve this recognition and honor from Sensei Takeshi Miyagi.
James Lilley submitted as an example of his work The Eyes of the Hunter (PublishAmerica 1997). One of the Police-Writers.com judges said of James’ writing, “He is a mature writer with strong plot, character and story development.” Another judge said, “easy to read, and it was very good escapism. The writer has some absolutely beautiful passages wherein he describes a sound or a vista. The sex scenes are pretty hot, too.”
Police-Writers.com now hosts 839 police officers (representing 382 police departments) and their 1772 law enforcement books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.
Contact Information:
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
909.599.7530
Yes!!!
Oh, and I work a lot. Like a lot, a lot. Nine and three fourths hours or something like that today. I got a mug award though from Shondra. Which is awesome.
Starlite now. 
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