Please help me understand what butthurt means!

I am trying really hard to be as positive as possible about BYU this semester. Not that I have ever been really negative, but at times I have been really bothered by things. Be it the credits from USU that should have transferred but didn't, my ridiculously hard classes (ie PLSC 200), the self righteous attitudes of some students, the Utah haters, the honor code haters, the basically really weird culture that has developed. The absence of fun student activities (USU has the largest Halloween party in the state of Utah, and a Mardi Gras celebration), the list could go on but I'll stop it. The following letter appeared in The Daily Universe this week. I am sure the writer is more intelligent than it seems but please after reading the letter please tell me what butthurt means, and is it even a word? Here is the letter (emphasis added):

Standing behind the "Bros"

The viewpoint on the East Coast being better than the West Coast needs to be addressed. I hate to say this, but the way the West was portrayed made me a little butthurt. Southern California, which is where this "Bro Nation" is from, should never be looked upon so superficially. So-Cal, as the "bros" say it, is a huge melting pot and I don't think the author of the East Coast viewpoint likes what's cooking. I'm not going to deny the existence of bros, and especially bad representations of them here at BYU. However, I would like people to keep in mind that these bros are white - the minorities of their area. As a person of a light brown color, I'd have to say that making fun of bros is a bit racist and maybe xenophobic. The bros have been thrown into a melting pot that my people have created and have come out semi-messed up. They don't know what it's like to be in the elite East Coast, with your precious Harvard in wonderful Massachusetts that you are all so fond of spelling. Instead, they are having an identity crisis by trying to be white in the way they look while speaking like English is their third language like my immigrant grandma. I'm not ashamed of these bros and their overly fake-baked girlfriends (they just want to be tan like the rest of us.) I am proud of them and will stand with them wherever they be at.

TAWNEE MADLEN

San Diego

After reading this letter I was laughing out loud, something I don't do often. I hope you enjoyed it.

Oh, and in other news, the Daily Universe had the wrong punctuation in advertisements for this week's forum address by Lynne Truss. That's sad, considering Lynne Truss's address was about punctuation errors. Sadly, I don't think the Daily Universe did it on purpose.

This made me chuckle

Obviously this is a fake picture because Santa Claus is alive, and I'll prove it to you on December 25 when I get what I ask for (I have to figure that out). Does he give 4.0 GPAs?

Really? That's it?

Today was a new experience in the life of Kerri. I had my first cavity filled. Actually, I had 4 cavities filled to be followed by two more next week. Chase has been reassuring me all week that I would be fine but I was still nervous before I went in to have it done. All I could think about was the giant needle and how much it hurt when I was little. I was bracing myself for the pain and I was not excited. My dentist, it turns out, is really good with the needle. I felt almost nothing and what I did feel wasn't painful. I just kept my eyes closed and took deep breaths and it turned out okay. The rest of the procedure was a piece of cake. Apparently, people are disturbed by the sound of the drill. It reminded me of a dolphin's high pitched squeak. I'm not sure if it was a good or bad thing to associate the two but it was a pleasant image. So now I'm not scared for next week and the left half of my face is completely numb but it turned out to not be that big a deal. I love it when that happens.

Democracy

Are you sick of me yet? I feel like blogging about one more issue: Prop 8 protests. I am getting really sick and tired of it. I don't understand what they are doing. I feel they are unfairly targeting 1 religion (well, at least all the high profile protests are), and I think that while the GLBT community is asking for tolerance and inclusion, they are exhibiting just the opposite. These protests are not going away and now groups are popping on facebook (what is the point of groups on facebook anyway?) and protests are spreading from California to Utah to New York.

I can see why people are upset about the outcome of Prop 8. but guess what 45% of the United States is upset about Obama too. We don't see any protests about that do we? What would happen if there were protests against the DNC and other big contributors to Obama's campaign because people were upset about Obama? Nothing. The same thing is happening here.

The great thing about democracy is that it works. The people of California voted in favor of Prop 8. Opponents of Prop 8 have the wonderful opportunity to propose a different amendment in the future. I think it is sad that people opposed to Prop 8 are blaming the LDS church for its failure. They claim that before the LDS church became heavily involved in the pro-prop 8 campaign. Well, lets face it. Pro-prop 8 campaigners were better at mobilizing their troops than anti-prop 8 so they won. Just like Obama was better at mobilizing his supporters than McCain and voila, Obama won. That is the nature of campaigns.

So to all those out there who were against prop 8 and are angry. I understand. But you failed. Accept it, move on, and begin preparing your next move. Protests aren't going to change anything. Exercise your right to free speech, but be fair about it. Respect others people's opinions. Let the issue die so that I don't have to hear about it anymore!

thank you.

Really Bad Christian Rock

So I turned on my radio on my way to school this morning, and the first thing I heard was this song "Jesus is a friend of mine" It made me laugh so hard, I missed the parking lot turn-off and had to make a u-turn. It might be borderline sacrilegious, but it also as a good message. Towards the end the message gets a bit convoluted. If anyone can tell me what this line means, please let me know : "He is like a Mounty, and always gets his man" Enjoy!



Here is another one I found. It is like Christian Rock meets Disney/Aqua Its called "Jesus is my superhero" Not as funny as the first.



Ok, now I need to start reading and analyzing senate hearing documents

Finally Over

This is the other half of Chase and Kerri speaking. It is finally over. So for those of you who don't know, I've been studying for months to take the FM2 actuarial exam (yes, that is the one I almost passed this summer). Well, I took it yesterday and I think it went really good. There were only four questions total that I didn't know how to do which is pretty good in comparison to a total of 35 questions on the exam. I was so proud of myself for doing so well. But of course, I have to wait another 8 weeks to find out the actual test results which means that I literally won't find out till next year! How crazy is that? In other news, I am going to the dentist this week to have my first filling. And I get to follow the first one by four more. No cavities my entire life and then, boom! Five! So I get to eat milkshakes and mashed potatoes and pudding for a day. In other news, Chase got new contacts this week and he looks really hott, I have to admit. So that's my update. It should be smooth sailing here on out for the rest of the year.

Observations

Now that the election stuff has calmed down, I thought I would make a few observations.

First, congratulations to me for my predictions. Those of you who noticed my status on Facebook, I predicted 300+ electoral college votes for Obama and that Obama would win the popular vote by 5%. Both predictions were a bit low, hooray for me for being as close as I was.

Second, Isn't our country great? I don't get all patriotic very often. In fact, the only time I felt patriotic was this summer on Memorial Day. But isn't it amazing that every four years we are able to choose our leaders, and then have a peaceful transition? We've been doing this for over 200 years. Some countries can't even do it for 10. We went to the polls where we were not threatened if we voted a certain way, no bombs exploded, Bush did not outlaw opposition parties, the military did revolt. We have something very unique, and we should at least be thankful for that.

Third, this country is not going to fall apart under Obama. I have heard a lot of doomsday predictions this week from anti-Obama camps. I just don't buy them. Mainly because Obama will not be able to in act his change. He told Wolf Blitzer on CNN last Friday that withdrawal from Iraq may take more than 4 years. He also said the 12 billion dollars we are spending on that war won't automatically become available for social programs because we owe our veterans more. I agree, but without that 12 billion, how will he fund his new proposals. We all know about his tax proposal. I don't think it will fly. Besides, in recessions fewer tax dollars flow into the government anyway. So there has to be another source of funding.

That source can't be deficit spending. A lot of people think we are in for a bigger national debt. Over the past 8 years it has been the republicans that have decided to run a bigger debt (so much for fiscal responsibility). Our debt is now around 60% of our GDP. This matches many of the countries in Europe. For a healthy economy, we can't get much higher. This fact will make it difficult for Obama to do much of anything, well anything really big.

Let us not forget that while the democrats control both the executive and the legislative branches. They failed to get a cloture proof majority in the Senate. They are really close, but on big radical changes, Harry Reid will not be able to get the votes he needs to end debate. To get things done, Reid and Pelosi will have to become more moderate. I am not saying every proposal will get blocked, the democrats will pretty much have a free ride for two years.

The last point I want to bring up about the state of our government is this: Republicans will gain seats in the legislature in two years. Historically the opposition party has gained seats in both houses of Congress during the midterm elections. There are only two mid-term elections when this did not happen. Those were 2002, and one in the 1930's during FDRs administration. The republicans will gain seats in 2010. They may not regain the majority, but rest assured, if the democrats fail, they will be feeling it in 2010 just like they felt it in 1994.

The country is not falling apart. Obama will do just fine. He is a great salesperson, but he is also a smart person. Lets give him credit. You can be the greatest salesperson in the world, but if you are stupid, America won't buy it. Things will be different for the next while, but you know what, the republicans were failing. Don't you think it is only fair to give the democrats a shot? Before we start crying Armageddon lets wait and see what Obama does.

Ok, well those are my observations. I have more about Utah, but I'll spare you the details. Let me just say that Utah deserves the 1 party system we have, because that is what we have chosen. I think the republicans will do just fine. They may be a behaving in an ethical gray area but at least the sky isn't falling.