Charity is fun. You should try it.

Basically, life is good right now. The semester to be spent in Peru will not only be fun, but highly profitable academically. My work for the Universe is rife with perks and I don't mind the deadlines. Midterms went fairly smoothly.
Interesting things lately besides going to the drubbing we received from TCU.
1) Took Cheek and his friends out to see Ice Age 3 and gave them a dinner of lasagna and kool-aid.
This can be viewed below. Cheeks friends are named: Shane, Chuck and Servando. They are good guys and if you had ever been to Mesa Vista, you would understand that they appreciate every chance they have to get out for a while. I wish I had the money to start a high functioning living center somewhere in the valley. One day perhaps.
Another activity that I participated in was a benefit concert for Hannah Laursen, an awesome little girl who had a brain tumor.
The full story and a special audio slide show I made for them can be found at the following link:
http://universe.byu.edu/node/3384

For last nights performance, JR Richards was great and I especially liked the campfire acoustic style of the concert. Melody with Tyler Forsberg also did a great job. All in all, I was as impressed with the charity demonstrated by the community and musicians as I was with the steak and chicken dinner Malu and I were treated to as VIP guests. Neil Warner over at the Herald is a really good guy and I admire what he's doing. For more info about that, check this link out:
http://www.secondchancefoundationofutah.com/

In the following pictures, you can see Hannah, JR, Me, Malu, and the Dad (Craig), the Mom (Leigh)and the other sisters.

This one's for Big Steve.

I wrote this for a class, but it is just soapbox enough to appeal to my dad, so here goes:

Obama’s Immigration Reform.

When a child hits another child, it doesn’t make sense to punish the aggressor. Unless of course, you live in the world of President Obama’s immigration reform.
In essence, Obama’s immigration reform policy consists of two parts: Punish companies who employ illegal immigrants, and provide a way for illegal immigrants to obtain citizenship. This was said by Obama on an ABC forum for the Democrat Primary in January 4, 2008.
A big question for everyone, but one the left must wake up to.
The biggest issue that many Americans have is this, “Why are we going to attack the foundational industries of our country while at the same time rewarding a large body of illegal immigrants whose very presence have damaged the economic security of the nation?” This question is equally distressing for people all across the political spectrum, particularly for those Latinos and Hispanics who previously supported President Obama and are now seeing potential places of employment turned against them by political witch hunting.
There is a superb example of this in the recent forces lay-off of 1,800 employees of the company American Apparel. Obama’s promise was to seek out and punish particularly those companies that abuse and exploit illegal immigrants, yet American Apparel is known for providing higher wages and even health benefits. In a column for the New York Times Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called it “devastating
“A crackdown that forces 1,800 taxpaying would-be Americans into joblessness in a dismal economy is a law-enforcement victory only in the bitterest, narrowest sense’ “Villaraigosa said. “As a solution to the problem of unauthorized workers — 1,800 down, millions to go — it’s ludicrous.”
Oxmoronic Policies.
While defendants of the immigration actions may state that without potential jobs, there would be decreased incentive for illegal immigration and thus decreased numbers of illegal immigrants, they are living in a fantasy world. To state in one sentence that you plan to take someone’s job and in the next sentence promise citizenship and access to all of the social support programs that go with citizenship is stark insanity. Unless of course the desired end result is to have the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants transfer directly to poor, uneducated welfare recipients. It doesn’t take much stretch of imagination to see this being the case. How this is going to mitigate our country's already staggering problems with healthcare, unemployment and crime, is a mystery that only President Obama seems to understand.
Important system flaws to consider.
To emphasis the sheer inadequacy of the reform, Mitch Plowman, a man who works as a detailer for a Utah structural steel company has an interesting tale to relate.
Several months ago, the company for which he worked was raided by around 200 law enforcement personnel from various organizations such as ICE and the Sheriff’s Department.
“They rounded up all the migrant workers and were really unorganized and unprofessional,” Plowman said. “They even asked everyone who was an illegal worker to raise their hand.”
After removing 50 workers who were unable to produce papers at the time proving legal residence, the people who organized the raid released a gleaming statistic to the press that 50 illegal workers had been found at the company, seriously tarnishing the company’s public image.
But it gets more convoluted.
After reviewing the detained workers, it was found that all but five were legal to work. And the reform stumbled even further after this discovery.
“Instead of deporting the five like they were supposed too, they [the authorities] encouraged them to stay in the area and to get jobs so that they could testify against us… all because they had no case,” Plowman said. “The interesting thing is that the department that the state uses to check legality of workers is backed up about two years. We send off the paperwork, and then… nothing. And if we don’t hire them, then it becomes discrimination, so it’s a strange situation.”
Hmmm…
So in response to the question on whether we should punish vital industry for our economy and reward those that broke the law with citizenship, the answer is that we shouldn’t. The truth is that this reform policy is fractured and can only provide one result: millions of class B citizens that are spoon fed liberal rhetoric and who must desperately cling to and support Democratic Party influence to survive.
Hey, in this light, President Obama’s plan is genius… but not for American interests.



*Note, while Obama has not proposed any official policy to date, this was the course he recommended in his campaign rhetoric. On another note, high five for the Nobel Prize... psyche.

100 Songs you should get familiar with...

100 songs that I really LOVE. Not ranked in order. This will give you an idea about how really messed up my musical tastes really are.
Here goes:
1) Sultans of Swing- Dire Straits
2) M79- Vampire Weekend
3) Nigga Nature-Tupac (Interesting side note, he was named after a famous Incan Tupac Amaru; his mom heard the name and gave it. Crazy. When I first got to my mission, there was the Tupac Park and I thought that for some reason they just really liked rap there)
4) Hit em High, Hit em Low- JT Money
5) Sierra Leone- Kanye West
6) D-I-E 4 Y-O-U – Family Force Five
7) Hey There Delilah- Plain White T’s
8) Cannonball- Damien Rice
9) Zombie Nation- Kernkraft
10) Tonight, Tonight- Smashing Pumkins
11) Album of the Year- The Good Life
12) Angels or Devils- Dishwalla
13) Dagostoni Tae (Mai ee Mai oo)- O-zone
14) Cabron- Red Hot Chili Peppers
15) While my Guitar Gently Weeps- George Harrison/Beatles
16) You Don’t Know Me- Ben Folds/Regina Spektor
17) Crazy- Gnarls Barkley
18) Burn One Down- Ben Harper
19) Flake- Jack Johnson
20) Boten Ana- Basshunter
21) I’m an Alchoholic- Xzibit
22) High Road- Fort Minor
23) Layla- Eric Clapton (and whatever his band was called)
24) My Name Is Jonas- Weezer (But lets be honest, I could take the next 10-15 slots and fill them with Weezer, same with Jack Johnson, and even Basshunter)
25) The Next Episode- Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg/Nate Dogg (I’m a sucker for anything that has Nate Dogg on it)
26) Killing Me Softly With His Song- The Fugees
27) Total Eclipse of the Heart- Bonnie Tyler (Especially the techno version.)
28) These Words- Natasha Bedingfield
29) Shut Up- Black Eyed Peas
30) Hey Baby Club Mix- Dj Otzi
31) One Fifty One Rum- Caribou Lou
32) Five Brothers- Marty Robbins
33) Asi Fue- Orishas
34) In the Shadows- The Rasmus
35) Bonita- Jarebe de Palo
36) California Dreaming- Mamas and the Papas (The techno version is really awesome aswell)
37) The Floor- Rooney
38) Walk Don’t Run- The Ventures
39) Bad Luck by Design- Brand New
40) Art is Hard- Cursive
41) Recluse- Cursive (I know, two from Cursive, but I can’t separate them)
42) Driftwood- Travis
43) SOS- Rihanna
44) With Eyes Closed- Kalai (If you don’t have Damien Rice and Kalai on your IPOD...you need to get it)
45) Lock and Key- Mason Pepper
46) Follow Through- Gavin Degraw
47) Won’t Back Down- Tom Petty
48) Hit em’ up Style- Blu Cantrell
49) I Believe in a thing Called Love- The Darkness
50) Solitary Man- Neil Diamond
51) Stayin Alive- Bee Gees
52) Disco Ball World- David Garza
53) Lake Pontchartrain- Ludo (Thanks Rage, this was a good snag, although I like their acoustic version better and don’t have it)
54) Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (a man after midnight)- ABBA ( I like Madonna’s rip off too but ABBA IS GREAT)
55) Otta Control- 50 Cent ( I LOVE 50, but my favorite string of vocals of his is one where he records to Eminem’s “Till I Collapse”; check that our)
56) Rap Game- G Unit/ D12
57) Man in Black- Jonny Cash (Or Folsom Prison, sorry, can’t hide my love for this guy. Also his cover of Hurt= Priceless)
58) Kalamazoo- Primus
59) No One- Alicia Keys
60) The City is at War- Cobra Starship
61) Time is Running Out- Muse (Honestly, my favorite band. Next thirty spots to them if I had to.)
62) Young and Proud- Ace of Base
63) Under Pressure- Queen (Can’t even begin with Queen, but suffice it to say they are great)
64) Runnin Scared- Roy Orbinson
65) El Condor Pasa- Huayanay (Or by Bamboo Peru, he’s awesome)
66) Intergalactic- Beastie Boys (Video Sabotage… We all love it)
67) Funks Your Brother- Fatboy Slim
68) Good Vibrations- Beach Boys
69) Moment of Clarity- Jay Z
70) Sound of Silence- Simon and Garfunkel
71) Cupid- Pistolita.
72) Llueve Sobre La Ciudad- Los Bunkers
73) Hospital Beds- Cold War Kids
74) In Keeping the Secrets of Middle Earth- Coheed and Cambria
75) La Camisa Negra- Juanes
76) Die Alone- Ingred Michelson
77) Time Running- Tegan and Sara
78) I Know You Want Me- Pitbull/ Calle Ocho
79) I Hope You Die- Bloodhound Gang (Love these guys)
80) Colorado Sunrise- 3OH3! (These Guys too. In fact, for Bloodhound Gang and 3OH3! I invented a genre of music for my Itunes, I call it: Electrocrunk)
81) Bowl of Oranges- Bright Eyes
82) Pa’ Bailar (Siempre Quiero Mas)- Julieta Venegas/ Bajofondo
83) Beautiful People- Marilyn Manson
84) Sweet Dreams/Get This Party Started (dance mix) – Busta Rhymes / Pink
85) Frijolero- Molotov
86) Brick in the Wall- Pink Floyd
87) In the End- Linkin Park (Lots of good stuff there, but no time or room)
88) Turn the Beat Around- Vickie Sue Robinson
89) Lets Go- Trick Daddy
90) Look What You’ve Done- Jet
91) Como Hago Ahora- Eddie Herrera
92) Don’t Stop Believing- Journey
93) Gangster’s Paradise- Coolio
94) Eleanor Rugby- Godhead (I love the Beatles version too, but this is good for anger)
95) Sway (techno version) - Pussycat Dolls (Spanish original is good also Micheal Buble’s version)
96) Authority Song- Jimmy Eat World
97) El Santo Grial- Mago De Oz (Heavy metal spaniards. There is a wicked riff that covers a Hungarian folk Song. Verdict: ROCK)
98) Baby Got Back- Sir Mix-a-Lot
99) Fools Rush In- Elvis Presley
100) They Don’t Really Care About Us- Michael Jackson

Wow. This is a good list. I could go to 500 easily enough I think. Surely 250 without too much difficulty. But I will stop now as I am sure you are bored with this thread. I would encourage all who read to pick your three faves FROM THIS LIST and post them as comments. I’d be interested to know.

I just ate beef stew.

Yep. It's true. And I really enjoyed it. Washed it down with a glass of grape juice from concentrate, and ate some bread. Life is just too busy these days. I feel like I can't be my normal happy go lucky, carefree self. I am glad that one of my jobs is about toast. Although I have been barely showing up there at all since I started school. The dance group is probably not going to see much of us either from here on out. One because we are so busy, another because they are not so cool.
Classes.
17 credit hours. My most enjoyable class? Photojournalism. Time consuming? Newswriting. Most asinine class? Media Law. But that's mostly because the Professor is driving me bloody mad. She is annoying and entirely to clownish for my tastes. Plus I feel like I am a jury she is rambling to.
Bang. Too much fun. I think I am addicted to it. Last night I got some banging in and some super inappropriate comments. Asher was there, along with new guy Nick. And Michele and Alan and Malu of course. It was great, Asher even brought floats. For those of you who are unfamiliar with bang, it is a card game that is something like "Murder in the Dark" and the Old West. Good times.
Anywho, I need to get on with my duties, later.


http://dugoog1.byu.edu/search?q=jason+sweat&ud=1&sort=date%3AD%3AS%3Ad1&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&go=

PS. Click the above link to check out what I have been up to at the DU for the last 3 weeks.

Moving: Oh how I hate thee.

Well, there comes a time in every man’s life when he must pack up all his crap and move. Let’s just say that this sucks. Every one knows what I am talking about here. First you have to box up your stuff. This his were you realize that your mental projections of how much stuff you have was ridiculously short of reality. There are things like bathroom supplies and cleaning stuff and your clothes. Snowboards, electronics, furniture… Then you need a way to move it. In our case, an old purple power stroke that was resurrected after being dead for over two years to just barely make the move and then died again. Then you have to carry all you of your garbage in and out, out and in. Just a note, this is a bad time to fall out of a tree, which I did, and injure your lower back. This makes moving just that much worse. There is more to the story of course. After you move you things into the new apartment, it’s a long ordeal to place them in their respective areas. And then you find that BYU housing is OLD and CRAPPY and only provides one cable outlet by way of internet. Than you have to clean your old apartment. All of this can make life a drag for a few weeks. But hey, at least Now our house has less spiders.
Anyway, I work all the time, I dance on my spare time with Malu. That’s all I got.

28 de Julio= I wore a dress and danced in front of a lot of Peruvians

Here is what we were up to on the 24th of July. Aside from dominating in the morning at volley ball and horse shoes at the Sweat family reunion, we went and danced at two places in Salt Lake. The Peruvian Independence day fell on a Tuesday and that was lame for all of the Peruvian people here so all of the celebrations went down on Pioneer Day. This video has all of our dances, but the first two we danced again at the second place and better. At about seven and a half minutes, you can see me in drag:). Honestly though, the dance is from Cuzco, called Turkuy. This dance has the skirt and such because the Peruvians somehow found out about the Spain/Turk conflicts and decided to implement some of the Turkish dance trappings to tick of the Spanish in Peru. -The enemy of my enemy is my friend- Anyway. Enjoy.

It's hot, and I have no AC.

Last week:
Camping
New Job, Water Reclamation
Wake boarding
Peruvian dance practice
Lots of Driving.

The Funny pic is just to make this post less lame.