The days of progressives supporting *either* party are well and truly over.
I was twelve years old when Nixon was impeached, but not imprisoned and I smelled a rat then. Imagine a twelve year old figuring that shit out. Then imagine that twelve year old growing into adulthood seeing things each and every year, each and every election confirming what he had figured out when he was twelve. Can you say 'revolution'? 'Cause that's the only way I see this whole shithouse getting sorted out. And no, I don't propose to go starting this myself, nor am I encouraging others to 'storm Washington D.C.'
But there will certainly have to be some very drastic changes made, changes like no one has seen in this country since the original revolutionary war.
I've always kept very much on top of things like politics, world affairs, international relations and...this country's 'hidden wars'.
As much as I know, I really have no idea of how all this is going to pan out. On one hand we have the 'nation of sheep', who have become so used to having everything handed to them on a plate, getting their house, their car, their big-screen HDTV and home theater system that the thought of losing those things would drive them into a frenzy of servile toady-ism. I think that's what we're seeing now.
A nation of people who were once admired who have morphed into fat, dumb cows being fattened up for ... endentured servitude. Send out the 'welcome to credit-card land' notices, sit back as they happily send in their completed apps not knowing that they will be roped into a financial mess that will follow them around for the rest of their natural lives. And in the process of doing so, the profits that will be realized will be diverted to defense contractors and businesses dedicated to enslaving others while sending the message to this population through it's corporate-owned and unaccountable media that 'all is well, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.'
That's it, just pay your bill, work on your credit rating so you can *buy more stuff* and keep on feeding this country's perpetual need for generating perpetual fear and intimidation while snatching away freedom from those who dared dream of it someday.
Make them believe we really are a democratic and freedom-loving nation right up until the moment our tanks roll up to their doors, stealing away their husbands and sons, never to be seen again.
Those who identify as 'conservatives' or the 'real voice of America' seem to think that God is on their side. There was another nation of people who thought God was on their side, they even wore it proudly on their belt buckles 'God Is With Us'. Gott Mitt Uns. Look where it got them.
It says in the bible that 'the meek shall inherit the earth' . I see nothing meek about the arrogant self-rightous people who inhabit this land. They all seem very much damned to me. I am sure that if there is a God, he would not want these people in his heaven. No deity would.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Wednesday Night @ The Flop
It's been three weeks since the national joke called 'The Election' has taken place. The end of the United States of America really and truly ended on that day. Hope was stolen along with the election. The media has tried to cover it up, but all of the inquiries from americans striving to migrate out of the country following the election indicates it was not successfull. Hope is dead. Loyalty is dead. Patriotism is dead for this country. Jingoism thrives though. Arrogance is growing. Stupidity is epidemic. And Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
Mad fools run the most powerful nation on the planet and no one knows how to stop them. God help us all, like you have never helped us before.
The Right is a sick joke, the Left a pathetic joke. What is happening to the world as a whole because of this is a sad joke.
Who will forgive when all are to blame? I don't think the allies were in a very forgiving mood to the townspeople who lived near the concentration camps when they invaded Germany. The troops took great pleasure in making those townspeople dig the graves of those they had let die as they lived in whatever decadence they were able to realize from their suffering.
Perhaps the same will happen here at some point in time. This is a country who's people and instituations could use a good lesson in humility and decency.
It's been three weeks since the national joke called 'The Election' has taken place. The end of the United States of America really and truly ended on that day. Hope was stolen along with the election. The media has tried to cover it up, but all of the inquiries from americans striving to migrate out of the country following the election indicates it was not successfull. Hope is dead. Loyalty is dead. Patriotism is dead for this country. Jingoism thrives though. Arrogance is growing. Stupidity is epidemic. And Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
Mad fools run the most powerful nation on the planet and no one knows how to stop them. God help us all, like you have never helped us before.
The Right is a sick joke, the Left a pathetic joke. What is happening to the world as a whole because of this is a sad joke.
Who will forgive when all are to blame? I don't think the allies were in a very forgiving mood to the townspeople who lived near the concentration camps when they invaded Germany. The troops took great pleasure in making those townspeople dig the graves of those they had let die as they lived in whatever decadence they were able to realize from their suffering.
Perhaps the same will happen here at some point in time. This is a country who's people and instituations could use a good lesson in humility and decency.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
I've been reading a bio on Frank Lloyd Wright lately. My, what an interesting individual. He created all of these memorable architectural designs, went through a few marriages, borrowed money from friends he seldom paid back, lived an extravagant lifestyle while bilking creditors and the houses that resulted from his designs had innumerable structural problems. Yet he's a legend. Amazing. Wish I could be so lucky. Frank Lloyd Wright and Thomas Jefferson are two of the most famous people I've heard of so far to always be on the run from their creditors, yet somehow prosper. I wonder how many similar people are out there today?
Café Allegro, Sunday, cold and clear, sunny.
Well, I’m down to my last $11.00 and the internet connection at the house is so sporadic as to be pretty much useless. I think that if I go outside and down the steps and sit on top of the garage I might be able to get a signal, but for how long?
I went downtown yesterday to apply at the architectural bookstore. That’s how bad it is, job hunting on a Saturday.
Ana’s in heat again, which is good news seeing as how she hasn’t been in heat for something like a couple of months now and it’s really made me concerned that she got pregnant somehow. The only thing I can think of is that somehow Demitri’s been right there as she goes into heat, drills her, she comes out of it, and everybody’s happy. Apparently he missed his timing this time around. . . I’m also out of his pills for his condition. I just hope what I’ve been able to give him puts it into remission for awhile. Don’t know when I’ll be able to get anymore for him.
The election is coming up and I’m really pretty concerned about it. I look at the postings on the internet and right-wingers are doing victory-dances in preparation for another stolen victory, left-wingers are basically resigned to the fact the election will be stolen and that the only recourse is going to be lots of legal action. Then they will roll over and whine and moan that no one is listening to them or their ‘sock puppets in the street’ nonsense. Sorry folks, we live in an age where actions speak louder than words, and until leftys start using the tactics of the right they will be run over like squishy little toys left in the middle of a freeway. And paid about as much attention.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Tuesday morning at the Trabie, typing away while I wait for the hours to pass by to the time I have to hop a bus over to Bellevue for another job interview. This one's got some promise, decent wages, a training position, a chance to change society for the better. Let's just hope it all comes together.
In addition to that I've been reading up on architecture to help myself understand more about Seattle's architecture here. I really like the 'arts and crafts' style homes in the area, partly because I live in one. It's not a full on A&C house, none of the 'knees' under the eaves, but still there are aspects of it that are undeniable. The fireplace and chimney, the interior layout, the moulding inside, all say A&C. The house of our neighbor's across the street though, that is a full on A&C house all the way. Nice front porch, intricate woodwork detail on the staircase and mouldings, custom glasswork. Beautiful. Wish I could live there instead of here in the shared house I have now. But all in all it's not bad; this weekend we had Howie the electrician over to completly change out the fuse panel to a breaker box. I'm amazed that he was able to get everything working througout the house considering how much wiring was involved. Yet, when you open the panel there's just a few breakers there. Hardly the load that a contemporary house has. He did miss hooking up the hot water tank, but all things considered a really small omission that he corrected quickly yesterday. It turned out that when he dropped the wires through the original hole to the fuse box to enlarge it for newer wiring the wires for the hot water tank dropped into the pit for the tank. Next weekend he's coming back to move some breakers around and put in some new circuits to balance the load better.
In addition to that I've been reading up on architecture to help myself understand more about Seattle's architecture here. I really like the 'arts and crafts' style homes in the area, partly because I live in one. It's not a full on A&C house, none of the 'knees' under the eaves, but still there are aspects of it that are undeniable. The fireplace and chimney, the interior layout, the moulding inside, all say A&C. The house of our neighbor's across the street though, that is a full on A&C house all the way. Nice front porch, intricate woodwork detail on the staircase and mouldings, custom glasswork. Beautiful. Wish I could live there instead of here in the shared house I have now. But all in all it's not bad; this weekend we had Howie the electrician over to completly change out the fuse panel to a breaker box. I'm amazed that he was able to get everything working througout the house considering how much wiring was involved. Yet, when you open the panel there's just a few breakers there. Hardly the load that a contemporary house has. He did miss hooking up the hot water tank, but all things considered a really small omission that he corrected quickly yesterday. It turned out that when he dropped the wires through the original hole to the fuse box to enlarge it for newer wiring the wires for the hot water tank dropped into the pit for the tank. Next weekend he's coming back to move some breakers around and put in some new circuits to balance the load better.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
I got into a pretty big knock down drag out verbal fight with Dan last night re who’s had the tougher childhood and adulthood. What a self-righteous dick. He’s not even thirty yet, I’m fourty-four and listening to him tell about his childhood and working life I’ve got his ass beat on ‘poor, pitiful me’ a thousand times over.
He was telling me about delivering papers with his father as a child, throwing up in the car because of the smell of newsprint and his father’s smoking. I countered with the newspaper delivery dispatch van I had to drive with the fat, overweight chain-smoker that bathed perhaps once a month. In addition to the ‘newsprint smell’.
He talked about having to do construction work. I countered with doing construction work, hauling carpet up several flights of stairs to the point where I was getting regular nosebleeds because the weight of these things put such a strain on one’s body. Then there was hauling the 90 pound bags of flour at the French bakery with the explosive French baker. That one cause me a herniated disc that I still suffer from, and always will. Then there was working as a janitor in an office complex where you had to move so fast so consistently that the first month of the job you finish off at the point of passing out because the aerobic workout was so intense. To say nothing of the strain it puts on one’s ankles, feet and back. I developed bone spurs on my feet, one of which is inoperable. So much for hiking in my beloved mountains anymore because of that one.
That was such a depressing job that towards the end it became an actual physical effort just to breathe. Imagine that. A job so depressing where you have to consciously make an effort to breathe in and out. That wasn’t the only job I’ve had like that.
Oh, and there was the seafood processing job. Fifty pound bricks of frozen fish thrown into a chopping machine, then once that was processed, working on a conveyor belt where you had to not only lift a fifty pound basket of processed fish, then you had to squat, move under the conveyor, stand up, and stack it on the opposite side, then squat, move back under the conveyor and do it all over again. Rinse, repeat for eight hours, sometimes ten. The back problem I had from lifting the flour sacks came back because of that.
Then there was working in a call center. Oh, that sounds nice, sit-down job, no heavy lifting, no aerobic workout that causes you to nearly pass out. Until you talk to person after person after person who wants you to die, die, die and wishes sincerely they could leap through the phone receiver just so they could personally rip your friggin’ guts out. On top of that are all the threats to ‘get you fired’. “I will be sure to do everything in my power to make sure you never work again.” “Do you know who I am?” So you go to your supervisor for support. Hah! Support! “Oh, you better do what the customer wants.” Then you do that. Then a few weeks later is your evaluation. “Oh, you did too much of what the customer wanted and cost the company money! So then, like so many other of your fellow employees you go to a doctor who prescribes anti-depressants just so you can cope with the constant yelling and threats and duplicity. It does nothing but mask the problem, it doesn’t fix it.
The best Dan can come up with is doing some moving jobs, doing some construction jobs, and how, he’s unemployed, doing the minimal work he can to get by, and getting rent money from his mother. I’m unemployed now and tried getting money from my mother last month. The only thing she could come up with was sixty dollars. Sixty friggin’ dollars . . . Pansy whining shite.
Oh, and in addition the bastard gets to go to *college*. Bastard. Doesn't have to work unless he really, really *wants* too, has his brother provide the money for college, has his mother pay for rent, has his 'pretend girlfriend' for . . . whatever. Self-Righteous Dickhead times a million.
Monday, October 18, 2004
So I just posted a few resumes on Monster, the jobs I posted for all look fairly promising, so hopefully I'll have something soon. So many times I've said that, so many times I've been disappointed.
Still though, I talked to Ashley for the first time today, beyond simple chit-chat anyway. I don't think anything will come of it, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
With every resume I put out I feel a bit closer to my goal though, to get all my debts addressed and then get out of this stupid, backward, uncivilized country. I can't believe I've let myself be trapped here as long as I have. Quite the little complex, to hate one's country of birth so much. . .
Yet there are the beautiful things here, the landscapes, the historical stories, the advances that have happened with technology. Funny, but there were so many technological advances with the germans during WWII and look what happened to them in the end. . . And look at what happened to them afterwards: a society with more caring, more compassion than many in the world have. A social system of cradle-to-grave care. A decent work week. A high standard of living. Yes, there's the unemployment there now, but that was caused by the Berlin Wall coming down and re-absorbing half of their country back into themselves. A hell of a financial cost. Like absorbing Mexico into the U.S. along with all of it's economic and social problems.
Still though, I talked to Ashley for the first time today, beyond simple chit-chat anyway. I don't think anything will come of it, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
With every resume I put out I feel a bit closer to my goal though, to get all my debts addressed and then get out of this stupid, backward, uncivilized country. I can't believe I've let myself be trapped here as long as I have. Quite the little complex, to hate one's country of birth so much. . .
Yet there are the beautiful things here, the landscapes, the historical stories, the advances that have happened with technology. Funny, but there were so many technological advances with the germans during WWII and look what happened to them in the end. . . And look at what happened to them afterwards: a society with more caring, more compassion than many in the world have. A social system of cradle-to-grave care. A decent work week. A high standard of living. Yes, there's the unemployment there now, but that was caused by the Berlin Wall coming down and re-absorbing half of their country back into themselves. A hell of a financial cost. Like absorbing Mexico into the U.S. along with all of it's economic and social problems.
Monday morning here at Cafe Allegro, posting resumes and hoping for a fish to bite.
I sold the Isuzu last week so if I keep a close eye on funds I should have enough to last me for a couple of months. I just can't get over how lousy this economy is. Like a bad science fiction movie. Everyone who is a 'wage slave' gets treated like crap more than ever, while those who live 'lifes of privelege' are insulated more and more from the suffering they cause to others.
This is such a nihilistic society here in the U.S. "It's not my fault." "It's not my problem." "They're on the other side of the ocean and don't look like us, why should I care?"
If there is ever a comupance for this country that nihilism is going to have to be the first thing to be addressed. It's like german society during WWII when the germans didn't even think about all the jews being killed in the camps just a few blocks away from their village. The smoke drifting into those villages must have told them something bad was happening there, yet after the war they claimed they knew nothing about it. Same thing here. People think that because our military has been murdering people in third world countries or assisting and aiding that murder that somehow they are exempt. I don't think so. I feel that as citizens in the most powerful country on the face of the earth that we have a real duty and responsibility to make sure that power is used wisely, and if it's not being used wisely, then it is our duty to remove that power from the hands of those who would abuse it. Part of that responsibility is making sure that we are fully and completly informed in how that power is being used in order to make mature and responsible decisions. We are failing badly in that responsibility now, and doing so knowingly. And for that, we deserve to be shamed before the world.
I sold the Isuzu last week so if I keep a close eye on funds I should have enough to last me for a couple of months. I just can't get over how lousy this economy is. Like a bad science fiction movie. Everyone who is a 'wage slave' gets treated like crap more than ever, while those who live 'lifes of privelege' are insulated more and more from the suffering they cause to others.
This is such a nihilistic society here in the U.S. "It's not my fault." "It's not my problem." "They're on the other side of the ocean and don't look like us, why should I care?"
If there is ever a comupance for this country that nihilism is going to have to be the first thing to be addressed. It's like german society during WWII when the germans didn't even think about all the jews being killed in the camps just a few blocks away from their village. The smoke drifting into those villages must have told them something bad was happening there, yet after the war they claimed they knew nothing about it. Same thing here. People think that because our military has been murdering people in third world countries or assisting and aiding that murder that somehow they are exempt. I don't think so. I feel that as citizens in the most powerful country on the face of the earth that we have a real duty and responsibility to make sure that power is used wisely, and if it's not being used wisely, then it is our duty to remove that power from the hands of those who would abuse it. Part of that responsibility is making sure that we are fully and completly informed in how that power is being used in order to make mature and responsible decisions. We are failing badly in that responsibility now, and doing so knowingly. And for that, we deserve to be shamed before the world.
Friday, October 15, 2004
So I got out of bed early today, hobbled off down to
the bus stop with my computer on my back and turned to
watch for the buses. And there off to my right was
the cutest little asian chick I've seen all year. She
was tight, tight, tight, wearing this little metallic
burnt red quilted jacket and tight black spandex pants
on clear plastic clogs, with burnt orange hair done up
in a 'dorothy hamill' bob. I watched her for a bit
and she was kind of waving her hands from side to side
and up and down as if she was gesturing to someone.
Every now and then she would glance down at a sheet of
paper to study it, then go back to the gesturing, and
that's when I figured out she was working on some kind
of dance choreography moves. Of course I had to check
it out. . .
So I walked over to the bus sign and asked her if
the "70" had come by yet, expecting snotty attitude.
She smiled this sweet little innocent smile at me
through those kitten-like eyes, squinted up her nose
and said "70, hmmmm, let me think. . . ." "Oh, that
comes by in about five minutes."
She had this accent, so she's definitly from across
the pond and her open manner indicates not to many
guys from here have had a chance to show her the real
world yet.
I went back to waiting for the bus, watching her go
through her little arm waves and hip thrusts until the
bus came. I sat down opposite her and watched her out
of the corner of my eye as she went through some more
'practice'. My, she does have the moves. . .
As the bus stopped it emptied of just about
everyone, except me and her, and I looked across at
her briefly and got a big smile back. At the next
stop she tottered off on her clogs and I got off at
the next stop.
I'm going to be getting up earlier more often from
now on.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Well, last night was the final presidential debate and towards the end it was like watching two guys give each other verbal felattio. Disgusting. Kerry should have whipped out a meat cleaver and just gone at it. Would have made a nice ending, something like 'Caligula'.
Here at Trabant Chai Lounge today, I really like it here, the net connection is like a cool mountain stream, strong, hi-speed, pure . . . I feel like I could download an elephant through this thing.
I sold my Isuzu on Monday for a friggin' small amount of money, but at least now I can pay rent next month, get a bus pass and pick up important things like laundry soap, bath soap, shaving cream, razor blades and other neccesities not paid for with food stamps. Party in the streets.
Here at Trabant Chai Lounge today, I really like it here, the net connection is like a cool mountain stream, strong, hi-speed, pure . . . I feel like I could download an elephant through this thing.
The weather is a little cooler today, overcast and here I am in my M.I.T. t-shirt, freezing my nips off. WTF? I just checked 'intellicast' and they're saying 'sunny and warm'. Sunny and warm my cold frigid nipples . . . *poink*
It's towards the end of the week now and still no info from my interview with Safeco, although I imagine that if they've done any kind of 'background check' like they say is mandatory I know why. What about a 'background check' for former employers to find out if they're credible? What about *that*? Such rank hypocrisy in the world of employment today. Inexcusable.
I sold my Isuzu on Monday for a friggin' small amount of money, but at least now I can pay rent next month, get a bus pass and pick up important things like laundry soap, bath soap, shaving cream, razor blades and other neccesities not paid for with food stamps. Party in the streets.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Monday, Monday.
No job, running out of money, depression setting in heavier and heavier . . . What a friggin' bitch.
And now evidence that global warming may be accelerating. Good
. Take out the thankless, arrogant many so that others may live.
I think this country needs a good, hard jolt to wake this country up and keep it waken up. Something where people have no choice but to focus on the immediate task at hand which is: help one another out. Don't be so friggin' greedy or irresponsible. Money doesn't buy everything that you need.
This is such a nihilistic society that it will need the kind of jolt that this would produce. A forty days and forty nights kind of catastrophe, where substantial propertly loss and loss of life occurs, where road systems are unusable, where money doesn't matter any more.
Today I talk to my lawyer about Ford Credit. And paying a tithe to my corporate overlord, my true master, for I am but a slave. There is no hope, there is no hope.
Funny, but I thought America used to be against Tyranny.
In addition to that, I've just about had it with managing a house where no one does anything to keep the place up. All the griping, all the bitching, all the b.s.
Too much crap today. Time to bring this to a close.
No job, running out of money, depression setting in heavier and heavier . . . What a friggin' bitch.
And now evidence that global warming may be accelerating. Good
. Take out the thankless, arrogant many so that others may live.
I think this country needs a good, hard jolt to wake this country up and keep it waken up. Something where people have no choice but to focus on the immediate task at hand which is: help one another out. Don't be so friggin' greedy or irresponsible. Money doesn't buy everything that you need.
This is such a nihilistic society that it will need the kind of jolt that this would produce. A forty days and forty nights kind of catastrophe, where substantial propertly loss and loss of life occurs, where road systems are unusable, where money doesn't matter any more.
Today I talk to my lawyer about Ford Credit. And paying a tithe to my corporate overlord, my true master, for I am but a slave. There is no hope, there is no hope.
Funny, but I thought America used to be against Tyranny.
In addition to that, I've just about had it with managing a house where no one does anything to keep the place up. All the griping, all the bitching, all the b.s.
Too much crap today. Time to bring this to a close.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
The dream begins: I'm in a big SUV Chevy Suburban thing. Me and some other guys are driving down the street, I'm in the back, looking out at the neighborhood. Old mud-walled huts, arabic women, children, men, walking up and down, seemingly oblivious to our presence. The SUV winds it's way through the narrow streets until it comes to the entrance to a freeway on-ramp, then we accelerate upwards onto the freeway, as empty as if a vehicle has never driven on it.
We're on our way out of Baghdad, heading south to the airfield. About halfway there we pull off underneath an overpass and all get out, and that's when I get a good luck at everyone else. We all wear the same khaki-colored outfit, all have on the same black bullet-proof vests and all wear sunglasses. Weird. But then, it's just a dream.
Me and the other guys are pulled off because this is the location of a particularly brutal firefight when we first came in here, and now it's quiet. Somewhat. All of us feel apprehension on being here and look around carefully, concerned about an ambush. While I wander off, the other guys walk over to one of the concrete piers under the overpass and study blast damage from the battle that took place there.
I look off to one side at a grassy field behind a chain link fence, bushes widely spaced and cut to prevent anyone hiding behind them. I look off in the distance to see if anyone is out there and thankfully see no one. I turn back and everyone gets back in the SUV and we make our way to the airport, and out of Iraq.
The next part of the dream begins with me returning to the city, alone.
I walk through the city, aware of how dangerous it is here. I look up and down the street, checking to see if I'm being watched by anyone. Looking at the shops I see a cafe' and remember some report I've read about these being used as fronts for houses of prostitution. Outside there are some black guys with dreadlocks speaking jamaican slang. I remember from the report that many american blacks came back here to re-settle and took up organized crime here. I enter the store just as a customer goes upstairs, some white guy being pushed up the stairs by one of the proprieters who is telling him about how great the girl is he's about to meet, sight unseen. I get the feeling the 'customer' is about to be knocked over the head and have his wallet stolen.
I walk out of the shop and down the street, coming to a roofed bazaar, hot, dusty, with a large wood multi-leveled dias in the middle. At a desk at the top is a disinterested attendant, a 'tourist information' desk attendant. I have to climb up and swing around to get to the clerk's window, the paint worn off the wood, smoothed down over the years from wear. I look to either side of the booth for anything like maps of the area, something to tell me where all the attractions are. I particularly want to see the Baghdad Museum. The clerk perks up when I mention this, then points off diagonally and says it's two blocks 'that way'.
I am near the Tigris river, turning around to look at the buildings, some modern, some perhaps thousands of years old, all looking worn from to much neglect. Reminds me of Morocco. I take out my camera, wanting to take a picture, something that will make the viewer think that they are looking at just any other city until they spot . . . . that black grating a couple of blocks down the street on the left with the islamic filigree. That would make a nice shot. And off in the distance beyond that the freeway cutting through the city, with a hump just in the middle there. So I set up my shot when I am interupted by a man, close to my age who has a child by his side. He asks for money, anything I can spare for him and his child.
I look around, still concerned about the possibility I might be jumped here and think about being captured and taken away to be held hostage, possibly to be beheaded. It still happens here, I think to myself. It could happen to me.
I put down my daypack and kneel down to dig inside. As I am rooting around I look up again and about six feet away three men have appeared, scowling down at me, all with moustaches, one wearing a tacky burnt-orange suit. I get the impression he's the ringleader. I bring out a traveler's check for $20.00, but as I pull it out it tears and I have to get another one which tears as well. Finally I just write the man a check for $20.00 and put everything back in my pack and walk off, closer to the river.
Nearby is a stable area, two-tiered that resembles an ugly concrete parking garage. I come around the corner and there are more surly looking men, tacky suits, moustaches, malevolent expressions. I turn and go up a ramp into the stable and as I round the corner I see the horses, many of them, all packed close together, saddled and with riders on them, the same type of surly men I have seen before. I turn and move back down the ramp and as I reach the ground I hear a shout and the horses begin galloping around the corner and down the ramp. The dream ends.
We're on our way out of Baghdad, heading south to the airfield. About halfway there we pull off underneath an overpass and all get out, and that's when I get a good luck at everyone else. We all wear the same khaki-colored outfit, all have on the same black bullet-proof vests and all wear sunglasses. Weird. But then, it's just a dream.
Me and the other guys are pulled off because this is the location of a particularly brutal firefight when we first came in here, and now it's quiet. Somewhat. All of us feel apprehension on being here and look around carefully, concerned about an ambush. While I wander off, the other guys walk over to one of the concrete piers under the overpass and study blast damage from the battle that took place there.
I look off to one side at a grassy field behind a chain link fence, bushes widely spaced and cut to prevent anyone hiding behind them. I look off in the distance to see if anyone is out there and thankfully see no one. I turn back and everyone gets back in the SUV and we make our way to the airport, and out of Iraq.
The next part of the dream begins with me returning to the city, alone.
I walk through the city, aware of how dangerous it is here. I look up and down the street, checking to see if I'm being watched by anyone. Looking at the shops I see a cafe' and remember some report I've read about these being used as fronts for houses of prostitution. Outside there are some black guys with dreadlocks speaking jamaican slang. I remember from the report that many american blacks came back here to re-settle and took up organized crime here. I enter the store just as a customer goes upstairs, some white guy being pushed up the stairs by one of the proprieters who is telling him about how great the girl is he's about to meet, sight unseen. I get the feeling the 'customer' is about to be knocked over the head and have his wallet stolen.
I walk out of the shop and down the street, coming to a roofed bazaar, hot, dusty, with a large wood multi-leveled dias in the middle. At a desk at the top is a disinterested attendant, a 'tourist information' desk attendant. I have to climb up and swing around to get to the clerk's window, the paint worn off the wood, smoothed down over the years from wear. I look to either side of the booth for anything like maps of the area, something to tell me where all the attractions are. I particularly want to see the Baghdad Museum. The clerk perks up when I mention this, then points off diagonally and says it's two blocks 'that way'.
I am near the Tigris river, turning around to look at the buildings, some modern, some perhaps thousands of years old, all looking worn from to much neglect. Reminds me of Morocco. I take out my camera, wanting to take a picture, something that will make the viewer think that they are looking at just any other city until they spot . . . . that black grating a couple of blocks down the street on the left with the islamic filigree. That would make a nice shot. And off in the distance beyond that the freeway cutting through the city, with a hump just in the middle there. So I set up my shot when I am interupted by a man, close to my age who has a child by his side. He asks for money, anything I can spare for him and his child.
I look around, still concerned about the possibility I might be jumped here and think about being captured and taken away to be held hostage, possibly to be beheaded. It still happens here, I think to myself. It could happen to me.
I put down my daypack and kneel down to dig inside. As I am rooting around I look up again and about six feet away three men have appeared, scowling down at me, all with moustaches, one wearing a tacky burnt-orange suit. I get the impression he's the ringleader. I bring out a traveler's check for $20.00, but as I pull it out it tears and I have to get another one which tears as well. Finally I just write the man a check for $20.00 and put everything back in my pack and walk off, closer to the river.
Nearby is a stable area, two-tiered that resembles an ugly concrete parking garage. I come around the corner and there are more surly looking men, tacky suits, moustaches, malevolent expressions. I turn and go up a ramp into the stable and as I round the corner I see the horses, many of them, all packed close together, saddled and with riders on them, the same type of surly men I have seen before. I turn and move back down the ramp and as I reach the ground I hear a shout and the horses begin galloping around the corner and down the ramp. The dream ends.
Blogger is really pissing me off. It seems to take forever and a frickin' day to post to the net. Even with a really good wi-fi connection. Even from a desktop with a hard-wired connection. Really pretty pathetic. As soon as I get a job I'm moving everything off this piece-o-crap to something better.
It would be one thing if this was just temporary, but I remember when blogger first started it would have this problem, then 'Life During Wartime' took a long vacation, I came back and started posting again, and gee. . . a year later, still same frikin' problem.
It would be one thing if this was just temporary, but I remember when blogger first started it would have this problem, then 'Life During Wartime' took a long vacation, I came back and started posting again, and gee. . . a year later, still same frikin' problem.
Thursday at Cafe Allegro
I got a call yesterday from Safeco re a third interview. It's down to me and one other candidate. Whoopee. Notice no exclamation mark on the end of that last one. If I pass muster, they still have to do the 'background check', which means that they find my ugly credit history that makes me look like Osama Bin Laden trying to get a job at the Defense department. What the hell expect with today's economy anyway? "Oh yeah, you should just pull money out of your ass to pay your bills, even though you have no employment insurance and no savings and friends and relatives who are in the same terrible economic situation you are." What absolute and utter crap.
Today I'm taking some time off from job-hunting and camping by the phone all day while waiting for callbacks. Just too much stress, waiting for the phone to ring, searching my e-mail almost constantly looking for responses from jobs I've posted for. Too much friggin' stress.
So, after a short visit to Cafe Allegro I'm off to explore some of the neighborhoods around Seattle and do some photography.
I got a call yesterday from Safeco re a third interview. It's down to me and one other candidate. Whoopee. Notice no exclamation mark on the end of that last one. If I pass muster, they still have to do the 'background check', which means that they find my ugly credit history that makes me look like Osama Bin Laden trying to get a job at the Defense department. What the hell expect with today's economy anyway? "Oh yeah, you should just pull money out of your ass to pay your bills, even though you have no employment insurance and no savings and friends and relatives who are in the same terrible economic situation you are." What absolute and utter crap.
Today I'm taking some time off from job-hunting and camping by the phone all day while waiting for callbacks. Just too much stress, waiting for the phone to ring, searching my e-mail almost constantly looking for responses from jobs I've posted for. Too much friggin' stress.
So, after a short visit to Cafe Allegro I'm off to explore some of the neighborhoods around Seattle and do some photography.
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Blogging on the run this morning, I'm at a net cafe and I forgot to bring my power cord and my laptop says just 32% power. . . Can barely afford a small coffee . . . I guess it's better than paying forty or more a month for cable or DSL . . .
Wi-Fi at the house is a bit of a bitch, low signals from everywhere, only a couple of networks that are open, and very much dependent on the weather.
I've found that the early morning and evening hours are best for accessing the internet there, and I believe it's dependent on the air temperature. Warm air means thicker air that impedes radio signals, cold air means less air density and better signal, so going into winter now we should be getting better signal. We'll have to wait and see. Cloudy days are also problematic, air inversions, turbulence all messin' wit mah signal. Bitch.
Up until a few weeks ago I was using a wi-fi router at the house connected to a housemates cable modem, but he hasn't paid the bill in awhile so they shut the service off and now I'm wondering if he's getting ready to cut out on rent too. . .
Yesterday, in the frustration and anxiety of walking around downstairs trying to find a decent wi-fi connection I took the laptop around to all the downstairs windows, hanging the laptop off the back of the couch seemed to do something, having it at right angles on the kitchen table had some effect, but ultimatly still very spotty, very much a hit and miss thing. One moment the signal will barely be there, the next gone, gone, gone.
After futzing with that for awhile I took the laptop outside and walked west along the sidewalk, refreshing the wi-fi utility to see if there were any changes. I found out that 'default', the connection I depend on most is about a block away, as the crow flies. So, because my broken-down vehicle was parked right at that spot, I sat in the passenger seat and checked e-mails and posted for jobs. Maybe I can get small table in there to hold the laptop better. . .
Moving up and down the street though, everyone's got their wi-fi locked up, which is a good thing I suppose, but damn, give a brother a data pipe for chrisake ! ! !
Battery is down to 25% . . . Fly, magic fingers, fly ! ! !
Today I'm going to walk around Capitol Hill, it's free and I get to look at some great architecture. I bring my camera along to take pics of all the houses I see and whatever comes along like the odd housecat or two. Loves the kitties . . .
Well, time to post this, check the news (blechh) and get out on the road.
Wi-Fi at the house is a bit of a bitch, low signals from everywhere, only a couple of networks that are open, and very much dependent on the weather.
I've found that the early morning and evening hours are best for accessing the internet there, and I believe it's dependent on the air temperature. Warm air means thicker air that impedes radio signals, cold air means less air density and better signal, so going into winter now we should be getting better signal. We'll have to wait and see. Cloudy days are also problematic, air inversions, turbulence all messin' wit mah signal. Bitch.
Up until a few weeks ago I was using a wi-fi router at the house connected to a housemates cable modem, but he hasn't paid the bill in awhile so they shut the service off and now I'm wondering if he's getting ready to cut out on rent too. . .
Yesterday, in the frustration and anxiety of walking around downstairs trying to find a decent wi-fi connection I took the laptop around to all the downstairs windows, hanging the laptop off the back of the couch seemed to do something, having it at right angles on the kitchen table had some effect, but ultimatly still very spotty, very much a hit and miss thing. One moment the signal will barely be there, the next gone, gone, gone.
After futzing with that for awhile I took the laptop outside and walked west along the sidewalk, refreshing the wi-fi utility to see if there were any changes. I found out that 'default', the connection I depend on most is about a block away, as the crow flies. So, because my broken-down vehicle was parked right at that spot, I sat in the passenger seat and checked e-mails and posted for jobs. Maybe I can get small table in there to hold the laptop better. . .
Moving up and down the street though, everyone's got their wi-fi locked up, which is a good thing I suppose, but damn, give a brother a data pipe for chrisake ! ! !
Battery is down to 25% . . . Fly, magic fingers, fly ! ! !
Today I'm going to walk around Capitol Hill, it's free and I get to look at some great architecture. I bring my camera along to take pics of all the houses I see and whatever comes along like the odd housecat or two. Loves the kitties . . .
Well, time to post this, check the news (blechh) and get out on the road.
Friday, October 01, 2004
What did I do today?
After yesterday's interview, my knee going out and all the stress from that, running out of money, etc, I decided to sleep in for a bit. I didn't get out of bed 'till 7:30AM. For most that probably isn't sleeping in, for me it's getting major, major rest. I usually wake up around 4 or 4:30 in the morning. Seriously. The first thing that goes through my mind is all the fucking crap I've got to deal with: Mostly the bills. How am I going to deal with all the bills with no job, no benefits, no hope.
Most people have friends and family they can depend on. I'm not most people. I have social anxiety disorder and have had to deal with that for all of my adult life. Imagine having no father, mother, sisters, brothers, you're in a strange country and you don't speak the language or understand the customs. That's social anxiety disorder.
Because of fear of being misunderstood you tend to stay indoors, don't engage in the typical "Hey, let's all get together for beers Friday night." banter most people do. Or do most people? I get the impression from research that most people these days would prefer to while their time away alone and depressed than engage in meaningful social discourse. Certainly describes me.
I would really rather spend time with my cats than a sexy, nubile college co-ed. Less stress, more relaxing, and much more gratifying. Give love, get love. That's what I'm all about. What a sad commentary on society as a whole.
I've lived in this shared house for something like fifteen years now, gone through the stress of sociopaths and various other nutbags, and now, near the end, I have a Guatemalen refugee that is certain that former President Clinton sucks the blood from newborn babies and a young hispanic-american from LA who fancies himself the next Charles Bukowski with a complete and total lack of a narrative voice. I'm sorry, but what a friggin' goob. He also fancies himself something of an amatuer pyschiatrist as well . . . So, what would you think of someone who surrounds themselves with lower-class, mentally deficient individuals who is intimidated by those who are more well-read than he is? I would think it would indicate an inferiority complex, but then again, I'm not a professional. He thinks he is.
I'm not saying this to be mean or anything, but let's use an example here: Josh.
Josh used to live up here in the Seattle area, working in a bakery, behind the counter where he wouldn't offend 'the normals'. Yes, they kept him off in the back, hidden away from the public because Josh was, well a bit 'off'. Josh was simple-minded, just a bit above retarded. Dan kept Josh around like he was one of his best friends. Not because he felt pity for him, but because Josh was a useful foil. "Look at Josh, look at how dumb he is. Look at how smart I am." Same for Rita, a loud, brash obnoxious hispanic-american woman who is socially inept. Socially inept because she can't seem to understand that when she visits a home at 9:30, close to 10:00 PM that ringing the doorbell multiple times, announcing oneself loudly so everyone can hear for several blocks, yelling at someone a foot away somehow might be construed as 'inappropriate'.
I love the cheap rent, really I do, but is it worth it when you have to put up with people like this?
I don't have a bad home here, it's a 1920's former professor's residence, five bedrooms upstairs and a mother-in-law apartment below. All in all, pretty nice digs, kept up fairly okay, but only because I lean on everybody who lives here to clean up after themselves, day in and day out. Wash your dishes. Dry your dishes. Put away your dishes. Don't leave a wet sponge in the sink. Wring it out and put it in the rack. Wipe up the counter after you use it. Clean the bathroom. Clean the tub. Vacuum the floors. Am I their mother? I feel like it. The only thing missing is that I don't get to paddle their bottoms. I have to confess I wish I could. Not for the kink, just because they really, really need to get it through their thick heads that, *hey* there's some responsibility here when you live with others. Geez.
Anyway, I'm off, time to get to bed and get some much-needed rest. It's been a long day and I'm bushed.
After yesterday's interview, my knee going out and all the stress from that, running out of money, etc, I decided to sleep in for a bit. I didn't get out of bed 'till 7:30AM. For most that probably isn't sleeping in, for me it's getting major, major rest. I usually wake up around 4 or 4:30 in the morning. Seriously. The first thing that goes through my mind is all the fucking crap I've got to deal with: Mostly the bills. How am I going to deal with all the bills with no job, no benefits, no hope.
Most people have friends and family they can depend on. I'm not most people. I have social anxiety disorder and have had to deal with that for all of my adult life. Imagine having no father, mother, sisters, brothers, you're in a strange country and you don't speak the language or understand the customs. That's social anxiety disorder.
Because of fear of being misunderstood you tend to stay indoors, don't engage in the typical "Hey, let's all get together for beers Friday night." banter most people do. Or do most people? I get the impression from research that most people these days would prefer to while their time away alone and depressed than engage in meaningful social discourse. Certainly describes me.
I would really rather spend time with my cats than a sexy, nubile college co-ed. Less stress, more relaxing, and much more gratifying. Give love, get love. That's what I'm all about. What a sad commentary on society as a whole.
I've lived in this shared house for something like fifteen years now, gone through the stress of sociopaths and various other nutbags, and now, near the end, I have a Guatemalen refugee that is certain that former President Clinton sucks the blood from newborn babies and a young hispanic-american from LA who fancies himself the next Charles Bukowski with a complete and total lack of a narrative voice. I'm sorry, but what a friggin' goob. He also fancies himself something of an amatuer pyschiatrist as well . . . So, what would you think of someone who surrounds themselves with lower-class, mentally deficient individuals who is intimidated by those who are more well-read than he is? I would think it would indicate an inferiority complex, but then again, I'm not a professional. He thinks he is.
I'm not saying this to be mean or anything, but let's use an example here: Josh.
Josh used to live up here in the Seattle area, working in a bakery, behind the counter where he wouldn't offend 'the normals'. Yes, they kept him off in the back, hidden away from the public because Josh was, well a bit 'off'. Josh was simple-minded, just a bit above retarded. Dan kept Josh around like he was one of his best friends. Not because he felt pity for him, but because Josh was a useful foil. "Look at Josh, look at how dumb he is. Look at how smart I am." Same for Rita, a loud, brash obnoxious hispanic-american woman who is socially inept. Socially inept because she can't seem to understand that when she visits a home at 9:30, close to 10:00 PM that ringing the doorbell multiple times, announcing oneself loudly so everyone can hear for several blocks, yelling at someone a foot away somehow might be construed as 'inappropriate'.
I love the cheap rent, really I do, but is it worth it when you have to put up with people like this?
I don't have a bad home here, it's a 1920's former professor's residence, five bedrooms upstairs and a mother-in-law apartment below. All in all, pretty nice digs, kept up fairly okay, but only because I lean on everybody who lives here to clean up after themselves, day in and day out. Wash your dishes. Dry your dishes. Put away your dishes. Don't leave a wet sponge in the sink. Wring it out and put it in the rack. Wipe up the counter after you use it. Clean the bathroom. Clean the tub. Vacuum the floors. Am I their mother? I feel like it. The only thing missing is that I don't get to paddle their bottoms. I have to confess I wish I could. Not for the kink, just because they really, really need to get it through their thick heads that, *hey* there's some responsibility here when you live with others. Geez.
Anyway, I'm off, time to get to bed and get some much-needed rest. It's been a long day and I'm bushed.
Friday night here at 'The Flop'. Pondering what I'm going to do to get more money to last to the end of the month. I've already sent an e-mail to mumsy to get more than the $60.00 she's already sent. At this point I need a bus pass to fund transport for the next month and I don't have it.
I've already borrowed $100.00 from another housemate, but that's to fund cat food, razor blades, a haircut and laundry soap and laundry, as well as what other neccesities are forthcoming.
I'm putting my car up for sale tomorrow, all $5,000 worth of what broke down. It's a 1994 Isuzu Trooper, power everything, like new interior, cruise control, the works. A really, really great vehicle in so many ways. Yet it is not to be mine. It needs some work on the engine, and perhaps a bit of work on the tranny, but nowhere near the $5,000 that I paid for it. Damn this economy, damn the Bush family and their minions, and damn the U.S. as it is now. Damn it all to hell. Al Qaida my ass. You want to get rid of the terrorists? Get rid of the Republican party, it's lobbyists and it's minions and everything will sort itself out. And no I don't say that out of blind anger, but out of carefully considered thought. Take a look to your left. Look at the bookmarks. Read through them one after one after one. Take some time to digest what you've read. Read some more. Ponder that. Read some more after that. If you have any kind of objective reasoning, any at all, you will come to one conclusion: Power of the rich, for the rich and only for the rich will mean the downfall of us all, and the only way to prevent that is to subjugate them, once and for all, not let them subjugate us.
You want to know why we never went back to the moon after the Apollo missions? Look to the rich and the military industrial complex that they supported.
You want to know why you can't afford health care anymore? Look to the rich and their powerful lobbies.
You want to know why you can't get a decent wage? Why you have no power in the workplace? Look to the rich and how they enslave us all.
The solution, as it has been througout human history since
Spartacus
forward has been to put down the rich and make them do our bidding, instead of the other way around.
I've already borrowed $100.00 from another housemate, but that's to fund cat food, razor blades, a haircut and laundry soap and laundry, as well as what other neccesities are forthcoming.
I'm putting my car up for sale tomorrow, all $5,000 worth of what broke down. It's a 1994 Isuzu Trooper, power everything, like new interior, cruise control, the works. A really, really great vehicle in so many ways. Yet it is not to be mine. It needs some work on the engine, and perhaps a bit of work on the tranny, but nowhere near the $5,000 that I paid for it. Damn this economy, damn the Bush family and their minions, and damn the U.S. as it is now. Damn it all to hell. Al Qaida my ass. You want to get rid of the terrorists? Get rid of the Republican party, it's lobbyists and it's minions and everything will sort itself out. And no I don't say that out of blind anger, but out of carefully considered thought. Take a look to your left. Look at the bookmarks. Read through them one after one after one. Take some time to digest what you've read. Read some more. Ponder that. Read some more after that. If you have any kind of objective reasoning, any at all, you will come to one conclusion: Power of the rich, for the rich and only for the rich will mean the downfall of us all, and the only way to prevent that is to subjugate them, once and for all, not let them subjugate us.
You want to know why we never went back to the moon after the Apollo missions? Look to the rich and the military industrial complex that they supported.
You want to know why you can't afford health care anymore? Look to the rich and their powerful lobbies.
You want to know why you can't get a decent wage? Why you have no power in the workplace? Look to the rich and how they enslave us all.
The solution, as it has been througout human history since
Spartacus
forward has been to put down the rich and make them do our bidding, instead of the other way around.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
I Hate Housemates
I got home today after going through the hell of the interview, sweating in my interview monkey suit, smoking cigerettes when I usually don't and wished so much I had a place of my own. No b.s. to put up with, no crap. Just me and the cats.
When you have housemates you have to put up with so many issues, especially if you manage the place. I hate having to practically beg someone to do something as simple and reasonable as wring out a fucking sponge and put it away.
Then there are the emotional issues. Let me tell you about one little fucktard who's soon to be history. He's a little Guatemalan/Honduran weirdo named . . . . Pepe.
Pepe's a real piece of work, a superstitious little new age goob with neanderthalian features who sincerly believes former President Clinton had a fetish for sucking the blood out of newborn babies. No, I am not making this up. Clinton = babybloodsucker. Imagine all the fun Ken Starr and his bunch could have had with that one. "Heritic! ! ! Burn the Baby-Sucking Heretic! ! !"
There's more, much much more but I think you get the point. Pepe feels that much of his virility comes from his extra-bushy and overabundant eyebrows. They look like live animals crawling across his forehead. . . I've talked with another housemate about someday tackling Pepe and shaving his eyebrows, just to see if he would shrivel up before our eyes as his virility drains from his body, making him shrivel up like a prune. Worth a try . . .
Today after I left the house I was stressing a major amount because I left Pepe's phone at the bottom of the stairs when I went out to run some errands after the interview. I'm using his phone to receive job interview offers because my phone's been shut off for non-pay, no surprise when you have no job, no benefits, no financial resources whatsoever and $16.00 in the bank.
Pepe loves to give someone a long, drawn out lecture as if he was your father lecturing a child. I fucking hate that. I can handle a pissed-off customer any day of the week at a call center, but when someone starts lecturing me like a child, it's all over folks. Time for me to get some spleen, and it's gonna be yours, bitch.
I cut things short and hopped on the bus, replaying Pepe's little lecture about putting his *fucking* phone back in his room after I'm done using it, over and over again until I was ready to kill Pepe just on principal alone. He would come up to me, tilting his chin back, hissing through his teeth as he drew in his breath like he was deciding whether he was going to give someone a spanking or just a stern lecture, and then I would lose it, scream, tear his shirt open and bite out his spleen. I could see it all so clearly. Pepe. Hissing. Spleen. Blood spurting. My crimson smile as I reveled in the joy of never hearing another of Pepe's stupid, stupid lectures ever, ever again. And then they would come to take me away, oh no ! ! !
I got off the bus and I'm walking up the hill when all of a sudden I see . . . Pepe ! Getting out of his car ! And my ankles are sore, my knee feels like it's about to give out . . . And I run. Up the steps, down the walk, up the steps to the porch and into the house to retrieve the phone, carry it upstairs, put it in his room and close the door, all so Pepe knows that, even though I'm using his phone with his permission, at least I have the courtesy to put it back in his room.
I close the door, run down the stairs, scaring the cats who are watching with much worry, and go into my room and partially close the door. Then Pepe comes in. Oblivious. I lie back in bed and smile, glad to be rid of Pepe and a possible lecture.
The rest of the evening goes by somewhat peacefully, with the exception of my spotty wi-fi connection. Finally I am able to get it back up again, but only by putting the laptop near the couch at an angle. I am in the midst of catching up on my daily netsurfing when Pepe comes through the door. It's dark in the living room as he walks through, the only illumination is the laptop screen, turned down.
Pepe begins to talk. He's had a bad day at work. I guess Pepe's got a job now driving a delivery van and it's not going to well for him. Apparently, pretty much from day one they've had problems with him and he's feeling the stress.
I feel sorry for Pepe, I really do. Poor guy comes up here from . . . wherever, his last shared housing situation the people there hated his friggin' guts (bloodsucking aliens, anyone?), so he moved in here.
So now Pepe unloads, and I become his shoulder to cry on, offering support, telling him it's going to be okay, telling him there will be other jobs and things will be better for him. I almost want to take his shaved, bald head in my hands and kiss it to make him feel better. Or maybe not.
He feels better now. I can tell because he changes the subject to aliens and one-world governments and blood-sucking Clintons.
Then he drops the bombshell. He no longer wants me to use his phone. Period. I cannot receive calls from potential employers, although I've got buttloads of resumes out there with his friggin' callback number on them. All over the fucking town. And he cuts me off the phone cold.
I try to reason with Pepe, bargain with him, tell him that unless I am allowed to use that phone to receive calls that I will be unable to get a job and could end up getting thrown out at the end of the month. He doesn't care. I explain to him that I only need it for the rest of the month. He doesn't care.
Now I don't care about Pepe, and I explode. Boy do I explode. I remind Pepe that as the manager at the shared house that I can terminate his tenancy. He doubts my authority. I tell him to get packing and searching for a new house because he's pretty much just kicked himself out. He doesn't care. Of course, this whole conversation is taking place in UPPER CAPS SO IT IS LIKE I AM YELLING, WHICH I AM.
Finally Pepe exits stage right, and as soon as one of the housemates comes home I explain the situation to him. As luck has it, he has a potential tenant! With check in hand! Ready tomorrow night! Goodbye Pepe!
I got home today after going through the hell of the interview, sweating in my interview monkey suit, smoking cigerettes when I usually don't and wished so much I had a place of my own. No b.s. to put up with, no crap. Just me and the cats.
When you have housemates you have to put up with so many issues, especially if you manage the place. I hate having to practically beg someone to do something as simple and reasonable as wring out a fucking sponge and put it away.
Then there are the emotional issues. Let me tell you about one little fucktard who's soon to be history. He's a little Guatemalan/Honduran weirdo named . . . . Pepe.
Pepe's a real piece of work, a superstitious little new age goob with neanderthalian features who sincerly believes former President Clinton had a fetish for sucking the blood out of newborn babies. No, I am not making this up. Clinton = babybloodsucker. Imagine all the fun Ken Starr and his bunch could have had with that one. "Heritic! ! ! Burn the Baby-Sucking Heretic! ! !"
There's more, much much more but I think you get the point. Pepe feels that much of his virility comes from his extra-bushy and overabundant eyebrows. They look like live animals crawling across his forehead. . . I've talked with another housemate about someday tackling Pepe and shaving his eyebrows, just to see if he would shrivel up before our eyes as his virility drains from his body, making him shrivel up like a prune. Worth a try . . .
Today after I left the house I was stressing a major amount because I left Pepe's phone at the bottom of the stairs when I went out to run some errands after the interview. I'm using his phone to receive job interview offers because my phone's been shut off for non-pay, no surprise when you have no job, no benefits, no financial resources whatsoever and $16.00 in the bank.
Pepe loves to give someone a long, drawn out lecture as if he was your father lecturing a child. I fucking hate that. I can handle a pissed-off customer any day of the week at a call center, but when someone starts lecturing me like a child, it's all over folks. Time for me to get some spleen, and it's gonna be yours, bitch.
I cut things short and hopped on the bus, replaying Pepe's little lecture about putting his *fucking* phone back in his room after I'm done using it, over and over again until I was ready to kill Pepe just on principal alone. He would come up to me, tilting his chin back, hissing through his teeth as he drew in his breath like he was deciding whether he was going to give someone a spanking or just a stern lecture, and then I would lose it, scream, tear his shirt open and bite out his spleen. I could see it all so clearly. Pepe. Hissing. Spleen. Blood spurting. My crimson smile as I reveled in the joy of never hearing another of Pepe's stupid, stupid lectures ever, ever again. And then they would come to take me away, oh no ! ! !
I got off the bus and I'm walking up the hill when all of a sudden I see . . . Pepe ! Getting out of his car ! And my ankles are sore, my knee feels like it's about to give out . . . And I run. Up the steps, down the walk, up the steps to the porch and into the house to retrieve the phone, carry it upstairs, put it in his room and close the door, all so Pepe knows that, even though I'm using his phone with his permission, at least I have the courtesy to put it back in his room.
I close the door, run down the stairs, scaring the cats who are watching with much worry, and go into my room and partially close the door. Then Pepe comes in. Oblivious. I lie back in bed and smile, glad to be rid of Pepe and a possible lecture.
The rest of the evening goes by somewhat peacefully, with the exception of my spotty wi-fi connection. Finally I am able to get it back up again, but only by putting the laptop near the couch at an angle. I am in the midst of catching up on my daily netsurfing when Pepe comes through the door. It's dark in the living room as he walks through, the only illumination is the laptop screen, turned down.
Pepe begins to talk. He's had a bad day at work. I guess Pepe's got a job now driving a delivery van and it's not going to well for him. Apparently, pretty much from day one they've had problems with him and he's feeling the stress.
I feel sorry for Pepe, I really do. Poor guy comes up here from . . . wherever, his last shared housing situation the people there hated his friggin' guts (bloodsucking aliens, anyone?), so he moved in here.
So now Pepe unloads, and I become his shoulder to cry on, offering support, telling him it's going to be okay, telling him there will be other jobs and things will be better for him. I almost want to take his shaved, bald head in my hands and kiss it to make him feel better. Or maybe not.
He feels better now. I can tell because he changes the subject to aliens and one-world governments and blood-sucking Clintons.
Then he drops the bombshell. He no longer wants me to use his phone. Period. I cannot receive calls from potential employers, although I've got buttloads of resumes out there with his friggin' callback number on them. All over the fucking town. And he cuts me off the phone cold.
I try to reason with Pepe, bargain with him, tell him that unless I am allowed to use that phone to receive calls that I will be unable to get a job and could end up getting thrown out at the end of the month. He doesn't care. I explain to him that I only need it for the rest of the month. He doesn't care.
Now I don't care about Pepe, and I explode. Boy do I explode. I remind Pepe that as the manager at the shared house that I can terminate his tenancy. He doubts my authority. I tell him to get packing and searching for a new house because he's pretty much just kicked himself out. He doesn't care. Of course, this whole conversation is taking place in UPPER CAPS SO IT IS LIKE I AM YELLING, WHICH I AM.
Finally Pepe exits stage right, and as soon as one of the housemates comes home I explain the situation to him. As luck has it, he has a potential tenant! With check in hand! Ready tomorrow night! Goodbye Pepe!
Major Fucking Stress
I wake up early this morning to get ready for a job interview at 10:00. It's six-thirty and I lie in bed and think about it, how I hope I don't stress out, say the wrong thing, cough up a lung at the appropriate time, seem like a servile toady just when they want me to. I get out of bed and shower, dress in grubbies 'cause it's so early, then make myself a nice breakfast, 4 eggs, 4 links of sausage, 4 slices of english muffins and a pot of coffee and sit down at my computer to check the news on the net. I've got free wi-fi, courtesy of a neighbor, although intermitent, as it was today.
I watch the time as I eat, making sure I've allowed enough to get dressed, make sure all my notes are ready, references, etc. At around 7:45 I decide I should check my memo pad to make sure I'll make it to the bus on time and discover I've only got 17 minutes to get ready, get on the bus and make my connection at the freeway station. Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit. I scramble and miraculously make it out the door. I miss the bus but it's not that important because I've allowed myself some time in case of this very occurance. So I take a bus to the U-district, catch a connecting bus to the freeway station and within half an hour I'm on my way, arriving at the interview with plenty of time to spare.
I follow the instructions that the HR person gave me the day before, sign in, get my badge and make my way back to the HR department where I fill out a job application, writing down all my sins, noting down past names of supervisors who were so incompetent, so inhumane they should never be allowed above fry cook at a fast food place. Not a McDonald's, they don't even deserve that. Just some shitty backwoods greasy spoon. And I hope they never try to call at least one of those people, 'cause they will make up plenty o' shit about yours truly.
I can't believe how things are today in this country. You work hard, do a good job, tolerate inhuman bastards and bitches that should be shut away in institutions for the mentally ill and now, when you fill out a job application, *you're Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolf Hitler*. Even if you've lived an honest and honerable life, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is how badly they want to fuck you as you go out the door, getting away from their shitty, inhumane, demeaning job that you depend on to put food in your mouth, a roof over your head and hopefully, hopefully, a car to drive of your own. Just a car. Any car. And pray to god that it runs for at least a little while. Another source of stress. "Will my car run at the end of the day?" "Will I be able to insure it?" "Should I even bother to insure it, with all the other bills that I have?" When will it all end? Please, take me now.
So I finish the job application, turn it in, go back to my seat and try to find something interesting to read. Company brochure. Blechhh. . . . So I read the company brochure. We are a re-insurer. We insure the insurer. . . . Oughta be money in that. . . . Until you have to pay out a claim. Owned by Warren Buffet. There's somebody who knows how to use money to make money. Wish I was Warren. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the simple things like wondering where cat food is going to come from at the end of the week with no job and $16.00 in the bank and no unemployment. Parents retired, broken by the stock market bubble, bless'em for having faith in the market . . . . Rubes who were fleeced clean, robbing their children of an inheritance. As if that were ever going to happen anyway. I never believed it, not for a moment. I know both of my parents too well.
Finally the HR person comes to see me. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we agreed that after checking the schedule today that we would see you tomorrow. Let me see if we have someone available who you could see now." Checks schedule . . . "Nope." At least she agrees to do the pre-interview stuff now, the most important part and let me come back tomorrow. But first she has something she has to do. "Could you come back at 11:00?" So I walk around the Microsoft campus area for almost an hour, wishing I could get a job there instead of the place I'm interviewing at. At least they get all the cool toys. The toys. And major, major fucking stress.
Would you want Bill lopping your balls off in a meeting? I hear the guy is fucking murder. You forget one tiny little detail in a presentation and he will find it, bore in on it, and make your life a living hell that you wonder if you will ever get out of, even though you know the meeting is only half an hour long. But with Bill yelling at you, demeaning you, making you feel like you are absolutly the stupidest, most insignificant, most unworthy human being on the entire planet, if not the universe. And all you want to do is die. Just kill me. Please. Rip out my lungs with a rusty butterknife, I don't care, anything is better than Bill and his maxed out to eleven temper.
I arrive back at the HR department and go in for my interview. This is the worst part, the interview. Cough up a lung. Tell us what your worst mistake in your entire life was on the job so we can use it against you later. Tell us what your worst experience with a manager was. A co-worker. Your mother. Your priest. Your pet. Your shoe. Why exactly should we hire such a pathetic, unworthy, disgusting human being as you? Will you let us rape you in the ass without lube? How often? Will you smile like you enjoy it? Wear sexy clothing that leaves you with an itch? Let us pimp you out to clients for their own sick and demented pleasure? 'Cause if you can do all that, baby you got a job!
But not for too much pay. We want you to be an endentured servant, not the cock-o-the-walk. Take this pathetic wage. We offer it to you on a plate served with cold shit. Then laugh behind your back when you take it up, smile and eat it with a grin.
Finally the interview ends and she asks me to come back for the second part tomorrow. I made it through this far, what else can they do to me? So, tomorrow I go back for more. . .
I wake up early this morning to get ready for a job interview at 10:00. It's six-thirty and I lie in bed and think about it, how I hope I don't stress out, say the wrong thing, cough up a lung at the appropriate time, seem like a servile toady just when they want me to. I get out of bed and shower, dress in grubbies 'cause it's so early, then make myself a nice breakfast, 4 eggs, 4 links of sausage, 4 slices of english muffins and a pot of coffee and sit down at my computer to check the news on the net. I've got free wi-fi, courtesy of a neighbor, although intermitent, as it was today.
I watch the time as I eat, making sure I've allowed enough to get dressed, make sure all my notes are ready, references, etc. At around 7:45 I decide I should check my memo pad to make sure I'll make it to the bus on time and discover I've only got 17 minutes to get ready, get on the bus and make my connection at the freeway station. Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit. I scramble and miraculously make it out the door. I miss the bus but it's not that important because I've allowed myself some time in case of this very occurance. So I take a bus to the U-district, catch a connecting bus to the freeway station and within half an hour I'm on my way, arriving at the interview with plenty of time to spare.
I follow the instructions that the HR person gave me the day before, sign in, get my badge and make my way back to the HR department where I fill out a job application, writing down all my sins, noting down past names of supervisors who were so incompetent, so inhumane they should never be allowed above fry cook at a fast food place. Not a McDonald's, they don't even deserve that. Just some shitty backwoods greasy spoon. And I hope they never try to call at least one of those people, 'cause they will make up plenty o' shit about yours truly.
I can't believe how things are today in this country. You work hard, do a good job, tolerate inhuman bastards and bitches that should be shut away in institutions for the mentally ill and now, when you fill out a job application, *you're Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolf Hitler*. Even if you've lived an honest and honerable life, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is how badly they want to fuck you as you go out the door, getting away from their shitty, inhumane, demeaning job that you depend on to put food in your mouth, a roof over your head and hopefully, hopefully, a car to drive of your own. Just a car. Any car. And pray to god that it runs for at least a little while. Another source of stress. "Will my car run at the end of the day?" "Will I be able to insure it?" "Should I even bother to insure it, with all the other bills that I have?" When will it all end? Please, take me now.
So I finish the job application, turn it in, go back to my seat and try to find something interesting to read. Company brochure. Blechhh. . . . So I read the company brochure. We are a re-insurer. We insure the insurer. . . . Oughta be money in that. . . . Until you have to pay out a claim. Owned by Warren Buffet. There's somebody who knows how to use money to make money. Wish I was Warren. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the simple things like wondering where cat food is going to come from at the end of the week with no job and $16.00 in the bank and no unemployment. Parents retired, broken by the stock market bubble, bless'em for having faith in the market . . . . Rubes who were fleeced clean, robbing their children of an inheritance. As if that were ever going to happen anyway. I never believed it, not for a moment. I know both of my parents too well.
Finally the HR person comes to see me. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we agreed that after checking the schedule today that we would see you tomorrow. Let me see if we have someone available who you could see now." Checks schedule . . . "Nope." At least she agrees to do the pre-interview stuff now, the most important part and let me come back tomorrow. But first she has something she has to do. "Could you come back at 11:00?" So I walk around the Microsoft campus area for almost an hour, wishing I could get a job there instead of the place I'm interviewing at. At least they get all the cool toys. The toys. And major, major fucking stress.
Would you want Bill lopping your balls off in a meeting? I hear the guy is fucking murder. You forget one tiny little detail in a presentation and he will find it, bore in on it, and make your life a living hell that you wonder if you will ever get out of, even though you know the meeting is only half an hour long. But with Bill yelling at you, demeaning you, making you feel like you are absolutly the stupidest, most insignificant, most unworthy human being on the entire planet, if not the universe. And all you want to do is die. Just kill me. Please. Rip out my lungs with a rusty butterknife, I don't care, anything is better than Bill and his maxed out to eleven temper.
I arrive back at the HR department and go in for my interview. This is the worst part, the interview. Cough up a lung. Tell us what your worst mistake in your entire life was on the job so we can use it against you later. Tell us what your worst experience with a manager was. A co-worker. Your mother. Your priest. Your pet. Your shoe. Why exactly should we hire such a pathetic, unworthy, disgusting human being as you? Will you let us rape you in the ass without lube? How often? Will you smile like you enjoy it? Wear sexy clothing that leaves you with an itch? Let us pimp you out to clients for their own sick and demented pleasure? 'Cause if you can do all that, baby you got a job!
But not for too much pay. We want you to be an endentured servant, not the cock-o-the-walk. Take this pathetic wage. We offer it to you on a plate served with cold shit. Then laugh behind your back when you take it up, smile and eat it with a grin.
Finally the interview ends and she asks me to come back for the second part tomorrow. I made it through this far, what else can they do to me? So, tomorrow I go back for more. . .
Monday, September 27, 2004
This one was so good I just ran it in it's entirety. Thank You for speaking for us all who still have a conscience.
The Unfeeling President
I fault this president for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our 21-year-olds who wanted to be what they could be. On the eve of D-Day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear.
But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the weapons of mass destruction he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphal, a he-man.
He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
But you study him, you look into his eyes and know he dissembles an emotion which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility for the 1,000 dead young men and women who wanted to be what they could be.
They come to his desk not as youngsters with mothers and fathers or wives and children who will suffer to the end of their days a terribly torn fabric of familial relationships and the inconsolable remembrance of aborted life . . . they come to his desk as a political liability, which is why the press is not permitted to photograph the arrival of their coffins from Iraq.
How then can he mourn? To mourn is to express regret and he regrets nothing. He does not regret that his reason for going to war was, as he knew, unsubstantiated by the facts. He does not regret that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has made of his mission-accomplished a disaster. He does not regret that, rather than controlling terrorism, his war in Iraq has licensed it. So he never mourns for the dead and crippled youngsters who have fought this war of his choice.
He wanted to go to war and he did. He had not the mind to perceive the costs of war, or to listen to those who knew those costs. He did not understand that you do not go to war when it is one of the options but when it is the only option; you go not because you want to but because you have to.
Yet this president knew it would be difficult for Americans not to cheer the overthrow of a foreign dictator. He knew that much. This president and his supporters would seem to have a mind for only one thing -- to take power, to remain in power, and to use that power for the sake of themselves and their friends.
A war will do that as well as anything. You become a wartime leader. The country gets behind you. Dissent becomes inappropriate. And so he does not drop to his knees, he is not contrite, he does not sit in the church with the grieving parents and wives and children. He is the president who does not feel. He does not feel for the families of the dead, he does not feel for the 35 million of us who live in poverty, he does not feel for the 40 percent who cannot afford health insurance, he does not feel for the miners whose lungs are turning black or for the working people he has deprived of the chance to work overtime at time-and-a-half to pay their bills - it is amazing for how many people in this country this president does not feel.
But he will dissemble feeling. He will say in all sincerity he is relieving the wealthiest 1 percent of the population of their tax burden for the sake of the rest of us, and that he is polluting the air we breathe for the sake of our economy, and that he is decreasing the quality of air in coal mines to save the coal miners' jobs, and that he is depriving workers of their time-and-a-half benefits for overtime because this is actually a way to honor them by raising them into the professional class.
And this litany of lies he will versify with reverences for God and the flag and democracy, when just what he and his party are doing to our democracy is choking the life out of it.
But there is one more terribly sad thing about all of this. I remember the millions of people here and around the world who marched against the war. It was extraordinary, that spontaneous aroused oversoul of alarm and protest that transcended national borders. Why did it happen? After all, this was not the only war anyone had ever seen coming. There are little wars all over he world most of the time.
But the cry of protest was the appalled understanding of millions of people that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype of democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future, using its extraordinary power and standing not to advance the ideal of a concordance of civilizations but to endorse the kind of tribal combat that originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival by no other means than pre-emptive war.
The president we get is the country we get. With each president the nation is conformed spiritually. He is the artificer of our malleable national soul. He proposes not only the laws but the kinds of lawlessness that govern our lives and invoke our responses. The people he appoints are cast in his image. The trouble they get into and get us into, is his characteristic trouble.
Finally, the media amplify his character into our moral weather report. He becomes the face of our sky, the conditions that prevail. How can we sustain ourselves as the United States of America given the stupid and ineffective warmaking, the constitutionally insensitive lawgiving, and the monarchal economics of this president? He cannot mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves.
The novelist E.L. Doctorow has a house in Sag Harbor.
The Unfeeling President
I fault this president for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our 21-year-olds who wanted to be what they could be. On the eve of D-Day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear.
But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the weapons of mass destruction he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphal, a he-man.
He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
But you study him, you look into his eyes and know he dissembles an emotion which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility for the 1,000 dead young men and women who wanted to be what they could be.
They come to his desk not as youngsters with mothers and fathers or wives and children who will suffer to the end of their days a terribly torn fabric of familial relationships and the inconsolable remembrance of aborted life . . . they come to his desk as a political liability, which is why the press is not permitted to photograph the arrival of their coffins from Iraq.
How then can he mourn? To mourn is to express regret and he regrets nothing. He does not regret that his reason for going to war was, as he knew, unsubstantiated by the facts. He does not regret that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has made of his mission-accomplished a disaster. He does not regret that, rather than controlling terrorism, his war in Iraq has licensed it. So he never mourns for the dead and crippled youngsters who have fought this war of his choice.
He wanted to go to war and he did. He had not the mind to perceive the costs of war, or to listen to those who knew those costs. He did not understand that you do not go to war when it is one of the options but when it is the only option; you go not because you want to but because you have to.
Yet this president knew it would be difficult for Americans not to cheer the overthrow of a foreign dictator. He knew that much. This president and his supporters would seem to have a mind for only one thing -- to take power, to remain in power, and to use that power for the sake of themselves and their friends.
A war will do that as well as anything. You become a wartime leader. The country gets behind you. Dissent becomes inappropriate. And so he does not drop to his knees, he is not contrite, he does not sit in the church with the grieving parents and wives and children. He is the president who does not feel. He does not feel for the families of the dead, he does not feel for the 35 million of us who live in poverty, he does not feel for the 40 percent who cannot afford health insurance, he does not feel for the miners whose lungs are turning black or for the working people he has deprived of the chance to work overtime at time-and-a-half to pay their bills - it is amazing for how many people in this country this president does not feel.
But he will dissemble feeling. He will say in all sincerity he is relieving the wealthiest 1 percent of the population of their tax burden for the sake of the rest of us, and that he is polluting the air we breathe for the sake of our economy, and that he is decreasing the quality of air in coal mines to save the coal miners' jobs, and that he is depriving workers of their time-and-a-half benefits for overtime because this is actually a way to honor them by raising them into the professional class.
And this litany of lies he will versify with reverences for God and the flag and democracy, when just what he and his party are doing to our democracy is choking the life out of it.
But there is one more terribly sad thing about all of this. I remember the millions of people here and around the world who marched against the war. It was extraordinary, that spontaneous aroused oversoul of alarm and protest that transcended national borders. Why did it happen? After all, this was not the only war anyone had ever seen coming. There are little wars all over he world most of the time.
But the cry of protest was the appalled understanding of millions of people that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype of democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future, using its extraordinary power and standing not to advance the ideal of a concordance of civilizations but to endorse the kind of tribal combat that originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival by no other means than pre-emptive war.
The president we get is the country we get. With each president the nation is conformed spiritually. He is the artificer of our malleable national soul. He proposes not only the laws but the kinds of lawlessness that govern our lives and invoke our responses. The people he appoints are cast in his image. The trouble they get into and get us into, is his characteristic trouble.
Finally, the media amplify his character into our moral weather report. He becomes the face of our sky, the conditions that prevail. How can we sustain ourselves as the United States of America given the stupid and ineffective warmaking, the constitutionally insensitive lawgiving, and the monarchal economics of this president? He cannot mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves.
The novelist E.L. Doctorow has a house in Sag Harbor.
This is in regards to this story: The enemy is not on the court
Armstrong wanted to wear long pants, sleeves and a scarf while playing because the Islamic code calls for women's skin to be covered. Her teammates didn't mind, but critics screamed that it would open the floodgates for individualized jewelry and clothing to be worn by every player with a distinctive faith.
=======================================================================
My buddy felt she shouldn't be allowed to wear a scarf or warm-ups on the court. I felt it was okay. Here's my response:
Nope, sorry I disagree. Let's look at this: If she's
Amish and is required by her faith to wear that frumpy
old 1800 settler's dress and sun bonnet how many
people would be upset over that? Pretty much no one,
in fact the hard core christians would all be like
'oh, she's living her faith, she's blessed!' I think
the whole issue is just intolerance to a mid-east
religion. I mean really, when teams come out on the
court they're wearing their warmup suits, running
around, passing the ball, grabbing each others nuts,
dry humping and shit, what's the dealeo with her
wearing her warmup suit while she plays? No big deal.
What if she's got lupis and it's a danger for her
skin to be exposed to. . . . harsh lamplight? As far
as wearing a scarf, again, no big deal. She didn't
convert to Islam until *after* she was at school. My
buddy Mohamed, who's muslim has a wife who never wore
the hijab or a scarf, or really pretty much anything
(they're proud islamic nudists.) But a few years ago
she decided to wear a scarf, wear the hijab and he
said it was her decision to do so, he never pressured
her and he supported her either way. If you ever saw
the two of them together you would know he was telling
the truth, I've seldom seen a more equal couple, he
was *always* talking to her about 'Well, do you want
to do this." "What would *you* like to do." "Get me
a malt liquor, bitch!" You know, typical american
family.
As far as 'encouraging others to pimp out their
uniforms.' Bullshit. If dude wants to put on a ton
o' bling bling before he comes out on the court, let
him. I'll dance all over his ass while he's trying to
avoid getting smacked by his 20 pounds worth of
mercedes/porsche/cadillac/pepsi/coke/sprite/tab/
medals and shit. And I don't even play basketball!
'Yeah, come on bitch, come get some.' *smack* Mikey
goes down for the count. . .
Anyway, I guess I've made my point. It's no big
deal, and people shouldn't be getting all nuclear
about *a scarf* ! ! !
Armstrong wanted to wear long pants, sleeves and a scarf while playing because the Islamic code calls for women's skin to be covered. Her teammates didn't mind, but critics screamed that it would open the floodgates for individualized jewelry and clothing to be worn by every player with a distinctive faith.
=======================================================================
My buddy felt she shouldn't be allowed to wear a scarf or warm-ups on the court. I felt it was okay. Here's my response:
Nope, sorry I disagree. Let's look at this: If she's
Amish and is required by her faith to wear that frumpy
old 1800 settler's dress and sun bonnet how many
people would be upset over that? Pretty much no one,
in fact the hard core christians would all be like
'oh, she's living her faith, she's blessed!' I think
the whole issue is just intolerance to a mid-east
religion. I mean really, when teams come out on the
court they're wearing their warmup suits, running
around, passing the ball, grabbing each others nuts,
dry humping and shit, what's the dealeo with her
wearing her warmup suit while she plays? No big deal.
What if she's got lupis and it's a danger for her
skin to be exposed to. . . . harsh lamplight? As far
as wearing a scarf, again, no big deal. She didn't
convert to Islam until *after* she was at school. My
buddy Mohamed, who's muslim has a wife who never wore
the hijab or a scarf, or really pretty much anything
(they're proud islamic nudists.) But a few years ago
she decided to wear a scarf, wear the hijab and he
said it was her decision to do so, he never pressured
her and he supported her either way. If you ever saw
the two of them together you would know he was telling
the truth, I've seldom seen a more equal couple, he
was *always* talking to her about 'Well, do you want
to do this." "What would *you* like to do." "Get me
a malt liquor, bitch!" You know, typical american
family.
As far as 'encouraging others to pimp out their
uniforms.' Bullshit. If dude wants to put on a ton
o' bling bling before he comes out on the court, let
him. I'll dance all over his ass while he's trying to
avoid getting smacked by his 20 pounds worth of
mercedes/porsche/cadillac/pepsi/coke/sprite/tab/
medals and shit. And I don't even play basketball!
'Yeah, come on bitch, come get some.' *smack* Mikey
goes down for the count. . .
Anyway, I guess I've made my point. It's no big
deal, and people shouldn't be getting all nuclear
about *a scarf* ! ! !
America the Conservative
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Whether President Bush is reelected or Sen. John F. Kerry prevails, the United States will be the most conservative developed nation in the world. Its economy will remain the least regulated, its welfare state the smallest, its military the strongest and its citizens the most religious. According to data taken from the World Values Survey in the last decade, 60% of Americans believe that the poor are lazy (only 26% of Europeans share that view), and 30% believe that luck determines income (54% of Europeans say so). About 60% of Europeans say the poor are trapped, while only 29% of Americans believe they are. And roughly 30% of Europeans declare themselves to be left wing, but only 17% of Americans do.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Whether President Bush is reelected or Sen. John F. Kerry prevails, the United States will be the most conservative developed nation in the world. Its economy will remain the least regulated, its welfare state the smallest, its military the strongest and its citizens the most religious. According to data taken from the World Values Survey in the last decade, 60% of Americans believe that the poor are lazy (only 26% of Europeans share that view), and 30% believe that luck determines income (54% of Europeans say so). About 60% of Europeans say the poor are trapped, while only 29% of Americans believe they are. And roughly 30% of Europeans declare themselves to be left wing, but only 17% of Americans do.
Progress through civilized behavior, not 'survival of the fittest' barbarism. This country is declining in every possible way and solutions need to be found. Compasionate Conservatism is regressive barbarism. Period.
Poverty Up as Welfare Enrollment Declines
Though the number of welfare recipients continues to decline, poverty rates -- particularly for single mothers and children -- have surged in recent years. Just last month, the government reported that the number of people on welfare had declined by 149,000 at the end of 2003 compared with 2002, while the number in poverty rose by 1.3 million. Those divergent trends offer fresh ammunition to both sides in the debate over whether, eight years after the fact, welfare reform is working.
Poverty Up as Welfare Enrollment Declines
Though the number of welfare recipients continues to decline, poverty rates -- particularly for single mothers and children -- have surged in recent years. Just last month, the government reported that the number of people on welfare had declined by 149,000 at the end of 2003 compared with 2002, while the number in poverty rose by 1.3 million. Those divergent trends offer fresh ammunition to both sides in the debate over whether, eight years after the fact, welfare reform is working.
Today I've spent waiting around for a callback from a potential employer, I hate this part of things, the not knowing. Will they call? Am I too late? Will they offer a crap wage (almost always yes.)
I've also been looking over some unpaid bills. I've decided to do a better job of archiving these things so that when I finally do have some income I can get them paid off sooner. We are all endentured servants now.
So, mostly I just surf the net, post for jobs, clean up around the house and wish for better times. Somehow I wonder if *that* will ever happen again. At least I don't live in the Walled City of Kowloon
. . .
I've also been looking over some unpaid bills. I've decided to do a better job of archiving these things so that when I finally do have some income I can get them paid off sooner. We are all endentured servants now.
So, mostly I just surf the net, post for jobs, clean up around the house and wish for better times. Somehow I wonder if *that* will ever happen again. At least I don't live in the Walled City of Kowloon
. . .
Friday, September 24, 2004
I went down to apply for food stamps today, my money is running out and I barely have enough for a bus pass for next month. While I was there I talked to the person behind the counter regarding any changes in people filing for food assitance in the past few months. On the television news they keep giving upbeat forecasts regarding the economy, jobs, etc. Yet in my experience and those I talk to it seems the opposite.
I asked if there has been a decrease in a request for benefits, or whether it has remained pretty much the same, or has there been a substantial increase over the past few months. They said that there had been a substantial increase and that persons she had talked to were very stressed, their hours had been cut back on their jobs, they had been laid off, there were no jobs to be found, etc. There were no words of encouragement on the economy at all. In fact, based on the words of someone who sees the effects of changes in the economy much closer than most of us, it seemed like the economy was getting substantially worse, and those who were saying otherwise were in fact lying. I have not watched the television news in several months now, in fact the first time I've seen CNN in awhile was while I was sitting waiting for my food assistance appointment. Just a bunch of fluffed out press poodles. No substance.
Do yourself a favor. Kill your television. You'll be glad you did.
I asked if there has been a decrease in a request for benefits, or whether it has remained pretty much the same, or has there been a substantial increase over the past few months. They said that there had been a substantial increase and that persons she had talked to were very stressed, their hours had been cut back on their jobs, they had been laid off, there were no jobs to be found, etc. There were no words of encouragement on the economy at all. In fact, based on the words of someone who sees the effects of changes in the economy much closer than most of us, it seemed like the economy was getting substantially worse, and those who were saying otherwise were in fact lying. I have not watched the television news in several months now, in fact the first time I've seen CNN in awhile was while I was sitting waiting for my food assistance appointment. Just a bunch of fluffed out press poodles. No substance.
Do yourself a favor. Kill your television. You'll be glad you did.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Well, here I am on a Monday afternoon at
Trabant Internet Cafe
updating my blog. I've been spending the morning sending out resumes and cleaning up my bookmarks. What a nightmare. Imagine looking into a closet you keep throwing stuff in and it just piles up and piles up, no rhyme or reason to it. Now though, for the most part it actually has some real degree of structure to it.
I can't believe how short summer seemed, and now here it is winter again. Cold, gray, overcast. And yet somehow peaceful. I guess it's because we're in that time of the year for curling up to the fire with a good book and a hot cup o' joe. Ahhhhh.
I wish I could update the blog more frequently, but at this time the house is without internet, and accessing the net from wi-fi from the house is a hit and miss proposition.
Sometimes it's up, most times it's not, and only if I want to put it near the window while stretching over the couch. Very uncomfortable.
Here at Trabi the door's open and it's cold outside. Cold, cold, cold. I'm wearing my black leather jacket (today's a black day, black jeans, boots, shirt and jacket. So chic.) and I'm still a bit chilled. Time for some tea.
Trabant Internet Cafe
updating my blog. I've been spending the morning sending out resumes and cleaning up my bookmarks. What a nightmare. Imagine looking into a closet you keep throwing stuff in and it just piles up and piles up, no rhyme or reason to it. Now though, for the most part it actually has some real degree of structure to it.
I can't believe how short summer seemed, and now here it is winter again. Cold, gray, overcast. And yet somehow peaceful. I guess it's because we're in that time of the year for curling up to the fire with a good book and a hot cup o' joe. Ahhhhh.
I wish I could update the blog more frequently, but at this time the house is without internet, and accessing the net from wi-fi from the house is a hit and miss proposition.
Sometimes it's up, most times it's not, and only if I want to put it near the window while stretching over the couch. Very uncomfortable.
Here at Trabi the door's open and it's cold outside. Cold, cold, cold. I'm wearing my black leather jacket (today's a black day, black jeans, boots, shirt and jacket. So chic.) and I'm still a bit chilled. Time for some tea.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Well, here I am, no job, no benefits, money running out, jamaicans down below in the basement barking like animals and I don't know where I'm going with this. Let's see. . .
So last night I went to the food bank, first time for me, food bank virgin and all that. I went with my buddy Dan, a housemate who thinks of individualism while sucking up to mommy every month for rent money. How many republicans have you heard this same story from? "Oh yeah, I'm a rugged individualist, but mummy and daddy put me through college, and every time I have a financial fuckup I know I can always go crawling back to them. It's because I'm an individualist, I don't need anyone, I depend on myself. Fuck the poor. Fuck the disadvantaged. Fuck them all."
Yeah right, you fucking hypocrit son of a bitch. Fuck you all the way to hell. Which is where all republicans eventually end up. And they do. They know as much about God as devout muslims do about eating pork.
It's raining outside, the rush of the rain on the roof, the rush of cars rocketing by on the express lanes a hundred feet away from the window.
Funds fading fast and no hope on the horizon. No hope. Will I be out on the street in a months time? Will my cats be starving? Will their litterbox be clean?
Rugged individulists. Wanking hypocrits.
I think that at this point in world history the United States of America is the most hypocritical first world nation on the face of the earth. Certainly one of the most hypocritical regardless of first, second or third world status. Instead of trying to alleviate the world's pain, we do what we can to add to it. Then we sit back and demand another Big Mac. And could you supersize those fries? I need more cholestorel to help me into an earlier grave just so I can avoid facing up to the fact that my nation causes so much harm and pain and suffering to all others. It's not my fault. I voted democrat. Now it doesn't matter, black box voting takes care of that for me. Vote democrat? It changes it to the appropriate response: always republican. Always republican. Only a commie or a taliban would vote otherwise. Fucking Liberals. Always ruining the fun. Always insisting I have a 'conscience'. As if my family, father raping my mother, raping my sisters, fucking with my mind would say otherwise. Go U.S.A. ! ! ! Go U.S.A. ! ! ! Wave the flag. Ignore what's going on under the bleachers. It's a family thing. We shouldn't get involved. It's none of *our* business. Move along, nothing to see here. Hmmm, wonder what's on TV tonite? Much better than calling up my friends. Hmmmpphhhh. Friends. Time for another beer. Dull the pain. Dive into oblivion. Suck it down. Suck it up. Be a man. Semper Fi ! ! !
I'm reading the Polyponessian War now, the story of a war that lasted thirty years and led to the downfall of Greece. The dominant thought as I read it? Two thousand years later we still haven't learned that arrogant loudmouths will still be the downfall of us all. Shun the loudmouths. Shut them out. Deny them your company and turn them away. For the good of civilization it's the best thing to do. For the good of all it's the best thing to do. Put down the mad dog. Remember, united we stand, divided we fall. Don't let the sociopaths decide the destiny of all. Shut down Congress. Shut down the Senate. Shut down the White House. Shut down the prisons, the judiciary, the lawyers, the lobbyists. For the good of all. For the good of civilization. Why? They fear civilization. They fear knowledge. They fear democracy. They fear rights for all versus for just a priveleged few. Shut them down. Put them into the McDonald's jobs where they belong. Make them scrub toilets. Teach them some true humility. Make them respect us. Make them respect all.
United we stand, divided we fall. Do not let them divide us. Do not let them divide you against those you need or those who need you.
So last night I went to the food bank, first time for me, food bank virgin and all that. I went with my buddy Dan, a housemate who thinks of individualism while sucking up to mommy every month for rent money. How many republicans have you heard this same story from? "Oh yeah, I'm a rugged individualist, but mummy and daddy put me through college, and every time I have a financial fuckup I know I can always go crawling back to them. It's because I'm an individualist, I don't need anyone, I depend on myself. Fuck the poor. Fuck the disadvantaged. Fuck them all."
Yeah right, you fucking hypocrit son of a bitch. Fuck you all the way to hell. Which is where all republicans eventually end up. And they do. They know as much about God as devout muslims do about eating pork.
It's raining outside, the rush of the rain on the roof, the rush of cars rocketing by on the express lanes a hundred feet away from the window.
Funds fading fast and no hope on the horizon. No hope. Will I be out on the street in a months time? Will my cats be starving? Will their litterbox be clean?
Rugged individulists. Wanking hypocrits.
I think that at this point in world history the United States of America is the most hypocritical first world nation on the face of the earth. Certainly one of the most hypocritical regardless of first, second or third world status. Instead of trying to alleviate the world's pain, we do what we can to add to it. Then we sit back and demand another Big Mac. And could you supersize those fries? I need more cholestorel to help me into an earlier grave just so I can avoid facing up to the fact that my nation causes so much harm and pain and suffering to all others. It's not my fault. I voted democrat. Now it doesn't matter, black box voting takes care of that for me. Vote democrat? It changes it to the appropriate response: always republican. Always republican. Only a commie or a taliban would vote otherwise. Fucking Liberals. Always ruining the fun. Always insisting I have a 'conscience'. As if my family, father raping my mother, raping my sisters, fucking with my mind would say otherwise. Go U.S.A. ! ! ! Go U.S.A. ! ! ! Wave the flag. Ignore what's going on under the bleachers. It's a family thing. We shouldn't get involved. It's none of *our* business. Move along, nothing to see here. Hmmm, wonder what's on TV tonite? Much better than calling up my friends. Hmmmpphhhh. Friends. Time for another beer. Dull the pain. Dive into oblivion. Suck it down. Suck it up. Be a man. Semper Fi ! ! !
I'm reading the Polyponessian War now, the story of a war that lasted thirty years and led to the downfall of Greece. The dominant thought as I read it? Two thousand years later we still haven't learned that arrogant loudmouths will still be the downfall of us all. Shun the loudmouths. Shut them out. Deny them your company and turn them away. For the good of civilization it's the best thing to do. For the good of all it's the best thing to do. Put down the mad dog. Remember, united we stand, divided we fall. Don't let the sociopaths decide the destiny of all. Shut down Congress. Shut down the Senate. Shut down the White House. Shut down the prisons, the judiciary, the lawyers, the lobbyists. For the good of all. For the good of civilization. Why? They fear civilization. They fear knowledge. They fear democracy. They fear rights for all versus for just a priveleged few. Shut them down. Put them into the McDonald's jobs where they belong. Make them scrub toilets. Teach them some true humility. Make them respect us. Make them respect all.
United we stand, divided we fall. Do not let them divide us. Do not let them divide you against those you need or those who need you.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Well, I just got back from 'The Vigil', never having been to one before, at least not this kind of vigil. This was a vigil in Westlake Center to mark the passing of the 1,000th soldier killed in Iraq (officially). Of course, those in the know are aware the 1,000th soldier killed was awhile back.
I went out there with my camera to document how many people were out to mark this important event, and my rough head count made it out to about 150'ish. Well, a few americans is better than none. Perhaps when the numbers run into the millions. I've heard that 30,000 Iraqis have now died in the 'liberation' of their country, thanks to our 'smart bombs' that make a nice, neat little crater with minimal 'collateral damage'. Personally I think that is a deliberate underestimate. Funny, if I knew one of those things was being dropped on the house next door I wouldn't stand across the street to watch. How about you? I didn't think so.
I took some photos from the balcony overlooking Westlake Center precisly at eight, and at that point the crowd was under 100. After I went down to the plaza to check everyone out, it seemed that the majority of people gathered were in their late 30's and 40's, very few young or counterculture people out there. After looking around and wishing there were more people there, I became one of them myself and asked for a candle to light and hold with the others. There were a noticable assortment of new agey types though, including one woman who went around the circle of 150'ish, waving a bundle of sage, brushing a large black feather across the face of everyone and saying something about crazy horse or chief joseph or. . . . Who knows, it all went up with the sage. As she went from person to person her sage bundle went out, and each person had to try to re-light it with the candle they were holding for the vigil. Then she came to me and I gave it a really good dose of flame and got that thing really burning. And in the excitement of having a fully functioning smoky bundle o' sage. . . she forgot to give me her contrived native american blessing. Oh well.
There was an Iraqi flag waving close by, something that I had mixed feelings about. It's still the Baathist flag, not a truly independent Iraqi flag. At least they had the current one that says 'God Is Great' in Arabic, instead of the 1992 flag that was held over Saddam's statues head in the faked 'liberation of downtown Baghdad'. You remember that one, don't you? The one that seemed like a crowd had spontaneously come out to tear down the statue of Saddam, yet the only flag they could come up with was one that hadn't been in use since 1992? The one that if you pulled the camera back from the crowd you could see that it was very small, gathered around the american military vehicles very closely? All young men about the same age, no elderly, no women, in spite of Iraq being a very secular country?
After about 45 minutes everyone made a circle and quietly dispersed. I hope that each and every one of you not only remembers the soldiers that have died in this war, but especially the innocent civilians as well. And the children. Never forget the children.
I went out there with my camera to document how many people were out to mark this important event, and my rough head count made it out to about 150'ish. Well, a few americans is better than none. Perhaps when the numbers run into the millions. I've heard that 30,000 Iraqis have now died in the 'liberation' of their country, thanks to our 'smart bombs' that make a nice, neat little crater with minimal 'collateral damage'. Personally I think that is a deliberate underestimate. Funny, if I knew one of those things was being dropped on the house next door I wouldn't stand across the street to watch. How about you? I didn't think so.
I took some photos from the balcony overlooking Westlake Center precisly at eight, and at that point the crowd was under 100. After I went down to the plaza to check everyone out, it seemed that the majority of people gathered were in their late 30's and 40's, very few young or counterculture people out there. After looking around and wishing there were more people there, I became one of them myself and asked for a candle to light and hold with the others. There were a noticable assortment of new agey types though, including one woman who went around the circle of 150'ish, waving a bundle of sage, brushing a large black feather across the face of everyone and saying something about crazy horse or chief joseph or. . . . Who knows, it all went up with the sage. As she went from person to person her sage bundle went out, and each person had to try to re-light it with the candle they were holding for the vigil. Then she came to me and I gave it a really good dose of flame and got that thing really burning. And in the excitement of having a fully functioning smoky bundle o' sage. . . she forgot to give me her contrived native american blessing. Oh well.
There was an Iraqi flag waving close by, something that I had mixed feelings about. It's still the Baathist flag, not a truly independent Iraqi flag. At least they had the current one that says 'God Is Great' in Arabic, instead of the 1992 flag that was held over Saddam's statues head in the faked 'liberation of downtown Baghdad'. You remember that one, don't you? The one that seemed like a crowd had spontaneously come out to tear down the statue of Saddam, yet the only flag they could come up with was one that hadn't been in use since 1992? The one that if you pulled the camera back from the crowd you could see that it was very small, gathered around the american military vehicles very closely? All young men about the same age, no elderly, no women, in spite of Iraq being a very secular country?
After about 45 minutes everyone made a circle and quietly dispersed. I hope that each and every one of you not only remembers the soldiers that have died in this war, but especially the innocent civilians as well. And the children. Never forget the children.
The neocons and the Israeli lobby
have been engaging in acts against this country for a very long time now. Hopefully the developing scandal that stretches back decades will give officials in our government the spine to finally confront these wrongs and throw out the traitors and imprison the spies. As for me, I feel it's too late. I have no hope in decent, honest government anymore.
have been engaging in acts against this country for a very long time now. Hopefully the developing scandal that stretches back decades will give officials in our government the spine to finally confront these wrongs and throw out the traitors and imprison the spies. As for me, I feel it's too late. I have no hope in decent, honest government anymore.
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
So, in yesterday's post I was contemplating how in spite of the violence of modern warfare, the body counts coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan seem unusually low. There's a reason for that:We're Being Lied To!
Part of what the story discusses is how the Marines don't really tell much of anything, and the Army trys to tell as little as possible. One of the points touched on is that our government has not told anyone about how many soldiers have died after they have left the battlefield from wounds sustained in action. It is true that body armor protects the head and torso, but with IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) it is very conceivable that those soldiers who have their torsos and heads protected still have vulnerable arms and legs and lower abdomens still very vulnerable. There is also little press about the injuries sustained from concussion when explosives go off in close proximity to troops. From what little press I've seen, the most common injuries are those to the brain from concussion, which has left soldiers with severe brain injuries resulting in headaches, depression leading to suicide, impaired mental functioning, etc. But the bottom line is, whether a soldier is killed in action or loses their life while waiting in a hospital or recovers with missing limbs or cognitive impairment, their life is very much over. And no one can tell me that this administration, with it's aggresive cutting away of veteran's benefits is going to be willing to help these people or their families once they come home.
Part of what the story discusses is how the Marines don't really tell much of anything, and the Army trys to tell as little as possible. One of the points touched on is that our government has not told anyone about how many soldiers have died after they have left the battlefield from wounds sustained in action. It is true that body armor protects the head and torso, but with IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) it is very conceivable that those soldiers who have their torsos and heads protected still have vulnerable arms and legs and lower abdomens still very vulnerable. There is also little press about the injuries sustained from concussion when explosives go off in close proximity to troops. From what little press I've seen, the most common injuries are those to the brain from concussion, which has left soldiers with severe brain injuries resulting in headaches, depression leading to suicide, impaired mental functioning, etc. But the bottom line is, whether a soldier is killed in action or loses their life while waiting in a hospital or recovers with missing limbs or cognitive impairment, their life is very much over. And no one can tell me that this administration, with it's aggresive cutting away of veteran's benefits is going to be willing to help these people or their families once they come home.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
More about the number 1 story from project censored: The Growing Wealth Inequality Gap.
UN economists blame "free-trade" practices and the neo-liberal policies of international lending institutions like the IMF and WTO, and the industrialized countries that lead them, for much of the damage caused to Third World countries over the past 20 years. Many of these policies are now being implemented in the U.S., allowing for an acceleration of wealth consolidation. And even the IMF has issued a report warning the U.S. about the consequences for its appetite for excess and overspending.
UN economists blame "free-trade" practices and the neo-liberal policies of international lending institutions like the IMF and WTO, and the industrialized countries that lead them, for much of the damage caused to Third World countries over the past 20 years. Many of these policies are now being implemented in the U.S., allowing for an acceleration of wealth consolidation. And even the IMF has issued a report warning the U.S. about the consequences for its appetite for excess and overspending.
Here's something from Democrats.com
re poll manipulation
. What? Did you think Bush has really somehow regained his lead in the polls honestly? A snowball has a better chance in hell than the truth does for him and his bunch. Oh, and check out more over at Salon.com
re previous run-ins this guy has had re his deliberatly misleading poll numbers.
re poll manipulation
. What? Did you think Bush has really somehow regained his lead in the polls honestly? A snowball has a better chance in hell than the truth does for him and his bunch. Oh, and check out more over at Salon.com
re previous run-ins this guy has had re his deliberatly misleading poll numbers.
U.S. military deaths in Iraq campaign pass 1,000
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a few storys about a month ago in a few of the major papers about combat casualties hitting the 1,000 combat dead mark? At this point, I feel like we're in a situation that not only requires 'eternal vigilance' like the founding fathers stated in order to keep one's democracy, but also 'eternal news records keeping' to keep track of all the storys that have been put out, retracted, then denied that they were ever published in the first place.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a few storys about a month ago in a few of the major papers about combat casualties hitting the 1,000 combat dead mark? At this point, I feel like we're in a situation that not only requires 'eternal vigilance' like the founding fathers stated in order to keep one's democracy, but also 'eternal news records keeping' to keep track of all the storys that have been put out, retracted, then denied that they were ever published in the first place.
Dumbing Down America. The dumber they are, the easier they are to control and manipulate. For years the american educational system has been derided for becoming increasingly mediocre and inept at producing fully equipped graduates. Here's the reason.
'The true purpose of schooling, according to Gatto, is to produce an easily manageable workforce to serve employers in a mass-production economy. Actual education is a secondary and even counterproductive result since educated people tend to be more difficult to control.'
He has won the New York City Teacher of the Year award three times and the New York State Teacher of the Year award once during the final year of his career. In other words, this is someone who knows exactly what they're talking about.
'The true purpose of schooling, according to Gatto, is to produce an easily manageable workforce to serve employers in a mass-production economy. Actual education is a secondary and even counterproductive result since educated people tend to be more difficult to control.'
He has won the New York City Teacher of the Year award three times and the New York State Teacher of the Year award once during the final year of his career. In other words, this is someone who knows exactly what they're talking about.
Some things to think about today: Kleptocracy: rule by theft. Plutocracy: government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich.
So where does 'democracy' or 'democratic republic' figure in any of this? What, it doesn't? Very good, you're catching on. Now, refer to the story about Richard Pearle, one of Lord Blacks good buddies
here.
Makes you feel like democracy is working really well for all of us, huh?
So where does 'democracy' or 'democratic republic' figure in any of this? What, it doesn't? Very good, you're catching on. Now, refer to the story about Richard Pearle, one of Lord Blacks good buddies
here.
Makes you feel like democracy is working really well for all of us, huh?
Monday, September 06, 2004
Check Out This One
Censored!
The 10 big stories the national news media ignore.
Censored!
The 10 big stories the national news media ignore.
1. Wealth inequality in 21st century threatens economy and democracy
As the mainstream news media recite the official line about the nation's supposed economic recovery, a key point has been missing: wealth inequality in the United States has almost doubled over the past 30 years.
2. Ashcroft versus human rights law that holds corporations accountable
For decades the United States has trained right-wing insurgents and torturers, toppled democratically elected governments, and propped up brutal dictatorships abroad – all in the interest of corporate profits. But rarely are the agents of repression ever held accountable for the tens of thousands of deaths and the brutal cycles of poverty, subjugation, environmental destruction, and violence they leave in their wake. Indeed, many foreign tyrants go on to enjoy plush retirement right here in the United States.
3. Bush administration manipulates science and censors scientists
Tampering with data that threatens corporate profits is much more widespread under Bush than we've been led to believe. And the Environmental Protection Agency has emerged as one of the administration's primary targets.
One of the first White House moves – on the day Bush was inaugurated – was to fire engineer Tony Oppegard, the leader of a federal team investigating a 300-million-gallon slurry spill at a coal-mining site in Kentucky. "Black lava-like toxic sludge containing 60 poisonous chemicals choked and sterilized up to 100 miles of rivers and creeks," environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in the Nation. The EPA dubbed it "the greatest environmental catastrophe in the history of the Eastern United States."
4. High uranium levels found in troops and civilians
Last year Project Censored included the United States' and Great Britain's continued use of depleted-uranium weapons – despite ample evidence of their acute health effects – among its top 10 underreported stories. Almost 10,000 U.S. troops died within 10 years of serving in the first Gulf War, researchers had found. And more than a third of those still alive had filed Gulf War Syndrome-related claims.
In study after study, research pointed to the use of depleted uranium in U.S. and British weaponry as the culprit. But authorities concentrated their efforts into obfuscating the problem – downplaying its reach, discrediting scientists and ailing military personnel, and erecting a smoke screen around the root causes of the "syndrome."
5. Wholesale giveaway of our natural resources
Adam Werbach, executive director of the Common Assets Defense Fund and former Sierra Club president, reviewed the Bush administration's environmental policy record and came to a disturbing conclusion: the record is not only bad – it's "akin to an affirmative action program for corporate polluters," he wrote in In These Times.
Cheney's infamous, secretive, industry-laden energy task force produced what can be boiled down to two main recommendations, "lower the environmental bar and pay corporations to jump over it," Werbach wrote.
For example, Congress has promised $3 billion in tax cuts to mining corporations to help them access natural gas embedded in underground coal deposits in Georgia's Powder River Basin. The Bureau of Land Management has calculated that miners will waste a full 700 million gallons of publicly owned water a year in the process – thereby sucking the region's underground aquifers dry and decimating local farms and wildlife.
6. Sale of electoral politics
The Help America Vote Act required that states submit their blueprints for switching over to electronic voting systems by Jan. 1, 2004, and implement those plans in time for the 2006 elections. Some regions are already using the machines. But those who've bothered to look into the new systems are sending up serious warning flares. Critics say that if Americans don't want a repeat of the 2000 Florida election fiasco – on a much grander scale – the administration's plans must be halted in their tracks.
A switch to electronic voting might seem innocent enough at first – until you look at who's implementing it, and how. Indeed, the transfer represents the privatization of the voting process in the hands of a select few fervent GOP supporters who've insisted on keeping their operating systems and codes a trade secret – meaning they enjoy absolute control over the entire voting process, including ballot counting and oversight. There's no paper trail.
7. Conservative organization drives judicial appointments
Ever since the Reagan administration, the neoconservatives have pursued an aggressive campaign to stack the federal courts with right-wing judges. Their main vehicle: the Federalist Society of Law and Public Policy, an organization founded in 1982 by a small group of radically conservative law students at the University of Chicago.
The effort has been a resounding success. With the help of Republicans in Congress, 85 extra federal judgeships were created under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; 9 were created under Clinton. Now 7 out of 12 circuit courts are antiabortion. Seven of the 9 Supreme Court justices are Republican appointees – and it's been 11 years since a post has opened up, meaning another right-winger or two could be appointed sometime soon. During Bush Sr.'s tenure, one White House insider boasted that no one who wasn't a Federalist ever received a judicial appointment from the president.
8. Secrets of Cheney's energy task force come to light
As the Bush administration continues to protect the iron wall of secrecy it's erected around Cheney's energy task force, at least two documents confirm long-standing suspicions that the administration's foreign policy is being driven by the dictates of the energy industry.
When Bush took office in January 2001, he said tackling the country's energy crisis would be a top priority. The United States faced nationwide oil and natural gas shortages, and a series of electrical blackouts were rolling across California. The president established the National Energy Policy Development Group and appointed former Halliburton CEO Cheney as its head.
9. Widow brings RICO case against U.S. government for 9/11
As the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, completed its first year, Ellen Mariani and her attorney held a press conference on the steps of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to announce her own startling conclusions. Mariani, wife of Louis Neil Mariani, who died when terrorists flew United Airlines Flight 175 into the World Trade Center's south tower, had come to believe top American officials – including Bush, Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and others – had foreknowledge of the attacks, purposefully failed to prevent them, and had since taken pains to cover up the truth.
10. New nuke plants: taxpayers support, industry profits
If you thought nuclear energy was dead, think again: the Bush administration's energy bill – yet another product of Cheney's industry-stacked energy task force – provides taxpayer cash for companies that build new nukes.
A secretly crafted provision of the bill, released late on a Saturday night in November, offers energy companies as much as $7.5 billion in tax credits to build six nuclear reactors. This is in addition to almost $4 billion set aside for other nuclear energy programs.
"Nuclear power already has had 50 years of subsidy totaling over $140 billion," Nuclear Information and Resource Service's Cindy Folkers reported.
US recovery 'not helping workers'
Many working families still feel no benefit from the US economic recovery, the Economic Policy Institute says.
While business is improving, average wages have fallen, job satisfaction has declined and the rich-poor gap widened, says a report by the US think tank.
And in terms of recouping jobs since the start of the recession, the US is in a worse position "than any business cycle since the 1930s", it added.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- No Shit. I have run into so many people over the past few months that say that not only are jobs out there crap, but they are so bad that even with this poor economy and no prospect of collecting unemployment benefits that I and my legion of fellow employed/unemployed co-workers would rather depend on our meals from a food bank than work under the conditions we have to work under. No F**king Shit. That is how bad it really and truly is. I would rather face poverty and losing a roof over my head than work for you. And so would many, many others out there across this country and across the world. The gift of a job that corporations and businesses offer is so repulsive we would rather die than take it.
Many working families still feel no benefit from the US economic recovery, the Economic Policy Institute says.
While business is improving, average wages have fallen, job satisfaction has declined and the rich-poor gap widened, says a report by the US think tank.
And in terms of recouping jobs since the start of the recession, the US is in a worse position "than any business cycle since the 1930s", it added.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- No Shit. I have run into so many people over the past few months that say that not only are jobs out there crap, but they are so bad that even with this poor economy and no prospect of collecting unemployment benefits that I and my legion of fellow employed/unemployed co-workers would rather depend on our meals from a food bank than work under the conditions we have to work under. No F**king Shit. That is how bad it really and truly is. I would rather face poverty and losing a roof over my head than work for you. And so would many, many others out there across this country and across the world. The gift of a job that corporations and businesses offer is so repulsive we would rather die than take it.
The Curse of Dick Cheney
The ever-canny Ronald Reagan was the only Republican president since Eisenhower who managed to serve two full terms. He is also the only one not to have appointed Dick Cheney to office.
This pattern of misplaced confidence in Cheney, followed by disastrous results, runs throughout his life -- from his days as a dropout at Yale to the geopolitical chaos he has helped create in Baghdad. Once you get to know his history, the cycle becomes clear: First, Cheney impresses someone rich or powerful, who causes unearned wealth and power to be conferred on him. Then, when things go wrong, he blames others and moves on to a new situation even more advantageous to himself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read on to get the whole poop and nothing but the poop on the most disasterous federal official ever to inhabit an office. If an average worker screwed up as badly as Cheney has throughout his career, we would be unable to work as anything but janitors.
===================================================================
What there are more incompetent, arrogant theiving neo-cons? Why yes, there's *millions* of 'em. Check out this article here
about Richard Pearle.
Mr. Perle's position, both in the corporate world and in policy circles, has been shaken.
In the Hollinger case, regulators are preparing to seek an order barring him and Lord Black from serving on boards of public companies, and the Justice Department has opened an inquiry to examine whether any criminal laws were violated.
The report suggests in one passage that Lord Black ultimately agreed to permit Hollinger to make a $2.5 million investment in Trireme to get Mr. Perle to resign as head of Hollinger Digital, telling three top Hollinger executives by e-mail messages that he was "well aware of Richard's shortcomings" and another that he was "well aware of what a trimmer and a sharper Richard is at times."
The ever-canny Ronald Reagan was the only Republican president since Eisenhower who managed to serve two full terms. He is also the only one not to have appointed Dick Cheney to office.
This pattern of misplaced confidence in Cheney, followed by disastrous results, runs throughout his life -- from his days as a dropout at Yale to the geopolitical chaos he has helped create in Baghdad. Once you get to know his history, the cycle becomes clear: First, Cheney impresses someone rich or powerful, who causes unearned wealth and power to be conferred on him. Then, when things go wrong, he blames others and moves on to a new situation even more advantageous to himself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read on to get the whole poop and nothing but the poop on the most disasterous federal official ever to inhabit an office. If an average worker screwed up as badly as Cheney has throughout his career, we would be unable to work as anything but janitors.
===================================================================
What there are more incompetent, arrogant theiving neo-cons? Why yes, there's *millions* of 'em. Check out this article here
about Richard Pearle.
Mr. Perle's position, both in the corporate world and in policy circles, has been shaken.
In the Hollinger case, regulators are preparing to seek an order barring him and Lord Black from serving on boards of public companies, and the Justice Department has opened an inquiry to examine whether any criminal laws were violated.
The report suggests in one passage that Lord Black ultimately agreed to permit Hollinger to make a $2.5 million investment in Trireme to get Mr. Perle to resign as head of Hollinger Digital, telling three top Hollinger executives by e-mail messages that he was "well aware of Richard's shortcomings" and another that he was "well aware of what a trimmer and a sharper Richard is at times."
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Commentary I put up on Seeing The Forest
re editing troll posts on comment sections in blogs:
I go along with the comment that offensive posts should be banned. The argument that I make is this: In a totalitarian society they want to make you feel as bad about yourself as they possibly can. Like it or not, this country is becoming that society. Face up to it. Accept it. Black Box Voting. Free Speech Zones. Trolls on blog posts. Fight back and don't be naive' about 'suppressing someone else's free speech rights.' The other side doesn't care about *your* free speech, they only want to disenfranchise it and shut it down. The sooner everyone acknowledges that they need to fight back, and fight back using their tactics, as repulsive as they may be, the sooner we can get this country back on track. The bottom line is: they don't play fair, they know they don't have to, the only thing they know is how to lie, cheat, steal, sucker punch and everything else out there that is dispicable, repulsive and obnoxious. We do not live in a 'decent society' anymore. Accept it, Fight It.
re editing troll posts on comment sections in blogs:
I go along with the comment that offensive posts should be banned. The argument that I make is this: In a totalitarian society they want to make you feel as bad about yourself as they possibly can. Like it or not, this country is becoming that society. Face up to it. Accept it. Black Box Voting. Free Speech Zones. Trolls on blog posts. Fight back and don't be naive' about 'suppressing someone else's free speech rights.' The other side doesn't care about *your* free speech, they only want to disenfranchise it and shut it down. The sooner everyone acknowledges that they need to fight back, and fight back using their tactics, as repulsive as they may be, the sooner we can get this country back on track. The bottom line is: they don't play fair, they know they don't have to, the only thing they know is how to lie, cheat, steal, sucker punch and everything else out there that is dispicable, repulsive and obnoxious. We do not live in a 'decent society' anymore. Accept it, Fight It.
Something to back up what I said earlier re voter apathy and disconnection from the political and social process here
Excerpts:
It may also be true that in the age of television, music videos and modern technological entertainment, many Americans are simply too distracted to heavily engage in politics and other forms of civic life, said John Judis, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
This day and age finds many Americans increasingly withdrawn from various forms of social interaction, including politics, some experts say.
Excerpts:
It may also be true that in the age of television, music videos and modern technological entertainment, many Americans are simply too distracted to heavily engage in politics and other forms of civic life, said John Judis, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
This day and age finds many Americans increasingly withdrawn from various forms of social interaction, including politics, some experts say.
In his 2000 book, Bowling Alone, Putnam documented what he called America's plummeting "social capital", the decreasing participation of citizens in social networks ranging from neighbourhood watch programmes and church groups to political party meetings.
A new study conducted by the American Political Science Association titled American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality, reported that America increasingly is comprised of two "classes of citizenship" in which the affluent sector has far more access to political leaders than the low-income sector. The report said the two major political parties spend most of their time "recruiting" assistance from those "who are already the most privileged and involved", and that the economic imbalances in the US are becoming more severe than in most other democratic countries. These developments have most likely dissuaded some poorer American citizens from joining the political system, the report said. "What we are witnessing now is not only low voter participation among the disenfranchised in this country," said Lawrence Jacobs, one of the authors of the report. "There is also a growing sense of powerlessness that is tearing at the heart of democracy itself."
This is a reply to a friend who sent me an article by Greg Palast on Florida's ongoing voting issues.
You can read Greg's story here: http://www.gregpalast.com/index.cfm
You can read Greg's story here: http://www.gregpalast.com/index.cfm
Sorry I sent that one back to you, I saw the story in
'Bushwatch' (something that you should really
subscribe to if you haven't already) and missed
reading it. I should have come back to read that
article, very important indeed. I don't know if
you've read Greg Palast's stuff, but he's very, very
good at what he does, in other words being a
dependable, muckraking journalist.
I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but there really
is no point in anyone believing there is any hope for
change in this country, democrat or repugnican. When
you think of both parties, a more accurate description
would be 'ultra-conservative' and 'conservative'.
Third partys? Not in this lifetime. As Doctor Smith
would say in 'Lost in Space' "Doomed, we're all
Doomed."
Oh, and if you vote by absentee ballot, you will
notice the requirement to state party affiliation so
they can more quickly screen who they do and do not
want to accept votes from. Welcome to an Orwellian
Amerika. Also, these absentee ballots are counted by
a 'central tabulator' with all the faults that occur
in the touch-screen machines that are so
controversial. In other words, the central tabulator
is 'fixable' with back-door access to manipulate votes
and no means of detecting whether that vote is fixed
or not.
As for me, you can see my sentiments with the
attached poster. I may go out and start posting it on
lampposts for all the good it will do in this MTV
generation u.s.
Have you been watching the New York protests?
Ineffectual comes to mind. I've been keeping track on
the NY Indymedia website as well. Those who are out
there protesting are just shouting inside an empty
room. Nobody's home. They don't seem to realize the
era of marching sock puppets around died with the
sixties and when people see that now they may as well
be watching a civil war re-enactment.
My feeling is they would be much more effective in a
'guerilla warfare' environment where they put on
business suits, got haircuts, and started their own
lobbying organizations. It wouldn't hurt if they
started reading republican literature on how to be
effective in local and national governemnt. I don't
like the republicans at all, but they have certainly
put a lot of thought into how to take over a country.
The CIA and Special Forces weren't afraid to read Che
Guevara's 'Guerilla Warfare', and ultimatly that's how
they got him. Perhaps it's time the left did the same
when it comes to reaching out to the public and
pulling them in where it counts.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Yeah, so another farkin' day in the dull, boring cat-ate-my-shorts city of Seattle. Somebody drive an icepick through my brain *please*.
I spent part of the day posting for jobs in the worst economy since the great depression, playing with my cats, and surfing the net before running away screaming at all the news and history being made today. Bad, bad, all bad. Remember this one, burn it into your brain, never forget it: 'Those Who Fail To Learn From History's Mistakes Are Doomed To Repeat Them." Rinse, repeat. I truly think we are in one of the low points of human history, you know, the one where in the future they all look back and think. "Wow, did the entire country have like some bad bowel blockage of the mind or something?" Me, I think it's all the food additives and pollutants that have leached into the soil over the years of poor stewardship. It's all coming back to haunt us. Seriously, have you seen what the population looks like these days? We're all either fat as hogs or if they're teens (girls, specifically) they have these weird little bird like legs, paunchy guts and vacous, dull expressions. Then again, has anyone seen the inside of a school cafeteria lately? Hormones in the food, soda machines every five feet, advertising for 'crap o' the day' everywhere you turn. How are kids supposed to get a decent education with distractions like that around? I weep for tomorrow.
I used to be worried about one of these walking chemical landfills being my boss, but my guess is with all the anti-depressents wrongfully prescribed, hormone-saturated food, bad education and poor healthcare they'll be lucky to make it past thirty. Through no fault of their own, mind you, who could fend off a constant marketing assault 24-7 like people are being subjected to these days? As for me, I finally just said 'To Hell With It' and cut off the cable TV. Let me repeat that so you can recover. I Cut Off My Cable TV. My hair didn't fall out, my vision improved, I can actually follow a conversation (and contribute to it.) Most important of all. I actually read to obtain information. Yes. Read to obtain information. Scary, I'n it? Now, the few times I bother to turn on the telly anymore I am almost instantly repulsed by how shallow and vacous it is. No more shallow Faux News commentary. No MSNBC blather. No local news boobs and press poodles (yap, yap, yap, yap, yappity-yap) Bliss. Serenity. A Higher Place. All because I shut off the boob tube. No more tabloid shows. No 'reality TV' (reality? Is it reality to be shut up inside a lucite box with a nest of scorpians for a few bucks?) No nonsense.
Well, okay, theres Fark.com. But I just browse, I just browse! Nuthin the matter with jus' browsin. Move along now, nothing to see here. . .
I spent part of the day posting for jobs in the worst economy since the great depression, playing with my cats, and surfing the net before running away screaming at all the news and history being made today. Bad, bad, all bad. Remember this one, burn it into your brain, never forget it: 'Those Who Fail To Learn From History's Mistakes Are Doomed To Repeat Them." Rinse, repeat. I truly think we are in one of the low points of human history, you know, the one where in the future they all look back and think. "Wow, did the entire country have like some bad bowel blockage of the mind or something?" Me, I think it's all the food additives and pollutants that have leached into the soil over the years of poor stewardship. It's all coming back to haunt us. Seriously, have you seen what the population looks like these days? We're all either fat as hogs or if they're teens (girls, specifically) they have these weird little bird like legs, paunchy guts and vacous, dull expressions. Then again, has anyone seen the inside of a school cafeteria lately? Hormones in the food, soda machines every five feet, advertising for 'crap o' the day' everywhere you turn. How are kids supposed to get a decent education with distractions like that around? I weep for tomorrow.
I used to be worried about one of these walking chemical landfills being my boss, but my guess is with all the anti-depressents wrongfully prescribed, hormone-saturated food, bad education and poor healthcare they'll be lucky to make it past thirty. Through no fault of their own, mind you, who could fend off a constant marketing assault 24-7 like people are being subjected to these days? As for me, I finally just said 'To Hell With It' and cut off the cable TV. Let me repeat that so you can recover. I Cut Off My Cable TV. My hair didn't fall out, my vision improved, I can actually follow a conversation (and contribute to it.) Most important of all. I actually read to obtain information. Yes. Read to obtain information. Scary, I'n it? Now, the few times I bother to turn on the telly anymore I am almost instantly repulsed by how shallow and vacous it is. No more shallow Faux News commentary. No MSNBC blather. No local news boobs and press poodles (yap, yap, yap, yap, yappity-yap) Bliss. Serenity. A Higher Place. All because I shut off the boob tube. No more tabloid shows. No 'reality TV' (reality? Is it reality to be shut up inside a lucite box with a nest of scorpians for a few bucks?) No nonsense.
Well, okay, theres Fark.com. But I just browse, I just browse! Nuthin the matter with jus' browsin. Move along now, nothing to see here. . .
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