Changes

I won't be grinding saw chain after this next week. They replaced me. Instead I will be joining the maintenance crew, fixing the machines that make and grind the chain. I feel pretty freakin' cool about that.

One Man, Two Women!

Screw the "Traditional Family".

Embryo With Two Mothers Approved

Non-traditional breeding has advantages.

No News IS Good News

For nearly two weeks now I have not read, listened to, or watched any news source other than science news and local weather. So that means for a little over a week now everybody has told me all about the goings ons in New Orleans.

I feel like an old farmer who gets all his news by going to the local cafe every day for lunch and talking with the locals. His entire world view gets formed by what other people think and tell him about current events. Except I can see this taking place. I saw the same phenomenon taking place with standard news sources. A reporter will either write from their personal vantage point, or learn to write from their editor's vantage point. Likely their editor will have the vantage point of the owners. It leaks through. Most news stories in a standard, metropolitan, daily, all have the same feel and betray a similar bias. I wouldn't call it liberal or conservative. The best descriptor I can come up with? Business Casual. What does news sound like coming from friends, family, coworkers, and vociferous strangers? Listen to an eight-year-old tell you about the last movie they watched. Now layer it with heavy opinions usually criticizing the government, a broader vocabulary, and some profanity thrown in for good measure. Yeah, something like that.

And it sounds better. These 'news sources' know that they have chosen to interpret events. They don't feign impartiality. They tell you not what they heard or saw but how what they heard and saw affected them.

And in the last week I have seen awe, anger, sorrow, and something I can only describe as hollow disbelief, not in a negative way, but as one would expect from trying to comprehend something so unfathomable.

Best of all, I didn't waste any time on news. Oh, and I guess the Middle East has remained pretty fucked up, too.

The Big Teat

All around me I have heard talk about the devastation of New Orleans and the failure of the governments (local, state, and federal) to respond in a timely and appropriate fashion. In other words, people look at government not just as the authoritarian figure that tells us what we can and cannot do, trying to poke it's nose into all of our business. People have never seemed to like the masculine aspects of government. This disaster has shown that Americans also think of their governments as the mother. When things go wrong they expect the government to come sweeping in and make everything better. You know, apply some bandages, kiss some owies, and give you a big bowl of chicken noodle soup. And when the government didn't do that, people felt abandoned, orphaned.

Thus I maintain my position as an Anarchist. Reliance on organizations of any kind will lead to disaster. To the best of your ability, take responsibility for yourself. Those of us who can should help those of us who can't. We should have that as a natural instinct. Preservation of the tribe. For some reason or another, it has gotten washed away.

And now for some truly personal opinion. Those at the bottom end of the pay scale (95% of Americans) should donate time to the efforts. The rest should empty their bank accounts to support those doing the work. My $5.23 (adjusted for inflation in a post-disaster America).

Si

Pura Vida

Disaster

Since I had sworn off news right before Katrina hit New Orleans, I only pick up bits and pieces of what has happened via word of mouth. One of the first things I heard was how my employer got a massive influx for saw chain orders. A similar thing happened when Sweden had a huge wind storm that leveled the better part of a forest. Until working there I had never really thought of how vital saw chain is to disaster clean up. I guess the giant tsunami even boosted the orders.

AWPC

Maintenance Guy: Your bike is so loud. I was standing at the 7-11 and could have sworn you were 20 feet away. I looked and you were already way past the Taco Bell. That thing is loud, but it sounds good.

Americans Winning the Drug War!

The fine freedom loving folks of America are winning the Drug War! Just check out these statistics on National Marijuanna Use and you can see it for yourself. Despite the illegal status of marijuanna, more than a tenth of Bostonians, in the proud tradition of their founding fathers, reported using marijuanna. Boston Tea Party, indeed! That's right, they REPORTED using marijuanna within the 30 days previous to the study. That means a lot of people probably didn't report their drug use. After all, using marijuanna IS illegal. Not only that, but more casual users who only break the law a few times a year also may not have had their use counted.

I salute you, proud strong Americans. You understand that just because some government tells you not to do something that affects only you (and those who choose to get all dramatic about your personal choices) that you don't have to listen if you don't want to. You have stood up for Liberty. You have not let them push you around or silence you. You fine, proud Americans are WINNING the drug war against a tyranical government that wants to pry into as many aspects of our personal lives as they can get away with. I may not be sparking up a bowl but I feel better knowing people are. Fight On!

"It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom. Keep that in mind at all times." -Bill Hicks

I know, I said I would swear off news except for science news. This crept into one of my science news sources.

Fruit

I could really go for a banana right now.

The Problem With Campaign Promises

Check out my friend's blog on the pickle Minnesota's Governor has gotten himself into.

Knight of Pan: Gov. Pawlenty Learns Crime Doesn't Pay!

If you tell voters you plan on taxing them rather than cutting services, you can not win an election. If you tell voters you will not raise taxes, but then do, you usually wind up not getting re-elected. Rarely does anyone decide to cut services. That's the government crack. Everybody wants their services. Gimme Gimme Gimme!

As the Divinely Appointed King of North America, I here-by abolish all individual taxes and shift that burden over to business and industry and heavy tarrifs on all imported goods except beverages. God told me to do it.

Cruising

I went for a sweet ride today.

Filled the '73 up with gas, started heading for the veggie stand, then said, "Fuck it. Food can wait." Hit some backroads and got a beautiful view of Mt. Hood surrounded by farmland and trees. Couldn't tell you any of the roads I took. I just rode.

Should do that more often. Best ride of the summer.

Serial

Pile enough crap onto a situation and the human brain just shuts down and can't seem to fathom it. Like when you find out your kindly old uncle who you've always thought highly of is a pedophile priest heroin addict with mob connections and the world's largest Bazooka Joe comic collection. You hear the words but the scale just slips by.

George and his Junta do that to a lot of people. Foot-in-mouth disease, lieing pig fucker, priviledged daddy's boy, draft dodger, corporate thief, business failure, arrogant bastard, coke fiend, alcoholic, puppet. Can you feel the brain just glazing over? You read and register each one but by the time you finish the list, the first ones have just sort of disappeared and the rest will soon follow. So you think of the guy as "messed up". Well, we all feel messed up at times. We can gloss that, right? No, this guy defies our sensibilities. He goes so far beyond fuck-up.

Feel free to use that as a talking point with any Bush supporters. Accuse them of letting their brains shut down. Offer to take them to a psychologist.

Dead Milkmen - Brat in the Frat

Hey!
I do not like you college brat
I do not like you and your frat
I do not like you at the shore
I do not like you drunk on Coors
I do not like your average life
I hope you do not take a wife
I hope you don't decide to breed
Cause that's one thing I do not need

I do not like you radical
I hate you and your fancy school
You're wrong about the working class
I hope they kick your Harvard ass
I do not like you world of ours
I'd rather live on planet Mars
And die from lack of oxygen
Than breathe the air of other men
Hey!

Giving Up News

I wish I had a heroine or amphetamine addiction. Programs and treatment methods exist to help you kick those habits. People in general will seem supportive of your efforts. Instead, I have decided to stop feeding my news addiction. It sucks. While clearing the news sources from my start page, I couldn't keep myself from clicking on five headlines. Yesterday I seemed powerless to keep from scrolling down my subscription menu that lists the latest headlines. Strength and perseverance. I want to give up news for one month. Just one month. I don't want journalisticly filtered reality. My senses will guide me. Just one month. I can feel the shakes coming on. "Just one news story, come on, check out the Sydney Morning Herald." NO! No news. I can do this.

I realize that the random news event will filter through my co-workers. Inevitable. That doesn't count since they seem to get the facts screwed up half the time anyway.

No radio news. I got the tape deck working.

No television news. Not even the weather.

I will allow myself one guilty pleasure. Science news. But only once a week.

NEWS FLASH!

Despite concerted effort by the Bush Junta, many people still thinking for themselves.

Pat Robertson

This man needs to perform seppuku. Then I might consider him truly apologetic.

Speaking of Things

I want a British accent.

When I say things with my mid-range, middle American accent, sarcasm can sound bitter or get missed entirely.

The Brits have the perfect accent for sarcasm and dry whit.

Sympathetic PMS

Last night I had a dream.

I stood in a chocolate shop, wanting desperately to purchase a dark chocolate tart.

I would ask for the dark chocolate tart, but the staff kept pointing out other dark chocolate delights I could purchase, and never gave me the dark chocolate tart.

I know it's not my period that's coming, but I'd still like the dark chocolate tart.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Bush?

Damn, this pig fucker seems to be able to get away with just about anything. Not talking about anything specific. Just saying this guy has the nation wrapped around his agenda just like Hitler did. Which doesn't make sense when you consider that Hitler had a powerful public speaking ability and King George can't even read his lines without fucking it up.

Maybe he should try to communicate through interpretive dance. Then instead of lieing he could say that we just misunderstood him.

Critical Mass

I think the blogging in my circle of acquaintances (since I have no friends) has nearly peaked. One individual who started to actually use their account to just sort through their own head, seems to have acted as the infamous straw. Shortly after that, just about everyone who will blog had started up a blog.

Reminds me of when I used to put one too many scoops of shit in the wheel barrow.