Freedom: Fourth of July style

On this Fourth of July I ask you what is “freedom”? In the US we have all been brainwashed from birth and told we are so much “freer” than the rest of the poor world, we should be so grateful. What really is it, and how do you compare it? Have you ever noticed that the people who say that we have so much freedom in America and we should prize it so, are people who never travel and have no real idea what is going on in the rest of the world?

Here is a definition for a baseline from http://www.dictionary.com/ :
free⋅dom
 
Use freedom in a Sentence
–noun
1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint: He won his freedom after a retrial.

2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

3. the power to determine action without restraint.

4. political or national independence.

5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery: a slave who bought his freedom.

6. exemption from the presence of anything specified (usually fol. by from): freedom from fear.

7. the absence of or release from ties, obligations, etc.

8. ease or facility of movement or action: to enjoy the freedom of living in the country.

9. frankness of manner or speech.

10. general exemption or immunity: freedom from taxation.

11. the absence of ceremony or reserve.

12. a liberty taken.

13. a particular immunity or privilege enjoyed, as by a city or corporation: freedom to levy taxes.

14. civil liberty, as opposed to subjection to an arbitrary or despotic government.

15. the right to enjoy all the privileges or special rights of citizenship, membership, etc., in a community or the like.

16. the right to frequent, enjoy, or use at will: to have the freedom of a friend's library.

17. Philosophy. the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without; autonomy; self-determination. Compare necessity (def. 7).

What about number 1? We have more people in prison in the US than any other country in the world, by far! Currently we have over 2 MILLION people locked up, many for minor offences like drugs, and by far and away most of them are people of color does that sound like a free state to you?

How about 2? Have you simply tried to drive to work up 405 or I5 and seen the cops sitting on the side of the road ready to pull people over if they drive slightly too fast, or are in the wrong lane, or have a light out, or talk on the cell phone, or don’t have their seat belt on? If you have ever been outside the US you know you will not see this kind of harassment anywhere else in world, it is bizarre what we put up with every day.

What about 3? Try and build an addition to your house without jumping through a myriad of rules determined by minor potentiates. Try and shoot off fireworks =on the wrong day to celebrate your “freedom”, try and go fishing or hunting without and folder full of licenses and certificates and vouchers for the multitude of fees.

4. Political or national independence. Do you think we are independent of other countries when we own China so much money right now we could never pay it back?

5. Do we have personal liberty?

6. I like the example “freedom from fear”, America is riddled with fear. Our news outlets don’t really even report actual news anymore so much as they hype fear. Going through the security checkpoints at LA airport recently about 17 TSA people performed a “security drill” everyone running around screaming BRAVO BRAVO!! There were only five of us beaten down tired travelers trying to go about our business. Do these displays make me feel safe? No. They waste my time and make me realize we have really lost something in America that used to be called balls. See number 8 here as well, “freedom of movement”? HA!

9. Might be OK if no one hears you and you aren’t a teacher or etc. etc. More and more people have jumped on that politically correct zombie speech thing. These people are comical as they try and stumble through life trying to keep up on all of our societies’ “community thought” on what is correct 0or, ok, or won’t ever offend anyone at any time even if it is true.

10. Freedom from taxation… and fees and B&O taxes and car fees and “sin taxes” and GAWD DAMN IT! We are taxed silly to keep all those police on the street and the largest army in the world with standing troops in every country I can think of, and more people in prison than anywhere else (some being tortured with no charges against them). It costs a fortune to keep up all these laws and rules and regulations over every tiny detail of our lives, a police state is very expensive.

14. I don’t think there is anyone alive that doesn’t feel our civil liberties haven’t taken a huge hit under Bush and Cheney. I have been disappointed so far in Obama’s action to turn back the clock to where we were before. Suffice it to say that there was a time when America’s civil liberties were the envy of the world. That time has been very limited. The civil rights act was what 1964? Until that late date people of color might have different rest rooms or be told to ride in the back of the bus. You see the freedoms that people in America take for granted have never been for EVERYONE just the privileged few. Our justice system for instance is for the rich.

15. The freedom to enjoy all the rights of the community? Really like what our justice system that is tilted to the rich so far it no longer even functions or our wonderful health care system that millions and millions of full time working people can not afford?

Yes I know the standard response in our free country. If you are not giddy in love with it the way it is, and the way it is transforming, then leave! If you do not buy into the brainwashed official line then leave.

I once talked to a guy from Laos who made the comment “you Americans think you are so terribly free but you are not”, and shook his head. He had lived around the world. I asked him to name a country that was “freeer” for the common working man than the US and he said Thailand.

Consider this: I know many, many people working here now that were not born here. Almost to a person they have no intention of staying here. They are here to make money. When they retire they are going back home to Canada, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, and others. They are not here for more freedom and they are not impressed with our freedom at all. They think we are ruled and regulated and micromanaged and taxed to death.

Make sure today you buy your fireworks from the right stand today and check the regulations on your local city, county and state to make sure you will not be arrested by the police or ATF or labeled a terrorist and put on a do not fly list. Check your noise regulations. Make sure someone of the proper age and wearing the correct safety gear is lighting the fireworks. Make sure you hang your flag properly (there are tons of rules about the flag).

Role Playing a Human Being

So I do know some people that have had problems in their lives. I know a kid that got high on meth and knocked someone’s windows out of their house, he got a felony for that. I know a guy who did time in prison and joined the Aryan Nations, although now he is just a dad who drives truck with four kids. I went to high school with a dude named Randy Roth http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1992/9204240068.asp , I had him in auto shop, since I didn’t have a car at first I worked on his 57 chevy shorty. But to look on the front page of the PI and a number of other papers like the Huffington Post and see a woman I used to know in cuffs charged with first degree murder, is somewhat bizarre. http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090613/NEWS01/706139922/-1/RSS02

Shawna was always a trouble maker and didn’t take too many things very seriously. When I worked with her she was always in HR, although I don’t think she was actually fired. One time she baked brownies and brought them to work and they had rubbers baked inside them, you can imagine how that went over!!

She had stopped here a couple times at my place on the way to Snoqualmie area to visit her mother. I try and look back at the person I thought I used to know a bit and ask myself~ did I ever see or imagine she could or would ever become a cold blooded murderer? The kind that kills kids, so they won’t be witnesses? The answer is no, hell no.

She had two kids and when she wanted to split up with her current husband she decided to leave her son with him (he wasn’t the father), I asked why? She said her son liked living with him. He is currently in prison now for selling guns illegally among other things. I guess she just never learned the whole humanity thing, about loving and actually caring about other people.

Well you should be happy now Shawna, you are on the front page of the paper! You don’t have to punch the clock and everyone knows your name now. I would imagine that in your own mind you can somehow justify what you did because it seems your mind has become a warped record of a thing that doesn’t work anymore like a brain should work. It is just so sad there are people like you, sneaking around in the midst of people like the rest of us, the most of us, who try and do our best to get along with people and live the right way, do the right thing.

Top Ten Crazy Women (of the last 30 years or so)

After reading recently that our PNW home girl Mary Kay Letourneau, is hosting “Hot for Teacher night” at a local night club on Saturday, I was thinking about making up a top ten list of crazy women. I mean why not? What-the-hell, over?

Of course as many submissions poured in I realized there had to be a few rulz. One is they can’t come from too far back in time historically. I was thinking 30 years or so. So that means Janis Joplin, one of my personal favorites, would be right on the border. Just flying off the deep end once or so really doesn’t merit getting on here either (except in one case), so Margot Kidder and Sean Young will be excluded. First alternate Lindsay Lohan.
So here we go:

1. Mary Kay Letourneau; I will never forget how on the day she got a six months sentence for raping a kid she taught in the sixth grade, a guy I worked with got five years for fondling his step daughter (she never got pregnant or was a parent now), because of the mind numbingly light sentence from a female judge she was out and at it again within months and now poor Vili was a double father! Most people don’t know the crazed woman still contacted him in prison and serves quite a bit of time in solitary—Double standard justice but also many-many women she nothing wrong with what she did and think of it as “true love” and other horseshit. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/19/sports/plus-court-news-harding-sentenced-to-3-days-in-jail.html

2. Tonya Harding; Another local girl-go PNW!! Tonya is deliciously athletic and violent rolled up in a white trailer-trash, tragic-comedy, and visage of legendary proportions. Try searching for “Tonya Harding” and you will see she has become an attack term!! People say things like “if they don’t watch it I will go Tonya Harding on them” etc. My favorite Tonya story is the time she attacked her boyfriend with a hubcap. The only way you can do this is if you have hub caps lying around in your yard…back to white trash… http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/19/sports/plus-court-news-harding-sentenced-to-3-days-in-jail.html Tonya is yet another person with a “sex tape scandal” http://www.nndb.com/people/502/000025427/


3. Lorena Bobbit; This is in fact just one go, but the side stories gave the thing some legs as they say. First it was taking his penis with her, driving around and throwing it out her car window, then calling 911, the John actually having it sewn back on! Both Bobbit’s went on trial, him for rape and her for “malicious wounding”, they both got off! What? Didn’t someone commit a crime here? This whole thing sparked so much public discourse there were tons of jokes, and even fifteen years later Lorena Bobbit gets TV interviews. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorena_Bobbitt

4. Brittany Spears; She of course married her high school sweetheart, then like an idiot listened to her family got an annulment and married the hideous Kevin Federline. She is always in the news about every little thing. She can just run around town not sporting panties and create an uproar. My favorite story though, is cutting off all her hair because she knew she couldn’t pass a drug test. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6nJzr3sEM4

5. Amy WInehouse; For starters her name really fits her doesn’t it? She and her Husband/X husband are always in the news for assault and of course re-hab stories. When your hit song says “I don’t want to go to rehab NO, NO,NO” it brings a certain notoriety methinks. Then main thing that always seems to get around her is the before and after pictures of when she obviously descended into heavy drug usage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TaPubacOLM Unlike many of the listees here she has actual real talent, hopefully she will buck the trend and pull out of it before it is too late.

6. Lisa Marie Nowak; Not really a household name of course, but can anyone forget the story of the NASA astronaut who put on a “diapers” so she didn’t have to stop on a cross-country,900 mile drive from Houston to Orlando to attack another woman who was vying for her true love’s affections. She was also wearing a wig and a trench coat. OK visualize this: a woman wearing nothing but a wig, trench coat and a diaper? WTF!! She then went and boarded the same airport shuttle bus as her rival Colleen Shipman. She sprayed pepper spray into the woman’s car when she cracked the window to talk to her. Bizarre behavior for a woman who has flown on the space shuttle and been to the international space station. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250415,00.html She has a master’s degree in engineering and isn’t bad looking… http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250415,00.html


7. Courtney Love; Does she seek out controversy? It seems she has no talent, similar to Bianca Jagger, she just married someone in Curt Cobain who did and now manages to stay in the spotlight through bizarre behavior. She lost possession of her daughter for drugs and danced naked at a re-hab clinic in Malibu for three hours before being convinced to stop. http://www.nndb.com/people/389/000022323/

8. Ann Coulter; How to describe Ann Coulter in the shortest space possible? A female Rush Limbaugh, I can think of no greater insult (while true), to give any person alive or dead. She has been described by others as a “pundit” and a “rightwing bomb thrower”. She was fired from CNBC for telling a disabled Vietnam veteran “no wonder you guys lost”. She was also fired from the National Review which is hard to believe. Ann Coulter’s books have been described as “page after page of ranting”, it is hard to imagine her having any following at all, from anyone. It does illustrate when one reviews the ultra-neo-con flag bearer’s vitriol and hatred, the depth of emotion involved in what is passed off as politics. Her is Ann at her shrill and strained best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wnPHFSdrME


9. Anna Nicole Smith; (real name Vickie Lynn Hogan), The posthumous award goes to the former playboy bunny, eighth grade dropout, and former Wal-Mart cashier who married an ancient millionaire, Howard Marshall 88. Her husband lasted 14 months and when he died she was left nothing his son was sole beneficiary of the will. So you can guess what happened there LAWSUIT! Howard K. Stern was her lawyer and was even there at the end trying to say he fathered her baby. http://www.nndb.com/people/766/000028682/ . Her 20 year old son preceded her in death. http://futurenurses21.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/annanicole1.jpg
Of course there are many nude photos of her out there and even death bed photos, but we don’t need to go there do we? http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/anna_nicole_smith31.jpg Apparently both her boyfriend and doctor were charged in her death for conspiring to provide her with illegal drugs. http://thebsreport.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/boyfriend-and-doctor-charged-in-anna-nicole-smiths-death-for-prescription-drug-felonies/ Anna, you wanted to be like Marilynn Monroe it is too bad you got your wish.


10. Tammy Faye Baker; (AKA: Tamara Faye La Valley), was nominated by several people. At first I thought well, yeah she is a phony TV evangelist and her husband went to prison for fraud but people like that are a dime a dozen, aren’t they? Well, no, she did in fact take it to a new, historical level. For one thing did you know the PTL ministry launched its own SATELLITE for 24 hour coverage? Not only that but her second husband Roe Messner who made his fortune building churches ALSO went to jail for fraud, WTF! She will be known forever as Mrs. Mascara.
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Womens%20Page/jewelry_and_makeup.htm YIKE!!

The twittering life:

So how in the name of baby jesus did I get HERE anyway? And maybe more important is why? Why did I start twittering?

Unlike many, maybe even most, I am not trying to sell you a bill of goods. Many I follow, or have read, are selling photos, services, or seminars. Some have lodges they are trying to fill and some are selling ideas they think-they wish they might have, about how to be a better twitterer.

There has to be a way to butcher this bird for dinner!

This seems to involve getting a bigger audience. More followers the better I guess, bigger is always better, more is more-better and bigger too… and this is America after all. It seems the main way to get a hell of a lot of followers is to follow everyone else like a F’ing madman, and of course none of you actually read each other’s tweets, but you say LooK AT MY FolloWERS damn-your-heathen-eyes! The more followers the more important voice you have, the more convincing you are, the more influential, supposedly. Of course I could say well Brittany Spears has a lot of followers and does she really influence anybody? Isn’t that the classic case of people slowing down on the freeway when there is an accident? They say it is for safety but really they are just looking for blood.
I can see getting caught up in it. Should I find a ap like quitter to see which post made someone quit following me? Then me thinks if I do that and just twitter away my time learning how to be twerfect (politically and perfectly twitterly correct), just to gain followers what have I become? Some kind of digital glad-hander, almost like a politician who wants to be something to everyone, so he becomes nothing to anybody, and he is nothing but a bag of pink methane gas (just like…uh…don’t want to alienate you…).
Besides, this all seems like too much work. It takes away from why I did this in the first most place. Which was it, “twitter”, being a small quick way to communicate, and shout at the world, in a bite sized way, occasionally throwing in a http://www.tinyurl.com/ for spice and the whole enchilada is searchable for topics and names and stuff. Here I am very tempted to insert a list of top ten reasons, or top five thoughts about this, because anytime a person writes about twitter it is almost a requirement to have a list.

TOP TEN WAYS TO HAVE SEX ON TWITTER
Five ways to make twitter followers quit following
Seven deadly sins of Twitter
EIGHT IS NEVER ENOUGH WAYS TO MONETIZE TWITTER
If trapped on a desert island what FIVE Social Media would you choose to take with you?
This is one of the unwritten rulz of twitter; LISTS!

I am learning this as I go (making it up as I go along). But I don’t have a Facebook page (http://425writer.blogspot.com/2009/01/should-i-facebook-myself.html) and it reminds me years ago I didn’t have a TV. People look at me incredulously, YOU DON”T HAVE FACEBOOK!! Like they saw a small slave child chained to my toilet, it seems truly horrific, un-American. But look, in retrospect, now the only people that use MYSPACE are; angst-ridden pre-teens, lousy bands, William Shatner and child molesters, who would have known?

I am sure some figure to play the social media game, the more different pla
tforms a person is on the wider the net is cast, and each network promotes the hell out of the other until you are a superheated, ultra-branded commodity, of a internet nova-shooting star person. At that point you quit the day job and the biggest issue is getting to the bank everyday to cash the checks.
I like twitter because, so far anyway; it is quick and easy. It is my new Digg, (since it seems Digg has gone to hell), I get information which is much more sharply focused from people I choose to follow, and have met new folks I never would have known existed before, (most likely). I can express myself without much work or thought beforehand, which is a pure type of a free-form free association thing for me because hey, I am not trying to sell you anything, or change your mind about much of anything or become the next Steve Buscemi/Christopher Walken of twitter.
So that makes it fun.
Always worshiping at the feet of my furtive followers @425talker

Journalism 2009: Insightful or Incitefiul?

Right now there is a great deal of talk about journalism all across our media; mainly because so many newspapers and magazines in the US are going out of business. People assume it is because folks are reading the papers online but there is also a lot of discussion about blogging. Many so-called or self-professed “professional” journalists have decried the amateurs which seem to be taking over the web. Many of these upstarts have become quite powerful very quickly. The Perez Hilton’s of the world do not have to be politically correct and can entertain by being outrageous. Gossip, rumor and innuendo are all fair game and good for readership numbers and hits.
Here in the Seattle area many have decried the loss of the Seattle Post Intelligencer. But where did the PI come from? It is a Hearst paper and Randolph Hearst in his day was thought of being a “yellow journalist” for publishing something akin to a National Enquirer of its day. Hearst bumped up crime coverage to 24% of the paper and published rumors about suicides, affairs and printed pictures considered to be very racy to gain circulation. He catered to large population of immigrants where English was a second language and reading content and accuracy were deemed secondary to a good story.
Both Hearst and Pulitzer (now Murdoch), discovered that when going after advertising revenue more circulation meant more money for them. The Spanish American war prequel of 1895 is where Hearst really went nuts, publishing lurid tales of Spanish brutality of very dubious accuracy. He was pushing a war-hawk agenda. In fact when the war started in earnest Hearst actually claimed credit for it. So that is where our beloved PI came from, a quick buck artist who cared little about the integrity of journalistic ethics.
This latest swine flu epidemic scare has already been beaten to death shamelessly by the local media. KING5’s coverage can only be described as hysterical. Clearly they are still selling fear, the meat and potatoes of the FOX NEWS network. It goes deeper than that though; these news organizations get in bed with those they cover. They have reporters that cover things like “Aerospace” and if you think for a minute they are going to be critical of the decision making going on at the Boeing Company you are nuts. If they were they would lose their privileged status and would be persona non grata. Besides that it would be more work. They literally take the company news releases and print whatever they are told, amazing.

So all I can say is this: thank god for the internet, thank god for bloggers and the niche news people all over the world, thank god these established papers and TV finally have real competition from real people who aren’t always just after more circulation, more money and keeping the status quo. Most have nothing to really gain, only that wonderful feeling of community and connectedness.

If you think these people that have been in charge of information dispersion for so many years really did their jobs admirably during the Iraq War, or 9-11, or the torture scandals of the last 8 years, then watch FOX NEWS read the Times and go to bed scared witless every night. So what was the headline today in the online PI? One guess.

Nowadays, with a little work the truths of the world can in fact be gleaned out. This is a tremendous time for people who are citizen journalists all over the world to tell the real, non-commercial, non-politically correct, un-strained, un-washed gritty naked truth.

The Ordeal: understanding Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs

For about the twentieth time I went in the laundry room and flipped the light switch. Nothing. There was no power, there had been no power for days actually. It was funny in an ironic way, it was a habit I guess, almost a reflex action I had grown quite used to, flipping on the light, and now it was gone.

The storm was something to behold, I guess several people were killed, I didn’t care that much about them, I was dealing with my own mess. I had to go to work, I was working as a warehouse manager and I needed to get ready for inventory. This involved all the regular standard work on top of the inventory gig. I told the owners the only way possible to make it happen was to open the purse strings for overtime, they said no.
When I first left the house after the storm, trees and power lines were down everywhere, I didn’t actually grasp how bad it was or I wouldn’t have gone “out there”, because then I had to get back. I was driving under trees across the road, under and over live power lines. Coming back, to help things out, the cops were closing all the roads. That is nice when all the local hotels are full and there is no way to even gas up because the gas stations can’t pump either with no juice. Very rapidly it starts to dawn on you how fucked everything is.

I did have a wood stove for heat and some possible cooking. Of course I didn’t really have a bunch of wood. The next morning a cold snap hit to make it really an insult-to-injury kind of cold. Normally to be really windy and stormy it isn’t that cold here, now it was. I wondered just how all the people in apartments with no insulation and no wood stove were making it. Soon there was no hot water and it was getting a little depressing. At one time the power had been connected with the local fire station and so it was a priority to get it back on. Now it seemed they had changed the lines and they had generators and things were different.
At work there was power, but no showers of course and coming home was no longer very appetizing. I learned some things. Hot coffee in the morning is a very important ritual. Light to put in contact lenses is very helpful. I began to understand Mazlow’s Heirarchy of needs much better.

I missed light the most, and then heat, after that most likely my computer and a line to the outside world, (yes I had a cell phone). It was funny but most people complained about TV the most, apparently it is impossible to raise children without one today. Recently, being snowed in for Christmas 2008, that was OK, plans with family had to be changed, we still haven’t had our Christmas roast dinner, but having light and heat, things were OK.

Surveying the Neighborhood

Currently, I am more intimately acquainted with the daily doings of my neighbors than previously, and it is good to know what is happening around the neighborhood. Who know if I live near criminals, or child molesters or maybe Neo-Cons..? Egad! If I walked around by myself previously, the way I have been recently, I would be most likely stopped and questioned by the police, people would call in and report me for being “suspicious”, some people think I look that way simply sitting in a chair anyway. Now however, I am walking the dog and so everything is okey-dokey, instead of them wondering what I am doing they think ‘he better not let his dog shit in MY yard, damn his eyes”!!

We now know the kids across the street who stand outside and furtively smoke by the storm drain, people we most likely never would have met before. We know other dog people out on their own walk-abouts, since of course the dogs have to meet and size each other up. I see houses for sale and open houses and kids playing, junk for sale, and all manner of goofy things I would normally not bother with. I meet and talk with people that I have nothing in common with but they own a dog, and I own a dog, and…Wheee..I guess.

Some people are afraid of Pinky, especially kids, and I suppose I can’t blame them she is large and black, and almost ridiculously strong, although really just a big puppy. I was surprised to learn recently that the number one dog-bite offender in the US, are in fact black labs, go figure.

So we troop around and inspect stop sign smells, and “trails by their wear attesting to their utility” or whatever Thoreau said. We try and chase squirrels up the ladder and analyze whether we can jump up in the air and catch birds. We stare at airplanes with tilted heads and wonder respectively what they are, or wonder whether I built that particular one. After a while people are used to us, and we fit in, and people don’t notice us much as we inspect our world just a little closer, together.

Keep the Home Fires Burning

It is interesting now when thinking of going out to eat or purchasing a new kitchen faucet, I actually consider; this purchase might very well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for this or that local business.

I know that seems overly dramatic, but in these economic times there is a point, maybe late on a cold March evening, when you have to look at your business, maybe look in the mirror and then shut the door forever. This is important for more than just being nice to people for me. I live a ways out, and although Costco might be a bit cheaper, even though their shopping experience is hellish, I don’t always want to drive 10 miles for small things. The Safeway here is much bigger, brighter and nicer, but the local store is cheaper, friendlier and has much better meat and local produce, it is also closer, within walking distance and I would really miss their small weird little store if they closed.

Camera stores, like Kenmore Camera, are one of my favorite stores. When buying a new camera it is tough to buy there when the online equivalent will be maybe $200 cheaper. I really want them to stay in business though. For one thing when shopping I want to be able to hold something in my hands and get a feel for it. Ah, what to do.., I try and throw them business to show appreciation for what they do for me when I can.

Locally we have too many restaurants; we had five teriyaki places for a small town. Some shakeout is inevitable; I would like to pick and choose what stays though. The way I vote is money I suppose. Right now the town in its infinite wisdom has decided to re-do all the major downtown roads which makes it even harder to shop the local shops. The tavern a somewhat famous biker type place had been in business for 86 years, it is now gone.

It would appear when done a year or more from now the economy will close about half the stores in town. Right now I have to think and ponder a bit when making purchases, if not I may lose a piece of town I take for granted. The local hardware store is important, when needing small items I don’t want to have to drive to Monroe or Woodinville all the time, I bought the faucet from them. You are welcome True Value, may you live long and prosper!

A Modest Proposal: Create Limbaughland

My fellow citizens, now-a-days in general, disappoint me.

American people, (supposedly free and intelligent) voting for George Bush, especially his second term, disappoint me. I realized after the 9-11 fiasco that Americans are much more cowardly, and generally stupid, (and proud of it) as a people, than I ever imagined possible. What other country in the world would despise intellectualism? We have no health insurance and more people in prison than any other country in the world. Right now we are bankrupt, in a ridiculous war in Iraq, and people are worried about an assault weapons ban. It is all truly amazing. The set of priorities many of my fellow citizens have, astounds me.

So we have a fat, drug addict, doctor shopper, who hosts a radio show, literally running one of our major political parties. His hate spewing nonsense, it is religiously followed by millions. He loudly states he hopes our current president’s plan of recovery fails, just because his candidate didn’t get elected. This is all despite the fact the last Republican group’s ideas were clearly failures. So what is the thought behind wanting to continue an agenda that is a colossal failure at any and all costs? To crush our country beyond recognition? To ruin our way of life? Why would that be their goal? I don’t get it.

Now the e-mails are flying out, trying to dredge up memories of Jane Fonda and the Dixie Chicks, and anything else that the Neo-Con nutcases can trump up to be bad things, because let’s face it, even they can’t blame Obama for anything evil yet, except being black, and being educated and intelligent, and having a funny sounding name, all hanging offenses to the Puritans apparently. They can’t admit the Dixie Chicks were right on about being very embarrassed to have Bush as our president. They can’t admit Jane Fonda was very right about us having no business in Viet Nam. Clearly she shouldn’t have cheered the North Viet force on in battle, even though they were just protecting their country against foreign invaders. The point is we were wrong to be there. Remember the “domino theory”? Isn’t it funny no one talks about that anymore? Viet Nam had many opportunities to take over other weaker neighbors, like Cambodia, and didn’t. They just wanted to be left alone to decide their own affairs.
We are also wrong in being in Iraq, we have no business whatsoever being there and what we are doing is morally wrong, any way you look at it. It is also way too expensive unless or lives depend on the outcome, which they don’t.

It is too bad these so-called “red states” cannot secede from our union so they can support themselves with their style of economy. They could teach their idiotic brand of science to their scientists. They could constantly wage religious war over perceived threats to their “way of life”. They could let the rich not pay any taxes and they could keep on the credit card style of living they love. They could keep printing valueless money as long as other countries would take it, which wouldn’t be long. They could fail, and I mean really fail badly, all on their own instead of dragging the rest of us down with them.

So I have an idea, a modest proposal. Let the Neo-Cons have their separate country and let them run it as they will. The so called “blue states” will also have our own country. Places like Eastern Washington could glom on with Idaho and Utah and be red as hell itself. We would call the new blue country Liberalia and the red states country could be Hicksville or the New States of No Education or possibly Limbaughland.

In the new true blue country, we could spend our money on mass transit and infrastructure instead of war in Iraq. We could have national health insurance for all and fund social security fully. We could end the ridiculous “war on drugs” and tax them instead, realizing they kill no more people than booze or cigarettes, and trying to legislate morality has never worked in the history of man. We could make education of the best and brightest a priority. If churches acted as political action committees we could tax them as well. We could make truth and justice for all a motto. We could also subscribe to the saying “we have very few rich men, but even fewer poor”.

The red as hell states could continue the holy war in Iraq. They could blow their money on huge gas hog vehicles and bankrupt themselves trying to be macho and Rambo-like. They could get rid of science and teach creation. They could mix their twisted view of Christianity with the state and make prayer mandatory in schools. They could burn books and outlaw everything. They could execute people who have abortions. They could make a national mania of locking people up and throwing away the keys. They could take away all civil rights and make freedom of speech a thing of the past. Moral police would walk the streets looking for offensive behavior. People could be locked up and tortured for years literally with no charges ever filed, let alone a trial of any kind. George W. Bush could be king for life.

After a period of time, say 25 years or so, we could see which country is better off. In terms of: jobs, wealth, technological growth, education scores, life expectancy, you know all the things that actually matter.

I wonder which country would best win a contest like that?

The Basic Difference: Integrity

It is often stated that true personal integrity is doing the right thing when no one else is watching. I think the same rule of thumb can be used to tell how Democrats and Republicans really feel about serving the public …..after they get out of office that is…and there is nothing to gain. They all claim to want to “serve their country” when running of course. What better way to serve than to help non-profit organizations, when stepping down from the highest political offices in the country, to go into a useful retirement?

Going back to Richard Nixon, when he got out, in disgrace, he went into hiding. Little was seen or heard from him afterwards until his death. Let’s face it he was bitter, he should have been grateful for not being behind bars but whatever.

Spiro Agnew was a dirty as Nixon. He resigned and was disbarred from practicing law for his nolo contende plea, for taking bribes while in public office. When Nixon was asked why he kept Agnew on the ticket in 1972 he replied, “No assassin in his right mind would kill me." Ouch! Agnew retired to a job as an “international trade executive”.

Gerald Ford was the longest living US president, living to the ripe age of 93 despite a couple of assassination attempts. In addition he was the fifth president who was not elected, and the only one to have never won any national election of any kind, replacing Spiro Agnew when he was convicted of accepting bribery. After leaving the Whitehouse Ford joined the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. He spent much of his retirement playing golf and making ceremonial appearances with Bob Hope.

Jimmy Carter still kicks ass to this day in terms of helping others. When released from the White House he went into being a key figure in Habitat for Humanity. The next year out of office he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Although evangelical Christians hate him, he taught Sunday school throughout his entire life. As an interesting aside check out the red-blue states in Carter’s election!!

Walter Mondale, carter’s VP, after running for president himself worked as Ambassador to Japan under Clinton.

Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease but not for a few years after he left even though he was clearly addled in office. His wife Nancy claimed he fell and hit his head on a horse ride in Mexico in 1989 five years after his White House stint. He did little of anything after that.

George Bush sr. Had a long political career, he was CIA director under Ford, and Vice President under Reagan. Then he finally got his foot in the door for four years and is primarily known for letting Saddam Hussein off the hook in the first Gulf War. Days before leaving office he pardoned six people convicted and doing time in the Iran-Contra affair. He has, since leaving the White House, participated in many ceremonies mostly commemorating some Republican event. On April 21, 2008 he caught a 134 pound tarpon and enjoys playing golf at private country clubs.

Dan Quayle was viewed as a political liability during his career after his vice-presidential debate with Lloyd Bentsen. He has written several books since his retirement about American values and staying strong while working as an investment banker and Chairman of Cerberus Capital Management. He lives in private gated communities like the “Yellow Stone Club” with Bill Gates as a neighbor. His charitable contributions to society cannot be found.

The Clintons are still in politics and seem to be a pair in whatever they do. While President Bill Clinton relied on his strong, educated wife for help and advice and now she appears to be doing the same. Many people have speculated on their marriage but they are still together and work closer together than many people who supposedly have good marriages. When Bill Clinton left office he had the highest approval rating since WW2. 55% of respondents said he still had something to offer and should stay in the public eye. This could be one reason the Republican candidates do so little after leaving office, they are not wanted.

Since leaving office Bill Clinton has been one of the organizers, along with Carter of the new Baptist Covenant. He has also had meetings at the UN regarding disease prevention in 2007, and the Ontario Economic Summit in 2007, regarding healthcare and environmentalism. Like the Clinton’s or hate them, you cannot call them lazy. Can you imagine them retiring to a life of golf and country clubs? I can’t.

Few can rival the hard work and recognition Carter has garnered since leaving office, but Al Gore can. Gore has actually worked harder and become better known around the world for his tireless work on global warming since leaving office. In 1992 his book “Earth in the Balance” was on the New York Times best seller list. Gore’s accomplishments are too many to fully list; in 2006 he was the main character in the film “An Inconvenient Truth”, which won an Academy Award for best documentary. In 2007 he won the Nobel Peace Prize and it goes on and on, his commitment to the people of America, serving his country and the world at large.

I don’t think it is even necessary to mention Cheny is it?

Now we have Georgie porgie Bush on deck. If I was a betting man, and I am, I would bet he will set new benchmarks of laziness and uselessness in his idle rich retirement. After all this is the man who during times of “emergency” due to terrorist attacks and the USA basically going bankrupt, took more vacation days than any other President in our history!

He is fairly young and he can expect a few years for the “historians to judge his presidency” as he always crows. But what will he do with all his new found idle time? Do you expect him to work hard to serve our country, to help out in this terrible time of need, or to sit and watch from his mansion with a smirk on his face at what he has wrought?

Gee I wonder.

Should I Facebook Myself?

Do I Facebook? No.

I could well be in the minority however. Looking at Alexa, Facebook is numero five in global use and that is pretty high for social networking. I just read during Christmas day Face book had a huge surge in traffic this year. My Space is currently seven, while the useful Craigslist is 39. My Space used to be the rocket to ride, but now if you are over 22 and not in a crappy band you are basically considered a child molester/stalker for My Spacing.

Facebook is supposed to “keep you in contact with your friends”. It would seem if someone was in fact your friend you would call them, or e-mail them, but possibly this contact is a new kind of contact, a casual, voyueresque creature requiring less effort, thought and concentration. The “friend”person can’t ask questions on the phone to find out if you are really listening, this could be handy for relatives who you are somewhat required to stay in contact with, but who really aren’t friends you would hang with, you know, if you weren’t accidentally related to them. It could be these “friends” are really just passing acquaintances in the social salton sea.
At the start, it was used to get to know people in school at Harvard; it makes a great deal of sense to me. Most people are young, and from different parts of the country, and trying to get to know each other and hookup, and screw each other’s brains out, and that makes sense doesn’t it? I think we were all students at one time and thought “hey who is that cute new girl/guy over in the corner”? It helps out to look up the Facebook profile and find out they are a Mormon or Vegan before you start investing in valuable chatup time no?

One of the first companies to buy in was Microsoft and they also have some kind of advertising deal with Facebook. I suppose it makes some strategic sense to have the same kind of thing at Microsoft as at Harvard, to try and bring diverse groups of people together at work. My wife uses the whole social networking concept in her work, so she is a member of damn near all, and experiments with many different platforms and concepts, to see how they interrelate and succeed with or against each other in the great social networking cage match. Who will win out? Will anyone really still Twitter three years from now? I can see why Obama Twittered during the campaign it was like sending a constant bombardment of TV commercials to millions of people for free. Would anyone really care to know though that I was sitting in the airport waiting to go to New York and I was bored? One article I read recently stated that the fallout of Twitter was that regular working folk were finding out that most glamorous star’s lives were actually quite mundane. Really GTFO?

I always thought everyone would just have their own website eventually and that has not materialized. I suppose it is a little too hard to set up, and maintain, and it is not free generally speaking, and so that isn’t working. What is working is a site that is free and very modular and easy to set up. People want the ability to post from cell phones and that includes pictures and text. People want the ability to easily include or exclude whoever they want. They want the flexibility of having various levels of privacy for different areas of their site too. Many posters need significant storage space because all those digital images, and videos and music clips add up after a while. They also want that high school thing of showing off how many “friends” they have, because this makes them feel popular and cool, just like uh..high school cliques. They want to look cutting edge and cool and rad even though all the cutting edge and rad and cool sites all look the same. They want to look like they lead a glamorous life just like Brittany. (See above)
I don’t think any current site offers all this although maybe Facebook comes closest.
One ironic dichotomy is that people think Facebook and networking is must have for work and business contacts. However for every feel good story of meeting someone and making some money together there are ten horror stories of Facebook faux pas. It is a public face and in the super litigious, politically correct, looking for dirt to get ahead over-someone-else’s back world (in this economy); it is like walking through a dark room full of bear traps.

I like this rant:
"A well-meaning friend of mine, whom I love dearly, is always telling me my life isn't fully realized because I don't have a Facebook page. OK, so what would I get with such a glorious thing? "You can promote your blog," she always assures me. Oh, yeah? But my column promotes my blog and my blog promotes my column. How much more promotion do I need? "People can contact you," she adds soothingly. Oh, yeah? Well, I already put my email address at the end of my column and I'm also reachable by phone, fax, text, blog comments, and messenger pigeon. How hard is it to reach me? "But you can make all new friends," she goes on. Oh, yeah? Well, I already know every single person in New York and even a few in Jersey and one in Pennsylvania. And I actually know them in person, not just by typed messages". http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/archives/2008/07/fuck_facebook.php

Right now Facebook might be the best we have but I am getting networking fatigue. How many social networks do I have to be on to be socially connected, information spreading and thought leading enough? Next year will LinkedIn or Hit5 be cool and Facebook just another My Space has-been? What if I do get out there and find myself to be just mundane? The horror, the horror.