junkies gotta jones

Until these are banned, America will not even be close to ready to give up it's addiction to oil.

This is not an ad on the side of a delivery truck, but rather a billboard on wheels, a rolling waste of fuel that has no purpose other than to be an advertisement while pumping more hydrocarbons into the atmosphere. When such things exist, how serious can any country be about saving fuel?

absentia

Terribly sorry, y'all, but just havent had time to blog lately. School's out, wife's home, and time's not my own; you know the drill.

Just to let you know that I'm still kicking though, here's a joke:

How many Polish Persons* does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Two. One to stand on a ladder and changethe bulb, and a second to watch
and deny that it is giving him an erection.

Oh, and as for David Vitter, I kind of thought that corruption, booze and hookers were Lousiana Family Values.


*Remember when you could say "polocks", and even Poles would enjoy the joke? Kind of like Aggies.

WAKE UP!!!

Patricia: My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement.

from Joe vs. the Volcano

I used to hear this quote and think, "yes, the world is an incredible place and people dont see it, they just take it for granted". The other day though, I was listening to yet another story of BushCo crimes and misdemeanors, and the phrase came to me again. People must be asleep for this to have gone on so long without a tide of outrage that pours into the streets and washes away not only the Administration, but all those that profited by it. That the Republican Party can act as it does, while decent conservatives stand by and watch; that the Democratic Party responds by enabling the Right's behavior, and drifting farther right itself; that torture is not only condoned, but performed by a nation that once prosecuted Nazis with righteous moral indignation...

I am amazed, truly astonished that this behavior continues in America.

I can only hope that America is asleep, because one can wake up, even from a sleep as deep as this one must be. My fear, though, is that this is not a nightmare we can wake up from, shaken but able to recover from; but rather that it is a fantasy, a daydream of hate and violence. I fear that we are deliberately listening to the voices in our heads, voices that come from the place of madness that can make the mentally ill truly dangerous. I fear we listen simply because it's fun, because it fulfills some whim or desire, and that as a nation we have become separated from the notion of consequences.

And while you're thinking of this, ask yourself why snuff films suddenly seem to be very popular.

a thought

I was sitting in a drive-thru lane today, and two cars ahead at the window, the customer there seemed to be taking a ridiculous amount of time getting their food. Usually, this indicates a person making unreasonable demands or sending something back or ordering something complex at the window or some other obnoxious behavior. The car had a big American Flag decal, and I thought to myself "fucking self-righteous Republican trouble-maker".

Here's the thing, though: I blamed the Republican, when the truth is, that person was merely an asshole. Assholes come in all stripes, all creeds, all colors, all socio-economic levels. Certainly, some are allowed to get away with more assholish behavior at certain times than others (right now, for instance, Republicans and African-Americans are ascendant; in the future we can expect extra-allowed asshole-ishness from Stay-at-home mothers and science types), but really, it's not fair to condemn a group (racial, religious or political) for ordinary asshole behavior.

Especially since there are so many other group-specific examples of bad behavior to hold against them.

giving fealty to where it's due

I had a thought the other day: We criticise politicians for forgetting who it was that put them in office (i.e., the voters). Well maybe the reason that the politicians dont feel the need to pay attention to the voters is because they know that We The People had little if anything to do with their being in power, and that even giving the appearance of that being true is just simply becoming too much trouble for them to go to.

Think about it, why pay attention to anybody who had nothing to do with why you're in the position of power that you occupy? I mean, civics are all well and good, if that's what got you where you are today. But what if it was merely the influence of vast sums of money and a network of oligarchs who gave you your "authority"?

If you want the person you voted for to represent you, then you need to make sure that your vote was what actually led to their holding of that "elected" office. The 2004 election should have been a shoo-in, but somehow John Kerry got the Democratic nomination, months before the actual convention. Does that sound like your vote meant anything?

My suggestion: $3000 campaign cantribution cap per candidate (even if the candidate is you). Eliminate money from PACs, corporations, Unions, and really really rich guys altogether. If you want to influence a campaign, then you're going to have to get off of your ass and knock on some doors or stuff some envelopes, not just throw money at it. If people can buy the work of others for a candidate, then doesnt that give the richest "voices" the most say? Is this a democracy, or what?

Speech which is paid for is not "free" speech, but advertising at best, and propaganda at worst. Until money is removed the equation of campaigns, the "people" will always get the short end of the stick (unless the money itself is distributed more evenly - then let it rip).

no transparency, no accountability, no freedom

Last month, Brian Kelly of Carlisle, Pa., was riding with a friend when the car he was in was pulled over by a local police officer. Kelly, an amateur videographer, had his video camera with him and decided to record the traffic stop.

The officer who pulled over the vehicle saw the camera and demanded Kelly hand it over. Kelly obliged. Soon after, six more police officers pulled up. They arrested Kelly on charges of violating an outdated Pennsylvania wiretapping law that forbids audio recordings of any second party without their permission. In this case, that party was the police officer.

Kelly was charged with a felony, spent 26 hours in jail, and faces up to 10 years in prison. All for merely recording a police officer, a public servant, while he was on the job.

Fox News (believe it or not)

This is another one of those "What?!" moments for me. Can anyone think of a good reason that the police wouldnt want their behavior recorded? Okay, I can come up with some, too*. But here's the thing, they are public servants, and whether they like or not, they are accountable to us, and if that involves videotaping rather than cop said/accusee said testimony (and we know who will win that one), well, that seems like a perfectly fair way to do things.
But apparently not.
Now, this poor shmuck will have to spend thousands of dollars, both his own and (if he's lucky) others', to defend himself from a bogus application of the law, with little or no guarantee that he wont lose. In all probability, considering the current political climate that Authority = Correctness (i.e., that old and distinctly un-American idea that Might Makes Right), he probably will lose.
Keep an eye on this case, because it's a canary in our American Coal-Mine.

props to Contrary Brin

* Admittedly, I dont want people recording me. Then again, I dont have an abusable power over anybody (except my own children, who'll have plenty of room for revenge when I'm older).

art history in under three minutes

The little woman showed me this, and it is amazing. I ought to put it on the art blog (and I suppose I will), but I wanted people to actually see it.

comix time

This comic amused me. There is a lot more here.

ratios

Well, this is interesting. Google "impeach Bush", with the quote marks so that the phrase itself is the only thing that it looks for. Number of finds: 1,140,000 sites or web pages.

"Impeach George Bush": 79,000 sites.
"Impeach George Bush" without the quote marks: 1.2 million.
"Impeach Bush" without the quote marks: 1.38 million.
"Impeach Bush Cheney", no quote marks: 1.4 million.
"Impeach Bush Cheney", with the quote marks, so that only pages containing that particular phrase is shown: 91,200 sites that talk, in some way, about that particular subject. That's a lot of talk about something that's "not on the table".

I find myself wondering how many letters to Congress it took, back in 1974, to convince the Legislature to begin impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon, and how that number compares to these numbers.

Then add one more to the list.

will we get the point? (in our gut)

"At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001 ], and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country."

--Dennis Milligan, the head of the Arkansas GOP

Hmmm. One must wonder if this is a Republican Talking Point? And if it is a Republican Talking Point, that is, a soundbite conceived by Republican strategists for the purposes of holding on to or gaining power, then one might also wonder if it is just a phrase, or if there might be a further plan to go along with such a statement, such as discovering such a plan, but allowing it to procede, just to make a point without any talking.

Personally, should such an attack occcur, I would feel that perhaps the Bush Administration should not have wasted so much time and so many resources in Iraq, while letting the mastermind of 9/11, Osama bin Laden, escape scott-free. I would wonder if having troops and defensive equipment in the U.S. rather than half-way around the world might have made a difference. I would look at the chaos which must inevitably result from such an attack and wonder if it may have been less so had our National Guard been more available. And I would look at the timing of the attack, and the "warnings" that the Administration released beforehand, and wonder at how it created a perfect political climate to give the Republican Party its return to power. But most of all, I'll wonder, from my prison cell, detained as a terrorist sympathizer, whether my nation will ever be free again.

props to the Existential Cowboy