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Showing posts from June, 2008

Gun Control

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Means hitting your target.

San Francisco may name sewage treatment plant after Bush

SAN FRANCISCO: Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital, and a state, too. But President George W. Bush may soon be the sole president to have a memorial named after him that you can contribute to from the bathroom. From the Department of Damned-With-Faint-Praise, a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water-treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. The plan - hatched, naturally, in a bar - would place a vote on the November ballot to provide "an appropriate honor for a truly unique president." Supporters say that they have plenty of signatures to qualify the initiative and that the renaming would fit in a long and proud American tradition of poking political figures in the eye. "Most politicians tend to be narcissistic and egomaniacs," said Brian McConnell, an organizer wh...

How to Be a Democrat

The first thing that you have to realize about being a democrat is that the people who end up wanting to hang labels and tags on everyone are almost always the ones who don't own the shop. Republicans are supposed to stand for conservatism. In my view, conservatism is a noble goal. Take the Federal Reserve Bank. America has over 12 major and I mean .. MAJOR locations in the United States that are designed for one purpose: to be within an overnight train ride between each other, to replenish money supplies. They're still operating. I estimate that over 200 million dollars can be saved by selling off some of their buildings, reconfiguring that system so that modern transport can be relied upon, etc. Thats a conservative point of view, but also the most rational point of view. Government, over time, has accreted several types of facilities and functions such as this. However, America's greatest governmental strength is a largely incorruptible , and fairly effecient bur...

I am the Highway - Audioslave

Pearls and swine bereft of me Long and weary my road has been I was lost in the cities Alone in the hills No sorrow or pity for leaving I feel I am not your rolling wheels I am a highway I am not your carpet ride I am the sky Friends and liars Dont wait for me Cause I'll get on All by myself Put millions of miles Under my heels And still too close to you I feel I am not your rolling wheel I am the highway I am not your carpet ride I am the sky I am not your blowing wind I am the lightning I am not your autumn moon I am the night

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - The Beatles

Barrabas

After Christ died I was arrested again S.P.O.R.C They sent me into the mines , where I wrapped bandages around my eyes, because the sulfur burns can make you blind I only wanted to die Endless darkness , but still alive I won my freedom and found my way To the catacombs of Rome I didn't see Nero when the fire came - or hear the sound of violins But they blamed the fire on Christian sedition I tried to help, in my own way I burned six buildings before they held me down After they arrested me the third and final time I learned that the Christians had never started the fire they finally crucified me And the darkness took me at last And I drew in my last breath For Christ You know something? All of heaven rejoiced that day My mother was a whore who cursed the day I was born My life's work: murder, robbery, rape Rum, sodomy , and the lash. No wife. Children. I died alone on the cross But somehow I made it And now, here, in this endless grey I ...

Twilight Crusader

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America is a Country of Strong Families

And Strong Values. Obama's first General Election Clip. Enjoy.

A Prayer

Today is a day I will get some work done in the blue hour just before dawn faith comes like something over early morning radio cool and narrow and hard to master riff through the morning fear This is the prayer You see I am Living each day as if it were my last I have some things to show for it all Some things to be thankful for, yeah . But so many things left, that must be done Don't worry about me Just like the movies I play out my last scene You get scared that you can't do it all on your own Scared that there's not enough time Scared of failure The temptation is there like a dark winged bird To settle for second Half measures or third Dear God Please let me do only what you want me to do Move my hand to write your word My arm to strike your enemy My feet to walk your path My heart To love your word My soul to bleed You see, Lord, that is the eight ball And this is me I am not asking for a new Mercedes Just empathy humility...

Ambarnath

Ambarnath is a small township of 200,000 people, rought, near Bombay, India. Situated near a small mountain , it is a beautifully planned city of small bungalows that has recently expanded to higher priced real estate, and apartment buildings. In 1983 women who lived in a circle outside of town, suddenly began committing suicide. Within the short space of a few months, most of the stay-at-home wives that lived in the area had killed themselves. A person I know recalls her own mother's death. "I went into the kitchen, and found my mother on fire. She had wrapped herself in layers of nylon, then used the stove to light them. I was burned trying to save her. The flames were too strong." To this day no one knows exactly why these women killed themselves. One by one, and by different methods - they died. Why?

Horses, Part Six

Having a horse, has taught me alot about human nature. Horses are amazingly long-remembering creatures. They have this fantastic long term memory. Not such a great short term memory, but they can remember things from so far back its unreal. People, as well as horses, have a tendency to remember certain things. They don't remember all things - but then again, neither do horses. Thats a pretty interesting insight. Because Horses, really don't have much else to do other than play thoughts over and over again in their heads. They have no hands, so they're not going to be busy inventing anything. They don't have the ability to eat meat, so they're not going to be worried about predator/prey dynamics. A horse is purely a prey animal. Why would it only remember certain things? The short answer is because if it didn't it would go quickly insane. The long answer is that its a part of its own survival mechanism. We really aren't made to remember all details. Peo...

Barack Obama - On Fatherhood

My Fathers Day Story

My son, and daughter made me a fantastic breakfast. A meal fit for a king. Sausages, fresh strawberry pancakes. Vienna coffee. Cheese. Crackers. They served it on a table with a big green candle. They said that I get to blow out the candle and make a father's day wish. Then, my son told me a story. Once upon a time there was a crow, who found a jug of water. But the water was too low, and the crow could not reach it. (at this point, he holds up three shiny glass beads that he has, in his hands). So, he flies off and picks up a shiny pebble and drops it into the jug. (holds up the pebble and shows us again) Then, he returns and drops another one in there. He does it again and again until the water is right to the top. Then he drinks up! The end. Great story! (I can't wait to sic him on the girls! ) Last night I dreamed I met some old surf buddies. These are always my best dreams. Maybe thats because there really is something to them. Happy Fathers Day!

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

Late Sun

Dying wasps make drunken passes at my hair. They are drawn to glass, as air and cannot tell. Up on the hill, a garrulous crow is testing the depth of a valley in winter. Jets trail simple departure There are giants among us. Tall shadows flare. - Lavinia Greenlaw

Fortunate Son - CCR

Neat little problem

How many unique ways are there to acquire at least 270 electoral votes without any excess? For example, one combination would be to win California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. That would be equal to 272 electoral votes (not coincidentally, these are the John Kerry states plus Ohio). Note that there are no excess electoral votes in this combination: if you remove one of the states with three electoral votes, the number falls to 269, which is below the 270-EV cut-off. So winning all of these states plus North Dakota would not qualify, since the candidate has superfluous electoral votes. On the other hand, replacing Vermont with North Dakota would make for a unique combination. Thinking combinatorics might help. I am stuck in the office tonight. Gonna be an all nighter. If you figure it out, l...

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

The Road should be out Nov. 26 as a film. I like McCarthy, and this book in particular. I gave it to my father, for christmas the year before last. Here is an excerpt: A quarter mile down the road he stopped and looked back. We're not thinking, he said. We have to go back. He pushed the cart off the road and tilted it over where it could not be seen and they left their packs and went back to the station. In the service bay he dragged out the steel trashdrum and tipped it over and pawed out all the quart plastic oilbottles. Then they sat in the floor decanting them of their dregs one by one, leaving the bottles to stand upside down draining into a pan until at the end they had almost a half quart of motor oil. He screwed down the plastic cap and wiped the bottle off with a rag and hefted it in his hand. Oil for their little slutlamp to light the long gray dusks, the long gray dawns. You can read me a story, the boy said. Cant you, Papa? Yes, he said. I can. On the far...

Marriage Test

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Time to take the marriage test, and see how you stack up as either a husband, or a wife, from the 1930s. Good luck. 79 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Inside Man

Go see it.

What a great wedding!

It was in an old church, built in 1880. The bride was beautiful. The Groom was nervous. The pastor was long winded. The weather was hot. The food was terrific. I think my son ate, about a third of the wedding chow. We took some home, also. I end up being the one who ferries the little plates back and forth to the table; somewhere after we were almost done taking away all of the neat wedding food the new couple was taken off by a horse drawn carriage. Yes, this is a theme with the weddings lately - but my brother's wife organizes these things. Climbing into my brother's wifes car afterward, I was struck how well they were getting along - and having been married for 14 years, I am not implying honeymoon stuff, but rather, the sort of dignified partnership that good marriages tend to create. Honestly, they're both slightly cold people. Lawyer. Marketer. I hear the USSR will be opening soon... as vacation land for... :-) and yes, if you can finish this sentence you'...

Trampled Underfoot

I'm in Saint Simons again and I see life in everything, the old oak trees twining their branches into the sky. ... I think part of it has to do with the fact that my favorite cousin is into bio research at Columbia. He brought home this beautiful girlfriend, I think she was from Hong Kong. Petite. sharp. And the beach teemed with life - hermit crabs, sand dollars. Fish that nibble your toes. We saw sandworms crawl into the sand. Clams. Once I even saw a whale shark out there. The wedding rehearsal and reception are over, my brother put a glass of wedding vodka on his tab - so, I am drifting between the four lanes of traffic on the two lane road back home, and I start to wonder - Why do people schmash a glass wrapped in cloth, at Jewish weddings?. The best I could figure, is that the glass is a symbol of the feminine aspect. Like the holy grail representing the secret womb of the hidden wife of jesus that bore his secret son - the knights quest to find the holy line...

If I Fall - Aqualung

Pieces of You - Arm's Way - The Islands

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For The Secret Unicorn Society the capillaries of the community are hemorrhaging on everything they found your bones in the homes of a thousand little gnomes who'd taken pieces for decoration they'd opened up their mouths seemed like peaceful little mouths inside they found a mouthful of pieces they wanted pieces of you somebody died here, i hear it was you they loved the attention they got killing you the capillaries of the community are hemorrhaging on everything they put their fingers in your sockets if you could hear the way they talk it's madness, uh uh oh. and what they got out of your pockets a couple coins, and a key for locking it's sadness in your face but they wanted pieces of you [pieces of you made from pieces of you pieces of you] little birds collapse in your arms break in two beat a man to death with bare hands did they regret anything? it's a cold cold world we swam into it's cold cold water we sank into ...

Occupational Slumming

I am really good at running away from problems, sometimes. For example, I play virtual world games that are pretty good at replacing whatever mess of a life situation I have going on before me, with an idealized representation of someone, or myself - in a world where the trash doesn't pile up, the deadlines are never life or death, and in fact, nobody has to eat, sleep, or even brush their teeth. At work, I can schedule really lame work over really important stuff - with peculiar aplomb. If its life or death important, I can quietly try to put it off, by doing something that is easier, but doesn't have as much impact. I can hide in simple jobs, feeling that I am actually accomplishing something when in fact, the bigger work is still undone. And then after all of that , I am normally left with a firestorm of work that needs to be completed or it will consume me whole. And suddenly , and predictably, the adrenaline kicks in and I get that work done as well. I seem to need ...

Schism - Tool

Selling Out

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Everytime I put a keyword in a post, I get scanned for content and the ads change. This post is about selling out. Now, just a moment while I take a drink of this delicious, refreshing Dasana spring water. Its so cool and clear , no added preservatives or flavorings. All of this refreshing goodness reminds me of BMW Films masterful videos that even today I find amusing. Of course, I would probably want to drive a Mini today, instead of my old 750. My kids, who both love Spongebob Squarepants™ - really would make having a 750 a kind of taxing experience. Delicious Bruesters Ice cream milkshakes would eventually end up getting spilled all over the Bose Brand speaker system in the back. They'd find a way to put girly girl Barbie™ stickers on the walnute burl shiftplate and dashboard. Of course, getting them off would be a breeze with Goof-off brand sticker remover. Really, we all know that the only thing that would be safe in the car, would be my Motorola RAZR version 3 styl...