Happy to be Unsaved

If you haven't read or participated in September 23rd's thread, I suggest you go there (here) and chime in your two cents. Once again I have been assaulted by the Holier than Thou, put on the grill by a religious know-it-all that is all criticism and no explanation. Frequent friends of the New World Odor will not that this has been a trend of late.

Why do they care if I'm saved by their figment of their imagination? Why do they try to pawn my request for evidence as a defect in my person? I'm not the mentally ill one here. I'm not the person that thinks he's being monitored 24/7 by an invisible man that is going to make sure I live in fear and guilt or I'll be tortured forever because he loves me. That is sick.

When you go to his website you find that he is a right-wing dupe, another one of these people that demands the Ten Commandments but then hates anti-war protestors. In his last post he endorses rampant waste of fossil fuels because he does not believe in global warming. Genius. He and his little band of robots chime in non-critically; they parrot the support for a failing administration and agree that War Is Good. Look at the feedback-- they support ethnic cleansing and unwavering support for the president, and that those that question the president "should be tried for treason and hung". Jesus would be rolling in his grave!

In his last post you see some anger, some frustration of going toe to toe with a scientist--a clever evidence seeker that moonlights as a clown. We had a mutually respectful discourse until then. I answered his questions, got no answers, just more questions. That is how they work. They can't prove anything. They believe, I'm glad that they do, I'm also glad I don't. They may pray to icons and statues to make things change, I go out and change things.

Because I don't have religion or a god my life is MORE valuable. They think its sad, that my life must be so empty.

But reality is a wonderful, concrete place where you know where you stand relative to the earth, time and the universe. I want to make my best contribution; every day is important because there's nothing else at the end. I do the right thing because I have integrity, not because I fear a god or hell. Punishment comes from feeling that I disappointed myself or those around me. With no promise of heaven I do good deeds because I want to-- not because a cosmic bean counter is adding me to the shitlist.

I do good for the right reason-- because it is the right thing to do. If someday I find out that I am wrong about this whole god/religion thing, I'm confident that he/she/it, god/Allah/ufo-guy/the tiki/casper the ghost/J.R."Bob" Dobbs/Yoweh/X-ists/spirit in teh volcano/whatever will welcome me into an afterlife happily, because I had the sack to use the tools given to question a mystery and behave reasonably in the process. If I go to hell for that then that's fine too. Some fucking room full of hypocrites heaven must be.

Row Vs. Wade

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With controversy surrounding the ideological makeup of the Bush-appointed Supreme Court, a reporter asked President Bush, "What do you think about Roe vs. Wade".

He replied, "I don't care how the blacks get out of New Orleans".


Hehe.

Pre-Conception Financial Abortion

The disaster imparted by the hurricanes, and the disaster in Iraq have produced a costly price tag, probably $600 billion within a year or two. How will we pay for it?

The answer is, we won't! Our president will not raise taxes and the congress will not cut programs. Instead the money is simply pirated from those not yet in existence, put on the tab to be paid 40 years from now when Bush-Cheney Inc is long in the history books as a dismal fiduciary failure.

It is easy to steal from future generations. They can't vote. Today they are too young or not yet even conceived. He's giving them a pre-conception financial abortion, heaping the arid placenta of debt onto the unborn. If I'm a responsible pregant woman, I go get an abortion, today.

If I'm a fetus in 2005 I'm going to chew through my own umbilical cord or try to wrap it around my neck. Bush Inc. saves the unborn the trouble by simply inserting a financial scissors into the skull as they exit the birth canal into the Nation of Bankruptcy. Imagine being born into a world where you have to pay for a war to protect your grandfather's Hummer's gas until your are 40! Furthermore, Bush Inc. and his cronies will be dead along with the people that voted for them. Why do they care?

Is this an issue? Recently there was a rules change. Government contracts were only "no bid" if they were under $2500. In times of crisis, when the president declares a national emergency, the no-bid threshold is increased to $25,000. New ramrod legislation just raised the no-bid threshold to

**********$250,000!****************

The disaster in Louisiana will be free time for all of those connected to get those contracts signed, sealed and delivered. My guess is that they most likely were long before landfall. In fact, Halliburton and Fluor both were approved to received FEMA contracts back in July. Future generations of unborn children can pay for Bush Inc to increase the square footage of friends' estates and maybe hire a few of the negroes displaced by the flood as house servants.

Me, I'll be working my ass off until I'm room temperature. The financial chickens will come home to roost right when I'm ready to collect the tens-of-thousands of dollars I've "invested" with Social Security towards my retirement. They get their golden years, mine might be spray painted poop.

Is there anything we can do to stop this? Would it be unpatriotic?

Boner Donor

One night in a drunken haze I filled out the organ donation section of my Illinois drivers license. I had to be in my early 20's and had yet to realize that there was a time and place for being funny.

I checked the "specific organs" box and filled in the adjacent line with "penis and testes". I returned the card to my wallet and forgot about it where it sat unbrandished until I was pulled over by an Illinois State Trooper for speeding.

I relinquished my license and insurance card and sat quietly waiting for my ticket.

He returned only to tell me that he was going to write me a ticket, but when he read that I was going to donate my wiener he was laughing so hard he decided to not worry about it.

I had no idea what he was talking about. Was he making a pass at me?

Several weeks later I found my donation request on my license and it all made sense. A boring drunken night with my organ donation card and an indelible marker got me out of a ticket and made a cop's day.

Pray?

All of the churches around North-Central Florida have "Pray for Hurricane Victims" posted on thier marquis. It has become the "Where's the Beef" of the post-Katrina era. People mumble this mantra repeatedly on television and on the radio. The President even declared a National Day of Prayer for hurricane victims.

I have an idea. Could we just declare today, Friday Septemeber 23, a National Day of Prayer against Hurricane Rita, ahead of the disaster? Everybody do it... Even I'LL do it! Then when it doesn't work we can stop the nonsense of having government sanctioned religious declarations? I'm willing to give it a shot, but once it fails could we move to more productive activities?

Let's not waste our time. There's a few states that need a good cleaning and once again God, and his crappy customer service record, fail to answer the most desperate cries for help from his most vunerable followers.

Get a life.

Intellectual Consistency, Lefties!

In North-Central Florida radio stations blare with the general inconsistency and intellectual bankruptcy of right-wing ideologs. There's a show on Sunday morning that plays for one hour, that presents a counter to the typical rhetoric espoused by conservative hosts.

Last weekend there was a local mom infuriated about Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act. Apparently Rep. David Vitter of Louisiana installed a relatively hidden provision that allows military recruiters to bypass the normally strict school privacy policies and access children for recruitment into the armed services. The details are presented on "leavemychildalone.org".

Apparently many parents, mostly left leaning from my observation, are outraged that the military can access their children without parental consent. They say that kids under 18 don't have the ability to make a sound decision, they don't have the capacity to make up their own minds about a life-altering choice.

Across the nation the same people are lobbying against parental notification for abortion. Research has shown me that this is good because pregnant girls that seek pregnancy termination frequently fear parental retaliation for their sexual peccadilloes, fearing punishment, abandonment and oftentimes violence. Parents down here don't like the girls puttin' out the goods, and " 'specially bearin' childrens out of Christian wedlock".

In the later we trust a child with a choice, and an important one with potential psychological and medical implications. However, we are considering the same children incapable of saying no to a smiling jarhead? In my mind exposure to military options is a critical function of No Child Left Behind. Heck, college, vocational training and/or menial labor aren't for everyone and the military is a reasonable option. Plus, I don't want to do it!

I make a lot of noise about the intellectual inconsistencies of the right and its only reasonable to point this out as well. Of course, they have the opposite problem, they think kids don't have the ability to make a pregnancy decision but they certainly can sign up to get their ass shot off in a place they can't find on a map. However, I expect that from them.

Let's use our heads. The minute we stop analyzing our own rhetoric we establish dangerous precedents and poor examples.

Martha Stewart Can Shove it Up Her Ass.

Although I refrain from commentary on meaningless pop culture icons, I will address the Martha Stewart situation. This rich bitch and former seat on the New York Stock Exchange used her connections to gain insider information regarding FDA rejection of an Imclone cancer drug. She used this information to sell substantial stock interest in the company the day before the price plummeted.

Everyone defends this action, apparently "everyone does it". She never was tried for it, she never served a day. She did some menial jail time for obstructing justice. BFD.

The bottom line is, when Martha sold that night, she pocketed just under $300,000 that would have been otherwise lost. So what? Who cares?

The way the market works, if someone makes $300,000 it has to come from somewhere. Her profits were safely transferred to her thick and appropriately matching wallet while the retirement accounts of the retired on fixed income tanked. The smiling face of K-Mart squeezed out a major dookie into Joe Six Pack's lunch bucket, reaching into his pocket and putting a few bucks into hers.

So what was her penalty... five months of easy time. Shit, that's $60,000 a month. I'll take that anytime!

I'll never understand how the Limbaughs of the world can scream bloody murder about a destitute crackhead pocketing a Nelly CD in New Orleans, but then look the other way at white collar criminals that pocket substantial gains with minimal repercussion.

Fight the real enemy.

Bowling Pins

Our conservative president has vowed to rebuild New Orleans and essentially opened the big checkbook, signed a thousand blank checks and and said, "Have at it!". The fiscally-responsible, accountable Republicans have been relatively quiet.

$200 billion dollars. That means $400 billion dollars in government speak. Right now that's $1600 per person to rebuild New Orleans. That's like paying a substantial part of a month's salary to set the bowling pins back up. Who will pay? Not the poor, not the rich, but Joe Six Pack and Schmootzie Pony Keg -- us poor bastards that make too much to avoid the tax man but don't make enough to have connections to hide it. It will cost each of us dopes $8000 each before it is said and done, and I don't have it and I don't want to pay it!

One billion is a big number. I got this email from my dad today putting the abstraction of a 'billion" into tangible terms

a.. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
b.. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
c.. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
d.. A billion days ago no-one walked on two feet on earth.
e.. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the
rate our government spends it.

Yikes! And to think we've spent $270 billion on war since 2002, according to the Congressional Research Service. Even the president can tell you that this many seconds ago would be back past Creation. This is the problem. When one's core philosophy is based in abstraction and hocus-pocus, one can't grasp the reality of a billion dollars and how one gets it. Add on the fact that GWBush and most of congress always had money for the asking and it is clear why real value is meaningless.

This is the problem. How can Bush and his Republican rubber stampers NOT pay to rebuild an American region when they freely can afford to rebuild Iraq? How can they tell the core of the populace, where their state's color on election day is the color of their necks, that the money will go there, but not here?

How can they dupe us, and say that they can do it without raising taxes?

Where will it come from?

Old Milwaukee vs. Elitist Pricks

Lately I've been writing about how I work too much. Yesterday I worked too much too. I was up at 4AM, at work before 6 and then got home at 9pm. This is not a complaint, there has been an excellent run of productivity lately at Schmootzie's Recombinant DNA Labs and it has demanded long hours to harvest science fruit.

Still, spending 100 hours a week with a labor of love is exhausting, and it would not be possible without the crutch of alcohol. A few beers at the end of the day sure help my aching head.

Last night on the way home I stopped at the local beer store. The parking lot was unusually full for 8:45 pm, 15 minutes before close. Not only was it full in terms of quantity, but there were qualitative differences as well. The lot usually filled with beat up old pickup trucks like mine had a sheen of the elite-- Hummers, Range Rovers, BMWs and high-end SUVs. I had to double check to figure out if I was at my crappy neighborhood booze hole.

The automatic door opened to reveal that I had arrived into a wine tasting event. The usually vacant store was packed full of a Docker's commercial, well-groomed slick white people gathering around small stands of wine and cheese, each accompanied by some alleged wine expert. I made way back to the beer cooler in search of my medication.

I got back to the beer area to find the cooler blocked by temporary tables featuring different wines, surrounded by happy wine drinkers. I politely asked some guy in a Polo shirt (collar up, hey, the 80's called....) to excuse me while I opened the cooler.

I grabbed a 12 pack of Old Milwaukee and he felt compelled to comment, "Goin' for the good stuff, huh?"

"It's what I like", was all I said, and I turned to walk away.

"Yeah, I used to like the cheap stuff too", he added.

Now, I may have looked like a bum because I roll out of bed, put on any clothes that are semi clean regardless of wrinkles and matching. I work for 16 hours in a hot lab coat and become fucking exhausted. I wasn't in the mood. I would have loved to debate the basis of my crusty decisions with a 27 year old Banana Republican but discretion prevailed. What an asshole. Why does he care? I'm sure when he and his buddies gather at the 19th hole they pop the tops off of a couple of Coor's Lights and think its good.

(Basically, I don't want to support Budwiser, Miller or Coor's. They basically WalMartized the brewing industry and stole choice. That's a topic for another day)

He mocks my Old Milwaukee beer, one that I chose, a decision that does not affect him in any way.

The point here is, what kind of elite prick gives a fuck what I decide to consume to the point where he has to comment on my choice? If there's a point, make it. I could spend an hour telling him about Coor's, their ties to an elitist asshole family, unfavorable labor practices and discriminatory policies. His snide little comments come from the combination of a teeny dick, a thin conscience, thick wallet and big attitude.

I meet these condescending pricks all the time, the kind of people that look down their noses at me because I refuse to keep up with the Jones'. They look down on me for my choice to be a scientist and educator. At a recent fancy people party (my wife is fancy and in the fashion industry, lots of pretty people invite her to stuff, I usually go along) one of these dicks told me that I was wasting my time working in an academic research environment and that I could make much more money if I worked in the private sector. Another acquaintance called me when our wives were out together to see if I wanted me to come over to help him out with his six pack of Coor's Light. Alas, it was a Sunday and I was going to work. He could not figure out why I would work on a weekend."Ahhh, getting some time-and-a-half", he says.

"No, just have some things to get done", I say.

He mocks my Old Milwaukee career, one that I chose, a decision that does not affect him in any way.

I hate these assholes. They make their decisions based on dollars and cents with no concept of what it is like to seek and discover. They don't comprehend the feeling of seeing a student light up with understanding. They don't understand the feeling of accomplishment of successfully passing a well-crafted scientific text through a panel of stringent peer reviewers. Their daily goal is a Hummer in the driveway when my goal is a hummer in the driveway. Two different standards.

The funny part is, I have a great position, a stimulating career and a great life from it. My happiness comes from a good family and friends, a great wife and dog and a difficult daily challenge that I meet and exceed. My happiness comes from incrementally forwarding mankind's understanding of the fundamental basis of life, adding resolution to hard questions that form the basis of science. I wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world.

These assholes will never be smart enough to understand.

National Day of Work

The president has declared September 16 as a "National Day of Prayer" for Katrina victims. Instead of throwing a day down the crapper I turned it up to eleven. I got to work earlier and worked hard all day, stayed late and got shit done. While my competitors were on their knees wishing well for the Katrina victims in retrospect, I turned the crank of the science machine extra hard in an attempt to broaden our understanding of life and ultimately make this rock more inhabitable.

A national day of prayer. Is there a day one is not allowed to pray? If you need a declaration to do it you are a crappy christian anyway. Look, what's done is done. Prayers didn't steer the hurricane off into Cuba, they ain't going to matter much now. It is a typical President Bush proposal, a benign statement that will produce nothing other than a warm fuzzy feeling in the hearts and heads of his braindead supporters that swoon over empty gestures that feel good. They like god.

It takes a clown to see the man behind the curtain sometimes. I propose a "National Day of Work" where CEOs to the unemployed put in an extra one at the office, on the street, anything. I want 12 continuous hours of labor from everyone. The money will go into a big untouchable pot, reserved strictly for national catastrophe. It's going to take $200,000,000.00 to rebuild New Orleans (this time) and $400,000,000.00 the next time and then $600,000,000.00 to pave over it at that point. It will cost $1,000,000,000.00 to rebuild San Francisco and about the same to get all of the radioactive material out of NYC.

We better make a decision now about how the decision to live in a dumb place will be paid for. I live in a dumb place plagued by sinkholes, tornadoes, hurricanes and child molesters, and I pay a fucking fortune for insurance. I cover my own ass and nobody will be there to bail me out in the event of tragedy except for me. This type of thinking will never penetrate 80% of society.

Let's not set a bad precedent here. Let's assume that people are not going to insure themselves and plan for the future. Let's come up with a social security plan for disasters. Wait, if the govenernment does that it will be a disaster too.

Please Fix Before 2010

There are a lot of problems in the world today, and most are beyond my control. However, I have the capacity to start a grassroots attack on an evil scourge that contaminates every locality-- stupid people in the grocery store checkout line.

What is it about a cart full of groceries that makes people instantly daft? As a people we need to enact strict legislation that modifies the grocery shopping experience, as peace begins with my obtaining foodstuffs and not wanting to machete people in the process.

I love and appreciate the elderly, but simultaneously harbor great distain for the archaric and antiquated. Yesterday I end up in line, the "10 Items or Less" line, with my eight items. I get behind some old hen that was obsolete beyond her years. She wasn't that old, maybe in her early 60's, but she was ancient in concept. She was certainly spry enough to see me in the corner of her stupid astigmatic eye and rush to the checkout line ahead of me. Being polite, I let her win. She didn't win nearly as much as I lost. Little did I know that my random act of kindness would almost bring a rain of violence.

(0 minutes)

First, no counting skills. The 20 items exceeded the line's volumetric parameters by 100%.

Next, she watches every item scan and bitches about every 3rd one being the wrong price, when careful inspection by an independent clerk proved incorrect, 10 minutes later.

(10 minutes)

Then she takes out the coupons. In her fist full of paper scraps she digs for the relevant ones and places them out for the cashier, who dutifully scans them to inspire the appropriate rebate.

(11 minutes)

"I'm sorry but two of these are expired", she says.

The woman in line takes the defensive, rips the slip from the girl's hand and inspects the mice type for contrary evidence. The people behind me roll their eyes and move to other lines, I'm trapped in the #2 spot, which has meaning on several levels.

(13 minutes)

Meanwhile, my blood is starting to boil. It's 8 pm, I've been at work since 6am, and I just want to pay for my bag of lettuce and go home. I reached into my pocket and was picked out a handful of change and slapped it on the belt... "Here, give me the damn coupon".

Now she wants to debate. "But it says good until 8-31-05 and that was just a week ago", she says, "They should give it to me".

Back in the day you could get a cashier to look past an expiration date, but a bar code and computer are not going to let it fly. I insist that she take the $2 in coins for her coupon and she hesitantly relinquishes it and puts my coins in her purse. I didn't even look at it, I crumbled it in my hand and threw it on the floor.

(15 minutes)

Now everyone is looking at me like I am the asshole, but the process resumes. The clerk gives the total and THEN Mrs. Dipshit starts digging in her purse for the $18.37. After 10 seconds of rummaging that seem like an eternity she pulls out her..... CHECKBOOK.

Are you kidding me? It is 2005, two thousand and five! Every bank offers a debit card that quickly and safely completes such transactions and this twit wants to write a check. She fills in the blanks with slow deliberate strokes, penmanship that would make heads turn, the clear teachings of a nun.

(17 minutes)

She gives the check to the clerk who THEN asks for a driver's license which takes another 20 seconds of dicking around to produce. Could she possibly have had this stuff in her hand before she raced me to the line?

(18 minutes)

By now everyone that was in line behind me has paid and left. The woman finally gets her stuff into the cart, she scans the receipt, and only then makes progress toward the door. The cashier sent me a knowing glance and cracked a smile. We exchanged pleasantries and I suggested she rent "Falling Down" some night.

I moved through the checkout line with typical agility and came into the parking lot in time to see that premature geriatric pulling out of her spot and tooling away in her Cadillac, Bush/Cheney sticker proudly displayed next to the magnetic yellow ribbon. She passed through a stop sign without even sensing it and didn't let an old couple cross the walkway in front of the store before meandering back into her sick antiquated world of oblivious selfishness.

Can someone please fix this? I took three years off of my life with ruptured capillaries in my brain over some dumbfuck's inability to get with the program. If we can end the use of checks, coupons and other such hindrances by 2010 the world will be a much better place.

GMOs, Stem Cells and Evolution

Being a scientist, I am emplored to perform as a clever evidence seeker and interpreter of physical realities. I have been trained in developing theory from facts and to distill meaning from objective tests of hypotheses. I live in a world a reality, void of faith and belief, founded on facts and proof. It is a wonderful place to be.

As an educator part of my job is to help people understand science. I do not discount what they want to believe, nor do I want what people belive to influence where we seek science, our quest for facts or our interpretation of information.

I often get to present to two major audiences- the anti-evolution crowd so prevalent in the South and the anti-GMO groups. Although one leans politcally right and the other politically left, I can use the same presentation for both and just substitute "GMO" for "Evolution" or "stem cells". It is pretty amazing!

Why? Because science deals in facts and physical absolutes. Anti-Evolution and anti-biotechnology (GMO or stem cells) stances come from a combination of faith, belief and misinformation. In all three cases there is a lack of objective hypothesis testing, a dearth of scientific inquiry that gives no evidence to support their contentions. Period.

It is okay to love your god and it is okay to hate Monsanto, do what you want; it is not my business. But when a school district can't teach science as a discipline of hypothesis testing and when a group of grimy do-gooders burn down a field of engineered crops it is the same thing-- both take action against hard science because of ignorance.

Science is a valuable shield. It attempts to describe reality based on facts and the physical nature of reality. Period. It is always open minded, and does not discount that GMO's or stem cells may be evil, it does not discount that there is a god and heaven. It only asks for physical evidence to support the claim.

When clean, objective evidence is presented for any of these points I will gladly accept it and support it. Until then, I need to educate from a pillar of facts, and America in 2005 is not ready for that.

4 Years Later -- We're Safe Now!

Late night. On September 11, 2001 I worked until 5 AM, capping a typical 18 hour shift. I was a postdoctoral scientist possessed by the thrill of discovery that daily drove scientific endeavors late. I rode my bicycle home in the darkness, settled into bed for a few hours of rest, and set my alarm clock for 7:55 AM. In Madison, WI residents with vehicles park on opposite sides on opposite days. If your car is not repositioned by 8:01 you get a ticket.

Funny story. I started my car and moved it from one side of the street to the other. The radio was left on and I listened to the morning radio zoo joke about the idiot that flew his plane into the World Trade Center.

Unfolding. I returned to my apartment, transfixed on the developing story. The news did not even suggest it to be an attack and I considered it as a remote possibility.

Reality strikes. From the corner of the screen a silhouette of a jet airliner pierced the second tower. The motivation was clear and everything changed. I watched the towers fall and thought about all of the people trapped inside and all of the brave firefighters and police that ran to them. All dead.

Innocence lost. No longer were attacks on citizens the work of kooks over there, the kooks were here and ready to destroy the infidels in the name of God. Just like the 19 hijackers did.

United we Stand. After 8 months of living under our first genuinely retarded president, appointed by the court, we were faced with the realization that he was going to be in command of the situation and response. But we had unity for once, a common enemy. Democrats and Republicans came together in congress, neighbors met for the first time. The world disavowed the horrific attack and stood behind the United States at her time of great loss. Flags erupted everywhere, nationalism soared, we were proud to be Americans, together.

United We Stood. It took only a few weeks for the kum-by-yas to stop and infighting to begin. The idiots had taken over. Within days it was clear that we were on a one-way trip to revenge and retaliation. It was clear that stupid Americans would clamor for protection in exchange for their uncherished, disposable freedom. The Redneck Nation was ready to strike and exact revenge on those that attacked us. The world suggested we temper our response. Our idiot president and the hillbilly cowboy nation that loves him told the world to fuck off. Just like their beloved Jesus would do. This was the beginning of the end of the American experiment.

No accountability. In the interim we failed to capture the person responsible for orchestrating the attacks. We invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses and gave a pass to the nation that sponsored the hijackings because they are friends of the president's family. The Christian Right, that wants revenge, fails to even hold Saudi Arabia or the administration responsible for their admitted indiscretions.

Four Years Later. Are we safe now? Did the thousands of lives, billions of dollars, sacrificed freedoms, increased cameras, security checkpoints and national debt win us anything? We are not a beacon to the world. We have lost our stature. We have given away freedoms. We have acted in ways that we should deplore. Shame.

Agility Compromised. The FBI, CIA and FEMA have been merged with other government agencies into the clunky and slow Department of Homeland Security. With 5 days warning they failed citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Division. We are a divided people. One side wants what is right and moral and the other side wants to kill, bomb, covet, invade, steal and bear false witness, then cover the stench by hangging their ten unfollowed commandments in our classrooms.

Fight Back. I would argue now that the events of 9-11 told us to wake up as a people. Learn the Constitution, learn the electoral process. Vote. Do it twice in Florida, they might let you. Hold politicians accountable. Be consistent. Note that Clinton was a disgrace and that Bush is an idiot. Don't be part of a political party, the overlords of our nation that exploit our susceptibility to division to their profit. Coke vs. Pepsi, Ford vs. Chevy, Cubs vs. Sox.... Same crap different can.

Curl Up and Die. Instead 9-11 was the point where we gave up. We turned in our freedoms, didn't question our politicians' assertions and then gave them a pass when they were wrong. We elected an illiterate dolt to the highest office again, mostly because the opposition insisted on playing politics rather than offering a real leader.

A Watershed. Four years later we stand as a nation at a more delicate precipice. Before some hated us, now most do. We are alone, and within that alone there is division. Hold your nose, for something exceedingly unpalatable is upon us. Our actions will go down in history as the beginning of the end, and our president, the greatest failure in US history.

Recommended Listening

I love listening to music. I appreciate challenging, thoughtful lyrics and talented musicianship. Since I was 13 (25 years ago) I've been most sustained by a steady stream of punk rock. It is the only musical genre that has had the balls to point a finger at the status quo and then stick it up its own ass.

I'd suggest that everyone listen to the following:

NOFX -- War On Errorism -- Listen to "The Idiots Have Taken Over"

Descendents -- Cool to be You -- Listen to "'Merica"

At least read the lyrics. They too have put their finger on the New World Odor.

Debit Card for Victims -- Smooth Move

Recently, a federal agency met around a big shiny table and figured the best method to help displaced hurricane victims would be to grant each a debit card, linked to an account loaded with $2000. Fucking brilliant.

The little-bitty Limbaugh inside of me is fuming. See, I developed a little Limbaugh when I was in graduate school. Over this 9 year stretch I made between $9-$15K per year. I bought only what I could afford and had little dependence on loans or aid. I made it work by living within my means, spending creatively, and earning a few dollars every time I had a chance to. I lived in poor neighborhoods, near projects, among poor families; those were the only affordable places. The people there were some of the kindest and most grateful people I ever met.

However, they invariably made bad financial decisions. Almost weekly I'd stand in the grocery line with a bag of potatoes, a loaf of bread, a pint of Night Train and my last five dollars. In front of me would be a cart full of Doritos and 7-up paid for with food stamps. Worse, often times someone would pay for their food with food stamps and then get $50 in lottery tickets with cash. People I know, friends, milk the system for food stamps and then spend $50 a week on cigarettes. This type of abuse was rampant and I saw it because I was there.

Yes, there is discrimination. Yes, there is bias. Yes, some people or groups of people are never taught how to make good decisions. I'm not blaming them. The reality is, being poor and dependent requires some degree of bad decision making.

The folks displaced by the hurricane are typically those that did not have the means to flee. They need our help and they need it now. But to give them two thousand dollars is insane. You are not going to see a spate of new Roth IRAs open in Louisiana. I bet most of these were spent down within 24 hours, and not always in productive ways.

On the back of each card it says, "not to be used for tobacco or alcohol". But this can't be enforced and the cards can be used for cash. Tell me a nicotine addict isn't going to cash out and buy cigarettes before water and food?

This is typical beaurocracy, a conveinent and expensive band-aid on a complex problem. It is a waste to think that we can buy the poor into a favorable position. We need to give them the things they need along with a way out of the situation. We need to train and educate, teach and guide. That is where money is best spent.

It is tough to do this today. Right now we should be making sure that all medical and basal needs are met. Soon we should use the opportunity to educate, retool, and guide this mass of injured humans to new homes, new lives and new means.

Pointing Fingers, Kicking Ass, Taking Names

I have not been in the mood to be insightful or funny. I'm transfixed by the news and I am floored by the pathetic display of human suffering, huddled masses already here. In my last few blog entries I thought that it may be best to not blame anyone, to work together, to heal.

I've changed my mind. It's fucking sick and about time someone is accountable. Who to blame? It isn't one entity, person or agency, it is a failure of city/state/federal government and a breakdown in personal responsibility, coupled to the fucking assinine idea of erecting a major metropolis below sea level -- next to the sea. I can now sit and hold ye in judgement, and do so without being a hypocrite, from the comfort and safety of my well-stocked concrete bunker next to the Big Top in North Central Florida. HERE IS WHO TO BLAME-

1. ABLE-BODIED, FINANCIALLY-STABLE, NEW ORLEANSIANS- What part of "mandatory evacuation" don't you understand? If you have (had) a car and time to go but chose to hunker down to "protect the domicile from the lootin' colored folk" you deserve to drown.

2. GLOBAL WARMING- Go ahead Limbaugh. After you explain to me where you got your Ph.D. in meteorology I'd like you to explain why the storms are more numerous and more intense. If hard science EVER demonstrates a formal link between pollution, human activity and heated oceans I want all of the political mouthpieces that fought the facts to be held responsible and be assassinated as the ignorant baby killers they are.

3. LOCAL and STATE GOVERNMNETS- Why is it that a part-time party clown KNEW that New Orleans would not survive a category 3 hurricane, but mayors and governors were not prepared? How could there not be an iron-clad evacuation plan? They needed to have the capacity to move 110% of the elderly, the children, the homeless and the disabled. By analogy,when you are driving 100 mph down the wrong side of the highway you better have a damn seatbelt on.

4. FEDERAL RESPONSE-- It only took the president 7 minutes to put down My Pet Goat to respond to 9-11. He must have been in the middle of Horton Hears a Hoo since it took him four days to wind down his vacation to respond to a national disaster. Why is it that every single news network could get trucks into the area, looters were free to roam, but no federal presence could figure out how to penetrate the area? Why did he only show up after there was criticism? Where's Cheney? Why is Iraq more secure and stable than a major American city?

5. THE ASSHOLES THAT WANT TO REBUILD A CITY BELOW SEA LEVEL- I am going to point my finger into the future. As storms become more frequent and intense it makes sense to remodel the way we think about living in coastal areas. New Orleans should now be flooded and turned into a righteous dive park or America's Venice called "Old Orleans", and they should rebuild the "New and Improved Orleans" above sea level a few miles inland. If they pump it out, and spend billions to rebuild it with insurance and taxpayer money, it will only be a matter of years before it is completely destroyed again. The water ALWAYS wins and you will not beat mother nature, and I don't want to pay for it. You want a place to trade boobs for beads... get a wife and buy her a necklace.

Okay, now that I've vented I feel a little bit better, but the human suffering continues. The most important message is to prepare for disaster before it comes, and heed warnings when they are issued. We saw this coming for 5 days. Imagine when the nuke goes off one morning in NYC or Yourtown, USA. Get ready, feather your nest, buy some extra shotgun shells and make sure your family is in sync with you. Have a plan. Ultimately YOU are in charge of your own well being and the government will NOT be there when the shit hits the fan. Especially when a rich dynasty of assholes is in charge.

Other Shoe to Drop...

When Katrina hit shore I anticipated it. The deployment of disaster resources to the South and tons more in Iraq left me feeling like the anticipated terror attack was imminent.

Certainly if there were terrorists poised to strike, waiting for an opportunity to inflict massive psychological damage, they would pile on after a natural disaster. I'm really surprised that it didn't happen.

Could it be that there's not a real threat? Could it be that it is an administration-conjured facade to scare us into electing them and supporting their imperial aspirations? Could it be a way for them to convince us to give up our freedoms for security? Is it a way to reconcile the high price of energy and make us look the other way on the massive profits for oil companies?

Hmmmmm.

And Now for Something Completely Different

All of those that have commented in this blog about Schmootize being a liberal that will bash Bush and religious people are in for a surprise! Today I will defend them!

President Bush is taking a lot of heat for the response to the hurricane. I maintain that there is no way possible that anyone could have predicted acurately the path of the storm or the magnitude of damage. People were told to evacuate and didn't or couldn't. If blame lies anywhere it is there.

I say to the victims, more gratitude, less attitude. Yes, the conditions are horrid, yes, it is sad that people are sick, homeless, dying. It is an atrocity, a tragedy, but it is nobody's fault. It is a hurricane. It is a storm that came from the ocean, fueled by hot water. Go sue god.

To the President, I suggest you tone down the rhetoric like, "And the great city of New Orleans will rise again", because it won't happen within the scope of your presidency. Nobody wants to hear anohter one of your retarded stump speeches when rats are gnawing the eyes out of a dead guy a few blocks away.

I was happy to hear that churches in my area are performing their Jesus-oid roles with great ambition. A caravan of food and water from Gainesville FL was one of the first to be ripped apart and destroyed by angry throngs. They returned to FL, loaded up again, and back to the area where needed. That's probably WWJD, I respect that. This is where the church is useful and effective- aiding the public through good works rather than trying to engineer society in their way.

In this situation, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Victims, critics, politicians and all concerned need to understand that although it was coming, nobody knew the specifics. Everyone is trying hard. I think that is all we can ask.

A Minor Victim

No pics on this blog, the host is in New Orleans, so the server is in the drink.

I'm trying to synthesize this and failing. So much tragedy. Soon the lawsuits will start, everybody is blaming the mayor, the governor, the president. I don't think any of them could have predicted this and all have acted within their best intentions.

Anyway, more tomorrow.