2011 Round Up

Hello everyone,   Christmas 2011

Sometimes it feels like I am writing one of these every 20 minutes, but in fact it has been a whole year. They keep going faster and faster and I'm reminded of two great truths: nothing changes and everything changes.

Two-Thousand Eleven has been a pretty academic year for the Fosters. Zachary has finished his Associate's. Jennifer has finished her Bachelor's. I finished my Master's. Hannah, still in her Junior Year, has done her first college class. That's a lot of studying, but we are all in preparation for the future... because it is now.

This is likely the last year we will all be together in the same house. Zack is planning on leaving the nest and heading into the world, possibly by the time you read this. He's looking around for Law Enforcement positions and prepping his pepper spray. I thought I was raising Batman, but I think we got Commissioner Gordon instead; an honest cop to a fault, and I couldn't be more proud. Too bad he can't grow a cool Gary Oldman style mustache. We are going to miss him when he goes, but are really excited to see him get out into the world and fix it. That, and Eightball wants his own room...

Hannah has become someone whom I not only love as a daughter, but enjoy spending time with as a person. She's articulate and funny, but sometimes goes off with the type of mouth Fosters are famous for. I should tell her to watch her mouth, but at times her profanity is sculpted like Michaelangelo working in four-letter words. It's an artform she is mastering, and she has the brains to back up her points. Also, we watch a lot of Doctor Who together. She's looking forward to some of the changes 2012 brings, which I will get into in a moment.

Zack isn't the only superhero in the Foster family; Jennifer—along with her academic success—has been volunteering with the Red Cross helping several families who lost their homes in fires, to include the Monument Fire which made national news this year. She's building up the resume to get to our next duty station and find some work saving the world herself. Very exciting to think about what she's going to be up to in the coming year, be it work or her own Master's program (or both). Again, we are getting ready for the next phase.

That next phase is about here. In the Spring we make what should be our last move for My Firm and return to the Great Green Northwest. About that time I should be pinning CW4, and the 36 (or possibly 24) month countdown to retirement starts then. I have truly loved My Firm, but phase two is about here, and it is time for something new. Not sure what that will be, and My Firm still wants me to give them one more trip to the badlands, but that's a small price to pay for joining the Check of the Month Club.

See? Everything is changing: new city, new jobs, new school, new ranks. Everything is staying the same: save the world, get educated, be busy. The world isn't going to end in 2012; we won't let it.

So, we ask this year you indulge us just a bit longer as we may be sporadic in reaching out. Please believe me when I tell you we love you all and we hope Christmas and the holiday season finds you all looking forward to 2012, and the New Year being kind to you. Keep calm and carry on, and we will all get through this together.   Merry Christmas!  Happy Chanukah! Happy New Year!  Occupy 2012!

The Fosters

Post Game Commentary

Like a thousand other would-be commentator blogs out there, it's time for Black Owl to give the post game assessment of the 2010 mid-terms. They were ugly, and spiteful, and not always particularly honest, but I think there are some winners and losers out there, and I don't necessarily think they are obvious.

Big winner- John Boehner. He is now ringmaster in that circus known as the House, and will be on every website and TV channel he can get his mug plastered upon. He's all about changing Washington... this 20-year Washington politician. Let's hope he takes Michael Jackson's advice and starts with the man in the mirror.

Kinda winner- the Republican party. They made great strides in the House, and have all kinds of an agenda to push: repealing Health Care, fixing the economy (whose troubles have roots in the Clinton presidency while those troubles blossomed in the Bush years, and BO was supposed to already have it all fixed), keeping gays out of the military. They have a lot to do in the next two years. Of course they have absolutely no chance of getting any of it done without the Senate or the White House, but I wish them the best.

Not a winner, but we're saying they are- the Tea Party. They did get a couple of big wins in, but as the Red states have reminded those few Blue states, there's the whole rest of the country. Less than a third of Tea Party backed candidates won. Further, some people are saying the TP lost the Republicans control of the Senate. Ouch.

Losers- The Democrats. You guys did a lousy job of running a campaign. You didn't use facts to counter the half-truths of your opponents, and frankly, the Country has a real right to be mad at you; you swept in with BO and then decided that just having a majority wasn't enough. Despite everything the Pres has made happen, he had to cajole and prod you into action, and it showed. I know, I know, you never REALLY wanted that dude to be President; you were ready for Hillary. You not standing behind your president however has cost you the House, and got you close to losing the Senate. Ouch.

Surprise winner- Barack Obama. The man is still President, and suddenly has something now he didn't have the last two years; Republicans willing to talk. Yeah, I know, they are going to come in like gang-busters, but again, if they actually want to look like they are doing something they do have to appease the Senate, and if I remember my Schoolhouse Rock correctly, the president has to sign their bills into law.




Yep, thought so. That two-thirds veto override is going to be tough too. So to get anything accomplished (here comes the C-word) Republicans will have to compromise; like the President has been trying to get for 24 months. Further, if they don't, the Republicans look like the bad guys in two years. And, I think Barack Obama would like to personally thank the American people for getting Nancy Pelosi the hell out of his way.



Biggest Loser- The American People. More than likely we have a grid-locked Government which will throw insults and rhetoric for the next two years until they can try to completely disparage one another in the next election cycle. That means nothing getting done on either side, and a quagmire which keeps us from growing, improving, or fixing anything...regardless of the side of the aisle one supports. The politics have become far more important than the actual issues. We lose.

Should have voted for this guy. At least he's honest.

A Sarcastic Thank You to the American Media and People

Why am I dipping my thanks in a deep irony sauce seasoned with a fresh grind of hostility? Because you (and by you I must indeed include me, as we are “We the People”) and the media we allow to taint our thoughts have successfully managed to befuddle and obfuscate every issue this election cycle. At times, it's been downright lies, but most often it's half-truths interpreted through our ever more polarized worldviews. I have been labeled, rightfully, in one such discussion as a “Centrist Intellectual.” (Let me wipe off the irony sauce and say thank you to my dear Deborah, who though we may disagree, calls them as she sees them, and this is I hope exactly the political persona I hope to project.)

As such, I now have no one for whom to vote. In order to receive kudos from the vocal of either side and their media masters, any show of intellectualism makes a candidate out to be not of the people. Candidates are CLAIMING IGNORANCE as a positive characteristic. Please think about that for a minute, and honestly assess of you want to support someone who claims to be no smarter than you. I can't balance a checkbook, I certainly hope the people for whom I vote are smarter than me. I want them to be smart... but I am apparently in the minority.

Secondly, there's no benefit in moderation today. Be a little in the middle as a Republican, and you are labeled a RINO and some Tea Partier will come along and kill you in the Primary. Be a little in the middle as a Democrat, and websites like “AlterNet.Org” will decide you are just part of the machine carrying on Bush policy. We have become enslaved to our false left-right political spectrum (where does anarchy fall on that spectrum may I ask?) and have paid corporate giants millions to have their talking heads on both sides stop informing us and start simply confirming what we already think we know. Obama's a Socialist? Beck said so, and that's just what I thought, so it must be true. Reagan's the devil? You bet Keith, tell it like it is! We take it and we feed our confirmation bias, and if we do flip to the other channel, it's just to see how wrong the other guy still is.

And that's if we even bother to go to a “news source.” Usually it's just a forwarded email we won't bother to confirm because it falls in line with what we think. Of course, we must then share this with our like minded friends and perpetuate those half truths ourselves.

So here I am, with no candidate to represent my thoughts except ones already in power whom I would like to replace with someone better, or hear the truth about once in a while. I can't; there's no one better running, and no one who's on the side of truth, on the side of America. If you think your political part represents true America, the simple truth is you are wrong. There is no party representing America, because there are too many of us to break into two easily definable groups, and the fact we keep trying is a detriment to our nation and our future.

I am about to make a confession. I am a Liberal. There, I said it.
Oh, you think I mean PELOSI Liberal? Oh hell no. I am a Liberal like Thomas Jefferson, the classical definition, the idea that LIBERTY should be the first consideration. The rights of the people. I see both slides wrapping themselves in that flag, and neither truly representing it. LIBERTY does not mean the Government doing everything for you. LIBERTY also does not mean a powerless Government. We have a Bill of Rights to protect us from an overzealous Government so that that Government can protect us from overzealous Businesses. Indeed, we seem to be on a path to eliminate the governments ability to do anything, and will instead sentence ourselves to slavery to banks and corporations to whom we will be indebted as long as we shall live. The corporation does NOT represent unfettered capitalism. The government MUST keep them honest, and not be enslaved to them. Simply ask Republican President and Monopoly breaker Theodore Roosevelt:

“Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own natures. But there is another harm; and it is evident that we should try to do away with that. The great corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown.”
Speech at Providence, Rhode Island (1902-08-23), Presidential Addresses and State Papers (1910), p. 103

For there to be true freedom, we must be independent; independent of Government, of Corporation, of Political Party. There was a time Democrats preached that, as did this other Roosevelt:

“True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.”
Franklin Roosevelt

I have another confession to make; I am a Conservative. There I said it.
Oh, you think I mean a PALIN Conservative? Oh hell no! I mean the one who wants to leave the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as our ruling ideal. We have to understand what that means. If we want to be Constitutionalist, our government doesn't establish a State Religion, we don't keep people from saying what they think, we leave guns in the hands of the people, and we let some bad guys get away in order to secure Liberty and privacy. Yeah, I know privacy doesn't appear in the Constitution. Primarily because the word in the 1700s related specifically to using the toilet. (Look it up- ever hear the term “using the privy”? Surely you can see the etymological evolution of usage here).

See, I think about these things, and you should too. Think, don't feel. Think, learn to cooperate, because it is what we have in common, which is a hell of a lot more than we disagree on, that will protect us from those who are jealous of what we have. Don't underestimate the internal threat though; we are more of a threat to our own Republic, either through over-legislation, or under-regulation; through taking advantage of an already ailing system, or destroying it so it cannot help those with legitimate need. The answer to America's future lies in the middle, and in thinking so we can differentiate real problems from banner issues meant to get our party elected. We indeed must all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately.

Now, I would like to think I haven't promoted a specific side's agenda here, particularly since I am pretty put out with both. Their posturing as left an impression of doom. Despite the S&P500 showing great progress since January, despite two years of tax cuts from withholding (which leaves money in your paycheck which you spend rather than sending you a check you put in the bank which only helps... the bank), and a severe slowdown on job loss. Also, no one came to take my guns, no one forced me to house soldiers in my home (except of course the one who pays the rent) and I am not a headless body left in the Arizona desert...yet. Also, I have not been locked in prison for my repeated use of the term “aham' d'Allah” or my possession and occasional use of Islamic prayer beads (usually while reciting the Shema and singing hymns or sitting in a lotus position). We are not as bad off as either side says, and neither side is really as bad as their detractors tell you.

But don't take my word for it. Put aside your feelings, read a lot, and THINK about it all. If you change your mind on nothing, you haven't done it right. We all are wrong about something. Go find out what YOU are wrong about. Stop letting the parties tell you it's all the other guy, because you know who's fault it is?

Ours.

And that's why I am mad at us (and me too).

It's called the law, Slick.

So, as I understand it, we have laws and rules in our society for a reason. Regardless of where you fall in the Government meddling spectrum, there are rules I think we all agree are there because they need to be. All of us, as individuals have the choice whether or not we want to follow those laws, but in the end, we are saying we are willing to deal with the consequences of violating them. Let's take for instance traffic laws. To me, that is likely the category of law we as citizens are most likely to break.

We may not all agree that a particular stretch of road should have a 30 MPH speed limit as opposed to a higher or lower one, but we usually adhere fairly well. I know on the open road, I like to cruise about ten miles or so higher than the speed limit, but in residential areas, I keep it low. (Please keep in mind I get passed in both situations ALL THE TIME, but that's a blog for another time). There are some places we have all agreed to allow our Governments to enforce more strictly. School zones for instance. Though I often speed, and see fellow speeders, we seem as individuals to understand that doing 50 on a small road next to a school letting kids out is a bad thing. Sure, you may get a ticket for your victimless crime of speeding elsewhere, but as an individual, you may loose your license speeding through a school zone. It's a hazardous area, and there are known safety issues.

We don't increase fines and punishments in school zones to protect the driver. We do it to protect the potential child victims. We know the results of recklessness in a school zone would be catastrophic, and we punish people, individuals, for taking the risk. In Arizona, it's a minimum $300 ticket for speeding in a school zone, and double if there are kids present. What happens when you run over someone?

If circumstances warrant, you go to prison. It's not murder, you didn't intend it. However, if you ignoring safety laws on the streets results in someone dying, you are punished for manslaughter, depending on your assessed amount of culpability. I don't consider this government meddling, I consider it the enforcement of common sense, which unfortunately seems to be necessary in a society supposedly made up of adults. If a person ignores all the warnings, if a person acts in an unsafe manner, and someone else gets hurt, it is only common sense that the violator gets punished. Additionally, the responsible party should pay for property damages. Should the victim die, the violator is guilty of taking human life, and will likely get that manslaughter charge and go to prison. When one individual through their irresponsible actions take another human life, we rely on the Government system to take care of it. We rely on the Government to come up with laws in regard to hazards, we rely on the Government to enforce them, we rely on the Government to punish an individual, a person, when they violate those laws. Especially an egregious violation of safe actions.

What if an individual killed eleven people through willful disregard for the law? What if further, that willful disregard resulted in untold damage to the area around them? Perhaps they ignored an ordnance on fires in city limits. The house next door caught on fire, and eleven people died inside. How would we punish that individual? What if they admitted to their own culpability? Would we say, “That's ok, it's not a big thing of you just sweep up the ashes.” No, that person would go to prison.


I don't care what side of Government regulation you're on. The safety rules for off-shore drilling exist because it is a hazardous situation. It's dangerous to the people on the platform, it's dangerous to the environment, it's hard work done by good people every day. British Petroleum willfully ignored safety again and again, in Washington; in Texas City where another 15 people died; in Alaska. If any individual person repeatedly broke laws protecting the people around them and were responsible for at least 26 deaths, they would be locked up. In particular of a person did those things for the purpose of making more money, they would be reviled, and not just criminal. I am not even going to talk about the oil spill; BP KNEW this rig was dangerous, and they didn't shut it down, and they killed eleven people. I'm not going to argue Government regulation; BP wasn't even following their OWN safety regulations. If BP were a person, they would be locked up, they SHOULD be locked up. This exact situation is why we have laws in the abstract sense, much less the specific OSHA regulations. If only, BP was a person!




Oh wait. They are. In the early 1800s, the United States Supreme Court ruled Corporations were legal persons. The Court upheld this in 1854 with Marshall v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. This Corporation has killed 26 people in the last five years. This person has killed 26 other people. I don't care what anyone's opinion is on Government intervention. Mr. BP has acted in a criminal sense, and in our society we lock up criminals. No, I am not saying we take each member of BP and put them in jail (though some are certainly tempting...), but why do we lock up criminals? To remove them from societal interaction. Then while they are in prison, we employ them for society's benefit; make some license plates or lightbulbs, etc. BP as a corporation should be kept from doing business, from interacting in a normal fashion. Then, when all the money stops coming in, the billions they are worth should be taken and put toward fixing what they have destroyed, not unlike how we take drug dealer money and put it into law enforcement.

Sure, chalk me up as a liberal blogger pissed off about oily birds. Feel free to use your own confirmation bias to feel good about dismissing what I say as just like the green freaks out there. Then notice, I am not talking about the environment. Then think about your kid being the one run down in the school zone. Then think about your kid being the one in the explosions at Texas City or on the Deepwater Horizon. This is about the deaths of human beings for the profit margin of another. This is about a lawful and orderly society, and punishing those who act against it. Government regulation? Don't care, not part of my argument. What I want to know BP, is where, where is your fucking morality? You, BP have acted like a sociopath incapable of empathy, a threat to others around you. You should be punished and your own employees should be protected from you. That's not nosing into business interest, that's not abrogating capitalism, that's what a Government is there to do; protect the interest of citizens. It's too late for 26 of them. Face up to it BP, be a man... you know, like the law says you are.

Deyz in yur government mezzin' up yer medizin!

My dear congressional Republicans, there is a problem in this country which needs your action. Right now, Federal bureaucrats are preventing doctors from making medical decisions regarding their patients. A specific treatment which has proven beneficial and cost effective is being blocked by big government, and some committee which thinks it know better than physicians how patients should be treated. Seeing as how that's one of the major arguments Congressional Republicans have against the Public Option, I am looking forward to seeing some brave Conservative get up and say it:

It's time to repeal the Federal ban on medical marijuana.

Seriously, regardless of my Centrist views, I also do NOT want some committee deciding who gets particular treatments. However, if we're not going to let a death panel decide an 80 year old can't have a new liver, then why are we still allowing the FDA to say doctors can't prescribe marijuana? I am not talking about legalizing it for recreational use (that's another argument). I am talking about a doctor prescribing to his or her patient who is undergoing chemo, or suffers from glaucoma, or has breast cancer, or even as some studies show, Alzheimer's- a natural remedy which is easy and cheap to produce, and has far less ill effects than the pharmaceutical alternatives.

I'm talking about a treatment supported by the American College of Physicians, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Psychological Association, and of course Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes.

I'm talking about an easily delivered treatment which some evidence shows may treat or alleviate up to 250 different ailments.

Now, let's be fair- this list was assembled by a doctor who may not be totally objective about this subject, but if it works for even ten things on this list, isn't it worth using? Five? Even one, if it can bring relief for a single ailment, and doctors want to use it, why are we letting the Federal government say otherwise? They're the doctors right? And not just some quacks, but real doctors (see the list above).

So, what is the government's argument against it? The hazards of smoking. No really, you can't have relief for your nauseous reaction to the chemo you have treating your cancer because the period you smoke the MJ might give you lung cancer. Well, what if it becomes a gateway for the patient? According to the Rand Corporation, the Gateway concept is bunk, and so say these doctors.
Even the 1999 study the FDA cites on usage in general only says:

"The gateway analogy evokes two ideas that are often confused. The first, more often referred to as the 'stepping stone' hypothesis, is the idea that progression from marijuana to other drugs arises from pharmacological properties of marijuana itself.

The second is that marijuana serves as a gateway to the world of illegal drugs in which youths have greater opportunity and are under greater social pressure to try other illegal drugs." (Institute of Medicine in its Mar. 1999 report titled "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base")

Not really a damning statement. Here's how Lynn Zimmer, PhD, Professor Emeritus at Queens College at the City University of New York put it:

"In the end, the gateway theory is not a theory at all. It is a description of the typical sequence in which multiple-drug users initiate the use of high-prevalence and low-prevalence drugs.

A similar statistical relationship exists between other kinds of common and uncommon related activities. For example, most people who ride a motorcycle (a fairly rare activity) have ridden a bicycle (a fairly common activity). Indeed, the prevalence of motorcycle riding among people who have never ridden a bicycle is probably extremely low. However, bicycle riding does not cause motorcycle riding, and increases in the former will not lead automatically to increases in the latter.” (his 1997 book “Marijuana Myths - Marijuana Facts”).

More than that, 13 States have voted to use medical marijuana- aren't the Republicans the party of State's Rights? Why aren't Republicans screaming about the Federal Governments insistence on imposing their will over these States' decisions? Who's going to be the brave Republican to get up and call for the end of these laws? John McCain, whose state is one of those who passed a local proposition? Sarah Palin, who is vehemently against Federal controls and bureaucratic interdiction in medical decisions? Joe Wilson, who obviously feels very passionately about health care. Who?

I am not trying to be a smart ass here- this is exactly WHY I want to see two parties in government. Any argument however must follow to the logical consequences. Opposing Government Health care on the grounds of bureaucrats not being allowed to countermand doctors has to apply to any reasonable medical decision. The facts are in- MM is reasonable, with the FDA's stats being spurious at best. Further, wanting to shrink Federal power in favor of State power means allowing States to make certain decisions on their own. The tenth amendment says they can do that, if there is not an existing Federal law- Federal Laws came from the control of recreational use- you know what? I can't use Vicodin for recreational use either, but no one in the Federal Government is asking to ban it as medicine.

So as a citizen, I ask a Republican to take advantage of the argument about health care right now and do the right thing. You would have doctors, States, facts, and logic on your side. Be the party of Smaller Government and put this tool back in the hands of doctors.

So I been thinkin'...

I just watched a really good TV series from Great Britain, called “Torchwood.” For those of you who don't know, it's a spinoff of the venerable “Doctor Who” tv series, and plays a bit like a British version of “The X-Files” though is at times a bit more grown up, and certainly allows darker things to happen to its characters, which British SF is kind of famous for (Blake's 7 anyone?). It stars the delighful John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, the indestructible leader of the extra-terrestrial-investigating group Torchwood, and Eve Myles (who has the best hair in television history) as Gwen Cooper, the former cop turned alien hunter (I might have written this entire posting as an excuse to post a picture of Eve Myles).


I specifically watched the third season, a special five part miniseries within the series called “Children of Earth.” I don't want to give away too much here, but the basic premise is what happens when an alien race comes and threatens to wipe us all out, unless we give them ten percent of every pre-pubescent child on Earth (I specifically won't spoil the 'why' part).

As the story plays out, the British leadership does some pretty heinous things, and eventually puts troops in the streets to gather up the undesirable children to give to the aliens. “Undesirable” pretty much equates to those who are eventually just end up on welfare or in prison, or those who were children of immigrants denied asylum. The scenes were the politicians are justifying this decision to themselves, while not offering up their own children are especially chilling.

The show is written by Russell T. Davies, who is also responsible for the Doctor Who revival, and the Showtime show “Queer as Folk.” The man is obviously a Liberal, and uses this venue as a method of pointing out how easily those who are supposed to serve us will offer us up to the wolves. He also makes a great show of pointing out how the Government, particularly in London, makes use of the “security cameras” to exploit or spy upon their citizens.




Now, this got me thinking about “V for Vendetta.” Decent film, but much better graphic novel about tyranny which takes hold while no one is looking, under the auspices of security and defending the people from terrorists. In the case of that film (pardon spoilers), a manufactured terror attack allows the powers that be to be those powers for life, and a despotic Orwellian nightmare ensues. Again though, this is a warning about the misintentions of government from a liberal source. Lots of that was really going on under the Bush administration for the last eight years, driven by things that even I have talked about: The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, warrantless wire-tapping, willfully ignoring the FISA laws, etc. It goes back though; the original V for Vendetta was written in the late 1980s, and was specifically talking about Margaret Thatcher's government. Frank Miller did something similar in “The Dark Knight Returns” with a Ronald Reagan who had become President for life. Liberals don't want those damn Conservatives creating a police state.

Have you checked your e-mail lately? Conservatives don't want those damn Liberals creating a police state. President Obama is backing public health care to weed out the old white folks (majority conservatives), and wants you to report to his political officers the names of people who disagree with him. Apparently he is also prepping to declare all Christians to be extremists, and possibly has the secret cabal backing of the Hawaii state Records division. Think though- this didn't start here! Bill Clinton was in office when the ATF went after innocent Christians like David Koresh, and he stripped down our military to make us weak before the UN. Remember all the people he and Hillary had killed to ensure their place in the Oval Office? (I bet Al Gore wishes they'd killed a few for him.)



So what's my point?

Maybe it's the idea they are all actually out to get us, and secretly in cahoots. It wouldn't matter who you voted for, it's whoever THEY want to win to keep the people thinking they have a say in a Democracy which is long dead.

Maybe each side is vying for their own power, so THEY can rule without dispute. We The People would still be screwed, because by that reckoning, each side still wants to enslave us, just around different agendas.

Maybe it is the natural way of all governments to tend toward tyranny. Again we would be screwed, because it doesn't matter what the actual intentions are of any given politician, so long as we keep legislating we will eventually create a state with so many rules anything is a crime.

Maybe each side is just doing what they think is for the best, mostly based on honest intentions (always some bad apples), and we have all descended to this sorry point where it is easier to spout one side's rhetoric than to actually look for a solution which is mutually beneficial. It's easier to believe the other side is evil than to admit you may be wrong about something and the truth may lie somewhere between.

Maybe it's always been this way. Have you looked at old political cartoons calling FDR a Commie, or anything in the late 1800s by Thomas Nast (the Mormon/Roman churches as “Reptiles” slithering on America is my favorite), or the rhetoric from John Adams' enemies regarding the “Intolerable Acts.” (The fact we remember them as the “Intolerable Acts” I think demonstrates some pretty powerful swaying of public opinion!)




Maybe... hell, I don't know. I was just thinking in Word. I do wish I was hearing more reasoned arguments and less fear mongering. What have YOU done to make things better? Something positive, not stopping someone else from doing something, not neglecting to do something out of protest; what was the last thing you got out and DID for your country, your state, your town, or your neighborhood? If you have something good, cool. If you had to think through all the negative things you did, even for the right intentions, maybe you should rethink it. Maybe it's time for all of us to research before we vote, be active in the community, and actively try to find a middle ground.

Or don't. We'll just pass more laws until passing laws is illegal.

Not really gonna tie this one up neatly; I think it's just a rant.

WTF? Are you kidding me?

This is the stupid shit that gets your guns taken away. There's a responsibility to gun ownership, and you know, we can bitch about the Government taking away our rights all we want to, 90% of the time it's in response to one (or more) of us being an idiot. Thanks for making all legitimate, responsible gun owners look like nuts. I really appreciate it.

You may not have broken the law, but you proved yourself an asshole- you are trying to make the people in charge afraid- that won't end well for any of us.

Things I learned in my move.

Having just completed a move from my beloved Great Northwest to my nostalgia filled (read that as "haunted by my past") Great Southwest, I learned some things along the way. As is the nature of blogging, I will now share those things with you!

I am being followed by Birds of Prey.
I had a pair of Bald Eagles in Washington who liked to poop on my car on the Highway. Now the joker above stalks my back yard. Yikes.

Direct TV Hates Military People.
I had DTV in WA, and the Lovely Jennifer called them to tell them we were moving and would be cutting our service. After trying for quite some time to get us to transfer, they rather snootily informed us we would need to cut our service off two weeks before we move to allow time to receive a "recovery kit." This is basically a Fed Ex box with a return sticker inside. DTV then didn't send the box. When I called them to tell them I would be moving before they could now send me the box, they told me I would have to take it with me, and then Fed Ex it from Arizona. I said that was ridiculous, and if someone could come to my house to put it in, they could come to pick it up. The rep told me they don't work that way. So, I told them I would take the receiver with me, but if it received damage on the trip, too bad. Also, since they were unwilling to make up for their mistake of not sending the kit in the first place, they would forever lose me as a customer. They were willing to accept that. No offer of coupons, no make you a deal, just basically "fuck off, we have enough customers." I know I have no method of really hurting them, but starting right here, they have purchased a lot of bad publicity. Oh- when I moved into my new house, I got another recovery kit- for the people who just left. A kit sent too late, just like mine. No regard for the military. Want to be a Patriot and support your troops? Cut off Direct TV, and tell them why.

The United States Post Office Charges to Change Your Address.
We did a COA card with no problem in WA. When I get here to finalize, the PO has nothing but little cards with a website. I go to the website and in order to "confirm my identity" they need my Credit Card, which will be charged a dollar for verification. Yeah, I know- it's a dollar. Now, multiply that by everyone who moves in a month's time. Hey USPS, how does it feel to be on the brink of extinction? My beloved internet will be spitting on your grave in the near future... The same internet the USPS used to SEND ME SPAM as part of my verification process! That's right, "now you've changed your address, would you like to receive special deals or magazines?" All that was missing were ads for penis enlargement and cialis.



St. George, Utah is a really pretty town.
One of the stops we made in the 1900 mile journey. They were about to have a Shakespeare festival too...



Horses.
I like them. Haven't been on one since I was three, but I like them. Some of them even like me. They like The Daughter more...


Direct TV Sucks.
Yeah, I know we covered that, but I wanted to make sure I got the point across. I am all for Free Market, but the simple fact is when a corporation get so big losing a single customer, or even a hundred, doesn't actually have affect we are no longer in a consumer controlled economy. Corporatism is just as totalitarian as Collectivism.

Hoover Dam is neat.
I bet Hoover's ghost likes it much better than Hooverville.


I lose complete contact with the world without my beloved internet.
Seriously, I am oddly unable to communicate with people far away by any other means than the web. I won't even pick up a phone- it's awful. I'll talk your ear off in person, and have a multitude of web presences... Yet, I was out of touch with everyone the week I had no internet.

I don't need TV.
I don't. Having been off-put by my DTV experience (did I mention they suck?), I decided not to get cable TV either. It occurred to me I was paying for 200 channels so I could watch five, all of which stream programming on my beloved internet. William Gibson was right, all I need is the brain jack.

So, are these important lessons? No, likely not, but they were fun to learn. The important thing to take away here is...

Direct TV Sucks.

Some random stuff...

Well, time grows short here in the Great and Free Northwest States of Greatness and Freedom, and soon I will be heading to warmer, dryer climates. I've had a few Blog ideas bouncing around in my head, but nothing too definite, so I figured I'd throw out a few little ones.

Though with less fanfare than her High School graduate brother, The Daughter has also reached one of life's milestones; finishing the 8th Grade. Her school did nothing for it, so she wasn't particularly excited, but my youngest is now a High School student as well, and will be attending the school from which I matriculated many years ago. At last we will have revenge.



The Lovely Jennifer started it, but now everyone I know is calling me "Sheldon." If you haven't watched CBS' The Big Bang Theory you may not get the reference. It is a very funny show, however tired of being compared to the main geek in the show, I was going to do a blog entry pointing out five reasons I was NOT Sheldon. I could only come up with three.

In related news, the 3 3/4" Star Trek figures at Wal-Mart have been marked down to five bucks. I have been buying Scottys and putting GI Joe heads on them to make expendable Red Shirts. I see a Landing Party gone horribly wrong in their future...


Related to that- I got my JJprise keychain. It makes me happy to sing the music from the film loudly and fly the ship around. More joy than any keychain should bring any man. BTW- I am campaigning for Jolene Blalock to play T'Pring in the next film. Likely? No, but Star Trek is about hope, isn't it?





Kind of a no-brainer I think...







That's all for now- on the road soon, and I will likely next broadcast from a state with a setting sun on it's flag. Hope I can find sushi...

This is the way the world ends (3).

So, as I was watching the local news tonight I came across this story. That's right, PETA is concerned people are throwing dead fish.

Dead fish.

I am a big animal guy. I've had dogs, cats, chickens, goats, pigs, rats, guinea pigs, cockatiels, finches, doves, beetles, spiders, slugs, and of course, fish which I would consider pets. I am fully aware I anthropomorphize animals, but I really think our behaviors are evolutionary leftovers rather than us really projecting human emotion on animals. I don't think we should abuse any animals, even the ones we eat.

The fish in Pike Place are dead. They are not being abused. Why? Because they are dead. PETA- there are legitimate animal abuses you have pointed out and put the kibosh on; why would you pull something asinine like this and make yourselves look stupid?



Much better.

10 Things I Will Miss About Washington State

So, having kind of made a home up here, my firm has of course decided I have to move. Very well, but here's ten reasons I love this area, and plan to come back.

1) The Olympia/Tacoma area is equal parts hippie and redneck; there's plenty of people to make fun of!

2) Olympic Cards and Comics: best comic shop on Earth. Period.




3) Guy in my neighborhood walks his kids to the bus stop each morning. With his two pet ducks.


4) Trees.


5) Lisa Gangel, KING 5 sports anchor. First person to ever make me feel squishy about sports.

















6) Every day is like living in an episode of Twin Peaks.

7) Coffee Shacks. They are everywhere. Nearly every corner. Even the redneck areas. Look at this coffee barn 60 miles from Seattle in Roy, WA and remember point one.


8) The coach of the Seahawks gets on local television after every game and apologizes.

9) Lakes.

10) Mt Rainier, the area's foremost landmark, is actually a dormant volcano expected to kill everything in a 50 mile radius in the next 10 to 100 years. That's adventure. Every day. Any day. Yikes. Nothing says great place to live like imminent death!

One stone, and a few birds.

I am currently living in an area of the country where this ad is running and I love it and want to share. I also wanted to teach myself how to embed video here (seems simple enough) so I am meeting both goals and putting it here.





Before anyone gets all concerned no birds were harmed making this video. (Swear to God, saw someone else's blog about how cruel this ad was. I suppose I shouldn't criticize-- special effects have only existed for what? Sixty years? That blogger may not be aware it's possible... Trying not to be negative, but sometimes my fellow humans need clues.) Hope you dig it.

Relocated

Whew! Times goes fast when you're in a move, yet in other ways drags on like a non-anesthetized tooth pulling. Time in a hotel room; interminable. Time in an airport; preternaturally slow. Living in a house waiting for you furniture to arrive; see above. Oddly though, it is suddenly the end of June, and I didn't even see it coming. I and my clan are successfully moved into the GFNWSGF (Great and Free North Western States of Greatness and Freedom). Some culture shock coming from Europe. First of all, we Americans are fat. I include myself, but as I look around me I now see what Europeans see when we are over there. It's not just having weight- there's lots of reasons for that. We don't take care of ourselves. I saw overweight Germans- and they dressed in such a way as to enhance their appearance. Today I saw a woman who couldn't have been under 220 wearing a halfshirt and hiphuggers. People go out in clothes that should be reserved for lounging around the house. The Europeans don't do that. Sure they don't shower that often either, but at least they are appealing to the eye. They never appear unkempt.

I have also noticed (connected to this) that the portions served in American resturants would feed a family in Iraq for a week. Yet I pay for it so I am inclined to eat it.

And we drive really damn slow on the highways. When there are three lanes of road, 60 MPH is just silly.

But- on the other hand I can go to stores on Sunday and after 5PM. I can read the newspaper. The selection on the shelves is a delicious result of free enterprise. Things I had to special order in Germany I can now just go buy. My inner consumer is very happy.

So here I am- back in the USA. It is good to be back, but can I ask you all to run a comb through your hair before you go out? Thanks.