Oh Gawd!

To continue the ongoing atheism talk, I thought this was interesting in as far as sports and religion, as the writer mentioned about baseball, are linked quite often. Which again makes me think: What if an athlete or a major politician or the like was open about his or her atheism? I'm not talking about flaunting it, or taunting Christians, but if they weren't afraid to talk about it publicly if asked or confronted with a religious situation where the person had to make a choice. I still think they would be demonized. And very few care. It's just interesting to me. I'm not equating it with racial or sexual discrimination (it certainly isn't close), but it falls somewhere in the ranks of ridicule.

Slow and Steady Finds the Weed

The truth behind why turtles move so slow.

Hell of a way to get busted.

Employment and Politics

Check out this story....

On a related note, I don't have a job anymore.

The overblown, smoke-huffing 800-pound elephant in the room.

Intriguing look here, from an insider on the Chinese and expectations of their global control. He says we project too much onto China, and give preemptive credit to their rise as the world's unflappable superpower.

A smooth read.

Scrubbed

Chilling. On many levels.

From the article:
"If the conflict in Vietnam was notable for open access given to journalists — too much, many critics said, as the war played out nightly in bloody newscasts — the Iraq war may mark an opposite extreme: after five years and more than 4,000 American combat deaths, searches and interviews turned up fewer than a half-dozen graphic photographs of dead American soldiers."

Complex issue (I see respecting the families), but isn't this part of our overall lack of care as a country for what's going on? The fact that the government won't let us see it?

Barack-N-Roll-ing in the dough

Barack Obama will never take money from lobbyists. Just like Barack Obama will use public campaign financing. Just like Barack Obama was sure the surge would not work. I'm no patternoligist but my truthiness radar does detect one.

Oh by the way the media is soooo not biased. Check out the link. Fox News $0 to Republicans? Just one more reason not to trust statistics.

Plug In or Zone Out?

Friends and acquaintances, confidants and colleagues, and the rest of you ... whom I probably don't really like, I have one question.

It may be more of a personal-preference inquiry than a question, but I want to get as many takes as possible: If you know you're going to see a band in concert soon (i.e. one Radiohead, or whatever your band of choice might be), do you A) listen to them as much as possible in the build up to the show, maybe to create excitement or re-familiarize with the music , or B) completely ignore them in hopes that the music's relative newness showers over you at the show and you appreciate it that much more?

I ask because I'm seeing Radiohead live for the first time in about 3 weeks in New York, at All Points West Festival. I'm hoping for a near-religious experience (it's their last show in North America this year, I believe) at the most, a fucking awesome show at the least (which is probably a given unless the band dies in some horrific plane crash on the way there ... knock on wood ... or get I dysentary that weekend or something).

Anyway, no right or wrong answer, just wondering.

Where have you gone James Stewart?

I recently stumbled across this article just after watching "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington". Very good insight in to what has happened to the hollywood hero. I could also guess that much of the same could be said about literature. I think it is time to start watching the original versions of all these remakes we see today. I'd bet it is very interesting.

It aint easy being "green"...or is it?

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the "green" movement is in its simplistic ease. For all the things we know to be true about our climate, the Earth is warming, there are also a lot of things we don't know. True, there is a correlation between high CO2 levels and high temperature, but is this a cause and effect relationship? The truth, we really don't know. (See precession of the equinoxes) So, the story goes, what's the harm in taking precautions to lower CO2 levels just in case it is true. Seems easy enough right? Forget about worrying whether or not we are right or wrong, Al Gore has books to sell! The trouble is the ease to which this "cause" has been taken up by Hollywood and the media. What could make you feel better than believing you are saving the planet? I liken it to watching Bono or Angelina Jolie flying their private jets to third world countries and donating millions of dollars to their "cause". Never mind the fact hat it doesn't work. Never mind the fact that all those millions of dollars given to these countries through the U.N. just go through the hands of the leaders who are keeping the people down where they need them to be to stay in power. NO, buy up Mr. Gore's books so he can keep his private jet to pollute the world he is "trying to save". True, you will sleep better at night but will you actually be making a difference? Yes, lets follow California's lead and cut emissions by half over the next thirty years. If you want to know a little secret I can tell you how California is able to provide the vast majority of the energy needed for the state without polluting it. They have it produced in other states! So while California's emissions go down, a handful of other states' go up. (Look for my video post of me laughing during the next California blackout) Bottom line, no unrealistic federal emissions cuts. Our economy is already in bad enough shape, we have time.

Man accuses universe of...Racial Insensitivity?

Somebody tell Jesse Jackson his protege is ready.

Racist Children

A little hot sauce with your nipple? I didn't think so you fucking fascist!!!

D.C.'s Finest

I guess we all know by now that if you really want to mix it up with uninhibited beasts, raw and thoroughly bizarre behavior of the Earth's most primitive and just the overall disgusting and depressing that walk among us, you go to one place: a free zoo. And I'm not talking about the assorted cages, aquariums and fake Serengetis manufactured to wow the gawkers. I speak of us ... you and me ... the damn, dirty humans. (I won't get into the ethical dilemmas that arise when strolling through such a soul-crushing place like a zoo in July ... okay, maybe I will. Once vibrant and exotic beings are rendered lifeless and morose in shabbily-kept pens. And it's not as if all of the animals are completely unaware of their situation; the two lions promptly ran to, then paced around, the door that led to the indoor area of their facility just before 4:00, the time when they are allowed out of their dusty display field and into whatever is better inside. Not fun for anyone apparently.)

Yeah, I know, it was July 4, the temperature hovered somewhere in the 85 degree neighborhood and the laws of simple human biology require our bodies to release moisture to cool off. I get it. But does everyone have to act, look and seem so miserable? Is there anything more embarrassing then to see what should be a relatively intelligent person stand underneath one of those mist sprinklers like some kind of livestock in heat? And people, is the cutoff shirt really a necessity? I think I've come face-to-pit with the dead raccoon languishing under some walking sweat stain's sleeveless arm one to many times. I'd rather be slinging shit around with the orangutans.

Yes, I should have known what I was getting into. But if there's any day I have the right to bitch about my fellow Americans, it's on our country's birthday. I guess I've seen worse; I could've gone to a county fair.

Where is everybody going anyway?

An article in the latest issue of Time Magazine looks on the bright side of $4 gas. (click on the post's title to read) Is there any doubt left that our dependence on cars has scarred us forever. Suggested reading: http://www.amazon.com/Geography-Nowhere-Americas-Man-Made-Landscape/dp/0671888250/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215024700&sr=1-1

The Fog of Noise

All through our culture creeps the fog of noise. From the strangulated cry of the pop star's protest against the impossibility of protest. To the whimper of the elders too tired to scream above it, I've been there! To the nihilistic hum of those caught in between. The rites of passage into adulthood once available to the young are all but gone or unrecognizable. Our education has failed to teach us where we come from. So where does one who comes from nothing go? Perhaps the answer is as simple as, here. For all of our coming and going in our ever busier lives we are always here. Nothing more than a constant state of existence. Some would say, as the pop group Bright Eyes did, of course! "I just do what I do and at least I exist, what could mean more than this?" While it is true that we cannot exist anywhere but here, and to realize that is one of the foundations of happiness, we must also realize there is a difference between existing and existing well. So many aspects of our lives are uncontrollable. We are all born into our own circumstances with a unique set of obligations. Our decisions through life create more of these obligations that we must fulfill. To ignore them is to take for granted the privileged place which our ancestors have given us. But all too often our obligations are smothered by the fog of noise. Let us then search for the pious whispers of our forefathers telling us it is okay to not merely exist, but to excel. To not be ashamed of the faults of our past but to learn from them. Lift the fog of noise and let the pious whispers guide us to excel to a place where future generations will not know what it is to exist, only to exist well.