It's become painfully obvious that I have been neglecting this thing for a while now. The reason is that I've been sucked back into the world of LiveJournal -- it's just easier for me to keep in touch with friends this way.
If you wish to read it, simply add me and leave me a comment if you wish:
Nothing like good ol' American bullshit to interrupt a fairly mundane hiatus brought on by writer's block. Granted a lot of horrible crimes against humanity have taken place between then and now, this abortion issue is really something else. (I don't give a flying fuck about some New Yorker cover, sorry.)
Perhaps it is because I've been reading Bertrand Russell, perhaps it is because I can foresee history repeating itself, or maybe it's just because I have been cursed with common sense, but I'm getting really sick of Christian "morality" and "values" influencing law, and consequently controlling our lives through fear and indoctrination.
Obviously the merger of the two is nothing new, there's a long, sickening history between Christianity and the American government. I guess I am just stricken with disbelief at the rate of the spread of phantasm and delusion with which this country has been plagued in more recent years. They keep us stupid through faulty education in order to manipulate us more easily, and then they start fucking with the Constitution, with our minds, with our basic human rights, only after the majority of us had forgotten that such things ever existed in the first place.
Not to be a nihilist, but right now it seems like nothing is ever going to change. Therefore we might consider just starting over. Let's scrap all of the hate-filled bullshit we've accumulated and just completely start anew. And even if we again fail, which is highly likely, at least we will have tried.
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Now playing: Morrissey - Hold On To Your Friends
via FoxyTunes
After reading over what I've written here, I realized this is really just an alcohol-induced rant. I didn't delete it because it's been a while since I've done one of these, and I had a lot of fun writing it (which is why the thing doesn't always make sense).
I've been going through a bad spell of writer's block, and it's not fun. It's like cranial constipation -- you've got shit in there, but you just can't get it out. Usually all I have to do in order to alleviate myself from this is to read the news. However lately I've been doing so much of that that I've developed somewhat of an immunity. And I feel slightly guilty about not having the time or energy to care about every awful thing that happens, but there has just been an absolute bombardment of it, from all angles, wave after wave of bad things, so much that no sane person could ever realistically divide their attention amongst them all.
And I don't really even know why I do it, why I spend most of my work and free time obsessing over newspaper articles, television reports, blogs and other internet news outlets and sources, political satire, facts and opinions, quotes and meanings, and pretty much the entire hypnotic mesh that is our society. I guess it's because that the only alternative would be to contribute to the chaos, and in small doses I suppose this is what I try to do.
I couldn't tell you my own grandmother's birthday, but if you wanted to know all of my reasonings on the poor state of the economy, I could tell it to you breathlessly at the drop of a hat. And there's no way that I'm the only one. I believe that what is happening is some sort of undercurrent of anger-fueled curiosity. On the defensive priorities can become remarkably skewed in order to adapt to a life-threatening (or in this case a rage-invoking) situation. And when you have such a situation which lasts for almost an entire decade, eventually these reactions would translate into the mainstream of your life.
But this is what life for me is like right now, or rather this is how I've structured my life around all of the awful things that I cannot single-handedly change. My defense mechanism is nothing short of docility, and I feel that it's simply no longer enough. I've been doing some things, but those are limited to political party registration, an animal-free diet, understanding the world around me, and writing in my blog.
For me to feel self-worth I would need to learn the importance of accomplishment and doing good for people. I have not sincerely learned these lessons, but there is still ample time. I would like to volunteer in the community, and I would like to either start or be involved in a reasonable political project, local, national or even global. And while sending a dollar a day to a starving child on a continent halfway around the world isn't a bad idea, I would rather begin by helping those who reside in this miserable city.
The individualistic approach at attempting to better the world is really one of the only options for someone incapable of donating millions (or even hundreds) to causes. But the main thing I truly want to do is to catalog and dissect the absurdities of our nation, and to counter them with positive possibilities, along with all of the tedious work which no one wants to hear about. Sadly without the work nothing will ever be accomplished. Those who believe it is all over for us are most likely correct, but if there's a chance to save ourselves why not at least try?
And one more thing: If you don't already, you should listen to The Velvet Underground as soon as possible. Don't waste precious time.
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Now playing: The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
via FoxyTunes
This is pretty fucked up: "A Massachusetts city is investigating an apparent teenage 'pregnancy pact' that has at least 17 high-school girls expecting babies, four times more than last year, including many aged 16 or younger." Apparently a bunch of high school girls decided to all have babies at the same time, one girl getting pregnant by a young homeless guy. This article mentions they were getting pregnant because they wanted someone to "love them unconditionally."
The most surreal part is that when some of these girls were told by doctors that they were not pregnant, they were upset. When you put it in the context of their weird pregnancy plan it seems to make sense, but to a doctor who is probably used to telling a high school girl that she is without child this sort of response most likely seemed incredibly baffling.
Aside from public education, emergency response, public defense, jail and rehabilitation, and other such necessities which have had their already minimal budget money depleted by the millions recently, Kentucky's inability to rationally budget itself has now affected even the only, already poorly-run transit system available to people in Louisville. It's gotten to the point here (and most likely in towns all across the country) that when people need the public transportation system more direly than ever before, that's the moment their local governments realize they're going to have to cut even more corners, whether or not it adversely affects the already bruised public, incidentally to whom they owe a priceless debt of gratitude. Obviously it has a lot do with the gas prices as well, but gas has been rising steadily for so long now that you'd think they were somehow preparing for something like this.
Find another way, Kentucky. Stop cutting the budgets of at least the schools, for fuck's sake. The church-raffling Religious Right in this circus of a state have prevented one of the only saving graces, the casinos, which could have given us a continuous flow of income to be able to supplement the vanishing money. But it isn't entirely their fault, for had we competent heads in charge there would be no (or, less of a) budget catastrophe to be begin with. But the heads we have would have you believe that they are busy solving the problems. Yes, because apparently this crisis can be softened by ignoring the demands of those without whom the heads and their children would not have their cozy premium health insurance, let alone their livelihoods.
Perhaps in a move to make the public seem even more invisible, some Kentucky officials choose to do things like this: State Education Commissioner Jon Draud, Spends $30,697 of Tax Payers' Money On New Souped-Up Car For Self, Apologizes After Being Caught Lying About It.
Jon Draud, Mitch McConnell, and the rest of those like you, from the depths of my heart and from the core of my being, I tell you this: To simply call you something like "asshole," or "scum," or "misery fetishist" would be to implicate that you are worthy of such a sugar-coated nomer. You're lucky in that the public remains this sedated for now, but unlucky in that you will never be able to outrun the lot of us when we all finally rid ourselves of delusion.
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Now playing: The Velvet Underground - I'm Set Free
via FoxyTunes
See, this is what I don't understand. The link is to the newly formed organization of brainless Americans called Party Unity, My Ass (PUMA). On their main page there is a bumper sticker which says "Democrats for McCain," so right away I knew this had to be something impeccably stupid.
Unfortunately all of the navigation links lead to forum pages, and I don't know about you but I have better things to do than read a bunch of idiotic, regurgitated catch phrases based on the original brainwashing, "unifying" slogans delivered by the Clintons and Republicans themselves. (Remember when Hillary said that she and McCain are the only ones of the three to have what it takes to be president? Yeah. PUMA might as well have an "Obama is a Muslim Terrorist!" sticker on there, too.) However, as I have already done the dishes, I ventured into a small number of topics, just for laughs. Being unable to concentrate on the thoughtless, illogical dribble, my eyes wandered toward the bottom of the main forum page, which is where I found the member statistics. As of this moment there are 163 members on this site (but I'm betting there are more collectively elsewhere). I'm pretty sure more people voted for Kucinich during the initial primaries than there are in this entire lame organization.
But, no fear. Where American stupidity fails to prevail in one aspect, it will gain unstoppable momentum in the next. Hopefully by then everyone will have had enough time to chill the fuck out and do the right thing.
It really irks me when I hear someone say that they would rather vote for another Bush than Obama, all because their Democratic candidate lost the nomination fair and square. The point of this entire election, from what I understand, is to give Republicans the much deserved boot, and to unify and strengthen the opposing party which has the best chance to defeat them. Four, eight years from now there is a good chance that the fickle people will likely forget the horrors of the Bush administration, meaning another Republican might get control of the country further down the road, which is why I feel it is so important that this is year we establish ourselves in a position from which we can detect bullshit on the spot, and disallow it from flooding our nation in a similar fashion
PUMA and Democrats for McCain are setbacks on par with the Dark Ages, they are the answer to the question "how can we fuck over America some more?" By helping to elect McCain, they are doing just that. To call themselves Democrats and in the same breath announce their confused alliance with that horrible fossil is an outrage, and if it catches on beyond the current state to become some sort of zombie pandemic across the land, it will be the beginning of something even more awful than what we've been experiencing already; politically, economically, ethically, and we can say goodbye to common sense completely. Progress will come to a grinding halt, science will continue to become a death machine and nothing more, and the religious rot of America will sweep new fields until all is lost.
Do these people really understand what they are saying? Can they not see what is happening around them, how they've been utterly bamboozled? Why should the entire nation suffer because these idiots are incapable of doing elementary arithmetic? Perhaps this is just a passing phase, brought on by hurt feelings exhibited mainly by prepubescent middle schoolers after having been dumped by the "love of their life" which had been dating them for a whopping week. Hillary's concession speech did nothing to aide the party, and when she stopped jacking off to herself and finally mentioned her support for Obama, it was as though someone was standing behind her and twisting her arm.
I'm all for forgiveness, I don't give a shit whether or not Obama selects her as his running mate because I just want this media plague to end, but unfortunately the bozos and the intellectuals need to work together to accomplish the larger goal of winning the White House, in favor of those of us who simply cannot afford to wait another four years for things to start getting better.
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Now playing: The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray
via FoxyTunes
I missed my last chance to see Leonard Cohen live. Toronto might have been doable, had I known about it a couple months in advance. I happened to read about it today for the first time, and his last North American tour date is June 9th. Then he's off to Ireland, and goodbye Cohen.
The man hasn't done a live show in fifteen years, and then when he does decide to finally perform again he shuns America completely. I know this country is fucked up and all, but there are people here who love him and cannot afford to travel across oceans to witness his majesty. Not even one measly show in New York. I think my feelings might actually be somewhat hurt, wow.
At the end of the list of venues it says the "tour may continue later." I really hope this means he'll do a couple of towns in America, for old times sake, but that probably won't happen.
Please Mr. Cohen, one show! I'll pay anything! Democracy is coming to the, what?
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Now playing: The Velvet Underground - Venus In Furs
via FoxyTunes
The post of many questions.
What fuckery is this?
First of all, the Creative Zen W is way better.
Secondly, what specific demographic is Microsoft trying to accost with this insanity? This is probably one of the most unexpected brilliant-music/pathetic-promotion-attempt combinations I have ever come across in my life.
The Jennifer Lopez sort of shit I can understand. Trainwreck meets trash, gets peddled as such - it's harmonious; wrapped in a neat package with a clear, red stamp print reading "WANKER" clearly visible from all angles. But Joy Division, specifically Unknown Pleasures, involved in this sort of deal? It's just weird, and wrong. A sacred territory looks to be breached.
And which former genius band is next: The Smiths? The Pixies? It's fucking stupid, but I know people will buy this shit, which will inevitably lead to more and more of this crap in the future.
But fuck it, afterall it's fairly easy to ignore. I just wish the Zune would stop tainting Joy Division by leeching off their brilliance to sell their crappy products. Ian Curtis is probably spinning in his grave.
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Now playing: The Velvet Underground - Hey Mr. Rain (version one)
via FoxyTunes
And so one loose end is tied. Barrack Obama is victorious, therefore America has a chance. It might not be the overly hopeful aura of change people have been seeking, but it could be the best that only four years can realistically yield. At this point any step in the right direction is a good sign in an otherwise futureless nation, and luckily the Democrats have a candidate that will most definitely obliterate the joke that is the Republican candidate. I am happy partly because I am relieved, but mainly it feels good to be right, and that doesn't happen to me too often. I have waited a long time to witness Obama and McCain debate, my wishes will soon be fulfilled.
Some sort of monumental disaster would need to occur in order for McCain to win the presidency, so unless the Republicans pull some shit again America will sincerely have a chance to change our mental ways.
I have decided that if Hillary Clinton runs as V.P. I will not object. It would be petty of me to hold a silly grudge during the most important and crucial election in America's history. Obama would still be the president, with both of them working towards universal health care (though for the sake of truly unlucky individuals, I hope Obama's version will be the one they try to achieve), ending this miserable war, and solving the energy, housing and economy crisis, it might just work afterall. There's also the annoying thing with these "liberals" who didn't get their candidate so they would rather vote for McCain than Obama (probably because of their blind bitterness, or their lack of elementary clarity on what this would actually mean). Perhaps if Clinton is on the ticket, close to the word "president", they might reconsider their foolishness.
It has now been seventeen years, meaning the periodical cicadas are about to hit Louisville. They're like the Courtney Love of insects; a little scary, vacant, uncoordinated and nutty, but generally harmless. If they're anything like the regular cicadas around here they will fly around like they've just left a pub, slamming head-first into things all over the place. In this part of town, and especially downtown, the trees are really old and big, which is unfortunately what they seem to enjoy the most.
I am in love with "I Wanna Destroy You" by The Soft Boys. It's a ridiculously badass and intelligent song. The Shins totally stole the Soft Boys' song "The Queen of Eyes", holy shit. "Caring Is Creepy" sounds like it was heavily influenced by that song, along with like five other songs on Oh, Inverted World. Can't really blame them, it's a great song.
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Now playing: The Soft Boys - Tonight
via FoxyTunes
There has been some neglect to this blog lately, and I feel a certain sense of guilt about it. I have been busy with some other things:
I had a very frustrating allergic reaction on my face brought on by a Clinique product, but I am now fine.
I have been cataloging my music collection on Rate Your Music. I'm currently involved in the slower process of rating/reviewing. Let me know if you have an account on there.My server crashed and the company has not replied to any of my emails. In fact, they seem to not exist anymore. (Gary, are you able to use it?) EDIT: Problem fixed.
I've begun to update my LiveJournal more frequently, which of course led to a new layout.
And lastly, I've been drunk-watching Don's copies of Mr. Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm over and over again. Time well spent.
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Now playing: Joy Division - Interzone
via FoxyTunes
Nancy Reagan, thank you, you old hag. May your suspiciously petite carcass rest in peace.
When I was nine, my grandfather allowed me to drink wine with dinner. My whole family is relaxed about alcohol, one of the few reasons Comrades seem more sane than Americans. It wasn't a big deal in Russia, and it's never been a big deal here in the States for our family. It isn't a way of life, but definitely a warm companion, in the happiest and harshest of times. In the eyes of my family, there are much worse things in this world than getting a bit messed up on the weekend. This attitude definitely appeals to me.
During the following year, in fifth grade, I had to go through this "Just Say No" ruckus for an entire week, with a cop teaching the class about the horrors of drugs. That's the moment when I first became completely enamored with the idea of drugs. If it were not for this police officer talking about these substances, which were for the most part completely foreign to me and my peers before all of this, I probably would never have developed the insane thirst for the entirety of drug knowledge that I have had since then, let alone have had this much of a head start in the matter.
After the week of becoming acquainted with the world of drugs, we finished off by taking a field trip to some theater to see a bunch of underpaid cops (in uniform, guns included) sing overplayed songs like "Lean On Me". I doubt I'll ever forget this field trip, it was surreal and creepy, and most likely subconsciously formed all of my current political opinions.
What I'm getting to is this Nixonite "War On Drugs" and "Drug Czar" business America has going on. The fact that the American government titles job positions with the addition of "czar" to the name of an exaggerated "enemy" is hilarious to me. That's one enormously misguided power trip. America has this tendency to declare "war" on everything that supposedly contradicts Republican values. It's absolutely insane, especially because the government had a large hand in planting some of the lower-class drug problems to begin with (and most rich Americans are Republicans, they are among the few who can afford pure cocaine, and take advantage of this opportunity frequently). All of the cruelest and deranged drug laws (which is the majority of them) in this country were passed by racist bigots on a power trip. History has shown this repeatedly, yet every generation continues to plead ignorance.
Only very recently have the biased Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of the 1980s and '90s on crack-cocaine been reexamined: "For powder cocaine, a conviction of possession with intent to distribute carries a five year sentence for quantities of 500 grams or more. But for crack, a conviction of possession with intent to distribute carries a five year sentence for only 5 grams. This is a 100:1 quantity ratio. Under this format, a dealer charged with trafficking 400 grams of powder, worth approximately $40,000, could receive a shorter sentence than a user he supplied with crack valued at $500. Crack is also the only drug that carries a mandatory prison sentence for first offense possession. A person convicted in federal court of possession of 5 grams of crack automatically receives a 5 year prison term. A person convicted of possessing 5 grams of powder cocaine will probably receive a probation sentence. The maximum sentence for simple possession of any other drug, including powder cocaine, is 1 year in jail." (C-C Sentencing Policy, page 2). The rest of the article jumps deeper into the racial injustices of these drugs laws, I recommend reading it.
I've been feeling lousy lately, everything seems flat and tedious. Whether it's stocking cigarettes at work, watching television, or reading the news, it does nothing for me anymore. Not to say I enjoy stocking shit at work, but it didn't used to benumb me this much in the past. Every pack I shove into the retractable column says to me, "you're pathetic, you're a loser, you're going to die in this city, you're going to get lung cancer, you're what's really wrong with this country..." And that's fine normally, I think these things anyway, but recently they've turned up the amps in my brain. Alcohol gives me some serious relief from all of that, and I'm not going to worry about it this time around.
I suppose everyone has some irrational fears. Potentially facing my death in Louisville is something that gets to me, yet I don't have any sound reason for this paranoia. The only way I could explain it would be to say that if I died here, it would most likely symbolize an even greater fear of mine: It would mean I died without ever having accomplished what I wanted to do. None of my plans for the future involve this town in the least. I don't even want to get married to Don in Louisville, I'd rather do it in New Albany, and force a mass exodus of my Kentucky-residential family for a day, disregarding their inconvenience.
I guess it would be wise of me to say that I don't know what I want. I want something incredible, something life-changing. To marry Don, to move away from Kentucky, to be completely anonymous and new in a towering concrete city somewhere up north; those things are the needs. But the wants are hazier, the images are less clear when I close my eyes in an attempt to envision them. Even in my dreams I can't make it work.
Sometimes it feels like there's no point in even trying. The American system is set up for failure, and my passport expired years ago. The more I linger, the longer I remain undereducated and jaded, the less time there is to do what is truly important.
I'm buying into the belief that you cannot go very far in this country unless you have overpriced proof of your intellect, and in doing so I realize that I've taken for granted every valuable piece of advice my parents have given to me. It's slim in quantity, but priceless for it's quality. The best advice they've given me is the advice they never actually spoke.
So, there we go. Who needs a fucking therapist. Whenever I feel down I can always find a way to trace it to the parents. It stems from a societally concurred immaturity, like blaming the government for everything, nice and easy, however it makes me feel justified in a false-hearted way. But I will take what I can get, lesson learned.
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Now playing: Leonard Cohen - You Know Who I Am
via FoxyTunes
It took me way too long to get the song "1-2-5" by The Haunted off of Michael's iPod, those gadgets are notoriously overprotective. I downloaded this software called Sharepod and I was finally able to get to the song. Also, I took a few albums from his iPod and included them in my music collection:
30 #1 Hits, by Elvis Presley
The Sidewinder, by Lee Morgan
The Best of, by the N.W.A.
The All-Time Greatest Hits, by Roy Orbison
Classics Selected by Brian Wilson, by The Beach Boys
50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong, by The Fall
Sound Affects, by The Jam
Face to Face, by The Kinks
Underwater Moonlight...And How It Got There, by The Soft Boys
The Best of, by The Troggs
The Way of the Vaselines, by The Vaselines
Punk Rock at the British Legion Hall, by Wild Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire
Twenty good songs:
WIRE:
01. Marooned (from Chairs Missing)
02. Outdoor Miner (from Chairs Missing)
THE FALL:
03. Mr. Pharmacist (from Bend Sinister)
04. Shoulder Pads 1 (from Bend Sinister)
05. Shoulder Pads 2 (from Bend Sinister)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND:
06. Who Loves the Sun (from Loaded)
07. Sad Song (from Loaded)
08. What Goes On (Live) (from The Velvet Underground)
09. Candy Says (Closet Mix) (from The Velvet Underground)
10. Beginning to See the Light (Closet Mix) (from The Velvet Underground)
11. After Hours (Closet Mix) (from The Velvet Underground)
12. White Light/White Heat (from White Light/White Heat)
13. Sister Ray (from White Light/White Heat)
THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE:
14. Whoever You Are (from Your Side of Our Story)
15. A New Low in Getting High (from And This Is Our Music)
16. Not If You Were the Last Dandy On Earth (from Give It Back)
MORRISSEY:
17. Now My Heart is Full (from Vauxhall and I)
18. Hold On to Your Friends (from Vauxhall and I)
JOY DIVISION:
19. Shadow Play (from Unknown Pleasures)
20. Interzone (from Unknown Pleasures)
Mr. Lou Reed
I'm deleting all tracks from the server in a few days. Enjoy :)
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Now playing: Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
via FoxyTunes
I dedicate the final two paragraphs of this entry to Bloggers Unite, in the spirit of attempting to allow people to see a difference between the right and wrong ways to go about making a positive change in this insane country.
I haven't been updating this lately because I've gotten lazy, and I've been distracted by some pretty time-consuming things. There's a new kitten living with us now, her name is Molly and I'll post a photo of her eventually. Aside from the time I've been spending giving Molly flea baths, cleaning out her ears to get rid of the ear mites, and making sure my older cat Keeska doesn't kill her, and working at the corporate palace of dreams, I've been doing nothing at all productive.
Saturday a couple grams of cocaine came into my possession, and just yesterday I finally finished it off. I didn't exactly binge, but it was not far from it. I enjoyed myself, I had a good time feeling something other than the high from weed and the drunkenness from vodka. I try to only do this shit once a year, and I'm meeting my quota quite punctually.
Work is just ridiculous now. Gas is almost $4 a gallon, and everyone gives me lip for it all day long. Really? Really, gas is expensive? You don't say! I had not noticed because it's too much trouble for me to turn my neck slightly to the right and look at the gigantic price sign I have just finish compiling with my own two hands.
I understand the frustration, but when you're driving a motherfucking Hummer, a Ford minivan, or a fucking Skylark, do not be amazed when you pay $70 to fill up your gluttonous gas tank with premium fuel. Asshole, you bought that monstrous machine two months ago and you didn't realize what you were getting yourself into? I can't even afford a car, and if I could I wouldn't act like a headless cockroach every time I purchased fuel.
As hard as I try not to let these people get to me, it's impossible on certain days. Today was one of those days. In the past I've tried hand puppets, monologues, debating, apologizing, ridiculing, and today I tried completely ignoring them for the first time.
I must say, ignoring them makes them angrier than anything else. How dare I not respond to your witty banter?
Every time I step off the Tarc bus and walk towards the store, I feel nauseous and depressed just looking at the place. I seriously feel like I am being verbally assaulted by people just for working at a gas station and being the first one "in the uniform" that they can yell at. Some of them just assume that since Marathon signs my lowly paychecks, that automatically means that I am some sort of oil company automaton.
And I'm fucking sick of having to defend myself to these rednecks. I don't do it very often, but the times I at least attempt to stand up for myself have made me feel even worse. If you really want to make a difference, if you sincerely desire to improve the situation that has you so pissed off, you have to know who to harass, to whom to whine, bitch and complain. And it is obviously NOT me. His name is George "Asshole" W. Bush, he lives in big white house, and he's the motherfucker you want. Not to mention all of the commodity speculators, hedge fund fat cats, and Emperor Cheney.
If you're this angry about $4 gasoline, are you going to just explode into the ethereal abyss when it gets even higher soon? Do something constructive with your emotions, use your passionate façade to do something that will actually help. Start by selling your idiotic gas-guzzling vehicle, do what really needs to be done in order for a positive change to happen in your own life (obviously no one else will do it for you; not your mom, not the government, and definitely not me), and always keep in mind to leave your innocent fellow man the fuck alone.
Dear Hillary Clinton,
If you have your supporters wrapped around your pinky finger as much as you think you do, and if you want to fix this country as much as you say you do, why not do the sensible thing now and drop out of the race, and then tell your supporters to vote for Barrack Obama. If they are that mesmerized by you then you doing this will ensure the Democrats should have no problem in the fall with Obama. If they are still mesmerized.
I'm sure that by now you are used to rejection, playing second banana-suit, having your GOP-style campaign fail miserably, etcetera. Do us all a favor, recount your losses and do the right thing before the summer. Pretty please?
Love,
Lydia Gurevich
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Now playing: The Beta Band - Dry The Rain
via FoxyTunes
Currently reading:
Broca's Brain, by Carl Sagan
The Great Dialogues of Plato, translation by W. H. D. Rouse
Currently half-assed reading:
The Varieties of Scientific Experience, by Carl Sagan
A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking
Currently rereading:
Word Virus, by William S. Burroughs
old Discover Magazine articles
I believe there was a comment on a long-ago post of mine which stated that good books need only to be read once. Personally, I find this to be absurd. I love to revisit old stories and theories which impacted my life, altered my view of the world. For this reason I in fact prefer to read the golden words again from time to time, to remember what state of mind I was in the previous go around, to refresh my experience in another's world, to make certain I did not overlook crucial contexts, and to regain my memory of the phraseology used by the author. To read a wonderful book only once is to say you've had enough. I never get enough, I hate that the spectacular books must end but I understand that it's inevitable. The cure for the feeling of disparity from the void is to jump back in and do it all over again. There is always room for new material to be absorbed, but the older material is just more important to me, as it is the foundation of my interests.
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Now playing: Leonard Cohen - You Know Who I Am
via FoxyTunes
There are a lot of global problems rising to the media surface at this present time, economic things like oil, food, housing, war spending, health care, and so on. I have a daily relationship with the gas prices and other necessities like milk, bread, and water, and the more I observe my surroundings the more the roots of the problems become clear to me: the government's on-going affair with corporations, overpopulation, the growing lack of quality, and the general apathy and ignorance which sadly plagues us all.
Nothing will be fixed when Bush leaves the White House, nothing will be fixed if a Democrat is elected to be the president, unless the barrage of stupidity and self interest ceases to exist in its entirety on the higher levels of the economic playing field. Politicians are of a different breed of man; I don't know about you, but I can't remember the last time I made a serious decision based on the rantings of the lobbyists stepping on my heels.
It seems to me that the government wants to keep things the way they are. This is not to say that only Republicans are responsible for this chaos, I truly believe that what's happening is a collective effort on all branches of governmental institutions, and this is where the main problem lies. Talk is cheap, and no one wants to budge. There are too many sleazy profits falling into the wrong pockets from the oil industry, from the corporate farms, from outsourcing work, from the pathetic American dollar, from the pharmaceutical industry, from the numerous private insurance companies. The balance has become severely skewed in favor of the people who need the money much, much less than the rest.
The way things are going, I fear it will be decades until the dust settles. The smart thing to do would be to stop having children. I know how cold and unsympathetic that might sound, but the truth is that overpopulation is a major problem. If there are some seven billion of us today, there will be exponentially more and more of us just in the coming years alone, and if you think the global food and fuel crisis is bad now, wait and see what happens then. Obviously the whole world shouldn't turn into China because of all of this, I believe that the people should always have a choice when it comes to starting or expanding their own families, that's a basic human right.
But instead of breeding, why not adopt? This would not only aide the unfortunate children of the world, but it would mean less contributions to the ever-growing population, and therefore less strain on resources (including education, which has plummeted dramatically). The problem with adoption is obviously the long, pricey paperwork battle between the parent(s), the agency, and the country of choice. I believe if a person or a couple wants to adopt a child, the process should not be so incredibly overwhelming. The background checks on the people who want to adopt a child should always be scrupulous and thorough, and this is obvious for many reasons. However I feel that instead of all the headaches and wallet implosions there should be an easier way for children to find warm, caring homes to live in.
If America conducted an experiment (which is something this country seems very fond of doing) where no one has a child for a year, what would the result be January 1st of the next year? How about two, three years? What if other overpopulated nations did a similar, less communistic experiment? What would the rules be? If a family has another child, would there be serious ramifications? I'm not suggesting for any harsh and painful laws to be implemented, but just the thought makes me wonder whether this would be a positive impact on life in the long run.
Losing a generation of descendants also has a lot of downsides, therefore some sort of balance would need to be reached. I realize that every time something of this "radical" nature is suggested as a solution option to a looming issue in this country, there is a lot of religious, partisan, intellectual and even scientific backlash. It seems to me that the only ones which actually matter are the latter two, and I would love for an intelligent, international conversation to happen on these sorts of ideas.
The suggestion I proposed above has a lot of holes and discrepancies; first of all it's not original by any means, it alone cannot be the solution to everything, it is not certain if it will actually solve much of anything at all, there is no way for anyone to ethically test it on America and other countries unless they create one computer simulation after another, and there would be hardly any way to convince most people to stop having children without resorting to the Chinese method. But just the same it has some logical potential, in combination with other personal responsibilities such as recycling and using less resources, and the end of corporate reign. I only bring up the topic of overpopulation because lately I've been dosing equal parts watching CNN and reading The Great Dialogues of Plato. Socrates does a wonderful thing to the human mind, but I cannot say the same for CNN. If you have suggestions, tell them to me. I crave a discussion on how to solve problems, or even just to keep things from getting any worse.
Some facts on population growth:
| - In the 20th century, global population grew from 1.65 billion to 6 billion people. - Almost 80% percent of that increase occurred since 1950. The peak global rate of growth was 2.04% during the late 1960s, and an annual increment of 86 million persons during the late 1980s, which is the largest increment recorded in history. - Sine the 1950s, life expectancy increased by almost 10 years (from 66 to 76) in more developed regions (20 years, 41 to 64, in less developed regions). - It took just 12 years (from '87 to '99) for the world to add its most recent billion people, the shortest period of time in world history for 1 billion people to be added. - From '65 to '70, the world total fertility rate has declined by 45% from 4.9 births per woman, to 2.7 births per woman during 2000 to 2005. - Recently less developed regions dropped from 6.0 to 2.9 births per woman, while in more developed regions it dropped from 2.4 to a historical low of 1.2, and an annual net addition of about 77 million people. - Even though fertility has declined to relatively moderate levels in most developing regions, a large and growing number of births are still occurring annually, owing to the continued growth in the number of women of childbearing age, a legacy of past high fertility levels. - From '65 to '70, the average number of births per year in the less developed regions was 101 million; more recently it's more than 120 million. - Based on the medium-fertility variant (which assumes replacement-level fertility of 2.1 children per woman) global population is projected to reach 9.3 billion people in 2050. - In 2005, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party wrote the following about the one-child policy: "Fertility has declined to below replacement levels. The government's birth control program has been successfully re-oriented toward service. The government is no longer the main guarantor of food, shelter, education, and employment oppotunities. The overall standard of living for the Chinese population has increased rapidly. China does not face a food supply problem. ..." - Bureaucratic inertia and political caution would postpone the change (removing the one-child policy) for as long as possible, perhaps only after the crisis [in China] escalates further. But Chinese demographic shows that a further delay will result in higher long-term costs; indeed changes must be made in the next 10 years if China is to avert greater hardship. |
