The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing

HELP WANTED - CIA COVERT OPERATIONS

Fri, 26 Nov 2004 05:50:24 GMT

More resignations at the CIA. These guys that have been quitting are mostly section chiefs and their immediate staff. I can't help but wonder how this makes the US safer. These are people who have skills the country desperately needs and they are being driven out. Top-level career people. For expressing "inappropriate" concerns about claims the President was making. I'm sure they all remember Valerie Plame. I'm expecting these people that are resigning will be working on books and booking the talk shows. Good Luck!

There's an interesting labor dispute going on up in PA. Turnpike toll booth workers let traffic run for free yesterday and started charging flat fees today. Cool and all, but the people on strike currently make $18.69 an hour. I wish I were in a union and got paid the big money... Still, I bet it gets cold in that booth.

When I asked my mom (who is a lifelong United Methodist) what she thought of the president's religious agenda. See, that deep, personal relationship he has with god is through the UM church. I thought she might tell me the church was leaning right or that there had been a big evangelical movement I had missed. She follows the news from the church hierarchy, and says she doesn't see any connection between W's policy and church policy. We know he strongly believes in something, we're just not sure what.

Gay marriage and the end of the world

Wed, 24 Nov 2004 01:55:37 GMT

Status Quo - Personal relationships must maintain the fiction of happily married couples with 2.4 children.
Change - The government should sanction any relationship that is consensual.

Some of the prejudice toward homosexuality involves reproduction. Even my hero Frank Zappa had some pretty odd ideas along these lines. In Thingfish he refers to the gay pride movement in the 70's as "a perfectly workable plan to control the population explosion". If this is the case, more power to them.

Some people say that allowing homosexuals to marry will threaten the institution of marriage. I thought divorce already did that.

Some are worried that the gay agenda will recruit their children and turn them into an army of flaming queers. This reminds me of some old NRA propaganda about the blacks rising up to take over the country. Paranoia strikes deep!

Some people are AFRAID OF CHANGE. Anything that threatens their consistent world view must be ignored. If the problem demands acknowledgment (gay pride, women's lib, anti-war, black power) they lash out violently. This position is referred to as reactionary because those that hold it don't have new ideas, they REACT to new ideas by rejecting them.

The world is in an extremist, reactionary phase now. Europe is reacting (badly) to large numbers of Islamic immigrants. The Islamic world is reacting (badly) to Israel's policies toward the Palestinians. America is reacting (...) to 9/11. Everybody struggling to be the most adamant rejector.

They say that on 9/11 everything changed. Now look at the fruitless struggle to change it back.

When bad things happen to good people

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 04:03:01 GMT

Why do people get outraged when people die performing dangerous jobs? Surely you wouldn't become, say, an astronaut without accepting that danger, even death are part of your job. Is it that we experience vicarious thrill from knowing that others are cheating death. The death of the token risk-takers reminds the viewer why they stay on the couch where it's safe. Suddenly viewers are outraged that their comfortable image of safety has been shattered. More safety, fewer accidents they cry.
Our modern age has given many people stable lives. Uncertainty is reduced to predictability. More people taking part in the status quo means more people fighting against change. They have something to lose now.
America grew powerful through our risk-taking and innovation. This culture of complaisance will land us in the same boat as "Old Europe". The current trend to the service economy provides low paying jobs with few benefits. Will our young people be forced to emigrate for good jobs?
The risks will catch up with us. We will take them whether or not we choose. The status quo will crumble under us like a sagging floor waiting for a wrong step.

Mon, 26 Jan 2004 16:40:55 GMT

This parrot knows too much. He must be killed before he reveals our secret plan.

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 21:51:37 GMT

See a grown man hike naked the length of Britan to promote body awareness!
Naked Rambler Completes His Trek

Art Garfunkel arrested on drug charge

Nicaraguans dancing in the streets while Argentinans look envious

Well, if you have to believe in something...
Mennonites study the Koran in Iran

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 11:10:14 GMT

I just found out that Nick Bantock has written way more Griffin & Sabine books than I thought. There's 6 of them now! Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever catch up on my reading.

Hellooo World!

Sun, 11 Jan 2004 09:15:34 GMT

As this is my first public offering it will be brief. I live with my boyfriend and 2 cats in the last state in the U.S. to get a Starbucks or a Home Depot (coming soon :) ). I will probably write about politics if I ever post anything. Of course, I am always in the middle of a book, so they may creep in as well. Now on to my hidden agenda.