World of Suck

Greenpoint is a community Brooklyn, NY. They have the best Polish food you are going to find on this side of the Atlantic. You hear Polish when you walk down the street. Also, a large portion is very industrial. They stand in the shadow of NYC's main sewage treatment plant. They are home to many large distributors and have many trucks running up and down their streets, frequently blocking in them.

Standard Oil (grand pappy to all the big league oil companies now) and some of its offspring leaked, spilled, etc, about 18 million gallon of petroleum products. There is a layer of oil floating on the groundwater that is several feet thick in some places. The "big three", are extracting the goop, and they have gotten out more than 9 million gallons so far. Exxon-Mobil is considered the largest contributor.

There have been some vapor problems in a nearby commercial area. However, no one knows if vapors from this goop are getting into peoples homes. State agencies have been trying to get into peoples homes to do the testing to find out, but people were reluctant to let Exxon-Mobil in their homes, even under close scrutiny. The standard operating procedure would have been to give Exxon-Mobile the opportunity to hire someone themselves. The state decided to do the sampling themselves to try to get over the hurdle of the community's discomfort with Exxon-Mobil. Exxon-Mobil wasn't being all that cooperative on other issues, anyway. (The state had recently negotiated agreements on other issue with BP-Ammaco and Chevon.)

Getting the sampling done is a good thing. The community is cautiously happier. Now it will be interesting to see if Exxon-Mobil pays the bill from the sampling in homes willingly or makes the State of New York fight them for it. Also, if any additional work needs to be done to keep vapors out of peoples house, whether they will do it. That is a long way down the road, but it will be interesting. I certainly hope they do the right thing with all their record earnings.

Yeah, have you seen the cost of gas? Fucking amazing isn't it? Right before the fucking elections suddenly it's down. Coincidence? Hardly.

Betcha it goes right back the hell up, within a week or two after the elections... Not that I'd complain if I turn out to be wrong.

It's almost like they want us NOT to notice how badly we've been gouged when they want something... like to keep their jobs.

One reason why...

http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=2261

Some people love yapping on their cell phone. Others of us, have it for convenience and to relay important information, such as: "Hey, sorry, gonna be a little late. There is an accident and traffic is crawling." or "I can't find you. Where the hell are you?"

I have given people I need to meet for work issues my PERSONAL cell phone number, just in case we are at opposite ends of Penn Station or something. I try to make it clear that this is MY cell phone (work is too cheap to give us stuff like that) and that it is to be used for urgent issues.

This morning, I am getting ready for another trip. I am still at home. I hear my cell phone ring, I look, it is one of our stupid work numbers. I think it might be important. I answer it. It is a guy that I travelled with last week for a project I am filling in on. He wants to know when he can expect a letter from me. Hello? What part of I'm not in the office does he fail to grasp. This is the first he is mentioning this to me. I have no idea what the fuck he is talking about. I basically tell him this. He says, yeah he's sorry, he should have mentioned it before. THEN, he asks again, when he can expect it. Well, gee, I won't be back into the office until FRIDAY, and I have to pass it by management, so I have no fucking clue!

I tell him to send me an e-mail and finally, he lets me go. Furthermore, even if he HAD mentioned it earlier, nothing would have gotten done. The thing he is looking for is important, but not as important as some other crap I am working on. He also just doesn't get that his little part of the universe just isn't that critical.

You know what I hate? It's people who make my life suck. It happens so many times in so many ways, I'm pretty much inured to the petty shit the ordinary folk dish out. After so many years as a parent, a professional, a purchaser of electronic goods that fail while under warranty, a resident on this fucking planet dealing with all the other petty, self-interested residents I've come to realize that most people just fucking blow. It takes nothing less than a small tactical nuke to slap them into the awakening that to fuck with someone might just mean that someone might try and fuck them back.

I'm tired of assholes who I encounter in my life and think "well I'm upset about something, here's an opportunity to share that burden with some unsuspecting yahoo". On second thought I don't believe people even think about it. It's more like some fucking knee-jerk reaction. Unless someone is blissed out on drugs or sex I believe they're actively trying to screw with the nearest person they can reach. The more different you are from them the better.

You're a white guy, on the scale of screwability things go from: african to asian to latino to middle eastern, and it only gets better if the screw-ee is a woman. Guys love to fuck with women professionally. I think it's a macho thing. Sure, sure if you're intelligent and possess a half-way decent set of morals this doesn't mean you, but you know most people as stupid as three-week old oatmeal left in a dish. Stupider even. They're barely capable of the essential stimulus-response test of a single celled organism. What sucks is that they're also allowed to own guns, drive cars, vote, and worst of all, interact in my life.

You know that slogan "this Bud's for you"? Well I have a new one, just for me. It's "this finger's for you". The best part is by now I don't even have to perform the motion, I just think the thoughts and it's like a warm blanket that makes me feel all better.

"Ahhhh'm about to whip somebody's ass...."

I work a rotation shift. Days and nights. The guy that works the other half of the shift is a nice guy. But he has a problem. His foot seems to permanently be attached to the back of his throat.

For example, yesterday, he missed something. So when I came in, I had to fix everything up all nice and pretty. No big deal. 5 minutes of work

Of course, I had to bust his chops about it in the morning. All in good fun.

The problem is that he didn’t leave it at that. He thought about it. And later in the morning, after I’d gone home, he was standing outside smoking with the whole crew of engineers and such. Then he makes a fateful decision. He says the following words without thinking about it for a second:

“Man. I fucked [Rou] last night.”

I can only imagine the hilarity. I wish to God I had it on tape. As it is, I’ve been chuckling about it every 5 minutes since I found out.

Guy just doesn’t think about what he’s saying sometimes. I don’t think they’re going to let him live it down for a while.

I certainly won’t. But people tell me that I’m evil.

One of the joys of a large corporation is working with others. Especially people you've never met or heard of before. Especially via the wonderful tool called email.

You see, when large groups of people spread out across hundreds of buildings interact, there are some areas of discontinuity.

For example, simple words and phrases have the same basic definitions, but totally different measurements.

For example: Critical. Bob can think that his request for information is critical, however, it’s nothing more than one of many such requests Dave gets every day. We’re all used to that. What I’m less prepared for is an ambush. You see, when HR is doing random audit testing via email, such requests go into my medium priority bin. I’ll get to it right after I get my high priority work taken care of.

This is place where the word critical is mislabeled. When I get into the office, I start bringing up the applications required to do my job. Things we’re paid to watch all the time. While they’re coming up, I check my email for anything with large business repercussions, or marked super-duper-mega-urgent. I finish setting up and make sure my job is taken care of and everything is alive and well. Then start whittling away at my inbox.

What I don’t appreciate is the ambush I received today. An automated audit email that automatically sends a read receipt to HR and informs me that I have 5 minutes to craft an email with the “critical” information they need. Of course that information isn’t remotely critical. It’s not even kinda sorta critical. It’s bullshit. In fact, they already have it. They just want ot see if *I* have it handy. Just a test to prove how quickly I’ll answer them.

It’s inconsiderate. It’s offish. And most importantly, it’s bad business. Maybe your standard office worker can put everything down for such requests. But if I do that carelessly, I can miss things. Part of my job is to be able to multitask and juggle half dozen things at the same time and not drop them. Adding additional items is aggravating. But that’s acceptable when I have time to schedule it. When it’s suddenly dropped in my lap without as much as a by-your-leave, and with implied but unstated repercussions against my performance evaluation, it’s totally unacceptable.

I know what they wanted. Test to make sure every random person the check had the information quickly available in case they needed it suddenly. Because corporate policy is that it should be within arms reach of your desk. It’s not really that important, but it make the uppity ups feel better I guess.

Lesson learned I guess. I won’t check my email until I have time free to react to bullshit from HR. This may mean that truly important messages will be dropped too. But hey, that’s the price of HR.

Sort of.

One of my bandmates is from Thailand. He recently went home for a vacation. You can see that he's having a wonderful time.

Ok, I've had enough of this fucking blog software. Its damn near impossible to comment on someone's rant due to this stupid fucking insane word matching to prevent spam. Get different blog software, hell just add a simple little checkbox that asks if the person is human or not and that stops 99% of the spam. Geesh. I dont have an hour to sit here and figure out what words it does or doesnt like while commenting. Why cant it tell me what words it doesnt like instead of showing me that stupid default error message that has absolutely no helpful information in it. Is this a Microsoft product? It must be, its error messages are about as cryptic and asenine. Software should be smarter than this or perhaps this software is a flaming pile of dogshit?

I've been loosely following a local story here in which a group of teens were sneaking around houses at night, ringing doorbells and then running away, wandering sneakishly amongst houses all in the wee hours of the morning. Several reports to police were made over the past year or so about this one house in particular near a graveyard which seems to attract these dumbshit teens. Well last month, the owner of house saw kids running around his house in what appeared to be an attempt to break-in - so he shot them. Now he's going to jail - and everyone feels sorry for the teen girl who was shot. Im not. In fact, Im pissed off that they've charged this homeowner for trying to protect himself, his family and his home. Granted he probably shouldnt have just shot randomly out the window, however in light of the 22 previous reports that he's placed about kids constantly wandering around his house at all hours of the nite makes the homeowners actions somewhat understandable. Evidently Columbus' finest policemen didnt put much thought into his complaints.. perhaps now they will.

Moral of the story? Quit being dumbasses.

Link to the local news highlights: http://www.nbc4i.com/news/9886007/detail.html

So the official response to the Pope’s quotation from Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II on the topic of Islam and diplomacy:

''You infidels and despotic, we will continue our jihad (holy war) and never stop until God avails us to chop your necks and raise the fluttering banner of monotheism when God's rule is established governing all people and nations,'' the statement said. “We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword.''

Doesn’t seem like much has changed since ol ‘Manuel made the statement:

Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

Yup. Nothing like proving someone right in the process of trying to prove them wrong.

I always find it amusing when people elect leaders based on reasons other than experience and qualifications. No, I'm not talking about the president for a change, this time I'm talking about the Palestinians.

Lets say you're the Palestinian Prime minister and you're off to a day at the parliament building. You get out of the car and you're faced with an mob of protesters. These protesters are upset because even though they elected you to improve their lot, they haven't been paid since you've been elected. When blocked from entering the building by these protesters do you:

a. Turn around and go home and call in by phone?
b. Appeal for patience and try and explain you're doing all you can?
c. Break out the guns and shoot the people who elected you?

If you guessed 'c' then you'd be right:

Palestinian PM's Bodyguards Open Fire
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Bodyguards for the Palestinian prime minister opened fire outside the Gaza City parliament building Monday, trying to clear the way for him through a group of unemployed workers, police said.

You know, there's an old saying that "you get what you pay for". They wanted leaders that took action, I'd say they're paying for that now.

There comes a time, now and again, when everything seems old. I read the news and it's the same news as yesterday, and last week, and last month, last year, the last few years. The Chinese have a phrase "May you live in uneventful times". Well it's less that the times are uneventful, there's certainly enough killing and mayhem for anyone, instead it's more that it's the same killing and mayhem as previously described.

You know I'm tired of senseless murders, kidnappings, rapes and injustices visited on us by our neighbors, co-workers, family members, church leaders. It's been done. Yes it sucks, but it sucks the same this time as it did last time, only to different people.

I'm nauseated every time our president-brat kicks his heels and whines about how his was is the only way to "keep America safe" and that if things aren't handed to him on a silver platter well then he's just gonna take his ball an' go home (see his rose garden speech on the topic of prisoners of war, in effect he says if congress doesn't work his way then he's not gonna interrogate the prisoners at all, oh noes). Old ok? Just old.

There's people winning lotteries then blowing it all or winding up getting mugged in the parking lot of some sleazy strip club for a suitcase of money they shouldn't have been carrying in the first place.

Of course the bi-monthly prisoner escape story. Lock your doors if you live in the area, keep your car windows rolled up. Report any suspicious shadows in the leaves under your junipers.

Hostages. Yeah, people going places they shouldn't for philosophical reasons that don't convince the person on the other end of the gun. Families sniffling about the contribution their person made to the world, righting wrongs, fighting the good fight.

Kids getting fatter. Adults getting fatter. Fatter people dying as kids. Salt is bad for ya, don't cha' know?

Coffee is good, butter is bad. Butter is good, margarine is bad. Fat is bad unless it's carbs. Carbs are good unless you have too many then it kills your liver.

Religions running amok. Muslims against Jews, Jews against Christians, Christians against Muslims. Everyone against Jehovas because that's how it should be because those people are so fucked up and proud of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it, you've heard it, we've all heard it so many times that it's just become a litany... a checklist of topics... an endless regurgitation of the same...old...crap.

So what is there to write about anyway?
Well, the same old crap, obviously.

A very liberal translation by Altavista Babel fish of an Austrian folk song: Ein Abend Auf Der Heidi

Once I would like still Lululu, once I would like to be lulustig still Lululululu. Why are you, are you Lulu, you Ludmilla, my girl, went? So fast in the Klo, so fast in the Klo, so fast in the monastery and left me alone. And at the Popo, and at the Popo, and at the Popostamt, there I wrote fully demands, leave me wiwie, leave me wiwie, let me be more wiwieder lucky. If the bosom of my wife full wine more waer, egg there I liked to be so gladly a Knaeblein. I could drink egg as there, needed no wine to buy, because the bosom of my wife becomes never empty. Oh woman hearts are as so deceitful! They do to us men in the misfortune sterzen. The man is the lighter, which is woman the scale, and if the sparks ummihupft, burns the whole deadwood. Leaking me at the Oasch Marie, my money never kriegst you, I in France the whistle burned yourself, everything for the native country. But Muaterl DO schau ago, me A Tschipperl Hoar at the belly, I moan i become wochst at bear, Jo owa Muaterl DO schau ago! All small birds are, all small birds all already there. Blackbird, throttle, finch and Meise, and the whole bird crowd. One must give three times daily fresh water to birds. Each Congo negro hot at suspenders, but hot more unseraner nix, but hot more unseraner nix, but hot more unseraner nix. Each Bauernlackel has is money in the Sackel, but hot more unseraner nix, but more unseraner nix, Hollriooooh hot. Each Mulitreiber hot at ball-point pens, but hot more unseraner nix, but hot more unseraner nix, but hot more unseraner nix. Each south Frenchman has which in the trousers, but more unseraner hot nix, but more unseraner hot nix, Hollriooooh In a glacier column, there found I mean old persons, you was ice cold. It held the pickel in the hand, on which written stood, with this verflixten instrument found I mine ends. It held the pickel in the hand, on which written stood, with this verflixten instrument.

This started as a reply to odessa's comment on "Osama Bin Pooh", but then it just kept getting bigger, so I made it a full post.

I hate 9/11 conspiracy theorists. I'm willing to believe that the public story of what happened isn't quite true. Maybe some warnings were ignored, maybe some mistakes were made, etc. But the conspiracies are just ridiculous.

So apparently the Bush administration convinced a group of Islamic fundamentalists to hijack several planes. (After, of course, giving the fundamentalists flight training and allowing them to live in the country safely.) Two of the planes went to New York, where they hit the World Trade Center. Those buildings were already set up with explosives, so they could be detonated when the planes hit. Another plane was blown up by a missile somewhere near Pittsburgh. And then someone fired a missile at the Pentagon, to make it look like another plane hit there. (Apparently the plane headed towards DC was also blown up by a missile, because it sure didn't land safely.)

How is that more credible than the standard story? Why do people believe that our government would kill thousands of US citizens for political gain? Or, for that matter, that it's possible for the government to create such a massive cover-up without there being any leaks? But the biggest hole in this theory is the same as many other conspiracy theories. Let's say everything in my second paragraph really was true, and I make a movie explaining the truth. Why doesn't some CIA agent just come and kill me? We've established that the government kills people and covers it up all the time. If there really was an effort to cover up a conspiracy, then people wouldn't be allowed to talk about it as freely as they do. The conspiracy logic is self-defeating.

Terror is the trademark of a terrorist.

On September 11th 2001, I was wakened from my mid-afternoon slumber by a phone call from a friend. He said he was sorry to wake me up so early. Than he told me the news and had me turn on the TV. Of course, I’d slept through the event and the initial reactions. The buildings were already down.

I remember being shocked and surprised. But I was not afraid. I have no recollection of fear that day. It’s a day I’ve reexamined thoroughly, and never once did a trickle of fear arise.

That is, until the next day. On 9/12/01, my shock wore off and I felt fear, but not from terrorists. No, my first tickle of dread came when I realized that my fellow citizens were terrified. And so was our government. And from that fear, I knew our country would lash out. Strike at anything and everything it could.

I could see everything so clearly. In the days, weeks, months and years that followed, I have shaken my head time and time again. If ever there was a time I hoped I’d be wrong, this was it.

Over the last half decade fear has ruled the country. Fear of terrorists. Fear of being perceived weak. Fear of impotence.

No terrorist ever made me afraid.

No terrorist ever altered the way I lived my life.

No terrorist ever attempted to deceive me about their actions.

No terrorist ever took my rights away in order to gain power for himself.

No, it took my countrymen and my government to do that.

If the terrorists hate my freedom as the spin masters claim, why is it that the US government is the one usurping it? Why do I fear Congress more than Islamic fundamentalists? Why do I fear my countrymen’s blundering and bigotry more than hostile intentions of people over 6000 miles away?

Terror is the trademark of terrorists. And I think we need look no further than the mirror.

I understand the desire for the biggest and best new toys. Seriously. I support it in general.

But in some instances, I think that tech is pushed out before it’s really ready. For example, when they put inferred sensors on toilets and urinals, it was good. The ones on the faucets were neato I guess, but I didn't think it was really as useful. Every agree that it was a good idea who’s time had come. However, the IR sensor on the towel dispenser… is not there yet.

First off, the sensor in almost every model I’ve ever touched it iffy. Sometimes it sees you. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Secondly, even when the damn thing does see you, it rolls out a two inch scrap of paper. I don’t know whose hands can be dried with a 2 inch scrap, but it isn’t mine. So, I have to get this temperamental sensor to pick me up 2 or 3 times while I sit there dripping water down my sleeves.

I could probably list more similar ‘advances’ but the new dispenser in the bathroom is what pissed me off, so that’s what I’m focusing on.

For anyone not yet fully convinced that our media is in the pocket of our president, consider the new release from Disney of a two part mini-series called “The Path to 9/11”. Our beloved leader must be madly rubbing one out over the idea that historical fact can be used as a basis for fantasy entertainment. The best part is that Disney (and their network ABC) are not beholden to the facts. Any facts.

What’s their goal? The goal is to prop up the image of a president that lied and deceived his country into a war that isn’t popular any more. Worse, members of his own party are now starting to distance themselves from the hawk propaganda and calling into question the viability of our “mission”. The Supreme Court has told him that he’s not allowed to just make laws up as he goes along where it concerns prisoners of war. No, it’s not a happy time the commander –n- chief.

The obvious answer is, well it worked before, more lies. Ok, so the WMD thing didn’t work out – let’s try a new tact: blame the Clinton administration, show how the mistakes of the past led to where we are today. It’s key, especially since it’s election time and America is starting to have second thoughts.

Lies, like Ms.Albright refusing to support a cruise missile strike against Osama. That never happened, but they have a scene that shows she did. It’s a lie.

The producers admit they didn’t just base their story on the commission report on 9/11, but on books and opinion interviews. The problem is that the public, the VOTING public, isn’t going to know where the factual evidence ends and the “opinion” begins. They’re going to buy it as gospel.

It’s true that TV is supposed to entertain, but when did the suffering of a country wind up on the same channel as ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘Extreme Makeover, Home Edition’? What happened wasn’t entertainment to me – and unless you’re willing to present me the unfettered truth I don’t need anyone else’s fucking imagination to fill in the gaps.

I've been told I'm cold and heartless. It's not true, but I don't generally argue it. I accept that I have a slightly skewed view of certain things.

For example, Zombie altars. My girlfriend dubbed them that, and I think the name is very fitting. You’ve probably seen them on the side of the road. John Smith gets killed in a car accident, and a grieving wife, father or brother or someone sets up a little shrine at the site to commemorate his life. They put up a cross. A plaque. Some flowers. Stuffed bear. Maybe a photo. Sometimes this little zombie altar hangs around for two or three years. In rare cases, it passes the decade mark.

I don’t get it. Well, that’s not entirely true. I understand the need to grieve and mourn. I can even vaguely understand the desire to put flowers or something at the site of the accident. What I don’t get are the people that erect crosses, small mangers, and elaborate signs and tend them year after year like it was some sort of gravesite.

John’s dead. As a person, you must mourn his loss. But you seriously need to move on with your life. It’s not healthy to come back every other week and do upkeep on a small patch of the highway where he died.

Or of course, there are the mobile altars. They get some company to etch the glass, or create a sticker for the back window of their car. Usually reads exactly like a gravestone.

“Bob Tindel June 1 1971 – June 1 2002 beloved brother, son and all around great guy”

Another case of people needing to let go. It’s not healthy to see a constant reminder of your loved one in your rear view mirror, k? Once again, these little mobile altars can be seen years and years after the actual death.

At some point, someone needs to take these people aside and try to shake life and death into them. Their loved ones are gone. Remember them, sure. But there comes a point where mourning goes WAY WAY past healthy release. It becomes obsession.

Wow, what a great suprise to see when I just came back from vacation.. I couldn't join #kore. In-fucking-credible.

Don't ban my fucking bot (which is essentially, me), Laratheil. Who are you to insult me by banning me from a channel, a group of people I have hung out with for YEARS? Yes. Many years. Probably longer than some of the other guys. I want to say 5. Five years. Does that qualify me for being something other some random jerk who mutters incoherently from time to time? It goddamn better.

Nothing pisses me off more than being disrespected by my peers, and for what reason, a goddamn IRC bot? Get a life you tossers.

Yea I whined a bit, but last time I checked, my client was banned. That's REALLY annoying and absolutely unacceptable, I could have bitched all damn day, I don't need anyone else to tell me to "cry a river and forget about it" while demonstrating the effectiveness of a devoice on me. I am -not- a bot, so don't you devoice me.

I have never used my operator status to disrespect any other member, not even as a joke.

SO DONT DO IT TO ME.

Got it?

I'm getting tempted to post a sign saying just this in my back yard. My neighbor in the back (aka, anal retentive weinie) has taken to showing friends the setback of MY shed and the fence. Dad and Mom have seen them do it twice now. I wish they would get me when they do this. I'd ask them what was so damn facinating in my yard for them to look at.

Nosy fuckers - fence may just have to continue.

I like drinking at home. And when I drink, I like to have an appropriate glass. Sometimes what I have breaks, or I decide I need more glasses of a certain type, or I just want to replace the thrift-store glasses I bought during college. The point is that I look at glassware a lot in stores.

And you know what? It's practically impossible to find a reasonably-sized glass anywhere. When I want to drink whiskey, I want a small glass, big enough for maybe a couple ice cubes and my drink. But the smallest glasses I can usually find are "double old-fashioneds", 10-12 ounces. That's way too big. And sometimes they're labeled "whiskey glasses" despite being that size. Who needs to drink whiskey out of a 12-ounce glass? How much whiskey do they think people are drinking?

Then, today, I saw a bunch of sets of shot glasses. All of them were 2-ounce glasses. But 2 ounces isn't a shot. 1.5 ounces is a shot! That's a standard measurement! At least it used to be. But now someone decided that 1.5 ounces isn't enough, and people need to drink larger quantities. Between the 2-ounce shots of tequila and 12-ounce glasses of whiskey, I'm surprised there aren't a lot more alcoholics running (staggering?) around.

Note: I'm aware that some glasses are extra-large to let the drink breathe, especially brandy snifters and balloon-shaped wine goblets. But these are just normal straight-walled glasses that are just too big.

Second note: I'm also aware that this is a lame rant about an extremely boring subject. By posting it here, I'm trying to give everyone out there an idea of what it's like to have a conversation with me.

I first posted on 5/19/05 about my neighbor and her distain for my shed. I have been very lax in my updates, so here it goes:

I applied for a variance, which the zoning board denied. Even when the zoning board attempted to be reasonable, my neighbor said: "I don't want to look at the shed." So now my father has moved the shed for me. I am in compliance with the laws. I may be compliant, but that doesn't mean complacent.

To avoid future problems that this woman's inability to mind her own business could cause, I decided to build a fence. For years the crazy old bat (COB from now on) talked about deed restrictions prohibiting fences and clotheslines. I found out they were all a fantasy in her own mind (and she denied saying it in front of the zoning board). After ensuring that our fence plans were legal, the actual fence building got underway.

First step - Sight the property line. My father got a metal detector and tried to locate the metal pipes that were supposedly marking the corners. COB asked: "What are you looking for?" Father: "None of your fucking business." COB: "I know where the property line is." Father: "I know where it is, too."

Second step - Trim back branches on her beloved trees. Turns out I had an additional five feet of property I didn't know I had until her overgown trees were trimmed back. I actually have a side yard!

Third step - Start putting in posts. My father has had a devil of a time finding places to dig post holes where there are not copious numbers of tree roots. This has lent itself to rather irregular spacing of the sections of six-foot stockage fence. All of which COB will get to enjoy since the unfinished side is facing her. Plus my father was able to get a great deal on "seconds" at Home Depot.

Forth step - Put up sections of fencing. But wait! My mother and father felt the urge to express themselves artistically and what a better media than a blank fence! And express themselves they did - a frowny face, googly eyes, and commentary. I unfortunately did not get to see most of it, but I know that the State Trooper my neighbor called thought it was impressive, so have a couple of town employees.

Now the third and forth steps have gone back a forth. During an early iteration (before the artistic streak), COB came over and said: "You're doing a nice job, you saved me the effort of putting up a fence up." Father: "You fucking liar." This prompted the first call to the State Troopers. Trooper told my father that he can not curse at her. But at least trooper told her that she should not look at or talk to my father.

When the art work started going up, then the parade of emotional support for COB started. She had three days of continious visitors. Evidently she didn't want to be as alone as I was during my appearence infront of the zoning board.

Town officials have seen the artwork - its compliant with code, which is nearly non-existent for fences. Evidently it is the talk of the town. The town superintendent stopped by today, at my mother's request. We wanted to complain about one of the building inspectors. The supervisor said he HAD to come, against the town attorney's advice and was sorely tempted to see the other side. Evidently, my father has a reputation now for being a lunatic (not entirely unfounded, but he only selectively targets his lunacy) The supervisor found the whole thing amusing.

Well, Dad still has a couple of segments left - I need to go grab that can of spray paint and let the creative juices flow . . . .

It's time once again to suffer. Yes, with the predictability of the well oiled axe at the end of the pendulum, I await the next 9/11 event from the pit with feeling of disgust mixed with angst. The angst doesn't stem from any innate fear. No indeed, not fear of terrorism, not fear of flying on planes, not a fear of religions run amok, not even fear of nuclear threat. My angst stems from being a victim, yet again, of the banner of patriotism wrapped around the corpse of our memories.

I have a genuine pain when I think about the world trade center. I have an honest dread recalling where I was, what I saw, how I felt. It was bad when it happened, and the aftermath even worse. But the legacy of a president, dogmatically waving the bones of our dead at us as a justification of repression and war is more than I want to stand. At least when I'm sober.

I don't fault the man for grandstanding at the site. Honestly people wanted him there with the bullhorn to say that we're not cowed, never will be cowed, that we will have our revenge for what had been done to us. That was a necessary act, and the people of our nation needed it said in the most direct of fashions, with the most direct of images. But as the cliche goes - that was then.

So, apart from devastating a nation that was in no way related to the terrorism of 9/11 where are the heads we were promised? Yes, we did dismember the Taliban, push them back into who they were way back when their enemy was Russia and we were giving them the toys to shoot back with. But the "mastermind", where is his head? Weren't we promised that?

So here we are again, years later. The man in charge is once again going to shake the specter of fear at us saying:"Our great country, our way of life, our freedom is under attack by those who envy what we have. There is only one way to fight this threat, and it is his way. We must unite under one man and have faith that his vision is the only solution to making America safe again."

You know, there's no nice way to say "You fucking asshole, you're the real problem now. You're the one stripping our freedoms in the name of saving them. You're pissing off the world and leaving us holding the bag as you walk away into a nice, protected retirement for the rest of your life."

Yes it's that time again, time to remember how a bad situation can become worse. It's time to face up to the fact that what terrorists failed to do, our government can to with complete impunity.

One guiding principle has lead this country's judicial system for the entirety of its existence. Innocent until proven guilty.

Ohio however has set itself to throw back that principle.

You see, they have just set up a new form of on-line registry for sex offenders. Typical enough in this day and age. But with a twist. You don’t have to be guilty to get on it. Nope. You don’t even have to be CHARGED.

Instead, anyone who thinks you abused them (or doesn’t like you and is convincing enough) goes to a judge and asks for declaratory judgment. If the civil judge agrees that the preponderance of the evidence support you (a fairly low legal standard), WHAM-BAM, you’re a sex offender! And like all other similar lists, you must register all moves, keep your photo on record and follow the same residency requirements as any other convicted sex offender.

Great stuff, eh?

You would have one benefit over your standard sex offender. After six years, you could file a petition to get your name removed. Of course, by then, the damage is done.

I swear I don’t know how people that write these laws sleep at night. Maybe they don’t see the ramifications.

Bad: not an good name for a hurricane/tropical storm/depression.

Worse: the horrific spanish accents people use when they say it.

Respect is a simple thing. Easy to give. Easy to lose.

I don’t understand people that refuse to give that respect to people they just met. For a totally random example, hypothetically… just off the top of my head… an attractive young Indian woman, who has drawn a crowd of… well to be brutal about it… middle aged farts who want to take the chance to leer.

During the chatting up phase, they ask her if she wants to grab a beer with the guys tonight. They always go out to the bar on Friday nights. She politely and humbly declines saying she can’t go. They press her a bit and she tells them that her religion does not allow her to drink alcohol. Fine. All well and good.

Now, this is the balancing point. Between respecting her and harassing her.

They don’t just let well enough alone. They go into a huge inquisition about it. What religion? Why? Has she ever had a drink? Does she think she could tell an alcoholic drink from a normal one? And then they launch into a huge elaborate plan to get her drunk unknowingly.

Disgusting behavior really.

Ah, it's the time again. Every year the migration patterns are the same.

Hurricanes and tropical storms come north. Sane people batten down the hatches or evacuate dangerous areas. And weather forecasters and their crews stand out in the middle of 60+ mph wind gusts and torrential downpours.

When seeking out weather reports, I don’t actually need to SEE the trees bending in the background. Particularly when this involves crappy film and audio quality so I can’t hear what you’re saying because of the wind on the mike. If you feel it’s absolutely necessary, set up a camera, take the shots and do some voice over.

I don’t know. In the end, I find the entire deal distasteful. The news sends reporters into hazardous weather, so they can give an account of how bad the weather is. This leads to poor quality reports, and efforts to upstage competitors by placing the newscasters in more and more dangerous positions.

Of course, I know news will stoop to any low to get viewers. I mean, even staying on weather related commentary, it’s hard to forget things like Canoe-gate. Or any of the millions of “OMG your child will die unless you watch the 11 o’clock edition news” ads they have on anymore.