Bright Lights

233 years ago, a group of men (and the women who supported them) committed treason against the Crown of England. There was a passion, a drive, a desire to be free that produced a nation born of liberty. Committed to single purpose, to rid themselves of the tyranny of the distant Crown, they fought a battle that stained the ground, clouded the rivers, and filled the air with the burning smell of gun powder.

That was 233 years ago.

Today, what was a cause to shed blood for is barely a resemblance of its former self. If at this point you feel that I’m talking about carriages and top hats, I’m going to have to ask you to continue reading with more urgency than you have ever experienced. This letter… it is about you.

233 years ago, this nation was formed with some very lofty ideas in mind. The establishment of a government that empowers itself from the confidence of the people, and enacts its will as long as that will holds dear to the constitution. The establishment of a sectarian society in which religious freedom is guaranteed. A nation in which its citizens were secure in their property and papers. As one can imagine, it didn’t take long for the stories of a land of free men circled the globe and called deep into the soul of many a family.

What we have created though is a nation far, far different from the ideas set forth 233 years ago. We sit here with a government that empowers itself through corruption and greed, ensuring corporate interests that paid for election campaigns get their repayment in the form of ink and pen. For the eight years prior, we saw an administration that viewed the Constitution, the supreme law of the land, as nothing more than very old toilet paper upon which to wipe their asses upon. We see a society where God has become such a mythical power that many will take up arms in defence of ‘His Word’, killing others simply because they do not believe as they do. We’ve been left with a nation whose government has routinely spied upon its people since the early part of the 20th Century. Today, a different story runs around the globe, and it is one in which we are the boogeyman.

If it is hard to see, I’d like you to open your eyes.

233 years later we have a disparaging class war that is getting more virulent with each passing hour. The wealthy continue to sip champagne and drive their expensive foreign cars, while whisking to the District of Columbia in a private jet to beg the Government for more money, our money.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I haven’t been able to afford to even fly coach for over 4 years, much less buy two of the cheapest tires available for my car. Yet some rich bastard has the gaul to fly to the District of Columbia and ask for money? I don’t care if he came by fucking donkey cart. I guess he should have realized his seven figure salary plus perks might be playing a part why the ship he commands is on fire and sinking faster than the bilge pumps can go. Meanwhile, you and I are stuck on the bottom where our options are to either crack the last casket of Rum and be shitfaced when it all goes wrong; or hold our breath and hope we survive.

In 233 years we have developed a society that worships credit. I don’t dare fantasize that I’m not part of that mess. I have debt, and a lot of it. Not nearly as much as friends who have gone to college on student loans, but I have my own share. Yet, I sit looking at the website for University of Massachusetts and pondering taking out some student loans to get a Certificate of Journalism from their institution. A piece of paper that says I know how to write.

La-tee-da, I’m already doing it. However, paper speaks volumes. I wonder maybe if all that it really says is how willing you were to put yourself in debt for a piece of paper that says some douche-bag told you how to write.

Friends, let us not continue the fallacy of today. Let us not continue to carry this burden. Let us tell the wealthy corporate bastards they can pay their own way. Most importantly, let us take a lesson from our brethren in Iran who have something we don’t have: balls.

That’s right, I didn’t stutter. We don’t have balls. Do I see anyone heading to the District of Columbia reminding our elected officials that the first words of the Declaration of Independence is “We The People”, and how the rest is a license to revolution? You may ask “What about you? Why haven’t YOU got off your fat ass an gone to D.C.?”

I’m ready to go once enough of you are willing to put rubber to pavement.

I’m not saying revolt. I am saying go and remind them that we still retain that right.

But, instead I am afraid many will find it easier to sit at home and grumble, drinking the kool-aide being dished out by the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, and, O’Reilly. Perhaps you find Lou Dobbs more to your liking, finding various reasons to blame all our hardships on the Mexicans.

Here’s a newsflash: we wouldn’t have as much of an illegal immigrant problem if the affluent didn’t find their cheap labor such an appealing resource.

No, instead we’re going to wave our flags this Subordination Day and listen to music about how real men die in war, and how America is this beautiful place of freedom with freedom on the side. I’m not sure which to call it anymore, Subordination Day or Delusion Day. Either way it is NOT Independence Day.

As I do every year, it is time to read the document that brought us to where we are today. Read it, and don’t skim over it. These words and phrases are the most important ones your eyes will ever have the distinguished honor of witnessing.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I don’t expect anyone to actually give a damn this year, much in the way no one has actually given a damn in years past. However, I hope maybe, just maybe I have reminded you that freedom means recognizing when you’re in slavery, and that Blind Patriotism is the ultimate perversion of the vision of our Founding Fathers.

It is by far time for a vacation. I can feel myself being drained constantly. Its effecting my work, my school, my projects. I need to get out of the valley, and soon. I think I’ll schedule a three-day weekend sometime soon and get up to the high country.

So I’m in the CVS Pharmacy today after work (mind you that is about 2 AM), and thought I’d pick up a few things. I ran out of gauze so I needed more. Anyway, the place had been pilfered of all surgical masks! Not a box in the store. What makes this funny is…

… wait for it…

A FACE MASK DOES NOTHING TO PROTECT AGAINST H1N1/SWINE FLU!!!!

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

It only helps those who are sick from passing it on to others. Thats it!

What helps? Washing your hands, covering your mouth, and stuff like that. So what did I buy as part of this ‘Pandemic’?

Two large bottles of Hand Sanitizer that I planned on buying anyway for work.

So, when you see someone in line in front of you at the store with boxes of face masks, point and laugh. Please, I am really asking you to laugh uncontrollably at their sheepish behavior.

This shouldn’t be scary to anyone. It’s the flu, and you don’t die from the flu, you die from complications… meaning if you get really sick you got to the hospital so they can put you on tamiflu, fluid IV, and something to calm a fever so you don’t bake or hallucinate.

Otherwise, you stay home and drink lots of Gatorade and sanitize everything before you venture forth.

Thats it folks, in a nut shell.

Remember: Plagues can be thwarted by simply being clean and not coughing on people, as well as not going to work sick. I know everyone has the “I can’t afford time off” excuse, or “I exhausted all my sick/vacation time” excuse, but really, do the world a favor and not subject us to disease. If you’re working in a place that has no PTO (Paid Time Off), you should consider a career change. If you’ve exhausted all your sick or vacation time… you probably have an attendance problem and have too many “Sick of Work Days”.

So, thats my rant on H1N1. I’m going to stop calling it Swine Flu. It sounds stupid, and the only reason it’s not called “Mexican Flu” is because it would be not ‘politically correct’, although many flus are named geographically.

http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=10224525

I saw this today on CNN and just really, really couldn’t wait to get home to watch the video. My younger Brother plans to be a cop, and I certainly hope he doesn’t end up like this D-Bag. In short, this guy jumps a highway railing and orders a Reporter and Cameraman from a local TV News station to leave the area. They were on the opposing side of the freeway, parked in the emergency lane, reporting the news (a major accident on the freeway). From the camera footage, they were out of the way. However, enter Mr. “Respect my Authority”, and he orders the reporter to leave. Now, rightfully the cop states he is out of the area doing his job, just like the cop is doing his job. The cop gets in the guys face, then, as the reporter says “Fine, we’re leaving” and starts to walk away, the cop changes his mind.

And places the reporter under arrest.

In rather a prickish way.

The Cameraman, meanwhile, is filming the ENTIRE incident.

Then, as the cameraman says “I’m leaving, let me grab the reporters mic of the hood of the truck”, the cop takes the camera from the cameraman and shoves him up against the railing, placing him under arrest as well.

Now, for the audience, I will remind everyone that El Paso, although very close to Mexico, still is within the USA. Because it is still within the USA, it still falls under the jurisdiction of The Constitution, and in this case, freedom of the press.

Cop is 0/1 at this point. I really don’t think “Denying Constitutional Freedoms” and “Misuse of Police Power” will look good when trying to find another job as a cop.

If that’s not bad enough, apparantly he also threatened a Nurse who had stopped at the scene to assist accident vitims with arrest. EMS had not yet arrived to the patient, and the guy is reportedly a trained medical professional.

Now, apparantly the Cop never got the memo that says “Trained Medical Professionals should not be threatened at an accident scene.”

So, hopefully when this cop gets the boot, his firing notice will also mention additional misuse of police power.

The El Paso Police Department would serve themselves well by firing this officer, and issuing a public appology. It is just pathetic in this country that we have Peace Officers who behave in this manner. The reporter should have been left alone, and, the nurse should have been left alone as well.

End of rant.

I come home each night to an otherwise empty apartment. Why do I say otherwise empty? Oh, because I have my boxes, my various computers. Well, my flagship PC, named “Olympia” (Each one is named after a city in Washington, and since this is my main desktop, it is “Olympia”) did not turn on when pressing the power button.

Nothing but silence.

See, in the computer world, this is the equivilent of reaching over to wake your child and finding no response, no breathing.

So, immediately begin the lifesaving procedures. I checked the cords, I checked everything, nothing. Just silence. Silence is not good, because silence means… no information. Silence means there is a hardware problem.

Pop the case, and take a look. Everything appears to be in good working order on the Motherboard. Tracing along I start fidling with the power supply, including shining a flashlight inside the fan blades.

The fan blades would at least move if the power suppy worked, but, the fans do not rotate.

There appeared to be significant dust inside.

Conclusion: Congestive Heart Failure (a.k.a. the fucking Power Supply has taken a dirt nap).

Sadness, I has it.

Villagers in UK prevent Google Maps from getting StreetView of their town… by forcing them out. Okay, now this is absolutly dumb. People in an affluent town in the UK forced out the G-Car because they didn’t want the pictures of your home online, fearing it might invite criminals to strike.

Here’s a hint.

Total Known Burglaries Tied to StreetView: 0. Zero. Zip. Zilch. None.

Total Number of Paranoid People: I don’t have enough room to type that number.

Lets put it this way, if a criminal is using Google Maps, Google Earth, etc. to burglarize your home, you’re name is probably on the list of the 10 richest sons-a-biches in the world. Or, you’re a rival coke dealer. Or, for some other reason they really, really want YOUR home.

Fact of the matter is, affluent or not, nice or not, burglaries and home invasions are typically crimes of convenience. Teams of burglars don’t sit around cruizing Google Maps to find out a home to strike, becaue that doesn’t tell them what they need to know.

Furthermore, you’re not as important as Mom and Dad lead you to believe. Meaning you’re probably NOT likely to be a specific target.

Finally, have you ever used Google StreetView? It’s not like its exactly High Def. I use it to try to read the signs of businesses all the time of places I’d like to go, to make sure the phone book is correct and they’re really there. All I get, is a blurry image. It’s really not detailed enough for much of anything other than getting the lay of the land before you go some place. Microsoft Live Maps has Birds-Eye View, which is a bit more useful in many instances, but you don’t see people out side with RPGs trying to shoot down the Live Plane. Oh, that’s because it looks like ANY OTHER CESSNA.

Folks, get a grip, and get a life. “Paranoia, Paranoia, everybody’s coming to get me…” should not be your life mantra.

</rant>

One thing I hate about living in the Phoenix area is the number of absolutly random Power Outages that occur. Seriously folks, I’ve lived in rural communities high in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and we never had so many random power outages. The power here just likes to go on and off all the time. At work, or at home, it doesn’t matter.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering in a city that sees frequent mircrobursts and hot summer temperatures the power lines are all still above ground (in Washington most areas now have burried cables, the Utility Districts got tired of replacing lines every time the wind blew), and, our Nuclear Generating Station has been refered to as ‘the next Chernobyl waiting to happen’. The electrical infrastructre here is really amazingly sad. You would think that a major metropolitan region such as Phoenix would have better infrastructure. Nope.

Want GREAT infrastructure? Move to Wenatchee, Washington. Yeah, I might exaggerate slightly, but I really do think those folks have their head on straight when it comes to electrical and data infrastructure. Hell, the PUD managed to get Fiber Optic lines through most of the county.

So, this all came to light after sitting in complete darkness, except my laptop monitor, for about a minute and a half after the power went out here at home, luckily minutes after posting my homework. So as I sat and waited for my WLAN to power back up and my desktop to power on to make sure she’s ok (poor baby has been caught up in too much of that shit). I think it is time I look in investing in an APS for my desktop. She shouldn’t have to suffer!

p.s Yes, I know I’m batshiat crazy.

No. I’m not going into the Air Force. However my younger brother has finally taken the suggestions of his older brothers and now wants to Enlist. He just has to get some classes out of the way to get his GED and get the required college credits needed to Enlist. It will be good for him, because I think it will make him chill out a bit.

So a few days ago I noticed one side of my sink was leaking bad any time I put water in it. I was able to trace it down to the seal between the sink and the flange (the circle thing that drops into the hole in the bottom of the sink to make the drain). Well, a few bucks at Lowes today allowed me to repair it myself.

The seal was good, and when I say that I mean the rubber was fine, but the plumbers apoxy they used was warped and basically not holding back water. I know plumbers apoxy isn’t the best for this application, clear waterproof silicone sealant is.

So, after getting some single-use Silicone Caulk tubes from Lowes (just in case), I poped the flange out, scrubbed it in the other sink until all the old apoxy was off, dried, resealed it, tightened everything back up, then let it sit for about 3 hours.

So just now I filled the sink with water and… no leak.

Yeah, I know I could have just called the apartment manager and they would do it, but, there is a lot of hastle with that. It was easier for me to just pop, scrub, seal, and put back together again.

The whole thing took maybe 20 minutes to do.

Needless to say, I feel awesome. Luckily I didn’t spend ALL of my time on the computer, and a little hanging out with my Dad setting up our irrigation system. So, Dad, I did learn a few things!

Seattle lost one of it’s herritage newspapers today, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (The P-I) ceased operations (well, starting with Tuesday’s edition) as a print newspaper and will be strictly online. Now, that comes with a downsized force of reporters, meaning coverage won’t be as good. Now, I admit, I haven’t always taken to the P-I as I did The Seattle Times, mainly because The Seattle Times was widely available in Wenatchee, but the P-I was always a good paper. I know a lot of people relied on the P-I for news.

Mainly, as someone who has aspired to be a journalist and worked in the journalism field even only in College, I am mourning the loss of one of my hometown newspapers. I always hate to see a newspaper cease operations, but especially when it was a paper as old as The P-I.

Part of the death of Newspapers is services like Google News, which aggrigate news content without ever paying for it. Basically, I feel services like Google News, Fark, and other Social News sites are committing theft which is killing our national journalistic institutions.

Any jackass can write a blog. Hell, if you’re reading this, you’re reading a jackass writing a blog. A journalist though is something more. A good journalist is even more than that.

So, to the good folks of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, I wish you all the best of luck. Hopefully you can all find spots with The Seattle Times or The Everett Harold.

And for everyone out there who gets their news through social news aggrigate sites, remember… you’re killing an industry because you’re too lazy to find news on your own, through a favoriate newspaper. I personally go directly to several news sites: The Arizona Republic, The East Valley Tribune, The Seattle Times, and The Wenatchee World.

Support a Journalist – Get it from the Source.