Monday, September 27, 2004

I'm Back...

I'm back from Pittsburgh, PA. I went to a wonderful wedding. My daughter was the flower girl and see did her parents proud. Congratulations Daryl and Katie. I wish you the very best. Sorry Woody, didn't get your request for a fish sandwich until I got back. I am moving this coming weekend. Don't worry, I am staying in Greensboro. I might have a little down time with my web access in the move though.

I am anxiously awaiting the upcoming Presidential debates. I have a few stories I am chasing right now. There is a story on the local healthcare system, or lack of a good one. Also a story on Kashmir and some disturbing events that are not being reported in the mainstream media. Hope to have those up soon. Legwork can sometimes be a very long leg, if you know what I mean. I do see my boy Kerry is on the right path again or closer to it. Focusing on the Iraq debacle is a good move in my mind. It is a large mistake and no one has been held accountable. Stay tuned....

Friday, September 24, 2004

On The Road Again

Leaving for Pittsburgh, PA at 6:30am tomorrow morning. Not bringing the laptop. Bummed about that. Going to a friends wedding. My daughter is going to be the flower girl. Looking forward to getting back Sunday to catch up on the blogisphere.
Until then... wedding bells are ringing.

Monday, September 20, 2004

A Man Who Never Got Respect Needs Some

Comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield is in a coma. His publicist came out today and said that Rodney had a heart valve replaced on August 25th. He slipped into a coma after the surgery at UCLA Medical Center. This man defined my laughter for years while I was growing up. He has continued to make people laugh and stood out among comedians for decades. For a man that claims that, "I get no respect", respect is due. I encourage everyone to e-mail Rodney at his site and tell him how he made you laugh. The e-mail address is rodney@rodney.com . I wish you well Rodney and I am sure that everyone else does too.

Our Friends Down Under

It is election time in Australia. One huge difference in their election policies, as compared to us here in the US of A. Here we have the option to vote. We can choose to participate or not participate. In Australia, by law, they have to vote. Failure to vote, in Australia, results in a $400 fine. That's right, they fine you for not voting. Where I can see that is not exactly our Democratic process, at least they get people to the polls. Everyone has a say, and no one is disenfranchised. Cathy at Cathy's Room of Her Own , blogged about the up coming Aussie election at her site. She says that since the law went in to effect, voting is up 95%. This just might be what we need here to get a true Democratic process, where everyone votes. Just think about it, that's all I ask.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

My SUV Nightmare

For those of you who have been reading my work since I started this website, you know I hate SUV's. The USA Today ran an article on Monday the 13th, that has had me stewing hotter then volcanic magma. The article is titled, "Monster Truck Goes To Market". The "monster truck" that they are talking about is the International CXT. The article touts the fact of the CXT dwarfs the Hummer H2. It is 2 feet taller, 4.5 feet longer, twice as heavy(by my calculation 19,200 lbs.), and totes up to five times as much as the H2. It's like the H2 and Yukon Denali aren't big enough, don't pose dangerous safety hazards, or eat up more gas and pollute the air enough. The gall of Nick Matich, vice president of International truck and Engine, to comment with such arrogance. Comments like, "You can put the Hummer in the back and take it with you", or "I'll have a camouflage version next year. Hunting and fishing lodges should snap that up". Just in case your wondering, the CXT gets 6 to 10 miles per gallon from a commercial duty diesel engine. Hope the people buying these vehicles have fun supporting Arab countries who harbor terrorist camps. It's because of this "bigger" mentality that over 1000 young US soldiers have died over seas since 9/11 and the fall of Saddam in Iraq. Read the article for yourself and look at a picture of the CXT. It is what is going to terrorize your neighborhood streets in the coming year. http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-09-13-newtruck_x.htm

Sunday, September 12, 2004

3 Bananas to Life

Check out this interesting story at Yahoo(from the Chicago Tribune). http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&ncid=2027&e=1&u=/chitribts/20040912/ts_chicagotrib/doinghardtimeinmonkeyjail Remember this is the country that most of our IT jobs and call center jobs are being outsourced to. Makes me wonder what humans get for the same crime.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Three Years Later

Three years ago, one of the most tragic events in our countries history occurred. Some think that it is the most tragic, but most forget about the genocide our forefathers committed against the Native American tribes of this land. On this morning, three years ago, I was awoke by a phone call from my roommate Eric. I was living in Clifton, NJ at the time. Eric was 14 short city blocks from the World Trade Center. Eric told me to "turn on the news, a plane has hit the World Trade Center." As I turned on the TV, Eric and I discussed the possibility of a little piper plane hitting the tower. "It's probably just a pilot who had a heart attack.", I said. Just one minute after my TV tuned in to CNN, and one minute after my "heart attack" comment, both Eric and I heard the roar of the second jumbo jet over his head. Three seconds later, I saw the second jet hit the second tower. I told Eric to, "flee the city, and flee it now!!" One of my first thoughts was that I had friends that worked in that building. A lot of friends.

One of those friends was, a man named Jeff. He worked for Morgan Stanley. I was to find out days later that he put his life in even more harms way then it already was. There was a few handicap individuals who could not get out. Their wheelchair's, obviously could not wheel down the many stories of stairs that where ahead. Jeff grabbed a lady he did not know, slung her over his shoulder and proceeded down forty flights of stairs to safety. He did what others did not do. He added the weight of that ladies life to his shoulders and carried her to safety. Others just ran franticly past these helpless individuals, and it is still on his mind what happened to the rest of those people. Jeff is a hero. He has never received accolades for that event, probably never will. My friend is alive and he is a hero.

We all watched the surreal vision of the towers as they crumbled like building blocks to the city streets below. What most of America did not experience, I did though. I could see the plumes of smoke from my window. My house rattled every time an F-16 fighter jet roared overhead, sent too late to help 3300 people who just went to work that morning. The F-16's continued for weeks on end. The winds in this part of the country follow the jet stream from west to east. Sometimes that direction changes from east to west. When it did, over the weeks to come, you could literally smell the death. The rigormortis was pungent and foul. I received a postcard from the post office asking me to open my mail outside, to ensure less chance of contamination if there was any Anthrax in my mail. Everyone hates to get their bills, but now I really hated it. Going everywhere looked a lot like the Gaza strip minus the desert. Armed troops guarded every bridge and tunnel and major roadway in the Tri-state area. Random stops of vehicles to check your cargo were performed and created a lot more traffic then even NY and NJ were accustomed to.

At the time, I worked for an Audio Post Production house that did books on tape and CD, for Simon and Schuster. What I happened to be working on at the time was a book called "Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War". The book was written by Judith Miller, who worked for Tom Brokaw. While I was editing this book, Judith Miller received an Anthrax laden letter at her office. She was still sending out audio changes and script changes to us at this same time. I had to open her packages and hope I wasn't going to die. What a way to earn a paycheck. This is when I decided to move back to NC. Everything was a little too close for comfort in the NYC area.

Where as America as a whole feels the effects of 9/11/01, no one knows what it was like unless they lived in the areas that were hit. I now live in Greensboro, NC, right in the landing path for the airport. Every time a large plane flys overhead, it is a little bit different then it was before. What if?

I found out later that the hijackers had all lived in a house, a house that was three blocks south and three blocks east of where I lived at. I could walk there. I probably shopped at the same grocery stores or held a door open for one of them, being polite as usual. They lived in my neighborhood, and I did not even know.

I have never visited Ground Zero. The psychological damage from seeing the events of 9/11 prevents me from doing so, and I did not lose anyone, to my knowledge, in that tragic event. I drove by one time, on the way to CBGB's to see a friend play. Seeing the fire houses covered with memorials, I had no choice but to cry uncontrollably. I don't think I could ever go to Ground Zero and stand where two buildings, that have always stood for NYC and America, once stood.

Three years later. The terrorist have won. The definition of a terrorist is, one who controls you with fear. We live in fear. That they have done. Our response was less then it should have been. There were more police in NYC for the Republican National Convention 2004, then we sent troops to Afghanistan. Instead, we chose Iraq to go after. I think we went to Iraq because Saddam had a hit out on Bush Sr. Bush Jr. just hated the man that threatened his daddy. To this day our government still can not make a connection between Iraq an Al Qaeda. We still can not find Osama or his chief deputy. We still have young American soldiers die in Iraq daily. All we had to show the terrorist was that they could get away with it. The mighty United States of America is not so mighty any more.

For those of you who disagree with me, wait until the next strike and then come talk to me. For those of you who don't think there will be a next strike, keep pretending. These people want George Bush's head on a platter and they won't stop until it is.

For those of you who think it could not be avoided, my Uncle Mike once asked, "What would happen if an American commercial flight drifted into China's airspace?" The answer is, they would scramble Mig fighter jets, attempt to make contact, ask the flight to leave their airspace, and then shoot them down if there was no response. That would occur in under three minutes and it has occurred before. I can only hope that there were major answers to defending our national security in "My Pet Goat". George Bush spent seven minutes reading with the kids instead of scrambling planes. Something the Chinese could have done twice in that time period.

On this day, my thoughts are with the families of the 3300+ people who died on 9/11/01. I often wonder what they have to think about George Bush's response or lack there of. May their loved ones rest in peace. Some how I don't think that they will. That is, until George W. Bush, the man that allowed this to happen, is out of office.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

What The F**K?

President Bush, once again, said something that makes me go, "WHAT?". In Poplar Bluff, MO, during a speech, he said of frivolous lawsuits, "Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." What the F**K! Is he saying that he thinks women should not sue their OB-GYN's when they are violated sexually? Is letting it go what a good Jesus Krispie would do? What ever happened to personal responsibility? It does not matter that these people are doctors. If anyone is violated by anyone else, they should be able to seek some sort of retribution. Speaking of personal responsibility, still no one being held accountable for 9/11 in our country. Soon to be, former President Bush is sending a very bad message. I couldn't imagine what these women are going through after being violated. I do know, if this ever happened to my wife or daughter, I'd being killing someone to get even. A law suit and settlement, as well as, losing their license to practice is the least you can give these women. Maybe what you need President Bush is a good stiff Texas dickin' against your will. Maybe then you would understand the plight of women who have been raped and violated in ways you can't even imagine. Check out the full story at Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6162772&src=rss/domesticNews&section=news

Saturday, September 04, 2004

A Week of BS

This last week as a whole, there has been a lot of BS(Bullshit, for those of you who didn't know) going down. The Republican Convention in NYC. That's right, NYC. Not Dallas, TX or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Traditionally, NYC is a Democratic stronghold. Tons of protestors got attested for using their constitutionally amended rights. One judge took a stand and made the city release 470 protestors by 5pm Thursday or pay $1000 per protestor being held illegally. The TV coverage in NYC this past week was piss poor as well. Tons of convention coverage, with minimal protestor coverage was the menu across the board. I tuned into CNN to see 527's being run at almost every break. I think that makes them just as responsible as the people making ads. CNN will argue that it is a business decision and about the money. CNN will say, then who will buy the ad space. I'm sure Halliburton or The Carlyle Group has the money to spend. How about this idea? The candidates run ads about the election and the issues. That would be great. How about we talk about Iraq instead of a 35 year old war?

There was the tragedy in Russia. Those SOB's should pay. Bush's response, "...this is why we need to fight the war on terror." I thought for sure we would bomb someone over this or call our allies... Oh yeah, what allies?

Speaking of bombs, India tested a nuclear missile this past week. Why don't we go after their Weapons of Mass Destruction? Oh yeah... The Bush Administration allowed a bunch of jobs to be outsourced to Bangladesh, India. We can't give them our jobs and then drop bombs on them. They are stimulating their...Sorry...I meant stimulating our economy. Plus, who would help you when your Dell malfunctions or Windows crashes?

A reported 144,000 new jobs in August. Bush took full credit. Still have 2,356,000 left to go in the next two months. Remember the promise of 2.5 million new jobs to be created. Oh, and how much are those jobs valued at compared to the ones that were lost?

Just when you think that could be it, it's not. A mere two days after the convention comes to a close. On one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, we get more bad news. Medicare will have it's premiums go up a whopping 17% next year. By the way, Medicare is just a discount card with limits to how much it will cover. After the limit is reached, the elderly have to cut their pills in half or go without them all together. I guess that's what Bush meant when he was talking about better Healthcare for the elderly. Better for who? The Pharmaceutical Companies? The Government? Sure doesn't seem good for the elderly.(Think about your moms and dads.)

Let's hope this next week comes with a pair of waders or better yet a lack of bullshit.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

What is Going On?

I have thought that I saw it all. I just got done watching Wolf Blitzer on CNN, interviewing Don King. Yes, Don King. Famed boxing promoter. Political advocate? Don King is at the RNC supporting George Walker Bush. Like Don King has any clue about politics anyway. I wonder how the rest of the African-American community feels about this. So W has got his token black man. I do not think this is representative of the African-American community. You ask how I know this. Example: I was at Great Stops Convenience Supercenter on West Market St. yesterday. This is where I can buy a carton of Cherokee cigarettes for $10.69, including tax. They are selling election ribbons, that are magnetic, to put on your car. They are $4.99 + tax. I was curious to what they were, so I picked one up. I picked up the Bush/Cheney ribbon. The cashier was appalled. She asked if I was buying that ribbon. I made it very clear that if I was buying a ribbon, it would be the Kerry/Edwards ribbon. She looked relieved and said, "I was about to ask you where you have been for the last four years." This seems to be the norm, no matter where I am shopping at. So I say, "SHAME ON YOU DON KING. You have let down your African-American community. You have effectively let down yourself and should be ashamed of what you are doing." Please people, get out there and register to vote. Help get this Tyrant out of office. Right now the real war criminal is your leader. Every vote can change this.
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