Friday, February 25, 2005

Well it is absolutely pouring rain here on this Friday night. Looks like a night of smelly wet dog aroma. Great.

So Paul "I am not a dithering PM" Martin has stated that Canada will not take part in the US-driven missle defense shield. He took his sweet time getting around to it, but at least he went with the populations desire not to support this measure. The missle defense idea has been fraught with cost overuns, failed launches and tests, and neglects to acknowledge that the next attack against America probably won't come from traditional state governments.

This missle defense shield, with many of the contracts going to Republic-supporting companies like Lockheed Martin and the Carlyle empire, offers no defense against a smuggled bomb that is set off in a subway. Nor does this shield help improve security (which is still woefully lacking) around nunerous nuclear and chemical plants that sit just outside major population centres. And the technology that this system is based upon is still unproven.

But Canada is going to stay out, at least for the time being. This might be a feel-good moment for Canadian lefties, but the sobering realtiy is that Canada really has no say in the wrapping up of North America with artillery. Missles will be placed in west and north Alaska, as well as in the upper northeastern states like Maine, effectively surrounding Canada anyway. Sure the US would have liked to plunk some missles in Nunavut and northern Quebec, but our sayng no doesn't mean that we still won't be surrounded by US military might.

In local news, this weekend is Kuwait National Day and Kuwait Liberation Day, meaning that the streets, when they are dry, are packed with flags and parades. I am staying in, low profile, as we all know my aversion to crowds. But it's a four day weekend, and that means I am doing some sleeping, some blogging (obviously) and some reading. Currently I am reading a historical account of Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe in the early 1520s. Pretty good so far.

Oh speaking of book reviews, remember that I reviewed that book Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman? That book where they rode motorbikes all the way from London to NY via Mongolia? Yea, well initially I said it wasn't a bad book, a little weak in the writing department, but a good armchair adventure. I am taking all that back, as I have been thinking about it a little more lately....

Reasons not to buy this book
#1. Name/Movie Title Dropping: All through the book, the two actors, especially McGregor, seem to have a need to mention all the movies they have ever been in, usually more than once. I get it, you're famous, you know So-and-So and Whosits. You make money and get to see your name on the big screen. Ok, let it go.

#2. Moments of "Introspection": I use the quotations because most of these moments are forced and end up feeling like a bad Fraiser-therapy session. "I realized that I was the one holding the trip hostage, trying to form it to my will, instead of just going with the flow." Boo hoo, you're a suck. The thing was that throughout this trip they had to do interviews and location shots to sell and finance the excursion. Yet they got pissed about it, whining that it was taking away from the spirit of the trip. I got news for ya Hollywood: By getting free motorcycles from BMW, free gear form suppliers, signing a TV deal to broadcast the journey, and dragging a camera crew along with you, you pretty much ensure that whatever spirit you had in mind was going to get hijacked by big business. So if you wanted a solo journey, can the introspection and tell everyone to fuck off. Otherwise, you made your bed, now sleep tight.

#3. Bemoaning being away from family. Now obviously I am a little sensitive to this aspect of being a half a world away from people you love. But when you sign up to do such a thing, you should have some inkling that being away from everyone is gonna suck at times. But these guys, man, what a bunch of babies. Every other page has some comment like " I miss my wife/babies/kids/dog/fish soooooooo much my heart feels like a stony stone." Gag. They called home every damn day on the satellite phone. I know that isn't the best, but is something. And I didn't buy this book for it's romantic overtures.

#4. Political commentary/"Everyone is the same all over the world." - This was a small portion of the book, but it pissed me off nonetheless. First, no matter where they went and who they met, they always said something like: "No matter how brutal these Ukrainian Mercedes-driving gangsters are, I realized that inside they were the same as the Mongolian kids that lived in the sewers." Yes, and we all know that deep down inside all the gangsters wanted to do was give away their expensive cars and live in the sewers, sniffing glue. Seriously, what is the point of even making a trip like this if you don't see the differences in people? People are not the same, cultures differ, and trying to link two polar opposites is just going to make you look like a horse's ass.

Secondly, there was one, I repeat one, line that dealt with politics. Something like "I just wish that George Bush could do a trip like this and see the real people in the countries he is bombing." What an asinine statement. I have this image of an editor, drunk after having to edit the entire book of whining and self-serving stars, suggesting that to appeal to the lefties out there that might be put off by driving pointlessly around the world on gas guzzling motorcycles, they had better throw in an anti-Bush comment. The editor was just spilling drunk talk, but these image conscious stars took him up on the idea and tacked this comment in there. Weak and ineffective. If you want to bash Bush, don't do it when you can afford to take a half year off and burn gas all around the planet on top end motorcycles.

#5. UNICEF. Now before you get all hatin on me for taking on UNICEF, I do want to acknowledge that the work they do is important and meaningful, and that without it many kids would suffer needlessly. Ok, that disclaimer is dealt with, now on to why this pissed me off. The entire book, every 20 pages or less, the "writers" would say how they were so pround to be supporters of UNICEF and that they were going to devote all their waking moments to making UNICEF better and more well known. Very noble thoughts, I will grant them that. But I closed the book and looked at the cover. Hmmm, looking closer. I am expecting to see a huge UNICEF logo somewhere, yet none is to be found. Just Ewan's "dreamy" face. IF I HAD WANTED A UNICEF BROCHURE, I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT ONE, LOSERS!! I wanted a book on adventure, a book to take me to places I will never go, not a UNICEF guilt-trip collection. Yet again, the book is hijacked by another interest group that Hollywood idolizes.

#6. The photos. All books like this have photos, except most of them don't strive to show the "dreamy" Ewan McGregor in the majority of them. "Here's Ewan sleeping, awww, isn't he dreamy ladies? Buy our book!" Sickening. I want to see Ewan after a tree branch hit him in his million dollar face. That is what I want. If I want to see him looking good, I'll go to one of his movies.

In closing, this book is garbage. If you buy it after reading this, you are dumb. I'm so mad, I'm gonna sign off. Arrrrgh I hate HOLLYWOOD!

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 7:03 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Hunter S. Thompson

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 11:29 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

I read a headline today on Yahoo that said: "Historian says Thompson Planned Suicide."

No shit? Oh I was under the impression that he just accidentally shot himself in the head. Who ever has an unplanned suicide? Look, I'm not trying to be callous here, I'm just pointing out that stating the obvious doesn't make for good news coverage.

Anyway, a literary icon gone to the other side, perhaps destined to exit this world in just such a fashion. Like him or not, one cannot deny that he had a tremendous impact on the evolution of the written word, as his 'gonzo' style of writing and life allowed words to create a rush within the reader. Ok, going to bed, I'll write more tomorrow. Listen to Death Cab for Cutie, they rule.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 11:22 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Jacko. Michal Jackson to those of you who are not "cool" like me and can't throw his nickname around with ease. As we all know, being the media whores that we are, Jacko is due to stand trial for what people are delicately calling "interference" with minors. Yes, and in Kuwait the temperatures can become a little about freezing in the summers....

Couple of things really piss me off about what has already been dubbed the "Trial of the Century."

#1. Calling this the "Trial of the Century." How the hell do they know that already? Is there no remote chance that in 50 years some steriod-laden NFL star will flip out and murder his fan club members? Judging by the NFL, it may happen tomorrow for all we know. But come on, we still have another 95 years of this century to go, it seems a little dumb to writing them off as useless. People called "Casablanca" the movie of the century when it came out. How dumb do you think they felt when they realized "Speed 2" was destined to hold that title? (PS- If you are reading this Sandra Bullock, I love you)

#2. The jury selection. Yes, there has actually been a push on to find potential jurors who have not heard about Jacko's curious habits with children. Good luck with this one. Unless you have been living in a tomb for the past 20 years, you have probably already formed an opinion in your head, no matter how Neanderthal your forehead appears to be. So we are either going to get startstruck Jacko fans on the jury, after they have lied to cover their devotion, or we are going to get mouth breathing Denny's rejects who watch Jerry Springer re-runs. In short, this jury is gonna be massively ineffectual, probably winding up sequestered for a year or two, where they will slowly go insane and end up not being able to render a verdict.

#3. Star witnesses. Apparently a lot of Jacko's character witnesses are from Hollywood, thus ensuring that what will already be a bright lights TV fiasco becomes a staring-into-the-sun gong show of who's who. So all these people will stroll up to the witness stand, bedazzle the jurors with stories of how Jacko isn't Wacko, and hold America'a attention away from important matters like the upcoming privatization of Social Security. And when people are old and living in a 4th rate RV collecting bottles for recycling money, they can think back to all the memories they have of watching Oprah go to bat for Jacko.

#4. Jacko's devoted fans. You will see these boobs lining the streets up to the courthouse, holding candlelight vigils for Michael, professing his innocence whenever the camera lands on their tear-stained face. "Oh Michael is innocent, I cannot believe they are doing this to him, he is a national icon and his music is still so relevant to me and so many others."

SMACK! That's the sound of me hitting them with a brick. Don't these people have jobs? How can you afford to stand on the street for a year waving a shitty bedsheet banner? Have they no pride at all? And no, his music isn't relevant. In fact, it's horrible and has been only minorly successful in the past years because of clods like these. And if Jacko is a national icon, then I suggest the US close up shop and call it an day.

#5. The assumption that he is innocent. Look, I am all for a fair trial and everyone getting their proclamation of innocence. But the guy is guilty, face it. They couldn't make it stick in the early 90s, but now they got him. Even if they only had circumstantial evidence ("Neverland" Ranch, circus rides, animals to pet etc etc) they could still build a pretty good case against him. He is guilty and ought to hang. (Note: I am usually pretty left wing, anti-death penalty except when it comes to crimes against kids. Hang 'em high)

#6. The accuser's parents. I do not blame the kid at all for what happened (fine, allegedly happened), but I do blame the kid's parents for letting Jacko into their lives, or getting themselves into his. These parents are nothing more than dirt, trying to get some sideways fame off of Jacko via their kid. How could any parent let their kid get this close? Do parents, any parents, let their kids hang around with older men who wear makeup and have been accused of child abuse? No. In fact, parents mobilise to get people like this banned from the neighbourhood. Yet when celebrity is involved, the rules go out the window and this shit happens all over again. The parents ought to be right there with Jacko, explaining to the world why they thought sending their kids to live with Jacko was a good idea. "Well you see, we failed at everything in life, so this was our last ditch effort at attaining even some shine of glory and fame. It really is sad that people hurt children, but we thought Michael (who we still adore, don't forget to send the cheque to our new address) was innocent the first time around and are almost sure he is innnocent this time too."

I hate this. It is going to be OJ all over again, except with kids who are getting hurt. The media will cover this 24 hours a day, Jacko will get more press than ever before, and in the end he will walk away a free man. It will take 2 years to do it, but he will. And then 20 people involved in the trial will write books that sell millions of copies, whoring themselves out to shit shows like "Extra," when all the while the kid is undergoing state-funded therapy that allows him 1 visit with a doctor every month. This pinnacle of civilization seems to get a little lower every year.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 5:29 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Yep, what a rock star...

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 10:38 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

I think there is a dog in there....

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 10:37 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

This has to be the funniest thing I have ever seen. I urge you to go to the bathroom before clicking on this because if you don't you will pee your pants. There is sound, but it is office/school appropriate. A lesson learned the hard way....

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 8:52 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

So Prince Charles is going to marry Camilla Parker Bowles, in a civil ceremony that will have to take place off official royal grounds because of some legislation that exists regarding the location of marriage ceremonies. The Queen will not be attending this ceremony, but everyone is insisting this is not a snub by the Queen.

So you all now think that I am a follower of the British royal family. You couldn't be more wrong. In fact, I haven't actually read any articles about Charles upcoming marriage, I have only seen the headlines or caught snippets of conversation in the staff room. I swear.

My question is this: Who the hell cares? Really, is your life so boring that the marriage of this beak-nosed spoiled brat is of some importance? This is just the continuation of possibly the most publicized dysfunctional family in the world. Seriously, this family is messed up, all from the overhyped marriage of Diana and Charles, to the birth of the kids, to the divorce, to Diana's death (blah blah, still ongoing), to the Harry wearing a swastika. Now this marriage. And all the while the Queen has her fingers in everyone's business. What a god damn goat rodeo. (Cross rules!)

This family does a lot of work for the society. About as much work as the blind midget tree pruner with a wet-noodle ladder. What the hell do they do anyway, besides get themselves print every couple of months? Even when they try to do some good, it comes off looking forced. Example: Remember when Dacia's boyfriend Prince William, went to South America on his 'gap' year to help lay pipe or whatever for some impoverished community so that they could have running water. All the cameras showed Will hauling lumber around, dressed in jeans and a sweater, like a regular guy who just loves to help. Awww, touching.

Bullshit. If Will had really given a rats ass about the poor in South America, he could have walked around one of the palaces and collected some spare jewelry and rare paintings, sold them, and sent all the money to the still-drinking-from-a-slough community in Bolivia. Seriously, this guy, instead of wasting his time hauling pieces of wood around, could have raised a few million pounds to help the poor. That would have made a difference. Regular guys, those who can afford to take a year off, can be saluted for helping the poor in a developing country. But when a rich royal does it, it just ends up looking like another photo-op.

Ok, enough ragging on Will. He's dumb, but not the dumbest. Charles is, by a landslide. His love life (with women, let's not get into certain allegations from male ex-palace workers) is a joke. Look, he hasn't married for love yet. It was all a nice little set up with Diana, and that went REAL well, ending with divorce and Diana being hated by the Queen. Now Charles has finally grown a pair of balls and is deciding to marry Bowles, and his old ma decides to skip it. You know what Charlie's problem is? He's a momma's boy that waited too long. Now he is old and, if it wasn't for the royal blood, would just be another loser in the "Looking for Love" classifieds.

"Tall, gangly, extremely white (both in skin color and basketball ability), male, late 40s/early 50s, looking for semi-blind woman of any appearence who has extremely low standards. Must be willing to live with domineering mother who will probably live for another 25 years. I enjoy not doing much except for making myself look like an ass in public. I have two kids who are embarassed by me. One of them may be a Nazi and likes to punch reporters. The other looks to be the future leader of a far-right Aryan race political party and is as exciting as a plank of wood. They are still dependent on me, and I'm dependent on my mother. I am a huge fan of the Simpsons, as my two favorite characters are Principal Skinner and Agnus, his mother. Oh and Ned Flanders, before Maude died, because he was so whipped. I own an unusually prominent nose but am otherwise perfectly healthy (with a little help from my little blue pills, if ya know what I mean, hee hee hee). I also have no sense of humor. If you are ready to give up on love, please call Charles at 555-Goof. I'll be waiting by the phone for it to ring, unless Mother is on it, then I will be in my closet playing jenga."

So he's a late-blooming momma's boy and when he does finally get the cojones to do something on his own, he gets upstaged by his mom, who says she ain't gonna come to the wedding. And then the usual politics start: "Oh it's not a snub, she just can't make it." What does she have planned instead? Practicing her once-a-year half-assed wave to the blithering masses? Yelling at the chambermaids? Reading Playdude? What? What does she do anyway that couldn't possibly be put off to attend Chuckie's marriage? Is England going to miss her if she takes one day "off" to go to the wedding? No. England will be fine, the Union Jack won't spontaneously combust. Nothing that she does matters. So saying that she "can't make it" is a snub. Thus Charles is upstaged at his own wedding by his mom, who manages to bitchslap him back into his place one more time. Look I love my ma, but if she upstages me at my wedding...well, that's why the security costs are so high. But I digress. Love you Mom!

But this latest saga in the royal family will get a tonne of press, as reporters try to get "the inside scoop." To the reporters, the paparazzi, I offer something better then the scoop. I offer an assessment on your careers: You all are useless morons who do nothing except attempt to fill the void of emptiness that our collective society has. But you aren't too blame, not entirely. Sure your lives are valued slightly above that of a cockroach, but you are at least working for a living, instead of living off the taxes of honest working British, who live only to see their costs of living go up and their taxes go to pay for Charlie's wedding.

So enjoy the coverage, as I'm sure it will figure prominently in the nightly news, ahead of the growing AIDS epidemics in Africa & Russia, the thousands of children who are being trafficked in the wake of the tsunami, the shitty school textbooks your kids are using, and a multitude of other issues that actually matter in this world. Cause this is what we ask for. And now we are getting it. And we will be dumber tomorrow because we think this marriage matters.

*Note: Next time I lament the upcoming Michael Jackson trial. "Black-ish Man on Trial for Child Abuse: Is America ready to treat a black-ish man who wears make-up like the white-ish man he appears to be? Is OJ Simpson involved?" Tomorrow on Ink & Paper, where all the shit that's fit to print somehow gets horribly twisted....

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 6:58 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Hey just a note about my recent streak of "I Hate Everything Now" rants. I'm not insanely bitter or considering shooting stray cats as a stress reliever or anything like that. I'll deal with the school, the flights, the dog (who rules cause she's a rock star with all the local kids), and all the other intensely backasswards ways of surviving here. Why? Cause I have come to the conclusion that "Ass-Kicking Jay" (ASJ) needs to re-emerge to get his way.

An example: I banned a kid form my class for week. Why? Cause he's a disrespectful little shit and I'm tired of him. See how cool he feels in the DT room. I've been understanding for 5 months now, enough already. I told my principal what I did. Not asked her, told her. Got my way. Thus I rule. This is the kinda shit you don't learn in university. Not happy about having to do it, as it means more paperwork for me, but sometimes the bull needs to have his horns grabbed and stomped.

So I'll live. I'll probably make Kuwait my bitch for the next few months, but its either that or insanity, and I don't wanna go down THAT road again. So relax, ASJ is on the scene. Now go and play a practical joke on someone.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 8:59 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

This is all absolutely true. No wonder I'm all left wingy...

"....Smurfs. That was such a pinko commie show: They all live in a collective, everyone works as much or as little as they choose, everyone is considered equal no matter what they contribute, there is no private ownership of property, there is no money, there is no sex, and their enemy is a big evil white guy who tries to catch them and turn them into gold. And come on, who doesn’t realize that Papa Smurf is nothing but an idealized Lenin. Don’t get me started. The show even started in Sweden."

From: www.tuckermax.com *

*Note: This site is more than a little crude, so if you are under 18, make sure your parents aren't home or that you are at a friends house. There, not my problem anymore.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 8:50 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Well today was the typical shit-show that occurs everytime our school plans to do something 'outside' of class, be it a week long series of field trips, or in this case, a two day session of sports. The planning pretty much collapsed right from the get go, as Jay and Alex were stranded in the back basketball court from 730am-1230pm with no relief, reffing game after game of double-dribble basketball. I find out later that some teachers spent the majority of the day being productive or surfing the net, as they didn't know what they were supposed to do. My shitty, hating-life week continues....

And then I get the notice saying that I have to commit to a flight for June by tomorrow, Wednesday. Nothing like a lot of time to get it together. I already know that I want to be on the earliest flight outta here (looking like the 17th of June) but the school is taking care of the booking. A nice, no-hassle thing, until one considers the dog. I do not trust the school to properly book the dog onto my flight, nor do I think doing me chasing after them would be an easy task. Frankly I am flat out worried that I will get to the airport in June and find that no allowance has been made for Monday. So I am thinking, and I have to check with a few good-hearted (read: I am sucking up) people to see, about the possibility of bringing poochie home in April. Still just planning stages now, and time will tell.

I know I complained earlier about the upcoming four day weekend that I have, but right now I don't want to be anywhere near the school, as everything seems to just irk me to no end. I am hoping this is a passing phase, as I don't want to be a bitter guy for the rest of the year. Just been a long week somehow.

On a nerdy note, here is the Top Ten Gadgets of All-Time*
1. Apple Powerbook 100 (1991)
2. Zenith Space Command remote control (1956) (What a great name)
3. Sony Walkman (1979)
4. Motorola Startac (1996)
5. CDI mechanical mouse (1970)
6. Casio (Connection!) QV-10 digital camera (1996)
7. US Robotics Pilot 1000 (1996)
8. Diamond Multimedia Rio 300 (1998)
9. Atari 7600 (1977) (Would still be cool if posers weren't wearing shirts with the Atari logo in the chest)
10. Tivo Series 1 (1999)
* According to Mobile PC magazine

Enough already, I'm going to read. Later.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 6:57 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Monday, February 21, 2005

Dang, my Bullshit Detector just went off the scale.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 9:12 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Math Problem: These blocks of butter weigh 1 pound each. If you bought 15 of them and put them all in one shopping bag, how much would your bag weigh? Answer: As much as my parent's butterball, fat-ass cat Riley.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 9:08 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Man Kuwait smells like someone dumped a tonne of nailpolish in the streets. Like a whorehouse, not that I would know. But it seriously smells like nailpolish. Which is better than the usual smell of open sewers, so maybe I should stop complaining.

Ok, your first job is to read this article. Only after will you be allowed to return to my radical site of earth-shattering coolness.

Ok, so you read the article, or most of it. Fine, you read the headline, waited a few minutes, looking over your shoulder with a guilty look in your eye, and then came back here. Think you're so smart, eh tough guy? Fine.

So what is the deal? Are blogs nothing more than glorified spam, a bunch of "trophy-hunters" out to get the voices/controllers of mainstream media (MSM) into hot water? Or are bloggers legitimate news providers, another avenue to seek truth?

First of all, we must admit the obvious, if difficult, fact that we in the masses never truly know what the truth is, no matter who or where we hear it from. Unless you are there in person when the news story happens, your view of it is strained through someone elses scope of the events. And because most of us are never near anything newsworthy, we are constantly being presented with, and ingesting, a biased version of the truth.

So if we are doomed to only read/watch a particular view of the news, then how are we to pursue the quest to find out what the real story is? The answer, or the best one we have access to in our busy lives, is to read about one particular story from many different sources. The internet is a wealth of information, but comes with the usual slants and agendas as the old fashoned TV and newspapers.

So do bloggers count into this spectrum of knowledge? In a segment called "Old Media Lost in Blogosphere" on MSNBC, left-leaning commentator Bill Press condemned bloggers as people "with no credentials, no sources, no rules, no editors and no accountability." (BBC Online)

Perhaps these accusations should be seen not as a detriment to bloggers, but as a source of pride. If you tell a inventor he can only invent using pot metal, his inventions will be curtailed by your imposing rules. Likewise, if an editor 'suggests' that you lay off the Israelis for a bit, your objectiveness and ability to create a well balanced account is limited. Yes, bloggers have varying degress of credintials, but does this mean that you should trust them less than the TV anchorman who is reading from a teleprompter? Sources are another percieved "weakness" of blogs, yet was it not Dan Rather and CBS who failed to check their sources on Bush's military records? Simply because they have the money to afford primetime TV and fancy advertising does not ensure they are any more reputable in their fact-checking that the lonely blogger in the Middle East.

Weblogs are just a part of the digital, internet-driven revolution that is sweeping over journalism, Jay Rosen, New York University journalism professor and the blogger behind PressThink, told the BBC. Suddenly, the tools of mass media are in the hands of the public, he said. (BBC Online)

Perhaps this last statement is the most telling when it comes to the fear that MSM has about the emergence of blogging. In recent years, we have seen the massive collectivisation of media, from CanWest in Canada, to Rupert Murdoch's Fox empire in the US, to Clear Channel radio stations stretching coast to coast. While the market for news and information continues to grow, the number of people providing it has shrunk dramatically. Or had shrunk that is, until the emergence of the blogger. Mind you, the vast majority of people still get their news from the MSM. But it wasn't too long ago that the vast amount of people on received mail, not email. In ten years time, the shift to independent news accounts could be significant. But the mountain that was once MSM, the mountain that only a scarce few could shout from the top of, is slowly being climbed and overtaken by people with their own voices, causing the MSM to re-evaluate their perceived strength in the markets.

Will more people read independent news blogs than BBC Online? Probably not anytime soon. But if BBC, or any other MSM is sloppy, the blogger will call attention to it and hold someone's feet to the fire. We learned, many a year ago, about the "checks and balances" that exist in politics. Perhaps the emergence of the blogger is nothing more than a well needed "check" to balance the power of the media back into an arena that isn't held hostage by ideologies.

Oh and one last thing. Fox News uses the motto "Fair and Balanced" to describe it's coverage of the news. Do you remember when you were a kid and during recess you had to share a teeter-totter with the 'of size' kid? Remember how he had you perched up in the air for a couple of minutes, while he vainly tried to jump himself into the air? Remember how he got bored and hopped off, sending you plummeting to the ground and the teetor-totter seat crashing into your spine? And when you cried to the teacher, that kid beat the hell out of you with one of those plastic floor hockey sticks? Did that seem fair? Was the teetor-totter balanced? That kid grew up to be Fox News.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 7:58 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Where men are men and dogs are sniffing each others bums all day long. I think Monday is getting jealous....

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 9:12 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Man, I'm all over the ole interweb today. Read about Rufus. I am not responsible for what he says, so get over it.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 8:25 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

Is it just me, or does this kinda thing just keep getting worse? When is it gonna end? Jeez.

Ok, I've finished reading Chomsky, and if it is possible to sum up a 300-page book in a few words, here goes: Whatever you thought you knew about recent US foreign policy is probably totally wrong, and if not totally wrong, then a hell of a lot deeper than we could figure out by reading the mainstream newspapers. I like to think I am a fairly asute guy when it comes to politics, and my bullshit detector is getting better with every student's lame-ass excuse, yet I still have to re-read the book to even grasp a tiny portion of all the things Chomsky turned upside down for me. It's not about morals, it was never about freedom, it has been and always will be about foriegn policy dedicated to money and power, no matter how many innocents get slaughtered by US-backed militias. I urge you to read this book.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 7:47 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

God-damn. Tom Waits is the coolest guy in the world. If I was gonna pick one guy to save the world from puke-yellow aliens that shoot plasma rays from their turd-brown 1964 Buick LeSabres, Tom Waits would be the guy. He's fucking tough too, just listen to him. I bet that guy eats shards of glass and brushes his teeth with sandpaper. I'd bet that if Tom Waits was jumped by a hoodlum in an alley, that hoodlum would die. I bet hangovers wake up with Tom Waits, not the other way around. But he's regular guy too, has trouble with women, drinks and smokes too much, and probably wears crappy ripped jeans. He probably thinks that if everyone had a guitar, the world would be cool, but he's too busy being awesome to hand out guitars to hacks. You know who he should do a duet with? The Devil. But I bet the Devil is scared that Tom would not only waste him the 'wicked bad' category, but probably beat him down with his own pitchfork. I'd like to see Tom Waits swing Bill Ray Cyrus around and around by his mullet until Tom Waits threw Bill Ray into Jessica Simpson's little sister, breaking her face. Damn, Tom Waits rules.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 6:48 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================

This school is starting to wear me down. Maybe it was just today, or maybe it was the fact that I have slept like shit for the last two nights, or maybe it's just a combination of somewhat silly issues at the school that seem to endlessly be adding up, with no relief strategy in sight to deal with them. Today just felt like it was a bad day, like I had seen more than 5 yellow cars. Those of you who have read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon will know what that refers to.

I dunno, it just feels that the kids are slowly and surely running the school and that admin doesn't really seem to respect the teachers. Like I said, little things are adding up and frankly the sum is getting kinda high for it only being February. I'm tired.

But my dog still loves me, and it is 53 days tomorrow until I am on a plane to see Megan. And it's not October, its February, and almost March, so the calender is ticking. And I should know by now that 95% of the issues that blow up in our school fade away relatively soon. Sure they come back to bite us in the ass, and sure it will all end with the students swinging from the rafters while the teachers are cowering under their shoddy particleboard desks, but that probably won't happen until May at the earliest.

I'm trying to be positive, but it just ain't happening today. I'm not looking for support or anything, just venting in a reserved way. I will only be doing exactly what I want to be doing when I come back in June. That kinda came out of nowhere, but it's true and consider yourself warned. Sounds threatening, maybe that's just the mood I'm in. But some of that statement will echo true in less than four months. I'm feeling a little selfish right now, like I just finished reading an Ayn Rand book. I think I could stand to be a little more selfish, sometimes I am too concerned with the opinions of everyone else. Nuts to that. I just finished reading Chomsky's thesis Hegemony or Survival, so maybe that is why I am somewhat disillusioned with life, seeing as how he states that due to US budget cuts, I apparently could get a Russian nuke for about $21.99US plus tax.

I dunno, it's all just a big poop show right now, so maybe I'll sign off for the time being. Do not email/comment offering support, cause I don't wanna hear it. That means you too Mother! I'm fine, just tired from too much thinking and not enough sleep. Oh wait, one last thing. If anyone out there wants, or is considering getting a dog/cat, please let me know. The link I provided below is for the animal rescue society that is here in Kuwait. Long story short is that it costs nothing (to you) for me to escort your new dog/cat home from Kuwait in either April or June. These animals do need a home, and Kuwait is not exactly animal friendly, as the consumerist society applies to puppies that grow into dogs. I will not bring you a flea-ridden, rabies-infested, gonna-die-next-week dog, as all of these dogs are vaccinated and healthy. So if you are thinking at all about saving a stray, or you know of anyone who is, please contact me either via email or through the comments option. It's a win win, you not only save a stray, but you save it from one of the least hospitable places on earth. Ok, enough preaching, thanks for reading. Later.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 5:51 AM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

========================================================================