I've never really liked this guy and i've never seen his movie but everyone's jumping on his bandwagon about global warming and how much he's doing for the enviroment without realizing that he's still an asshole politician and will always lie, cheat, steal and bend the truth to further his own career and bank account.
I'm glad global warming and enviromental issues are getting a huge chunk of publicity but it's one thing to talk about and an entirely different thing to actually act on it. Let's make sure we're doing the right one. (By the way, my community doesn't even have recycling...a point that i'll be bringing up at the next HOA meeting.)
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Some 9-11 Weirdness
I don't know why nobody else is picking up on this (well, probably because Britney and Anna Nicole are far, far more important.) but i've been following this story on InfoWars and it's pretty interesting. A BBC report and reporter claimed that World Trade Center 7 had collapsed and talked about how it happened and then they zoom in, and the building is still friggin standing there. It's more than just a little suspect, especially when it looks like she's reading off of an official statement. How did anyone make that statement unless they knew the building was about to fall (or be demolished). And with the chaos of that day, what PR person or Public Information Office had the time to make a statement before something even happened.
They've been talking a lot about building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsing and how EMTs, cops and firefighters are hinting at the fact that they were pulled away from the building instead of fighting the few fires that existed inside and that the building was completely empty and then demolished in a controlled implosion. While this wouldn't seal the deal on some of the theories that the entire thing was faked, it would add to and somewhat substantiate some of the suspicions.
If you haven't watched Loose Change, you probably should. If even 1% of this whole theory is true, then i'm concerned.
Update: Story about WTC 7 and just how strongly it was built.
They've been talking a lot about building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsing and how EMTs, cops and firefighters are hinting at the fact that they were pulled away from the building instead of fighting the few fires that existed inside and that the building was completely empty and then demolished in a controlled implosion. While this wouldn't seal the deal on some of the theories that the entire thing was faked, it would add to and somewhat substantiate some of the suspicions.
If you haven't watched Loose Change, you probably should. If even 1% of this whole theory is true, then i'm concerned.
Update: Story about WTC 7 and just how strongly it was built.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Links of the Week
I don't know how recurring this can be but since i'm donating a majority of my time to Championship Vinyl, i thought it would be a cool piece to show i'm still thinking about politics and world issues. I'll have a very large post about Rise Up Inc. as soon as i possibly can, but here's this until then.
1. Check out Rise Up. They are my new mission in life and i'm so glad to be apart of that organization in whatever forms i can be. Write me at adammack.wright@gmail.com if you would like more info on how to get involved.
2. We all have to buy gas. So which stations should you be supporting and which one's should you avoid like the plague? Check it out here. (Thanks to Nole for finding this.)
3. What if everyone lived like you? Take this quiz to see just how big of a footprint you're leaving on this earth. It occurs to me after taking this that no matter how much i talk the talk, i am not even close to walking the walk. I'm not even crawling the walk at this point. I use 5.5 earths and that isn't cool. It's a problem, and i'm working on it.
1. Check out Rise Up. They are my new mission in life and i'm so glad to be apart of that organization in whatever forms i can be. Write me at adammack.wright@gmail.com if you would like more info on how to get involved.
2. We all have to buy gas. So which stations should you be supporting and which one's should you avoid like the plague? Check it out here. (Thanks to Nole for finding this.)
3. What if everyone lived like you? Take this quiz to see just how big of a footprint you're leaving on this earth. It occurs to me after taking this that no matter how much i talk the talk, i am not even close to walking the walk. I'm not even crawling the walk at this point. I use 5.5 earths and that isn't cool. It's a problem, and i'm working on it.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
The WTF Award of The Week
Some bizarre space station love triangle thing. Yikes. Here's my favorite part:
"At the time of her arrest, Nowak was carrying a black bag containing a steel mallet, a 4-inch folding knife, a BB gun, 3 feet of rubber tubing and several garbage bags. A wig was found in a plastic bag in a nearby trash bin."
Apparently going to space isn't exciting enough anymore. But kidnapping, that's where the action's at.
"At the time of her arrest, Nowak was carrying a black bag containing a steel mallet, a 4-inch folding knife, a BB gun, 3 feet of rubber tubing and several garbage bags. A wig was found in a plastic bag in a nearby trash bin."
Apparently going to space isn't exciting enough anymore. But kidnapping, that's where the action's at.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
What do you want first? The good news or the bad news?
We'll go with the good news, in the form of this hilarious Washington Post headline (please God, let them have done this on purpose): Bush Complains About the Size of CEO Packages. Come on George, didn't Laura tell you that size doesn't matter???
Now the bad news:
The U.S. Government has wasted tens of millions in Iraq (i would argue a much, much higher figure, but maybe that's just me.) and guess what? They're asking for more!
And also this, which may or may not be true, but i just like severe Left-wing propaganda and feel like my diet is lacking it. (Be careful, there are some very honest and awful pictures of war violence on this site. Not for the faint of heart or those with easy gag reflexes.)
Now the bad news:
The U.S. Government has wasted tens of millions in Iraq (i would argue a much, much higher figure, but maybe that's just me.) and guess what? They're asking for more!
And also this, which may or may not be true, but i just like severe Left-wing propaganda and feel like my diet is lacking it. (Be careful, there are some very honest and awful pictures of war violence on this site. Not for the faint of heart or those with easy gag reflexes.)
Thursday, January 25, 2007
20,000 troops or 7 billion dollars?
This is what folks in the business world refer to as "throwing money at a problem."
All i know, is that it's a good thing Bush doesn't treat our school systems like that, just throwing money at it and hoping it gets magically better...we all know that "No Child Left Behind" is a much better plan. And besides, what do schools need money for anyway, it's not like they're buying bombs or killing people in schools.
All i know, is that it's a good thing Bush doesn't treat our school systems like that, just throwing money at it and hoping it gets magically better...we all know that "No Child Left Behind" is a much better plan. And besides, what do schools need money for anyway, it's not like they're buying bombs or killing people in schools.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Everything isn't Political
It occurs to me that it has been a while since i've posted anything not slamming president bush so i thought i'd mention the fact that American Apparel has been sold to an investment company.
And for as popular as the company is among the young, hip and socially aware, i really thought it would make bigger news. Do you really think they're going to maintain their non-sweatshop standards with someone else calling the shots? Especially when that someone else has dollar signs in their eyes? The article says that the investment firm only had $125 million in assets but is paying 300 million + to buy American Apparel, so that makes me think they'll be looking to cut corners any way they can to get that money back.
I've never been a huge fan of American Apparel to be honest. Dov the owner goes out of his way to say how against sweatshops and exploitation he is and then pretty much sexually exploits young girls and his female employees. If you haven't read the Jane Magazine article on him yet, you might have a tough time finding it. I looked for an hour for the archive of it and it's gone. It's not even in the press archives of the American Apparel web sites, kinda interesting. The dude is kind of a scumbag at worst and a sexual deviant at best. Exploitation is exploitation.
Just a warning to those people doing business with them to keep an eye out on their standards and ethics. I have a feeling some changes could be happening soon. And most likely very quietly.
Update: Here are a few more links on Dov Charney, American Apparel's very interesting owner.
Malcolm Gladwell's take
Inc. Magazine story
20/20 Interview
And for as popular as the company is among the young, hip and socially aware, i really thought it would make bigger news. Do you really think they're going to maintain their non-sweatshop standards with someone else calling the shots? Especially when that someone else has dollar signs in their eyes? The article says that the investment firm only had $125 million in assets but is paying 300 million + to buy American Apparel, so that makes me think they'll be looking to cut corners any way they can to get that money back.
I've never been a huge fan of American Apparel to be honest. Dov the owner goes out of his way to say how against sweatshops and exploitation he is and then pretty much sexually exploits young girls and his female employees. If you haven't read the Jane Magazine article on him yet, you might have a tough time finding it. I looked for an hour for the archive of it and it's gone. It's not even in the press archives of the American Apparel web sites, kinda interesting. The dude is kind of a scumbag at worst and a sexual deviant at best. Exploitation is exploitation.
Just a warning to those people doing business with them to keep an eye out on their standards and ethics. I have a feeling some changes could be happening soon. And most likely very quietly.
Update: Here are a few more links on Dov Charney, American Apparel's very interesting owner.
Malcolm Gladwell's take
Inc. Magazine story
20/20 Interview
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Killing at a 11 to 1 Ratio
The UN reports that 34,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war. Many organizations would say that this number is higher. If you remember way back when to the reasons we started this war, you would hear that Iraq harbored al-Qaeda hijackers (despite a specific lack of evidence to back this up) responsible for 9-11 in which 2,997 people died. And so we went over there to hunt terrorists. We've done the exact opposite over the last few years, actually making the problem worse by unifying the terrorists and creating new ones in the process.
So today we can celebrate that for every one person killed in the 9-11 attacks, we've killed 11 Iraqis. This doesn't count the original fighting in Afghanistan, the recent bombing in Somalia or any of the countless people we've tortured or executed in those "top secret" operations that we're so good at. (This number also doesn't take into account the 3,026 human sacrifices we've made in the form of troop deaths...which i feel now were pretty much entirely unnecessary. I think i would add them on the side with the 34,000 number to be honest.)
I've heard of an eye for an eye, but this is getting a little ridiculous.
So today we can celebrate that for every one person killed in the 9-11 attacks, we've killed 11 Iraqis. This doesn't count the original fighting in Afghanistan, the recent bombing in Somalia or any of the countless people we've tortured or executed in those "top secret" operations that we're so good at. (This number also doesn't take into account the 3,026 human sacrifices we've made in the form of troop deaths...which i feel now were pretty much entirely unnecessary. I think i would add them on the side with the 34,000 number to be honest.)
I've heard of an eye for an eye, but this is getting a little ridiculous.
America: Making the World Safe for Democracy
Or really unsafe for Muslims...
Didn't we bomb Somalia just the other day because the Islamic govt. set up 2 years ago was starting to take hold and become relatively peaceful?
And now this. So much for those freedoms we all know and (allegedly) respect. (Check this link too for more nausea inducing fun.)
The last time we were there we caused a Josh Hartnett movie. Do we really need that again, really?
(by the way, it may be propaganda but it least it's propaganda i can get behind. Check out infowars.com, because there's a war on for your mind. It has a lot of thought- (and blog) provoking topics.)
Didn't we bomb Somalia just the other day because the Islamic govt. set up 2 years ago was starting to take hold and become relatively peaceful?
And now this. So much for those freedoms we all know and (allegedly) respect. (Check this link too for more nausea inducing fun.)
The last time we were there we caused a Josh Hartnett movie. Do we really need that again, really?
(by the way, it may be propaganda but it least it's propaganda i can get behind. Check out infowars.com, because there's a war on for your mind. It has a lot of thought- (and blog) provoking topics.)
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
screwed by Bush
Yep, This is pretty much what Alaska feels like right now. And really that's the only response i'm going to muster. A lot of this shit makes me angry and i laugh it off, but this just upsets me entirely.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Vote Republican!
And this is what you'll get: Bush Lifts Oil-Drill Ban in Alaska's Bristol Bay
What a fucker.
Now i'm not a rabid environmentalist, but fuck with an area i've spent about the most wonderful 384 hours of my life in, and i'm going to be pissed off.
Is it January 2009 yet?
I'm really too mad to process the whole thing, hopefully i'll have some more commentary on the subject later.
What a fucker.
Now i'm not a rabid environmentalist, but fuck with an area i've spent about the most wonderful 384 hours of my life in, and i'm going to be pissed off.
Is it January 2009 yet?
I'm really too mad to process the whole thing, hopefully i'll have some more commentary on the subject later.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The Post X-Mas Reaction
First off, Happy New Year to everyone. 2006 provided "Everything is A-OK" with 35 posts-worth of idiocy, retardation and anger and, although i'm no psychic, i have a feeling that 2007 won't disappoint. I get this sneaking suspicion that every year from here on out will be ripe with possibilities for cynical commentary and personally i can't wait for a democrat (possibly a black one or a woman) to be president in 2008 and not because everything will automatically become sunshine and puppy dogs. Democratic presidents have left us no shortage of comedy and embarrassment in the last few decades and i imagine this one will be no slouch, whoever it is. But alas, i digress. This particular post is a reaction the the x-mas season that we've just survived. (And no, i don't think calling it x-mas takes Christ out of it. More on this later.)
My first complaint, of course, is that it's been Christmas since Halloween. (My friend Sara gave a first-hand account about this in her blog.) The song is about 12 days of Christmas, not 47. The marketers and the retail corporations have pushed christmas earlier and earlier every year. Why? Because the earlier they get you thinking about it, the earlier you'll start shopping for it. Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) sales were down this year, want to know why? Because all the people who usually waited for that day to shop had started weeks earlier this year. And what does that do for people who are already a little bah-humbug about the whole thing in the first place? It shuts them off. At least it did for me. I had my head in the sand avoiding Christmas up until about the 22nd, when i absolutely had to start shopping or risk offending my whole family.
And by the time i got to the mall, i had already worked myself into such a bad mood about it that the only thing i could do was walk around the mall brainstorming ideas for people and didn't actually buy a single thing. On the way into the mall, i was lucky enough to find a person backing out of a space on the 2nd floor of the garage, i had about 15 cars stacked up behind me and there were about 18 coming the other way. The people coming down the garage, either leaving or looking for spots themselves, wouldn't stop passing through to let this person back out and leave. So that left me sitting there with my blinker on, traffic backing up behind me, and nervous that someone coming down would stop just long enough to let this person out before whipping their vehicle into my spot. So while i'm sitting there, waiting for the inevitable spot steal move by someone coming the other way, i wandered off into a little day dream about what i would do if my spot was taken. I pictured myself putting my parking brake on, calmly leaving my car running in the middle of traffic, while i walked over to the freshly parked car (i mentally assumed it would be a BMW or Benz), opened the car door for the person, and without hesitation, punched them in the face repeatedly. And when i snapped out of this daydream and pulled into my spot, i consciously thought that there was little doubt in my mind that i would have done just that. Normally you have a little conscience in there that reminds you not to go insane, but mine was on vacation. I honestly didn't have that little voice in there telling me not to hit someone, and it really, truly, seemed like a good idea that i wouldn't have been surprised to see myself follow through. Upon entering the mall and thinking more about that reaction, i was truly shocked at what the "holiday season" had done to me.
My other huge frustration is gift buying. See, i'm not a super thoughtful person, i admit this. I don't know my friends birthdays, i barely know my family's birthdays, and although i'm a creative person and could definitely come up with great gifts every year, i rarely put enough time or effort into it, or start early enough to pull off the "creative, thoughtful, sometimes home-made but really enjoyable gift" thing. So i end up at the mall, 3 days before x-mas with some great ideas but no way to pull them off, and instead i wander around finding gifts that are expensive and yet just good enough for the people i'm buying them for. They're not the perfect gift, but hey, they might like it right? So i find myself in Roxy or Pacific Sunwear or Steve Madden or Best Buy or Nordstrom's or LaCoste buying overpriced things and trying to place a dollar value on my relationship with the person i'm buying for. I found a really nice sweater that i though my sister would love, but i felt myself trying to accessorize it or find something else that would put me closer to the dollar limit i felt my sister was worth. And i pretty much wanted to throw up over that feeling. I also found out that my cousins were buying me gifts personally (traditionally in my family the parents get all the nieces and nephews gifts and the cousins let that suffice, instead of buying an individual gift for all 8 cousins in the family), so immediately i felt obligated to buy them something and broke into a cold sweat over which cousins would be buying me thing personally this year and if i needed to get something for them too.
Last year during x-mas, i was a salaried employee and although i wasn't making a ton, i knew i could spend almost freely on x-mas and be alright. Well this year i'm starting my own business and waiting tables which puts me in a little different tax bracket than i was in last year. So i went into it with a little different frame of mind than usual.
But the whole thing just really turned me off this year. I hated the music, i hated the crowds, i hated that feeling of obligation to buy everyone something, and to decide which friends were "worth it." So in my mind, Christmas was cancelled. I wanted nothing to do with it. And i got that feeling from a lot of my friends and my family too. It was just getting to a point that the tens of thousands of dollars we all cumulatively spent could have been put to better use. I think next year, we'll really cancel Christmas and go on a vacation or spend the money on food and wine so we all sit around a big table and enjoy it.
And it turns out that my christmas didn't end up being so bad, but the events that made it for me weren't the presents at all, but it was x-mas eve when my family came over and drank too much together and laughed and told stories and ate a delicious meal. And it was on x-mas morning when i woke up at 10 and realized that my family had grown old enough that we didn't wake up at 6 and race to the tree anymore. We all wandered into the kitchen where we sat at the table, ate ibuprofen, drank a lot of water (and maybe a bloody mary) and put the delicious casserole that my grandma had given us for x-mas in the oven and didn't start giving each other gifts until almost noon. It was that emphasis on something else, on being friends, on being family that made it for me. It had nothing to do with my gifts or the gifts i gave.
And i propose that everyone who reads this post and realizes that they felt even the slightest bit of agreement with it, that they take a new idea to their families for next year. Let's take the power out of the marketers hands, lets take the the consumerism out of it, lets let Black Friday be Completely Fucking Dead Friday, lets stop shopping, stop being frustrated, stop throwing our hard earned money away on things that people don't need, let's stop trying to place a dollar sign on our friends and family's worth. Let's do something different next year. My family has already thrown the idea out there of taking a trip somewhere together or going skydiving together, just to name a few.
I call it x-mas because it's easier to write. Some people say i'm taking the Christ out of Christmas, and i really could care less because i don't think Christmas has been about Christ in this country for a long time. So take him out, put him back in, whatever, i could care less. But what i do think we absolutely should do is take the capitalism and consumerism out of christmas for good.
Thanks for reading. See you in 2007.
My first complaint, of course, is that it's been Christmas since Halloween. (My friend Sara gave a first-hand account about this in her blog.) The song is about 12 days of Christmas, not 47. The marketers and the retail corporations have pushed christmas earlier and earlier every year. Why? Because the earlier they get you thinking about it, the earlier you'll start shopping for it. Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) sales were down this year, want to know why? Because all the people who usually waited for that day to shop had started weeks earlier this year. And what does that do for people who are already a little bah-humbug about the whole thing in the first place? It shuts them off. At least it did for me. I had my head in the sand avoiding Christmas up until about the 22nd, when i absolutely had to start shopping or risk offending my whole family.
And by the time i got to the mall, i had already worked myself into such a bad mood about it that the only thing i could do was walk around the mall brainstorming ideas for people and didn't actually buy a single thing. On the way into the mall, i was lucky enough to find a person backing out of a space on the 2nd floor of the garage, i had about 15 cars stacked up behind me and there were about 18 coming the other way. The people coming down the garage, either leaving or looking for spots themselves, wouldn't stop passing through to let this person back out and leave. So that left me sitting there with my blinker on, traffic backing up behind me, and nervous that someone coming down would stop just long enough to let this person out before whipping their vehicle into my spot. So while i'm sitting there, waiting for the inevitable spot steal move by someone coming the other way, i wandered off into a little day dream about what i would do if my spot was taken. I pictured myself putting my parking brake on, calmly leaving my car running in the middle of traffic, while i walked over to the freshly parked car (i mentally assumed it would be a BMW or Benz), opened the car door for the person, and without hesitation, punched them in the face repeatedly. And when i snapped out of this daydream and pulled into my spot, i consciously thought that there was little doubt in my mind that i would have done just that. Normally you have a little conscience in there that reminds you not to go insane, but mine was on vacation. I honestly didn't have that little voice in there telling me not to hit someone, and it really, truly, seemed like a good idea that i wouldn't have been surprised to see myself follow through. Upon entering the mall and thinking more about that reaction, i was truly shocked at what the "holiday season" had done to me.
My other huge frustration is gift buying. See, i'm not a super thoughtful person, i admit this. I don't know my friends birthdays, i barely know my family's birthdays, and although i'm a creative person and could definitely come up with great gifts every year, i rarely put enough time or effort into it, or start early enough to pull off the "creative, thoughtful, sometimes home-made but really enjoyable gift" thing. So i end up at the mall, 3 days before x-mas with some great ideas but no way to pull them off, and instead i wander around finding gifts that are expensive and yet just good enough for the people i'm buying them for. They're not the perfect gift, but hey, they might like it right? So i find myself in Roxy or Pacific Sunwear or Steve Madden or Best Buy or Nordstrom's or LaCoste buying overpriced things and trying to place a dollar value on my relationship with the person i'm buying for. I found a really nice sweater that i though my sister would love, but i felt myself trying to accessorize it or find something else that would put me closer to the dollar limit i felt my sister was worth. And i pretty much wanted to throw up over that feeling. I also found out that my cousins were buying me gifts personally (traditionally in my family the parents get all the nieces and nephews gifts and the cousins let that suffice, instead of buying an individual gift for all 8 cousins in the family), so immediately i felt obligated to buy them something and broke into a cold sweat over which cousins would be buying me thing personally this year and if i needed to get something for them too.
Last year during x-mas, i was a salaried employee and although i wasn't making a ton, i knew i could spend almost freely on x-mas and be alright. Well this year i'm starting my own business and waiting tables which puts me in a little different tax bracket than i was in last year. So i went into it with a little different frame of mind than usual.
But the whole thing just really turned me off this year. I hated the music, i hated the crowds, i hated that feeling of obligation to buy everyone something, and to decide which friends were "worth it." So in my mind, Christmas was cancelled. I wanted nothing to do with it. And i got that feeling from a lot of my friends and my family too. It was just getting to a point that the tens of thousands of dollars we all cumulatively spent could have been put to better use. I think next year, we'll really cancel Christmas and go on a vacation or spend the money on food and wine so we all sit around a big table and enjoy it.
And it turns out that my christmas didn't end up being so bad, but the events that made it for me weren't the presents at all, but it was x-mas eve when my family came over and drank too much together and laughed and told stories and ate a delicious meal. And it was on x-mas morning when i woke up at 10 and realized that my family had grown old enough that we didn't wake up at 6 and race to the tree anymore. We all wandered into the kitchen where we sat at the table, ate ibuprofen, drank a lot of water (and maybe a bloody mary) and put the delicious casserole that my grandma had given us for x-mas in the oven and didn't start giving each other gifts until almost noon. It was that emphasis on something else, on being friends, on being family that made it for me. It had nothing to do with my gifts or the gifts i gave.
And i propose that everyone who reads this post and realizes that they felt even the slightest bit of agreement with it, that they take a new idea to their families for next year. Let's take the power out of the marketers hands, lets take the the consumerism out of it, lets let Black Friday be Completely Fucking Dead Friday, lets stop shopping, stop being frustrated, stop throwing our hard earned money away on things that people don't need, let's stop trying to place a dollar sign on our friends and family's worth. Let's do something different next year. My family has already thrown the idea out there of taking a trip somewhere together or going skydiving together, just to name a few.
I call it x-mas because it's easier to write. Some people say i'm taking the Christ out of Christmas, and i really could care less because i don't think Christmas has been about Christ in this country for a long time. So take him out, put him back in, whatever, i could care less. But what i do think we absolutely should do is take the capitalism and consumerism out of christmas for good.
Thanks for reading. See you in 2007.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
I Don't Know If This Is A Sign Of The Apocalypse or a WTF? Award.
Probably both. Our fearless leader goes to bed before Saddam is executed. Obviously it meant a lot to him.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
The WTF? Awards
Since there's a lot of crazy things going on in the world that may not be a sign of the impending apocalypse, i've started the WTF? Awards. Whenever i find something that makes me say, "WTF?" it'll be here. And every few weeks we'll recap and award the best one a winner.
So, without any further adieu, is this what consists of surgery in China? Let's just be glad the dolphins didn't need their colons checked.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The Worst Thing I've Ever Posted
Disclaimer: I've had some drinks, but that's no excuse. The best writers in the world write when inspiration hits, and this is the inspiration i had tonight. So don't consider this an apology, it's just a disclaimer. Take this for what you will. Burn me at the stake in the comments.
Discovering a Garage Sale
It’s a typical night, although not one I had high hopes for. It’s Wednesday and that’s not a popular day for garage sales. Still, I need to support my family and this is how I’ve made my living for the last 6 months. It definitely wasn’t what I had anticipated doing when I crept under that border fence. My wife and child were already here. I got her across when she was 8 months pregnant and I actually thought she would burst right there, right in the back on the truck. She had my son in a nice clean hospital, just like I said she would and now he’s a U.S. citizen, just like I knew he’d be.
So here I am, sitting in the cab of a pickup that by day carries 7 guys and a lot of palm fronds. By night, it carries me and two others and we do a kind of yardwork that is different from the one the fucking gringos pay us so cheaply for. This one is work, and takes patience, but it pays and is just un poquito more exciting.
We’ve been driving for about 2 hours tonight. Since about 11. That’s the cost of doing business. This 1997 white chevy pickup doesn’t get the gas mileage it used to. Still, it has the quietest idle of anything we own and that makes all the difference. We’ve found a few morsels that will tide us over and make good Christmas gifts for the ninos but we haven’t found “cuenta grande” just yet.
There’s a few neighborhoods we prefer. We mow and rake and weed-eat there in the daylight and we learn schedules and we learn habits. Just because we work blue-collar jobs, doesn’t mean we have blue-collar minds.
After scouting a few new places we cruise through familiar territory. Condos with closed garages. Nice places give nice people false security. White people associate ghettos and barrios with crime because of the dingy appearance, but they’re some of the safest neighborhoods in town. We bring the barrios to them.
“There it is,” I say to the driver without the slightest hint of exhilaration. The sight of the open door has become pretty routine. At this hour, there’s always one.
We can mow a half-acre lawn in 20 minutes, we can trim 25 trees, remove all the branches and rake up the shrapnel in an hour, we can clean out a garage in 12 minutes. We know where the good stuff is and we know our demographic. In Scottsdale, golf bags full of clubs fetch a nice price with half-way wealthy white people, work-out equipment, not so much. This place has a snowboard, boots and a roof rack. This town’s average temperature is 78 degrees. We’ll leave those. But we’ll take these power tools and this blowtorch and this bucket full of various nuts, bolts, washers and screws. There’s a day-laborer pick up site at 44th street that will love these. We’ll leave the couches and furniture, they might get money at a sale but they might draw attention moving at 2 a.m.
I don’t like to say Christmas at these jobs. Christmas involves Christ and I don’t think his father would be too proud of me now. But his son would. He was all about helping the poor and needy. Since he hasn’t come back yet, we’re going to help ourselves. I’m sure he’ll understand when he gets here.
Now, usually an open garage means a car is here. But evidence is not something we’re interested in leaving. We’ll leave it alone, unless…yeah, this idiot left the car unlocked. There’s change in the center console, identifying information and titles in the glove box. (Some time’s there are even keys. We’re not in this for grand theft auto, but we know people who are.) And just in case the pinche rich gringo is oblivious to the fortunes he has, we’ll arrange everything nicer than we found it. This car is nice and there’s a key here. We’re not in this for grand theft auto, but we know people who are and this will do nicely. You’d think with skateboards, an iPod, power tools and golf clubs that I wouldn’t be interested in the change in the center console. But that’s where you’d be wrong amigo. 100 pennies make a dollar makes 7000 pesos. That’s worth every penny to me. They say the only reason we’re in America is because we’ll do the work that nobody else will…if that means counting the pennies that nobody else will, then you’ve got me pegged.
In the back seat, there’s an apron. Maybe this person isn’t making that much money after all. Ah fuck him, the servers always make more than me when I bussed tables. With this much stuff, he does fine. There’s a wine key in his apron. Obviously he works at one of those nicer places. We’ll take this too, just to stick the corkscrew into the man’s ribs a bit.
He’ll wake up tomorrow and call the policia. They’ll ask some questions, mainly for insurance purposes and they’ll leave, never to talk again. Even if they find a fingerprint, they’ll never find us. They call it undocumented for a reason.
And we’re off. We’ve taken anything of value to us, but not everything of value to him. He has one of those fancy laser things that keeps the door from closing on cars and kids. If the door is closed in the morning and everything is clean and tidy, nobody will be the wiser for quite a while. This will lead to confusion for the boss, but not for the new owner.
This stuff, along with what we have found the last few nights will make a nice garage sale. And nothing will look better than I can afford. I’m selling their hides back to them and none of them will be any the wiser.
The hours are hard, but it’s worth it. My family is better off, and I’d do anything for my family.
Adam Wright is a frustrated writer and frustrated human who has been shunned and pushed aside by the writing community and then had his car and his garage robbed. He has given up on writing as a profession and embraced writing as a simple hobby, much like knitting or painting. He has no proof or basis of assumption about the perpetrator of his crime, just an idea in his head. And if that makes him a bad person, then that shoe fits.
Discovering a Garage Sale
It’s a typical night, although not one I had high hopes for. It’s Wednesday and that’s not a popular day for garage sales. Still, I need to support my family and this is how I’ve made my living for the last 6 months. It definitely wasn’t what I had anticipated doing when I crept under that border fence. My wife and child were already here. I got her across when she was 8 months pregnant and I actually thought she would burst right there, right in the back on the truck. She had my son in a nice clean hospital, just like I said she would and now he’s a U.S. citizen, just like I knew he’d be.
So here I am, sitting in the cab of a pickup that by day carries 7 guys and a lot of palm fronds. By night, it carries me and two others and we do a kind of yardwork that is different from the one the fucking gringos pay us so cheaply for. This one is work, and takes patience, but it pays and is just un poquito more exciting.
We’ve been driving for about 2 hours tonight. Since about 11. That’s the cost of doing business. This 1997 white chevy pickup doesn’t get the gas mileage it used to. Still, it has the quietest idle of anything we own and that makes all the difference. We’ve found a few morsels that will tide us over and make good Christmas gifts for the ninos but we haven’t found “cuenta grande” just yet.
There’s a few neighborhoods we prefer. We mow and rake and weed-eat there in the daylight and we learn schedules and we learn habits. Just because we work blue-collar jobs, doesn’t mean we have blue-collar minds.
After scouting a few new places we cruise through familiar territory. Condos with closed garages. Nice places give nice people false security. White people associate ghettos and barrios with crime because of the dingy appearance, but they’re some of the safest neighborhoods in town. We bring the barrios to them.
“There it is,” I say to the driver without the slightest hint of exhilaration. The sight of the open door has become pretty routine. At this hour, there’s always one.
We can mow a half-acre lawn in 20 minutes, we can trim 25 trees, remove all the branches and rake up the shrapnel in an hour, we can clean out a garage in 12 minutes. We know where the good stuff is and we know our demographic. In Scottsdale, golf bags full of clubs fetch a nice price with half-way wealthy white people, work-out equipment, not so much. This place has a snowboard, boots and a roof rack. This town’s average temperature is 78 degrees. We’ll leave those. But we’ll take these power tools and this blowtorch and this bucket full of various nuts, bolts, washers and screws. There’s a day-laborer pick up site at 44th street that will love these. We’ll leave the couches and furniture, they might get money at a sale but they might draw attention moving at 2 a.m.
I don’t like to say Christmas at these jobs. Christmas involves Christ and I don’t think his father would be too proud of me now. But his son would. He was all about helping the poor and needy. Since he hasn’t come back yet, we’re going to help ourselves. I’m sure he’ll understand when he gets here.
Now, usually an open garage means a car is here. But evidence is not something we’re interested in leaving. We’ll leave it alone, unless…yeah, this idiot left the car unlocked. There’s change in the center console, identifying information and titles in the glove box. (Some time’s there are even keys. We’re not in this for grand theft auto, but we know people who are.) And just in case the pinche rich gringo is oblivious to the fortunes he has, we’ll arrange everything nicer than we found it. This car is nice and there’s a key here. We’re not in this for grand theft auto, but we know people who are and this will do nicely. You’d think with skateboards, an iPod, power tools and golf clubs that I wouldn’t be interested in the change in the center console. But that’s where you’d be wrong amigo. 100 pennies make a dollar makes 7000 pesos. That’s worth every penny to me. They say the only reason we’re in America is because we’ll do the work that nobody else will…if that means counting the pennies that nobody else will, then you’ve got me pegged.
In the back seat, there’s an apron. Maybe this person isn’t making that much money after all. Ah fuck him, the servers always make more than me when I bussed tables. With this much stuff, he does fine. There’s a wine key in his apron. Obviously he works at one of those nicer places. We’ll take this too, just to stick the corkscrew into the man’s ribs a bit.
He’ll wake up tomorrow and call the policia. They’ll ask some questions, mainly for insurance purposes and they’ll leave, never to talk again. Even if they find a fingerprint, they’ll never find us. They call it undocumented for a reason.
And we’re off. We’ve taken anything of value to us, but not everything of value to him. He has one of those fancy laser things that keeps the door from closing on cars and kids. If the door is closed in the morning and everything is clean and tidy, nobody will be the wiser for quite a while. This will lead to confusion for the boss, but not for the new owner.
This stuff, along with what we have found the last few nights will make a nice garage sale. And nothing will look better than I can afford. I’m selling their hides back to them and none of them will be any the wiser.
The hours are hard, but it’s worth it. My family is better off, and I’d do anything for my family.
Adam Wright is a frustrated writer and frustrated human who has been shunned and pushed aside by the writing community and then had his car and his garage robbed. He has given up on writing as a profession and embraced writing as a simple hobby, much like knitting or painting. He has no proof or basis of assumption about the perpetrator of his crime, just an idea in his head. And if that makes him a bad person, then that shoe fits.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Today's Sign That The Apocalypse is Upon Us
God help the people of North Korea, it's bad enough they live in fear of a nuclear war or barely get more than rice every day but now this?? That's just too much. I'm horrified.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
An E-mail I Recieved from My Dad (that i know he didn't write)
On 11/15/06, Craig Wright wrote:
United States of America!
Something to Think About
About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as apermanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up untilthe time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous giftsfrom the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, withthe result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscalpolicy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.""The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning ofhistory, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nationsalways progressed through the following sequence
> 1. From bondage to spiritual faith; >
> 2. From spiritual faith to great courage; >
> 3. From courage to liberty; >
> 4. From liberty to abundance; >
> 5. From abundance to complacency; >
> 6. From complacency to apathy; >
> 7. From apathy to dependence; >
> 8. From dependence back into bondage
"Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
> Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million >
> Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000 >
> States won by: Gore: 19; Bush: 29 >
> Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2; Bush 2.1.
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare . . "Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some 40percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.If the Senate grants Amnesty and citizenship to 20 million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then goodbye USA in less than 5 years. Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom. It's quite obvious to me that this may very well be happening to our great country right now. If you really look at the figures the two professors quote above, then imagine adding twenty million more voters to those already on government hand-outs of several various and sundry types, then realize that all these voters are going to do everything in their power to continue to protect"their rights," our country is bound to fall under the heavy burden of all the "feel-good" programs. It MUST stop somewhere, and the sooner the better!
MY REPLY:
Well, it says "Something to Ponder" in the subject line so you had to expect that i'd "ponder" it and then construct a rebuttal, hit "reply all" and then "send." I think this little piece makes a very nice point about the life span of a democracy. I would agree completely that abundance leads to complacency and apathy (and also corruption and world-changing arrogance). But the article completely loses me in a few places:
1. Discussing statistics from an election that occurred 6 YEARS AGO! You're kidding right? There have been 3 full elections since then, or did nobody realize that?Of course people on welfare and in the need of the most government assistance voted democrat, they voted for their wallets and their livelihoods. Which is the exact same thing the Republicans voted for: voting for Bush kept the most money in your wallets! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Let's not have a double standard here, one standard will do just fine.
2. How poor Professor Olson got mixed up in this, not even he knows. Read this: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp and find out how many of the statistics and facts in this e-mail are flat out wrong and falsely attributed to Olson.
Even if completely false, taken on its face, what a negligent statement to say that the people who voted for Bush pay taxes, while the people who voted for Gore don't. That's a pretty vague, biased, generalistic and obviously untrue statement, don't you think? I think if you were to add up the amount of money the Gore voters who didn't pay their taxes owed, and compare that with the amount of non-competition bids, tax-protections, kickbacks, reliefs and wind-falls that the friendly Bush corporations got, well, never mind, it's too obvious.
3. Who are the complacent and apathetic people in this country? Is it the illegal immigrants who are washing your Hummer H2, mowing your lawn, raking your gravel, preparing your food, cleaning your house, ironing your suits, working in the factories that keep the costs of the goods you buy down? Is it the people who risk their lives again and again to come to the land of opportunity and do the jobs us snobby Americans refuse to do in order to get their own children and families out of poverty? Or is it the American citizens who after years of good fortune and "I'm king of the world" status have become the most obese and wasteful country in the world, more than half of whom refuse to vote on their own election days, who allow great injustices to happen in the world, who let their constitution and bill of rights be desecrated by a corrupt administration while they yawn, scratch their full stomachs and turn the channel to Dancing with the Stars? Who are the complacent and apathetic ones hurrying this country towards it's downfall? Really take a moment to think about that one.
One of the major symptoms of a failing empire is when the land-owning, gentrified aristocracy start blaming the peasant workers for their problems. (see: Rome, Greece, Ottoman Empire, Hitler blaming Jews for Germany's problems, etc.)
4. And finally, i know it's an e-mail that someone on unemployment probably wrote while sitting in his pajamas at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday, but come on. "Goodbye USA in less than 5 years"? Are you high? If there had been e-mail in the 20s and 60s, then I'm sure the same ignorant thing would have been said when we, as a country, decided that it was OK for women and blacks to vote. That didn't kill this country and neither will illegal immigration. Apathy and complacency will kill this country and if you're looking to the border for that, you won't find it. The only place you need to look to find apathy and complacency is squarely into the mirror.
Hope everyone has a great day!
United States of America!
Something to Think About
About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as apermanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up untilthe time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous giftsfrom the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, withthe result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscalpolicy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.""The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning ofhistory, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nationsalways progressed through the following sequence
> 1. From bondage to spiritual faith; >
> 2. From spiritual faith to great courage; >
> 3. From courage to liberty; >
> 4. From liberty to abundance; >
> 5. From abundance to complacency; >
> 6. From complacency to apathy; >
> 7. From apathy to dependence; >
> 8. From dependence back into bondage
"Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
> Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million >
> Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000 >
> States won by: Gore: 19; Bush: 29 >
> Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2; Bush 2.1.
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare . . "Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some 40percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.If the Senate grants Amnesty and citizenship to 20 million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then goodbye USA in less than 5 years. Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom. It's quite obvious to me that this may very well be happening to our great country right now. If you really look at the figures the two professors quote above, then imagine adding twenty million more voters to those already on government hand-outs of several various and sundry types, then realize that all these voters are going to do everything in their power to continue to protect"their rights," our country is bound to fall under the heavy burden of all the "feel-good" programs. It MUST stop somewhere, and the sooner the better!
MY REPLY:
Well, it says "Something to Ponder" in the subject line so you had to expect that i'd "ponder" it and then construct a rebuttal, hit "reply all" and then "send." I think this little piece makes a very nice point about the life span of a democracy. I would agree completely that abundance leads to complacency and apathy (and also corruption and world-changing arrogance). But the article completely loses me in a few places:
1. Discussing statistics from an election that occurred 6 YEARS AGO! You're kidding right? There have been 3 full elections since then, or did nobody realize that?Of course people on welfare and in the need of the most government assistance voted democrat, they voted for their wallets and their livelihoods. Which is the exact same thing the Republicans voted for: voting for Bush kept the most money in your wallets! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Let's not have a double standard here, one standard will do just fine.
2. How poor Professor Olson got mixed up in this, not even he knows. Read this: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp and find out how many of the statistics and facts in this e-mail are flat out wrong and falsely attributed to Olson.
Even if completely false, taken on its face, what a negligent statement to say that the people who voted for Bush pay taxes, while the people who voted for Gore don't. That's a pretty vague, biased, generalistic and obviously untrue statement, don't you think? I think if you were to add up the amount of money the Gore voters who didn't pay their taxes owed, and compare that with the amount of non-competition bids, tax-protections, kickbacks, reliefs and wind-falls that the friendly Bush corporations got, well, never mind, it's too obvious.
3. Who are the complacent and apathetic people in this country? Is it the illegal immigrants who are washing your Hummer H2, mowing your lawn, raking your gravel, preparing your food, cleaning your house, ironing your suits, working in the factories that keep the costs of the goods you buy down? Is it the people who risk their lives again and again to come to the land of opportunity and do the jobs us snobby Americans refuse to do in order to get their own children and families out of poverty? Or is it the American citizens who after years of good fortune and "I'm king of the world" status have become the most obese and wasteful country in the world, more than half of whom refuse to vote on their own election days, who allow great injustices to happen in the world, who let their constitution and bill of rights be desecrated by a corrupt administration while they yawn, scratch their full stomachs and turn the channel to Dancing with the Stars? Who are the complacent and apathetic ones hurrying this country towards it's downfall? Really take a moment to think about that one.
One of the major symptoms of a failing empire is when the land-owning, gentrified aristocracy start blaming the peasant workers for their problems. (see: Rome, Greece, Ottoman Empire, Hitler blaming Jews for Germany's problems, etc.)
4. And finally, i know it's an e-mail that someone on unemployment probably wrote while sitting in his pajamas at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday, but come on. "Goodbye USA in less than 5 years"? Are you high? If there had been e-mail in the 20s and 60s, then I'm sure the same ignorant thing would have been said when we, as a country, decided that it was OK for women and blacks to vote. That didn't kill this country and neither will illegal immigration. Apathy and complacency will kill this country and if you're looking to the border for that, you won't find it. The only place you need to look to find apathy and complacency is squarely into the mirror.
Hope everyone has a great day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)