BUMS REALLY MAKE ME UNCOMFORTABLE...AND SULLY CAN READ MY MIND

And I'm not sure why. I get accosted at least twice a day at convienence stores by bums looking for that 75 cents to make bus fare ( which is bum code for "I'm 75 cents short of another pint of wild irish rose" ). There's this deaf black woman crack head that carries around a tablet with various messages written on it that range from "Hi...I am deaf, can you spare a dollar?" to" I will blow you for two dollars...and I swallow". If you refuse her money, she wigs out and gesticulates her anger at you for not paying for her rock cocaine addiction by making disgusting faces and pointing at her crotch and flipping you off. She really pisses me off. My question is...why should I be subjected to this kind of shit when I go to the store on my break from my job that BARELY makes ends meet?
They are frequently intimidating in thier demands, like it's my fault they are a fucking loser. I hate that the most. Usually I just shine them on, sometimes I'll toss out the change if the vibe is right.
Sometimes it is. But mostly it's just a sorry motherfucker trying to leech a drunk off me.
So...last night I go to the store and, what do you know, I get accosted by a bum. I've got Sully with me...he's in the front seat checking this bum out. He's asking me for that 75 cents and coming closer to me...violating my space. I say " You better watch out, that dog will fuck you up". The bum says " yeah I noticed your dog...I bet he could fuck me up". He took another step toward me and the car and Sully fucking WENT OFF. The bum backed off...and I gave him 75 cents. WHY???????
All I had to do was open the car door...end of problem.
But I'm a paycheck or two away from this guy...like I said...

WE HAVE ALL BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD BEFORE...AT LEAST I THINK WE HAVE...BUT THAT ROAD HAS MANY EXITS

Previous posts by me referring to AA meetings should at least be partially disregarded. I was not arrested, my friend was. I went to the meetings to support him. His arrest and the nature of our friendship caused me to look at my personal behavior. That coupled with the AA experience resulted in what I like to call " peripheral epiphany". Those 12 steppers can really suck you in with the "my life is so much better now" testimonials in regard to thier sobriety.
People re- evaluate thier lives, and I think that's a good thing...especially when it relates to substance use or abuse. I don't use drugs anymore...sure the sometimes rare appearance of hash is impossible to resist, but that's once in a great while and the only vice of that category I allow myself, paycheck permitting. Speed? 20 years gone. Coke? 20 years gone. Pills? Not since high school. Alchohol? Oh yeah...Vodka, I love my fucking vodka. I rarely drink beer anymore, no Jager, and an RNS every once in a great while.
So...what does that make me? For starters, it makes me painfully aware of my friends predicament and what he stands to lose. That and the fact that I don't EVER want to be in his boat. Secondarily, it makes me acutely aware of my past, present and future in regard to substance abuse and has given me cause to think harder about the choices I make, specifically about my future. Whatever future may be left for me, I would like for it to be as bright as possible.
His condition makes me think about what I've got and what I've got to lose, and how easily it could be lost. Or how much it could cost to not...and I can't afford that shit.
It's like that Cure song where he say's "and just let go my party piece"...it's an individual thing, but I'm thinking I'm close...letting go. But what do you replace it with?
Good question.

Coming up for a brief gasp of air
Well folks, all I've been doing for the last two months is work very long hours, although I have thrown in a bit of Eve Online gaming here and there for a some mental relief. I probably could have found some time to blog, but I haven't been able to filter out the work stuff well enough to have anything left to post. I suspect at some point this will resolve because I'll either get the hang of this job well enough to start working a saner amount of hours or I'll fail miserably and get fired. Heh.

SULLIVAN WRITES A BLOG POST ( TRANSLATED BY BABELFISH )

My dad took me for a fucking MEGA ride tonight! First, we went to the grocery, and while dad was inside buying me treats and mom feminine hygiene products, I was able to scare the shit out of the people who were parked on either side of our car with my ferocious and entirely convincing barking and growling and lunging at the window. People are such suckers! It was awesome. Then, we went to Dukes store for cigs and lotto, and I got to scare the shit out of some more people with my entirely convincing barking and growling and lunging at the windows routine. Dukes is really my favorite spot to do this, because there's this apartment complex across the street that's rent controlled and full of brown and black humans...they freak out more than the people at the grocery...plus, since my vision is different from humans, the darker you are, the weirder you look to me, so I really pour on the aggression...it rocks! The only thing that fires me up more than that are people in uniform...cops especially...I really twist off on them, plus those guys that work for UPS. No cops or UPS tonight, but I scared the shit out of some fucking humans tonight...man...it rocked.
I figured we were headed home after Dukes, but we stopped at the liquor store, and I started my riff on these dudes that pulled up beside us, and they just laughed at me! When dad came out the dude on the passenger side said (and I quote ) : "She was really defending your car when we pulled up, all barking and growling and lunging at the window, that's some funny shit dude".
She??? SHE??? C'mon dad, back me up here...and he did.
Dad said: "You mean "he"?...yeah, he's good at that...I don't have to lock my car when he's with me."
When my dad got in the car he told me they were just some guys here for SXSW and good on me for lighting them up...and then he said "posers" and we went home and I got a treat.
Cool...I'm not sure what posers are, but you can be sure I'll be barking at them....every chance I get.
Dad also bought sullivan food at the grocery, and I hear the bag ripping open...gotta go!
WOOF!

AND HOW WAS YOUR SOPRANOS PREMEIRE EXPERIENCE?

The cable connection in the bedroom is much better, so I was reclined on the bed with Irene and Theo...My head propped up on my hand over Theo's head, spooning with him ( this might sound weird, but he's done this since he was a puppy AND I was fully clothed) . Irene was curled up behind my knees. It was canine/human bliss as far as that goes...snuggling on the bed watching TV.
Ann was in her office playing EVE, she's not a Sopranos fan. Fifteen or so minutes into it, a small moth fluttered down from the light into Theo's range and he went for it, sending the top of his hard ass skull into my waiting left eyebrow...at the speed of, well, the speed of a dog who has issues with flying insects, or roughly 5000 miles an hour.
Ann was drawn to the bedroom by my screams of agony...she came bursting in asking what was wrong and I could only answer with a repeat of the squall that drew her out to begin with...something along the lines of OWWWWWOWWWWWOWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOWWWWWWOWWWWWWW!!!! I removed my hand from my eyebrow and saw that it was covered in blood, I felt the blood dripping down my face.
"Theo fucking head butted me!!!" I was finally able to cry..."Bug...light...owwwwww...bloodied me"!!!
Of course, Theo had no clue what he'd done and it wasn't intentional, so I iced it down and sucked it up and only missed about 10 minutes of the show.
So, I'm walking around work today with this cut/knot on my left eye. Nobody's gonna buy this explaination I say to myself, I should make up some story about a fight in the parking lot of the sunrise mini mart, but I go with the truth and everyone gets a good laugh, except Rob from the central store, who after hearing my story say's " Ok man, now that you got the bullshit story out of the way...tell the truth, you got uppity and your old lady knocked the shit out of you"...thanks Rob.That kind of shit might happen in your house...not in mine, I get a head butt from mans best friend over a fucking moth. Ouch.
Another scar to add to the collection I guess.

BALLAD OF A HARD MAN

I've been mixed up, cut up so sit down and shut up
'Cause I'm a hard man
I was hung up, strung out but I can't take no more junk
Even if you can

It will beat ya cheat ya
Deceit ya, defeat ya

No rocker, bopper, show stealin' teeny bopper
Gonna get a thing from me
No fat, black, back scratchin' pussy cat
Gonna get her claws on me

Well they got a scheme to sell you kids
The silver screens and glossy magazines

Better hold back, good times, strung out, hung up
Strung out, picked on, ripped off, kicked out
Spit on, set up, ripped off, locked up, sent down
Maybe you're as hard as I am

Just blow me away

Gotta love Thin Lizzy...they tell a part of my story better than I can.

NO MEETING TODAY

Today was my friends 35th birthday...so instead of a noon meeting, we had a picnic lunch of fried chicken in a small park in east austin compliments of his wife. Fried chicken and east austin and us being some white motherfuckers is hilarious, if you understand the east austin thing. Beyond the irony of it all, it was nice. After our picnic, we went to the yellow store and bought some scratch tickets (crack for white people) and my friend won on a scratch with 3 watermelons in a row! Icing on the cake if you ask me. Humorous racist stereotypes aside, lets get back to the lack of the meeting. These guys meet (no women) on tuesday, thursday and saturday at noon at the location near our work and monday,wednesday and friday at a rib house near my house, also at noon. I think we'll try to hit the nooner at the rib house tomorrow. So here I am setting my friends meeting agenda. How about that? He's got to go or go to jail, and I want to reconnect with these guys so, I'm planning ahead. Can't make the saturday meeting cause I'm helping out on replacing some septic system pipe, so let's hit the friday south meeting, eh? I may even have more to say at this one than the last one's. Who knows...maybe I'll choke.

THANK "GOD" FOR THAT MOMENT OF CLARITY

One of the things that I like about AA is it's professed understanding of god...god being whatever you understand him as. He can be a rock or a shiney silver thing that the crows like, whatever. What bothers me is most of the meetings I've gone to close with the lord's prayer. This is clearly a contradiction, or at the very least, individual AA groups that have settled on the traditional understanding of god in a most conventional christian sense. Organized religion. You know, those hypocrites of christ that like a little oral or anal with the faithful. I am no friend of organized religion...In fact there were some disturbing numbers out of Ireland today about how many of the clergy there were fucking the flock. It's obscene.
If my god manifests himself in the form of a field of Indian paintbrushes, why should I feel compelled to hold hands with you and recite "our father, who art in heaven..." and all that shit?
No sir, I don't like it.
As far as I'm concerned, god can keep his god shit to himself. I'm looking for answers, and in 46 years of living he never helped me, so piss off organized religion.
I have my own understanding of god, the one that accepted him before humanity signed him to a contract and proceeded to market him into the walmart of salvation that he is to the world at large. Not for me.
And then there's the AA book...the "big book". The one with the 12 steps and the 12 traditions, the bible of 12 stepping drunks everywhere. I'm not into that kind of rigid structure . It takes more than 12 steps to get to the place I'm in, and I'm not going to make amends ( #9) with people who have done shitty things to me in such a structured way. I can let things go, but I'm not gonna put a ribbon on it and guilt trip you at the same time.
Part of my problem is that I have been on the inside of this shit by virtue of my time in the psych field. I have sat in groups and praised the virtues of sobriety over and over again, then headed out to the bar or the party after my shift, feeling sure that they were the weak ones and my life was under control.
Sure...hypocrite you say? maybe. Realist? More likely than not.
The last meeting I went to was pretty god free, and the god references were geared toward problems with the god thing. The meeting ended with the serenity prayer:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

I can deal with that...A purist would say that I'm just in denial. Fuck that, I don't want to argue about the existance of god, I just want to be sober.
Or, more to the point, less of a drunk, if I even am one.
Maybe I'm just depressed.
Now that's just "stinkin' thinkin'"...
Than you Al Franken.
:)

I LIKE A PARADE

Here awhile back, a friend of mine was arrested for DWI. Part of the bond was to go to AA meetings 4 times a week, and in a show of support I've been going to these meetings with him. Now he's court ordered to do this, I could sit in the truck for an hour if I wanted to, but he's my friend and he's apprehensive...I used to go to these meetings regularly when I was a social worker back in the day...he knows this,so I am a source of support and comfort for my friend.
The meetings have all been open discussion with a focus on the steps and traditions, so everybody shares. When it's been my turn I have been saying this: "I'm Rob and I don't know what I am. I'm here to support my friend." Then my friend talks about being court ordered to attend and thanks me for supporting him and he's just trying to get a handle on what's going on. and we move on.
He's doing it because he has to. I went with him the first time only to back him up...but then my mind started talking to me.
Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am party people...I drink a lot...sometimes a whole lot. I can't relate to the stories of chaos I hear at these meetings because I stay home and get stupid...if anything bad is going to happen, it's going to happen at home. I'm safe, right?
Well, I might be safe from the long arm of the law, but I'm not safe from the long arm of addiction.
I know I'm unhappy with my life, I know I've been drinking too much for years. I know that the voices I've been hearing at these meetings speak to me on some level that I never experienced the whole time I was in the biz.
I'm not ready to admit it, but I'm looking forward to that noon meeting on thursday.
These guys stories can curl your hair...mine will burn it right off your fucking head.
I fell into this. Maybe for a reason.

WOLVE'S@TH'DOOR CONCERT RIDER

The smoking gun site runs concert riders for bands and singers that are amusing and sometimes outrageous. The latest is for Mary J Blige. Check it out if you wanna.
But it got me to thinking about our band, and what kind of rider we would have if we had not been overlooked we had achieved the fame and fortune of these spoiled motherfuckers. Would our rider be on a par with these stars? Oh yes...hell yeah. There's nothing like success to swell your head beyond safe limits. So I made up a rider for our band. Enjoy.

WOLVE'S@TH'DOOR / PACK MENTALITY LLC INC. CONCERT RIDER

1. TRANSPORTATION
Wolve's@th'door (WATD) travel together, on the same airline, IN FIRST CLASS. They will have seats together in a row, with the rows in front and behind left unbooked and empty.
Flight attendants will be 50/50 in regard to gender. They will be tattooed and pierced and dressed in the finest goth clothing available (NO EXCEPTIONS). The in flight meal wiil be chopped beef BBQ sandwiches, pickles,potato salad and ranch style beans and sliced onion from that old black guys BBQ trailer in Manor Tx. Beverages will include :
4 cases (96 bottles) of Shiner Bock beer.(Purchased from the brewery in Shiner Tx. as it comes off the belt.)
2 liters of monopolowa vodka.
3 quarts of HEB brand orange juice (NO exceptions...must be from the HEB at Congress and Oltorf in Austin Tx.)
1/2 Gallon of Jager...ICE cold. With shot glasses that have skulls on them...demon skulls.
The in flight movies will be The Devils Rejects and The Sound of Music.
***At some point during the flight, any member of WATD will be allowed to fly the plane.***
Roadies and techs will have identical accomodations, only in coach. They will not be allowed to fly the plane.

1a. GROUND TRANSPORTATION
The band and crew will be met at the airport by a fleet of tricked out vintage automobiles (1957 Chevy Bel Aires and 1956 Chrysler 300 with the A/C that blows your hair forward for ANN)
Each vehicle will be equipped with a period Craig 8 track player, a roadstar power amp (50 watts minimum) , and FOUR speakers.
Further, each vehicle will have the pink colored issue of Black Sabbath's "Masters of Reality" and the lime green issue of Jethro Tull's "Aqualung".
The drivers will be cholo homeboys with burr haircuts and gang tattoos ( gang membership is optional). They should also be sporting "grills like a mirror ball" (upper or lower, but ideally both.)
Each vehicle will be equipped with a sawed off 12 gauge shotgun, loaded with blanks, in case any memer of the group wants to "have some fun".

2. HOTEL ACCOMODATIONS
The top three floors of the most expensive hotel in town. Open bar, open 24 hour room service. And high dollar whores available 24 hours for our single members. The lower of the three floors will be reserved for groupies ( name list provided by our manager ahead of time ). Law enforcement not allowed to come any closer than a mile from the hotel, no matter what. NO EXCEPTIONS
*Televisions will be unbolted from the tables to ensure ease of throwing them out the windows if so desired by any member of the group.
1 microwave oven in every room (Magic chef brand, black and stainless, NO EXCEPTIONS)
2 -12 package Popcorn ( Orville Redenbacher's kettle brand) in every room.
2- 12 count county fair corndogs (HONEY battered, NO EXCEPTIONS)
1- 16 oz. mustard (MUST be YELLOW and made by FRENCHES...NO EXCEPTIONS)
1-16 oz HUNTS catsup. ( MUST be spelt with a "C" and not a "K"...NO EXCEPTIONS)
High speed internet in every room with no blocks.
1- 50 count pack of Club no gum rolling papers.
1- Smooth plastic waitress tray*
* Or a gatefold album cover...Grand Funk or Deep Purple ( NO SUBSTITUTIONS, DEFINITLEY NO KISS ALIVE II )
500 Reeses cups (ORIGINAL STYLE)
10 lbs. of Bakenettes pork rinds
1 pint of Louisiana hot sauce.
200 cheap paper plates...the cheaper the better.
Lots and lots of napkins
1 gross of peppermint rolaids...(NO TUMS! ROLAIDS BITCH!)
1 gross pipe cleaners...any brand, providing they are wire infused.

3. SOUND CHECK
What's that? Fuck sound check. When we play, we play. Techs and roadies will just hang out and party after they set up our shit.The arena will provide all beverages...mostly Guiness and Jager.
4. OUR SHIT
WATD will use the sound system The Dead used at their 1974 show at the horse racing track in Manor Tx. NO EXCEPTIONS. All on stage amps will be Sovtek (rob), Mesa Boogie (LT) and Peavey
(Ann) . Bill will play his vintage Ludwigs (Hand polished by stadium personnel) mic'ed with shure and altec mics. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Now THAT'S ROCK AND ROLL.

NO MORE SPEED, I'M ALMOST THERE

Ten more visits and we hit 20K!!!Woo-Hoo! Prizes? No... sadly, the only prize you get for being # 20,000 is to read this nonsense. And if you are # 20,000 for this post you are in for a treat.
Thanks, readers for helping us reach a milestone that we will screen capture, print and frame and hang in our livingroom, right next to the first dollar our band earned ( just kidding ).
On to the post...
We have sirius radio in the work truck, and the fm frequency we tune to to get it is a christian contemporay station in Round Rock ( a burb to our north populated by techies, and apparently, microcephalic baptists who run a radio station ). Sometimes the signal fades and we get to hear what's is being played at this station. It is amazing...they have christian bands that have covered popular songs ala' Wierd Al, changing the lyrics to project the christian "message".
Some examples:
(To the tune of Foreigner's "Urgent" )
"Virgin -virgin, she bore the seed"
(To the tune of Zep's "Stairway to Heaven")
" And he's showing a narrow way to heaven" It's apparently copped from the live version, because at one point in the song the "singer" yells " Does anybody remember JESUS ?".
(To the tune of The Who's "My Generation")
" Talkin' 'bout regeneration...got to stop artificial resucitation".(???)
You can also hear songs by The Beach Boys (Fun fun fun as "john 1:1"), The Monkees ( I'm a Believer as "I'm a Redeemer") , Billy Cyrus ( achy - breaky heart as "Don't tear the book apart" ).
It's frightening, but yet at the same time, HIGH-larious.
And you can listen to this shit live by going to KNLE-FM.*
Virgin-Virgin-She bore the seed...Priceless!
*Generally between 11a and 3p CST.

One month down....
I've survived my first month as a manager. I'm not very efficient at these new duties and much of it is still learn as I go so 12 to 15 hour days have been the norm with plenty of weekend work. There's no pressure from my employer to put in those kinds of hours; it's all my own doing because I'd rather put in the hours now and keep from getting too far behind than spend six months playing catch up. I don't expect next month to be much different except that I now have those first basic mistakes out of the way and I can breathe a little easier. There's plenty more mistakes to go, but those first ones are always the hardest.

DROWNING IN CONVOLUTION, DISGUSTED AND TREADING WATER

Main Entry: con vo lu tion
Pronunciation: "kän-v&-'lü-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : a form or shape that is folded in curved or tortuous windings

That's how M-W dot com defines convolutions. I've tried really hard to keep the issues seperated and keep the focus on what really matters, but today it got all fucked up in my head and came out something like gay and lesbian arabs react to denial of adoption rights, blow up mosque and riot at Afghani prison while passing anti abortion legislation in faraway So. Dakota. Plus there was the headline: National Guard reveals serious concerns about port security deal, but after lunch reverses themselves and says the comments were taken out of context. Taken out of what context and by who? They don't tell you that.
Plus, Don Knotts, Darren McGavin, and Dennis Weaver all died. If that's not a sign to back off the Bush administration I don't know what is. With the exception being that Elizabeth Taylor still lives and had a birthday. Let me break this down...Don Knotts = John Kerry, Darren McGavin = John McCain, Dennis Weaver= Howard Dean...See what they've done to my mind??? And of course Liz represents the grinding republican machine, or Micheal Jackson (who now lives in Bahrain...the UAE) Coincidence? I don't think so. 74 year old fat washed out actress who supports skinny washed out pedophile now living in the heart of terrorism...you do the math. Kids without pants, jesus juice, white diamonds, oil...you do the math.
Who the fuck knows anymore. But that Knotts / Kerry thing is intriguing...innit? Only allowed one bullet cause he shot himself in the foot once...once.
Oh god! There's a Johnny dangerously reference.
See what I mean? These republicans are evil good at the convolution.
They've been teached real good.

DISTRACTIONS

Right after this port issue came front and center, a number of things happened to distract the public. First and foremost in my opinion was the bombing of the mosque in Samara that touched off a firestorm of retaliation bombings and kidnappings and killings, which led to widespread hysteria/predictions about a civil war brewing in Iraq between shiites and sunnis. A civil war that the coalition forces would be stuck right in the middle.
Then, South Dakota put the kabosh on abortion rights for the women unfortunate enough to live there. This state legislation is an extention of a national agenda supported by the Bush administration, and is targeting the religio-nut voting bloc to come out in 2006 and vote for an abortion ban, plus a straight party ticket for the GOP. In addition to that, 16 states are pushing legislation to ban adoption rights to gays and lesbians...another ploy to bring the 40 or so percent of americans that should be summarily fed to lions out to the polls to vote for this legislation and,presumably, a straight party ticket for the GOP.
The GOP is in trouble, they break out the religio-facist-nutjob card.
Then they start the spin. I listened to this GOP asshole on one of the cable news channels (CNN I think) this morning who described the democrats raising the red flag on the ports security issue (remember that? or are you all wrapped up in this abortion/gay-lesbian adoption shit storm that just happened to come up?) as unconsionable, and described them as "falling over one another on the way to the podium to grab the latest soundbite" against the Bush administration. This asshat however, made no mention of the republicans speaking out against the port deal. Hmmmmm.
Also...Russia and Iran have reached a tentative agreement over the enrichment of uranium for Irans "energy needs". Yeah,ok...this doesn't stink of rotten fish heads. What with the current power in Iran issuing almost hourly edicts damning America and the west for anything and everything that is wrong in the world from immersion foot to the fucking clap. Plus, they are almost certainly fanning the flames of what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia has most certainly got something up it's sleeve, probably a shiv. Whose throat it's pointed at remains to be seen.
Then there's the shit in Nigeria...their little war and ensuing propaganda managed to raise oil prices 2 dollars a gallon. Thanks Nigeria.
And the cartoon thing just won't fucking go away...people are continuing to riot and kill over these drawings. Drawings...images on paper that you can line a birdcage with or wipe your ass in a pinch. Ink on paper...nothing.
Speaking of the cartoons, I read about a british conservative party that's main platform is the growing number of islamic people living in England. They plan to use the cartoon of the turban bomb wearing Mohammed in their campaign material. That's really smart innit? You fucking idiots. They say they owe it to the children of Britain to help them remember their christian roots or some such bullshit.
Which brings me to the racist part of this equation. And back to the port security deal that happened before all this other shit. Racism is a mechanism of a politically correct world, when we have the luxury to pander to apologists and pretend that we all love one another. Don't get me wrong, Bosnia is a prime example: of ethnic cleansing, and a reason to intercede. We did. But so was Rawanda (we didn't) and currently Dafur (we haven't). Which would lead one to infer that racism is a completely arbitrary phenomena. Whatever fits, I guess. Or what's at stake, and the humanity of it rarely plays a more than miniscule role. To that end, our involvement in the Bosnia thing was about a reason to intercede on humanitarian principles. That was Clinton.
Bush is clearly money and opportunity driven, to the exclusion of anything else. And his ignoring of Darfur( and other similar situations foriegn and domestic) says more about his character than anything else he has done ( or not done) since he was elected.
Distractions abound. It's hard to stay focused on what really matters. You have to choose what lame assed issue to grasp onto.
But me...I just learned the Subhumans are playing in Austin in April. I've latched onto that, and my gun cleaning kits.

THE INSANITY V.3

The administration is jumping up and down about how, even though an Arab company will be running the show the employees will be american. These americans are longshoremen. Check out this quote ( source:CNN, 2/22/06):

The International Longshoremen's Association, which represents dockworkers at the affected ports, Wednesday joined calls to hold up the deal for further review. The union's president, John Bowers, said the group views the agreement "with great concern."
"We cannot adequately urge the administration to promptly reconsider its position on this inexplicable development and, at the very least, to revisit its consideration with open discussion and debate," Bowers said in a written statement. "The implications are simply too important and far-reaching to leave to the surreptitious disposition of an unaccountable panel."

Longshoremen...who'd a thunk it? Not the cavemen that muscle shit off of ships after all it would seem. If they're worried about this deal, what does that say about the GOP and the secret "panel' that approved it?

I started this post last night way past acceptable buzz...but what I said stands. And today...today. "Jezzy pete's" as that bitch who took the 8 years of my life I'll never get back used to say (actually it's JEEzy, not Jezzy, so that would be "Jeezy pete", which is some kind of derivitive of jesus christ, or something, but it's origins are from Ohio, and everyone knows there's something in the ground water in Ohio). But enough about those 8 years...good pussy, BAD karma.
Speaking of Bush, he said today that he was cool with delaying the sale of the port deal until congress is satisfied, or something to that effect. He also said that we as americans don't need to worry about security. Here's the quote:
Hold the phone Rastus!!! It seems the sale has been delayed...here's the link:IDJITS GET THE SMARTS REAL GOOD.
Will wonders never cease?
Stay tuned....

THE INSANITY V.2

So, roughly 22 or so hours have passed and a suprisingly bipartisan voice has risen up from the ashes of our so called democracy to cry foul on this port deal. And some surprising details have emerged as well.
But first, let me clarify my stand on this issue. I am not anti arab or anti muslim. And I don't disagree with this port deal because it's an arab company, I disagree with it because even an idiot can see there is some inherent risk in this deal. This purportedly stand up company could easily be infiltrated by the crazy arabs/muslims that would like to see us dead. Drawing yet another nugget from my years working in psych hospitals, there were a number of gang members working in the dietary department of one place I worked recruiting and stirring up shit in the patient population undetected, until there was an incident. Then it was dealt with, but after the damage had been done...the street gang culture had successfully infiltrated a place where kids were supposed to be healing and working out their issues, not picking what color their bandanna would be, and more importantly, to hate the other color without question. If a bunch of drug abusing punk ass bitches can break the walls of a secure psychiatric facility, imagine what a well financed group of dedicated terrorists could pull off with this port deal. It's a potential reality you just can't deny.
On to the revelations of the day.
Consider this: (from CNN)
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, both Republicans, urged the administration to place the agreement on hold until Congress could scrutinize it.
and this:
Across the aisle, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, called for hearings and accused the administration of approving the port agreement "in secret."
Democratic Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton of New York, have introduced a bill that would block the sale of U.S. port operations to other governments.
U.S. Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, and Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, already introduced a bill to put the deal on hold.
Now, that's how the democratic process should work, republicans and democrats working together toward the common good.Regardless of the issue and not towing the "party line" as they are oft to do.
Now let's deal with this "in secret" accusation...it's true. It's called the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, and yes, they do meet in secret. Apparently so secretive that Bunnypants wasn't even aware ( sure he wasn't) of the approval until a few days ago ( this was widely reported by a diverse group of media ). My question is why are decisions about foreign investments in this country are decided by an elitist few (which includes representatives of several Cabinet agencies and the National Security Council.).and in secret?
There's something fundamentally wrong with this.We are clearly being misled and kept in the dark about decisions effecting the trajectory of the american people and it's livelyhood.
Now, I strongly believe that this administration is crooked beyond hope, but I saw this at BARTCOP.COMtonight, and even though it smacks of an almost paranoid bent, it's still worth mentioning:

This port issue is a pure political ploy.
Bush wants to take on Congress and have Congress win this by overriding his veto.
Why?

Because Bush, Rove, Cheney are deathly afraid that one House of Congress will flip to the Democrats
in the 2006 election. If that happens, hearing are going to be held on a ton of issues with the possibility
of Bush being impeached on the illegal wiretap issue. The way to stop this is to have the Republican
Congress "show" to the American people that they are independent of the White House.

Seriously -- this is a classic Republican political play. People like Rick Santorum will run ads saying:
"Santorum stood up to the President when he was wrong on the port issue. We need independent
leaders like Rick Santorum." We are in the middle of a failed Presidency. Bush has given up on the
American people and is just trying to preserve some kind of legacy that is not tainted with illegal
activities being uncovered.

I snipped the part about Jeb Bush someday becoming president, because that's just fucking crazy talk. If that EVER happened I would eat a gun.( not really, just for emphasis on what an asswipe Jeb is). Are they capable of this kind of chicanery? Hell yes!
But not likely...this whole deal probably has more to do with the money grab being perpetrated against the majority of americans by an elitist party and family (BUSH) and familiars.
It's criminal.
Tune in tomorrow and hear some more shit you thought you couldn't believe but is slapping you in the face.

THE INSANITY CONTINUES

AP New York
New York lawmakers stunned by Bush's ports veto threat



By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer

February 21, 2006, 7:14 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- President Bush stunned New York lawmakers on Tuesday with his threat to veto any legislation blocking the takeover of some U.S. port operations by a company run by the United Arab Emirates.
He said:"I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company," . "I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, `We'll treat you fairly."


Well, for starters, that great british ( does that mean the company is british and great, or is that another one of his verbal stumbles?) company didn't have a hand in taking out the world trade center and killing 1000's of innocent people in the name of the church of england. They don't wake up in the morning uluating "death to america" until they fall asleep at night.
Then there's the Bush/Saudi connection, which is well documented...Doing a google search using "bush/saudi connection" yields 1,740,000 hits...now I don't know about you, but to me that's a bunch of fucking hits.
They played an excerpt from a speech Bush gave today on the radio, it was along the lines of the above quote. But there was something in his voice...it was different from the usual bumbling chuck of a good old boy smarmy shit we usually hear. This was the voice of someone determined to pull something off. Something wrong . I was taken back to my days working in psych hospitals, dealing with the never ending conspiracies that occurred in that culture, and uncovering them. Frequently by the tone of the protestations coming from the guilty. The harder they come across, the more full of shit they are, and you can bank on it.
I read a detailed article the other day about "presidential signing statements". This basically allows the sitting president to sign a law and then side step it, by virtue of this "presidential statement".
Bush jr. has not vetoed shit, relying on the statement to sidestep or otherwise ignore laws and legislation. The anti torture bill is the most current example. The united states does not promote or condone torture, but the parameters of what constitutes torture is solely at the discretion of the president...In other words, fuck you, I do what I want.
But now, with this port operations deal, Bush is threatening a veto? What's up with that? What's so important about this port operations deal that would provoke the asshole in chief to threaten a veto of any legislation blocking it?
He's in it up to his fucking eyeballs...that's what.
And the harder he comes across the more full of shit he is...trust me, you can bank on it.

THE FOX IS GUARDING THE HEN HOUSE

If one ever needed more proof that this country is being run by a bunch of idiots, how about turning over operations of 6 major US ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates?
Remember...home to the flying Al Queda brothers? Known to support,harbor and otherwise deal with terrorists? Those guys.
I'm stunned at this latest boneheaded move, and you can be too, by clicking here:WTF?
Homeland security says they checked them out and are satisfied that they present no threat.DHS's track record speaks for itself and I'll leave it at that.

DEATH SQUADS...HE LEARNED IT FROM HIS DADDY.

We now have reports of "death squads" in Iraq...This takes me back to the good old days of when we were fucking around in central america...you know, Iran- contra times. The good old days of the corruption that chokes us nowadays.
In a chilling mirror of his fathers reign, Shi'ite death squads are carrying out killings of Sunnis in Iraq. Dressed up in the clothes of Iraqi police and military personnel they are killing the opposition.
Insurgent attacks in general have increased, with a climbing focus on Iraqi police and troops and citizens, seemingly in conjunction with the Iraquis taking more and more initiative on dealing with it than the coalition forces. Softer targets.
Insurgent attacks are up in an alarming rate, bolder, more devastating, I heard it on the radio today but ( lo and behold ) I couldn't find anything on the web to back up what my radio told me.
To my memory , insurgent attacks are up by about 49% and they are increasingly effective. meaning some people are killed as a result, and they continue to climb.
And now we have death squads running around the country killing people.
The war.
Insurgents.
Improvised explosive devices.
Death squads.
Burnt dead bodies, blood, guts and veins in my teeth.
Someone set me free....

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

On our way to a job site today, we were sitting at the intersection of Speedway and 21st street on the inner campus, which is by the bidness skool and perhaps the busiest intersection on the whole campus for foot traffic (kick the top off an ant mound and you'll begin to get an idea). You've got kids crossing everywhere on foot, on bikes, on skateboards...and since they have the right of way, our 3/4 ton truck is invisible to them. As the driver of this truck, I have to be hyper vigilant. So, I'm looking to the right and straight ahead (where most of the traffic comes from at this intersection) and all of a sudden Rusty hollers "Holy shit!!!" and I'm like whaaa? cause I don't see anything unusual, and he says "that guys having a seizure!" and points to the left. And sure enough, in a moving sea of college kids there's this guy very obviously having a gran maul seizure. Rusty gets on the phone to 911 and I jump out of the truck and head toward this guy. Meanwhile, a well meaning student is holding him down (wrong) and a crowd gathers around him (wrong) and some girl says "put a pencil in his mouth!" (very wrong) . By the time I got there cooler heads had prevailed and they had turned him on his side (right) and put something under his head (right) and let him ride it out (very right). He came out of the seizure and almost immediately went into another gran maul, poor guy. This one was much shorter and then the fire truck Rusty summoned with his call arrived.
When I worked at the state school I saw people having seizures all the time, but that was a long time ago. I was kind of freaked out by it. But I still knew what to do...but I was glad someone else with that knowledge got to him before I did.