Bitterness?

I have realized that a friend of mine has linked to my blog, giving it the name "Kevin's Barrage of Bitterness" This blog is not bitter,

http://richmond.craigslist.org/about/best/lax/134053527.html

This is bitter.

But Look at #5:

"5) DeBeers commercials. Oh DeBeers, You most bastards of the Belgium families. Congratulations on raping the people of South Africa, exporting all the wealth to Europe, and artificially inflating the price of diamonds by restricting the supply to the market. But why stop there you ask? You didn’t. You successfully launched a marketing campaign that has every women in America believing that a not so rare carbon-carbon stone is the incarnation of love itself. Thanks for securing my dates disappointment when her gifts are wilted roses, dusty chocolates, and… an overpriced dinner. Diamonds are Forever?? Fuck You is Forever too you waffle-slinging assholes!!"

Totally true. I hate the diamond industry. One of the things wrong with the world. Too bad I still have to buy one for my fiancee.

-K

Tuesday Boredom: Immigration and Change

2:00 Tuesday, nothing to do, and nowhere to go. I'm in the lame duck time period at my current job, so I have little to no responsibilities, and a lot of time to think.

I wonder where America went. When I was in elementary school I remember that America seemed like America, and that same old cliche about the dream seemed alive and well. A scant 16 years later, the entire climate has changed. Property values are sky high, above what most people can seem to afford on normal wages, gas prices are through the roof, and I'm moving to Charlottesville and hoping to God that I can buy a house in a year before it all falls apart.

Like I said in my opening post, I think that America has sort of been undone by its own popularity, by people hanging onto the system without contributing, by complacence, by a number of things. The 1950's are long gone, and I dont think they'll come back in my lifetime.

And then I think about the speech that Bush gave last night. We talked about it at work today for a little, and it was said that Bush's speech was two faced. He talked about us being a nation of immigrants and laws, he suggested that illegal immigration was a problem that didn't deserve amnesty but offered amnesty at the same time. The problem seems to be more that America is hanging on by small threads in the global marketplace. Corporate interests are in keeping illegal immigrants illegal. They, along with China's forced exchange rates, and other factors, are artificially keeping inflation down in America. It's almost like we're living in this system that has just had a triple bypass surgery, and now the other arteries are blocking up. We just haven't quite felt the angina yet.

Maybe I'm completely wrong to say that we're doomed. Maybe America is in the middle of one of its cycles. Maybe the Depression in the 30's seemed like the end of the dream.

And perhaps the most interesting of my theories. Maybe with all of this interconnectedness and information that pulses through us every day via the internet and cell phones, humans just don't know how to filter it all and turn it into something that makes sense. And without these mechanisms, and with the sensationalist attitudes of the media, I just turn and worry. All I know is that illegal immigration is a problem, and for once, I don't know how to balance my compassion for people just trying to make it in the world with my want for a system of democracy and economics to function well. It's odd how Americans have seemed to bear this burden for the entire world for the last 60 years.

We used to know how to handle it. Hopefully we can figure it out again.

-K

NSA = Non Security Agency

I want to line up Alberto Gonzalez and President Bush, and Cheney, and whip them all until they agree that freedom is not to be played around with. I was reminded of a quote today by a client of ours. It came from the WWI era or thereabouts. It said that "when fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag." (Patriot Act?) How often has this administration talked about freedom and then gone behind the curtain and started spying on us, or instituted secret prisons, or just done something that curtails the notion of freedom?

I understand that this monitoring has gone on since before 9/11, but I want to say this once and for all. The "High Cost of Freedom" is that someone might come in one day and set off a bomb in one of our buildings! It is NOT measured in how many people they throw in secret prisons, or how many people die at war, or how long it takes to get through the line at the airport! That is the high cost of fascism!!!!!!

I understand wanting to protect people. That is what intelligence agents do. They don't monitor the phone calls of innocent people, or throw people in jails without bond for indeterminate amounts of time. They predict where we should watch as a matter of particular incidents or plots, they do NOT clamp down on every innocent American!!!!

Summary: Use more intelligence agents, and less sweeping security clamps - it's called using more concerted and specialized effort, and noone will call you fascist for it.

-K

Thursday Boredom

I have to be short, since the NSA is probably tracking this post. Well, maybe I'll throw caution to the wind. Bush sucks! I'm a communist! Religion has no place in government! Just a couple thoughts today.

Well, maybe I went too far in that last one. Of course, even if I didn't think that was true, I would have to agree on one possible sequence of events. Say I was an Episcopelian, and the following happened.

1.) The US became a theocracy based upon Christianity.
2.) The definition of Christianity became "Methodist"
3.) All Episcopelians are burned at the stake.

I would have certainly agreed with that statement following that sequence of events. Since not even Christians can agree on the "real" definition of Christianity, why risk that one sect take over?

And, the Catholics should just couch the whole burned and pissed off thing when the Davinci Code comes out. Isn't the damn thing supposed to be fiction? Are we all so dumb that just because something has real names in it that its true? Did I come out of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade thinking that I could have immortality by drinking out of the Chalice? I reserve the right to say that you are dumb if you base reality off of what you see in a movie, rather than a source of reference.

Unfortunately there are more dumb people than smart people. So maybe the Catholics are right. But its a shame that they might have to do it.

I can't wait to be back in Cville. Put down the deposit on the place yesterday. Woooo!

-K

Nancy Pelosi and the Next Wave

Ok, so apparently disappearing for two months has re-energized the blog. Or inspiration comes in spurts. Or I was just too damn busy getting a job in Cville and organizing my wedding.

Anyway, Nancy Pelosi came out in the news recently because of her announcement of Democractic policy agenda. There was a mention of raising minimum wage (fine), rolling back the prescription drug plan (i don't know of the specifics) and talk of re-implementing budget deficit controls (yes, pleeeeassse!!!!)

Then she goes the negative route, mentioning that the party intends on censuring the President, and suddenly people think that new life is back in the Republican party. Here's where I take a step out of politics and recap what happened to me before the president's approval rating plummeted.

1.) 2003 - I express my distaste for the war, being called un-american for disagreeing with the president.

2.) 2003 - I express that I don't believe that Saddam has WMDs, to which I am called idiotic and short-sighted.

3.) 2004 - I express that I don't think the war in Iraq is going well, for which I am horribly received by most.

4.) 2004 - I am told by a Republican I know that "I can't believe you wouldn't even admit that a higher percentage of Democrats and liberals are assholes and criminals..."

I could go on. Look, I am just one of those people that believes that an asshole is an asshole, a nice guy is a nice guy, and a criminal is a criminal, so on and so forth. If the Republicans think that Bill Clinton is a criminal because he committed perjury, then I certainly think that Bush is a criminal for illegal usage of the NSA. I guess you could say they were both criminals. Pelosi just made a mistake for saying it out loud before the elections happened. Now the Republicans are in this victimhood "ohhh everyone is out to get us, we're so persecuted by the media and the Democrats!" mode. You can't call me un-american for disagreeing with you three years ago, and then call yourself persecuted now just because someone is trying to call you on your mistakes, missteps, and abuses.

And honestly, if there weren't party leaders like Pelosi coming out and saying things about censuring the president, then the rest of the world would hate us even more.

-K

The next place to cash out of

Kari and I are engaged, and we're moving to Charlottesville, and on last Saturday we went down to look at some places. We were unsuccessful. I'm going back Wednesday, and have a few promising leads.

When I was in college and grad school, the most I paid for any place I rented was $400 a month. The place costed 800 for two bedrooms. With 400 I had my own room, my own bathroom, a huge living room, decent sized kitchen, and patio area, and washer/dryer.

Almost exactly four years after I leave, I am struggling to find a decent place for Kari and for the year (before we buy a house) for less than about $550 per person per month. That's about a $150 increase in four years, or 38%. I have no problems actually believing that that kind of spike has occured, and I'll tell you why:

http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2006/05/04/COVERjumpshark.aspx

The popularity bug has struck again. Read the article, and if you're a UVa alum, you'll probably agree with it. See, on our walk through the downtown mall on Saturday, I saw wall to wall yuppy. Sure, most of the stuff had sort of an ex-hippie/eclectic feel to it, but what I saw through most of it was that sort of notion of "affordable" luxury to it that has definitely infected America (w/ Starbucks as a head offender). It seems to me that that fad has definitely prevailed in Charlottesville, and that the mob mentality of creeping in on something good and sucking it dry will eventually strike.

I am NOT part of that mob. I was in Cville for 6 years for legitimate purposes, and would have stayed if economics had permitted it (i.e the recession had not happened). I realize over all that property values and gas prices have risen around the country and that has fueled the yuppy attitude. Rising property values are a part of life around America lately. But Cville prices have rocketed much faster than the national average.

All signs lead to: If you reallllly want to find the next place that is awesome, relaxed, in the middle of nature, has some jobs, and is cheap enough to live at, go to Asheville. Problem for me is, I had a hard enough time convincing Kari that we could exist and thrive in Charlottesville, and Asheville would be an impossible sell. Maybe I'll be there in ten years. They have a Wild Wings and a Mellow Mushroom. That's about all I could ask ;-)

-K

Dubai Or Not Dubai (or Bball in the time of Allah-ah)

If you recognized the title as an omage to Rocky and Bullwinkle's practice of giving multiple clever titles to the same thing, then congratulations. You probably laughed at Dennis Miller's old jokes too didn't you? Before he sucked and got a horrible show on CNBC.

I am ecstatic the last couple of days. Maybe its because UVA trounced Boston College on Tuesday night, and maybe because these days, it seems like Bush seems to alienate his own party more and more. Honestly, I vote every election, and I care about what direction this country goes in, but I can't seem to be as much affected internally about politics as I used to be, maybe assuaged by my own happiness and success. Whatever it is, I still want my opinions to be heard, and Republican or Democrat, I will probably like the next president a LOT better. College bball first.

The Boston College win was the product of crazy good 3 point shooting (12/21) - a lot of which was helped by the fact that all of the shots were close to wide open, some good fortune, and good defense. The 3's were all wide open because of good penetration. I also can't help but think that BC as a collective thought they would come in and roll over UVa. I am bolstered by the fact that our team seems to get better as the year goes on (with the exception of the Florida State performance) instead of worse. Dave Leitao really knows his job, and it really shows. I just want good basketball to make its real return to Charlottesville, since college bball is my second favorite sport. The consensus amongst UVa fans is win 3 more and we're in the tourney. I would like to know what the sports writers think.

Secondly, I looked at pictures and read accounts of the city of Dubai in the wake of recent events. By far it looks like the most modern thing I could possibly see out of the middle east. I mean, Dubai looks like Seattle. I can understand how a fair number of people would think that they are basically our allies and nothing more, our partners in modernization. That being said, I can also see how everyone who wants to hurt the US might try to get a job with Dubai ports. Seriously, I wonder if job applications to Dubai ports would skyrocket. One can imagine a political cartoon with Osama Bin Laden standing in line for a job interview.

Don't construe this as rascism. I continue to have no general problem with Muslims (except the reckless and hateful ones) and Arabs. I'm not even accusing Dubai ports of being a bad company. This has more to do with the fact that I would be against anyone handling our security but our own government. And even they seem to be doing things I don't like lately (wiretaps). This may be the only move that W has made that has absolutely confounded me as to its motives. Does his family have crucial business dealings with UAE? Is this a "UAE are our friends" move? Does he think that their culture is the only chance we have? I just don't understand. No matter what the motives are, he seems to have lost (temporarily) the support of three of his Republican governors. I have heard Ehrlich on the radio here singing W's praises for years until now. And Frist even sounded weirdly mixed when he said that "he would not support (Schumer's) bill, but he would support a bill that blocked the sale until a proper review could be conducted." The way W has talked, he doesn't even want a review. So Frist's comment is really damnation by faint praise. Or just a good way of saying what he thinks most people want to hear, without openly revolting.

Whatever comes of all of this, I just hope that the Democrats realize that no matter how many times W seems to mess up in the public's eye, that hate of the opposite party will not drive another party to victory in the end (unless you are Hamas in the middle east). I hope we can provide another Clinton-esque Democrat who might really have ideas and governing skills. In other words, I hope Mark Warner or Barack Obama wins the nomination. My bet would be on Mark running.

-K