minimum wage and the gas "crisis" and attacking the evils of gayness...

gas prices continue to head towards the stratosphere, and the pundits are beginning to tell us we have a gas "crisis" on our hands. if you ask me, i'd say we had a crisis on our hands the first time an explorer rolled off the assembly line...but then noone wants to look inward to solve problems, especially america...it has always got to be coming from somewhere else. so now we rant about evil iran while we give tax windfalls to oil companies which are somehow managing to reap in record profits despite the price of their natural resource doubling...hmmm.

recently albuquerque passed a city ordinance which will raise the minimum wage over the next few years...a great idea since it is impossible to support anyone on minimum wage, which has remained stagnant for decades. of course by the time minimum wage catches up to what the living wage is at this moment, it will no longer be enough to live off of. which got me to thinking...with gas prices soaring, something that inevitably adversely effects the poor far greater than hummer guy, why is the federal government not revisiting raising the minimum wage? gas tax credits for the poor is a worthy idea...but why not just give them extra money from the start by forcing employers to pay them a decent wage which makes it possible to support oneself on. hell...high school kids won't even put up with a minimum wage job anymore, and we expect a family to survive on it? no wonder hustling and crime are out of control.

which reminds me of a game i played in 8th grade, it was about the ghetto. the fastest way out, although full of risk, was hustling (i.e. illegal activity). i don't think i fully understood what that game was teaching me at the time.

the gays are catching it from everywhere still (although they are getting a break from it thanks to the horror of mexicans picking our fruit). illinois may be making a stand though, the crazy uber-moral folks (who, by the way, seem to always stand in the way of social progress in america...always have, always will) are having problems getting enough signatures to get their hatred on the ballot for a referrendum. although i don't have much faith that illinois can hold out forever...gives me a little homestate pride for the time being.

wishing liars got to heaven..

confusion...

i have tried to shut my brain off of the outside world for a few days and concentrate on what is going on in front of me...figured maybe that would make me less depressed...by weeks end it very well might, or it may just knock off a little more of my faith. a courtroom full of people...the judge is white, his clerk is white, the court reporter is white, all four attorneys are white men, the case agent is a white man, the officers were mainly white men, the jury is two for twelve on people of color, at least the marshals seem to be multicultural...and with all this, both defendants are black (of course, if one were to look at the cases arising out of the port of entry in gallup one might find that every last one of the truckers that finds himself facing federal drug charges thanks to the good folks out there, one just might make the observation that every last one is black...i mean, not that they profile or anything...but they profile). i'm sitting there thinking there is no way that a juror can sit and hear what i have heard and send either of these two folks to prison...but i am bracing myself for the first big-time disappointment of my career. i only hope i can hold out long enough to do some good before i become too jaded.

in the meantime i am wondering how in hell i am going to make it through this...i've begun to feel completely lost again. loving my time alone, but hating the emptiness of my bed...hating this town, but not able to imagine leaving my job...wanting the ocean so badly, but wishing ski season did not pass me by...so many choices, and not wanting to make a single one. i know it can piss the locals off something awful, but this town weighs on me.

it serves as a reminder of all i want to do with my life...and a reminder that staying here may very well mean giving that up. it means watching my youth pass me by and not getting out of it what i should, not using the energy and enthusiasm of youth to force something to happen. sadly it is the story of too many in my generation...lots of bitching accompanied by lots of sitting.

really, this has no point...just me realizing how therapeutic my ranting into cyberspace can be...and having spent days too tired and busy to get it out of my system. the news was too depressing to write about...

we are underused...

season over...

it's official...14 games into the season, the cubs are eliminated from contention. derrek lee broke two bones in his wrist (and i will spare you the "baseball players are pansies, i swung pommel horse on a broken wrist" speech). the cubs were surprisingly good so far this year...but without lee, they become a team awaiting three stud pitchers to return to give them a legit shot at the playoffs and possibly a run into october to a team that will desperately try to stay above the pirates in the cellar.

you would think i would know better by now, you would think maddux returning to the kid we all fell in love with in wrigley 20 years ago would not have made me think "my god, if this is our fourth starter...it's gonna be a fun ride"...you would think the kids ripping big league pitchers like it's A-ball wouldn't have made me wonder if they were too young to know any better come september and october...you would think the cubs 9-5 start behind two legit starters, a rookie with promise, and a couple fill-ins would've triggered a token "fun start, out of it by june" response. you would think the century of proof of the futility of hope would have prevented my seeking the light at the end of the tunnel. but no...i had hope, the eternal damning hope of a cubs fan...i believed there was something magical about this season already, i believed maddux's return to form, the discovery that the cub's farm system can produce players and a lights out bullpen were signs that this was going to be the ride i'd waited for since that night in the basement eating spaghetti and watching that ball scoot past durham and the padres take our spot in the world series, the dream that i gave up on long ago...only to have it painfully revived a few years ago just in time to be destructed by one of those padres in a different color and to watch in horror as the cubs self-destructed the next two years.

this year was supposed to be different...this was our year, this was a chance to see the kids play, a chance for dusty to redeem himself, a chance to see what d-lee and a-ram could do with guys on base in front of them and solid hitting behind them. everything was going to come together this time...

all we asked was that it not happen to lee...we are used to dealing with prior and wood...but lee has never been on the DL before...and he is the one guy everyone in cubbie blue knew we couldn't lose. which of course means he is the first one to go down.

why must i have been born into cubdom? why do you torment us so god?

redeeming illinois and the truth about college athletes...

the verdict is in on former illinois governor george ryan...guilty. the unthinkable has happened, a big-time player in quite possibly the most recognizable political machine (the illinois chicago-springfield "beltway") has gone down for corruption. it seems the feds really are serious about cleaning up dirty politicians...and let this be a warning to all of them, if they clean up chicago and downstate illinois, they can clean up anywhere...so you may want to see how you look in orange.

twelve regular folks from illinois got a chance to redeem their state and they stood up and said enough is enough, we are sick of machine politics that lost it's connection to the people long ago, we are sick of chicago and springfield being synonymous with corruption, and we will not stand for it anymore. there is something awe inspiring about this...that our system allows twelve regular joes and janes to stick it to the governor, that our system entrusts it's most important decisions to the people. remember that next time you get called for jury duty and come up with any excuse you can to get out of it...you're not only falling into the token american-take-your-most-important-rights-for-granted trap, but you are cheating yourself and your fellow citizen.

nightline did a bit on college athletes (namely male athletes) last night because two duke players were arrested on charges of rape. first they did a whole big segment on how the government claims only 30% of sexual assaults leave behind dna evidence...i know dna will not always be present, but the way they talk about it (that no evidence is evidence) is eerily similar to the "experts" they have in child sexual abuse cases where a normal examination (100% consistent with a lack of abuse) is consistent with sexual abuse. perhaps it is my bias...but the fact that the government can have an "expert" basically tell a jury that no evidence is proof is frightening.

they then went on to discuss how male athletes are out of control and think they can get away with anything...i almost pissed myself i was laughing so hard. granted i was not a football or basketball player...i didn't see much chosen one treatment in my neck of the woods. another statistic they pulled out was that while male athletes account for only 7% of the student population, they account for 30% of the sexual assaults on campus (IMPORTANT NOTE - when they say "sexual assualt", what they really mean is "allegations of sexual assault" as you will see in a minute, but then that doesn't make an exciting sensationalized story...so you don't get that point). then came my favorite, that the conviction rate for all others is over 50%, but for male athletes is around 35% (which they then added meant that athletes "walk" more...suggesting they were obviously guilty). this was to be an example of over-priveleged male athletes getting away with horrible behavior yet again...but if you look at the numbers it suggests exactly the opposite. a lower conviction rate suggests a much lower rate of actually guilty defendants...which would mean a much higher rate of false allegations. male athletes are easy targets...and please do not tell me i am calling women who were raped liars or suggesting male athletes lead hard lives...i am merely suggesting you take a look at it from the perspective no news organization will ever give you...the wrongfully accused defendant now branded as a rapist. it happens a lot more than you would like to think, and it ruins lives.

i can't live with my disappointment, so i'm gonna sleep with yours...

euthanizing wild animals...

authorities think they caught the black bear that mauled a six year old girl, killing her, and seriously hurt her brother and mother as well. they plan to euthanize the animal. anytime something like this happens, i have to admit, i feel for the animal. don't get me wrong, it is horrible what happened to this family, they lost a little girl and came close to losing a second child...there can't be a way to cope with that. but every time a wild animal attacks a child or a human, we fail to look at why it happens and focus on getting rid of the dangerous animal. this is where it becomes troublesome for me and i begin to feel for the animal.

as we begin to take over more and more land, and intrude further and further into the habitats of these creatures these things are bound to happen. we cannot seem to control our sprawling nature, especially out here in the west where everyone wants a piece of land instead of doing the responsible thing and building a serious urban area rather than one gigantic small town suburb. but when we do this we lose that buffer area...we invade the homes of creatures that are pretty damn high on the food chain themselves, and then horrible things happen to children and family pets. we have to learn how to live with these animals, and we have to understand that we must protect their way of life because it is just as legitimate as ours, and more vital to the continuation of mother earth than ours.

afterall, it is not the coyote's or mountain lion's fault that it's natural hunting grounds were replaced by california suburbs and it finds it's prey has been replaced by house cats and small dogs, possibly even the occasional child. these animals have not "come down" into our towns...we have brought our towns to their homes, and where we haven't brought our towns to their homes, we go to stomp around their homes for recreation. and really, given as obnoxious as we humans can tend to be...can you really blame them for getting a little pissed off about it?

i have no idea how to deal with this, other than to plan cities better and avoid sprawl. but that would take a huge cultural shift, a rethinking of the american dream of white picket fences and a front yard. in the meantime, i can only hope we learn to share this place and leave some of it for the ones that were here long before any of us.

we cry when someone steals the show...hate when it's someone we know...

lessons from feline friends...

i'm the guy with two cats...sad, but true. but they have taught me so much about life, happiness, and hygene and eating habits. i would like to share some of these lessons with all of you now...

if you are going to chew on someone, make sure they know you love them first...

sometimes it is more satisfying to just sit and watch the world go by...

life isn't always fair, sometimes there is a screen in your way...

with a bit of imagination, the packaging can be as good as what's inside...

it is not alright to mess with other people's shit...

everyone needs physical signs of love...

don't be ashamed of your love for large breasts...

don't be ashamed of your big butt, your big, you're beautiful, own it...

it's ok to like being spanked...

it can make you feel better just to be in the presence of good friends...

no matter how annoying you may find your family and friends to be at times, they deserve your sacrifice...

some people may just be worth risking your life for...

not everyone is going to like you, no matter how friendly you are...

you don't need papers to feel validated...

head scratches feel really, really good...

so does having your back rubbed...

whenever you hurt someone, make sure you say you're sorry...

if your best friend is feeling down, nuzzle them...

sometimes, if you beg and plead long enough and loud enough, you'll get dessert...

nothing says love like cleaning someone else's ass when they can't do it themselves...

how nice to see only one side of it all.

tired of playing this game...

i finally am getting through my latest book...only it is serving as a reminder of the complete and utter failure i am when it comes to my first time new year's resolutions...maybe this is why i never did them before. sitting here wishing i could sleep listening to music that only serves to increase the somber nostalgia coursing through my veins...and realizing i will never live up to my potential, realizing i just don't have that drive within me...or maybe it is this town that just grinds me down.

it's spring in albuquerque...or that is what the calendar and the locals tell me. but i know spring...spring is the occassional beautiful day in the 60's and maybe 70's sprinkled inbetween gorgeous grey skies and rainy nights. spring is anticipating all the festivals and outdoor music in the coming months. this is no spring...albuquerque skips seasons, it goes directly from the oppressively hot sun of summer into a fall that lasts a few months...and skips completely over winter and spring and goes right back into summer. 80 degrees and no rain is not a spring...it is one more lie this town will tell you. the summer will be excruciatingly hot...and i will spend it longing and praying for a winter filled with snow and many new five-minute friendships.

in the meantime this city will continue to drain what little piss and vinegar i managed to find within myself. in another year, i will be in the same position...wishing and hoping there will be an end...a new adventure, a new home, a new city, a new companion...but instead i will be stuck behind this tiny ikea laptop desk with hermione laying at my feet in a food coma and bacchus periodically checking in and trying to remind me it isn't so bad by demanding head scratches and hand under pillow...and i will be stuck remembering rainy april nights in chicago, missing kelly, missing shannon, thinking a partnership in chicago wouldn't be so bad, thinking i messed up my chance at the life i wanted with the one i wanted and tired of the self-reflection, tired of the lost contacts, tired of the corruption, tired of the conviction mentality, tired of the southwest, tired of albuquerque, tired of the mountains...desperately missing the ocean, the lake front, the museum campus...the life i could have had.

do me a favor, if i should waiver be my savior...get out the gun

getting votes by ruining lives and expanding the nuclear club...

in an unexpected twist to the duke lacrosse alleged gang rape...the dna evidence came back...no matches...not a one...there was no dna of any of the team members found on a woman who alleged she was brutally raped by three of them. of course this doesn't seem to bother the local district attorney at all. remember awhile back when he hit all the national news networks to declare he was convinced a rape had occurred (because i am sure he had all the evidence then, and had heard everything from all involved parties...afterall, that is what you would expect someone with such an important position relating to serving justice would do...but then that rarely happens)...that alone is disturbing. might as well have gotten on tv and declared himself judge, jury and executioner. but then it is a mentality that is found far too often in the offices that need it the least.

interesting thing about him declaring he still has a case that he will take even with the complete lack of dna matches...he's campaigning for reelection. so he backed himself into a corner by telling the world a rape happened, and afterwards, almost overnight, this case may have become a dog...but he has to find someone to put on trial, he can't back off now, or the voters will never let him forget it, he will be "soft on crime" and disappear back into private practice. so now some young kids will go on trial for a brutal rape, they will be put through the ringer that is our criminal justice system for 18 months or so...will be acquitted when a jury can't figure out how a brutal rape can occur without a hint of dna transferring...and will never quite recover. just once, i would appreciate a district attorney coming out and saying something like "it is my job to see that justice is served and the interests of the state, the victims, and the defendant are taken into account. i will not bring charges against someone simply because the media and people with no connection to the alleged events demand someone, anyone, must pay." won't ever happen though...

you gotta love the cowboy attitude of iran. john wayne would be proud of the "we're enriching uranium and we are well aware there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. we know the united nations will sit back and scold and maybe cut off trade (which will of course be broken by every country in the region and france) but will not do anything to seriously damage those of us in power. we know the united states is reduced to all talk because they can't handle the two wars they have going on already in the region, and a third would be a mistake even this administration would not make. so we're enriching this shit, and we're going to have a bomb someday soon...and then we will be safe, and we won't take your pompous arrogant shit anymore." funny, we destroy a country to keep it from garnering nuclear weapons only to find out it was nowhere close...and right next door the nuclear family expands in a country just as "dangerous" and now there is not a damn thing we can do about it but stomp our feet and wag our finger. good job buddy, you did it...

although, i must admit, i now see the brilliance in our foreign policy towards the middle east over the last hundred years though. muslims and arabs are attacking each other now...so maybe it was part of the plan all along to force them to live together under borders the west made up in order to simmer the hatred and have it eventually explode in region wide war that would eventually leave everything devestated and ripe for plundering. brilliant.

i see we're fighting again, how fuckin' lame...

it wasn't a boom, gas prices, and al-Zarqawi...

ok...i am seriously getting entirely too sick of people calling for a return of the "boom" years of the 90's under clinton. it was not a boom...it was nothing like previous booms in this country that had as their foundation an increase in manufacturing, a strengthening of infrastructure and an expanding middle class with the accompanying shrinking of the gap between salaries...but then nobody gives a rats ass about any of that anymore. all anyone cares about now is the bottom line, how much capital can you generate...that is all that matters. our so-called "boom" was based on a lie, the lie that growth in capital means economic growth...it doesn't, history has consistently shown us that ridiculous growth in capital not accompanied by a lifting of lower classes and a stronger industrial/manufacturing infrastructure is merely the first tell-tale sign of an economy about to fall apart. who are all these people that were so much better off in the 90's? were they the middle class that found it harder and harder to afford a middle class life? were they the blue collar workers that witnesses their salaries stagnate and fall farther and farther behind those of the top executives who were managing to steal their pensions and bankrupt their companies? were they all the people in the inner-city "moved" off the welfare rolls? no...they were the ones that already were booming...the top executives, the richest of the richest. our obsession with capital did not create a boom, it created a crack that is becoming a chasm. so please...stop with the "boom" crap.

gas prices are creeping up and up and set to skyrocket again this summer. i am totally torn when it comes to high gas prices. on one hand, i cannot stand the american gluttonous need for vehicles with ridiculously low gas mileage and the accompanying ridiculously low practicality of those vehicles. so if high gas prices will get the asshole out of his hummer and into a honda, so be it. unfortunately, the asshole is still in his hummer...and it is the poorest that get hit the hardest when gas prices soar. that is especially true in a city/state like this where there has been nothing close to a serious and sufficient investment in public transportation. so what are we to do? i say tax the holy shit out of any new suv or other vehicle that can't get at the very least 20 miles per gallon...seriously, is that too much to ask? make those taxes especially high if you live in an urban area, because that thing is fucking useless to you in the city and only serves to block my view of the skyline and possible holes in traffic i can slip into. then hit them again with higher taxes at the pump, but figure out a way to tax the asshole in the hummer ten times more than the poor schmuck working for minimum wage and driving the beater. how, i don't know, but hell, we're smart inventive folk, we can figure something out. we put people on the moon for christ's sake. next, huge tax credits for the poor to assist in making up the difference, we already do it for natural gas, why not at the pump? of course, the easy solution would be just to tell car manufacturers if the vehicle doesn't get over 30 miles to the gallon they can't sell it here...but then nobody would have the balls to take on that lobby.

al-Zarqawi is responsible for 90 percent of the attacks in iraq according to our intelligence. does this raise a suspicion that perhaps the guy is just some innocent schlub or even non-existent to anyone? not that our middle eastern intelligence isn't fool proof or anything...

jesus rides beside me...he never buys, and he smokes...

maybe there is still hope...

hundreds of thousands of people across the country are walking out of schools, jobs, and homes to hit the streets in an old fashioned american protest. they are appalled at the irresponsibility of our leaders in attempting to criminalize their families, friends, and themselves simply for trying to get a better life, an opportunity that is all too rare in the world, and that millions hope to find in america. there has been talk from the naysayers that a lot of these kids are just looking for an excuse to get out of school...but these folks forget the power of youthful piss and vinegar, they forget the power of the american dream and what it means to so many, perhaps because they have struggled for so long to deny it to all but their closest friends and piers on the upper rungs of society. seeing the streets in major cities, and not-so-major cities across the united states clogged with people declaring they will no longer live in the shadows of society, propping up a standard of living for so many that is denied to their parents, them children, their friends and themselves...all because someone had the balls to wander across the desert or the ocean for the dream of their piece of the american pie...has left me with hope that maybe it is not to late to stand up and right the wrongs of washington over the last few decades, the excess, the self-indulgence, the willful ignorance. maybe it isn't to late for the rest of us to come out of the shadows and be heard rather than muttering complaints under our breath without forcing the folks in washington to hear what we have to say and bringing back the hope, promise and potential that america can represent. afterall, what's more american than taking to the streets?

in the end, it is all too telling that it takes millions of illegal immigrants to remind us, the people that take everything that comes with being a recognized citizen of the united states for granted and can't even find the time to brave the cold and rain on election day, of that hope, that promise, that potential...

freedom yells, it don't cry...

about time for a bombing campaign, affording legal immigration, and gouging the poor...

seems as though the white house is unofficially officially looking into a military solution to the "problem" in iran. (the "problem" being that it is inherently unfair that the current superpowers of the world, although on the decline, hold the right to the most powerful weapons ever made while keeping anyone else from joining the club of good ol' boys). we can only hope that a military solution would not involve yet another deployment of american troops that are already spread way too thin in a region that is already flooded with them at horrifying costs to our nation. of course that means that another bombing campaign, presumably much like that taking course in iraq over the last decade or so, will be on it's way soon. woot. it appears our plan in the war on terror is to use our technology as a kind of hidden biological warfare and give the entire middle east population tumors while destroying the infrastructure necessary to treat them. pure genius. i can see absolutely no reason why bombing another country with a history of a strong middle class (the inevitable trigger to democratization) back into the stone age will end up a bad move. hell, they are with the evil-doers...they earned it.

clarence page addressed an aspect of illegal immigration that the folks in washington don't want you to think about...money. see, it isn't just that employers want cheaper workers and americans will not (and cannot legally) take those jobs for that little pay...it is that the rest of america can't afford the rise in the cost of living that would result if everything was done according to the law. here is where i diverge from clarence though...it isn't just an american obsession with living on the cheap...it is the american reality that most of the population can't afford to live any other way. while the economy was "booming" in the 90's it became harder and harder for people farther and farther up the ladder to make ends meet. now, you have professionals that can't afford not to shop at evil empires like walmart. i guess i have more faith in americans...i want to believe that if they could afford it, they would pay more for goods and services if it meant that some of our poor could have jobs that sustained them. then again, our society has a pretty detailed track record of ignoring poverty...so maybe i am wrong.

speaking of gouging the poor...bill richardson is for it. that's right, big bill has disappointed the voters that had such high hopes for him yet again. this time he decided it was necessary to fly around on a jet provided by the largest payday loan company in the country. amazingly enough, after his trips paid for by payday loans, he came back to new mexico (how sad is it that it is almost surprising that our own governor is even in the state?) to oppose patsy madrid (another winner) in her quest to seriously regulate payday loans. gee...i wonder where bill could have gotten the idea that payday loans might be good for his campaign fund, er, i mean the people of new mexico. is there a way to impeach the governor? never mind his possible ties to dirty money and corruption...how about just for being useless? come on bill, not only are payday loans a way of shifting money from those that can afford it the least to those that don't need the money...but the funds are being shifted to out of state companies...how in god's name is this good for new mexico? i guess you just know something none of us do...maybe you learned it from the inflight movie provided by the payday loan folks.

you don't taste like her and you never will...

giuliani, human rights council, job gains, and the streak...

rudy giuliani testifying at moussaoui's trial so that we can kill him. never mind that giving someone the death penalty for failing to cooperate with authorities is frightening, and that it seriously calls into doubt any right to remain silent and avoid incriminating yourself...my question today is, why do people love giuliani? seriously, this guy was one of the most hated new yorkers at 8:30 a.m. on september 11th. his career was done, he was shamed, he was a punchline. now, simply because he was there, he is a national hero (although i didn't see his ass down at the towers rushing in to save his fellow new yorkers). does anyone really think anybody in the mayor's chair wouldn't have put on a strong face? this is ridiculous...and what makes it even more disturbing is that it is the republicans hoisting this guy up...what happened to family values?

the united nations is changing the name of it's little committee in charge of human rights to the UN Human Rights Council. well, problem solved...shit, had they called it the human rights council over the last couple decades we could've avoided genocide in africa and gross human rights violations worldwide. thank god they finally got that straightened out. i mean, obviously if the name is changed, nobody will notice that some of the worst regimes in history find their way onto the body in charge of watching human rights. anyone want to put some money down on the new human rights council being as sadly inept as it's predecessor?

well, the united states says it won't run for a seat on the council this year. wonder why...perhaps because we really didn't want this thing formed, or at least the name change to take effect. maybe it's because we don't have the best track record...yes, i know, that is unamerican of me, and we do a lot of good, but we could and should do more...good i mean, not human rights abuses (sometimes our leaders get that backwards). folks out there are saying we won't run because the bush administration's human rights record is atrocious...and it is. but saying that implies that before bush our leaders were good at the human rights thing. um...not so much. let's not forget that the last guy in office spent eight years bombing iraqis back into the stone age, especially horrifying because it left them with insanely high cancer rates and the inability to even begin to deal with them. but then, nobody wants to discuss how we messed the infrastructure up in that country for the last 15 years...it didn't start with shock and awe folks. how oddly amusing will it be when the united states does run, and doesn't make it because the sudan slid in.

bush is talking about all the hundreds of thousands of jobs created and how unemployment is lower than the average over the last few decades. what he fails to inform you is that just because people have jobs, it doesn't mean that their living is getting at all easier (and that doesn't even take into account the incredibly high number of young men and women, too many of them undereducated and too many of them black that aren't counted as unemployed because society decided to lock them up for the next 40 years for doing some dope). when ends get harder and harder to meet for everyone but the richest schmucks out there, unemployment rates are not the big worry. i find it amusing when our leaders go on and on about how the economy is picking up, when 99% of the population gets left behind when it does. but hell, maybe we can go back to the golden years of the clinton administration when the gaps between the filthy rich and everyone else exploded and we solidified our ill-fated love affair with globalization. woot.

jimmy rollins was chasing baseball history. i wish the story of him chasing dimaggio's 56 game hit streak was bigger national news. maybe it would have been if he got closer (he was still 18 games shy before going hitless yesterday). but here is who we wish bonds was...a cocky, arrogant s.o.b. that doesn't make you want to hate him. a guy without allegations of illegal drug use. and the country mostly ignored him. i guess it's just another example of the american media only focusing on the negative. but with katie couric in the anchor chair now, we should get plenty of feel good stories.

i can guarantee you this is a cloud of smoke...

couric, richardson, jackson, and spring...

i know this is deeply disturbing for fans of faux-journalism everywhere, but catie couric is leaving the today show (i'll pause for a moment so you may collect yourself after you gasp in horror)...but to help ease your pain, she will only be jumping to cbs to head up the evening news. (does anyone else wonder if anchorman had anything to do with a woman finally getting a job as a network news anchor?) well, for those of you actually concerned about this move, let me fill you in on the view of 99.9% of the population...we. don't. care. it makes absolutely no difference who is reading the story of the day behind that desk with bad graphics over their shoulder. the stories will remain the same, the loss of real journalism will remain, our media folks will still have an overinflated self-importance and spend two weeks on a colleague's death while glossing over the young kids that gave their lives in the flavor of the decade war. besides, it frightens me when the journalist becomes the story...especially when the story is that a vaseline lense interviewer is simply changing networks and jobs. the fact that the american public gives a rats ass, or even just that the media thinks we should is a depressing commentary on how messed up our priorities are in this country. for that reason alone, ms. couric, let me just say that i will view you with the same boredome and disdain that i do any "journalist" acting as anchor. i can only hope that you lose your mind enough to bring out some ratheresque one-liners on the next election night...

bill richardson is again displaying why he is the uber-conservative's democratic. accussed cop-killer michael astorga is back in the states after being "released on bond" by mexican authorities (if you haven't heard this story, it is slightly shady...the mexican popo's in juarez made the american popo's shell out $2000 cash to get astorga and skip extradition...apparently they told their american counterparts the first person to come up with the $2000 would have him released to them...i love it, some mexican police sergeant is treating his friends to a hell of a party right about now). richardson immediately called for the local district attorney to seek the death penalty. that's right, the man with presidential aspirations for the democratic party is pleading for another man to be put to death. there were such high hopes attached to this man...and he managed to flush them all down the crapper. thanks bill. so to my democrat friends out there, let me ask you this...now that the debate has moved so far right, and clinton's pandering to the center and right-center have left the party without any attachment to the ideals it once stood for...are you still in love with him?

jesse jackson got himself back in the news...and here's another shocker, it was not for a worthy cause. what happened to this man? now he is up in arms over the lack of security around barry bonds. last it was the injustice of making terrell owens sit out a year (the man making millions to play a game), now it is because someone through a giant toy syringe at barry bonds on opening day (the man making millions of dollars to play a game - besides ...it was hilarious to throw a fake syringe at the incredible hulk.). way to fight for the underdog jesse...way to continue to fight injustice in this country...way to stick it to the man. you must be so proud of yourself. when did the cosmos begin to spin in such a way that jesse jackson fights for disgustingly rich folks and al sharpton does commercials for a payday loan company?

today actually feels like spring should. cool, windy, spattering of clouds. new mexico is grinding on my soul.

at least i'm on my own again...

massachusetts sick, spreading aids by abstinence, and investing in jobs...

massachusetts wants to give everyone health care, and it looks like they may have put together a bill which would allow for that. i have an issue with it though...there is a provision that requires that folks that can afford it, get it or else suffer the wrath of the tax man a little extra each spring. ok, i'm not an idiot, i understand the reasoning...making sure people that can afford it get insurance, theoretically, will allow insurance companies to spread out the pain a little more and hopefully keep rates down and affordable for more folks and allow employers and everyone else to get insurance. but isn't a little odd that we are telling people "you must have health care, even if you don't want it and can afford to live without it?" and do we really trust insurance companies to follow the theoretical model? aren't insurance companies the ones with souring profits from gouging patients and doctors alike? i don't know...i smell disaster...but i'm hoping for the best...

a new study out there shows that the united states' insistence that at least one-third of it's aid going to fight aids is routed through abstinence programs is diverting funds from worthy programs and hurting the fight against aids. imagine that. stop giving people condoms, stop working to stop the spread from mothers to children, stop doing preventative work...and it spreads more. wow. who would've thunk it. just like having kids put on those damn "saving myself til marriage" bracelets ended teen sex and teen pregnancy. i mean seriously...what kind of use of tax dollars is it to send billions overseas to tell people "don't fuck." hell, we should be over there handing out condoms and telling them to go ahead and fuck like rabbits as long as they use them because our globalizing of the world is going to ensure their life is hell for at least a generation or two...might as well give them something to enjoy in the meantime.

it seems the tax cuts aimed at investments have provided a windfall for rich folk to the tune of half a million a year. we all knew that was coming, but i wonder if it really is being re-invested in jobs? well, i mean other than the construction industry building ridiculously large mansions that are no use to anyone...of course those are being built by undocumented workers...who are stealing jobs from joe american...and who's children are using protests as an excuse to get out of school...isn't that about how it goes? if we were serious about investing in jobs, i wonder why we don't go to the one model that proved to work in history, the one model that proved to put millions of americans to work...the new deal. say what you want about the new deal and the public works program and the waste of tax dollars and the frightening expanse of the executive power...it put people to work. they got pay checks. so if you really want to invest in jobs...forget the tax cuts...go the other way and use that extra tax money that isn't being adequately invested in jobs (well, at least not in america, i'm sure china and india are grateful for the funds though) to build up public works programs again. yea, it'll never happen...but we can dream.

sorry for wasting your time...

when the death penalty means freedom, conviction, and opening day...

alleged cop-killer michael astorga was caught in juarez...so for those of you on the edge of your seat since his profile was aired on america's most wanted last week, you may now exhale. even though he got caught, he did a damn smart thing by heading to mexico. one of the things we never want to discuss when we talk about capital punishment in this country is the problems it raises when it comes time to extradite a serious criminal from another country. see, they don't like to send people to the united states that will be facing the death penalty...apparently most of the rest of the "civilized" world realized long ago that capital punishment is somewhat barbaric and unbecoming of an advanced society...so much so that they don't want any part of it. this means that many times, if they fear a prisoner will face the possibility of the death penalty, they will refuse to extradite him/her to this country. which means we never get our revenge, not even to the extent that they spend the rest of their lives in prison (which is a fate many would legitimately argue is worse than death). so what happens now if mexico refuses to send astorga, a cop killer, back to the states to face charges? will we use it as an opportunity to examine our policies and antiquated views on capital punishment? or will we simply go on an america knows best tyrade and bitch and complain about mexico meddling in our affairs? i'm guessing the later, followed by an evolution into mexico not being a nation of laws and encouraging illegal immigration and the drug trade. and we all know that terrorists use open borders and deal drugs...so perhaps it's time to clean up the situation south of the border.

i found myself watching part of this new amazingly bad drama...conviction. for those of you fortunate enough not to know...it is about young prosecutors in new york. (see, they don't want to do a show about old prosecutors, because the old ones are only still there because they weren't good enough to make it in the private sector...but that's a different story). if people actually watch this show, it will instill in them exactly the opposite attitude of what is helpful and needed in the criminal justice system. prosecutors are representatives of the people...all the people of the state. that includes all defendants, all victims, all uninvolved parties. their job is not to win a conviction, it is to see that justice is done. unfortunately, too many of them see their job as winning a conviction. in this show, one "mentor" informed a newbie they needn't worry about the defendant, only the victim. wonderful...here comes another generation of lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key, tough-on-crime assholes that do more damage than good. (insert your bullshit recidivism, dropping crime rates, philosophical argument here...not only do i not buy it, but i've probably argued it better than you in the past). that being said, i am going to go ahead and declare conviction the winner. worst. show. ever.

opening day finally arrived, which means for at least the next four or five hours, the cubs remain tied for first and us fans remain full of hope. if that hope is still there in two weeks...i will be amazed. mike royko said it best...being a cubs fan teaches you a lot about life, it teaches you that no matter how hard you work and no matter how hard you want something...you still lose. the calendar creeps towards the century mark...AC986103.

with my feet on the dash, the world doesn't matter...