Archives For February 2005

more than 1000 words

February 11, 2005 — Leave a comment

the winners of the World Press Photo of the Year have been announced

Indian photographer Arko Datta of Reuters is the winner of this year’s World Press Photo of the Year award.

His picture of an Indian woman mourning a relative killed in the Asian tsunami was taken in Tamil Nadu on 28 December.

Kathy Ryan, photo editor for the New York Times Magazine and one of the competition`s judges, described Datta`s image as “graphic, historical and starkly emotional”.

Here we present a selection of the winning entries.

from the BBC

easy come, easy go

February 11, 2005 — Leave a comment

i got paid today and for one brief shining moment it looked like we would have something left over for us to treat ourselves. that moment soon passed but not entirely.

we`re actually pretty good financially this week but there are some blips on the horizon, starting with the USCIS required medical this afternoon and then a colposcopy for vic later this month; neither of which are covered by health insurance. well mine isn`t and vic only has major medical now.

we also need to make a major grocery run, we`re out of a lot of basic stuff. plus, what happens when your wife works in a book store and you`re both book lovers? you buy lots of books. well you take lots of book and try to make sure the account is paid off. we`ve been pretty good about not abusing the account and the discount so far, but i went on a bit of spree this week and ordered three book and picked up another three in the store. slowly but surely my amazon wishlist is getting whittled down. this week i got Nick Hornby`s Songbook, the Jon Stewart America book and the new Hunter S. Thompson; Hey Rube, still on order is From Hell, Erotique Noire and The Mammoth book of Sex Diaries. that i think is our entertainment/treat budget right there.

at least we have an entertainment/treat budget right?

also out the door was the tax return. which i`m very proud of myself for. i e-filed this morning and should get a response in the next 24-48 hours ensuring that i`ve done everything correctly and this should be the only year with all the specific complications like declaring foreign income. hopefully all the returns forward should be simpler.

year of the cock

February 10, 2005 — Leave a comment

in the intricacies of my mind the fact that Year of the Cock and Lent began on the same day is mildly amusing. my mind works in strange ways.

while i was showering this morning i had a draft for this brilliant treatise that was going to tie the penis and lent together and as i sit here, my mind is a complete and utter blank. inspiration is fickle at best.

i`m going to take this opportunity to express my shock and my continued presence in JS top ten especially as i`m not as high i`m going to get. being #3 today is an anomaly cause by the googlebots. i`m grateful for the new readers, especially those that have taken the time to back track through the almost two years of my ramblings. and thank you to the regular readers who continue to put up with me even when i don`t have a point, like today.

PS:

for trini`s jonesing for that taste of carnival, BBC Radio 1 xtra, has The Alternative Concept available to listen to as a real audio stream in the carnival section.

the radio stations here in Nashvegas that advertise the night`s upcoming sitcoms with these little sound bites. based on the little snippets and the canned laughter, it`s a wonder anyone watches television at all. but then my sense of humour is considered dark and obscure in some circles and downright evil in others.

today is the beginning of the lenten season and even though i don`t make new year`s resolutions, the lapsed Catholic in me seems determined to continue the tradition of giving something up for lent. i can`t remember what i gave up for lent last year, or if it was one of those good intentions that got lost in the midst of the migration.

it`s hard to believe that it`s been almost a year since i got here, time flies when you`re having fun. i`ve been going over the paperwork for our next pitched battle with the USCIS; the status change; and i realised that once we submit this application i can leave the country and return with problems. which lifts a heavy burden from my mind. with that in mind i`ve been trying to price fares for a jaunt home; so i can see my girls, the boy chick can meet and charm his extended family; but the fares are ridiculous. the cheapest fare i found for Christmas has us changing planes three times and cost $635 each. you could buy a car for that. i can always magic cheap fares for everyone but somehow it never works for me, but we`ll see how things develop for the rest of this year.

i am cynic because of the career choice, or did i choose my career because i`m a cynic? either way i`ve been trying to choke back the bile that has been rising since i saw the Anheuser-Busch commercial on Sunday. i have nothing against the soldiers that are serving in Iraq.

what i do have a problem with is a company so morally bankrupt they would commission and run and ad `thanking` them. that ad wasn`t about thanking the soldiers, if you really wanted to thank them you`d take the money spent on producing and running that ad and send it to the people on the front lines in lieu of the missing combat pay. if you really wanted to thank them you`d use your lobbyist to pressure congress into bringing them home now or making sure they`re properly equipped and paid and have benefits when they return home.

and for the millions of people that thought that was the best ad of the Superbowl; that`s your fucking guilt talking. you`re guilty because you believed the lie in the first place and you`re guilty because you didn`t have the guts to say it was wrong and try to put a stop to it and you`re fucking guilty because when they come home like the vets of the last two wars and they`re sick, you don`t want to see them or have to foot the bill for their care.

spare me the fucking greed and guilt. the ad was a trite, nasty attempt by a company and nation to feel better about the morass of ineptitude, underhandedness and moral bankruptcy that the war in Iraq and this administration are prime examples of.

i watched the Superbowl last night, not because the game interested me so much; i come from a country where rugby is played, which is a much more intense game; but this is supposed to be the mecca of television advertising.

although i`m not a big fan of the sport, i live in a town with a team; granted it had one of the worst records this season; and like i`ve said before reading Hunter S. Thompson has given me a greater appreciation for what`s going on and i don`t live in a hole, so i know the teams that played and some of the background, so i watched last night.

an interesting aside, although the sport seems kind of silly in comparison to rugby, i am a fan of movies about it. good, bad or indifferent, if there`s been a football movie, i`ve seen it; Rudy, Knute Rockne, Varsity Blues, North Dallas 440, Any Given Sunday; and i`m probably going to watch Friday Night Lights and the Longest Yard remake as well. there is no explanation for it, i`m addicted to them.

i was really hoping the Eagles would win last night so i wouldn`t have to hear everyone blather on about the Patriots dynasty and how Tom Brady played so well even though his grandmother died. what is it about US sports and this whole crock of shit about players and their family? they are overpaid entertainers, if Tom Brady was so concerned about his family and his dead grandmother he would have been with them. it may seem harsh, but it`s the truth; any job in the world you get bereavement time, he`s been to the Superbowl before. which is more important; his family or the game? spare me the maudlin bullshit, he chose to stay and play and shouldn`t be pitied or credited for doing so.

while i`m in full on rant mode; what a fucking, crappy half time show. Paul McCartney should stay home and enjoy his fucking money. the half time show was a snoozefest, as were the ads. there were two ads that stuck out during that whole `safe`, stale, Superbowl and they were the Ameritrade ads and now they have to apologise for the cat ad. what a crock of fucking shit. i don`t know why i`m surprised; the whole tone of the Superbowl was one of acquiescence to the people who think they know what`s best for the rest of us. heaven forbid that it looks like a cat was harmed; the point of the ad was that you shouldn`t be quick to judge what you see.

and now a segue into the other portion of the title; the taxes. we finally received our last document for us to do our taxes so i thought i`d take a stab at it on Saturday night using the online version of TurboTax; i`ve had more fun at the dentist; three hours later and owing the IRS money, i stopped. on Sunday i resumed the fight and realised that in order for us to file jointly i would have declare the pittance that i made in Jamaica last year on our taxes; another three hours later i was done with a tiny sum that will allow us to pay for the next set of USCIS paperwork and put away a little; if i did everything correctly. i`m hoping to hook up with CSG at some point today to have her double check my entries and then file. as with all other bureaucracies, the idea is to make filling out the paperwork by mere mortals as difficult as possible. i`m a fairly intelligent man, i can follow instructions and preparing this return was one of the most convoluted things i`ve ever done and having dealt with the USCIS, that`s saying a lot.

the boychick is unwell today, so i got an opportunity to work from home. god i`ve missed it. no silly questions, no ringing phones and best of all, the comforts of home.

there seems to be some sort of infection going around the school system in middle TN, three of the boychick`s classmates and at least two teachers from his school are out sick and at least one set of schools in Nashville is closed.

we gave the boychick some children`s motrin last night because he was running a fever but other than that we`re trying to avoid pumping him full of medication so his body can at least build some kind of resistance.

every time i see one of these disinfectant ads, two thought cross my mind, Stephen King`s superflu from The Stand and George Carlin talking about being tempered in raw shit growing up, and the thought scares me. i was one of those children that lived by the five second rule, ate dirt at one point or another, raced boats in the gutters and i`ve grown up to be pretty healthy, our bodies need to experience germs and infections in order to be able to combat them.

this rush to take medication the minute we think we`re sick, to disinfect the shit; no pun intended; out of everything and the massive quantities of antibiotics we consume in our food supply are necessarily making us healthier just more susceptible to a more dangerous class of germs.

recycle

February 3, 2005 — Leave a comment

i`m swamped at work so i`m resposting this George Carlin piece that i listened to over the weekend.

Rockets and Penises in the Persian Gulf

I`d like to talk a little about that `war` we had in the Persian Gulf. Remember that? The big war in the Persian Gulf? Lemme tell you what was goin` on.

Naturally, you can forget all that entertaining fiction about having to defend the model democracy those lucky Kuwaitis get to live under. And for the moment you can also put aside the very real, periodic need Americans have for testing their new weapons on human flesh. And also, just for the fun of it, let`s ignore George Bush Sr.`s obligation to protect the oil interests of his family and friends. There was another, much more important, consideration at work. Here`s what really happened.

Dropping a Load for Uncle Sam.

The simple fact is that America was long overdue to drop high explosives on helpless civilians; people who have no argument with us whatsoever. After all, it had been awhile, and the hunger gnaws. Remember that`s our specialty: picking on countries that have marginally effective air forces.

But all that aside, let me tell you what I liked about that Gulf War: it was the first war that appeared on every television channel, including cable.

And even though the TV show consisted largely of Pentagon war criminals displaying maps and charts, it got very good ratings. And that makes sense, because we like war. We`re a warlike people. We can`t stand not to be fucking with someone. We couldn`t wait for the Cold War to end so we could climb into the big Arab sandbox and play with our nice new toys. We enjoy war.

And one reason we enjoy it is that we`re good at it. You know why we`re good at it? Because we get alot of practice. This country is only 200 years old, and already we`ve had ten major wars. We average a major war every twenty years, So we`re good at it!

And it`s just as well we are, because we`re not very good at anything else. Can`t build a decent car anymore. Can`t make a TV set, a cell phone, or a VCR. Got no steel industry left. No textiles. Can`t educate our young people. Can`t get health care to our old people. But we can bomb the shit outta your country, all right. We can bomb the shit outta your country!

If You`re Brown, You`re Goin Down

Especially if your country is full of brown people. Oh, we like that, don`t we? That`s our hobby now. But it`s also our new job in the world: bombing brown people. Iraq, Panama, Grenada, Libya. You got some brown people in your country? Tell `em to watch the fuck out, or we`ll goddamn bomb them!

Well, who were the last white people you can remember that we bombed? In fact, can you remember any white people we ever bombed? The Germans! That`s it! Those are the only ones. And that was only because they were tryin` to cut in on our action. They wanted to dominate the world.

Bullshit! That`s our job. That`s our fuckin` job.

But the Germans are ancient history. These days, we only bomb brown people. And not because they`re cutting in our action; we do it because they`re brown. Even those Serbs we bombed in Yugoslavia aren`t really white, are they? Naaah! They`re sort of down near the swarthy end of the white spectrum. Just brown enough to bomb. I`m still waiting for the day we bomb the English. People who really deserve it.

A Disobediant American

Now you folks might`ve noticed, I don`t feel about that Gulf War the way we were instructed to feel about it by the United States government. My mind doesn`t work that way. You see, I`ve got this real moron thing I do, it`s called `Thinking` And I guess I`m not a very good American, because I like to form my own opinions; I don`t just roll over when I`m told. Most Americans roll over on command. Not me, There are certain rules I observe.

Believe You Me

My first rule: Never believe anyone in authority says. None of them. Government, Police, clergy, the corporate criminals. None of them. And neither do I believe anything I`m told by the media, who, in the case of the Gulf War, functioned as little more than unpaid employees of the Defense Department, and who, most of the time, operate as unofficial public relations agency for the government and industry.

I don`t believe in any of them. And I have to tell you, folks, I don`t really believe very much in my country either. I don`t get all choked up about yellow ribbons and American flags. I see them as symbols, and I leave them to the symbol-minded.

Show us your Dick

I also look at war itself a little differently from most. I see it largely as an exercise in dick-waving. That`s really all it is: alot of men standing around in a field waving their dicks at one another. Men, insecure abuot the size of their penises, choose to kill one another.

That`s also what all that moron athlete bullshit is all about, and what that macho, male posturing and strutting around in bars and locker rooms represents. It`s called `dick fear.` Men are terrified that their dicks are inadequate, and so they have to `compete` in order to feel better about themselves. And since war is the ultimate competition, essentially men are killing one another in order to improve their genital self-esteem.

You needn`t be a historian or a political scientist to see the Bigger Dick Foreign Policy Theory at work. It goes like this: `What? They have bigger dicks? Bomb them!` And of course, the bombs, the rockets, and the bullets are all shaped like penises. Phallic weapons. There`s an unconscious need to project the national penis into the affairs of others. It`s called `fucking with people`

Show us your Bush

So as far as I`m concerned, that whole thing in the Persian Gulf was nothing more than one big dic-waving cockfight.

In this particular case, Saddam Hussein questioned the size of George Bush`s dick. And George Bush had been called a wimp for so long, he apparently felt the need to act out his manhood fantasies by sending America`s white children to kill other people`s brown children.

Clearly the worst kind of wimp.

Even his name, `Bush`, as slang, is related to the genitals without being the genitals.

A bush is sort of a passive, secondary sex characteristic. It`s even used as a slang term for women: `Hey, pal, how`s the bush in this area?`

I can`t help thinking, if this president`s name had been George Boner…well, he might have felt a little better about himself, and he wouldn`t have had to kill all those children. Too bad he couldn`t locate his manhood.

Premature Extraction

Actually, when you think about it, this country has had a manhood problem for some time. You can tell the language we use; language always gives us away. What did we do wrong in Vietnam? We `pulled out`! Not a very manly thing to do. No. When you`re fucking people, you`re supposed to stay with it and fuck them good; fuck them to death; hang in there and keep fucking them until they`re all fucking dead.

But in Vietnam what happened was by accident we left a few women and children alive, and we haven`t felt good about ourselves since.

That`s why in the Persian Gulf, George Bush had to say, `This will not be another Vietnam.` He actually said, `this time we`re going all the way.`

Imagine. An American president using the sexual slang of a thirteen-year-old to describe his foreign policy.

And, of course, when it got right down to it, he didn`t `go all the way.` Faced with going into Baghdad he punked out. No balls. Just Bush.

Instead, he applied sanctions, so he`d be sure that an extra half a million brown children would die. And so his oil buddies could continue to fill their pockets.

If you want to know what happened in the Persian Gulf, just remember the first names of the two men who ran that war: Dick Cheney and Colin Powell.

Dick and Colon.

Someone got fucked in the ass.

And those brown people better make sure they keep their pants on, because Dick and Colin have come back for an encore.

next week is carnival in Trinidad. actually as we speak frenzied preparations are ongoing, there are fetes every night this week leading up to the two day orgy of excess that carnival is. by this time next week, the streets will be swept and the penitent will be lining in churches all over the country to receive their ashes.

and i`m missing it.

well i`m not really missing it, i think i`m missing the idea of being in Trinidad for carnival, particularly since this is the second successive one and at the rate the USCIS does things it may be at least two more years before i get to experience another.

it`s not like there are new things to be experienced. i`ve been involved in carnival in one form or another since i could walk. my mother; surprise of surprises; used to be this huge carnival junkie and every year, we`d pack  the Mini full of food early on J`ouvert morning to watch ole mas and the other J`ouvert competitions, on Tuesday the process would be repeat for the `pretty` mas only this would be an all day event. i can`t remember if my mother was responsible for my school bring out a band or if there was one before that and she just took charge, but every year of my primary school education the weekends before the actual two days of carnival were filled with various children`s parades. in my high school years i wasn`t a direct participant, i would accompany my mother reluctantly to go see the parade of the bands but i was really interested.

after high school however, i discovered the joys of mas making and mas camps and helped make costumes. i also discovered the joys of feteing and actually playing mas as adult. i`ve partied the entire week before carnival, followed a band around just for the music for two days, followed a band around for the sole purpose of taking photos, built an ubiquitous carnival magazine, slept through j`ouvert, worked during carnival while people were feteing outside.

i really have been there and done that and got the t-shirt, so there is nothing specifically that i`m missing besides the ability to decide how involved i want to be this year.

Trust No One

February 1, 2005 — Leave a comment

yesterday the boychick came home with an assignment that required him to discuss with his family reasons that people would be unhappy with the government.

after laughing hysterically on the couch for a couple of minutes, i tried honestly to have a discussion with him. actually i didn`t but vic vetoed my first title for his essay; Ignorance is Strength, War is Peace, Knowledge is Slavery, she also vetoed my second suggestion; Trust no one; but i decided i`d use that today.

i found it interesting that even at age 9, the boychick had learned how useful self censorship is already, i wish he could teach me. i tend to say what i think regardless of the consequences. it was also kind of sad that the first thing i told him after i`d finished laughing that was that governments couldn`t be trusted.

i`ve come to realise that no matter how noble the intentions, there are two inherent problems with governments; they are massive bureaucracies and to get into power in a `democratic` society requires compromise. i put democratic in quotes because there are no true democracies, as much as we`d like to believe it, the voice of the people means squat. to get elected requires lots of money and since campaign contributors are not giving money for altruistic reasons, they want to see a return on their investment. so at the end of the day our elected officials are not beholden to the voters, but to the campaign contributors. and the problem with bureaucracies is once they get entrenched they are almost impossible to implement change. on the surface it looks like things are being changed but on a day to day basis, it`s business as usual, because the people entrenched therein know governments and policies will change but their jobs are pretty much guaranteed.