hierarchy is freedom

in the news:
the first survey of language use in china revealed that only fifty three percent of its population can communicate in standard mandarin, the official spoken language of the country.

in other news:

is there a standard for determining how much money anyone deserves in any occupation? yes. it’s called supply and demand.

i don’t think the media is to blame for poor coverage of good role models. the media give the majority of people what they want. i wanted to watch the pacers players fight the detroit fanatics. it was awesome. but if wheaties decides to honor artest by placing the pugilist on a cereal box, i will call general mills and complain that my son is now having trouble deciding what is right and wrong. the media know what i don’t want to hear about. i don't want to hear about warrick dunn helping single moms by providing a down payment and furnishings for a house. warrick dunn is a huge pansy. the atlanta falcons will not win the super bowl because dunn helps poor single mothers.

anyway, people are enchanted by aberrations, and this fuels the media. people go looking for the finger to trigger their righteous indignation, or affirmation of superiority. and by the way, i think pedestrian should no longer mean commonplace. pedestrian should mean rare and vehicular should mean commonplace.

what are the alternatives to wages by supply and demand.

athlete pay

christmas was great fun with the family. there was much eating. there was also much playing of games: speed scrabble, yahtzee, parcheesi, aggravation. good times.

now, back to last thursday. the company i work for hit one million dollars in revenue. our boss popped open a 1996 bottle of don perignon, or as i know him, don bubbly. i drank forty dollars worth of champagne, and it wasn't even good for a buzz.

also on thursday, two women next to my cube were lambasting professional athletes. 1) professional athletes make too much money. 2) all professional athletes are either thugs, womanizers, or substance abusers. i thought it was appropriate for me to make my views known to them. 1) professional athletes deserve all the money they get, if not more. 2) there are plenty of athletes who make good role models. 3) you base your opinions on the least amount of information possible.

the supreme court is hearing a case in february about the use of eminent domain for the purpose of economic development. kelo versus the city of new london, connecticut. usually eminent domain is used for improvement of public works and infrastructure. sometimes it is used to redevelop a blighted area. the persons who are relocated must be provided with just compensation. in hastings, nebraska, a developer bought several houses in a stretch along burlington. the developer tried to buy the whole row of houses, but was deterred by two different people who wanted to stay in their respective homes. the homes that the developer was able to buy sat vacant and deteriorated over the years. the city condemned the houses as a blighted area and used eminent domain to remove the people from the two remaining houses in that stretch. compensation was not just, unless you qualify a well-placed cheap shot to the testicles as just. it gets better. the developer received funding from the government to redevelop the blighted area, an area that he blighted.

in other news, my right nut is attempting to debouch from a hole in my cargo pants.

my songs: we gotta get out of this place, keep on rockin' in the free world, and the flight of the bumblebee.

not track #16

LogIn, Inc.’s fourth volume of favorite hits was released yesterday. each employee submits a list of their chosen songs to DJ Jazzy Truitt, who arranges the final version of the cd. here are the songs.

journey: separate ways
REM: texarakana
garth brooks: ain't going down
16 horsepower: black soul choir
neko case: lady pilot
chris isaak: wicked game
england dan: i'd really love to see you tonight
the animals: we gotta get out of this place
queen: bohemian rhapsody
neil young: rockin' in the free world
the who: baba o-reilly
Rimsky-Korsakoff: flight of the bumblebee
dennis leary: asshole
dramarama: last cigarette
erykah badu: apple tree
the weather girls: it's raining men
laura branigan: gloria
b-rock and the bizz: my baby dady
stevie wonder: i gotta have a song
nat king cole: unforgettable

does anyone care to guess which three songs are mine.

in other news:

Wal-Mart is offering a <$500 laptop from Linspire, which runs a Linux-based operating system.

what's up solstice

happy solstice. the sun rose at 7:48 today and will set at 4:34. i don't know why people call the winter solstice the first day of winter. isn't it the middle of winter.

we had our bathroom sink and kitchen sink cleared out by midway sewer yesterday. for the first time since an olympic trials athlete vomited in our bathroom sink, we can leave the water running for more than three seconds. the cleaning of the sewer pipes reminded me of my days at 63 macalester street. specifically, it reminded me of a norwegian i know. he would take nasty shits in our bathroom, and before he ran out of the house fleeing his own stench, he would close the bathroom window and door and let the smell fester. one day the norwegian took a huge dump in our toilet and clogged it beyond hope of plunging. this is the time that many of us started crossing the street to make a pilgrimage to the macalester administrative headquarters and the weyerhouser bathrooms. anyway, a man from the physical plant came over to our house to clear the sewer pipe in the bathroom. he had three implements: small, medium, and large. small and medium didn't do the trick, at which point the physical plant man exclaimed "wow, shit, i've never had to use the big one before." he was genuinely excited as he grunted and twisted the giant steel implement. the story has a happy ending: the water flowed freely once more.

polar

i had the best weekend ever. we went to the dubliner on friday night. tim pavlish joined us, as did klinker and chanda. chuck and carol pavlish were there. steve pasche's parents were there, doing their best to entice paddy wagon up to harris on july 23 for steve and yarrow's minnesota wedding reception. the premium tasted good. chuck led the train around the bar during folsom prison.

saturday was reunion day. at lunch time, two old nebraskans stopped by my house: cramer and eric "i can grow a moustache in five minutes" brenneman. jude and michelle, pete, paul, and aaron and jennifer gathered for dinner at our house. it was great to see everybody and especially great to hear aaron and jennifer share experiences and obervations from their time spent in japan.

sunday morning at 9:30am, the mercury showing negative nine degrees fahrenheit, we old captains moseyed out the door for a run. we ran down river road, crossed the river on the railroad bridge, continued on to the u, crossed the washington bridge and headed back. one half mile from home pete dared jude to go polar. pete was just kidding, but jude went polar in honor of brandon guthrie. instant classic. some people were honking the horns of their cars at the 6'9" 270 pound man running without a single item of clothing above his waist. other people looked pissed and cursed that it couldn't be so.

we also saw john anderson late sunday evening.

in other news:

Top Scientists Launch Weblog on Climate Change

Top climate scientists have launched a unique website to provide commentary on the emerging new results from climate science. The site, RealClimate.org, is designed as a tool for journalists and members of the public, and will provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. The discussion is restricted solely to scientific topics and will not address political issues.

teachers are greedy

you hear the propaganda all the time. teachers are so poor. poor, poor teachers. teachers' salaries are so low. all teachers are paupers. poor teachers. granted, teachers are human, and like most humans who earn a wage in exchange for a good or service, they complain about their income, but that doesn’t excuse their exceptional avarice. the average teacher salary in minnesota for 2002-2003 was $44,745. rankings of the states 2003 and estimates of school statistics 2004. the most recent data shows that the median salary for a minneapolis-st. paul high school teacher is $49,260. the median salary for a minneapolis-st. paul elementary school teacher is $47,242. just think if one teacher marries another teacher and they live together. that’s a household income of close to $100,000. according to the census bureau, the upper limit of the 80th percentile of u.s. household income in 2001 was $83,500. that's what i call depravity. i wouldn’t be surprised to find out that teachers’ unions had filed amicus briefs in support of dick grasso. the minnesota median household income is $47,111. the minneapolis median household income is $42,010.

a minneapolis police officer earns between $35,386-$52,962, plus benefits and overtime.

“firefighters are a waste of tax dollars.” –some guy in ames, iowa

frank solich of ohio will probably face bo pelini of pittsburgh next year. pitt ended the season in the top 25. what will happen when pitt comes to lincoln next year. the first husker victory that klinker and i watched together, a spanking of a weak and overrated big ten team, was pelini's first game as head coach.

dubliner tonight.

CDC finds that gays cause apoplexy

marye and i joined tim at bound to be read on grand avenue last night to listen to dale mulfinger talk about two of his books: the cabin and getaway home. dale mulfinger is an adjunct professor in the university of minnesota architecture department and a co-founder of the architectural firm SALA. pioneer press writer and AM radio personality joe soucheray called mulfinger a cabinologist, and the moniker stuck. dale has a passion for cabins. he also looks like an owl. tim asked dale if he was a log cabin republican. at the mention of log cabin republicans i was apoplectic.

coleman demands pinochet be exculpated

today’s post is sponsored by wikipedia.

the world's tallest bridge, the millau viaduct, opened in france.

on this day in 1891 james naismith invented basketball.

you have probably heard that former dictator of chile general augusto pinochet has been formally indicted for alleged human rights abuses committed during his 17-year rule.

on september 11, 1973 pinochet deposed democratically elected salvador allende in a coup. a junta headed by pinochet was established, which immediately suspended the constitution, dissolved congress, imposed strict censorship, and banned all political parties. in addition, it embarked on a campaign of terror against leftist elements in the country. as a result, approximately 3000 chileans were executed or disappeared, more than 27000 were imprisoned or tortured, and many were exiled and received abroad as political refugees.

norm coleman, u.s. senator from minnesota, has demanded that all charges against pinochet be dropped immediately. coleman said of pinochet's indictment "it is unfortunate that a man who saved his country from communism and paved the way to freedom and economic development should be treated in this ungrateful manner. the indictment of pinochet is the indictment of freedom.”

coleman pointed out that socialist president allende had established diplomatic relations with fidel castro’s communist cuba, and allende’s economic policy had involved the nationalization of many key companies, notably u.s.-owned copper mines; whereas pinochet launched an era of economic deregulation and privatization. to accomplish his objectives, pinochet abolished the minimum wage, rescinded trade union rights, privatized the pension system, state industries, and banks, and abolished taxes on wealth and profits. some have argued that pinochet was a libertarian at heart, following the monetary policy of milton friedman.

norm coleman explained that “in addition to the creation of the successful u.s. franchise chilis, pinochet was responsible for the miracle of chile, which produced huge increases in real per capita GDP. today every chilean owns forty acres and a four bedroom home.”

coleman went on to say that chile should be a model for all countries. “we could learn a few things from pinochet. i wish we could carry out his monetary reforms right here in the united states, i really do. and sometimes i wish i could make the liberal left desaparecer [creepy smile]. pinochet also provides us with renewed faith and resolve in our foreign policy. thank you pinochet.”

when asked how pinochet provides direction in foreign policy, coleman spoke at length about the successful strategy to remove a leader hostile to the united states.

during nixon's presidency, u.s. officials attempted to prevent allende's election by financing political parties that opposed him. however, allende was elected. after allende was elected, the u.s. central intelligence agency ran operations in an attempt to incite chile's outgoing president, eduardo frei, to veto allende's congressional ratification as the new president. the cia's plan was to persuade the chilean congress to appoint allende's runner-up, conservative-liberal party candidate jorge alessandri rodriguez as president. under the plan, alessandri would promptly resign his office immediately after assuming it and call new elections. eduardo frei would then be constitutionally able to run again (the chilean constitution forbids more than two consecutive terms), and presumably easily defeat allende. however, congress rebuked the plan.

despite these temporary setbacks, the united states was determined that freedom prevail. a formal instruction was issued on 16 October 1970 to the CIA base in Chile, saying in part, "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup. It would be much preferable to have this transpire prior to 24 October but efforts in this regard will continue vigorously beyond this date. We are to continue to generate maximum pressure toward this end, utilizing every appropriate resource. It is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG and American hand be well hidden..." referring to the coup, us secretary of state henry kissinger told nixon that the u.s. "didn't do it" but had "created the conditions as great as possible."

“as you know, the united states succeeded in deposing democratically-elected communist terrorist evil homosexual megalomaniac salvador allende. some people misinterpret the actions of the united states. contrary to popular opinion, the united states was not in favor of a coup d’etat, because it’s french. the united states supported a stroke of state, and if you must, a coup de grace of the communist chilean economy as a gift to the chilean people,” said coleman.

post up

okay. what today. i am currently reading two books. A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway and The Foundation by Isaac Asimov. i have read two other books by hemingway, For Whom The Bell Tolls and The Sun Also Rises, and they are pretty much the same. war, emptiness, and a lot of drinking. aaron, if i remember correctly, doesn't jennifer hate hemingway, or not hate necessarily, but "Hemingway sucks." but hemingway reads fast. about a year ago i decided that i should branch out and read science fiction. i compiled a list of "classic" science fiction books and i have been reading books off that list. on that list was the foundation trilogy by isaac asimov. I, Robot starring will smith was loosely based on themes from asimov's collection of robot stories by the same name. also, a short story of asimov's called Bicentennial Man was made into a movie starring robin williams. anyway, i enjoy science fiction. for some reason at this moment i am reminded of a time in the past when marye was staffing a table for mark dayton at the mall of america. whore coleman and whore kennedy had staffers there too. i was along and i struck up an apolitical? conversation with one of the whore staffers, and we got along quite nicely as i have blue eyes and am a methodist from nebraska. i happened to be reading native son by richard wright at the time and she asked me what i was reading. i told her. she didn't recognize it. "i only read classics." hmmm. what classics do you read. she reads les miserables and jane eyre. okay. while i was christmas shopping, i succumbed to the urge to shop for myself and i bought Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre. the book is a philosophical treatise regarded as the basis of existentialism. the book has many pages. reading will be perpetually in progress. in other news, i watched The Life of Luxury on abc last night after i got back from my run, which was nice and cold. it was a good show because i learned what to buy in the future when i am rich. several huge homes, my own personal jet, a two-mile driveway for my cars, and a yacht bigger than my ego. right now i have a place to live, airlines fly me places, a sweet hatchback, and the pavlish's would probably let me borrow their twelve foot alumacraft.

you look like a pagan - yes, you

time for a weekend recap. marye and i walked to the riverview theater on friday night to see napoleon dynamite. ben knudson says "napoleon dynamite is a good movie." the main character is napoleon dynamite, a awkward idaho high schooler. awkward people from idaho are fun to laugh at, but they are also nice people. and there is a soul mate for everyone. after the movie we crossed the street to the riverview cafe, where matthew fox was playing folk and bluegrass music on the guitar. he also broke out the steel guitar, which was most excellent.

on saturday marye and i rode the light rail into downtown minneapolis to do a little christmas shopping. while we were strolling down nicolet mall, a man walking by us looked directly at marye and said with conviction "jesus christ is lord." i thought it was really funny.

in other news, i saw a nice tie in neiman marcus for $155.

later on marye and i were at the checkout buying a couple cds for my mom at cheapo when i saw a best of fela cd and i said something like "sweet." cheapo guy behind the counter said "yes, that's a good cd." we palavered about fela and i learned that fela cds are going out of production and that cheapo guy bought all of fela's cds, all 27 of them. nice.

for those of you who haven't seen me in a while, i have been staying warm in this mild minnesota winter by wearing a dark blue farmer's vest with an enormous american flag sticker over the heart of the vest. i walked into half price books on cleveland and ford saturday night and chris mitchell happened to be working. when he saw me, he told me my vest was on upside down. naturally, such an affront flipped me into a paroxysm and i started screaming at chris, demanding to know why he hates freedom.

the vikings, what can i say.

also, congrats to dr. mejia on his success and the publication of two chemistry research papers.

the masturbating bear had no idea

cnn crossfire is consistently a source of amusement. the december 2, 2004 show discusses sex talk in schools. host james carville tries one, two, three, four, five times by my count to dispel the disquieting rumor that masturbation causes pregnancy. conservative commentator and republican strategist genevieve wood from the family research council sidestepped every time with blazing lateral quickness. here's a splice of the transcript:

"i have never known anybody to get pregnant through masturbation"
sidestep
"but you can't get pregnant through masturbation, can you."
sidestep
"can we agree that masturbation does not cause pregnancy, just -- it's simple enough. yes or no."
sidestep
"well, can you..."
sidestep
"why are you going to tell kids that they can get -- why do you lie to kids."
sidestep

crossfire referenced the waxman report. i found a report prepared for california rep henry waxman titled the content of federally funded abstinence-only education programs. "The report shows that many federally funded abstinence-only education programs use curricula that distort information about the effectiveness of contraceptives, misrepresent the risks of abortion, blur religion and science, treat stereotypes about girls and boys as scientific fact, and contain basic scientific errors." since i provide fair and sophistic coverage, here is some criticism from the heritage foundation.

while i was looking for the henry waxman report about sex, i found another waxman report. it's called iraq on the record: the bush administration's public statements on iraq. a caveat to the reader, henry waxman is a democrat and therefore cannot be trusted.

have a nice weekend.

conduct unbecoming a pilot

nbc and cbs recently refused to air a television commercial paid for by the united church of christ. the commercial begins with a scene at a church with a bouncer turning people away at the front doors. then suddenly it's out with rectitude, in with moral turpitude. a licentious message travels across the screen, accompanied by a lewd voice over.

"jesus didn't turn people away. neither do we. no matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."

after i read about this noisome commercial, i had to take a few days off work because i couldn't stop vomiting.

not many of you know this, but marye and i have a son who just started kindergarten this fall. and i have to admit, before i heard about the united church of christ commercial, i had not yet sat my son down for the big talk about the evils of all gay people. and thanks to a nebraska archdiocese, i was able to provide my son with a supplement to my words of wisdom with the latest technology.

son, it's about time i gave you this.

what is it dad, it looks like a radar gun.

no son, it's gaydar. it will help you identify and dehumanize people who are choosing to be gay. let me tell you why all gay people are evil...

in other news:

klinker informed me that he recently drilled a fingerboard into the wall overhanging the kitchen of his apartment. the man is doing pull-up workouts three times a week and has been doing so for about three weeks. i was inspired by klinker, so i tried to do pull-ups on a door frame in my house. wow. that was hard. but not futile, because i could hear muscle fibers tearing. if i stay committed, i will soon be huge. in fact, i'm a little worried about compartment syndrome. jude, what steps did you take to avoid compartment syndrome.

norm "subterfuge" coleman and the republican bevy have launched an offensive against un secretary general kofi annan to counter the oil for food scandal.

"the question shouldn't be why doesn't secretary annan resign. the question should be why isn't he in jail." -some new jersey u.s. house rep

nice.

i talked to tim yesterday and he informed me that he was going to post a picture of himself on his blog. hearsay says the picture featured tim in the cockpit in his soaring eagle pilot's uniform with his penis hanging out of his drawers. i told tim he shouldn't post that type of picture on his blog.

tim replied that he just trying to be sexy, and if the first thought after original sin was realization of nakedness, clothing is a sin, and if we really want to obey god's word, we would not have silly laws like indecent exposure, but no, just keep on sinning, ignore the holy writ and its support of nudity...

tim, get a hold of yourself, what the hell are you talking about. i'm talking about your career. a delta flight attendant was fired because she took inappropriate photos in a delta uniform. of course, they found out about her blog when she approached delta and asked them if they wanted to buy links or ads on her popular site.

anyway, now tim is all paranoid about the existence of his blog and will cease posting immediately.

Fired Flight Attendant Finds Blogs Can Backfire

pictures responsible for firing of flight attendant

care-a-lot

marye and i bought a five foot table christmas tree last night from the parking lot by the macalester track. all proceeds go to charity, which is too bad, but sometimes you have to overlook the negatives of holiday consumption. then, instead of going to china, we went to target to buy christmas ornaments and the "ultimate" tree stand, with its unique two-level screw stabilization system. as we were walking through the store on our way the checkout, we heard singing.

"let's get physical, phy-si-cal. let's get..."

i looked to my right and my supercilia scrunched in low as i realized - sweet jesus, that music is coming from a dancing, furry, love-a-lot care bear.

what happened next cannot be verified. however, let it be known that share bear broke into song.

"just put it in your mouth..."

stop that, i shouted, that other song was creepy but this is where i draw the line you filthy animal.

then gravely-voiced grumpy bear yelled at me. "suck my dick."

i immediately summoned target manager david and expressed my stern indignation. grumpy bear was suspended from the retail floor for one day without pay, a cost of $178,048, which is the conservative cost estimate of 3561 blow jobs.

libertarian platform

immigration
the lp platform advocates the elimination of all restrictions on immigration. no border patrol. no INS (now the citizen and immigration services).

monopolies
the lp would repeal anti-trust laws. however, the lp condemns all coercive monopolies.

environmental protection
the lp would control pollution through strict liability. you are responsible when pollution breaches the boundary of your property and affects others.

military
the lp would change the name of the department of offense to the department of defense. the lp calls for the withdrawal of all american military personnel stationed abroad.

law enforcement
the lp would like to see an increase in private protection services and voluntary community crime control groups.

social security, medicare, public education
buh-bye.

homeland security anarchist watch:
eric klinker (anarcho-capitalist)
chris mitchell (anarcho-romanticist/communist)
wish care bear (hungarian revoluntionist)
harmony care bear (related to emma goldman?)

the only mulligan you get is mulligan stew, bitch

a very good friend of mine had an interview this morning for a very desirable job. i asked him how it went.

"i fucked the dog."

i said, whatever you mean, it can't be good. he said,

"no, it's not good. it's never good to screw the pooch."

do you think you'll be called back for a second interview.

"not unless the dog calls."

and that's where it stands. a shitty day.

Screw the Pooch
The phrase screw the pooch, meaning to mess up, commit a grievous error, was made famous in Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff. The phrase is a euphemism from US military slang. The original expression was fuck the dog and meant to waste time, to loaf on the job. Fuck the dog dates appears in print for the first time in 1935, but in 1918 another euphemistic version, feeding the dog, appears. The original sense dates to 1918. Over the decades, the meaning shifted to the current sense and the screw the pooch wording took the place of the original phrasing.

smitten kitten, not quite

friday night i went to the kitty cat klub in dinkytown. it's right by annie's parlor, a place my high school cross country coach always raved about. “they have the best malts.” the kitty cat klub is a sprawling bar filled with big cushion couches and chairs, ferns and banana plants, and cool cats, lots of cool cats. we were there to celebrate the birth and life of liz connors, who has lived a life so full that you will often hear her say "babies equal death." i paid a five dollar cover for the shittiest music i've ever listened to. some bastard basically programmed music into his computer, set up his system, and pressed play. maybe it was more difficult than that, but i hope not, because that means he worked hard to suck. anyway, it was good to see peeps.

on saturday marye and i went to the barn (jerusalem) to watch the gophers defeat the holy cross crusaders in a game of basketball. the gophers won.

then saturday night marye and i went to a christmas extravaganza at the house of chanda of eric klinker. good times were had by all, especially the santa decoration that was slowly and mesmerizingly fondling his santa man boob. yikes. the keg beer was cheap and cold (read superb). doctor klinker was donning a 1970s corduroy sports jacket. smoking.

on sunday andrea, tim, marye, and i rode the light rail into downtown minneapolis, out to the lindbergh terminal of the airport, and back to our original station. that was my first time on the light rail. it was a positive experience, except for when tim broke wind, hard.

marye and i also hung out with doctors ziyad and jenny on sunday evening. they are going cruising in florida for christmas. ziyad is hoping find the sister island to stony island.

so, that was pretty informative.

in other news:
i fucking hate local news.
i’ve been reading the libertarian platform.
more on both later this week.

in august of 1999 i trounced aaron ritz in a game of hearts. (wink)

doctor sobek slapping hos

one of the rare enjoyable things about my car commute is the chance to listen to minnesota public radio's music station KSJN 99.5 FM. the morning show is on when i'm driving to work in the 96 ford escort with the broken speedometer. the two hosts are dale connelly and mr. action, mr. sports, knows all, tells only some, mr. jim ed poole. the morning show delights the ears with an eclectic music selection. this morning they were playing a little woody guthrie.

now i must dedicate space to the former owner of our home.

dr. matthew "tour de force" sobek is a research associate for the minnesota population center at the university of minnesota. dr. sobek is also involved in a world census project. the minnesota population center is currently working to digitize the entire world's census data and post it on the internet. although it might never be completed, it is already the largest and most comprehensive international census database on the planet.

that's nice, but let's get to the reason i find him such a venerable fellow. he lambastes bush and coleman.

i found this on the web (you must read it, although it may induce depression):

election 2004: some facts for republicans

this letter to the editor was in the star tribune yesterday:

coleman's courage

it was inspiring to see norm coleman's call for kofi annan's resignation over the U.N. oil-for-food affair. as coleman says, the "CEO" should take responsibility when something so significant goes wrong.

fortunately, coleman has the moral high ground to take this stance, given his incessant demands that high-level heads roll over the abu ghraib scandal - one of the blackest marks on our national reputation, a terrorist recruitment bonanza, and a danger to american troops in the future.

and who can forget coleman's podium-thumping demands that the ax fall on the head architects of the iraqi occupation, an inexcusably slipshod affair for which we can only guess at the final cost in lives and treasure?

and we all saw how coleman put his political career on the line in calling for a full accounting up the chain regarding the faulty claims about iraqi weapons that were used to justify an unprovoked war. he has surely been a tireless champion calling for accountability from an administration that seems only capable of pointing the finger outward. but that's the kind of consistency - dare we call it integrity - that we've come to expect from our senator.

Matt Sobek, Minneapolis

in other news:
last night was one of those runs that affirms it, i love running. running is catharsis. running in minnesota is great. running in winter is great. after working 8ass to 5ass, i'm always primed for physical activity. running also cures all ills. i've had a little sinus/throat sickness dragging me down this week and i've been hacking greenish industrial glue out of my throat. i've been saving it to use as a garnish. anyway, the run really cleared shit out. thanks run. and the weather was great: calm, quiet, nineteen degrees, crisp, salubrious. running allows my mind to hover between my subconscious and conscious, touching a thousand subjects or relaxing with the om. running.

what makes chains bad?

from tuesday, october 26, 2004
i found an article on kofi's old neighborhood, andersonville in chicago. andersonville commissioned an economic impact study to elucidate the importance of small, locally-owned businesses. "for every $100 spent in 10 locally owned shops studied there, $73 stayed in chicago's economy. for every $100 spent in a chain with comparable products, $43 appeared to stay, according to the study by civic economics, a firm that penned an often-cited 2002 report comparing a chain to a local bookstore in austin, texas. the chicago study found that money spent in local stores stayed local because employees were paid more, owners used more local goods and services for their businesses and contributed more to local charities."

chains are bad for local economies and chains destroy indigenous culture. homogenous=bad. some people like to shorten that to homo=bad. personally, i don't want to live in anyneighborhood, anycity, anystate, U.S.A.

whole foods is a chain. i could do better, say, mississippi market. but whole foods is better than a cub or rainbow. so, are high quality chains good. chains have the power to do a lot of good. star bucks does good.

i don't really know why i shop at whole foods. i'll have to think about that.

i should be a network anchor

from the villager, which covers the mac-groveland neighborhood:

xcel energy plans to build a new natural gas power plant on the site immediately southwest of the high bridge coal burning power plant. xcel has three power plants in the twin cities area, all of which are older than fifty years old. the minnesota legislature is requiring retrofits or new construction to conform with emissions reductions standards. for those of you who need a little refresher on your st. paul geography, the high bridge power plant is across the river south southeast of downtown st. paul. robert street ascends from downtown, up by the plant, up onto the bluff across the river, and into mr. tim pavlish's neighborhood. currently the power plant burns 5000 tons of coal per day to generate 243 megawatts of electricity. the new plant will generate 515 megawatts. the new plant probably won't be completed until 2008. during the summer months, xcel has to spray 50000 gallons of water per hour on the 150000 ton coal pile to keep the coal dust down. the rock-tenn paper recycler industry located by vandalia and I94 (right by the dubliner) will have to find an alternative source of power for their operations because they currently use a five mile pipe to pipe in steam from the high bridge power plant to generate electricity. rock-tenn wants to build a biomass power generation facility.

people are talking about a return of the street car to st. paul. we'll see. street cars are cheaper than light rail, and classier than buses. we need classy. poor people on buses make my ride less enjoyable. i hate all poor people, mostly because they are dumb and lazy, but for other reasons too.

people are talking about chains on grand avenue. chipotle recently slipped into a space by the intersection of grand and victoria, by cafe late. i do my best to support local businesses. that means i shop there when i shop. in fact, i supported my local hardware store just the other night. like poor people, chains are bad. people think the drive from ogallala, nebraska, to sterling, colorado sucks. well, i've got news for you, if you shop at a chain, you suck.

from the southside pride, which covers the longfellow neighborhood:

the minneapolis department of parks and recreation continues to make progress on converting rails to trails all the way from lake calhoun to the river road. remember the railroad bridge between lake street and franklin, that will be the midtown greenway.

in other news:
i saw that soybean rust, a harmful fungus, made its way into missouri. nebraska governor mike johanns was nominated as secretary of the USDA. secretary, what a pansy.

overspending

Here’s some stuff that I read in the Star Tribune:

American Debt

Average Household Debt: $19,400
(that includes credit cards, auto loans, and other consumer debt)
Average Household credit card debt: $8,700.
40% of households pay bills in full each month.
Subtract those who pay in full and the average credit card debt is $14,400.
The national savings rate is 0.2%.
Most debt is due to overspending.

Top 10 Social Investment Funds

Fund Name: Assets
Ariel Fund: $3.4 billion
Ariel Appreciation: $2.2 billion
Pax World Balanced Fund: $1.3 billion
Domini Social Equity Fund: $1.2 billion
New Covenant Growth Fund: $814 million
Parnassus Equity Income: $720 million
Calvert Social Equity (A): $695 million
New Covenant Income Fund: $536 million
CRA Qualified Investment Fund: $515 million
Calvert Social Balanced Fund: $483 million

Source: socialfunds.com

Has anybody read the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins? I started to read the first book in college but I got pissed off and quit. Jesus comes to earth for the second time and starts killing infidels.

"No Christ, please don't kill me."

"Die infidel. Die and go to hell where there will be much anguish and gnashing of teeth and the stench of sulfur."

"Jesus Christ, why are you so angry."

"Go to hell, homo."

Hey, don’t be mad, it’s the truth.

In other news, Robert Service (great name) wrote “Stalin: A Biography,” which shows the more human side of Stalin.

Everybody is having a good time talking about airport searches for breast bombs. Just wait until a terrorist sticks a bomb in his anus and blows up a plane with his anal bomb. Let the searching begin.

By the way, I urinated all over the hood of a car in 2002. Besides, where in the Bible does it say not to do that.