Caveat Emptor

People rave about the benefits of buying a house.

You're building equity. It's true, but building equity seems like filling up a five-gallon jug with water by wringing the moisture from rocks. We took out a loan of $164,000 at 5.5%. At the end of one year the principle balance will be $161,791, the cumulative amount paid toward interest will be equal to $8,965, and the cumulative amount paid toward principle will be equal to $2,209. Drip.

You might not want to read this next part because it is lucid like mud.

Your money spent paying mortgage interest is tax deductible. It's true. But have you ever itemized deductions on Schedule A instead of taking the standard deduction? Usually, I take the standard deduction, which is $9,700 for those married filing jointly. If I had itemized deductions* when I was a renter, my deductions would have equaled about $2,500, which means the federal government granted me a gift of $7,200 when I used the standard deduction. (Deductions are important because they reduce your taxable income.) I had about $12,000 in itemized deductions for 2004. I was excited; I thought ‘this is the first time I have deductions.’ I looked individually at that number and forgot about the standard deduction I always took in the past. So, instead of the additional savings I anticipated based on $12,000, my savings were based on $2,300, the difference between my itemized deductions and the standard deduction. Like the Alamo, remember the standard deduction.

* Itemized deductions you can claim: 1) Medical and dental expenses, but not those expenses reimbursed or paid by others - limiting; 2) Taxes you paid, such are state income tax and property tax; 3) Interest you paid, such as home mortgage interest and points; 4) Gifts to charity, if over $250; 5) Casualty and theft losses; 6) Job expenses and most other miscellaneous deductions - many limitations.

=====

Timothy and Paul came over to my house on Friday night. We drank beers and read the bible. It all started when I read Tim a passage from Timothy 1 about the importance of womanly submission. From that point on Tim was enthralled with the wisdom of the lord and could not put the holy writ down. Tim shared with us that rebellious youth should be stoned, that masturbating while laying siege to a city makes you unclean, and that when you capture a woman during war, you can take her home, but you must shave her head, and then you can have sex with her and make her clean and cook, but if she doesn't please you, cast her away. After all this excitement, Tim fell asleep before Jay Leno, leaving Paul and me to speculate on Tim’s future.

I've always said:

Don't Blame Wal-Mart

Also, I like our house.

The Michele Bachman Gay Red Herring

Reading the City Pages last night drove me into a fury beyond expression.

Minnesota Senator Michele Bachman is wont to launch into flatulent tirades against gays. Bachman has vowed to amend the Constitution, banning gay marriage. Most Americans become aroused and get behind Bachman, because, like Bachman, Americans love gays but hate love between gays. However, most Americans are tragically led astray by Bachman's gay red herring. The real issue is not gay marriage. Gay marriage is not even mentioned in the ten commandments. The real issue is people who don't believe in and worship God and His Son Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine a greater sin. I cannot imagine a greater pestilence endangering mankind. We must ammend the constitution to ban infidel marriage. Michele Bachman, you and your gay red herring disgust me.

briefs

The number one reason my doppelganger was against the war in Iraq was the cost.

Bush's 'priceless' war

This is funny, as in wtf funny:

Bush administration fights to block American POWs from suing Iraq

The Department of Justice is expected to file a brief this week urging the Supreme Court not to hear the appeal of 17 American pilots who were captured and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict. The POWs filed suit in federal court in 2002 under the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act that allowed citizens to sue foreign governments that supported terrorism. The Iraqi government ignored the suit, and there was no trial. In July 2003, however, a district judge awarded the POWs $959 million in compensatory and punitive damages, and lawyers sought to claim a portion of the $1.7 billion in Iraqi assets that were frozen by the US. Shortly afterwards, the Bush administration began to argue that the case should be vacated due to the then-current need to keep money in post-Saddam Iraq for rebuilding purposes. In June 2004, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the Bush administration, and vacated the earlier decision. The POWs have since appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court is expected to decide in the next two months whether to hear the case.

Here are a couple other things from my conversations with Kofi:

I had to brush up on my football knowledge.
Important competitions:
1. UEFA Champions League
2. UEFA Cup
3. Premiership (England's FA Premier League)
4. League Cup (Carling Cup)
Read more on Wikipedia.org.

It's always fun to talk about superhero superpowers. It was suggested that being fluent in every language, including slang, would be a great power. Does that include body language, the language of love, etc.? I don't know. Being American, I don't really care and I think being fluent in all languages is a stupid superpower because I already know English. I kid.

In other news:

I purchased the iRiver H320 on a website called newegg.com, which Simon referred me to. I'll talk more about it once I receive it.

News Flash

Randy Moss was traded to the Oakland Raiders for linebacker Napoleon Harris, a 7th pick, and a 7th round pick. It could be good for the Vikings, but it's bad for me. Now Minnesota is a mediocre team without an entertaining superstar.

Orgy

So, here are a few things from conversations I had with Kofi.

Kofi and Kate visited Rome a few weeks ago. The sites where spectacular, the icecream was magnifico, the weather was okay, and it was not tourist season. Anyway, Kofi told me about vomitoriums. What is a Vomitorium? The word orgy comes from the Roman practice of having enormous parties where dinners ranged anywhere from three to ten courses. Guests, reclining in couches, gorged themselves on delicacies. Once full, wealthy Romans would retreat to the vomitorium to induce vomiting and rejoin the party to continue eating. Seneca commented, "they vomit so that they may eat and eat so that they may vomit.'' Awesome.

Kofi recommended two books:

Race, Crime, and the Law by Randall Kennedy

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich

Kofi also talked about advertising in the UK; he is still working on the Kelloggs account. People are complaining that advertising unfairly targets children by using cartoon characters and suggesting unhealthy cereals are healthy. It will be interesting to see if there is any legislative action prohibiting certain advertising practices in the case of sugar drugs.

Cut Cartoon Food Promotion Ploy

Who is Che Guevara?

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna (May 14, 1928 - October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader. Guevara was a member of Fidel Castro's "26th of July Movement", which seized power in Cuba in 1959. After serving various important posts in the new government, Guevara left Cuba in 1966 with the hope of fomenting revolutions in other countries, first in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and later in Bolivia, where he was captured in a CIA-organized military operation. The CIA wanted to keep him alive for interrogation, but he was executed by the Bolivian army. After his death, Guevara became a hero of Third World socialist revolutionary movements, as a theorist and tactician of asymmetric warfare.

Youth

Guevara was born in Rosario, Argentina, the eldest of five children in a family of mixed Spanish and Irish descent. The date of birth recorded on his birth certificate was June 14, 1928, but his true date of birth was May 14, 1928. The birth certificate was deliberately falsified to help shield the family from scandal relating to his mother's having been three months pregnant when she was married.

Guevara's ancestor Patrick Lynch, founder of the Argentine branch of the Lynches, was born in Ireland in 1715. He left for Bilbao, Spain, and traveled from there to Argentina. Francisco Lynch (Guevara's great-grandfather) was born in 1817, and Ana Lynch (his grandmother) in 1861. Her son Ernesto Guevara Lynch (Guevara's father) was born in 1900. Lynch married Celia de la Serna and had five children.

In this upper-middle class family with significantly left-wing views, Guevara became known for his dynamic and radical perspective even as a boy. Though suffering from the crippling bouts of asthma that were to handicap him throughout his life, he excelled as an athlete. In 1948, he entered the University of Buenos Aires to study medicine. There he also excelled as a scholar; he completed his medical studies in March 1953.

He spent many of his holidays traveling around Latin America. In 1951, Guevara's older friend, Alberto Granado, a biochemist and a political radical, suggested that Guevara take a year off his medical studies to embark on a trip they had talked of doing for years, traversing South America on a Norton 500 cc motorcycle nicknamed La Poderosa ("The mighty one"), with the idea of spending a few weeks volunteering at a leper colony in Peru on the banks of the Amazon River during the trip. Guevara and the 29-year-old Alberto soon set off from their hometown of Alta Gracia. Guevara narrated this journey in The Motorcycle Diaries, translated in 1996 (and turned into a motion picture of the same name in 2004). Through his first-hand observations of the poverty and powerlessness of the masses, he decided that the only remedy for Latin America's social inequities lay in revolution. His travels also taught him to look upon Latin America not as a collection of separate nations but as a cultural and economic entity, the liberation of which would require an intercontinental strategy. Upon his return to Argentina, he completed his medical studies as quickly as he could, to enable him to continue his adventures traveling around South America.

Guatemala

Following his graduation from the University of Buenos Aires medical school in 1953, Guevara went to Guatemala, where President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán headed a populist left-wing government that, through various reforms, particularly land reform, was attempting to bring about a social revolution. Around this time, Guevara also acquired his famous nickname, "Che". (In Argentina, "Che" is used similarly to "mate" or "pal" in English; in other parts of Latin America, it is slang for someone from Argentina.)

The overthrow of the Arbenz government by a 1954 CIA-backed coup d'état was, in Guevara's view, proof that the United States would always oppose governments that attempted to address the socioeconomic inequality endemic to Latin America and other developing countries of the world. This helped strengthen his view that socialism was the only true way to remedy such problems. Following the coup, Guevara volunteered to fight, but Arbenz told his supporters to leave the country, and Guevara briefly took refuge in the Argentine consulate.

Cuba

Guevara met Fidel Castro and Fidel's brother Raúl in Mexico City where the two sought refuge after being exiled from Cuba. The Castro brothers were preparing to return to Cuba with an expeditionary force in an attempt to overthrow General Fulgencio Batista, who had assumed dictatorial powers following a coup d'état during the 1952 presidential elections. Guevara quickly joined what became known as the "26th of July Movement".

Castro, Guevara, and 80 other guerrillas departed from Tuxpan, Veracruz, aboard the cabin cruiser Granma in November 1956. (The name was most likely a tribute to the grandmother of the previous owner, an American.) Guevara was the only non-Cuban aboard.

Shortly after disembarking in a swampy area near Niquero in the southeast, the expeditionary unit was attacked by Batista's forces. Only 12 rebels survived. Guevara, the group's physician, laid down his knapsack containing medical supplies in order to pick up a box of ammunition dropped by a fleeing comrade, a moment which he later recalled as marking his transition from doctor to combatant. [1] (http://www.patriagrande.net/cuba/
ernesto.che.guevara/pasajes.de.la.guerra.revolucionaria.htm)

The rebels slowly grew in strength, seizing weapons and winning support and recruits from the local peasants in rural areas and intellectuals and workers in urban areas. Guevara exhibited great courage, skill in combat, and ruthlessness and soon became one of Castro's ablest and most trusted aides. Guevara took responsibility for the execution of informers, insubordinates, deserters and spies in the revolutionary army. He personally executed Eutimio Guerra, a suspected Batista informant, with a single shot from his .32 caliber (7.65 mm, likely a Soviet-made Makarov) pistol.

Within months, Guevara rose to the highest rank, Comandante (Major), in the revolutionary army. His march on Santa Clara in late 1958, where his column derailed an armored train filled with Batista's troops and took over the city, was the final straw that forced Batista to flee the country. Guevara recorded the two years spent in overthrowing Batista's regime in a detailed account entitled Pasajes de la Guerra Revolucionaria (English translation, Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, 1968), first published in 1963.

Revolutionary government

After Castro's troops entered the capital of Havana on January 2, 1959, a new socialist government was established. Shortly thereafter, Guevara became a Cuban citizen and divorced his Peruvian wife, Hilda Gedea, with whom he had one daughter. Later, he married a member of Castro's army, Aleida March. The couple would have four children together.

Che Guevara became as prominent in the new government as he had been in the revolutionary army. After serving as the military commander of the La Cabana fort, Guevara became an official at the National Institute of Agrarian Reform, president of the National Bank of Cuba, and Minister of Industries. In this capacity, Guevara faced the challenge of adapting Cuba's capitalist agrarian economy into a socialist industrial economy. After negotiating a trade agreement with the Soviet Union in 1960, Guevara represented Cuba on many commercial missions and delegations to Soviet-aligned nations in Africa and Asia after the United States imposed an embargo on the nation.

In 1959, Guevara was appointed commander of the La Cabana Fortress prison. During his term as commander of the fortress from 1959-1963, he oversaw the executions of hundreds of political prisoners and regime opponents (estimates range from 500 to 1700). Many individuals imprisoned at La Cabana, such as poet and human rights activist Armando Valladares, allege that Guevara took particular and personal interest in the interrogation, torture, and execution of some prisoners.

Guevara helped guide the Castro regime on its leftward and pro-Communist path. An active participant in the economic and social reforms brought about by Castro's government, he became known in the West for his outspoken opposition to all forms of imperialism and neocolonialism and for his fiery attacks on U.S. foreign policy in Africa, Asia, and especially Latin America.

During this period, he defined Cuba's policies and his own views in many speeches, articles, letters, and essays, the most important of which are two books on guerrilla warfare. El socialismo y el hombre en Cuba (1965; Man and Socialism in Cuba (http://marxists.org/archive/guevara/1965/03/man-socialism.htm), 1967) is an examination of Cuba's new brand of socialism and Communist ideology. His highly influential manual on guerrilla strategy and tactics (English translation, Guerrilla Warfare, 1961) advocated peasant-based revolutionary movements in the developing countries.

Prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Guevara was part of a Cuban delegation to Moscow in early 1962 with Raúl Castro where he endorsed the planned placement of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Guevara believed that the placement of Soviet missiles would protect Cuba from any direct military action against it from the United States. Jon Lee Anderson reports that after the crisis Guevara told Sam Russell, a British correspondent for the socialist newspaper Daily Worker, that if the missiles had been under Cuban control, they would have fired them off.

Guevara's book, Guerrilla Warfare, was seen for a time as the definitive philosophy for fighting irregular wars. Guevara believed that a small group (foco) of guerrillas, by violently targeting the government, could actively foment revolutionary feelings among the general populace, so that it was not necessary to build broad organizations and advance the revolutionary struggle in measured steps before launching armed insurrection. However, the failure of his "Cuban Style" revolution in Bolivia was thought to have been due to his lack of grassroots support there, and hence this strategy is now thought by some to be ineffective.

Congo

He persuaded Castro to back him in the first, covert Cuban involvement in Africa. Guevara desired to first work with the pro-Lumumba, Marxist Simba movement in the former Belgian Congo (later Zaire and currently the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

In 1964, Guevara was assisted for a time in the former Belgian Congo by guerrilla leader Laurent Kabila, who helped Lumumba supporters lead a revolt that was eventually suppressed in 1965 by the Congolese army as well as the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Guevara dismissed Kabila as insignificant. "Nothing leads me to believe he is the man of the hour," Guevara wrote. [2] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1121068.stm)

Guevara was only 35 at that time and had never had any formal military training. His asthma prevented him from going in to military service in Argentina, a fact of which he was proud, given his opposition to the government. He had the experiences of the Cuban revolution, including his successful march on Santa Clara, Cuba, in late 1958, which was central to Batista finally being overthrown by Castro's forces. However, as Guevara was to discover, working under the direction of a gifted revolutionary leader does not make oneself a gifted revolutionary leader.

U.S. Army Special Forces advisors working with the Congolese army were able to monitor Guevara's communications, arrange to ambush the rebels and the Cubans whenever they attempted to attack, and interdict Guevara's supply lines. Guevara proved unable to supplant the native Simba leadership, and in fact was forced to place his troops under Simba command. Late that same year, ill, humiliated and with only a few survivors of the force he had brought into the country, Guevara left the Congo.

Disappearance from Cuba

After April 1965 Guevara dropped out of public life and then vanished altogether. Guevara was not seen in public after his return to Havana on March 14 from a three-month tour of the People's Republic of China, the United Arab Republic (Egypt), Algeria, Ghana, and Congo-Brazzaville. Guevara's whereabouts were the great mystery of 1965 in Cuba, as he was regarded as second in power to Castro himself.

His disappearance was variously attributed to the relative failure of the industrialization scheme he had advocated while minister of industry, to pressure exerted on Castro by Soviet officials disapproving of Guevara's pro-Chinese Communist outlook as the Sino-Soviet split grew more pronounced, and to serious differences between Guevara and the Cuban leadership regarding Cuba's economic development and ideological line.

Guevara's pro-Chinese orientation was increasingly problematic for Cuba as the Cuban economy became more and more dependent on the Soviet Union. Since the early days of the Cuban revolution Guevara had been considered an advocate of Maoist strategy in Latin America and the originator of a plan for swift industrialization of Cuba. According to Western observers of the Cuban situation, the fact that Guevara was opposed to Soviet recommendations that Castro seemed obliged to agree to might have been the reason for his disappearance.

Indeed, by this point Guevara had grown more skeptical of the Soviet Union. He saw the Northern Hemisphere, led by the U.S. in the West and the Soviets in the East, as the exploiter of the Southern Hemisphere. But he strongly supported the Communist side in the Vietnam War, despite North Vietnam's pro-Soviet position, and urged his comrades in South America to create "many Vietnams".

Pressed by international speculations on Guevara's fate, Castro said on June 16 that the people would be informed about Guevara when Guevara himself wished to let them know. Numerous rumors about his disappearance spread both inside and outside Cuba.

On October 3 of that year, Castro revealed an undated letter purportedly written to him by Guevara some months earlier in which Guevara reaffirmed his enduring solidarity with the Cuban Revolution but stated his intention to leave Cuba to fight abroad for the cause of the revolution. He explained that "other nations are calling for the help of my modest efforts" and that, having "always identified with the world outcome of our Revolution", he had decided to go and fight as a guerrilla in different parts of the world. In the letter Guevara announced his resignation from all his positions in the government, in the party, and in the Army, and renounced his Cuban citizenship, which had been granted to him in 1959 in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the revolution.

During an interview with four foreign correspondents on November 1, Castro remarked that he knew where Guevara was but that he would not disclose the place, and added, denying reports that his former comrade-in-arms was dead, that "he is in the best of health". Despite Castro's assurances the fate of Guevara remained a mystery at the end of 1965. Guevara's movements and whereabouts remained a secret for the next two years.

Bolivia

Speculation continued during the year as to the whereabouts of the former Minister of Industry and Director of the National Bank. In a speech at the May Day rally in Havana, the Acting Minister of the armed forces, Maj. Juan Almeida, announced that Guevara was "serving the revolution somewhere in Latin America". The persistent reports that he was assisting the guerrillas in Bolivia were ultimately proven true.

A parcel of jungle land in Nancahazu was purchased by native Bolivian Communists and turned over to him for use as a training area. The evidence suggests that this training was more hazardous than combat to Guevara and the Cubans accompanying him. Little was accomplished in the way of building a guerrilla army. On learning of his presence in Bolivia, President René Barrientos is alleged to have expressed the desire to see Guevara's head displayed on a pike in downtown La Paz. He ordered the Bolivian Army to hunt Guevara and his followers down.

Guevara's guerrillas, numbering about 120, were well equipped and scored a number of early successes in difficult terrain in the mountainous Camiri region of the country against Bolivian regulars. In September, however, the Army managed to eliminate two guerrilla groups, reportedly killing one of the leaders.

Guevara's hope of fomenting revolution in Bolivia appears to have been predicated upon a number of misconceptions. He had expected to deal only with the country's military government. However, there was a U.S. presence in Bolivia. After the U.S. government learned of his location, CIA operatives were sent into Bolivia to aid the anti-insurrection effort. He had expected to deal with a poorly trained and equipped national army. Instead, the Bolivian Army was being trained by U.S. Army Special Forces advisors, including a recently organized elite battalion of Rangers trained in jungle warfare. Guevara had also not received the expected assistance and cooperation from the local dissidents when he undertook his journey. Moreover, Bolivia's Moscow-oriented Communist Party did not aid him in the insurrection.

Guevara and his associates found themselves hamstrung in Bolivia by the American aid and military trainers to the Bolivian government and a lack of assistance from his allies. In addition, the CIA also helped anti-Castro Cuban exiles set up interrogation houses for those Bolivians thought to be assisting Guevara and/or his guerrillas. Some were tortured for information.

The Bolivians were notified of the location of Guevara's guerrilla encampment by a deserter. On October 8, the encampment was encircled and Guevara was captured while leading a patrol in the vicinity of La Higuera. His surrender was offered after being wounded in the legs and having his rifle destroyed by a bullet. According to soldiers present at the capture, during the skirmish as soldiers approached Guevara he allegedly shouted, "Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead". Barrientos ordered his execution immediately upon being informed of Guevara's capture. Guevara was executed; he was taken to an old schoolhouse and bound by his hands to a board. Che Guevara did have some last words before his death; he allegedly said to his executioner, "I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man". He was shot in the heart.

A CIA agent and veteran of the U.S. invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, Felix Rodriguez headed the hunt for Guevara in Bolivia. After hearing of Guevara's capture Rodriguez relayed the information to CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia via CIA stations in various South American nations. Although Rodriguez despised Guevara for his involvement in the execution of several of his own family members, he noted how bravely Guevara accepted his fate after his initial cowardice. After the execution, Rodriguez took Guevara's Rolex watch, often proudly showing it to reporters during the ensuing years. Rodriguez had removed Guevara's hands to send to different parts of the world to verify his identity.

A side issue connected with the guerrillas was the arrest and trial of Régis Debray. In April 1967 government forces captured Debray, a young French Marxist theoretician and writer, and accused him of collaborating with the guerrillas. Debray claimed that he had merely been acting as a reporter, and that Che, who had mysteriously disappeared several years earlier, was leading the guerrillas.

As Debray's trial-which had become an international cause celebre-was beginning in early October, Bolivian authorities on October 11 reported that Guevara had been shot and killed in an engagement with government forces on October 9. The former Cuban leader's body was publicly displayed and photographed, and fingerprints were offered as proof of identification.

On October 15 Castro admitted that the death had occurred and proclaimed three days of public mourning throughout Cuba. The death of Guevara was regarded as a severe blow to the socialist revolutionary movements throughout Latin America.

In 1997, the skeletal remains of Guevara's body were exhumed, positively identified by DNA matching and returned to Cuba, where he is revered as a heroic revolutionary leader. On the 12 July 1997 Guevara's remains were buried with full military honours in the city of Santa Clara, in the province of Las Villas, where Guevara won the decisive battle of the Cuban Revolution.

The Bolivian Diary

Also removed was Guevara's diary, which outlined the guerrilla war being fought in Bolivia. It tells of the group being forced to begin operations due to discovery by the Bolivian Army, the eventual split of the group, and the general failure of the guerrillas. It shows the split between Guevara and the Bolivian Communist Party that resulted in Guevara having significantly fewer soldiers than originally anticipated. It shows that Guevara had a great deal of difficulty recruiting from the local populace, due mainly to the fact that the guerrilla group had learned Quechua and not the local language. As the campaign drew to an unexpected close, Guevara became increasingly ill. He suffered from asthma, and most of his last offensives were carried out to obtain medicine.

The Bolivian Diary was quickly and crudely translated by Ramparts magazine and circulated around the world. Fidel Castro has denied involvement with this.

Hero cult

While pictures of Guevara's dead body were being circulated and the circumstances of his death were being debated, Guevara's legend began to spread. Demonstrations in protest against his assassination occurred throughout the world, and articles, tributes, and poems were written about his life and death.

Even liberal elements that felt little sympathy with Guevara's Communist ideals during his lifetime expressed admiration for his spirit of self-sacrifice. He is singled out from other revolutionaries by many young people in the West because he rejected a comfortable background to fight for global revolution. And when he gained power in Cuba, he gave up all the trappings of privilege and power in Cuba in order to return to the revolutionary battlefield and ultimately, to die.

In the late 1960s, he became a popular icon for revolution and youthful political ideals in Western culture. A dramatic photograph of Guevara taken by photographer Alberto Korda [3] (http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Month/korda.htm) in 1961 (see Che Guevara (photo)) soon became one of the century's most recognizable images, and the portrait was simplified and reproduced on a vast array of merchandise, such as T-shirts, posters, and baseball caps. Guevara's reputation even extended into theatre, where he is depicted as the narrator in the musical Evita. This portrays Guevara as becoming disillusioned with Eva Perón and her dictator husband, Juan Domingo Perón because of Peron's increasing corruption and tyranny. It was written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The narrator role involves creative license, because Guevara's only interaction with Eva Perón was to write her a facetious letter in his youth, asking for a jeep. Called "the most complete human being of our age" by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Guevara's supporters believe he may yet prove to be the most important thinker and activist in Latin America since Simón Bolívar, leader of the South American independence movement and hero to subsequent generations of nationalists throughout Latin America.

Diarios de motocicleta
Starring Gael Garcia Bernal

The Motorcycle Diaries is also a 2004 film, based on Guevara's book, as well as Granado's Con el Che por America Latina. The film debuted in Sundance Film Festival 2004 and was later screened in Cannes as a film in competition, and it won three awards: François Chalais Award, a Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and a Technical Grand Prize. It was also nominated for two Academy Awards in 2005 for Best Original Song and Best Adapted Screenplay.

berserk

I’m back on the grid in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a weekend in Amsterdam. Marye and I departed from MN on Friday and arrived Saturday morning at Schipol where soon thereafter we met Kate and Kofi. We stayed at a bed and breakfast near Leidseplein, a plaza surrounded by many bars and restaurants. We traversed nearly the entire center city on foot, stopping at cafes/bars to rest our dogs and sample the local food: oliebollen, broodje kroket, bitterballen, frites, gevulde koeken, and bier (although the best beer I had was an opaque Irish stout at Dan Murphy’s Irish Pub). We walked by Vondelpark, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, outdoor markets, the red light district, and a Ghanaian coffee shop. We also took a canal tour and watched a show about butt augmentation. Kofi had to work on Monday, so we said our goodbyes after we walked with him to the tram stop at 6am. Marye is staying the rest of this week.

Last week I spent Wednesday and Thursday at the 2005 Minnesota Air, Waste, Water Conference. It was great. I attended seven sessions.

Keynote Address, Ron Nargang, Minnesota Director of The Nature Conservancy
1. Dry Cleaner's Separator Waste, Parts Washers, Solvent Recycling
2. Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and Problem Materials
3. Agricultural Non-Point Water Quality Issues
4. Brownfields
5. How Should We Deal with Pharmaceutical Wastes?
6. State Policy for Managing Waste Electronics
7. Meth Issues: How Clean is Clean, Waste Management

More on those later.

In the news:

Dimitri and Kara Drekonja are the proud parents of Andreas Maximilian Drekonja, born 2/13/05, weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces.

The Mac distance squad has unleashed a few good times on the short track. Good job fellas. Also, Metzdorff from Hamline is running like an ancient Scandinavian warrior frenzied in battle.

I almost forgot. Check out the blog of Aaron Ritz. There's an Alf spotting, and it's hilarious.

* I had to come back and add this to the post: Carl Eller sat next to me on the light rail last night.

the inexorable force of human nature

I added permanent links to two new blogs. One is Nate's blog. Nate works with Marye at Senator Dayton's office. Nate's blog kicks ass. It is hilarious and informative. The other addition is Chris Mitchell's blog. Chris graduated from Macalester in 2001. He is what Klinker calls a "dirty hippy."

Books: Check Them Out At Your Local Library

While in transit to work, I have been reading The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. JC has rich diction and syntax. Here's a passage about an anarchist, the professor, walking through the city, dismayed by his inability to effect change:

"He was in a long, straight street, peopled by a mere fraction of an immense multitude; but all round him, on and on, even to the limits of the horizon hidden by the enormous piles of bricks, he felt the mass of mankind mighty in its numbers. They swarmed numerous like locusts, industrious like ants, thoughtless like a natural force, pushing on blind and orderly and absorbed, impervious to sentiment, to logic, to terror, too, perhaps."

I am also reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I have always wanted to read this book, but I didn't actually pick it up until I was inspired to do so by Aaron Ritz. It's a great book.

In other news, I took a hit to my manliness when I found out my neck is not twenty inches.

Minnesota Sports Update

Flip Saunders was fired by Kevin McHale, who has taken over as head coach of the Timberwolves. Remember the Joe Smith debacle. Thanks McHale.

Red McCombs accepted a purchase offer from Reggie Fowler to buy the Vikings, pending approval.

Mark Dayton

I need to keep peeps up to date on Minnesota news. U.S. Senator Mark Dayton announced earlier this week he would not seek reelection. Dayton was concerned about his ability to raise funds and, I think, his odds of winning the seat for Democrats.

In reflection upon his announcement, I am saddened by several things:

1. The amount of money it takes to win an election, regardless of your
affiliation. Mark estimated he needed $15 million, while it is
estimated that $40 million will flow in for the Republican candidate.
So, you either have to be personally wealthy, sell your self to
special interest, tap into party funds at a state and national level,
or perform a miracle of outreach to the indifferent masses. Many
average people resent Mark for his personal wealth and ivy league
education, ignoring the fact that he has dedicated his life to civil
service and selflessly invested his time and money to improve the
lives of those who have less. To me, that seems honorable, not
despicable.

2. Debased ad hominem attacks and shitty media coverage. Mudslinging
is always effective. People are ignorant and eager to grasp onto
incendiary dollops of hearsay. The masses love tabloid headline news
about putative personal idiosyncrasies, which they consider more
important and more representative of a person's character than
politically germane ideas and actions directly affecting lives. The
masses will remember Mark's solo action of evacuating his Capitol Hill
office in October in response to a possible terrorist threat. People
will remember Mark calling Condi Rice a liar. Most of all, people will
draw from their vague memories a sense that Mark was a strange fellow,
uncomfortable in the spotlight, awkward around people, maladroit when
speaking.

3. Unctuous style always defeats dry substance. Ahem, Norm Coleman.

big government pussy republicans

Republicans have small balls. Seriously, cut some programs and cut spending. A big deficit is big government. Are you forgetting who pays for the debt.

Where are my tax dollars going?

2004 federal budget estimates

24.2% health and human services
23.8% social security
17.5% national debt
16.0% defense

Those four total 81.5% of the budget.

Hey small balls, are you looking for a scapegoat.

"Republicans have a stronger level of control over both houses of Congress. They have a re-elected and confident president. They have run out of excuses as to why they haven't controlled spending. The budget ratchet is their problem. If they don't cut spending, it will not be because they can't. It will be because they don't want to."

Name the source of that quote.

Granted, Republicans are making nominal program cuts, cuts that affect thousands of poor people. However, the distinction between a Republican and a Democrat seems blurry, discounting the issues of abortion and gay marriage. Republicans prefer deficit spending. Democrats prefer spending the money of wealthy people.

One distinction may be that Republicans tax me more to fund their United States of America World Police Department. Maybe I think there is a better way to defend the United States. Maybe I think this because I don't lie in bed next to my night-light whimpering and slobbering and on the verge of pissing myself because I'm so fucking scared.

Motorcycle Diaries

Marye and I watched a picture show called Motorcycle Diaries at the Riverview Theater. We didn't know what the movie was about, and we certainly didn't know the dialogue was to be in en Espanol, with English subtitles. The movie is about a young Che Guevara, born Ernesto Guevara, nicknamed Fuser. Ernesto, a medical school student, and his friend Alberto, a biochemist, left Argentina on an old motor bike called The Mighty One. The two of them planned to travel eight thousand kilometers across South America in an exploration of land and humanity, a journey of the self in a search for meaning and direction. Their path took them north out of Buenos Aires, across Argentina, into Chile, through the Andes, into Peru, down the Amazon, and eventually to Venezuela. As one can expect from two young men on the road, there are a lot of swears and the pursuit of women. And it's humorous. Swears and testosterone aside, the focus of the movie is injustice. Ernesto has a deep desire to help people. Ernesto sees peeps persecuted for their political beliefs, and by peeps I mean communists. Ernesto sees indigenous peeps forced off their land, driven away from their way of life in the name of progress by means of capitalism. The South American landscape was beautiful. The images and the stories of the people were powerful. The audience was moved. After the movie was over, the audience went home to repose and security, but remained deeply moved.

I went home and thought:
Who is Che Guevara?
What is injustice?

baltimore homicide and sagging in virginia

Baltimore Streets Meaner, but Message Is Mixed: Baltimore’s homicide rate is going up, but you’re safe if you are not a drug dealer or criminal.

Fines for 'droopy drawers' backed: Virginia votes to fine those who sag their pants so low you can see their underwear.

super bowl

klinker, kris, paul, eliot, tim, laura, and chanda joined us for a super party on sunday. we watched the super bowl and feasted on sloppy joes.

my favorite commercial was the fedex/kinkos commercial.

a successful commercial must have ten things:
1. celebrity
2. animal
3. dancing animal
4. talking animal
5. cute kid
6. groin kick
7. attractive females
8. classic song
9. product message
10. funny ending

i was also offended by many of the things i saw on tv while watching the super bowl.

things i was most offended by:
4. the erectile dysfunction commercials
3. the prominent pneumatic busts and cleavage of the cheerleaders
2. the patriots allowed a player with the last name of gay to play
1. fox did not censor the player with the last name of gay, thus pushing the gay agenda

what am i supposed to tell my kids.

home improvement

a while ago my dad visited our house to lead the way in a home improvement project. we wanted to replace the cabinet in our main level bathroom. the short, wide, rust-speckled cabinet housed the bathroom’s only electrical outlet and two fluorescent bulbs, one of which was not working (bad ballast). we found a tall, narrow, tri-fold mirror cabinet at home despot. we also purchased a brushed-nickel light fixture with three bell-shaped lights to mount above the mirror. first, we used a multimeter to test outlet voltage and figure out circuit destinations. the old lady who previously labeled the circuits wasn't keen on universal detail, for example, labels read something like “outlet by the blue chair” or “vacuum outlet.” next, we formulated our plan. most of the wiring in our house has no ground wire and we wanted the bathroom wiring to be grounded. we planned to replace the old bathroom wiring and switch it over onto another circuit. we found one circuit that ran from our circuit breaker up to an electrical outlet on the east end upstairs; that one outlet was the only thing on the circuit. after consulting with area expert eric klinker, we decided to buy 3/8 inch flexible EMT (electrical metallic tubing) with 12 gauge black, white, and green wires prepackaged within. we bought extra ground wire to fish from the circuit breaker through a conduit to the junction box of interest in the basement. from the site of this junction box we ran flexible EMT up to the crawl space in the attic. since we were replacing the wiring, this was accomplished by taping one end of the new wire to the end of the old wire and then pulling the wire up. we also ran two sets of wire (for light switch and electrical outlet) up from the bathroom light switch to the attic and one from the bathroom light to the attic. so, now we had a lot of loose ends everywhere. we made pigtails, used wire nuts, and successfully completed the circuit. we used a rotozip to cut out a bigger hole in the wall to accommodate the height of the new cabinet. we smoothed the sides using a rasp. then we filled in the excess width with 2x4 pieces. we leveled the bottom, using lath as shims under an oak board we found in the attic. we put up a little drywall to tidy up the hole in the wall. then we placed the cabinet in the hole and anchored it with some wood screws and molly bolts. the finishing touches involved applying a few tiles and caulking around the cabinet. voila. thanks dad.

brief

an advertisement i saw:

cavemen
no escalators
no cars
no love handles

acronym defined by klinker:
peta
people enjoying tasty animals

nice.

Who is the Matrix?

Marye and I went to a Timberwolves versus Phoenix Suns game last night. As you may know, Phoenix is a very exciting team to watch. Marion, Nash, Stoudemire, Richardson, Johnson, Jackson. The Wolves got throttled. Each team reached 60 points. Unfortunately, the Suns' total score at halftime was 60 and the Wolves total score at the end of the third quarter was 60. At one point during the third quarter the score was 95-55. That's right. Throttled. Steve Nash is a great point guard. Great assists and skanky running fifteen footers off one leg. Phoenix is flash lighting. There were a lot of dunks and a lot of threes. I don't quite know what to say about the Wolves. They were completely enervated.

shu

So I went to Shu on Grand Avenue to buy a new pair of shoes because my feet are growing. Seriously, my shoes don’t fit any more. The young woman asked me what size shoe I wear. I said I usually wear a 10.5 or 11.0 but I needed something longer. I tried on a comfortable pair of black Ecco dress shoes. Nice. Let the feet be happy. I told her the shoes felt good, and it was crazy my feet were growing, maybe it’s because I’ve gained a lot of weight and my feet are spreading out. “Well, you don’t look like you’ve gained weight.” At this point, Marye started laughing uncontrollably, perhaps because of the irony, since I do weigh the most I’ve ever weighed in my life. Prompted by Marye’s laughter and my look of bewilderment (picture furrowed brow and lips shaped as if to whistle), the young woman offered an apology, and said it’s not a bad thing. I'm exotic.