Thursday morning, the mutts are mostly sleeping; I'm really wanting to write a blog about "the true face of evil" and the little ones I'm babysitting this weekend, but my heart really just isn't in it. I've been scouring the politics & economy forums, and coming up largely disgusted.
The more I read, the more I discover that this really isn't as partisan as either side wants to make it out to be, although the Republicans probably *do* carry the lions share of the blame for the current mess we are in. The Democrats are certainly not without blame; both sides had a bit of a stake in things for completely different reasons, and the sooner both parties can admit to that, the sooner we can start getting out of the mess we're in.
Democrats. You were the ones wanting the lower income families to have the means to get into a home, and were willing to look the other way at a lot of the practices going on in order to see that end met. I can think of worse reasons to do the wrong thing, but don't EVEN pretend that there wasn't more than a bit of complicity here.
Republicans. Shit ...I don't see how you guys have a leg to stand on here with all the drum-beating about deregulation for the last how many years?! On scouring the message boards, I only saw one person who tried to throw out the argument that too much regulation caused this crisis in the first place. I get a kick out of people like that ...they throw it out there, and not one single person would even TOUCH it. Might as well have been saying the Martians that infiltrated the Fed caused it.
Fact is, both sides had a stake in it. Any denying that is just partisan blinders and finger-pointing, none of which actually helps the problem.
I guess one of my largest regrets was staying away from politics for so long. I lean heavily to the Democratic side of the equation, but I only got that way after becoming disabled. I supported Bush right up until the Downing Street Memo came out, and then I lost all faith in him. Everything that came after only cemented it, but I don't think he's the evil monster just trying to line the fat cats wallets. C'mon folks! ...he's the President, not Snidely Whiplash. Do I think there were a lot of hidden agenda's going on? well DUH ...but that doesn't mean they are evil creatures. Odds are pretty good they THOUGHT they were doing the right thing. Of course that doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make it an act of malevolence either.
One of my favorite free-market bloggers just came out last week saying that he was having to revise his entire philosophy over this crisis. He stood by and cheered the free-market stuff, and TRULY is an educated guy on the matter, and I just gotta respect a person willing to stand back and take a hard look.
I've always said that every person needs to be able to look at their life and their beliefs and ask themselves the serious question: what would it take to convince me that I was wrong? I've been down that road ...twice. It isn't easy to do, and it generally means a core change in everything about you and how you view the world around you. Sometimes it comes easily, sometimes not.
Earlier in the year during the primaries, I had voiced a lot of concern about Hillary for president. Personally, I thought that she would have been a great president ...but kinda bad for the country as a whole due to her polarizing nature. I may have voted for her, but would have been a tough choice. Contrary to partisan belief, I don't think McCain would spell doom for the country even now. I just don't see how any Republican can talk bad about Kerry 4 years later about flipping on issues after listening to McCain though.
OMG ...and don't even start me about Palin. Gods ...I watched her very short interview with Couric last night and was MORTIFIED at the thought of her actually having even the possibility of becoming commander in chief! Fuck ...and I keep hearing the supporters talking about how Couric was too hard on her, yet I know fucking well that Hillary was on O'Reilley Factor. HOW FUCKING FAIR DO THEY HAVE TO BE?!?! ...Christ, if they can't spit out an answer that looks even remotely valid or coherent even from a hostile interviewer, do we really want to give them access to the button?! This isn't partisan at all, this is just GOOD FUCKING SENSE.
So yeah ...I'm Obama all the way, and at this point I just can't see how he can lose.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
storms, numbers, and how to be an irreverant fuck
So just to have a little bit of fun with death, I think I should write a bit about the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.
Apparently, a lot of the country has trouble with the fact that so many of the people in Southeast TX ignored the mandatory evacuation order and stayed behind. I'm not one of the types who is going to throw any stones at the people who decided to ride it out; people have lots of reasons for doing what they do. Some of them probably stink to high heaven, but until we walk a mile in their shoes, I find it a bit pointless to play that hypothetical game of "If I were a totally different person with a completely different personality living under conditions that I'm not even remotely familiar enough with to guess at, I would have done THIS!"
The world runs rampant with stupidity, and to date, there is no known cure. It comes in many forms; this was only one of many.
I've always liked numbers, although to be honest I kinda suck at math. Number manipulation has served people so well though ...I think I'll hop on that particular bandwagon for this post. (and PLEASE, nobody take me too seriously here ..it's called "gallows humor" for Pete's sake!)
So let's take a look at the numbers. Roughly 90% of the population left for Ike, leaving about 140,000 who decided to ride it out. Out of that 140K, there have been over 2000 rescues reported. Meaning so far, that about 3% of the people who remained chose VERY unwisely (about .3% of the actual population, which is probably pretty close to the percentage of "village idiots" pretty well anywhere). Although some people might LIKE to think that the other 97% are merely WAITING for rescue, I think anyone with a brain knows this probably isn't the case. I'm sure a good 50% or more rode it out and came out reasonably okay (meaning at least intact enough to start working on assessing the damage); given the fact that the 90% who evacuated aren't being allowed to return, I wonder how many of THEM might wish they would have stayed by the time they ARE allowed back in (uncertainty is such a terrible thing where one's home is concerned). It also might be interesting to find out what percentage were people who merely felt like they couldn't afford to leave, vs those who just thought they know their house well enough to try to stick it out.
As of this morning, Ike has been blamed for 26 deaths, 5 of which were in or around Galveston. Two of those deaths were in Tennessee, and were a couple of golfers who had a tree fall on them, so almost (not quite) 10% of the death toll as of this morning were golf-related fatalities, while less than 3% of the people who chose to remain in a hurricane zone actually required rescue.
I wonder if those golfers were discussing how stupid them Texas folk were for ignoring evacuation orders when the tree fell on them?
Apparently, a lot of the country has trouble with the fact that so many of the people in Southeast TX ignored the mandatory evacuation order and stayed behind. I'm not one of the types who is going to throw any stones at the people who decided to ride it out; people have lots of reasons for doing what they do. Some of them probably stink to high heaven, but until we walk a mile in their shoes, I find it a bit pointless to play that hypothetical game of "If I were a totally different person with a completely different personality living under conditions that I'm not even remotely familiar enough with to guess at, I would have done THIS!"
The world runs rampant with stupidity, and to date, there is no known cure. It comes in many forms; this was only one of many.
I've always liked numbers, although to be honest I kinda suck at math. Number manipulation has served people so well though ...I think I'll hop on that particular bandwagon for this post. (and PLEASE, nobody take me too seriously here ..it's called "gallows humor" for Pete's sake!)
So let's take a look at the numbers. Roughly 90% of the population left for Ike, leaving about 140,000 who decided to ride it out. Out of that 140K, there have been over 2000 rescues reported. Meaning so far, that about 3% of the people who remained chose VERY unwisely (about .3% of the actual population, which is probably pretty close to the percentage of "village idiots" pretty well anywhere). Although some people might LIKE to think that the other 97% are merely WAITING for rescue, I think anyone with a brain knows this probably isn't the case. I'm sure a good 50% or more rode it out and came out reasonably okay (meaning at least intact enough to start working on assessing the damage); given the fact that the 90% who evacuated aren't being allowed to return, I wonder how many of THEM might wish they would have stayed by the time they ARE allowed back in (uncertainty is such a terrible thing where one's home is concerned). It also might be interesting to find out what percentage were people who merely felt like they couldn't afford to leave, vs those who just thought they know their house well enough to try to stick it out.
As of this morning, Ike has been blamed for 26 deaths, 5 of which were in or around Galveston. Two of those deaths were in Tennessee, and were a couple of golfers who had a tree fall on them, so almost (not quite) 10% of the death toll as of this morning were golf-related fatalities, while less than 3% of the people who chose to remain in a hurricane zone actually required rescue.
I wonder if those golfers were discussing how stupid them Texas folk were for ignoring evacuation orders when the tree fell on them?
Sunday, September 14, 2008
After the storm passes
So the coming week will begin to assess the damages to Galveston and Houston, and I certainly hope that the loss in life will stay in the lower range.
I don't tend to like to deal in hypotheticals very much; that whole "If I were a different person with a totally different personality under circumstances completely different than my own, I would have done THIS!" is such a futile exercise. The simple truth is that none of us really know for sure what we would do in a given situation until it actually happens to us. "All the best laid plans of mice and men" and all ...no matter how strong the planning is, it seldom works out just as we envisioned it.
I'm speaking of course, about those folks who didn't heed the mandatory evacuation order in Southeast Texas for Ike. The folks made a bad choice, and believe it or not; they ARE living with the consequences of their actions! As of this morning, the death toll is only 4, but I'm willing to bet it will climb a lot higher in the next week. I'm not completely sure about this, but I don't think you can pay a much higher price than that.
I've watched the video of some of the people that stuck it out and had to be rescued; I've even sat back and murmured "what a fucking moron" under my breath while listening to a few of them. Everyone has their reasons, and looking at it in the rearview mirror is always the best time to determine whether they were shitty ones or not; exactly when you can't do a fucking thing about it! Does this mean they deserve what they got?
Of course not; nobody deserves that kind of thing, no matter HOW foolish! If everyone got what they deserved, it sure might be a more interesting world. YIKES!
I wonder if the people who ignored the evacuation order for Gustav interviewed the next day would say they regretted not leaving "just in case?" I wonder how many of the people who stayed were just tapped out after they DID heed the evacuation order for Gustav and simply couldn't afford it a second time? How many of them were just fucking idiots? ...well in the rearview, it's kinda easy to say ALL of them! The fact is though, we don't know their situations; none of the recriminations I'm hearing from officials and the media will change that either. I'm sure quite a few of them have nothing better than "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time," but I bet there are plenty who just felt helpless and without choice too. I bet we won't see very many interviews with the people who would still say "I just couldn't do it" even after the fact.
And for good reason.
I'm not so naive I don't fully understand the really strong tone being taken; this kind of behavior doesn't need to be encouraged by our officials. I'm sad to say that I bet it IS being encouraged in a much more insidious way that is probably impossible to combat. Every time that bet pans out, and it turns out to NOT be the big deal it was played up to be ...those people are the heroes (especially in their own minds), and we all know how everyone loves a winner. He's not a frickin' idiot for not leaving "just in case" when it turns out to be nothing. How many greeted their returning neighbors after Gustav calling them a "bunch of pussies" and were greeted by some who may have felt a bit sheepish for hauling ass when it turned out to be nothing. If you are poor as dirt, and couldn't afford that involuntary "vacation" in the first place, how much MORE bitter would that sting be?
I just think about myself a handful of days ago with the top half of my engine torn off and waiting for parts to come in. The second evacuation order in a month goes out, and I'm on a fixed income (we'll need to ignore the fact that some of my credit card limits are higher than most of the people who stayed probably make in a year, and that I have family who would come get me on a moments notice); I've spent all of my disposable money for the month on parts, and the free bus ride out to a shelter won't allow me to take my muttifer along.
Presto ...I may well have just become one of those "idiots" myself!
...it really isn't hard for me to understand some situations, and I hope people can try to avoid using such a broad brush when labeling those unfortunates who lost that particular dice-roll. I know a woman who ran upstairs into her burning house to try to save her little dog; she was overcome by the smoke and rescued by firefighters with over 60% of her body burned (and the dog didn't make it). I asked her about that much later on, and she admitted that although it probably wasn't the wisest decision she had ever made ...in the same circumstances and without foresight, she'd probably still do the same thing again. I'd be willing to bet there will be a few of those even after Ike, although I doubt we hear much from them (like I said before, I don't completely see that as a bad thing when viewing the larger picture).
So I'm a bit annoyed with the really harsh tone being taken towards the people who stayed. I'm not so annoyed as to think that they shouldn't be taking the harsh tone; I just find it distasteful is all. I'm much more annoyed at the purely hateful tones I hear out of some people who have never lived in a place that is prone to natural disaster. I just think that people need to find compassion, and understand that life is seldom as black and white as we often wish it were. "If they choose to live on the coast, they should be ready to evacuate" sounds all good and fine when you aren't the person living there, or have the income to do it. For all we know, maybe the last 5 generations of their family have lived there, and picking up and leaving just isn't a consideration for them. Perhaps they are living paycheck to paycheck, and just can't afford to move. The fact is, we just don't know anything about them, other than they made a choice that was, in retrospect, EXTREMELY unwise.
We all gamble with our lives each day every time we walk across the street or get into a car. We all do stupid shit, and at some time or another, we all pay for it in one way or another.
I just ask we all bear that in mind before throwing too many stones.
I don't tend to like to deal in hypotheticals very much; that whole "If I were a different person with a totally different personality under circumstances completely different than my own, I would have done THIS!" is such a futile exercise. The simple truth is that none of us really know for sure what we would do in a given situation until it actually happens to us. "All the best laid plans of mice and men" and all ...no matter how strong the planning is, it seldom works out just as we envisioned it.
I'm speaking of course, about those folks who didn't heed the mandatory evacuation order in Southeast Texas for Ike. The folks made a bad choice, and believe it or not; they ARE living with the consequences of their actions! As of this morning, the death toll is only 4, but I'm willing to bet it will climb a lot higher in the next week. I'm not completely sure about this, but I don't think you can pay a much higher price than that.
I've watched the video of some of the people that stuck it out and had to be rescued; I've even sat back and murmured "what a fucking moron" under my breath while listening to a few of them. Everyone has their reasons, and looking at it in the rearview mirror is always the best time to determine whether they were shitty ones or not; exactly when you can't do a fucking thing about it! Does this mean they deserve what they got?
Of course not; nobody deserves that kind of thing, no matter HOW foolish! If everyone got what they deserved, it sure might be a more interesting world. YIKES!
I wonder if the people who ignored the evacuation order for Gustav interviewed the next day would say they regretted not leaving "just in case?" I wonder how many of the people who stayed were just tapped out after they DID heed the evacuation order for Gustav and simply couldn't afford it a second time? How many of them were just fucking idiots? ...well in the rearview, it's kinda easy to say ALL of them! The fact is though, we don't know their situations; none of the recriminations I'm hearing from officials and the media will change that either. I'm sure quite a few of them have nothing better than "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time," but I bet there are plenty who just felt helpless and without choice too. I bet we won't see very many interviews with the people who would still say "I just couldn't do it" even after the fact.
And for good reason.
I'm not so naive I don't fully understand the really strong tone being taken; this kind of behavior doesn't need to be encouraged by our officials. I'm sad to say that I bet it IS being encouraged in a much more insidious way that is probably impossible to combat. Every time that bet pans out, and it turns out to NOT be the big deal it was played up to be ...those people are the heroes (especially in their own minds), and we all know how everyone loves a winner. He's not a frickin' idiot for not leaving "just in case" when it turns out to be nothing. How many greeted their returning neighbors after Gustav calling them a "bunch of pussies" and were greeted by some who may have felt a bit sheepish for hauling ass when it turned out to be nothing. If you are poor as dirt, and couldn't afford that involuntary "vacation" in the first place, how much MORE bitter would that sting be?
I just think about myself a handful of days ago with the top half of my engine torn off and waiting for parts to come in. The second evacuation order in a month goes out, and I'm on a fixed income (we'll need to ignore the fact that some of my credit card limits are higher than most of the people who stayed probably make in a year, and that I have family who would come get me on a moments notice); I've spent all of my disposable money for the month on parts, and the free bus ride out to a shelter won't allow me to take my muttifer along.
Presto ...I may well have just become one of those "idiots" myself!
...it really isn't hard for me to understand some situations, and I hope people can try to avoid using such a broad brush when labeling those unfortunates who lost that particular dice-roll. I know a woman who ran upstairs into her burning house to try to save her little dog; she was overcome by the smoke and rescued by firefighters with over 60% of her body burned (and the dog didn't make it). I asked her about that much later on, and she admitted that although it probably wasn't the wisest decision she had ever made ...in the same circumstances and without foresight, she'd probably still do the same thing again. I'd be willing to bet there will be a few of those even after Ike, although I doubt we hear much from them (like I said before, I don't completely see that as a bad thing when viewing the larger picture).
So I'm a bit annoyed with the really harsh tone being taken towards the people who stayed. I'm not so annoyed as to think that they shouldn't be taking the harsh tone; I just find it distasteful is all. I'm much more annoyed at the purely hateful tones I hear out of some people who have never lived in a place that is prone to natural disaster. I just think that people need to find compassion, and understand that life is seldom as black and white as we often wish it were. "If they choose to live on the coast, they should be ready to evacuate" sounds all good and fine when you aren't the person living there, or have the income to do it. For all we know, maybe the last 5 generations of their family have lived there, and picking up and leaving just isn't a consideration for them. Perhaps they are living paycheck to paycheck, and just can't afford to move. The fact is, we just don't know anything about them, other than they made a choice that was, in retrospect, EXTREMELY unwise.
We all gamble with our lives each day every time we walk across the street or get into a car. We all do stupid shit, and at some time or another, we all pay for it in one way or another.
I just ask we all bear that in mind before throwing too many stones.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
patterns in the sand
I'm remembering a blog comment I wrote to a girl once who wrote on the subject of guys thinking that she wasn't "for real" because her pictures looked just a little bit "too good."
Now I should admit that I kinda know the gal, although at the time I really didn't that well. She *is* an extremely attractive girl, and her favorite pictures of herself were indeed modeled (to be fair, she's probably even cuter than her pictures)! But this is a conundrum in online life. We "Joe-Average" guys probably wouldn't give her a second glance on the basis of her pictures, merely because she looked just a little bit "too good to be true" ...and most of the time, a girl who looks like that DOES tend to be fake. So what you often are left with are the morons and the trolls.
So this little observation rolls around to more little innuendos about something in my past that has been in my head lately.
Tracy was her name. She was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, and worked as a bartender at a little pub I frequented when I was going to college. She was my friend in the club, and even outside of it to a certain extent. Meaning that I was her friend when she needed the "consolation prize" if her "other plans" didn't pan out for the most part. We seemed to perpetually have a lunch date that never happened. She stood me up maybe twice for a lunch date, and then after that, it kinda became a joke to me once I figured out what the score was. I bet I made a hundred lunch dates with her over the years, and after that second time I'm willing to bet that she never showed up for any of them either (I never asked). As I recall, there was another gentleman that hung out there that also had a similar "arrangement" with her as well, and he and I often joked about it.
I don't give third chances about that sort of thing, but I *was* absolutely passive-aggressive enough at the time to keep on making the dates even though I had absolutely no intention of showing up for them. This all changed with me when I saw the aftermath from somebody else she did this to who took her a bit more seriously than I did though. An 80 some-odd year old patron of the club was absolutely broken hearted when Tracy stood her up for a lunch date. The old gal took it okay the first time ...but then the SECOND time, the old gal was in the bar actually in tears over it! That was the point it became no longer funny to me, and I just quit doing it.
I guess I should have mentioned that Tracy didn't have an ounce of malice in her heart about such things; she REALLY was just that much of a flake! She honestly had no clue that people could actually be hurt by this kind of thing, and I suspect that her looks had given her such a free ride though most of her life that it probably never even occurred to her. She could be dumped on and hurt by every loser boyfriend she ever had over the years that I knew her, but apparently her own actions never had anything to do with it.
So in a nutshell ...she was fucking NUTS! The one redeeming quality she had was that she was fucking HOT! ...and a dude will overlook a hell of a lot when you have a chick that looks like she did! Until the tide of years start to catch up anyway. I honestly hate to think about where she might be in life about now...
When I reflect back on it now, I see so many complexities in our (faux) relationship that I never thought much about at the time. I've always had self-image problems, and my childhood isn't one I tend to care much about going into. I went through severe chronic depression for way too many years, and as I look back on the situation with Tracy through older eyes I see how I managed to reinforce many of those flaws in myself.
On the plus side, she was fucking hot, and I loved to be seen with her ...it was a hell of an ego-booster! She was also pretty SAFE when the factors began adding up; I didn't trust her, so she really couldn't hurt me all that much. But truth be told; she could hurt me, and she did hurt me though! Through all my pretty words about the not taking things seriously, I probably would have jumped off a bridge for her if I had thought there was even the slightest real chance she'd have really even considered me.
That's a tough pill to swallow, but if I had had an ounce of self-respect at the time; one would think I would have just dumped that "friendship" like a hotcake! I certainly hope that I've grown past that sort of thing, but in recent days I started to see an unsettling reflection of those events in something a little more current. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but since this old memory is dredging up, that doesn't tend to be a good sign.
Ain't life odd at times?
Now I should admit that I kinda know the gal, although at the time I really didn't that well. She *is* an extremely attractive girl, and her favorite pictures of herself were indeed modeled (to be fair, she's probably even cuter than her pictures)! But this is a conundrum in online life. We "Joe-Average" guys probably wouldn't give her a second glance on the basis of her pictures, merely because she looked just a little bit "too good to be true" ...and most of the time, a girl who looks like that DOES tend to be fake. So what you often are left with are the morons and the trolls.
So this little observation rolls around to more little innuendos about something in my past that has been in my head lately.
Tracy was her name. She was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, and worked as a bartender at a little pub I frequented when I was going to college. She was my friend in the club, and even outside of it to a certain extent. Meaning that I was her friend when she needed the "consolation prize" if her "other plans" didn't pan out for the most part. We seemed to perpetually have a lunch date that never happened. She stood me up maybe twice for a lunch date, and then after that, it kinda became a joke to me once I figured out what the score was. I bet I made a hundred lunch dates with her over the years, and after that second time I'm willing to bet that she never showed up for any of them either (I never asked). As I recall, there was another gentleman that hung out there that also had a similar "arrangement" with her as well, and he and I often joked about it.
I don't give third chances about that sort of thing, but I *was* absolutely passive-aggressive enough at the time to keep on making the dates even though I had absolutely no intention of showing up for them. This all changed with me when I saw the aftermath from somebody else she did this to who took her a bit more seriously than I did though. An 80 some-odd year old patron of the club was absolutely broken hearted when Tracy stood her up for a lunch date. The old gal took it okay the first time ...but then the SECOND time, the old gal was in the bar actually in tears over it! That was the point it became no longer funny to me, and I just quit doing it.
I guess I should have mentioned that Tracy didn't have an ounce of malice in her heart about such things; she REALLY was just that much of a flake! She honestly had no clue that people could actually be hurt by this kind of thing, and I suspect that her looks had given her such a free ride though most of her life that it probably never even occurred to her. She could be dumped on and hurt by every loser boyfriend she ever had over the years that I knew her, but apparently her own actions never had anything to do with it.
So in a nutshell ...she was fucking NUTS! The one redeeming quality she had was that she was fucking HOT! ...and a dude will overlook a hell of a lot when you have a chick that looks like she did! Until the tide of years start to catch up anyway. I honestly hate to think about where she might be in life about now...
When I reflect back on it now, I see so many complexities in our (faux) relationship that I never thought much about at the time. I've always had self-image problems, and my childhood isn't one I tend to care much about going into. I went through severe chronic depression for way too many years, and as I look back on the situation with Tracy through older eyes I see how I managed to reinforce many of those flaws in myself.
On the plus side, she was fucking hot, and I loved to be seen with her ...it was a hell of an ego-booster! She was also pretty SAFE when the factors began adding up; I didn't trust her, so she really couldn't hurt me all that much. But truth be told; she could hurt me, and she did hurt me though! Through all my pretty words about the not taking things seriously, I probably would have jumped off a bridge for her if I had thought there was even the slightest real chance she'd have really even considered me.
That's a tough pill to swallow, but if I had had an ounce of self-respect at the time; one would think I would have just dumped that "friendship" like a hotcake! I certainly hope that I've grown past that sort of thing, but in recent days I started to see an unsettling reflection of those events in something a little more current. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but since this old memory is dredging up, that doesn't tend to be a good sign.
Ain't life odd at times?
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