The Internet and Conversation

Ahh, such a strange, bizarre and far flung community the web is. From the sands and skyscrapers of Dubai to the industrial warrens of New Jersey and Bangladesh, people interact with others in a way humanity has never known before. I often feel that this exchange of information, if it can be harnessed properly, can be a large part of bringing the world into a more peaceful time. Increasing fossil fuel scarcity is going to put a dampener on international and cheap web shipping, but a good conversation is still one of the best things in the world and often one of the cheapest, which should not be overlooked in this time of economic woes. This is not to say that good conversation requires the internet! In some ways, a face to face conversation will always trump fiber optic based discussions, be they merely audio or fully A/V. Yet I believe that the internet has a tendency to make people open up and explore avenues of discussion they would not pursue in the "real world" and it is often the conversations we are not expecting that lead to the most interesting points in my experience... When was the last time you started up a conversation with a complete stranger?

Now Obama has to deliver and what form will that take?

"Yes, George W. Bush’s status as the most disliked man ever to occupy the White House shows that America was not worthy of him. And attacks on Bush gave aid and comfort to his enemies — unlike the firehose of abuse that will be directed against President Obama, which will of course be an expression of true patriotism." -Paul Krugman

In this election, the differences were greater, in terms of talk. A burden of proof is now being lowered onto Obama's back and I hope he is equal to the task of holding it high. My choice to vote for Obama was never in much question, but it was not easy. I had and still have my doubts, but I also have hope. He is change, that is for sure, but a great wind has already swept aside much that has stood the test of time until now in this country, will America like what Obama builds in it's place? It did not have to be this way...

Bush was put in place as President two years after I graduated high school. Much of my adult life so far has been lived under the shadow of an administration that flouted the Geneva Conventions and sunk our military deep into a place that will now forever be a part of America's story, for history will not forget blood for oil. It will not forget that we used "Shock and Awe" to win, a fireworks show on CNN that blew up children for the enrichment of the few. Eight years of rule that actively fought against the idea of global warming, doing everything in their power to tear down environmental regulations as fast as ink could dry. Eight years of abstinence education that does not work and the global gag rule.

The Bush administration has been running a torture program for several years now. Water Boarding makes your body and mind think you are dying by the simulation of drowning conditions. If done improperly, it can kill. The people we sent to third world hell holes via "Extraordinary Rendition" had far worse things done to them. Yes, the School of Americas existed before the Bush administration and South America suffered it's travesties, but the switch to doing such things openly left me cold with horror, for it seemed like the final step in a long march that started thirty plus years ago from all that I have experienced and read. It seems we have been given a small reprieve from that particular endgame, for now.

We were supposed to be a symbol of better things, a better way, but somewhere between three cars for every two people, Walmart and the boogeyman of "The Poor", America started to lose it's way. Owning the next big thing (cellphones, plastic surgery, plasma TV's) became the goal, being richer became more important than being more human. We cannot go back to the old ways, but we can blaze a new trail to greater times and a better way for most.

It has often been said in more artful ways than I am capable of this day that the Democrats and the Republicans are merely two heads of the same snake. I think in many ways this is true, yet if we can but harness it, the power of Americans to heal the wounds of this country is within our grasp. Congress, the true power in our Republic, only has 535 members and they know they are outnumbered, so they try to use fear and pointless wedge issues to divide and deceive the citizens of this nation. Let us put an end to such things. They have corporate lobbyists circling them right now but we can be a more powerful voice in their ears. Now that you have cast your political vote, do not stop. Vote with your wallet and most importantly, vote for a better world with your heart and your mind. Never doubt that your actions make a difference in the lives of everyone you interact with and in the lives of those who grew or made the products and food you purchase. They do not hate us for our freedoms, but they do hate us for stealing so many of their dreams so that we could have cheaper produce, bigger TV's and salad shooters.

Fundamental changes have already been put in place that have changed America's structure perhaps forever. Yet the idea of revolution was not unknown to our Founders. The first shots have been fired without much notice indeed, but that will not last long. "Free Market Capitalism" was and is a good idea in theory (Aside from the whole second law of thermodynamics issue), but it has shown it's self to be incompatible with modern "honor" so it has been scrapped.

Let us hope that whatever is put in it's place is ready and willing to take on Peak Oil, Global Warming and the incoming wave of Inflation without collapsing entirely. It is going to be an interesting ride.

All Hallows Eve

Winter approaches and tonight the face of season's end will dance upon the night's thin veil, it's lit from behind countenance a herald this year of a future perhaps more menacing to many each day. Yet today I woke up with a hopeful smile.

To many, Halloween has become merely another Hallmark Holiday, an event created merely to feed the monster of consumerism that has wormed it's way into every corner of modern culture.
Bags full of poison are collected by children, the very nature of the corn syrup and bleached sugar "candy" toxic, many adults lose themselves in a surge of faux rebellion, determined to throw off the shackles that they labor in the rest of the year but all too often simply accepting a different form of status quo imprisonment.

I have been guilty of this mindset myself in the past and will probably fall under it's sway in the future, but this year, I view it in a different manner. Tonight, I am going out into the dark physically un-costumed, but wearing a new soul that feels like a costume due to how long certain parts of it have been under wraps. You see, more than anything, my life has been one of change and I have only sped up in recent years, instead of slowing down and that lack of stability can have costs that are sometimes hard to bear.

Goals... such ephemeral creatures, but what value would they hold if easily caught? So much change have I seen in myself and sought out, when so many others have stilled and remained frozen in time. Sometimes I forget the value of that. For too often I look at what I have yet to achieve, the grand life changes far above me like mountain peaks and forget all of the small steps I have taken already that have brought me to that place of pause and rest that allows such contemplation. This Halloween, a few days after my first ever three day fast and a few months after spending a month alone in the wilderness, camping and hiking, I am more sure than ever of where I stand and where I must go and my costume shall be that new feeling, that I am still learning to wear...

The 23 minute Barrier

So, since the second week of January or so, as I have spoken of earlier, I have been riding hard on a particular stretch of my twice weekly, soon to become thrice, ride home. Yet a limit on my speed has continued to hold me down. Sprints have been tried, different nutrients have been applied pre-ride. It seems to be a purely physical limit applied to my body, for the moment. What amuses me is that I have achieved my top speed at times when I have been fresh but also on occasions where I have been sore, tired and damaged from an earlier crash. Yep, I said crash, it would appear that I have averaged one crash a month, so far, in fact. No one has ever called me graceful.

I guess this barrier would be called a plateau in common exercise parlance. It seems to be a peak point for all of the other stuff I am trying to conquer in my life at the moment. It will be bagged.

I am determined to leap this barrier like Superman on Brawndo. I WILL attain greater speed. As well as a one handed handstand. The question, JJ-Hopping-San, is can you hike 30 miles through the Desolation in one day? I hear Coach is going to be hosting an Adventure Camp. Time to play in my world!

Really? Really??

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/02/05/billionaire-schwarzman-im-not-wealthy/

Voting and The Iraq War: Worst Foreign Policy Disaster in U.S. History (So Far)

VOTE!! Exercise your freedoms before they are gone!

Far too often I hear people talk about how they do not vote because it "does not matter". This is what the controlling interests who have pushed their self-indulgent agenda down America's throat want people to think. Do not let yourself be disenfranchised by despair when so much blood was spilled to earn you that right. The elections of 2008 are going to be pivotal in so many ways.

Readers of my blog may have noticed that I have been thinking and reading about U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan recently, but in truth, it has been on one of my burners, fore or back, since it started. It is hard to even express in words the tragedy of long term genomic instability caused by DU Exposure and the plight of homeless Veterans. Are all U.S. soldiers pure of heart? No. Are any of us? Yet the average American enjoys a far higher quality of life than the grunt or gruntette that ensures it. When I say quality of life, I do not speak of the ability to buy cheap plastic junk from China at Walmart or be rude to people in traffic, I speak of the ability to not wake up screaming in the middle of the night, to have the full ability to feel emotions, to not have to worry about IED's. I speak of not having to live in such a hell of stress that Suicide becomes the answer.

There was a time when young men lied about their age so they could sign Uncle Sam's dotted line. (Band of Brothers rules) Our modern era Presidents have destroyed that ideal and moved our soldiers around on the global map to the tune of their Corporate Masters. "Bring it on" Cheney said, yet I saw no rifle in his hands and while McCain has sold his soul in my opinion, at least he walked the streets of Baghad, even if it was under heavy protection.

Many people believe that Bush will not attack Iran because he is now a lame duck. I say that he is even more likely to attack, for now he sees the end ahead and he seems deeply unsatisfied with the legacy he seems destined to leave behind so far.

Why oh Why Wallet, doth thou Forsake me so oft?

Apparently the sky was listening when I challenged it. As many of my friends know, especially you Mr. Carter, I tend to misplace my wallet a lot. Usually by leaving it behind at my apartment or wherever I happen to be staying. Last night I left it in the upstairs Men's bathroom of the community college extension that I have begun taking some classes at, having removed it amidst the process of changing back into my wet slacks to ride out into the rain once more (No money for rain pants in the budget yet). Of course, I only realized I had done so when I had ridden my bike four miles to the train stop and taken the train past enough stations that I would have been hard-pressed to get back to the extension, find someone to open up the building(ha) and make it back to the train stop to catch the last outbound train of the night.

So I decided to be positive and assume that it would be found by a good person and turned in to the lost and found. Which is exactly what happened. It helps I think, that I placed it up high, at the intersection of two of the stall beams, where it was apparently out of sight until looked for when I called asking about it.

I also bonked on the last six mile leg of my journey for the first time, though last thursday I made the trip in 23 minutes, which works out to 15 or so mph, not bad for someone who went from riding zero miles a week in the last year and a half to riding 16 miles twice a week. It would seem my food intake needs more tuning, but more on that later.

Go Obama! (Now that Kucinich has gracefully withdrawn and Edwards)

I am tired of feeling like I am living the life of Walter Mitty

For the entirety of my conscious life, I have only really wanted two things: To be a masterful combatant and to be physically strong. By my own reckoning, I have yet to achieve either one. As I have grown older, I have added other wants and desires: A good, honorable woman who would stand the tests of time by my side, my written work published and valued, a sail boat of my own that I could sail anywhere the wind took me. I thought I was well on the way to achieving at least one of the latter, but I was wrong. Many people have said that it is only when you are staring bleakness in the face, when you are sunk into that bottomless thing we call despair, that inner realization can come. A very close friend of mine, who is always ready with the hard truth, helped provide the final piece that led me to bring my plan for this year into fruition, a plan that will finally bring me in line with the above goals and lead to their achievement.

I can proudly say that I have strongly resisted the call to conform my whole life, that I live as free as I can, that I am considered honorable among my friends. Yet I can also say that I have struggled mightily with my inner confidence, that often have I wrestled with my inner demons and been thrown down. Too often, in truth, to really achieve my truest goals and the blame for that rests at no one's feet but my own.

Now, I truly see that my Road is mine alone and it is up to me to master it until the day Valhal calls. Let change come. My sails are strong. They have stood the strain of time under pressure and now they fill with wind. I call to the sky for challenge and bend my legs to the strain, knowing that it is in this moment that life is truly lived.