Karr not guilty? Stop the presses. Please.

Come on, the guy just needed a free ride home from Thailand.  He was there, taught school like a day, realized what horrible trolls most children are, and figured out a way to get a first class ticket home.  15 minutes of fame while he was at it, too.  Talk about VIP treatment.

I think from the first 5 minutes of news coverage, some time before Hezbollah and Israel agreed to monumental peace, some time while we’re still fighting in Iraq and that place we never hear about called Afghanistan, some time when there are about a million more newsworthy things going on, he had a pretty airtight alibi, being in a completely different state with JonBenet was killed.

Maybe he is delusional, but I think the guy just wanted a get-out-of-Asia-and-out-of-teaching-free card.  I know lots of teachers who only work a few miles away from home and they’d take the Karr option just to never have to see a chalkboard again.  Maybe he got a cash enticement from the Ramseys to boot.  Pay off his student loans or something.  In the end, no harm, no foul, and the press got like two weeks STRAIGHT of an orgy.  Shoot, maybe the media moguls paid him, not the Ramsey family.

Worst boss ever, Exhibit G

I’ve been really really good (or at least, trying to get better) at proactivity and constructive conversation. Really. I rant here, but in the real world I’m professional. Hence the ranting incognito.

But my boss, not so much. Since we’ve had some conversations about his emotion (yelling at me when there’s a problem) and our communication “challenges” (every avenue we’ve mutually agreed upon he soon abandons without word, and then says “well, if you’d only done X”, X being a wholly new communication strategy that must be clairvoyantly understood on my part), he’s taken this tactic: 1) asks for my help/advice on some project I tangentially know about, 2) hears my answer and does not agree with it but 3) says only “ok, thanks” and leaves.

That’s it. No questions about why his knowledge of the problem is different than mine, no suggestions of another solution. Just hears what he thinks is wrong and takes off. Suffice to say that I think I’m right. A lot. But I’m willing to ask why an answer isn’t what I expected and learn from it. Amazing.

Talk about communication dynamos. Sheesh. If I get halfway through the alphabet before the year ends, … I’ll make some ultimatum. Oh yeah. Strong words from rhapsody. I’m prepared to write more words! Worrrrrrds!!

Freedom is synonymous with SUV?

Unbelievable.  W actually said about Iraq, “Leaving before we complete our mission would create a terrorist state in the heart of the Middle East, a country with huge oil reserves that the terrorist network would be willing to use to extract economic pain from those of us who believe in freedom”?

What mission?  Saddam, gone.  WMD, lie exposed.  Oil?  Oh, right the oil’s still there and we don’t own it yet.   So I guess those of us who believe in freedom must obviously drive cars with huge tanks and dualies, since those would be the ones feeling the economic pain from high gas prices.
Here’s a hint:  drive less.  Drive smaller vehicles. Drive more efficient vehicles.  Or hey, support alternative fuel research?  Hmm.  Maybe all the money we put into the war “on terror” in Iraq might, ya know, be used for some scientist to discover a way we can all use solar, wind, or something we haven’t even thought of yet, affordably.  Imagine that!  Not having to pay for utilities.  Aw, Bushie’s buddies in the oil fields would be out of business.  Now that is “terror”ble.

Yes, I ride a bike.  But I also paid fifty bucks yesterday to fill up my truck.  And you know what?  I only drive the truck when I have to haul something big. Since I’m constantly doing construction projects, I PLAN AHEAD and make sure to maximize my trips.  Comes out to once a week or every 2 weeks, even when someone borrows the truck.  Other trips, especially groceries, go by car, and smaller trips by bike.  If I’m getting grocerties that don’t include refilling my water gallons, I definitely do a bike.  Even ice cream and milk.

Should Americans be free to buy the biggest cars they want? Unfortunately for the environment and our children, yes.  Fortunately for freedoms we uphold, yes.  Should we go to war to make it easier to pay for your huge beast of a car?  No way.  It’s not worth lives.  If you want to exercise your freedom to buy a huge guzzling car, be prepared to pay for that luxury.  If you have lots of children that require you to use a large car, sorry.  It’s all part of the price of having kids.  Just like diapers, baby-sitters, and food.  It’s what we sign on for during orgasm.  Deal.

What is the friggin point?  1) I believe in freedom, and it’s not synonymous with lower oil prices.  2) The war in Iraq is clearly a huge ruse, and clearly about oil as it has been all along.  3) Our president is a fucktard and has lied to us repeatedly.  4) It’s a rant.  It doesn’t have to have a point.

I scorn you back

You* scorn bicyclists?  Well I scorn you right back, oh sucker of resources.  Remember that South Park where everyone got “Pious” cars?  Yeah, that’s me on my bike.  I don’t use oil.  I don’t pay the fat-cat industries that profit from oil and, oh yeah, any wars that may be taking place in oil-rich areas.  wink
I just put my life into the hands of 16-year-old who barely remember to stop at lights, much less how to deal with smaller vehicles “suddenly” in their lane because for the last mile they were hunting around for the perfect CD to be the soundtrack to their mad late-for-my-summer-job ride.  That’s all.

What do I get out of it?  An adrenaline rush every time I bike to get some groceries, exercise, and a sense of self-righteousness that you can only get from green activities or political office.

Oh, and as for your revenge you’re plotting even now, I’ll probably survive most accidents, and you’ll be paying for me to learn how to use my new wheels and watching as I park in the super-close spaces right by the front door of every business.   And I’ll still feel self-righteous.  You’ll still be angry.  Only now, you’ll have less money to do anything about it, and you’ll have your very own stigma for the rest of your life.  Same goes for itf I don’t survive, only add to everything some jail time for manslaughter.  How do you like those apples, crippler?

*”You” being the motorists whom I’ve encountered in my bike rides, per the previous post.

Bicycle stigmas

I’m sure in other areas of this country and in other countries altogether biking is considered a perfectly viable mode of transportation. In my neck of the woods, not so much.

Here, bikes are not only misunderstood, they’re downright scorned. If you ride down the street on your own power, you’re looked at as either too poor to be considered human or just the crazy/stupid combo that gets dirty or piteous looks.

So consequently, cars not only don’t know how to deal with bikes (hint: they’re vehicles just like cars are), they become rather hostile, gun their engines, and pass regardless of oncoming traffic or lane restrictions. It’s a lot of fun for everyone. I take it as a sure sign that these guys will not ever take the brain cells to wonder whether there are rules of the road for bikes.

There are people. Just keep your freaking eyes open and watch for those little two-wheeled cars that look so vulnerable. I swear we won’t take up your road space much, and we certainly won’t be using any of your gas and oil that is becoming so

War: what is it good for?

Oh yeah, the song gets it right.  For reals, does the average-Joe public-at-large of any country really want war?  Snip out those weird guys in West Texas and maybe a few yahoos in random countries.  I’m talking majority here.  I say no.  Most of us just want life to continue as it always has.  Sure, I’ll be the first to admit I have it good here in the ol’ USA, but I’ve been dirt poor.  I wanted things to change, but I didn’t want a war to do it.

So basically, who wants war?  The ones with the suits and ties, baby.  War means dollars to some, even though for most the cost is their lives.  The rest of us, the most of us, just want to raise families, go to work, and maybe watch some TV or something.  What does it mean if I can’t put gas in my car?  Well, I’ve got a bike.  And lately I’ve been using it.  With the exception of big items, like saaaay, sacks of cement, I have used my bike for errands.  Yesterday was milk and butter.  Ok, and ice cream.  Today will be a trip to the library.

Is that all these current wars represent?  Power for TV and travel for ice cream?  I hope there better be some seriously huge rewards for these wars, and not just money.  Otherwise, WTF!