Cool.
Pops had once been the Director of the CIA and was the Vice President during the Iran Contra affair. Policies for which he was responsible contributed to the distribution of cocaine for the purposes of an illegal war on behalf of a violent regime:
We also know that the CIA and Attorney General had a secret Memorandum of Understanding that allowed drug trafficking by CIA assets to go unreported to law enforcement. This, of course, was confirmed in documents I submitted for the Record in May. And we know that CIA officials at the highest levels knew of the Contra drug trafficking activities. — Congresswoman Waters (California).
Of course Pops declared he was "out of the loop" only to grant a Presidential pardon to the offenders. His son followed in his father's footsteps, when asked about cocaine usage he evaded the question by stating:
"Not only could I pass the background check and the standards applied to today's White House, Bush told reporters, "but I could have passed the background check and the standards applied on the most stringent conditions when my dad was president of the United States — a 15-year period." A Bush spokeswoman later clarified the statement, saying the governor, now 53, also was ruling out having used illegal drugs at any point since 1974, when he was 28. ABCNews, August 20th, 2000.
Of course, the question he really wants to avoid is if he's ever procured it for others:
"I believe it is important to put a stake in the ground and to say enough is enough when it comes to trying to dig up people's backgrounds in politics" ABCNews, August 20th, 2000.
This from the Governor who's one of the greatest supporters of America's criminalization industry; a Governor that cut drug rehabilitation programs while ushering in tougher sentencing laws in Texas.
The "Drug War" is a dynastic hypocrisy and travesty.
The Clinton administration takes a great deal of pride in its "welfare reform" programs, but it missed a spot. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy recently released a report showing:
The irony is that today the papers are reporting that the administration is making more federal fuel reserves available for the winter. We're already over our peak production in many countries, and soon will be in all others.
Two years ago I did something different; I bought women's clothing. Yes, I've worn skirts to Goth clubs long before that, but two years ago I bought something I intended to wear in every day life. I purchased my favorite shoes: a black and white brogue -- women's size 12. They're like a man's, but with an extra inch of platform height and cheap! I bought these when shopping with my friend Masha.
I complained, "Women can get cool shoes like that at Payless for $20, and I have to spend $100 at Allston Beat."
Masha looked up from her shoe strings, "Go find a larger women's size then!"
Brilliant.
However, whenever I try on women's clothes (even those I intend to wear in a masculine context), my efforts of dressing are confused and awkward. First, why make pants without pockets?! Second, the buttons and the zippers: I'm no good with them when they're on the left side. While fumbling with buttons in a dressing room today I idly wondered if the thought of men wearing women's clothes is so frightening to the powers that be that they purposefully introduced this barrier. Even if it is slight, it's enough to deter most insecure men. I suspect this is just my fanciful paranoia. And, there's actually a number of interesting theories on this question including the need for the (powerful) gentleman to grab his sword and the need for the (weak/constrained) lady to be dressed by a servant.
Who can say? Perhaps it's a mystery lost to time. I can say that while I promised myself I'd never capitulate to the Gap instantiated fleece-vest trend, I'm now a proud owner of a black one -- with faux tiger collar! And that chicks better not crowd in on something I see that I like when it's in the men's rack: Ms. McGee, don't make me get catty, you wouldn't like me when I'm catty.
This graphic from frogolopis says it all. I purposefully
started to watch the first debate but became so disgusted I had to turn it
off. I collided with parts of third by accident and ended up turning to
Howard Stern on E! to wash the stank of smarmy hypocrisy from my mental
palette. Yes, Stern is wholesome compared to these two. Stern, the
self-proclaimed King of All Media, succeeds by venturing across the
boundaries of taste, playing the line close enough to titillate but not to be
caught. Bore/Gush (the media phenomena of gushing over the boring S.F.D.) are
the true Kings of All Media; they succeed by venturing from the pollstered
defined norm into the self-proclaimed domain of principle and integrity. When
I think of some of the earlier candidates, and these two, I do believe that
our electoral (or should I say corportist media) processes are triumphantly
marching us towards ... honing in on the biggest jerk for the job
.
Tears in the morning, and clenched fists all day.
This morning was the first morning where I wore sunglasses because of the increasing distance of the sun; when it departs I cry. The cold autumn winds makes my eyes tear and I can not decide if pedalling faster means a shorter ride or a more chilling wind. Unfortunatley, my preoccupation with the cold led me to forget to remove the finger nail polish that I treat myself to during long weekends.
The leaves are turning in New England and I as I walk along the sidewalks, one of my favorite little poems comes to mind:
Blooms of death line my path:
autumn's shadow art.
Darkened smudges of a leaf's past life,
printed on concrete slabs
by the rain, feet, and gaze of the sun
-- ground into the ground --
until the cleansing ice of winter
take away their sound
The recent normalization of trade relations with China, WTO meetings, presidential debates and the news from Yugoslavia has me thinking grouchy political thoughts. Sometimes I feel people make too much of democracy. Democracy has delivered the Nazis upon the Germans, the Freedom Party upon the Austrians, and yes, it will deliver Gore or Bush upon the U.S. Perhaps people get what they deserve.
Consider when you go out to eat dinner, do you usually come to a quicker and better decision with a larger group or smaller group of people? Why would national policy involving hundreds of millions of folks be any different?
Screw democracy, I want my civil rights. I would rather live under a despotic supporter of civil rights than an abusive democracy. Of course, you can never trust a despot to support civil rights, so we opt for the second best alternative. I understand. But frequently "democracy" is used as a buzz word for governments that:
I don't want to make myself out as anti-democratic; I'm just tired of the media and politicians buzzing in my ear when I can see how screwed up the world is.
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