Before we begin to rate our new President, let us not forget the colossal weight on his shoulders.
The following is my updated version of Billy Joel’s song,
“We Didn’t Start the Fire”
Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Red China, World Trade
The Decider, Don Rumsfeld, Iraq was a no-go
Bin Laden, Taliban, Climate Change, Pakistan
North Korea, South Korea, Flu from Mexico
Detroit broke, vaccine, England's got the same queen
Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Somali Pirates, Mafia
Iran wants The Bomb, Baghdad, Pyongyang
Banks fail, Hunger swells, Poverty in Africa
CHORUS
He didn't start the fire
W. left it burning
with our heads all turning
He didn't start the fire
Obama didn't light it
But he’s trying to fight it
Vlad Putin, Medvedev, Russians still in Georgia
Mogadishu, Failing States, Never-ending Wall Street slide
Foreign debts, Injured Vets, AIDS, Crack, Pricey Jets
Palestine, Israel, Jihadists taking sides
Drug Cartels, Pope Benedict, Bathroom Politician sex
Troop withdrawal, Suicide, China owns the USA
Trading Gap, Afghanistan, Budget Gap, Sudan
Benazir blown away, what else do I have to say!
CHORUS
He didn't start the fire
W. left it burning
with our heads all turning
He didn't start the fire
Obama didn't light it
But he’s trying to fight it
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Addict
As I sit at my work desk,
my body begins twitching.
It does not want to be still,
there is a mental itching.
Quite involuntarily,
random muscles are firing,
They want not to be idle,
knowing what I’m desiring.
The urging is visceral,
to deny is futility
The growing monster within,
he demands utter parity.
I give in to the burning,
and go where no one can see.
All my paperwork can wait,
to the locker room I flee.
I open up my satchel,
and get all that I will need.
I strap music to my arm,
and I eagerly proceed.
It takes several minutes,
for the feeling to kick in.
Then I start to perspire,
and feel quite flushed in my skin.
Biochemicals do their work,
and I start to feel weightless.
My body is powerful,
for my soul is now gateless.
As I begin to come down,
off my endorphin-laced high,
Pain mixed with tranquility,
is my reward and the why.
I can feel a throbbing pulse,
slowly fade behind my eyes,
My escapist drug of choice,
is in fact just exercise.
my body begins twitching.
It does not want to be still,
there is a mental itching.
Quite involuntarily,
random muscles are firing,
They want not to be idle,
knowing what I’m desiring.
The urging is visceral,
to deny is futility
The growing monster within,
he demands utter parity.
I give in to the burning,
and go where no one can see.
All my paperwork can wait,
to the locker room I flee.
I open up my satchel,
and get all that I will need.
I strap music to my arm,
and I eagerly proceed.
It takes several minutes,
for the feeling to kick in.
Then I start to perspire,
and feel quite flushed in my skin.
Biochemicals do their work,
and I start to feel weightless.
My body is powerful,
for my soul is now gateless.
As I begin to come down,
off my endorphin-laced high,
Pain mixed with tranquility,
is my reward and the why.
I can feel a throbbing pulse,
slowly fade behind my eyes,
My escapist drug of choice,
is in fact just exercise.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Farm Subsidies Do More Harm than Good
Farm subsidies are an outdated response to the Great Depression, but in this global recession, the last thing we should do is undermine global trade by over-subsidizing our farmers and giving them an unfair advantage over poorer nations.Subsidies may help some struggling small farmers, but the vast majority (3/4) of these tax-funded handouts is given to the largest 10% of farms. This program needs to be revamped, scaled back, or just plain cut from the budget. In this recession, demand and production of food will drop, but we fat-assed Americans eat twice as much as we need to be healthy so there is no danger of famine.
Farmers in western desert states are given incentives to grow thirsty crops that require flood irrigation, which is just asinine. Water is becoming our most precious resource and we need to rethink all the wasteful practices in agriculture when in comes to water rights. States are allowed to set their own rules, but perhaps the EPA should step in when states have decades old policies than are detrimental to the global environment.
Last year, $687 million dollars was given to farmers in CA and AZ alone. Through loopholes in the law, some wealthy Americans who don’t even farm or happen to be deceased still collect subsidies. If we intend to make any headway in paying down the national debt and jump starting our economy, maybe we should stop giving the “Haves” more money to hide in offshore accounts and create healthcare-bearing jobs for the “Have-nots”.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Assault Weapons?!
In the wake of the hostage situation in NY and the news of U.S. weapons being used in the Mexican drug wars, I decided to look up current gun laws. I'm sure many of you are aware, but I was shocked to find out that Congress let the assault weapon ban lapse in 2004. What?! They didn't even try to extend it. I remember in 1994 Pres Clinton signed the bill banning semi-automatic "assault style" weapons which have no practical use other than to wage war or commit terrorism. The ban was a good thing, but apparently in was only in effect for 10 years.
This is an issue that needs to be taken up again. It is as if we all got tired of fighting the powerful lobbist of the NRA and just gave up. Now don't get me wrong, because I am not proposing that we ignore the 2nd Amendment.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
I am suggesting, however, that the words 'Arms' and 'infringed' can be interpreted to benefit the common good. Some things must be regulated and kept out of the hands of private citizens for the safety of us all. No sane person would argue that private citizens should be allowed to own a nuclear weapon. If we can't constitutionally prevent people from owning assault weapons, we should at least stop selling them. People have the right to bear arms, but the government has the right to dictate which weapons should be sold to the public. Just block the selling of guns and ammunition for these extreme weapons which were designed for the sole purpose of killing as many humans as possible.
Responsible people with a clean background check (criminal and mental) should always be allowed to purchase guns for hunting and home defense. However, no one needs to defend his home with an AK-47
or a TEC-9, 
and hunting with these weapons is just absurd.
This is an issue that needs to be taken up again. It is as if we all got tired of fighting the powerful lobbist of the NRA and just gave up. Now don't get me wrong, because I am not proposing that we ignore the 2nd Amendment.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
I am suggesting, however, that the words 'Arms' and 'infringed' can be interpreted to benefit the common good. Some things must be regulated and kept out of the hands of private citizens for the safety of us all. No sane person would argue that private citizens should be allowed to own a nuclear weapon. If we can't constitutionally prevent people from owning assault weapons, we should at least stop selling them. People have the right to bear arms, but the government has the right to dictate which weapons should be sold to the public. Just block the selling of guns and ammunition for these extreme weapons which were designed for the sole purpose of killing as many humans as possible.
Responsible people with a clean background check (criminal and mental) should always be allowed to purchase guns for hunting and home defense. However, no one needs to defend his home with an AK-47
or a TEC-9, 
and hunting with these weapons is just absurd.Monday, March 30, 2009
Let's Go Green!
Mr. Obama is facing a ridiculous number of challenges all at once. I have an idea that could tackle several of them at once: immigration, prison overcrowding, budget deficits, and drug-related violence in Mexican border towns.I would like to preface this by saying I do not condone drug use in any form and am not an advocate of using marijuana. I think the drug makes one lazy and I don't use it or like it. Of course I have tried it; anyone who says they haven't tried it is either lying, over 50, or a fundamentalist religious zealot.
Here's my Plan:
1-Let's legalize marijuana in the U.S. and convince Mexico it would be in their best interest to do the same. Of course it should only be legal for persons over 21 and law enforcement could focus on more serious problems. This would loosen the stranglehold of the drug cartels. Sure, they will continue to smuggle and sell other drugs, but weed is a major source of their income.
2-Let the FDA regulate it so it is safe (to my knowledge, no one has ever overdosed on pure marijuana).
3-Tax the sh!t out of it. Revenue from taxing marijuana could drastically stimulate the economy.
4-Release all non-violent criminals who are in prison for possesion or use of marijuana. It costs tax payers much more to house a criminal than to keep tabs on him on probation.
5-Let Mexico grow the marijuana. It would create jobs there and lessen the need for Mexicans to cross the border to find work.
Some say you should not legalize marijuana because it is a gateway drug, and if you legalize one drug it will be a slippery slope to legalizing all drugs. Where do you draw the line? I'll tell you- you draw the line at marijuana. It is less dangerous than either alcohol or tobacco. Most other illigal drugs are synthetically produced and create a physical addition (weed is merely a mental addiction). Chemical dependence like on meth or heroine leads to an increase in the crime rate because junkies will do anything for the next fix. Potheads on the other hand or nonviolent. They may not ever amount to anything, but they are not hurting anybody. Why not let them them help pay down the national debt?
5-Let Mexico grow the marijuana. It would create jobs there and lessen the need for Mexicans to cross the border to find work.
Some say you should not legalize marijuana because it is a gateway drug, and if you legalize one drug it will be a slippery slope to legalizing all drugs. Where do you draw the line? I'll tell you- you draw the line at marijuana. It is less dangerous than either alcohol or tobacco. Most other illigal drugs are synthetically produced and create a physical addition (weed is merely a mental addiction). Chemical dependence like on meth or heroine leads to an increase in the crime rate because junkies will do anything for the next fix. Potheads on the other hand or nonviolent. They may not ever amount to anything, but they are not hurting anybody. Why not let them them help pay down the national debt?
Monday, March 23, 2009
Snowplay
A friend and I took advantage of perhaps the last major storm of the season and got out in the 
backcountry powder.
Exhausting and exhilarating.
backcountry powder.
Exhausting and exhilarating.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
On the lighter side
I was upset today by stories emerging from Sudan and Zimbabwe and considered penning my thoughts on the subject, but it was making me physically tremble, so I switched gears to maintain my sanity and thought of pleasant memories. There’s nothing wrong will forgetting about the ills of the world occasionally, right?
So here is something on the light side, or rather the wrong side of the light-read on.
I thought back to one of the best weeks of my life (before I knew of the absolute joy and contentment of marriage), my senior trip. The year was 2 B.C.* and my friends and I were 18 with the accompanying gallons of hormones built up. There were about a dozen of us (half of which were female) from my high school that had convinced our parents we deserved a week in Hawaii for a graduation present. This was it; the big show. The first time any of us would be left completely up to our own devices for a whole week with no parental supervision. Luckily, my older siblings had worn down my parents’ resistance to things that were physically or morally dangerous. Before I got on the plane my Mom gave me a hug, gave me that all-knowing-mom glare and told me to “be good.” My friend Craig’s mom on the other handed each of us guys a bandolier of condoms and told us to stay safe and have fun.
Oh yes, there would be underage drinking and debauchery; we were on a mission to do everything we had never been able to get away with before. It was the Mormon equivalent of Amish Rumspringa.
Actually, my fondest memories of that week are the wholesome activities we engaged in and not the checking off of the seven deadly sins. We did it all: snorkeling, sailing, surfing, cliff diving, dancing (both at night clubs and at a luau), shopping (for the girls’ sake, of course), and we visited the Dole pineapple plantation and Pearl Harbor (not to equate the two in significance).
We were on the island of Oahu, and we heard about a great spot called Hanauma Bay, so we rented some scooters and took off for the beach. I have no idea why any company would rent anything to an 18 yr-old male, let alone a vehicle. For some reason the rental fee didn’t include helmets, but we were indestructible so that didn’t matter. A couple of my buddies raced motocross back home so these poor little scooters were pushed far beyond any safety and durability standards they may have had. We were jumping off curbs playing cat and mouse with maniacal grins on our faces. I happened to get the fastest scooter which topped out at a blinding 40 mph. We eventually found the bay and had a great time playing in the water all day. In the evening, we hiked around to a point overlooking the ocean and stopped to watch the majestic beauty of Mother Nature. –Then she tried to kill us.
We were on a cliff 20-30 feet above the ocean when a rouge wave suddenly appeared 10 ft higher than the cliff. I instinctively crouched down and grabbed a hand hold on the rock. I was able to hang on, but I watched helplessly as three of my friends were being pushed on a water slide of death toward the edge of the cliff. One of them was about a foot from the skull-crushing drop when the surging sea finally relented. If you want to see where we almost died, cut and past these coordinates into Google Earth or Maps.
21 16' 8.5"N 157 41' 24.8"W
Here’s the Aesopian lesson: enjoy nature, but never turn your back on it.
Shaken, but laughing by the time we remounted our hogs (the scooters, not the girls with us who were very cute) and headed back to the hotel. Once we regained the city, we decided to drag race. If you have ever been to Waikiki, Hawaii then you know that traffic lights are on the side of the road, rather than overhead-I did not. At least that was my excuse to the cop, because I must have noticed the lights when we used one on the previous block as a starting gun. I was way ahead of everyone laughing over my shoulder when I heard the pull-over siren. Apparently I had gone 38 mph through a red light without even slowing down. It really sucks to be pulled over on a scooter because you can’t even slink down in your seat to hide your face from passersby. Luckily, I only got a warning a great story out of it.
I could go on and on about the strip poker game or the party cruise, but we all took an oath on the flight home…What happens in Hawaii, stays in Hawaii. You know, long flights are surprisingly enjoyable when you are with a group of your friends and there are enough empty seats on the plane to comfortably lie down. Ah, memories- thanks for listening, I feel much better.
*Before Cindy
So here is something on the light side, or rather the wrong side of the light-read on.
I thought back to one of the best weeks of my life (before I knew of the absolute joy and contentment of marriage), my senior trip. The year was 2 B.C.* and my friends and I were 18 with the accompanying gallons of hormones built up. There were about a dozen of us (half of which were female) from my high school that had convinced our parents we deserved a week in Hawaii for a graduation present. This was it; the big show. The first time any of us would be left completely up to our own devices for a whole week with no parental supervision. Luckily, my older siblings had worn down my parents’ resistance to things that were physically or morally dangerous. Before I got on the plane my Mom gave me a hug, gave me that all-knowing-mom glare and told me to “be good.” My friend Craig’s mom on the other handed each of us guys a bandolier of condoms and told us to stay safe and have fun.
Oh yes, there would be underage drinking and debauchery; we were on a mission to do everything we had never been able to get away with before. It was the Mormon equivalent of Amish Rumspringa.
Actually, my fondest memories of that week are the wholesome activities we engaged in and not the checking off of the seven deadly sins. We did it all: snorkeling, sailing, surfing, cliff diving, dancing (both at night clubs and at a luau), shopping (for the girls’ sake, of course), and we visited the Dole pineapple plantation and Pearl Harbor (not to equate the two in significance).
We were on the island of Oahu, and we heard about a great spot called Hanauma Bay, so we rented some scooters and took off for the beach. I have no idea why any company would rent anything to an 18 yr-old male, let alone a vehicle. For some reason the rental fee didn’t include helmets, but we were indestructible so that didn’t matter. A couple of my buddies raced motocross back home so these poor little scooters were pushed far beyond any safety and durability standards they may have had. We were jumping off curbs playing cat and mouse with maniacal grins on our faces. I happened to get the fastest scooter which topped out at a blinding 40 mph. We eventually found the bay and had a great time playing in the water all day. In the evening, we hiked around to a point overlooking the ocean and stopped to watch the majestic beauty of Mother Nature. –Then she tried to kill us.
We were on a cliff 20-30 feet above the ocean when a rouge wave suddenly appeared 10 ft higher than the cliff. I instinctively crouched down and grabbed a hand hold on the rock. I was able to hang on, but I watched helplessly as three of my friends were being pushed on a water slide of death toward the edge of the cliff. One of them was about a foot from the skull-crushing drop when the surging sea finally relented. If you want to see where we almost died, cut and past these coordinates into Google Earth or Maps.
21 16' 8.5"N 157 41' 24.8"W
Here’s the Aesopian lesson: enjoy nature, but never turn your back on it.
Shaken, but laughing by the time we remounted our hogs (the scooters, not the girls with us who were very cute) and headed back to the hotel. Once we regained the city, we decided to drag race. If you have ever been to Waikiki, Hawaii then you know that traffic lights are on the side of the road, rather than overhead-I did not. At least that was my excuse to the cop, because I must have noticed the lights when we used one on the previous block as a starting gun. I was way ahead of everyone laughing over my shoulder when I heard the pull-over siren. Apparently I had gone 38 mph through a red light without even slowing down. It really sucks to be pulled over on a scooter because you can’t even slink down in your seat to hide your face from passersby. Luckily, I only got a warning a great story out of it.
I could go on and on about the strip poker game or the party cruise, but we all took an oath on the flight home…What happens in Hawaii, stays in Hawaii. You know, long flights are surprisingly enjoyable when you are with a group of your friends and there are enough empty seats on the plane to comfortably lie down. Ah, memories- thanks for listening, I feel much better.
*Before Cindy
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