Week Ending 08 June

This week was very stressful and it seems like the usual June activites are few and far between. I guess America's geo-political endeavours and poor economy are overshadowing the usually carefree vibe of June.

Workin' It

This week I put my hat in the ring for quite a lot of what I call, "Down-market" jobs... the really low wage, hard labour type gigs with no benefits and hourly accounting of time. I hate having to ask permission to use the restroom and having such a small pay packet, but times are tough and maybe something will pan out. At least I won't feel too bad about bailing on a cruddy situation.

School

I found an article about the scholastic experience that summarizes the condition precisely. Here is an excerpt:

Schools very often, and by necessity, teach that success comes by mastering not the facts, but the system. "Will it be on the test?" you ask. If the answer is no, who cares?

School also teaches you that your success is a function of what other people do. If you do better on your exams than others do, you are better. You are worse if you do worse.

And school teaches you, ever so subtly, that life is measured in annual increments, with rewards and punishments coming at predictable times. Each year, if all goes well, you move up to the next level.

A lesson only thoughtful living can teach you: Success--and happiness--is about how you do what you do, and how you are with the people you know.

True freedom is more complex. It is the exhilaration that comes with making a commitment and making good on it. It's finding the balance between believing in something, retaining skepticism, and learning how to be productive even when you are uncertain. It is staying flexible but also having a spine.

Few dreams come true without taking risks. You have to risk failure and embarrassment. You have to risk making a mistake. And you have to risk the fact that you might spend time working toward something and end up someplace else altogether.

But along the way, you will be doing the most important thing of all: continuing to learn.

The more you challenge your mind, just for the sake of learning something new, the more easily you will find yourself feeling like you do at graduation: like life is just beginning, like you can do anything, and like you're the luckiest person in the world.

San Jose's Turn

This week, I was back in San Jose for that city's Gay Pride Party In the Park. It was a day of dancing and Divas with sunshine, men and merriment...

Credibility Under Attack!

Case one
UK PM Tony Blair's own party has decided they can't believe a word he says on the issue of Iraq because of fraud and imperitive-inflation. American Democrats campaigning in Iowa try to make the case in the US but the right-wing media is too focused on Laci Peterson to report much about it.

Case two
Sammy Sosa corked his bat and the ensuing scandal overshadows the fact that it's a slow moving, antiquated and otherwise boring game.

Case three
New York Times... report fraudulently portrayed his assistant's work as his own and lied about his datelines. Fall-out from the scandal led to the resignations of two top-level editors.

Why I hate Laci Peterson and her family

1) She was pregnant and disappeared at Christmas.
It's a slow time of year for real news, except when the Shrub's posturing for war. The similarities to the virgin mary being pregnant at christmas time were obviously too tempting for the media who played it up to the hilt.

2) Why is this still news?
The Shrub put American citizens in harm's way so his oil cronies and Bechtel buddies could get rich off the spoils of his war... anything to do with this case just seemed unnecessary and frivolous. How can anything to do with a dead woman and her unborn child in any way enrich my life or improve the condition of America at war?

3) She died BEFORE giving birth.
The foetus was never born, you have to be born to have a name. The family named the dead foetus, "connor" and quite a few reporters used the name in their subsequent coverage of the case. How dare they do that to us! I can't believe they're using a tragic event to push their political agenda... just because the dead woman may or may not have indicated a preference for the name Connor, doesn't mean the kid would have ended up with that name when he was born (Which he wasn't). I can understand the family might have some grief around the loss of a potential grandchild, but all they lost was potential. I don't understand why they feel compelled to take the pain of missed potential out on a women's right to choose.

4) The break-in.
Obviously Laci's family are a bunch of right-wing loonies, no wonder the Peterson family wants nothing more to do with them. If Laci's death were accidental and Scott wasn't in jail they would still have absolutely no right to break in to the house unescorted and remove anything they wanted. The law is pretty clear about spousal rights. In the absence of a proper will or living trust, the survivng spouse gets EVERYTHING, including the wedding dress, diplomas and crib. We'll never know what they planted during their little escapade and this whole sordid affair gets dragged through the media even more.

5) They've become pawns for a vast right-wing conspiracy.
The minute that Laci's grieving parents named her unborn child "Conner", I knew the Army of God would have a new flashpoint. These people are playing right in to the agenda of religious zealots opposed to choice and women's freedom. Now Laci's mum is on Dateline advocating new laws to charge people with murder if they harm a foetus... ugh.

The Age of Imperialism

More Blood on Bush Hands
Two more American soldiers were killed in Iraq as people are sick and tired of US ineptitude. It's utterly rediculous to be so unprepared for the complete and utter domination of Iraq. There was never any question that the US military would kick ass and many people this week (me included) are asking why the shrub never planned to win the war... maybe he was too focused on the spoils of war. I hold him personally responsible for all the men and women who died fighting his war and who continue to die in an effort to keep Iraq as a US colony.

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