Mr. zman himself, Scott Zekanis, is hosting a screening of Iraq For Sale at his kewl klub called Kulture on October 15th at 7PM. The movie is an expose of the corporations making a killing from the war in Iraq, while soldiers and Iraqi civilians pay with their lives and body parts. Seems kinda wrong, doesn’t it?
Kulture is located at 430 S. Dawson St in downtown Raleigh. Price is free. Come along and find out the scoop about the war profiteers. Then don’t forget to vote next month!
Though I never met her or read her words, I was really saddened to hear about the death of Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist who tried to get the word out about atrocities in Chechnya and corruption of Putin’s government. She sounded like a very brave woman, indeed. The cause of truth and human rights has taken a significant hit with the loss of this crusader. This could be the tipping point where Russians clean up their corrupt and lawless society, but I am pessimistic.
I fear for Russia’s future and, by extension, our own.
Blackout Blues
Widespread Panic
Hope you don’t mind me barging in the door
In the middle of the night
Hope you don’t mind me barging in the door like this
In the middle of the night
Falling in and out of bars on my own
Pick my head up off the ground
Continue reading
I vividly remember my visit to Pusan, South Korea in 1989. It was one of the first foreign ports in my Navy career. The icy cold wind blowing from the mountains seemed the perfect companion to the very real tension in the air. Everywhere I went there was this ominous feeling that even after fifty years of uneasy truce, Korea was still on the front lines.
I’m a little dubious of North Korea’s claim of conducting its first nuke test, but not because I think its not true. I simply don’t think its their first. Back in the early 1990s, a small-scale nuclear test was conducted in China. Though China claimed it was their own, I’ve always wondered if North Korea tested their own device in China to avoid arousing suspicion.
And knowing what I know about international diplomacy, I don’t buy for a moment all the official “condemnations” from various nations. Countries routinely say one thing while doing another. Certainly some of them, perhaps China especially, have benefitted from feeding Kim Jong Il’s obsession with nuclear weapons. North Korea’s need for oil will make it only a matter of time before Iran has their own nukes. Or at least nukes from North Korea.
No one has any easy answers for North Korea. Its a problem left unsolved. Now that nukes are in the mix that problem has just gotten far more difficult.
We had a fun, if abbreviated, weekend. A lot of stuff got done during it, too. I cooked everyone breakfast Saturday morning before heading out to a workday with Hallie’s preschool, Children’s House of Raleigh. There I helped move a bunch of junk from their garage and out to a dumpster. Upon getting back I ventured into our attic to retrieve our Halloween decorations, taking time to vacuum all the dust that got all over stuff when Kelly and I added insulation this summer.
Once the kids were heading for their naps, I cleaned out the garage. Then I returned some things to Lowes and picked up a new fluourescent light fixture and a new faucet for our kitchen. The light went up in 15 minutes and the faucet went on in about 2 hours. Normally I’d have a new faucet on in an hour or less but the one I was removing was cemented on for some crazy reason.
After we enjoyed some time with the kids, we put them to bed and started up our movie, Side Effects. It was decent flick but not worth rushing out to rent.
Sunday we thought of going to the Art Museum [warning: excessive orange!] for some kiddie fun but we had some discipline issues that changed our plans. Then, because I’ve been traveling so much, I made a map of the United States with “Where Is Daddy?” on it so that the kids would know where their father is when he’s not around. The kids loved it and spent lots of time coloring in the states. I thought it would be fun for them to know where I am but looking back on it it seems kind of sad that I have to do that.
We were then off to the nursery to go tree shopping. At first we didn’t think we had time to plant anything, but we opted to walk out with three crepe myrtles anyway. I had them in the ground in a little over an hour, leaving me just enough time to eat lunch, pack my bags, and make my flight out here. So here I am.
Now, its bedtime. So long!
I’m in Oklahoma tonight and for the next three days, getting a new partner trained on the product. It’s my first visit to Oklahoma, which is surprising when I think about it. I’ll have to fill out one of those “states visited” maps sometime to see what I’ve got left. It isn’t much.
The flight on Southwest was wonderful as usual. The guy next to me remarked out of the blue about how puzzling it is that some airlines’ flight attendants are always so grumpy while Southwest’s are always so cheerful. I had to agree. Southwest makes flying fun. I’m always smiling when I step off their planes.
The News and Observer’s John Murawski had a nice feature about local folks generating their own electricity. That hack. I swear he steals his ideas from MT.Net.
Fortunately, I never talked about the cool wind turbine available from Amazon.Com. For 800 bucks you can crank out 400 watts! Wind power gives you the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to getting off the grid. If you live in a windy climate, a wind turbine is definitely the way to go. In fact, I can think of at least one person who might love to put one on his beach-bound RV.
Amazon also sells a much bigger turbine that kicks out 900 watts for $2,300. And of course the best thing about buying from Amazon is that the shipping is free.
Kudos to N.C. State for last night’s win over Florida State. Quarterback Daniel Evans is starting to turn some heads. Amato is probably wondering why he didn’t use him earlier.
I saw in today’s paper how Whose Line Is It Anyway stars Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood will be playing Memorial Auditorium October 27th. Unfortunately, we’ll be Charlottesville-bound for N.C. State’s scheduled whupping of UVa, so we can’t go. I don’t think any TV show has ever made me laugh as hard as Whose Line did. Seeing Colin live and having him act out audience suggestions would make for a hilarious evening.
Just to lessen the pain of not going to the show, I fished up this video clip from the show, where Richard Simmons made a cameo. It had Kelly and me rolling in the aisles, even after I’d seen it already. Its one of the funniest skits I’ve seen on the show.
If you’re in town on October 27th, the Colin and Brad show is the place to be.
North Carolina District 10 asshat Patrick McHenry has decided that House Democrats are to blame for Republican ex-Congressman Mark Foley’s interest in young studs. In a tired political stunt, McHenry yesterday called on House Democrats to testify under oath about what they knew about Foley. Never mind that the GOP leadership apparently was alerted several times and did nothing. Now its somehow Nancy Pelosi’s fault.
Enjoy your last days in Congress, Pat. In a little over a month, you’ll be free to take that dream job delivering pizzas in Cherryville.
