Taxes really suck. Especially when you worked 5 different jobs in 2 different states, and some of them did not take any taxes out. Uncle Sam really likes to take a bite out of your wages. What am I paying for again? Oh ya, a war for oil just so I can pay way more for fuel.

Well, there are so many things going wrong in the world today that it would be to easy just to jump onto Biblicone and apologise or extend sympathy for every killing, war, accident, tsunami, famine, etc.   We (I) wouldnt get much ranting done if that was the case, but there has obviously been quite a bit of chatter over this side of the pond regarding American gun laws and so forth since the V Tech shootings, and I have decided to fling my opinion out into the wind. 

The UK has a gun law. It basically states that “you can’t have one”.  But that does nothing to deter the flood of such weapons on to British streets; predominantly city and poorer communities, and the use of such is always criminal.  Still, as long as our Police don’t carry them then I suppose everyone can carry on pretending it isnt really an issue.  Our teenagers prefer to get drunk and kick the crap out of property or other people, but they can’t have a gun.  Thats fine.  Thats what happens over here, but that isnt to say I don’t understand that guns are part of American culture and so it shouldnt be changed purely on a few incidents.  I ride motorbikes and am lucky enough to have survived flying up the road at break neck speeds (without bike) all because of a patch of oil.  But, I know how dangerous bikes are and so do many thousands of others who venture out on the mad mile every Sunday, just to go faster than the chair they whizz round the office in and feel a little bit of freedom.  People die on bikes.  Statistics tend to show that bikers dont survive accidents and regardless of the amount ot accidents on any one road, bikers still wang it like demons and I have never met anyone who has sold their bike saying “It’s too dangerous” and nor would Government dare change this culture.  So, why the hell do we go on about gun laws in the US? In my mind it’s the same.  I might be wrong, but then I carry a gun in my job and so Im fairly relaxed about it all. 

Anyway. Rant over. 

Back in the Stone Age, the average meat-eater was slimmer and trimmer than the average meat-eater today. Before there were QFCs and Safeways, cavemen and cavewomen couldn’t just stroll into the meat department at the supermarket to pick up a choice cut. No, Mr. and Mrs. Caveman had to CATCH something, KILL IT, and COOK IT before they could sit down and EAT IT! Mr. and Mrs. Caveman were fit because going out for dinner meant chasing large animals around savannas, or stalking small animals through the bush. All this chasing and stalking burned more calories before a single meal than most modern carnivores burn in a week at the gym.Mr. and Mrs. Caveman wouldn’t know what to make of modern carnivores going out for dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Modern Carnivore sit on their fat, greasy asses in dimly lit restaurants, ordering cuts from animals most couldn’t pick out of a lineup, let alone pick off with a spear. In addition to being fatter and lazier than Mr. and Mrs. Caveman, Mr. and Mrs. Modern Carnivore are also keenly hypocritical, keeping some animals as pets, while happily sending other animals off to be slaughtered by poorly paid illegal immigrants.But just because you live in an urban area doesn’t mean you can’t know the calorie-burning joy and satisfaction of CATCHING IT, KILLING IT, and COOKING IT before EATING IT. Forget that step class, Mr. Modern Carnivore! Get off that treadmill, Mrs. Modern Carnivore! And throw away that Thighmaster!  Just follow our four easy steps — CATCH, KILL, COOK, EAT — and you’ll quickly connect with your inner caveman or cavewoman while staying effortlessly slim and trim. Have a good workout, and… bon appétit!

CATCH: Dog? Anywhere. Hundreds of the little buggers!

KILL: Depending on the size of the dog, you can wring its neck, shoot it through the head, or run over it with a van. Drain its blood and dismember.

COOK: Dog, a popular dish in China, is very versatile. To stir-fry dog, heat a small amount of oil in a wok. Cut dog into small cubes, then place in wok and brown evenly. When dog is brown, add chopped broccoli, snap peas, carrots, and soy sauce. Cover and let steam.

EAT: Serve with rice wine. Delicious!

My friend Cooper and I braved the cold wave we had here and put on these new Bushwacker fender flares on the Jeep. The very last hole I drilled into the fender ended up also drilling a hole into the windshield wiper fluid tank. I pulled the drill out, and along came the entire contents of wiper fluid. That will be fixed soon. We also degreased the engine – it had probably 18 years of oil and dirt caked on it. I may need to upgrade the carburetor at some point. Its hard to start in the cold, and its hard to keep it idling on its own for the first 10 minutes of driving. Hit the brake at a stop sign and it wants to stall out. Thats all for now.

Some things that have happened very recently that stand out in my mind, and make me very uncomfortable knowing that these people are in charge of our government.

Vice President Dick Cheney shoots a fellow hunter (78 year old lawyer Harry Whittington) while hunting birds. Ever heard of muzzle awareness? Cheney obviously has not. It is basically paying attention to what your gun is aiming at. Also, wouldnt it be nice if those who are in charge also followed the rules that we are supposed to follow? Vice President Cheney was missing a $7 stamp allowing him to shoot upland game birds. Luckily for him, he had all the correct permits to hunt in Texas, minus the $7 stamp. I wonder how much the stamp is to shoot at lawyers? Find more info here.

Millions of dollars meant for Katrina aid ended up being spent on tattoos, beachfront condos, 10,000+ mobile homes stuck in the mud and unusable, condoms blah blah blah. Read more here.

And of course, the whole “why are we in the Middle East” question. The question about wiretapping and how much of our freedom needs to be removed to stay free? The questions about our dependance on oil and petroleum products vs. the industry preventing other means of energy and fuel to be either developed or released to the public.

I lost my momentum here, comments?

“We waste our natural resources, as well as those of undeveloped countries, iron, oil, etc., in order to fill our cities and roads with a congestion of traffic that is in fact largely useless, and is a symptom of the meaningless and futile agitation of our own minds.”

-Thomas Merton : Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander : 1960s

by the way… tomorrow is my birthday. hooray for me.

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times! as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

You know I still can’t stop thinking about the UN. This is exactly one of those times that we could do with them. They can police Iraq; I know that’s what they have done before. Somebody needs to bring order out of chaos (hehehehe) so why not them? If the other three nations have so much at stake in the oil in this country surely now is the time to protect their investment? I am thinking of the Russians in particular. They could really steal some thunder out of this in being seen to be the ones who “sorted it out”.

Rosie.