The party of pussies...

Bush's pick got confirmed as Chief Justice today. I can't blame Republicans for being Republicans - I mean, who did we think they were going to put in there, Noam fucking Chomsky? - but the capitulation of the "opposition" party really chaps my ass. 22 out of 44 Democratic senators - half!! - voted for Bush's guy. This shit went down when his approval ratings suck, he looks like an assclown after Katrina, Rove and DeLay are both in legal trouble, and Big Dick Cheney was under anesthesia - it was the perfect opportunity to show some backbone. All the other team's stars were on the fucking bench. But no, they folded like they always do. Even Pat Leahy and Russ Feingold, for Chrissake. Rrrrrrr...

I am utterly sick of electoral politics. Denise was looking at the November ballot and talking about reading through all the initiatives, etc... I can't even get excited enough to go vote down Jerry Sanders. Real change is not going to happen through elected officials. I mean, I can see the benefit of trying to stop real psychos, like Bush or David Duke, from getting elected. By and large though, I would like to see progressives focus more on organizing people and less on grooming star candidates like Hillary or Obama (Goddess bless him). But, I'm an apocalyptic anarchist, so I see no remedy until things get so out of control that we have a revolution. Which - don't get me wrong - will suck for the people still in what will soon be known as "the former U.S.A." But it will be better for the world in general when this big crazy country gets split up into a bunch of little Whiteman-istans.

Another entry in my list of potential disasters to come: prehistoric viruses from the ice! Whoo-hoo! Bring on Captain Trips and Randall Flagg!

Working with what I have...

My life has been sort of low level chaos of late. Denise has been mad busy and I wish we could see each other more... but that's karma, and on balance it's the right energy for us. Meanwhile, work has been weird: we are dealing with the Puerto Rico school system, bringing up fifteen to thirty schools a day on to satellite internet. It's been interesting trying to get my Spanish up to the level where I can communicate technical issues over a shitty cell connection. I'm realising I don't speak the language near as well as I thought I did, but at the same time I have more confidence in at least speaking conversationally at a basic level.

I thought I would be speaking more Spanish in California than I ended up speaking. It's a lot like Hawai'i in that way; people stay in their ethnic enclaves for the most part. Hell, the woman I'm in a relationship with is Italian-Irish-German like myself! I'm really interested in bridging the culture gap more, same as I did back in the islands. The anti-Minuteman protests are over, so having missed out on that I am going to have to strike out on my own. I'm scouting for pro-migrant organisations I can help out with; like everything else in my life, though, it is going to have to wait on my schedule becoming more stable.

I'm relieved about this hurricane - both that the direct loss of life is low to none, and that we're not looking at more and more gas price increases. I'm still buying my gas almost exclusively at Citgo, so I feel pretty good about paying a little more than the absolute lowest price since it goes to help the poor, even in this country. My economics are still a little tight... which is another reason why it's good that I don't have a lot of time to spend with D... less temptation to spoil her!

He's Baaa.... aaack!

Now that nobody reads this thing anymore... guess I can get back to writing. Journaling. "To blog" is not a verb. So there.

I got distracted for a while by my move, and by Hurricane Denise, but now I'm settling into what feels like a new pattern. Nothing too monotonous, you understand... there will definitely be some good chaos with the changing around of my work schedule, and with D back in my life there's no chance of things being boring. But I am really feeling like I'm here now, and like I am establishing the next phase of my life.

We've been working a lot of disaster recovery issues from New Orleans at work, and since they have Fucks News on all the time I have just been marinating in Katrina stuff. One day, after work, I took my usual walk down to the beach. On my way back, I noticed two big white buses and a cop car out in front of the Apple Tree. There were a bunch of African Americans kind of milling around, and I noticed they all had really really thick Southern accents. You see all kinds of things in OB, so I just kept cruising on. A few paces later, though, I stopped. I turned back around, and I made eye contact with a guy about my age. I asked him, "are you from New Orleans?" He said, "Yeah." I shook his hand, did the guy handshake/body-check/hug thing and told him, "I'm glad you're all right."

I really think we're moving into a period of increasing danger and collapse. I believe we are already in a period of rapid climate change, of which Katrina was just a dramatic symptom. people have already forgotten about the peat bogs melting in Siberia, which will speed things up even more. At the same time, the US Empire is going to be starting its period of collapse, and it's not going to be pretty. The economy is also very unstable and that will make all of the other problems worse.

If I sound mad pessimistic, that's because I am. At the same time, I have a lot of hope at the individual level. The important people in my life really love me, and there small groups of committed people all over the world doing wonderful things. It will be a time of widespread chaos... and I do love chaos! So I'm not depressed about it, though I want to cry for all of the lives that are going to be cut short in the coming years.

Work for change. Be brave. And love those who are close to you.