Can I kick it? No, you can't.

First of all, welcome to the blog. Maybe you've been here before, and maybe not. Regardless, welcome to the free and open exchange of ideas. Frankly, you can post anything you want, and as long as it's well written and not willfully ignorant, I'm not inclined to delete it.

A recent visitor seemed convinced that I am a Democrat, although more likely a Socialist. To begin with, I have no party affiliation whatsoever. I would prefer that there were five or six viable parties here instead of the current duopoly situation we suffer under. I don't really see any difference between Democrats and Republicans at this point. Both are beholden to special interests. Neither has a long term vision for this country. Actually, let me amend that statement. The Republicans DO have a vision. The ideal future looks to them a great deal like 1953.

These are not conservatives. They don't conserve anything. The environment, fossil fuels, natural resources, nothing. These are reactionaries. Trent Lott, Tom DeLay, Arlen Specter, and their ilk are so busy trying to live in a monochromatic age long past, that they continually impede the growth of this country.

"We LOVE brown people! How many jobs have we allowed to be shipped to India? See? BROWN!"

Well, that's great if you own stock. But if you work for a living, it turns out these people hate you. And if you want the truth, they hate you more if you're white, because they are white, and are doing just fine. "Why can't you get ahead? You have all the tools. Stop embarrassing the race with your working-class ways, and invest, man!"

And don't look at me as some sort of Europhile, because nothing could be further from the truth. That continent has been in decline for 200 years, but that does not mean that they haven't had any good ideas. A 35-hour work week, excellent health care, and adequate vacation time sound like good goals to me, and if that makes me a Socialist, then so be it. Throw your labels around, if that's all you have, I can take it. You justify 45 million Americans with no health insurance, and I'll cop to being a Stalin-era Communist.

As for the refutation of my diet-vs-height claims, feel free to read the following:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1185457,00.html

I've got to go to work, so I need to cut this short. Work, incidentally, is what I do so I can live indoors and not starve to death. I apologize if that offends your 2004 American values.

Sunday, April 11, 2004