I’m so sorry you and the folks in your overly priced gated community must hear gunshots fired in the morning. What a travesty. God forbid anyone upset you and your fellow residents behind that huge wall. Maybe if they built the wall a few meters higher the sound wouldn’t travel into your high priced, gated heaven : )

Landfall woman irked by duck hunters
Sound of gunfire bothers residents, but hunters not out of line

By Veronica Gonzalez
Staff Writer
veronica.gonzalez@starnewsonline.com

Duck hunters are putting Janice Alexander in a fowl mood.

Her 6 a.m. alarm is the sound of gunshots fired from around Howe Creek behind her Landfall home.

She’s not the only one complaining.

Alexander is one of about a dozen Landfall residents who have contacted authorities, dismayed about duck hunters waking them up in the early morning hours nearly every day since about Jan. 1.

But Wilmington police said Wednesday they can’t do anything about Howe Creek hunters because that area is out of the city’s jurisdiction.

And the county can’t do anything either unless a hunter poses a threat to a person or property.

The main difference is that hunting isn’t allowed within the city limits, while it is allowed in the county.

So Landfall residents are wondering what they can do to make the hunters cease fire, so to speak.

“I don’t think they ought to be allowed to shoot this close to homes,” Alexander said.

Duck hunting season, which has been on and off since October, ends next week.

“Thank God we only have a few more days to go,” Alexander said.

Gil DuBois, who is affiliated with the Wilmington chapter of Ducks Unlimited, said he hasn’t heard the complaints.

But he said it’s not surprising that people can hear gunshots that clearly.

“In the wintertime, noise travels further because all the leaves are off the trees,” said DuBois, who hunts only in remote areas.

“There’s a lot of things you can hear in the wintertime that you can’t hear in the summertime.”

He said ducks are up and down the Intracoastal Waterway just about anywhere there’s water. They’re migrating from north to south to places where water hasn’t frozen.

They have stopped here because “ducks are only going to fly so far and expend so much energy,” he said.

Hunters are taking advantage.

But unless hunters are in Bradley, Shinn or Hewlett’s Creek, city police can’t penalize them for discharging a firearm.

Creeks outside the city’s jurisdiction are Howe Creek as well as Whiskey Creek. Those are in the county’s jurisdiction, but it’s up to county law enforcement to judge if someone is being unsafe with a firearm, said New Hanover County Manager Bruce Shell, who added this is the first time he’s heard such complaints since he has been in his position.

He said he spoke with a resident who was going to explore approaching the county about a change in the county’s ordinance.

“We could make the ordinance more restrictive,” Shell said. “There is teeth in the ordinance. It may not be as restrictive as some folks would like.”

The penalty for discharging a firearm in the city limits is a $500 fine or 30 days in jail, said Wilmington police Lt. Jeff Allsbrook, who added he didn’t remember receiving phone calls about this issue either.

The penalty for discharging a firearm in the county is $500.

Fines or no fines, Alexander just wants to resume her peaceful way of life in the home where she has lived for two years.

Blue herons perch on a tree in the marshland behind her two-story home near where the Intracoastal Waterway and Howe Creek converge. Egrets, geese, swans, seagulls and ducks roam the land and rule the air, so she also is concerned about the bird sanctuaries near her home.

The sound of gunshots shatter the silence, scare the birds and make them scatter, she said.

Hunters have no place there, Alexander said.

“Why should their pleasure encroach on anybody else’s pleasure, peace or tranquility every morning?” she asked.

Veronica Gonzalez: 343-2008

veronica.gonzalez@starnewsonline.com

…just as a side not apparently a nice, plump lady was on the local news this morning from “Landfill” wearing a fur coat complaining that a bullet might hit there house. Uggghhh….

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071129/ap_on_sc/conservation_birds

Disclaimer: this is an angry post with no much substance. I just haven’t read or watched the news for a few days and looked online through it today to catch up and saw this shit. I’m sure a lot of really shitty stuff goes on, but that rape case and this teddy bear bullshit is fucking insane and if there is a hell which I doubt in the Judeo-Christian sense, I hope they fucking burn in it.

Fuck Islam. I mean it, fuck it. How retarded are these sandy assed bastards? I know Christianity was not much better a few hundred years ago, but you know what? We grew the fuck out of it. Islam needs to stop living in fucking 500A.D. I mean with that Saudi rape case and this shit, it pains me to drive a car and support these numbskull douchebags that call themselves Muslims.

…Rip Ali-gator. 1998-2007

She suffered an injury as a puppy, and had the ball of her hip removed. However, she went on to live a full, and happy life. She is survived by her brothers Moose and Cordell, and her sisters, Shadow and Sadie. She loved playing with the puppies, and sitting watching the leaves change, as she did this year. She also loved playing in the woods, hunting varmits, climbing the hill behind her house, even as her legs were giving out she’d still struggle to the top. I know she is up in doggy heaven with all the kitchens and couches she can possibly have to dirty up. It might be cold and wet outside, but in doggy heaven she can lay her big ass wherever the hell she wants. We’ll miss you Ali. Shadow might have just lost a happy pouch today…

Man, I lied, I didn’t post anything worthwhile. These last few days have been pretty uneventful. Last night the Buffalo Bills got blown out after I got done reading the news about numerous horrific deaths. Today, I go to Walmart, see some 8 year old girl rolling herself through the store because her legs never formed right. I come home and my best friend calls me to tell me that they had to put his dog down after I get done reading about some girl in Saudi Arabia getting lashed and jail time for being gang raped at gunpoint. If that isn’t a reason to ride a bike I don’t know what. Shits gotta turn around…just been some “Bummy” vibes going around these last couple days, can’t explain it, but then again it really isn’t that bad. I didn’t see that 8 year old girl complaining.

WARNING: DON’T WATCH IF YOU FEEL AT ALL UNEASY WITH SEEING A COW SLAUGHTERED. WAIT, ON SECOND THOUGHT, WATCH IT. YOU SHOULD FEEL UNEASY WHEN WATCHING AN ANIMAL GET BUTCHERED. We as a society have gotten so far away from the act of killing and harvesting our own food we forget that beef and other meat actually has to come from an animal which is alive. I don’t like watching this, or many other videos I see online. However, I force myself too because I know that if I eat meat I am responsible for this activity. Not to mention one should never get too comfortable and become blind to the world’s problems. I’ve seen videos of executions online among others. They are absolutely horrific. But you know, it is happening. People are dying, and to pretend like it isn’t and stay in a nice little bubble is completely irresponsible. That goes out especially to you war mongers(even moreso to those who support the war and won’t go fight it even though they are able bodied). People die in war and you should have to watch it. Then and only then do you realize the cost. That goes the same for a burger. It’s tasty alright, but when you watch the conditions and suffering and animal is put through to make a big mac, is it worth it? I’m certainly not innocent of this, I eat meat. I also know how it’s done and watch the slaughter. It’s not so much that one should stop eating meat or write off all war, but rather be accountable and knowledgeable about the processes and actions that it takes to get there. Blood is blood, animal or human animal.

Not to hurt our humble brethren (the animals) is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission–to be of service to them whenever they require it… If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
– Saint Francis of Assisi(See I’m not a total asshole when it comes to religion)

News Article…. Off the fucking cliff we go…

I got this from the paper down here. And to answer the mans question about whether development is good or bad, it’s bad. It’s horrible, in fact I don’t think there’s much I hate more. What do I know though? A booming housing market and population growth is great for an economy that can only survive off unbridled growth. What’s that Ed Abbey? Cancer, you say?

Wilmington native has seen change . . . good and bad

By Amy Hotz
Staff Writer
amy.hotz@starnewsonline.com

I’m 28 years old. Barely a speck on the radar of the human life span. But I’m also a born and bred Wilmingtonian, which means I’ve probably seen a lot more than most people my age in other cities our size.

Until getting married four years ago, I lived my entire life in a cinderblock house my father and his father built in 1954 on a dirt road. That road is now paved with a traffic light at one end. I had a relative who fought at Moore’s Creek during the Revolutionary War and a couple other relatives who were stationed at Fort Fisher during the Civil War.

My family house is less than a mile from Landfall, which I can remember as being nothing but woods and swamp. My dad used to hunt on the same spot lawyers now dig their golf shoes into.

Part of the Mayfaire property was a cow pasture. That changed not long ago. But it changed fast. At 28 I can remember when Wilmington had no Wal-Mart, when there wasn’t an Interstate 40, when half the buildings on the campus of the University of North Carolina Wilmington were not there.

Downtown was still a little seedy and actually had some industry. I don’t recall any artsy-fartsy high-dollar clothing stores there. Rare Cargo was at the Galleria shopping center. And there certainly weren’t any doggy treat bakeries – downtown or anywhere else.

Wrightsville Beach had places you could park for free. And the south end actually had big chunks of what looked like brick chimneys scattered around on the sand. I guess those are all covered up now.

I get out and about. I socialize. But now when someone tells me where they live, I rarely recognize the street names.

When I was younger, if you went to Carolina Beach, you drove quite a ways with nothing but trees to look at. The most interesting things along the route were Tote-Em-In Zoo and some place that had a wooden fence around it cut out like teepees. They had animals like raccoons and possums in cages and a small gift shop that sold leather moccasins and cheap Indian headdresses.

We’d take trips to Fort Fisher nearly every weekend, and it didn’t look anything like it does now. The part that hurts the worst now is driving down River Road or past those pastel-colored houses on stilts. I vividly remember the dense maritime scrub oaks that used to coat those areas. Deer were always roaming there. And, to a child, imagining what was hidden in a place that surely no one had walked in for decades gave the place a magical feel.

I don’t know if I-40 did it or if moving to the beach is just a fad that’s gotten out of hand, but the old timers who used to give my family pecans from their trees each fall and bring over two-liter plastic Pepsi bottles of homemade wine have found that the land they’ve worked and lived on most of their lives is now too expensive to own. Taxes and the cost of living have run them out.

Macy Rollins, an old family friend in her 80s, found her home annexed by the city after her husband died four or five years ago.

Dad always said you couldn’t give him the property because it was adjacent to a mosquito-infested marsh. Someone decided it was worth more than Mrs. Rollins has probably ever seen in her entire life. The taxes were too much for her Social Security checks to bear, so she called the city to find out what she could do.

She said the lady she spoke with told her if she deeded the property to the city, she could live there tax-free until she died. Mrs. Rollins wanted to leave the house to her family, though, and asked if there was anything else she could do. The lady said no.

Ten or so townhouses are now squeezed onto that little pecan tree field.

Where in the heck are these people who are building and buying all these high-dollar homes getting their money? Where do they work? Do they, in the truest sense, contribute to this city?

I know I’m pretty lucky I found a decent paying job in my hometown. Most of my high school classmates have moved away. People often tell me how amazed they are to have found a real, live Wilmingtonian. Then they step back and look at me closer, pensively.

But I try not to complain much about all the changes. Some things are actually for the better. The Riverwalk is nice. And it’s good to have so many choices in ice cream shops.

But once in a while I drive through the old neighborhood or get stuck in traffic at the New Centre Drive-Market Street intersection and I wonder if all this growth is mostly good or mostly bad.

I still haven’t answered myself on that one.

But maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much if I knew the people making all the big decisions and changes, whether they just flew in from Kalamazoo or have lived here all their lives, truly respect what’s already here – the very things that make Wilmington special.

I feel mighty old for 28.

My buddy is moving to a town just about an hour north of Wilmington. It’s old, classy, and pretty goddamn nice. However some asshole developers want to change all that by “revitalizing” the city. Here’s a link to my friend’s blog post about it. Let’s get this out of the way too. Everyone says “Sean your blogs are so negative.” No shit, if you lived down here and had half a fucking heart yours would be too. They’re destroying this place city by city, parcel by parcel. So go back to your small towns and cities and wonder why its so “negative.” Oh, and remember the American motto, “Build build build, buy buy buy.” Amen, peace the fuck out.

On Sunday the New York Times reported on the recrudescence of “faith-based” teaching in Russian public schools:

A teacher named Irina Donshina set aside her textbooks, strode before her second-graders and, as if speaking from a pulpit, posed a simple question:

“Whom should we learn to do good from?”

“From God!” the children said.

“Right!” Ms. Donshina said. “Because people he created crucified him. But did he accuse them or curse them or hate them? Of course not? He continued loving and feeling pity for them, though he could have eliminated all of us and the whole world in a fraction of a second.”

This grisly vignette, which almost perfectly summarizes the relationship between sadism and masochism in Christian teaching, probably wouldn’t delight all those who think that morality derives from supernatural authority. After all, the Russian Orthodox Church was the patron of Czarist autocracy, helped spread The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the West, and compromised with the Stalin regime just as it had been allied with earlier serfdom and chauvinism. It is now part of Vladimir Putin’s sinister exercise in the restoration of Russian supremacism and dictatorship: an enterprise that got off to a good start when our President admired Mr. Putin’s crucifix and “looked into his soul”. (Question: has Putin ever been seen wearing that crucifix again, or did his cynical advisers tell him that the Leader of the Free World was such a pushover for the “faith-based” that he would never check?)

So, and as with Salafist madrassas, it’s easy to see how wicked it is to lie to children when it’s done in the name of the “wrong” faith. But Ms Donshina’s nonsensical propaganda is actually a mainstream statement of what the truly religious are bound to believe. Without god, how could we tell right from wrong, or learn how to do the right thing? I have never had a debate with a religious figure of any denomination, however “moderate, where this insulting question has not come up.

Yet is it not positively immoral to argue that our elementary morality and human solidarity derive from an authority that we must simultaneously (and compulsorily) love, and also fear? Does it not degrade us in our deepest integrity to be told that we would not do a right action, or utter a principled truth, were it not for fear of punishment or hope of reward? Moreover, we are told that we begin sinful and must earn our redemption from an authority whose actions and caprices (arranging a human sacrifice in Palestine in which we had no say, for example, and informing us that we are all guilty of it) were best summarized by Fulke Greville when he remarked ruefully that we are “created sick; commanded to be sound”. This abject attitude, of sickly love for the Dear Leader combined with dreadful terror of him, is in fact the origin of totalitarianism. And there is nothing ethical about that.

I should like, for the continued vigor of this discussion, to repeat the challenge that I have several times offered the faithful in print and on the air. Can they name a moral statement or action, uttered or performed by a religious person, that could not have been uttered or performed by an unbeliever? I am still waiting, after several months, for a response to this. It carries an incidental corollary: I have also asked large and divergent audiences if they can think of a wicked action or statement that derived directly from religious faith, and you know what? There is no tongue-tied silence at THAT point. Everybody can instantly think of an example.

I don’t rest my case but I have stated it as concisely as I can and I look forward to reviewing, and replying to, anyone who might be good enough to respond.

I just saw a commercial on tv by Bill Saffo the current mayor of Wilmington. The election is Oct. 9th, and I won’t be voting for him. Not only is he a real estate guy, here’s a link to his company, all his buddies and donors are real estate guys and developers. Bill wants to make Wilmington great he says, after all, according to him it is the best place to live. We’ve got to fix our ailing sewers system, acquire more empty space and have some jobs for people in town rather than just having Wilmington be a large retirement home. Oh, he wants to improve our quality of living too. Are you kidding me? I assume by what I’ve seen of your work so far Bill, that “quality of life” means having a 500K home in a development and driving a Chevy Suburban. No sir, that is not the quality of life we need. We do need more open spaces and less development. We need bike lanes and good developmental planning so you can access stores and restaurants by bike or on foot. Instead you’ve created a clusterfuck where you’re likely to get hit on your bike or on foot. Nothing is easily accessible with your, build now, plan later scheme. You’ve done an awful job for this city and I haven’t even mentioned the sewers spills which were and are absolutely ridiculous. When a pipe can only hold the volume of 30K people, you should try putting 50K people’s turds floating down it. It’s basic math and science. So why don’t you take all that donor money you’ve received and go buy a house somewhere far far away, because if you really cared for the city you wouldn’t run for re-election.

I’m going to rant for a moment, so if you don’t want to read it you can leave now. What in the hell is wrong with the news? I get home last night and all I can find out about what’s going on in the world is that O.J. Simpson got out on bail. They must have forgotten that we are at war, I repeat WE ARE AT WAR, or that the ice caps are melting. Instead we’re covering things like sub-prime loans where dumb ass people took dumb ass loans because of dumb ass people on Wallstreet. No one is talking about people having to leave their homes, instead it’s about the effect it will have on the “economy.” If you can’t afford a home, get an apartment. And now Dubai wants to buy a 20% stake in Nasdaq, because after all this is good for the “global economy,” and I’m sure oil has nothing at all to do with it. Ahh Dubai, where the rich are insanely rich, and the poor people that build their homes and buildings are insanely poor, beyond poverty. Now I haven’t seen the BCC news on television before, but I read it as my main source of internet news because you can get global news rather than some O.J. Simpson/Britney Spears crap. Why can’t we just replace our news with that, you know “like important stuff, dude.” I suppose if you don’t read or watch the news, and are only focused on a local level you probably don’t think there’s a thing wrong in the world. However, if you take in the larger picture, you quickly realized how fucked we are. I mean that with the best of intentions. We are driving ourselves off the planet. It’s not just that, look at how we treat other people. I don’t mean this in a way that we hurt people’s feelings. I mean we use other people to our benefit with no thought of what harm it has caused them. Genocide, war, stealing of land and destruction of native traditions. I’m not a big believer in the bible, because I’m an educated man, but I’d say we’re ready for the return of Jesus, because the end is coming, and that Jewish Zombie should be arriving any day. Ok, that’s it, I’ve ranted and we can all go back to being happy, ignorant people. [God Bless America](not any of those other heathen countries)

Today at work I tried telling my boss about peak oil. I was confronted with an arrogant amount of ignorance and stubbornness. I told her about peak oil and that down the road it’s going to be major trouble. To that she replied that these so called “experts” can’t be trusted. Look at Greenland, it’s called “green”land because it used to be a very fertile and livable place. So obviously these global warming “experts” must not have a clue. She also said it was “arrogant” to think that we as people can have that much effect on the world. Excuse me? It’s arrogant to believe we can change the environment? She then told me that we’ll just drill somewhere else. It was very obvious at this point that I was not getting my point through. The conversation progressed from the science to the economic difficulties we’ll encounter. To that she replied that we need to worry about China. Ok, fine, China is becoming a powerhouse, but who is helping them? I told her that if she didn’t like the idea of China becoming powerful, then we only have ourselves to blame. She of course disagreed that we had that much of an effect on their economy. All you need to do is go to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website on foreign trade statistics and you can see that trade with China has gone up every year for the last 7 years. But after all it you can’t rely on these experts. I mean why trust someone who has devoted their entire life to the study of a particular field, obviously a lady who drives an Lincoln Navigator and runs a restaurant must know more. On the pollution front she said that we don’t have do try and curb out pollution because compared to China we can’t do anything. That is one of the most arrogant and retarded arguments I’ve heard in a long time. If someone else is stealing, it doesn’t make it right to keep doing it because they are. So, I tried explaining it to her in terms of population growth. It’s simple if you have a shrinking supply of resources and a growing demand there will be tension and the resource will become more valuable, thus causing it to be more expensive. I said we need to conserve and think ahead. All I got out of her was that “The U.S. will only keep getting bigger and better.” I was dumbfounded, mad, frustrated and disappointed all at the same time. How can we as a people go on with such ignorance. Oh, and I think she threw in a comment about the Democrats too somewhere in there. I can understand if you look at the information objectively and come up with your own ideas and opinions, but to discount something as significant as this because you can’t trust “experts” is just asinine and dangerous. Sirbikes might be right, we’re heading over the cliff and no one’s willing to check and see if the brakes work.

Stories like this made me wish I didn’t read the news.

…Well it’s September 11th, 2007. Six years ago I was in high school and remember the day well. I don’t want to dwell on what happened though. It was horrible and one hopes nothing like that ever happens, especially in their own country. After 9/11 I remember this huge outpouring of national pride and the attitude that we would overcome and move on. Move on we have. From 9/11 came the Iraq war and from the Iraq war came the divisive nature of the present politics. We are no more unified today than we were before or immediately after 9/11. Instead I drive around and see little magnetic stickers on cars that say “support our troops” or “God Bless America.” Why not God Bless the world? Take some of your Jesus loving crap and love thy enemy. Or at least try to understand where they come from. It isn’t until we understand the root of radical Islam that we can come to understand how to defeat it. When it only takes one man to blow up fifty, you know you’re in trouble. No army can stop a movement. We could put a million troops in Iraq, and yes we would control it for awhile. But we’re not fighting a country, we’re fighting a movement, and that is something completely different. Even if we defeat it militarily in Iraq, it will pop up somewhere else. This isn’t going to be a military fight in the end, it’s going to be a cultural movement. The only way to defeat it is to change the hearts of the people. To make them love America and the freedom that one can have if they let go of superstitious bullcrap from a thousand years ago. I don’t want to get onto the religion tangent but I’ll let it be known that I think it causes a lot of harm and ignorance. I live in the bible belt so I feel I am at liberty to make that judgment, and I’m sure my minor in religion doesn’t hurt either. The only educated belief is to be agnostic. Anyway, like I was saying I still see these huge SUV’s flying around on the roads and the ignorance that seems to come standard with most southern kids people I’ve met around here. That in no way is a blanket statement, because I’ve met a lot of good people here, but the bad seem to outweigh the good in my book. Even today I wonder how many people took a moment of silence or just thought about what happened in the few minutes of downtime they’ve had. Does America not care anymore? It seems to me that the only reason people care is if someone takes their house away or their cheap, shiny stuff. But, liberty, freedom, the American way? It’s no more. We’ve outsourced it so we can buy our stuff cheap at the cost of future generations. A 90 year old man called into the local radio show this morning. He talked about the racism he used to encounter when he was a young man growing up in Wilmington. However, through all the adversity he persevered and got a job at the port alongside his father. He grew up and all of his 7 kids went to college. All of this background was in relation to the fact that the NAACP is coming here because of a race riot we had over a hundred years ago. This old man rememberd hearing about it from his parents and grandparents. His point was one I thoroughly respected though. Instead of jumping on the NAACP bandwagon he said in effect that people need to stop causing trouble over what happened a long time ago and put that energy into improving the current state of things. The example he gave was that one of his grandchildren said he admired a man in prison because “he was hard.” The older man said he was a hooligan and there was nothing hard about that. Hard was growing up in the south when it was much more racist that today. That was hard. He noted that today’s youth doesn’t need any more opportunity either, there’s plenty of it. They just don’t take the initiative to go out and get it. Today’s generation knows nothing about overcoming adversity like that. I may not know if it first hand but at least I’m aware. The whole tangent about this old man is to prove that long ago people pushed on and made the best out of a bad situation. They didn’t sit around and complain and feel bad for themselves. They made the best out of a bad situation. Instead today, I think most Americans are too complacent, and I honestly believe most won’t do anything to help their fellow countrymen or the world unless it affects them personally. It’s sad, just like today. 9/11 isn’t about Iraq, it’s about America forgetting what makes this country great. I look around campus and see kids in BMW’s and Mercedes, I can only shake my head. It seems anymore we judge a person by their material possessions rather than what they’ve accomplished or learned. It’s a plastic society we’re slowly converting over to. I wish a thought like that was far back in my head on a day like today but I can’t help but think they are somehow interconnected. God(whichever one you think is real) Bless…America…and everyone else. I guess it would be kind of hard to fit that all onto a sticker.

…and another link.

Lately I’ve been more consumed by politics more than ever. I just can’t seem to figure out where I fit in. The more I think about it, I don’t want to fit in. I want to decide on each issue as it comes, rather than have to be in one party which has an umbrella over certain ideals. I don’t like the democrats and I don’t like the republicans, but agree with some of their points. It’s hard being independent in this day and age. Especially when most people my age don’t give a second though to politics. I find this so sad. We are privileged enough to be born in America, which I truly believe to be the greatest country on earth. However, I don’t see any appreciation for that privilege. Just to be clear it isn’t a right, it is a privilege. The right to free speech? No, it’s a privilege. If it wasn’t for our soldiers fighting for our freedom we’d have none of it, hell maybe even speak German. I don’t agree with this war completely, but think radical Islam along with the environment are the most important issues on the world stage this day. I hope both of those concerns go away, but it won’t happen unless people start paying attention to whats going on. We all have the ability to change the world for the positive, but many choose to sit back and do nothing. I figure I’ve got 60 years left if I’m lucky, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to waste them sitting around watching a bunch of politicians fill their pockets and do nothing to improve the state of things. As Americans not only do we have the ability to change our country for the better, but also the world. That doesn’t mean we should be starting pre-emptive wars to bring “democracy” to countries. However, we do need to be the change we wish to see. You can’t preach something to someone if you don’t live it yourself. Case and point, Al Gore. As much as I think the guy has brought global warming to the forefront of the environmental movement for everyday people, he does live a life which isn’t in accordance with what he preaches. Sure he buys carbon offsets, but really come on, if you want people to follow you, set an example where you show sacrifice, the same sacrifice you ask other Americans to make. Not all of us are made of money, and being environmentally friendly might only be feasible in the form of using paper instead of plastic bags at the grocery store or riding your bike more. But you know, that’ll make a difference, however small. If everyone made a small change we could collectively do something great. The sad thing about politics and the do nothing generation I’m a part of is that I don’t see that change coming. People my age want to party and hang out. I don’t have any problem with that, I love a good night of drinking and getting rowdy too, but at the same time that should be balanced with the responsibility that comes with being an American. You have a responsibility to make sure your government is doing the right thing. I write this blog more out of frustration than anything. You can rant all you want but who knows what good it will do. Hopefully someday the message will be spread and all we can do is keep spreading it until something happens and people wake up. Until then then, this buds for you.

I work in the kitchen of a restaurant. Subsequently I work with all Mexicans. Thus, I am forced to listen to their cha cha cha, three amigo’s crap they call music. Lately to solve that problem I’ve been bring in in my mp3 player that has an FM receiver. I listen to a lot of conservative talk radio because quite frankly the music they play on the radio today is just awful. So everyday I hear stories with a “conservative” slant. The more I listen to it, the more I’m drawn away from my tradition thinking that I’m a democrat. I fall somewhere between a democrat and a republican, but don’t really have a set place. I think small government is good, but once you turn the government over to people there’s room for plenty of abuse and environmental destruction which is where I think having the federal government step in is crucial. On the other hand big government lends itself to the same abuses and corruption. It’s really a hard choice because I believe 90% of the people that want to get into politics are looking to benefit from or gain some kind of power. So where do I stand politically? I’d have to say different on every issue. i don’t think there is one blanket philosophy, or party I can agree with. The republicans parade around claiming they’re right and the democrats are wrong. The democrats parade around about the evils of the republicans. They’re both right on some issues. No party has a monopoly on good choice and intentions. Personally, I’d like to see an end to the strongholds of the two party system. Yes we have others like the green party and libertarian, but lets be honest when they say something it’s like a fart in the wind, except if their last name is Nader. In the end, I think everyone should have equal opportunity to health care, but if you can afford it you should have to pay for it. I do believe in taxes, but think they’re often wasted on silly programs and earmarks are often a waste of that money. We shouldn’t be having preemptive wars. If we’re going to liberate one country because of a bad leader, then there’s a lot more work to be done. It’s the unfortunate reality that there are many bad governments out there like Sudan and North Korea and Communist China. I’ll say it, I hate communism because it doesn’t let the people have a voice, instead their voice is given to them by the propaganda department. I believe the environment is something we should all care about even if it does mean acknowledging global warming is enhanced by man’s impact on the world. People do have the right to carry guns, but they also have a right not to be uneducated idiots who go about shooting other people. Abortion is an ugly thing, but it’s still the woman’s choice…as of now. Illegal immigrants fill the cheap labor that drives this economy. If you want your stuff cheap, then suck it up and pay the hard working little bastards, but enforce the laws in place and stop wasting time talking about a huge border fence, because those illegals will be the ones building it. I don’t think you should need millions of dollars to run for president. If you have the experience and the right ideas, any citizen who can’t suck down the lobbyists money should be able to run. Radical Islam sucks my dick and I don’t care if that offends you or your religion, because this is America, and that’s just how we roll. On a philosophical ground the death penalty just doesn’t make sense, although sometime people just need killin’. Americans should learn to curb their appetite for all things cheap and shiny. This doesn’t mean the government should force us to reduce, instead we should realized that we make a huge impact on the world and environment and can better it by reducing our consumption. Sometimes a just action is an illegal action and finally, no one, especially not some Home Owners Association will tell me how my yard should look. Peace I’m out!

My grandpa once asked me why I don’t like southern girls. Well, gramps, here’s your answer. I hope this explains it all. How long can America go on producing shit for brains like her? I’d say she’s hot, but the mere fact that shes that dumb takes all hotness away.

Disclaimer: This is an emotional statement, not a logical one.

This isn’t a “we went into Iraq and now it’s bad” thing, it isn’t a “Iraq was bad under Saddam” thing. It’s a “Arabs are a bunch of violent fuckers.” Not all of them, of course we administer our violence from f-16’s. However, There’s a far cry from that and dragging a 5 year old boy out of his home and lighting him on fire. Anytime you do that to a child, it’s reprehensible. They aren’t even able to defend themselves. Too bad the kid didn’t pull out a 44 mag and blow their heads off. Anyway this just got me pissed and thinking about what a shithole Iraq was/has become. Any way to get out? Sure! tell the Arabs if they don’t stop killing each other and throwing around their crazy extremist Islam shit, we’ll blow them out of existence. We’ll make the Near East our “proving grounds.”Seriously, Let every country know that unless they can get along, we’re going to drop 10 nukes over there. END OF STORY.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/08/21/reading.ap/index.html

…apparently Americans aren’t reading books. WHY ARE WE SO STUPID??

…as Henry Rollins said, “you’re not much of a reader? well I’m not much of a dinner buyer”(paraphrased).

Where the hell did the travel channel go? It’s always been channel 72 on my service and now channel 72 is some bullshit station with nothing but crap, called “noggin.” I want my travel channel back. For christ sake all I watch is the news, discovery, travel channel and animal planet. Take one away and you’re seriously inhibiting my viewing pleasure. Fuckers, I’m calling them tomorrow to find out about this.

UPDATE: So I call Time Warner today and find out what happened. Apparently Travel Channel has gone digital now so it’s no longer on the analog services, which is what I get in the extended cable package. If I want to watch travel channel I have to update my service and get a box to include the digital channels. All this apparently because of some FCC mandate which is slowly forcing all channels go to digital. Bullshit!

http://www.bushflash.com/pl_lo.html …a disturbing video, both visually and intellectuallly. I looked some of the info up just to make sure it wasn’t some crazy propaganda, and it seems everything including the horrible fetal abnormalities are all true. Tax dollars at work is right.

Today as I was driving to my friends house to go scouting for some fruits and vegetables to can, I came upon a sign for a future development that I often see while driving of riding my bike on this very road. However, this morning it was different. Instead of advertising apts and condos, it was spraypainted with words that said “save trees” with a very fine illustration of what a tree looks like. There were a few of these around. This “monkeywrenching” by what I presume to be some college kids makes me proud. In fact I’m disappointed I didn’t think of it myself. It looks fantastic too. Every asshole in this town that hates those “hippies on bikes” has to drive by it in their ten ton SUV and see that work of “vandalism.” I say the vandalism is what they’re doing to the ecology around here. It’s absolutely disgusting, and I’m glad some people are finally taking a stand, even if it is at the level of a highschooler. So for whoever did the graffiti, damn fine work, damn fine. Keep up the good work brothers and sisters, there may yet be a few battles to win. On another note someone wrote in complaining of all the bikers using a road around here that is known to be one of the main biking roads because of the openness and sparser traffic. Apparently a man who moved down here was disturbed by all these bikers using this road they’ve been using for a long time and felt compelled to write the editor of the local paper about it. The link is it sirbikesalot.com he explained the whole situation very well, and on his lead I and a few others have written the editor in response to this arsehole.

Another reason to hate housing tracts. I wrote about this place awhile ago, but the paper just did a story on it. They’re taking our riding road and destroying reason we ride on it. Nothing new, but a reminder of how this place is going in the toilet. They’re taking one of the last nice places to ride and relax and bulldozing it over for over a thousand homes and some commercial businesses. Hey, the economy is growing though!

Just another quick note. Well two actually, first, The county next to ours Brunswick county, is having a price increase in houses. For a long time my county, New Hanover, has been the place to live. However, since our county is getting what I’d call a little bit crowded, newcomers are forced to live farther out causing the bordering counties to increase in population. Thus, the price of houses goes up. Well, the price has gone up so much that a police officer on his yearly salary can’t even afford a house. Since Brunswick county has been one of the fastest growing counties in the country housing prices have boomed with the building. There’s been a shift from normal houses, to more expensive and larger homes. That to me equates to rich fuckers messing up the land with a house too big for them. Either way, there’s always a trailer for those police officers. I just think it’s ridiculous that people who play one of the most important roles in our society can’t even afford a normal home. This is a nice segue to my next point. My friend Eric called me tonight and said we need to be entrepreneurial on some green technology/business. I said here’s a green idea, “don’t consume so much.” Plain and simple. With an economy based on growth there is no way to go but down. As we build economy and use up our resources, I can foresee a day when the only wilderness left is a local park. It’s a sad but true reality that most people turn a blind eye to. We’ve got to get off this idea that the only good economy is one that is growing. Eventually there will be nothing left to grow into and it will be a vast concrete wasteland where trees are more valuable than gold.

My friend’s blog…. Please take the time to read it. Normally i’d warn you about too much sarcasm and cynicism, but I think he’s about as honest as it can get without stepping over the bounds of being cynical or pessimistic. These people are really something else. I’m sure it’s this way in a lot of places, but us coming from a nice little section of NY, never had to deal with these things, or people.

Today I took the bike out for nice cruise. I left at 7am, rode to my friend Justin’s apt, and off we went. We did about 50 miles total. Only 30 of them were together towards the end we went different routes because I had to ride into work and he was going home. About ten miles from work I got a phone call that they needed me in. Today was supposed to be my day off, and last night they told me I had to come in at noon. I got a phone call at 10. So after riding 50 miles my friend picked me and the bike up on his way to work and I went and worked 7 hours after a 50 miles ride. Nothing like washing dishes after a nice long ride…So, after I got out I was eager to enjoy what was supposed to be my day off. Justin and I drove down to Southport to get some seafood and get out of town for a few hours. It was a nice trip, but I’m extremely tired and feel like shit from riding and working. There was nice sunset photo op on the way back, so I forced Justin to turn around and let me grab it. It turned out alright but would have been much better about 2 minutes before I took it when we initially passed. That’s all I really gotta say. I’m tired and on my day off I’m probably just going to bed early.

Paris Hilton isn’t news, and I’m glad this lady did what she did. We have soldiers dying in Iraq and the news wants to cover some rich, skank who’s done nothing to further the progress and development of this nation. In fact I think we’re worse off for her being alive or at least alive and well.

Newly added photos to a newly updated flickr…Here they are…. CLICK

And away we go. I’ve been home for just over a week now and haven’t done too much. I mean I have, mostly seeing the family and relaxing. I’ve yet to get out to allegany state park and do some hiking and riding, although when I mentioned it to my dad today he seemed half interested in going. I really do love the area here. It’s beautiful. Nothing but small towns peppered throughout rolling green hills mired in early morning fog and afternoon haze causing the hills to disappear after only a few miles. I drove out to Salamanca the other day which is on the Indian reservation. The state park is adjacent to the reservation and right near the Allegany River. It just astounds me how much natural beauty we have in this are. What pisses me off about the whole thing is that people complain about how it sucks here