Sisyphus is temporarily back from the road. While putting my mind at ease, so to speak, for it wasn’t all fun and games. [I have my complaints for Delta]. I come back to a world that is ill at ease with many themes.

I have heard that gas prices are going to be over $5.00 a gallon after Rita. Our esteemed leader wanted to go to Texas before the flood. Saudi has said that Iraq is disintegrating; Bush and the Reservoir Dogs got up on stage to say that turning back now would be a victory for the Terrorists and perhaps the folks who perceive sovereignty of their own nation may have to do with the US leaving. Stansfield brought up an interesting topic in REAL ID. Hmmm, what else? The people of New Orleans and the mayor are trying not to get raped by the Government cronyism. There is a large anti war protest setting its stage in front of the Whitehouse. Where do I start?

My intention was to talk first about the protests. “You say you want a Revolution, well ya know” My personal feeling is why don’t we try to do something right before we start looking at knee jerk reactionary ideology. Like creating a Hurricane Czar?! I find myself with queer feelings after agreeing with Darth Vader on that one. But! We haven’t done a bit of good there. Were we supposed to? I forget the original rationality for going into a country that we had possession of what 60% before we got in? A country that was producing as much oil as before the Gulf War I [look it up at the CIA]. We had to get ole what’s his name before he teased us again into thinking he would be a happy Castro. Why would we want that? Did he have the scruples to be dealt with? Hard to say. I will not go through that litany of issues that have and had not happened. But it seems to me, if this was a war, we would start treating it like one. What are the offensives that we take on except occasional police stings? We turn over a cache or two and it sits on A17. I would think some type of martial law in the city and forcing the extremist into the desert and fight the war we can fight. I’ve been getting DoD notices of the announced dead for a long time. It’s still at the rate it has been through the entirety since we captured Baghdad. We’ve been huddled and being sitting ducks for over a year. I say, build a safe city for the good folks of Baghdad. Set it up with an Iraqi police and a small government. Show them how American protection works. Start to ferrat out the insurgents who penetrate one by one. We need to protect the innocents! We kill too many good people in route to one bad. Do our planes even fly? We don’t hear enough of good reporting from either the Government or the MSM. MSM, I am sorry that you feel that you are obligated to the rules of a makeshift reality TV. You invented reality TV. Go to the top of the mountain and come back with the epiphany!! We depend on you to not be shoddy and to have the balls to get to the full story.

I plan and hope to keep an eye on the development in New Orleans. I love that town to much to watch it turn into a Utopian Conservative Grandstand. School vouchers? What? I read earlier this week Slate editor was supporting letting the government have its way to prove that it can not work. Sure, let’s continue to stand by and say nothing. Perhaps the biggest sin of the American public will be the silent bystanders. Are we that frightened to speak our minds? Why don’t we just let gas prices go up to $10s a gallon just so we can prove that drilling in Alaska wildlife preserves is just silly? I forget the bonehead who was on FOX News supporting a gas tax to help out New Orleans. I was out of town and not prepared for the obtuseness of the comment. I just got teary eyed for Ross Perot.

For gasoline, I suggest people start looking into what is on the API [American Petroleum Institue] website. Look at how many refineries we have had and lost in the last few years. They openly complain about environmental restrictions. Well, pretty soon they will be gone. Just like paying a fair wage to the workers of New Orleans and credible oversight as to what we will kill to pay for it. As well investigate the Strategic Petroleum Reserves. See if you can make any sense out of it. Take a peek at how Enron-omics works on the continental level.

The poor will pay for the poor and the tax breaks will keep on coming. That’s just my silly prediction. Don’t believe me? Okay everyone prepare for Starbucks to replace Café Du Monde in Jackson Square!

So far a lot of this is opining without back up. I will provide that as we move along and those who dare make comments. I’m just a silly long hair with a 1980s Floridian High School education. I’ll be an easy target. But I’m willing to fight. Some of my suggestions for the future are getting rid of the Department of Homeland Security spending more time and effort on empowerment zones, quit screwing around with educational systems and fix the one we have [could it become the best public school system in the world?]. Create an all out War on Oil Terrorist. As well I support a recall effort for every Bush in office, no no Jebby, I haven’t forgotten about you, you Confederate! This and having a responsible fight against Extremisms of all kinds.

Let’s protect Americans instead of simply our interests, because our interests are really in our families and a freedom that resembles a good neighbor.

Stansfield here with an interesting take on the REAL ID act by the ACLU. As with most issues, I think the ACLU is going just a bit overboard with this issue. I encourage you to read the whole article presented at the end of the skit.

Here's a couple more articles against the act:

FindLaw

Senator Feinstein's opinion - a trustworthy source, to be sure :-)


Articles supporting the act:

Joplin Independent

Comments delivered by Rep. Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. urging support for the act

What I'm aggravated with is the fact that Congress has attached this proposal as a rider on an unrelated emergency funds bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. An act like this, that could potentially be seen as another movement toward a Big Brother-esque government, should not be tacked on to some bill and given the appearance that it needs to be weaseled through Congress.

I am not against the principle of this act. Limiting the maneuverability of terrorists is an excellent idea, and one to be handled appropriately. The REAL ID act may not be the best means to achieve that goal, though.

So, I challenge those who are whining about this act to come up with a substitute. Let's hear some ideas, not just complaints.

Stansfield here again. Sisyphus is currently being battered by Hurricane Rita, so he may be out for a bit. I'm going to take advantage of that situation and shift for a second off our political debate. Or philosophical, as Sisyphus calls it.

I picked up a couple books at the library last night. One is crap (The Arcanum – no idea who wrote it, but keep away. It’s pure drivel.) and one is turning out to be as good as I’d hoped.

Several days ago, I saw a trailer for ‘Capote’, with the title role played by an excellent actor, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. If Hoffman can bring the character to life as well as Robert Morse did in the one man Broadway show ‘Tru’, Hoffman will deserve an Oscar. Early reviews are indicating this might be the case.

Combined with ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’ served to push me to get a degree in forensic science (which I use daily in my life as a computer programmer. My parents must be so proud.). I have a thing for Truman Capote. I am not gay, nor do I live the high life socially speaking, but I have felt drawn to Capote since that first book.

So after seeing that trailer, I head to the library to see if there are any biographies of Truman other than the famous and enjoyable Gerald Clarke tome. There I find George Plimpton’s ‘Capote’, written as Plimpton’s RFK bio was – an oral biography. Stories told by the people who knew him.

This book was published in 2001, I believe, so I’m kicking myself for not finding it sooner. But a bio on Capote, by none other than George Plimpton! The first chapter alone captured more of the south, Harper Lee, and Truman as a child than I ever knew; the picture painted by this book is as vivid as any movie could ever hope to be.

My wife asked me why I would feel so drawn to a gay, drug-abusing, socialite who died when I was 8 years old. It’s tough to explain to those who’ve never read Breakfast at Tiffany’s or In Cold Blood. Capote reminds me a lot of Marilyn Monroe – someone given an incredible gift (talented writer/beauty), but is oft tortured by the very having of that gift. There is a sadness carried with their grace. Capote seemed to both hate and love himself and his nature at the same time.

The film, ‘Capote’, is based predominately on the Clarke biography. Plimpton’s book is apparently being turned into a film called either (depending which google link you choose) ‘Have You Heard?’ or ‘Every Word is True.’ As good as the Plimpton book is turning out to be, I am skeptical of any interpretation where Harper Lee is played by Sandra Bullock, Mark Wahlberg is cast as Perry, and a pun may or may not be used in the title.

Either way, great time for Capote fans.

Sisyphus says I have lingered too long at the castle gates; time to join that quest for the Grail, as he put it.

As we can see from Sisyphus’s last post, he is quite fed up. I personally am not ready to join his ‘militia’ and overtake passing fuel carriers. But it’s close.

We live in the Columbus Ohio area. About 8 hours before Katrina’s devastating wrath began appearing on the television stations that pass for news organizations in the country, I paid $2.48 per gallon of low-grade gasoline. The next morning, $2.99 was the best I could find. Also, our state Attorney General was on tv announcing that he had not seen any signs of obvious ‘price gouging’ by gas stations/companies.

Can someone explain this concept to me? Is it possible those stations were already negatively affected by the hurricane, and sought to reflect their losses in that price adjustment? I doubt it. Taking advantage of tumultuous situations and wringing every last nickel from a consumer who is tied to their product is the modus operandi for oil companies. I would be interested to see exactly how much profit the oil companies have posted for the last 6 months.

Some would say it’s our own fault for being to selfishly reliant on a dwindling fuel supply. I’d agree, to an extent. But where has our government stepped up to help us break this addiction? Are there any caps on the gas prices from the federal government? Has there been any incentive for companies to race to find the replacement for gasoline? No. As is typical of this country, the rich get richer while those scratching out a living can barely afford the fuel to get their jobs to provide for their families. Congressmen submit expense reports for flat-screens and mahogany desks while I debate the cost-effectiveness of driving across town.

Militias aren’t the answer, though they are tempting at times. I believe that it is the job of a president to leave the country in at least as good a condition as when he was elected. Sisyphus can debate Clintonics with me on this one, but I posit that the last three presidents have not lived up to the task. This Bush will leave office with a worse economy, worse world-wide relations, and worse conditions at home. How is this acceptable? Forget party affliation – would you have voted for any president knowing this would be the outcome?

I pray and hope for better over the next 3 years, but I do not expect it. I believe that the anger generated by the images of Katrina’s aftermath will be too quickly lost in the day-to-day survival, and will only be dredged up by the next mope wanting to point out why he (or she, as it very well may turn out to be) is better for the job than the last mope.

Change is a must at this point. Long live the Republic of Common Sense and Homeland Support. Where is Teddy when you need him?

The flight has been delayed so I thought I would add some thoughts I had during the week.

First, while I was driving to work this week I passed a convoy of Army tank trucks filled presumably with gasoline coming from the Cleveland Terminals. They were traveling west on 70. So the destination may have been south to help out the Katrina storm victims. I went back to thinking of a movie that was done in the mid 80s with Emilio Estevez, I believe [need to verify this] where they went to these banks that held the mortgages for the farms in the state the movie was being made. He decided as an act of civil disobedience to blow up or burn down those banks. This was when interest rates were so high on farmers. So, I had this vision of anarchy. Contractors were driving these trucks, so to add to the cost of the fuel they were delivering. It irritated me to say the least. My impulse was to dream of being some kind of militia and jumping the tankers and overtaking the vehicles. Having some rouge terminal and Robin Hooding of the gasoline.

What occurs to me is not the thought, its typical if you consider the pop culture that I was exposed to, but really why people are taking so much of this so lightly. I’ve often thought of going to the truck stop where I live and holding a sign, with irony totally applied saying, “Isn’t worth it?” To commandeer the principles of the big lie, one needs to take to the notion of irony. For example, I love the Beatles so I may use them from time to time, but “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” when Paul sings, “she could steal but she could not rob”. Yes the meaning is obvious, but the irony is more important. If you figure that into the day to day semblance of our contours you see that we can steal, but we cannot rob. Typical, how often as a species we feel alright about taking advantage or being taken advantage as we still gasp that people will gas and go on a regular nature and find it appropriate to say that having ones license revoked is fair punishment. I find that dangerous, as dangerous as advocating an anachronistic application to serve the “so called” shortage of supply of gasoline. Am I a bad man or do I perceive a lodged piece of candy in the societal throat? To take that even further, why is the supply so dangerous low? We are told it is because of our SUVs, the war on terrorism and the Chinaman. But does it have to do with the siphoning of supply that the in-kind program run by the Strategic Oil Preserves? Does it have to do with the reduction of refining? What has caused the reduction in refiners? Was it my dear old friend Exxon-Mobil, the largest gas conglomerate that has had nearly 80% profits? Didn’t they bulk up supplies before this all happened?

Let’s change the scenario for a minute. Pick any type of freeloader that you know, draw a little parallel with it; I believe you will start to catch the drift. I find it an important thing to think about. I find it difficult that as a culture we contain this behavior as well as condone it. Our rebellion on these circumstances is worn out because we believe we are doing it for a greater cause. We are not necessarily called to sacrifice, it is implied, and on our backs will this country succeed, with our financing we will assure the private sector to continue. To the youth we are training; shouldn’t something be done? Shouldn’t someone be asking these questions with vigor and fortitude? Should it just be me or do we as a democratic whole bear some responsibility to hold all those accountable? I will start out asking these questions to see if anyone would like to respond with solutions.

But let’s look at these two questions. Why should contractors be driving those vehicles and not the already paid personal that we paid for their training? What do we consider advantageous of ourselves?