Nate Beaty's Brainfag

Our useless, smirking leader

posted in Home Jabber on August 31, 2005

"With hospitals closing down, no running water or electricity in most parts of the city, health risks intensifying and looters running rampant in places, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana said officials had no choice but to try to clear everyone out of New Orleans."

Say, huh?! What the eff is happening in New Orleans? I can just see Christians trembling with excitement thinking the apocalypse has surely begun! Looting, rape, citizens shooting helicopters -- and all the while President Bush was slapping golf balls, waiting 4 days to make his triumphant, publicity-powered, Let's Save New Orleans swoop upon the madness, hugging and kissing "them poor little colored kids" before giving a godawful speech ending with a remark of how we'll be a stronger nation after enduring this tragedy.

I just got a call from Jeremy, who is holed up with about 6 other people in the midst of the chaos, jumping from building top to building top to gather supplies. He made it a point to list their arsenal of weapons on hand, including a few revolvers, knives, and baseball bats. A friend of his is keeping his bar open, but bears a shotgun. Cops came in and told everyone to carry their weapons if they have them, but not to brandish them in public. But carry them around, ok?

Riding up to get a movie in sleepytown Portland, I am struck by how complacent a general population will be when supplied with modern comforts. There's about 4 people on the street on my 25 block bike ride. Everybody all cozy in their livingrooms bathed in the soothing incandescence, eating ice cream and popcorn and meat while watching the boobtube. Every once in a while they'll get up for a brewski or to go wash away their cup of urine in 7 gallons of luxurious running water.

I've written about this before -- but what happens when the power goes off? After 5 days of no power? No running water? Well, pilgrim, dig up the firearms and let's go rape & pillage!!

At the video store I found myself wanting anything NOT American. No english! Give me anything but honkeytown product! I'm really feeling hate towards the US more and more. Iraq? Hello? Are we the most fucking evil country ever? It's like our entire nation has been stamped with the humongously insipid mark of the George Bush Smirk. I'm totally embarrassed to be an American.

I've been talking with Soon Bok in Korea just about every day, and her most common frustration is how judged she is for being American. She says she can just feel people looking at her and talking about her, but unfortunately, she can't explain she's not a pork-stuffed, Ford F350-driving, patriotic flag-waiver because she doesn't speak Korean. I've heard of a lot of Americans claiming to be Canadians while travelling abroad. Shit, I would. I can only dream of a country that supports the arts, has national healthcare, and doesn't wave a gigantic gun to anyone who threatens the everlasting American Way of Life.

This column from NYtimes.com summed up this situations so well (as well as being a much more well-written diatribe than I could ever conjure):

Who are we if we can't take care of our own?

In the Continuing Adventures of Numbnuts Natron, I made some tasty salsa trying to keep up with the INSANE tomato output of our tiny garden, and went up to the store to get some chips. Huzza, sweet yonkers, they got them delicious Chili Lime chips on sale. I get home and start wolfing 'em down as I'm voraciously famished after a hard day of coding. All of a sudden my face starts itching, then my lip starts to swell like I was punched in the face. Well, dork-rod, there's fucking SOUR CREAM on the chips! For those who've missed my ambiguous mentions of sometimes "being sick" in the last year++, I came to realize that when I eat dairy, my intestines go totally batshit, and I get sudden bouts of diarrhea, cramps, ulcers (of the intestine, not stomach), bloating, and general malaise -- which can last for MONTHS. Needless to say, I've avoided dairy like the plague once I realized this. I don't know how it happened, but my body suddenly took a VIOLENT dislike to dairy, the buttbuddy of our national culinary star: meat. DAIRY BAD!

This is the first immediate, physical reaction I've had to dairy.. and it FREAKED ME OUT. I found myself having a physical reaction to vodka about 3 years ago.. No, that must have been 4 years ago? Something like that. This didn't diminish my drinking spree, and I eventually became alcohol intolerant. So, now I can't drink or eat cheese. WHAT IS THERE TO LIVE FOR??!!