Honestly, I forgot about this blog for a bit.  But I quickly remembered it this morning while watching the news.  The top news story for the last week has been the swine flu originating from Mexico.

When I first heard the news, I thought that this was the next public scare like the avian flu from a few years ago.  At that time, the avian flu came on slowly.  There were lots of stories in the news and getting the world prepped for this massive outbreak.  We were reminded of the 100 million killed by the flu in 1917-18.  But all that has since left the scene and is not on the news anymore.

Now comes the swine flu … practically unexpectedly.  Suddenly the avian flu is back on topic.  All the scare tactics are being pulled out now.  Just this very minute, there is news that Mexico will shut down from May 1 to May 5.  (Vice President) Biden, on NBC news this morning, said he wouldn’t travel on the subways and airplanes.  And then there is this article from the Telegraph which is entitled “Swine flu: ‘All humanity under threat’”.

Now put on your conspiracytheory glasses.  What will the world call for in order to prevent spreading of future viruses?  Focus on North America and look into the future.  Someone will ask the question, “how can we prevent another outbreak in Mexico or Canada which would impact the United States?”  The answer is to put stricter rules and governance in place that monitors and manages diseases and viruses that pop up in North America.  The same would happen in the other regions of the world.

This is just another step toward One World, although this little crisis is perhaps unexpected and the Obama administration will just take advantage of it.  What’s the saying? … never let a good crisis go to waste.

photo from The Telegraph via Cellar IOD

Read the entire column here.

Now some might wonder why a unified world government is bad.  I’m sure there are lots of reasons, but the main reason is control.  One government controling the entire world?  That just doesn’t sound right.

 And what about corruption?  Corruption already exists in smaller governments.  But those government can be overturned via elections or a coup.  But how do you defeat a world government?  It almost sounds like Star Wars where there is a Rebellion Alliance trying to throw down a Supreme dictator.

Tying the control and corruption issues together spells trouble for everyone.  As the article states,

International governance tends to be effective, only when it is anti-democratic.

The world’s problems are complex.  I can see the need to have one body issuing mandates on certain issues, but when you have a monopoly in government the scope of those handful of complex problems widens until you have one government controlling everything and everyone.  Eventually, creativity gets stifled, liberties are lost and a new kind of slavery emerges.

In reading the headlines today, about a week after the election of Barack Obama, I read this article about the UK’s prime minister calling for “one world”.

Thankfully, the State of Oregon will hold this couple accountable for the death of their son.

The article also states that this 16-year-old’s cousin died 4 months earlier because her parent’s faith proved fruitless in her battle against pneumonia.

One resident got a rude awakening during the course of trying to procure a drug for her lung cancer.  This article states,  

Barbara Wagner … was turned down by the state’s Oregon Health Plan for a new drug called Tarceva. In a letter sent by a company that administers one of the state’s insurance plans, Wagner was informed of the “physician aid in dying” option that could include lethal prescriptions as well as visits to doctors required to obtain the drugs.
“I was absolutely hurt that somebody could think that way,” said Wagner. “They won’t pay for me to live but they will pay for me to die.”

Once state officials found out about this incident, they quickly maneuvered to cover up their motives and instructed the officiators of the insurance to not send such letters.

Oregon should change their motto from “The Union” to “The Place to Die”

Oregon needs to do something about rogue trucks who kill their owners.

Another article about the man who was killed by his truck.

And so with Barack Obama nearing the presidency, I thought it appropriate to explain to my readers why I think there is a black man within.

I grew up in Oregon.  There aren’t very many black people there.  In our high school of 4000, we had exacly one black boy … and he was 1/2 Mexican.  So I didn’t really learn much about the black culture until I moved to Texas.

One of the first things that I noticed that I have a black man within is how much I love basketball.  I play it three times a week.  I love the NBA.  I don’t care much for the white player in the NBA.  I tend to enjoy watching the black man play more than the white man.

Several year ago, I bought a Mitsubishi Galant.  As I’ve been driving it, I notice other owners of the Galant.  I’d say about 90% of the people I’ve seen driving the Galant are Black.  It is a standing joke between my wife and I … whenever we see a Galant, we go out of our way to see the race of the driver.  Almost always the driver is Black.  And if he or she is not Black, they are a minority.  I especially loved the suped up, ghetto Galants.  My black man within desires to pimp my ride.

I love fried chicken.  Church’s, Popeye’s, KFC, Pollo Campero … you name it, I love it.  I also still love McDonald’s.  (Have you ever noticed that McDonald’s commercials hardly ever market to the white boy anymore?)

Watermelon … my summertime favorite.

This last story really made me realize that I definately have a black man within.  A couple of weeks ago, I attended a co-worker’s 30th anniversary luncheon.  She is Black.  There were two tables … one for her and her family and the other for all the employees.  Of course I sat at the employee table.  There were two black men at the table.  Everyone else was white or Mexican.  For lunch, the meat choice was steak, chicken or salmon.  I love salmon, so naturally I ordered it.  When the meat came out, I noticed everyone at the table ordered steak except the three people who ordered salmon.  As I said, I was one of the salmon orders.  The other two … you guessed it … the two black men at the table.  No one knew why I was laughing out loud when the meat arrived.

That’s all the evidence I have.  As more surfaces, I’ll post it.

On a side note … have you ever listened to a black person pray?  Count how many times they say the word “just” in their prayers.

According to Cathe Kent, from the Portland Police Bureau, because Earth Friend Gen is not doing this in an attempt to arouse anyone, the act is perfectly legal. 

Wow.

That is Oregon.

Almost instantaneously, I thought of Zeitgeist the Movie and a “Damn Interesting” article entitled “The Revenge of the Fighting Quaker”

Then of course everyone has been watching the events unfold this week … the events on Wall Street. Some are calling it the 9/11 of Banking or the Financial Institution. What the U.S. government has done is shocking … at least to me. Now there is this proposal that will “fix” this crisis at the tune of $1 Trillion!! World markets reacted enthusiastically when they heard the U.S. government stepped in.

All of these thoughts are swirling in my head … the WHTI, this past week’s events and Zeitgeist and the DI article. It’s all very interesting to say the least.

If you’re curious, click on the links and do some investigation of your own. I smell a wizard in Oz.

Post Script

While I was re-reading this today, I just remembered that we can’t forget about NAFTA. The link is to the Wikipedia article. One of the references in the article is a transcript of an interview of Mexico’s president Vicente Fox with Larry King. Here is part of what they said in the interview:

KING: E-mail from Mrs. Gonzalez in Elizabeth, New Jersey. “Mr. Fox, I would like to know how you feel about the possibility of having a Latin America united with one currency?”

FOX: Long term, very long term. What we propose together, President Bush and myself, it’s ALCA, which is a trade union for all of the Americas. And everything was running fluently until Hugo Chavez came. He decided to isolate himself. He decided to combat the idea and destroy the idea…

KING: It’s going to be like the euro dollar, you mean?

FOX: Well, that would be long, long term. I think the processes to go, first step into is trading agreement. And then further on, a new vision, like we are trying to do with NAFTA.

One world.

the sound of custom car engines is like catnip to hot chicks.

Really, the best part of the post … the part that gave me a gut-wrenching laugh was when he said,

I’d also add the sound of a chainsaw somwhere in the distance, so the woman can imagine her personal lumberjack getting wood for the fire.

You have to read the whole post to really get that 2nd line.

The paraglider was trying to land in Cleveland Park, but he noticed that his approach was a little bit low. As he tried to guide himself in the right direction, he noticed that he was heading towards some power lines.
“He decided his best option was to go into the trees rather than to go into the lines,” Cairns said.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the State of Oregon pratically covered with trees?  You’d think an Oregonian would know how to climb as well as dismount from a tree … right?

I’m sure the state revoked his citizenship when he came back from Vancouver.

“Spike Milligan was wearing traditional Scottish garb when a curious onlooker asked, ‘So, is there anything worn under the kilt?’

“‘No’, he answered, ‘it’s all in perfect working order.’”

Now with that in mind, it is no wonder that China is the powerhouse it is in the Olympics.  But then I got to thinking even more.  With all that man-power and resources and with that huge population, China ought to be getting gold in every Olympic event.  There really is no excuse for China to lose to any country in medal count.  They should be blowing us and every other country out of the water.

If I did my math correctly (I sorted by country and then “all” sports and counted the number of athletes), Yahoo sports lists 24 pages of 25 athletes with 1 page listing 20 athletes … that’s a total of 620 Olympic athletes for China.  The US of A has 25 pages of 25 athletes each with 1 page listing 24 athletes for a total of 649 athletes.

Now to the ratios … there are 2.1 million people for every Olympic athlete in China.

There are just under 470,000 people for every American athlete.

My conclusions … despite all the torture and coercion, the Chinese still haven’t figured out how to win at the Olympics.  Or, the United States is so superior and its methods (free-market) are way better, that despite how small a country we are (relative to China) we still do pretty darn good at the Olympics.

Our bathrooms are rigged with a timed, motion sensor light.  So when no one enters the bathroom for over 30 minutes, the lights turn off.  Unfortunately, while the lights are out, all the cockroaches begin to party.  And these are not the little finger-size roaches … these bad boys are slightly smaller than that ugly mo-fo on Men in Black.

Last night I opened the door, the lights flickered on and I walked to the line of stalls.  When I opened the door, I saw one sitting on the toilet reading a newspaper and munching on a Coke can.  I said, “sorry”, excused myself and shut the door to go to another stall.  But barf-face jumped out at me and pounced on me like a cat on a mouse.

His breath was foul and I could see the germs crawling on him.  I knew I would need to detoxify myself after this encounter.  I managed to kick him in the leg while I yelled at the top of my lungs.  Luckily for me, someone came dashing in with a can of Raid and began spraying the stuff in his eyes.  He leaped off and dove into the drain hole.

Now whenever I use the workplace restroom, I take a can of Roach Killer.

Then today I read Half Sigma’s post discussing a NY Time article regarding the Section 8 federal housing voucher program.

These articles remind me of the Law and Order episode (#398 ) that discussed this whole issue of white rich people moving back into the city and how they confront black urban families who feel threatened with this white encroachment.  The tension seems to be happening in both the cities and suburbia.

Growing up in Oregon, I knew of one “black” kid.  And he wasn’t even 100% black.  I think he was half latino.  After we moved to the Southwest, we noticed the stark contrast of the white northwest to the diversified South-Southwest.

Just last year, our 2nd grade daughter was the only white girl in her class.  My wife was really anxious about that.  Her anxiety comes from an idea that Half Sigma points out … that some lower-class students don’t share our middle-class values (read this post).

Today, we have So You Think You Can Dance.

I don’t know which is funnier, though, the fact that Oregon truckers are doing this or that the State of Oregon has a law that prohibits throwing human waste from a moving vehicle, which leads me to think this is not the first time this problem has occured.

I doubt the link will remain active, so here is the story in full.

Interstate messes draw ire
State police report bottles of urine littering highway

By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Friday, August 8, 2008 10:32 AM PDT

ONTARIO—High gas prices may be influencing the Oregon State Police in an unanticipated way locally, as the department reports an increase in the number of bottles filled with urine scattered along Interstate 84.

OSP Sgt. Jason Reese said in the past month the department has received notice of a large quantity of urine-filled bottles sitting along the shoulder of the interstate between Ontario and Farewell Bend. Reese said the Oregon Department of Transportation litter crew has picked up between 200 and 300 urine-filled bottles in a 16-mile stretch.

“And just going up Three-Mile Hill, they collected 100 bottles,” he said.

The suspected culprits: truckdrivers who are driving slower because of rising gas prices and bypassing stops at rest areas or truck stops, thus drawing out a trip, by storing their urine in containers and then dumping them.

Reese said he has spoken with truckdrivers over the CB radio and learned some drivers will collect their urine in a bottle while driving and then toss the capped containers out the window while driving on an upgrade because they are driving at slower speeds and the truckdrivers can maintain control of their semis.

“Which is pretty disgusting,” Reese said. It is against the law in Oregon to throw human waste from a moving vehicle, Reese said, and OSP is trying to find a way to inform truckdrivers who may do such things they could face a misdemeanor charge and a fine of $250 if caught.

I don’t have to add any flourish to his description to make it funny.

His office has two toy muscly military men that stand guard on his desk.

Today he wore combat boots, combat pants and an Under Armor shirt – the kind that shows every ripple, curve or protrusion on your body.  He wore just the Under Armor shirt … tucked into his combat pants.

He shaves his head … presumably with a Bic razor or something like it.

He wears sun-glasses … inside … all the time.

There is a 5-foot tall American flag hanging in his office.  There’s nothing wrong with having the Flag in an office.  In fact almost everyone has a little American flag stand on their desk.  He just happens to also have a 5-foot tall flag.

The ironic characteristic about him is he almost always talks in a falsetto voice.  His voice sounds like someone who’s had his gonads whacked with an aluminum bat by Barry Bonds.

Unfortunately, he demands that everyone around him maintain the same standards as he does.  If you go to his office, before you speak to him, you have to drop and produce 10 push ups.

When you do speak to him, you must attach a vice-grip to your nuts to raise your voice to falsetto level.  Ladies have an easier time talking to him.

You never know if he is looking at you because of his sunglasses.  You can’t joke around him … he might see you and order you to do 35 sit-ups.  So we are always on alert mode when he comes around.

Yes, our GI-Office-Joe is quite the nut job.