Have a devil of a day.... :)

in hell
lies hope

in the morning

drugs, drugs, drugs...

A nice article by Tony Newman on Alternet concisely explains the multiple problems with the U.S. War on Drugs. There are also a bunch of interesting comments following the piece. Here are his 10 points (11 actually) which he further explains in the article:
1. Drugs are everywhere.
2. Different people have different relationships with different drugs.
3. People use drugs for joy and for pain.
4. Drug abuse does not discriminate, but our drug policies do.
5. Relapse happens.
6. Smoking five cigarettes is better than smoking 20. Using marijuana is better than using heroin.
7. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse.
8. Prohibition doesn't work. Prohibition is responsible for most of the violence associated with drugs.
9. Drugs and the drug war touch most families.
10. We have to learn how to live with drugs, because they aren't going anywhere.
*Bonus point: The public is ahead of the politicians.

Get Drunk

(a poem in prose)
You have always to be drunk. That is everything: the only question. If you would not feel the horrid weight of Time, that breaks your shoulders, bending you toward earth, relentlessly you must get drunk.
Well, then; but on what? On wine, or poetry, or virtue, as you will. Only, just get drunk!
And if, someday, you should awake upon a palace stair, or lying in the green grass of a ditch, or in the dreary loneness of your room, and you should find your drunkenness already lessened or quite gone, then ask of the wind, of the wave, of the star, of the lark, of the clock, - of all that flies, or rolls, or moans, or sings, or speaks - "What time is it?" And the wind, the wave, the star, the lark, the clock will answer, "It is time to get drunk! If you would not be the martyred slave of Time, get drunk, and never stop! On wine, or poetry, or virtue, as you will."
a poem by Charles Baudelaire

Continuing the Tradition in Colombia

A recent article by Peter Gorman posted on WWIV Report exposes the developments occurring in Colombia as being scarily similar to the abusive authoritarian regimes of the Latin America of the past. A combination of events over the last year or so spells danger for peasants, indigenous, and other marginalized groups in the country - including the so-called 'members' of FARC - all for the benefit of American corporate interests. Gorman offers the events:
1) the discovery of oil in the region controlled by FARC
2) the decision by Colombian Congress to allow Uribe to run for yet another term as president
3) the approval of the Free Trade agreement with the US
4) the indictment - in the US - of 50 members of FARC as being major players in the cocaine trade (claiming they are responsible for up to 50% of the world cocaine trade)
5) the appointment of Gen. Montoya - trainee and instructor at the infamous School of the Americas - to head the Colombian military.
To quickly sum how these events are related... Oil is discovered in FARC territory - apparently large fields of it. Uribe pushes for permission to run again (and receiving it), combined with the likelihood that he will win again, assures that he will be around to make sure things go as planned. Uribe then pushes through Free Trade agreement granting US companies rights to said oil (in essence at least). Now they need to get rid of the FARC and anyone else who might be on the land on top of the oil. So, they step up fumigation efforts in the name of the War on Drugs, clearing massive swaths of jungle and displacing those who live there. The US indicts what amounts to basically the entire FARC leadership as drug runners, and Uribe appoints one of the most evil, inhumane military leaders in its history to hunt them down. While other countries throughout Latin America have moved beyond this kind of authoritarian leadership and abuse of human rights, Colombia appears to be stuck in the past, trying to live out the glory of the corrupt, law breaking, inhumane leaders from decades ago.

Meet Bob

Research on bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay, Florida, has discovered that they develop their own unique signature whistles when they are young. As they mature, relatives and non-family members identify them by their whistle, setting them apart from other non-human mammals. I think I agree with Tom Robbins that dolphins have proven themselves the superior mammal by choosing water over land. Imagine if every person whistled instead of talked!

living...

awake in the morning.
or is it
afternoon?
where am i again?
oh.
at least
i can hear
the birds.
at least
i can dream
of
what
i cannot have.
what is this?
life?

Baseball....

Here's a link to the video that's been mentioned around the web about the 1986 World Series of baseball. The NY Mets -vs- the Boston Red Sox, game 6, 10th inning, Boston up 5-3, and the Mets come back to win with the help of the infamous 'Bill Buckner play.'
Oh... the video is a recreation of the scene using the old-school Nintendo game from the era...
It's pretty funny so enjoy....