Socializing risk

There is never a penalty for being completely wrong . Failure is never punished. We have spread the consequences of being wrong out among the nation as a whole leading to lack of forward progress. Henry Kissinger has been getting it wrong since before I was born. Now we have the liberal sycophants falling all over themselves to gush over the endorsement of Colin Powell . They are willing to forget that it was this bag of crap that did more than anyone else to legitimize the war crime that is the Iraq invasion. He was the front man for Cheney in committing the largest war crime of this young century. We will never know how many innocent people this man got killed or had their lives destroyed. We went apeshit over three thousand people being killed and a few blocks being destroyed. Powell and his gang of ass clowns destroyed a whole country and we are just supposed to forget it because now he is fawning over the new messiah.
This is a failure of character by the folks on the left. If we are not going to stand up for any principles we do not deserve to govern. This I think explains a lot of why there is such a large undecided cohort in the electorate. People are not always issue oriented but they like consistency and they like confidence. If you do not believe you are right you are not going to convince others and in this land of ours belief is sometimes more important than the facts.

Eerie day

Thought I would share this shot from the bay. I was working on my Halloween photo project and looking out and saw this eerie view. Perhaps it was just my attitude at the time but it had the perfect horror film look about it.

The End is Neigh

I see a disturbing trend in the making as I bounce around the bloggosphere today. The rebirth of superstition as refuge for the fearful. I would speculate that it was ever thus throughout history. In uncertain times the less educated or less thoughtful take comfort in the simplicity of religion. As I have concluded that religion is a con I get nothing from it and find it unnerving that even the ignorant among us do. The concept that there is a god and he has a plan scares the crap out of me if this is the manner that he chooses to implement it. When one watches the folks arriving at a McCain /Palin event and listen to the hate and fear that they exude I find it disturbing. These are the very people that will get down on their knees and fork the sign of the evil eye or cross themselves or whatever genuflect move they make. It is not just autochthonous to the land of the redneck but seems to permeate the nation as a whole.
What does this say about us as a people? For me it means that we want to be deceived, we desire the lie regardless of the consequences. We are simply not interested in reality if it doesn’t fit what we already believe. Am I immune from this desire based reality, I think not. The more I learn the less I seem to know and that gives way to a desire for simplicity. I wonder if that is why the physicists believe so strongly in the unified theory being possible. The existence of a single unified theory explaining the forces that rule the universe has a mysterious appeal akin to the existence of a supreme being.
The religious nuts are preaching republicans from the pulpit in violation of the law and nothing is done. The folks at health and human services try to redefine birth control as abortion and nothing is done. We have our presidential candidates go to some “Faith Based” crap fest as knee walking supplicants and people are not outraged.
The economic meltdown we are experiencing is the result of one thing, fraud. We are conditioned by the peddlers of god to accept fraud as fact, that makes the world a worse place and we accept it. As long as we live in a faith based society we cannot fix the problems that will in the end cause us all to suffer. As a people we love the idea of , “American exceptionalism”. We want to think we are destined from god to rule the world. For me whenever I hear the wing nuts talk about, “the shinning city on the hill” I want to scream duck brown people the shit storm is coming at you.
The world might become a brutish selfish place without the stupidest believing that they are being watched and judged. It is my opinion that it already is. If we stop praying and start doing we can solve most of the problems that face us as a society but when you think god has a plan you never seem to take the first steps.

Blazing Dunes

Across the bay the dunes of Samoa went into Flame on mode. Thought I would put up a little video. Fire is always a compelling visual and as far as I know this fire was contained with no serious injury.

I have not been riding the last two days due to pain in my ribs. Not sure if it is the sternal arthritis or a strained muscle but it is getting me down. Watching the wind whip through the trees as I write this reminds me that fall has arrived. The air off the bay tastes of frost and mint. It chills the marrow as it pinks the cheeks. Hot flames and chill winds I hope all of you out there have a safe harbor to ride out the storm.

Video Plaza

Wanted to Make a video of the event. The 2008 Pastels on the Plaza. walked around the plaza and simply shot the drawings. The rain kept me from getting there early enough to shoot the works in progress but when you want to travel by bicycle you sometimes have to make a few concessions to weather. The event is a fund raiser for the Northcoast Children's Services so drop by their site and help out if you can.

Plaza Pastels

Spent the day out riding in the wind and the rain. Bikes by the Bay was happening down at the waterfront and up in Arcata the 21st annual Pastels on the plaza was adding color to the square. This is a fundraiser for Northcoast Children's Services. They sell squares on the sidewalk to local businesses and team them up with artists to decorate. Here is a little slideshow of some of the works.

Windows Live Spaces

Another old man screams at the clouds

Some random things that are irritating me. People sighting the continued ads for credit as evidence that the credit markets are not ready to collapse. The point of the bailout is to prevent the collapse. If you wait until the system has collapsed and jobs are lost and companies fail it is too late. The rich are going to make out better on any bailout put forward. Life is not fair get over it. We can go back later and try to impose some taxes and surcharges to attempt to balance the pain but if we allow the credit system to fail to stick it to the wall street bunch we will all be screwed and it could take a decade to pull out of it. The Paulson plan sucks and I have outlined my ideas to improve it but to argue with nonsense just pisses me off. If you can’t think through your argument and see that they at least are coherent shut up and let the adults in the room deal with it.
People telling Sarah Palin to step down as the republican Veep nominee for the good of the country. This has got to be the dumbest thing I have heard in politics since , well Sarah Palin trying to answer a question. Caribou Barbie meets the constitutional requirements to be the Vice President. Would she be terrible? Is she undereducated and lacking in deliberative judgment? Yes and yes but that is not the issue. If the majority of Americans want a moron to run the government than they have every right to vote for a moron. I am not worried as I think more people value a well run government and will not be fooled by McCain and his blatant pandering. People voted for the dumb one in 2004 and it was a disaster for some poor folks, think New Orleans after Katrina, but life was going to suck for those folks even with a good president. We have the opportunity in this election to change the course of the country for the better but if most people want to vote for someone that shares their views on the imaginary friend nonsense that is their right. If the morons win and the old man dies the country will go on. We have had a moron in the big chair for 8 years and if the voters do not see that that is not a good thing than they get the government they deserve.
The people not taking responsibility for their part in the nations problems. I have no desire to castigate those that seek instant gratification and get what they want damn the consequences. You only get one life and it can go to shit for reasons beyond your control at any time but if that is how you chose to live don’t piss and moan when it blows up. “Live fast die, young and leave a good looking corpse” is a fine philosophy but if you don’t die and your body is screwed it is on you. If you bought a house that you can no longer afford because the interest rates reset it is your fault. Prices do not go up forever. You gambled and lost, there is no shame in that just in trying to blame someone else for it. If you are bankrupt because you lived beyond your means for years buying toys it is your fault. You have your priorities wrong and you need to adjust your lifestyle. Yes it sucks that they advertise things that you can’t have. If you think that the material crap will make you happy than by all means attempt to get it but as I said above life is not fair.