well now. the last post sparked quite a round of commentary. it's always amazed me how certain topics in certain circles can be so powerfully mobilizing. equally amazing is that often the most vehement and violent reactions are provoked by those topics that have the least chance of ever truly reaching a universal solution or consensus–abortion, religion, church & state, star trek vs. star wars, capt. kirk vs. capt. picard vs. capt sisko, windows vs. mac vs. amiga.

which is not to say that the commentary on the last post was vehement or violent, it was actually quite stimulating, exciting, and informative. if you haven't read them yet, you should.

aside from taking part in political discussions, i've been keeping myself busy. keeping my favorite girl relaxed and happy during her stressful educational endeavor. and pursuing all those other little tasks that i've outlined for myself.

i've nearly finished the database design for My Favorite Martyr. i've finished reading a few of the many books that have been piled up on my bookshelf for the last year or so. i went home for a visit with the family for my brother's birthday (he just turned 16, so if you're in the vicinity of Princeton, KY, be sure to keep a very sharp eye on any other cars on the road.) let's see… the band has recorded the main tracks of the last song of our album, so now we're getting down to mixing in earnest, adding extra layers, and writing new material. i've bought a flash book and am trying to teach myself that. and by god, now i'm very nearly 30 friggin years old. not yet damn it! not yet. but almost.

finally, to bring this back around to the topic of politics (my pet subject, of late), i'd like to be the first to point out my new 2004 Candidate Score Sheet. i'd like to be the first to point it out, but ironically enough, my friend ben has beaten me to it on the community blog he frequents–Lost in Louisville. He beat me to it, 'cause i've been showing it to him the last few days as it's been developing, and i'm a slow bastard about writing a new post. what does it mean when a veteran blogger gets beat to the punch on announcing one of his own projects? i'm not sure, but it's gotta be something profound.

anyway, check out the Score Sheet, and make note of the fact that there's even a link up at the top where you can get a blank version of the chart so you can do your own. if you're really cheeky, you might even email your chart to me (a completed HTML version would be easiest for those of you who know your way around the code, otherwise, just however you see fit.) and i'll figure out some place to put links to them all. sounds like a fun project for the whole family!

ok. enough with tha jibba-jabba. my boss is letting me leave work early–who am i to argue?!

after the appointment of King George II, i decided that i really should get myself more involved in politics, or at least become a bit more informed. the past few months have seen me in earnest pursuit of those goals, and i think i'm now more in touch with political matters than i've ever been before. it's still frustrating as hell to think that, y'know, my one little vote really doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things, especially when the special interests own the politicians, everyone's too busy philandering to do their jobs, and when elections themselves are really in the control of a select and non-representative minority. also, take into account that for the last umpteen years, there's been no real candidates to care about (choosing between the lesser of two evils has become routine), and the fact that the two major political parties might as well just give up and become one giant political part, what with all the damned centrist shit flying about from the campaign podiums.

in light of all this crap, i am heartened of late to see some of the candidates stepping up to the plate for the Democratic party, in that some of them actually seem to be liberals! amazing! Of course, you've also got Lieberman (conservative in sheeps clothing), Kucinich (too liberal for his own good), and Edwards (a personal injury trial lawyer… 'nuff said there).
still, as i said, it is good to see at least a few genuine liberals in the mix this year.

but, i hadn't really intended to write all this crap, i was mainly going to introduce an interesting/fun conversation paul & i had yesterday, via IM. here goes:

president who?
coffeemonk: speaking of politics, what's your opinion on Gen. Clark?
puffin: i'd like to learn more about him. he seems like a pretty good contender.
coffeemonk: yeah, that's what i'm thinking.
puffin: a democrat general.
coffeemonk: an ANTI-WAR democrat general.
coffeemonk: 4 star general at that.
coffeemonk: former supreme commander of NATO forces.
puffin: now that would be staunch competition for georgie
coffeemonk: no shit.
puffin: i like what i hear.
coffeemonk: i just hope to find out more about his stance on "the issues." though, from what little i've read so far, he's in the same camp as Howard Dean for the most part–ideologically, anyway.
puffin: which isn't too bad of a thing.
coffeemonk: yeah. it provides a point of hope, anyway. 'cause as good as Dean seems, i'm not sure he's got what it takes to oust Dubya.
coffeemonk: my only misgiving about Clark as of this morning, is the comments he made on TV this morning (apparently) where he said: "I've had a lot of diplomatic experience. I've done a lot of work with security policy. I think I'm the best person to look at the future of this country and keep us safe."
coffeemonk: the sticky point being that last sentence.
coffeemonk: confidence is good, but must be tempered with humility. we'll see how his public persona manifests itself as things progress.
puffin: i'm actually hoping for a dean/clark or clark/dean ticket.
coffeemonk: yeah. that would be double good. if clark runs his campaign right, i think they can still work something out, whoever gets the nom.
puffin: yeah
puffin: maybe what he means about the safety of the country is not putting ourselves in a position where people would want to attack us. like meddling in other countries' affairs.
coffeemonk: oh yeah. i had no problem with that part. i just fear that he may be too "it's my destiny to lead this nation to greatness" kind of thing–too much "I Me My Mine" as opposed to our, we, us, etc.
coffeemonk: but, still, this is a campaign, which is essentially an exercise in personal marketing, so you kind of have to do *some* "i me my mine".
coffeemonk: it's the same problem i have with supposed Buddhist monks who use too many personal pronouns–they're supposed to embrace and pursue the no-self, the absense of self, and yet all they can talk about is all the humanitarian and charitable things they've done.
puffin: hehe
coffeemonk: it's kind of the same thing for the President in my eyes… the President serves at the will of and for the benefit of the people, not himself.
puffin: yeah.
coffeemonk: but like i said, in a personal marketing crusade, i suppose you have to expect some of that. he is trying to sell himself above the other contenders.
coffeemonk: "I think *I* will be a better leader than *him*, for these reasons:…"
coffeemonk: that kind of thing.
puffin: the thing that bugs me about bush is that he says its his job to decide what is best for the people, not make decisions based on popular concensious.
coffeemonk: which is a load of fucking horse-cock.
coffeemonk: ooh sorry.
puffin: exactly.

president matt!
coffeemonk: there are so many sweeping reforms i'd like to see in our government… i could never get elected, 'cause i'd tear the whole damn thing down and start over.
puffin: viva la revolution!!!
coffeemonk: la revolution!
coffeemonk: 1st change: Congresspeople get switched over to Social Security, rather than their private congressional retirement plan.
coffeemonk: 2nd change: no money from lobbyists allowed. period.
puffin: that kinda becomes a free speech issue in a way.
puffin: scratch that
coffeemonk: money is not speech.
puffin: i didnt catch the money part.
puffin: i totally agree.
coffeemonk: right, k, lets see…
coffeemonk: 3rd change: federally funded federal elections with a $100,000 spending cap, with full accountability.
coffeemonk: however, TV and radio stations have to provide free airtime for candidate's commercials, debates, etc.
coffeemonk: free & equal i should say.
coffeemonk: but not for primary elections, which have to be funded by the political parties, and not the candidates themselves.
coffeemonk: there are details, of course, to all these things that'd have to be worked out, but this is the gist of them.
puffin: yeah
coffeemonk: Sweeping reforms of the health-care industry… top to bottom.
puffin: hellz yeah
coffeemonk: concentrating mainly on insurance co's and pharmaceutical co's.
puffin: double hellz yeah
puffin: pump money into education. like a lot of money.
coffeemonk: yeah.
puffin: increase teacher salaries.
coffeemonk: 100,000 a year, minimum.
coffeemonk: with *strict* testing of the teachers themselves.
puffin: yep.
coffeemonk: raise the salaries but make sure we've got damn good teachers who care about kids, not money grubbers.
puffin: yep.
puffin: mr. rasnake, what would you do about our failing economy?
coffeemonk: i'm torn between flat-tax with no taxes on sub $20,000 annual salaries, or revamping the current progressive tax structure to once again put more pressure on the wealthy…
coffeemonk: or the elimination of the income tax system altogether, in favor of a federal sales tax.
coffeemonk: with a curve, so that if you buy a higher ticket item, you pay a greater percentage sales tax.
puffin: how about an income tax with a flat percentile?
puffin: everyone pays 10%
coffeemonk: yeah, as i said, i'm torn between flat-tax and progressive tax.
puffin: or something
coffeemonk: i'm just afraid that a flat-tax would negatively impact the poorer segment of society.
coffeemonk: people who *need* every single damn cent they make.
puffin: yeah.
coffeemonk: which is why i'd have a flat tax not apply to people who make below say… $20,000 annually.
puffin: ahhh….
coffeemonk: it's a non-welfare welfare system.
coffeemonk: if you make below that level, you don't have to pay income taxes… but you're still making below that level… so you're still not really that well off. which makes it an incentive to improve above that tax-cutoff line.
puffin: what are your thoughts of strict tariffs on goods from countries whose workplace enviroments are in dire need of reform?
coffeemonk: totally in favor.
coffeemonk: sanction any country responsible for grievous human rights violations.
coffeemonk: also!
coffeemonk: heee!
coffeemonk: i like this one.
coffeemonk: any company who has a presense in this country must pay *all* its employees *internationally* by the U.S. established minimum wage, or face stiff penalties.
puffin: what do you have to say to your critics that state such a move only hurts the workers by decreasing an influx of money to said country, thus reducing jobs.
coffeemonk: we will not support the economies or governments of countries who routinely violate human rights.
coffeemonk: we will however support humanitarian missions in those countries, to attempt to improve their quality of life–the money that we make from the increased tariffs will go towards humanitarian needs for those people, and towards sanctions and efforts to persuade that govnt. to stop violating human rights. make it in that govnt's best interest to respect human rights.
puffin: interesting.

*****

so there it is, my endorsement of Gen. Clark, and my own political platform should i ever consider running for office.

don't hold your breath.

Day Three: today, we decided to visit the other monuments in the Mall, and to spend some time at the Air & Space Museum (this was really my only mandatory activity for the whole trip–i wasn't about to visit D.C. without going to the Air & Space Museum).

we set out from the probably somewhere in the range of 10:30 to 11:00, and proceeded to the Mall. we made it back to the Washington Monument, then made our way towards the construction zone, avoiding touring school-children, gaggles of the elderly, and middle-aged couples walking hand in hand discussing whatever it is that middle-aged hand-in-hand type couples discuss.

one end of the lawn was boarded, roped, fenced, and otherwise closed off, but there were gateways through the fencing at the crosswalks to let onto the sidewalks that lead along the reflecting pool at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial. now, if you've not been to D.C., or if you've been but have never seen the reflecting pool, let me just prepare you… it is a green festering dirty filthy mess. not nearly so "beautiful" as we may've been led to believe by the movies, photographs, and other images. that shit looks nasty, and, while i didn't walk directly along the edge of the pool, i imagine it probably stunk. it looked like it would stink. much like our society and especially our government, it looks pretty nice from far away, but once you get right up close, you can see that it's unkempt, rundown, dirty, and ugly. "reflecting" indeed.

anyway… before we made it to the Lincoln Memorial, i noticed the Korean War Veterans Memorial off to the side as we approached, so i detoured our contingent to go get a peek. i remembered ben and geoff talking about it at some point in the past, and remembered the images i'd seen from it, so i wanted to go get a real look at it. it was pretty cool, but i think this was really the point in the trip where i started wishing that i could visit these places without hundreds of other people. i couldn't "connect" with the memorial, or any of the memorials we visited, because i couldn't "disconnect" from all the people milling about.

next we went on to the Lincoln Memorial. it is huge. it was cool.

after that, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. my companions were all visibly moved by it, once we reached the other side, but once again, somehow i managed not to take it in or be effected by it. i have no immediate personal connection to that conflict, at least not through a familial loss, because though most of the male members of my extended family (who were of age) did serve in that war, they all returned.

after the Vietnam Memorial, we left the Mall and headed for the nearest Metro stop (10 blocks away or some crazy shit like that) and headed back around to the Air & Space Museum.

you've doubtless heard the old analogy of the kid in the candy store, right? well, that certainly could've been applied to me. rockets and manned space capsules and jets and… just all kinds of really cool shit.

probably my favorite of the exhibits was the Apollo moon shot exhibit, followed closely by the history of aviation exhibit. they also had the crazy ass space flight simulators or airplane simulators or whatever they were–the ones with the pneumatic chambers that shake, move, twist, and turn the little cabin that you're sitting in. i really wanted to do that, but the wait was over an hour, and we were only planning on spending 4 or so there.

the freakiest thing of the whole trip though, was when we decided to get some lunch after walking through a couple exhibits. there was a food court area in a sectioned off area of the building, and the restaurant was a combined McDonald's (ick), Boston Market, and Donato's Pizzeria. i can hardly describe the level of freakishness that this fast-food place has managed to achieve… think of a drive-through restaurant for race-car drivers, only there're no cars… think of cattle lining up to be slaughtered, and each being able to pick which particular shape of knife gets to be drawn across its throat… think of being shoved in a bright, metal & glass elevator car, going up at ridiculous speeds and having grease, meat, bread and french fries squeezed through a strainer in the ceiling above you.

ok, now think of something just a touch less freakish.

yeah. fucking packed… PACKED with people—scads, scores, gobs of people—in long lines where you first place your order with a disinterested person sitting in a bright metal chair, and then are told to go to the next person who will collect your money. then, after paying, you have to step up to the "counter" to pick up your "meal." each successive person looking like they give even less of a shit than the last, and the food you're handed, if hot, is only just barely so. hell, i'm freaking out right now just thinking about it.

so anyway, we ate the crappy food at the freaky food court, then went on back out to get some more exhibits under our belts before meeting ben & mary (who'd been sitting on a bench or in the planet-arium for most of the day).

after the Museum, we were dog tired (and still freaked out about the food court), so we went back to the hotel and crashed for a few hours, before going back out on the town for dinner.

this evening we kind of jazzed it up a bit. we walked out to this place that ben had found (we tended to leave the dining decisions to ben & mary it seemed, so we ended up eating at much more high-class establishments than i can imagine i would've picked) and checked in at the front table. there were actually two separate restaurants in the same… er… restaurant–one for the lower upper middle class, the other for the lower upper class. ben picked the one he thought was the former, and we proceeded downstairs to a nice big round table with all the accoutrements including the cloth napkins all folded and placed decoratively on the plate. we opened the fancy menus in the nice leather-bound folders, and stared aghast at the $15 asking price for a house salad. needless to say, we stared even more aghast at the $40 – $60 dollar entrees, then promptly told the waiter that there'd been a mistake and we needed to go back upstairs to the "cheap seats".

somehow, at this point, $5 for a Beam & Coke, and $15 for an entree didn't seem all that bad.

the food was good (thank god, or someone would've lost an eye or limb) and we were satisfied with our last day & night in D.C.

well, almost. sara & i decided to go back to the White House, as there was some issue of film not advancing properly in her camera the night before, and she wanted to make sure she got some night shots of the White House. we did, and we had a nice leisurely stroll through the streets of D.C., just the two of us hand-in-hand, talking about whatever it is that young hand-in-hand type couples talk about on their last night on their first vacation together.

we went back to the hotel and prepared for our early morning departure, and a day of potential chaos.

so, there have been a whole slew of things i've wanted to post about the past few days, but i've been Biz-AY. i'll attempt to recap.

Sara's race went well… er… except for the whole knee-collapsing-almost-falling thing. but she was a trooper and finished the race anyway. she may not've gotten the time she wanted (it's not like she was really doing it as a competition anyway), but she finished, and that's the important thing. i'm really proud of her. she didn't even start training until January, and she did the whole Louisville Triple Crown. have i mentioned what a lucky guy i am?

our trip to visit the fam went well, also. the entire family, of course, was thrilled to see my sister (the frenchie) who gets to come home twice a year if we're lucky. i'd like to think they were thrilled to have me home as well, because they've probably seen my sister more recently than myself (she went with them to visit dad's side of the family at christmas, i believe). but this is, of course, because i'm just a bad son who never calls or writes or visits without some sort of prompting. i don't do it on purpose, really. i just allow my life to interfere with itself too much.

anyway, the trip went well. sara had a good time i believe, and likes my family, so that's good. they definitely like her, so that's good too. it was also very cool to get to take an extended trip (24 hrs, but still) with my girlfriend. i'm looking forward to many more road trips with her.

i was visiting sharon's site the other day, and she had a post talking about how some scientist in America was getting "boycotted" by a scientist from Italy because of his citizenship. basically, the italian scientist pointed to the questionable foreign policy of our government, and in fact, to the current American cultural climate as a whole as reason enough to entirely boycott American science. i many ways, i understand and agree with this Italian scientist. there is not much in our current political administration or in our current cultural mainstream that i would agree with or support in any way. our leaders are insane, greedy men. our people are needy, greedy, and largely self-centered. the "upper class" won't make an effort to raise the standard of living for the "lower class", and the "lower class" finds it hard to break out of the habits established by their predecessors. we all apparently want to be fat & lazy & get everything for nothing. (these are broad statements, probably too much so. there are almost always exceptions). anyway, go, read the post.

yesterday, i finally got the latest lucifigous prick demo tracks online. go check 'em out. these are definitely our best room recordings to date. we're really really pleased with them. they sound great for room recordings. i can't wait to actually lay some real tracks down.

today, i just uploaded and updated Old Man's site, for the sole purpose of adding their new demo track. they just got to play around with Pro Tools a bit over the weekend while i was out of town, and they really put together a stellar track for their first experiment with the new equipment.

i've a good feeling more tracks will be coming very shortly from both bands.

ok. i think that covers it.

(A.K.A. mish-mash)

so, i haven't updated in a week or so–as usual, unfortunately–but i'm still around.

sara ran the 10 Miler and finished in 1hour 40minutes, which is better than she had expected (running an average of almost precisely 10 minute miles, which is her normal pace). she did great.

this past weekend it seems like i was just busy busy busy… a party friday night after spending most of the evening with Sara. then on Saturday there was a big shindig at our friend neil's new apartment (neil of Old Man fame), which was quite fun. then on sunday was dinner with sara's family (for her grandfather's birthday) and then the usual sunday night band-practice (with the twist of it being our next-to-last pre-show practice). all in all, it was a fun weekend, but i'm feeling a bit drained today.

protest-records continues to release additional volumes of material, and the Mudhoney track released there is quite good and taps into that almost tongue-in-cheek flair they get when they're writing political/or social-commentary songs. Mark Arm!

i keep finding things that i think i should post about, then forgetting what they were before i make it back to a computer or out from under my workload long enough to type something up. but this little tidbit i *just* found, and am surprised that i hadn't heard of it's existing before now. it's the annual human-rights report compiled by the U.S. State Department which lists all known human-rights violations perpetrated by all countries in the last year. If you're a human rights activist and *aren't* aware of this (and have several hours to spare, reading) you should get your ass on over to the 2002 Human Rights Report to see which nations you should be pissed at, and which nations you might want to reconsider taking your vacation in.

and later this week: lucifigous prick rocks the Rud. Apr. 11th (that's this coming Friday, for you slow people), 10:00PM, $4.00 cover. it's gonna be a great set, and we're opening up (which means get your crazy little asses there before 10:00PM) for a couple great bands: blue goat war and front porch campaign. come with your rockin shoes on.

well, tomorrow Sara runs the Papa John's 10 Miler, which means that i get to get up before 7:30 am again on a Saturday. Thankfully, she's only planning on doing the Triple Crown once. 7:30am was not meant for Saturdays.

found out about protest records the other day–it's a site run by Thurston Moore to collect the anti-war projects of different musicians. so far, there are two volumes of mp3s on the site, and there's some really good stuff in there. I originally found it because Mudhoney will soon be releasing a song as part of this project.

i've been having one of those weeks where i just haven't felt right all week. i'm not sick or anything, i just can't seem to get to bed before 3:00am, and my body feels like it's turning on itself. as if no matter what i'm going to do, i'm just going to feel miserable & uncomfortable. i think i just need more regular sleep. i think that would help a lot.

don't forget: April 11th, the Rudyard Kipling, 10:00PM, $4.00 cover.

in light of recent politically fueled discussions over there in the comments on brian's side, i thought i'd post here the results of this political quiz i just took: My Political Compass. This quiz was being bandied about last night in a email group, along with several of the member's resultant graphs. seemed like fun.

also, it's very similar to another quiz i've taken before, and which i may've even linked to from a previous post (too lazy to search for that post), called the world's smallest political quiz, and which is sponsored by the Libertarian party.

i highly recommend taking this quiz, you might get a better idea for yourself of where exactly you stand.

i did think some of the questions on the "political compass" quiz were a bit… inflammatory, and unnecessary, but perhaps the intent was to provoke "knee-jerk" responses.

One of my personal philosophies that I've developed and repeatedly referenced in the last 10 or so years is that "every place is the same." I suppose this is akin to the phrase "no matter where you go, there you are."

Essentially, the idea is that every place has the same components. They may be bigger, faster, older, or cleaner, but it's all basically the same stuff. The names may be different, but the story is still the same. This is becoming increasingly true with this whole global culture and corporate globalization thing that's going on nowadays.

I've noticed this in pretty much every city i've visited–you've got the same collection of bars and restaurants, churches and malls, tattoo parlours and trendy fashion boutiques. Every city has the same sections–the white trash neighborhoods, the ghettos, the ritzy affluent suburbs, and the bohemian avant-garde artsy areas. When you first get to a new city, either to visit or to live, it's always an exciting time of discovery and finding new places to spend your time. After living in a place for a while, you begin to think about it the same way you thought about all the other places you've lived–that there's nothing to do, nowhere to go, and that things just aren't happening the way or as fast as they should.

Anyone who's ever talked to me about moving to a new city, at least in the last several years, have heard the same comments and questions from me with regard to their reasoning. Quite often, the reasons for people moving are not things that are going to be effected by a change of location. In other words, it's not the place that's the problem, it's the person. If you're bored, unhappy, unsuccessful, or otherwise disenchanted with the current state of your life, the only way to make a change is to change yourself. Sure, moving to a new city will, at least temporarily, provide you with the impetus and fuel for a brief change of lifestyle and the introduction of unknown and exciting events. If you want real, permanent change, you have to make the change within first.

To bring this back to the subject at hand, however, i have to say that Paris is the first place that didn't give me this feeling–of sameness. I walked into Paris and perceived a very distinct feeling of difference. Maybe it was just the fact that all the language within my sphere was foreign, that nothing was immediately or easily understood… that i had to struggle to make sense of certain things that, in an American city, would have been more easily accessible. But there were also certain other subtle differences, not all of which were immediately apparent.

Thinking back on it now, it seems to me that people were not as interpersonally involved, they had no desire to know "my business." There seemed to be more personal respect there, the belief that my business was my own and that i, being there, must know what i'm doing there, and that that was good enough for them. I noticed on many occasions, as i watched the crowd, or singled out certain people with my gaze, that often-times that look would be returned with an equally intense look of perplexity–people who i was looking at were looking at me, trying to figure out if they knew me, and if they didn't, they were wondering why exactly i was looking at them so intently. Who must i be to be so blatantly interested?

And the differences didn't stop there. Another thing that struck me as interesting was the fact that Paris is the most pedestrian friendly city i've ever seen (this may not be saying much, considering the breadth of my experience, but no matter). Between the subways, the bus system, and the taxis, there is essentially no need to own or operate a vehicle in Paris. The only reason you might need one is if you frequently travel outside the city either on business or for pleasure. Despite warnings received before i left, i found the public transportation (and, in fact, most of Paris in general) to be quite clean and well-kept–it was not the foul, dirty, smelly place i'd been told to expect. The only exception to this was the fact that pets are allowed to shit on the sidewalks, and the owners are not obliged to clean up afterwards. Of course, i've been told there is an ordinance making this a punishable offense, but obviously no one was very concerned about it and the ordinance is not generally enforced.

Another telling expression of the pedestrian-friendly nature of Paris is the fact that in a large amount of the city (especially newer larger roadways) there is almost as much sidewalk space as driving space. In the states, it is not unusual to find sidewalks that will barely fit two people abreast, but in Paris it is more common to find sidewalks with seating for fifty that still have room for more than two people walking side-by-side. This, of course, leads to another of those subtle differences… in Paris, on pretty much every street, there are cafes that have outdoor seating, but not like the outdoor seating at American restaurants. In Paris, you'll usually find several rows of small–two person–tables outside, with all the chairs lined up in rows facing towards the street. Even the inside seating nearest the windows is often lined up like this, so that the patrons can look out at the world moving about them, rather than simply at each other or the walls or effects of the restaurant at which they've stopped. In America, however, you usually see large round tables with bench seating for 5 or more. More often than not, these tables are placed at the side of a restaurant, and also often with some protective barrier between the patrons and the outside world.

Parisians seem to be more generally involved in the enjoyment of and celebration of life than the typical American. There are many traditions and social conventions that i was introduced to that drove this point home–hand shaking and bisous on meeting/departing, ensuring that you meet eyes with the person whose glass you're clinking after the toast, serving food for your fellow diners rather than making everyone serve themselves, breaking the meal down into courses rather than throwing everything upon the table (and your plates) at once… these are just a few things i remember. This all points to the desire deep within the French soul, expressed by these social habits and expectations, to take things as they come, and to live and enjoy life to the fullest.

Above all though, for me, Paris felt like somewhere that i could call home–a place i could claim as my own, that would welcome and accept me. I've been to other cities and never felt that draw–that urge. Louisville is such a place, which is why i've chosen to "hang my hat" here. Paris is only the second city i've felt i could live in, and it's nice to finally have another option, should the need or desire to relocate ever arise. Of course, i've also decided that, when i retire, if it is at all possible, i'd like to retire to Deauville, or some equally quaint small French town, preferably on or near a beach.

So, to sum up, i absolutely adored Paris, and have become enamored with French culture in general. It will not be soon enough when i am finally able to return.

i haven't had a chance to read anything yet, but it looks like AlterNet.org has several articles available about our country's role in the deaths of innocent middle eastern people.

before we decide on a course of action, perhaps we should get a little perspective.

well, i don't even know where to begin at this point. i barely touched the computer here at home over the past week. usually, i'm on here two hours a night, at the very least, but i've spent most of my time glued to the tv as i imagine most of you have. i attempted to write a post talking about my feelings and opinions of the tragic events that have taken place. of course, about halfway through it, IE decided to get crazy and open a link from one window into my blogger window. now i'm writing this entry in notepad first.

normally, i don't watch much tv at all, and i almost never watch news programs or read the newspaper. this week, of course, was totally different. i just immersed myself in the news reports from new york and washington. for once, it seems, the news media has devoted the bulk of it's efforts into something that actually matters. the sad thing is that, after all the coverage of Clinton's various media-hyped problems, the Elian Gonzales inanity, and the Gary Condit crap, it seems like the coverage of this genuine tragedy has been cheapened somewhat. i seem to recall hearing about a time when the media had some integrity, when they actually did search out the truth and report the facts. nowadays it seems that there is more conjecture and opinion in the mainstream news than actual facts. even during this crisis, i heard certain reporters (dan rather immediately springs to mind) saying time & time again "we don't want to jump to conclusions", while bringing in guests who'd already done so, or asking leading questions to the ones who hadn't. i can't even count the times over the past week that i've heard things like "no one knows for sure, but" afghanistan, taliban, osama bin laden.

and who is it that pays for media that reports the news in this way? i think one of paul's recent posts sums it up pretty well. the racial backlash is completely abhorrent. the people who perpetrate these crimes against innocent people just because they look or dress a certain way are just as bad as the terrorists who orchestrated this horror. if one person kills another, they are just as evil as those who killed thousands.

which brings me back to the points i wanted to make when i attempted this post the first time.

despite the fact that this attack occurred on american soil, and involved innocent american citizens, it is not just an attack against america. it isn't an attack against freedom or democracy, it's not an attack against the flag or any of the other countless things america supposedly stands for. perhaps it was intended to be simply that, but in the end, this is nothing more than an attack against all of humanity, against all the citizens of planet Earth.
in the few days since i first attempted this post, i have heard more voices raised advising caution, and i have to say i'm glad. i was concerned that the only voices we heard were going to be like the grocery store i heard about who put the following words on their sign–"Bomb Afghanistan Tonight!" it is this type of ignorance that feeds the arrogant, self-serving media that i was ranting about earlier. and it is this type of ignorance that makes most all foreign countries look down their noses at us culturally, despite our physical strength.

i have also taken heart in hearing the reports of the leaders and citizens of many foreign countries voicing their horror, sympathy, concern, and support for the people who were affected by this tragedy.

but another thing that we must consider are the ultimate reasons for these attacks. what, aside from insanity, would drive anyone to commit the heinous acts against their fellow humans? we have to consider the fact that our troops have been in their lands for many years now, doubtlessly committing unspeakable crimes of their own. an attack like this doesn't just happen. our government has made enemies. our government has sanctioned actions that have ended the lives of innocent civilians in foreign lands. we are not innocent.

but this does not excuse these actions. this is not justice, just as an indiscriminate attack again afghanistan or another nation would not be justice. i want justice. i want the people who did this to pay. i want to make an example of them to the rest of the world to say that this type of attack against humanity will not be tolerated. but killing innocent people would not be justice, it would be terrorism.