''It looks like Hiroshima,''

Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday after taking a National Guard helicopter tour of more than 50 miles of the Mississippi coastline.

The Hurricane and its wake are turning out to be a true tragedy, but what the fuck is this man talking about? I can't imagine a stupider thing to say. Boy, was he ever not ready for the national spotlight.

That's all folks!
el Jefe

Pastafarianism

There's been a lot of jocularity recently about a letter that was supposedly sent to a board of education complaining that the creation views of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism ought to be taught to school children in the name of fairness. This piece of sarcasm was prompted by a move by the Kansas Board of Education to give intelligent design equal time with evolution in the class room. If like me you have no shortage of friends who use the word "snarky" you no doubtedly have heard of this joke and perhaps found it funny. Why is it funny?

Nevermind what you think of Intelligent Design, it would seem to mean different things to different people, but why is this childish prank so funny when the schism involved is so important? Does Pastafarianism shed any light on our current problems or is it just a Limbaugh-esque attack on people who hold religious beliefs?

A lot of people these days seem to equate religious beliefs with low levels of education or provincialism. Like the last election when many Democrats I know were so shocked that we didn't hold a clear majority, some people forget that the majority of the human race is religious in some shape or form and have been for millennia. Are they wrong? It can't be proven. In the last few centuries we've begun to understand the mechanics of biology and physics, but that doesn't mean we are in any position to disprove the idea of God. We can definitely discount many of the superstitions passed down to us by the religious people that went before us, but not the existence of a god. Where does that leave us? Science and religion, two fields of study or articles of faith, since I'd say a lot of people believe in science with little scientific understanding, which don't appear to be mutually exclusive. There are plenty of religious scientists out there as well as atheists who can barely operate a computer.

It occurred to me just now that maybe Pastafarians are making fun of both camps since the manner, the means, and the nature of whatever set the whole cosmic ball of wax in motion is a question we'll probably never answer. Ask a cosmologist or physicist to describe the shape of the universe sometime. Ask him/her what existed before everything started existing. Sure we have theories, but who doesn't? This bloke over here believes in a giant gob of Italian food! When the chips are down, in my opinion, an honest broker from either side will just shrug. No answers.

It's enough to make you cross-eyed.
el Jefe

The great train ride of 05'

So lately I've been thinking of trying to take Amtrak all the way from Greensboro, NC to Seattle, Wa and back for Christmas this year. I hate to fly and I love to train. Seems like an easy equation. I figure that if I'm feeling particularly brave that I'd like to go Greensboro to NYC to Chicago to Seattle on the way up and then go Seattle to LA to New Orleans to Greensboro on the way back. Or if I'm feeling like a wuss, I'll take a one-way flight for one of the legs...

Sounds exciting right? Sure, my friends say, but it also sounds a little crazy. I guess they may have a point. First of all, I'm a little worried about the fact that these train rides take like 80 hours a piece. Also I've only taken a two-hour train ride from Tacoma, WA to Vancouver, WA before. I loved the ride and made the usual pronouncements about civilized modes of travel, but I realize that I have to accept the fact that that experience might not be representative of the whole Amtrak line.

It'll also be Christmas time... So my question is, does Amtrak get crazy during the holidays? Will there be drunken Santas to contend with? Repentant drug dealers? Meth crazed elves driven to excess by drugs and the ridiculous nature of their chosen profession? How about just your garden variety crazy? I mean if I were a crazy, loner, depressant guy, I could see myself wanting to be on a train during Christmas. Just riding the rails watching the it all pass by and refusing to take part in the sane world's festivities. A "fuck you" to organized fun.

"Ho fucking Ho" they'll blearily mutter at me as the swig from their poorly concealed bottles of cheap whiskey. The clever ones will probably go on some crazy diatribe about how the whole holiday is a farce cooked up by the Catholics to keep winter-crazed Europeans from jousting themselves in the eye. The repentant ones will cheerfully proselytize and describe how Jesus has saved them from their cross-dressing whore lifestyles of yore (that happened to me once on an Atlanta train). Either way I just know they'll probably end up violating my personal space in some way.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love people. I'm a Episcopal egalitarian for Christ sakes. That means I'm willing to drink with pretty much anyone as long as they stay on their side, don't talk to me, don't smell too strongly, and just don't violate the afore mentioned personal space.

I rub elbows in a strictly metaphorical sense
el Jefe

A couple of days ago, I got home from work just as my buddy KP rolled up. She was there to visit her boyfriend, my housemate.

"Is that how you dress for work? [chuckle] Awesome!"

I looked down: T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops...

I realized at that moment that I kind of love my job. That was nice. Thanks KP

Give it up for the flip-flop lifestyle..
el Jefe