08.27.04

Woke this morning to the dulcet strains of leaf-blowers in the neighbors yard. Has no one heard of rakes? I despise, loath, abhor and really don't like leafblowers. They're noisy, smelly, wasteful and damned annoying. They only exist because they're more efficient, therefore more profitable.

I'm sick of efficient revenue generation. Instead of paying someone to rake for a few hours, let's give 'em a gas-powered, back-strapped, hair dryer, some inadequate hearing protection, and let 'em loose for 20 minutes. Continue to pay them minimun wage, or less, and we'll be able to buy our vacation homes, put gas in the behemoth, and buy more stuff.

The Boregonian had (below the fold, but on the front page) a story about how younger voters feel about the Kerry/Bush emphasis on Vietnam-era bullshit. Most younger voters think it's crap. They're correct. I don't give a rat's ass about either one of their war records. I was alive during the Vietnam thingy, and I still don't care. It's nonsense, and a convenient smokescreen for the questions that we should be asking the candidate. What the hell are they gonna do for the current situation?

When 15.6% of US citizens have no health insurance, when the poverty levels have risen for the third year in a row, when women are still fighting for sovereignity of their bodies, when there aren't enough school books in the schools, when the US Constitution is eroding away like a limestone statue, etc.--does it matter what happened 30-odd years ago? No. No. And no.

I don't have health insurance. Haven't had it since 2001. I can't afford to go to the doctor to fix my teeth (which hurt), to fix my knee (which hurts), to get a check-up. I figure I'm going to off myself if anything goes really wrong. Might as well, poor patients die because they can't afford competent care. Why be a burden, right?

I've sent out over a hundred resumes. I got one, one-time gig doing a body cast for an artist. I'm over-qualified for where I could get work. I'm under-qualified for where I want to work. I'm disposable because I was responsible and never had a child. Too old, too young, too this, too that...what the hell?

College graduates. That's supposed to be the key to better lives. Not anymore. Still, why does a piece of paper mean that person A is more qualified than person B? I've spoken with people A, and they're idiots. I don't mean that they're inexperienced. That's curable. I mean that they're ignorant of the past, incapable of stringing two thoughts together, uninformed, uninspired, ill-advised and incompetent.

Gah. Am I a misanthrope? Damn.

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