More rants – I just can’t stop them – like the weeds of spring.

If you are not into bitching you best skip these few weekend posts as I’ve gone off the deep end. Apparently I’ve been holding a lot in and we’ve hit the strata that we could call “the intellectual vomitorium of reactionary liberalism”.

Blah, what’s with me and all the ranting of late? My life is really no different now then it has ever been. Quit your bitching Karlito. Lovely morning, up before dawn to barking dogs. Gave them a five am walk and then came home to give Sebastian a six am walk, my elbows are sore from leash management. I got a shower and came in to work. I met Ann here at seven am and we went to Forest Park to set up for Earth Day. It took awhile to find our space and longer still to figure out how to set up our new tent, but we managed it in plenty of time for me to get back here and open the center at 8:30 for the start of the Sports Massage workshop – it’s team taught by a physical therapist, a massage therapist, and a trainer for The Rams – great class.

It’s ten am and the St. Louis Buddhist association KDK has not shown up yet, they normally meet here Sundays, so I am assuming they are down at the city Museum experiencing the creation and consecration of a sand Mandela. I’d like to make it down there but the funds are a no go.

I really cannot overstate how beautiful it is outside, cool and breezy with bright sun and puffy white clouds. I haven’t slept much as I finished giving the dogs a nighttime walk at 1:30 am – Brad and I went to a new place in South City called Iron Barley for John’s, of Karen and John, thirty fifth birthday. It’s just north of Bates and Virginia, on Virginia; which puts it a stones throw from Broadway Blvd. and the Mississippi. I guess the head chef at Frasier’s quit and opened this place, taking some of the staff with him. I didn’t eat, but those that did raved about it. Karen and John have made friends with the owners and that facilitated the birthday for thirty plus people, followed by a jam session – Karen and John are sort of hippies – though he’s a used car salesman and avid golfer so that picture is a little complicated.

I’m not so into the five guys with guitars all drunk and imagining that they are somehow in sync with one another, so we left soon after the jam commenced. They actually didn’t sound bad, but I have to level, I’m not so into the live music anymore. I still like going out to see Jazz at Riddles and other places, but the folk thing, not so much anymore. People will occasionally burn some CD for me that I just have to hear, but all the twenty something Dave Mathews type singer song writers all just sound the same to me. There’s not a Willey Nelson or Johnny Cash among them. I don’t know, maybe the new Wilco album will surprise me, but the great norming of radio does seem to have lead down the much feared path of flattening the national music scene to the reign of the lowest common denominator; what will sell the most in the most markets. I just can’t stop bitching, I am bitching about everything, what is up with me?

I saw Missy and Pat who I haven’t seen in months, and an old Dukum bartender who is currently dating Karen’s brother Allen. Allen is living in his mom’s house and was mentioned as a possible roommate, but I think it’s out of his price range. Angela called me a little after seven am to tell me they were getting ready to march on the old pres res in D.C., Vanessa had just ridden up in the elevator with Ted Turner. I think Beth also saw the governor of Texas. I have ten friends that I know of participating in the march, probably many more than that.

Apparently anti-choice activists are calling it a death march – let’s hope it’s the death of the current administration. I want to be tolerant, but is it any wonder that the collapse of the American educational system has coincided with the rebirth and rise of the religious right – the sort of people who tank foreign language programs to keep football, what was that coaches’ quote, “If English is good enough for the bible to be written in, it’s good enough for my kids.” Thomas Paine save me with the zinger, “One cannot say that most conservatives are stupid people, one can however say that most stupid people are conservative.”

I Loved John Kerry’s speech on Friday, it would be so nice to be done with this corporate body bag nightmare. I heard a great NPR interview yesterday with an expert on global oil reserves. Apparently US production peaked in 1978 and when that became public knowledge the OPEC countries, “knew they had us over a barrel”. Big shift is US policy after that, trying to get back control of world markets. Shell is currently in legal trouble and stock price trouble, having deliberately misstated its reserves by over 20%. According to the commentator, one of the only ways the US could break the OPEC price control monopoly, since we consume 25%+ of the global supply every year, would be to partner with the Saudis for control of Iraq’s oil – still the richest fields in the world. This is of course nothing new, but an interesting take on the wider history of oil production and exploration.

I heard another quote that just dumfounded me, Bush actually thought that establishing a democracy by force in Iraq would set an example for the region and ultimately cause they end of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict – what unbelievable stupidity – how can you even begin to have sane foreign policy with idiotic ideas like this at the top. Of course this is just posturing as we’ve done more of late to deliberately aggravate the situation. I can’t believe that this rhetoric is more than a ploy. It’s just unbelievable that smart people buy this crap.

I watched Phenomenon yesterday while I was chilling out with the dogs. John Travolta Dianetics human potential plug. When was that made? There’s an odd scene where the FBI is trying to get him to break a coded communication between Britain and Saudi Arabia – odd subtext given our current political scene. Travolta’s character threatens to go to the press, “they’re supposed to be our allies.” Very odd indeed to see such nested political commentary. Jen has Just IM’ed me that she wants to see what I am writing and I’ve been derailed from my ranting by actual work here at work – so I imagine I will rant more later. I told her that I am pissed off right now and she commented that it gives my writing energy. It feels good to be pissed off, I should get pissed off more often.