Yes, as (e:Joshua) said we put up the banner. At first I thought we could have two big strings looping around the length of the banner but Joshy's engineering skills proved to be superior.

I like the festival, but there is one thing about it that nearly drives me to violence.

What is it, do you ask? What could make the cuddly, utterly adorable Jason that mad?

There are VERY few places to sit and rest on the block during the fest, and my porch is one of those places. I understand, and I really don't mind when someone wants to sit down and take a break. The problem is that almost every single one of them leaves their half-eaten trash on the porch for my neighbors and I to clean up. WTF IS UP WITH YOU PIGS?!?!?! PEOPLE LIVE HERE!!!!

When I get mad I fantasize about all kinds of nasty evil shit to do to the perpetrators. I've wanted to follow people home and take a dump on their front porch. I've wanted to dump paint on people. I've come up with a much less offensive, yet much more hilarious way of embarrasing people who can't clean up after themselves and disrespect me.

Water balloons are the answer. If I catch someone leaving their junk on my porch they are going to get soaked, period. I don't care how they feel about it, they deserve to be humiliated. Littering a-holes beware!!!!

Jason

Since no matter who wins an election there will always be someone whining, crying and bitching about foul play, I have developed the perfect method of deciding who will become our next Mayor.

You know how dogs drag their ass on the carpet every now and then? They can't scratch their ass like we can, but I think their method is much more humorous. Since I have basically no faith that local government will ever engage in serious reform, they will metaphorically scratch their ass while we continue to suffer.

We will lay out a giant "track" of carpet with lanes, and every candidate will wear a number on their back. The candidates sponsors can pay for advertising space on their race jerseys. The candidates will drag their ass like a dog from point A to point B. Whoever crosses the finish line first will become the next Mayor of Buffalo!

Jason

I thought this was rather humorous.

THE HUSBAND STORE

A store that sells husbands has just opened in Dallas, TX, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

1) You may visit the store ONLY ONCE!
2) There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights.
3) There is, however, a catch . . . you may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband . . .

On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men have jobs.

The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men have jobs and love kids.

The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking.
"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the housework.
"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 6 - You are visitor 3,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

I read today that on the 700 Club television program, Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez. I'm shocked and disgusted. How can a man call himself a Christian, and go on his Christian television show and advocate the killing of another human being? Furthermore, how can he reconcile that statement with his anti-abortion stance? It's shit like this from the wacko religious right that gives all Christians a black eye, and provides the wacko left with the ammunition they desire to demonize and hate all religious people. Does anyone care to wager that this will show up in our alternative shitrags this week?

Now I'm not saying that Hugo Chavez is a good person or a good leader. He took land away from people and gave it to other people. He has tried to take over the Venezuelan oil industry. For someone who talked about "social revolution", the oil wealth that is generated is not shared among the populace. The country has gone on general strike numerous times. Venezuela is a dangerous, unstable place. As he was a former military man, I have serious doubts that he will ever accept stepping down from power, no matter what the election results say. Communism is a failure of a social and economic experiment. I can't really think of anything good to say about Hugo Chavez, other than the fact that he was indeed elected.

None of this means that we have a reason to assassinate him. Pat Robertson is a fake, a phony.......no Christian in the world should use his Christian television program to promote killing. I read the Holy Bible often - therein are many nuggets of wisdom that I try to keep in mind, the most important to me right now being that "A cheerful heart is good medicine." I'm not a "Super Christian" or a holy roller, but I do try to live by certain guidelines. Out of Pat Robertson's mouth come words of violence and hatred. I want you all to know that in no way does he represent all people of faith. Of course you all are aware of the fact that he is a lunatic, much like Mr. Chavez. By the way Mr. Robertson, are you aware that the assassination of a leader of another nation is against international law?

Jason

Today, I choose to have a good day.

Jason

PS - Yesterday (e:Ladycroft) came thru with some of those awesome zucchini squares and some tomato so I don't starve to death. We chilled and whatnot - I wasn't thinking about my problems! You the bomb Timika!

Someday I hope the world can be war-free. I believe it is wholly unnatural for human beings to fight each other. I also believe the Iraq war was a mistake, as our priorities should have been in Afghanistan. This all being said, I'm not naive enough to think that war is eradicated and replaced with peace by holding peace vigils, lighting candles, holding signs, drafting UN resolutions, or getting into the drum circle.

A number of you believe that nothing, not even your own freedom, is worth fighting for. That's fine. So then it would follow that you would believe that the free world has no responsibility to the world in terms of making sure that nobody is oppressed, and that people all over the planet have basic human rights and living conditions. You're not alone, as evidenced by the world's deafening silence as people in Darfur execute "population control". It is also manifested in the silence regarding North Korea. I can go on and on. There are many situations where if we were a caring, compassionate race, it would enrage all of us to the core, and boots would be on the ground. It has come to my attention that in fact we are not a caring, compassionate race, and that we are willing to ignore atrocities all over the world to ensure we don't have to sacrifice anything.

All of the hope, the vigils, the protests will continue to amount to jack shit as long as there are people in the world who want to fight and kill to maintain power and control the populace. I'll take off my right-winger hat for a moment. I want to open my ears and listen to the leftists out there. I want to know how those of you on the left think we can attain world peace.

Jason

We heard this argument in defense of the killing of Terri Schiavo. Let me pose the following question to you all: If someone doesn't like the situation they are in, if they don't want to live they way they are living, is it A-OK for that person to go to a doctor and be "put down" for lack of a better phrase, to end their suffering?

What do YOU think?

Jason

Leave your comments to yourself. I'll just go and delete them anyway. I'm not interested in your frothing at the mouth counter arguments. I did not sully your pristine, shinier than shiny name. I did not drag your name through the mud. If that were my intention I would have brought up many other more personal, more scathing things that have pissed me off over the past years, and my words would be full of bitterness, not sorrow.

This is MY SPACE, the ONLY SPACE that I have in the world to air my grievances, as neither you nor any of our friends are interested in hearing me out whenever I have a problem. If I'm upset I am forced to bottle it up and let it fester. Do you really think that I'm going to let you manipulate what I say on here, by showing me your obsessive/compulsive behavior when someone says something that pisses you off, no matter how true it is? Do you really think that you can make me "check myself" on my own journal?

To paraphrase Jesus, it is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him, it is what comes out of his mouth that makes him unclean, because what comes out of a man's mouth comes from his heart. I think about this very carefully before I say something about someone. Do you? I did not do you wrong. I laid out a factual account of my grievances and I'm sorry that you're upset but what do you expect when I can't talk to you about any of this? You don't want to listen to me. It's either I air this stuff out somehow, or I lose my shit altogether.

Jason

PS - Contrary to what you might think, yes I am depressed.

Here is an article from National Review about IPTV:



I like the idea of being able to tailor-make your tv environment. I don't watch most of what's on tv. If I could have sports, educational programming, history channel, discovery, sci fi - I would probably have everything I want. I wonder how this will play out in the future, given that companies eschew technology advances when it won't make them money.

I don't like the fact that we don't have choices when it comes to certain things - like electricity and cable tv. It's true, Adelphia owns Buffalo. You can't get away from their advertising (I noticed that the big screen on Chippewa (e:Paul) posted about recently pimped Adelphia). Cable TV and other business sectors own monopolies all over the USA. In general I like my Adelphia internet - it is much much better than DSL and costs the same. I also like my digital cable. I've discovered lots of programming that I never knew existed. One thing I know for sure is that if other cable providers were allowed to compete with Adelphia in the Buffalo market we all would get better service and better prices. Will that ever happen? HA! No way - like the article says local governments are complicit in this kind of travesty.

When are utilities or cable providers ever subject to competition, like every other kind of business? I'm beginning to move toward the left when it comes to regulating certain industries - it is obvious we are being taken for a ride when it comes to energy. I remember back in Jamestown - the city of Jamestown has its own electricity company, under the authority of the city government. Service is great and prices are cheap. Oil companies are making record profits. Energy companies make backroom deals with politicians to screw us over.

I'm beginning to think that certain industries are too important to leave to our capitalist structure - energy being the most important. We also will be slow to receive technological advances in this industry because of profit concerns. There are so many political decisions made in the interest of keeping our energy needs intact. I can't wait for the day when we can tell the middle east FUCK OFF, KEEP YOUR DIRTY OIL. I am not naive enough to think this can happen overnight, but we should be making a serious push to a near-future of energy independence. Well, at least as long as it isn't in our own back yard!

Jason

I am a fuck up. A loser. A nobody.

I am fucking up so bad. I'm on the verge of getting canned. I can't bother myself to do simple things around the house. I can't take care of myself. I can't manage to pay bills even though I have the money. I can't manage to take my meds regularly. I can't manage to do anything but sleep lately. I don't get excited about anything. Going to sleep is the only thing I look forward to.

Everything that has to do with this is my fault. I did this all to myself. Joshy says my depression doesn't have much to do with it. Dad calls me asking me if I'm okay and I don't want to worry him so I always say "Yeah Dad, I'm fine, everything is fine." The truth is that no, I'm not okay, not by a long shot. I don't know what my problem is. I don't know what's wrong with me. I've written about this a number of times but I'm not improving.

I feel like something has to change, or else I will end up a street bum or, God forbid, in a ditch. I know this shit is too sad and too difficult to read so I don't blame you. I want to be happy, I want to be a success. I want to pull out of this mess and laugh about it. I just don't think I have the will. Everyone who talks to me worries more about how this shit affects them. Joshy says I am self centered and spend too much time thinking about myself. Yes, maybe if I worry about everyone else my problems will go away. I worried about everyone else for a long time and it got me used, leeched off of, thrown away, and so forth. As long as I keep at work and pull in those paychecks everyone will be satisfied with me. Nobody asks or cares or wonders about my state of mind until something drastic happens. The most important thing, the thing that's emphasized the most, isn't that I become a happy or that I learn to cope with my problems - it is that I go to work and pull in paychecks. As long as that happens it is A-OK that I'm a miserable unhappy fuck! It is easier for some people to shit out a solid gold turd than to offer me caring or encouraging words. I am done talking to my family about this shit. Never again!

So I promise I won't rant about this shit ever again. I'm done talking about it. Please hold me to it. You all have your own issues ot deal with. You don't want to read this crap. Sometimes I think if I don't get it out my head will burst open. I don't know how to fix this stuff and don't know if I'll be able to. In the coming months all will be revealed. I'm going to get some Sparks and cry myself to sleep.

Peace Out!