by 
I started this post what seems like forever ago, then proceeded to get sick with a one-two body slam of bronchitis and a sinus infection. Over 2 weeks of antibiotics later and some much needed bedrest, im back to about 70%. I’ll get up to speed on whatever, but until then enjoy this post about nothing in particular.
How about being a new dad, and being able to stay home 2 months with pay (ableit reduced from my normal amount.) Kinda nice that these here socialists not only say they support young families and parents, they put up where other countries shut up. Hell, just read the article:
177 nations guarantee paid leave for new mothers; the U.S. does not.
74 nations guarantee paid leave for new fathers; the U.S. does not.
132 nations guarantee breastfeeding breaks at work; the U.S. does not.
163 nations guarantee paid sick leave; the U.S. does not.
48 nations guarantee paid time off to care for children’s health; the U.S. does not.
Speaking of pay toilets, you know how they all say ‘For Customers Only’? Well, here in socialist-i-stan that’s illegal. Yup. They can really try to make you uncomfortable, but legally they can’t stop you from going, “That Chipotle shit is making my anus bleed, can I use your shitter?” Just get in, use it, say thanks and leave. No hassle, no skidmarks like you locked up an 18-wheeler back there.
Ok, that’s just thing Im thankful for. Let me give you a few more: Irony – She doesn’t get it.
Bitch is cra-zee.
How about this one? You hear about those religious crazies are making more and more sense lately? That’s not something I’m thankful for, but Jesus… Huckabee AND Robertson? I think I’ve lost my mind.
The comments are always the best part…
Pat Robertson, I cannot believe I heard these words come out of your mouth. You are a traitor to God! This is awful.
I can’t believe you guys think it should be legal to smoke pot! Don’t you understand that dope is illegal for a reason? Pot will make you do bad things and then it will lead to other things like coke and meth. We all need to give up our liberty to choose what we put in our body so that gov’t can keep us safe and productive becuase the state knows what’s best for people. Don’t let these other people fool you……. we need to keep putting these dang kids and drug users in prisons so we can make sure no one uses marijuana.
And in other ‘tree’ related news:
Potential jurors staged a “mutiny” during a felony drug case, a Missoula County prosecutor says, and authorities worry the result will be viewed as a game-changer when it comes to future attempts at prosecuting drug cases in Montana.
Nearly all 27 Missoula County residents during the jury selection process on Thursday told District Court Judge Dusty Deschamps there was no way they would convict anybody of having a couple of buds of marijuana.
Good for them. Guy sounds like a douche, but my thoughts on the war on drugs are… it’s a waste of time and money. Has been since Bush I started the whole nonsense. Decriminalize the soft stuff. Hell, if you regulate it like booze and tobacco, you’d get enough revenue to do a ton of stuff. Shit would be safer, too. Hard stuff? Well, that’s tricker. Seems like anything you ban, makes it more popular. Just ask bikers in the Diablo-Mt Tam-Marin area. Fucking Sierra Club hippies ruining everything, then we are called poachers, criminals, vandals and worse.
I’m also thankful for my mom. I don’t tell her enough, but that’s a whole ‘nother enchilada. I’m thankful she worked in a library and instilled a respect for books, knowledge and a passion for reading. I also don’t read enough. Probably because fatuous nonsense like ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Shit-Encrusted Dildo’ do nothing for me. I read shit like this:
4. General relativity
If most people think of general relativity at all, they assume this high-minded idea of Einstein’s applies only to super-large objects completely outside the realm of normal life, such as galaxies and black holes.
But actually, the warping of space-time does affect things we know and use, the authors point out.
“If general relativity were not taken into account in GPS satellite navigation systems, errors in global positions would accumulate at a rate of about ten kilometers each day,” the book states. That’s because general relativity describes how time flows slower the closer an object is to a large mass. Thus, depending on satellites’ distances from Earth, their onboard clocks will run at slightly different speeds, which could offset position calculations unless this effect is taken into account.”
Fuckin’ Stephen Hawking. Been more places in his own head that I could ever imagine on my fully-functioning legs. So smart it makes my head hurt. That’s why I read. Can’t let Idiocracy take over.
by 
Hey bikepunk, ever wonder why economies in socialist countries stagnate with high unemployment? It’s because it costs so much to employ people when the gummint mandates all sorts of rules like “daddy gets to take 2 months off with full pay.”
Not to mention the inequity of it all. If you’re a person who choses NOT to have kids, guess what? You’re getting paid less because your company has to foot the bill to pay for the all the benefits that have to be paid to parents.
Nothing’s free Junior, no matter how nice it sounds…
Thanks,
Burt
People always choose these extreme examples to try to make their argument look better.
I eat at my desk. My co-worker goes to get his. Dammit! That means I get paid less!
Oh, and wait, I bring my own coffee while my co-worker goes to Starbucks. Getting paid less again.
Hey, the other day, I heard 2 guys laughing while I was busy working. The govt must be out to get me.
Ride on.
I’m thankful that planes leave here for China every day. They’ll even save you a seat.
Good post, bikepunk.
But I got news for ya bud. The idiocracy HAS taken over, whether it’s the psychotic religious right, or the korporate kleptocrats and their “useful idiots” like joetheteabagger or the dummies who stuff junk food in their fat pieholes until they explode like Mr. Creosote…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aczPDGC3f8U
…while watching “Dancing (or Skating) with the Retards” on TV.
So, what is to be done? I don’t know what Lenin would do but I’m going skiing and then I’m going to drink beer and maybe later I’ll fire up the espresso machine and annoy ya’ll with some more caffeine-fueled rants.
Nixon Started the war on drugs:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Comprehensive_Drug_Abuse_Prevention_and_Control_Act_of_1970
Bush the first just got the CIA involved when he was VP under Reagan, then created the ONDCP when he was prez
Great, you’ d think the embarrassment this socialist president has become would have settled that. His approval rating plummeted when he had free reign and got shellacked at then mid terms because the people really don’t want that bullshit here. Now that he’s being held in check and he’s pretending to drift to the center his ratings are improving.. Slightly….
Win the future.
Just remember that a lot of “socialist” countries — particularly those in the EU — are able to provide so much for their citizens for some very important reasons, including these:
a. Higher taxes in European countries. Danes and Swedes, for example, pay some of the highest personal income taxes in the world. They also have higher rates of employment than the US, because the governments in those countries decided long ago that part of the job of government was to make sure that their citizens all had jobs.
b. There’s a much stronger sense of Social Contract in Europe, where countries are geographically smaller and populations started out as far more racially, religiously and societally homogenous. In the melting pot/cluster***k that is the United States, the same sense of social contract may never have had a the same chance; in the land of the wide, open spaces, everyone’s been expected to pull themselves up by some kind of bootstraps for quite a long time. It’s a psychological difference that has, for better or worse, stuck in the national consciousness.
c. EU contries enjoy the added benefit of belonging to NATO, which is funded in very large part by — yup — the United States. If more NATO countries had to start paying more for their own national defense, you’d see some of those “socialist” benefits begin to shrink. (Suggest T.R. Reid’s “The United States of Europe” for more insight into this reality.)
@04: “joetheteabagger”? Typical.
Without making any judgments as to what country(s) has the best system of government I would suggest that people vote with their actions. The beauty of the world is that there are so many different countries founded and defended on all sorts of different sets of principles and ideas as to the role of government. Not sure what the immigration laws are for every country in the world but I am guessing that there is a country out there for everyone and plenty of flights available to it.
“Hey bikepunk, ever wonder why economies in socialist countries stagnate with high unemployment?”
This is factually incorrect, and I had a much better opinion of Hoovis before now.
In fact, this is quite stupid in the face 9%+ unemployment for years in the good old USA.
Some people need to get out of the country more often.
RELEVANT
Beth, thanks for the great comment. Too often it gets into a pissing contest around here, without a semi-thought out response. There are anti-NATO demonstrations here regularly, actually. Not everyone wants to be a part of it.
KG : We disagree about most things political, so I’ll ask you… where is this ‘Socialist’ you speak of. I see a centrist who is left of Clinton, but still on the R side of the center.
+1 @ Hoovis.
+1 @ joetheelectrician
Never hurts to consult the data:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_unemployment_rate
If you look at the usual suspects that uninformed people like to call “socialist”, you’ll notice that:
1. Their unemployment rates are similar to the US
2. They supply vastly better safety nets (unemployment relief, medical benefits, maternity leave, etc. etc.) than the US
So the claim that the overall US population benefits somehow from a philosophy of pervasive crapping on the unfortunate is materially false.
Oddly enough, places like Denmark and Norway are rated higher for business climate than the US these days.
But, sigh, yes, I know, once you get the Randian Religion, facts are stupid things.
yay! im glad my little kick in the ass got you to post something!!!!
i hate talking politics. its not something i can control so i just figure, i gotta roll with it. we’re all getting fucked up the ass somehow, someway, everyday.
Not true, judi. It was ordinary folks like us who righted the foundering ship of state back in November.
In the end libertarians are hypocrites who will suck on the tit of society as soon as it benefits them. Just like the Tea Party congresscritters who whined that they had to wait a whole month for their publicly funded health plan to kick in, they will wail about the evils of the government until they benefit from it. As Ayn Rand did, they will take Medicare and Social Security as soon as they can.
As for what Ayn Rand actually thought about the movement she inspired:
“…Libertarians are a monstrous, disgusting bunch of people: they plagiarize my ideas when that fits their purpose, and they denounce me in a more vicious manner than any communist publication, when that fits their purpose. They are lower than any pragmatists, and what they hold against Objectivism is morality. They’d like to have an amoral political program. ”
-Ayn Rand
And anyone who thinks that Obama is a “socialist” has no idea about what they are talking about. It’s just as stupid as those who called Bush a “fascist”. It’s factually incorrect and it debases your argument.
But hey, the Stupor Bowl is tomorrow, and it’s the biggest sporting tribute to socialism going… http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/new-rules-democratic-nfl-vs-repubican-mlb
I also find it interesting that no one is commenting on the rest of the post. Sheesh, it’s like someone blew a dogwhistle in here and no-one can focus on more than 100 words.
I would like to say that this is an interesting conversation, but it’s not. Its the same old Fox News vs. NPR puppet show. neo cons vs. Liberals..its tired, its boring, and it gets nothing done. remove bias from your data collection and make up your own mind. At the end of the day, we all just ride bikes and drink beers so doesn’t that make us friends?
nobody on their death bed ever wishes they worked just one more day, or worries about what party line they voted.
now stop looking at the computer and go get dirty!
I can think of some areas that need more employment: agriculture and infrastructure maintenance. For agriculture: get rid of the ridiculous subsidies that have allowed the dismantling of rural America (the backbone of the country). And, there are a lot of roads, bridges, trails, parks, etc. that need constant repairs, and picked up.
That Missoula County link gives a 404 but I’m liking it just from what you posted.
Don’t smoke dope anymore but did a lot back in the day. I personally think it should be in the Constitution that on their 16th birthday everyone has to smoke dope.
It should also be in the Constitution that if you’re still smoking it past your 30th birthday you get deported to Somalia to be used as target practice.
—-
“nobody on their death bed ever wishes they worked just one more day, or worries about what party line they voted.”
dirty biker +1.
Waitaminnit, el jefe-The Superbowl is Socialist? Well paint me red and call me Boris. GO STEELERS!!!
Props for your new daddyhood, BP.
…1st i’m gonna say “hey boristheelectrician – fuck the steelers, go aaron rodgers & the packers !!!”…now that’s just for the sake of ruffling feathers…
…pretty classic matchup, when you think of the history of just the names of these two teams…two big ol’ all american industries…meat packers vs steelworkers…fuck the socialist/republican angle, maybe some a’ you should just stand up, salute & sing “god bless america” through the whole game…
…2nd, without touching on the actual politics in this discussion, i gotta comment on that chick & the others fox news broadcasters…i’ve never seen those disingenuous cocksuckers try so consistently to sell their brain-dead followers their faux snakeoil…
…over n’ over n’ over, redundant, repetitious, they paint jon stewart as being nothing but an irrelevant comedian & his show as nothing but a nonfactual comedy broadcast…
…stewart uses comedy to keep things interesting for viewers & thus has a larger following than all those very dry political commentary shows but the man incites valid political discussion ‘for & from’ both sides of the issues…
…sad shit when a national news / media outlet devolves to the point where it’s only agenda is to falsely paint itself in relevancy & integrity to defame others but that’s exactly what fox news has done…
“I also find it interesting that no one is commenting on the rest of the post. Sheesh, it’s like someone blew a dogwhistle in here and no-one can focus on more than 100 words.”
I’m an atheist, but if I wasn’t, I would say Stephen Hawking is God. If he were president, it wouldn’t be socialism, capitalism or any other -ism. Stephen Hawking would be the head of a technocracy.
@BGW Faux News is finished. Only braindead zombies like j…er…hewhoshallnotbenamed watch Faux but I’d still like to skullf@%k Gretchen Carlson. I think that’s one thing we can all agree on and beer and bikes
…@tony…if gretchen carlson is the blonde in the newscast, ditto…
…skull fucked with a vengeance for so many obvious reasons…
…as for faux news, i don’t care which way someones political leanings lie, if they can’t see through that constant bullshit, they’re not a thinking man or woman…
@24-Ruffle all you want. We’ll see what we’ll see in alittle more than a day. And just so’s you know, eh-Win lose or draw, they’re my Steelers and I love them. Can you say the same? Oh right, “Packers”. I bet you’ve forgotten more about packers than I’ll ever know.
“At the end of the day, we all just ride bikes and drink beers so doesn’t that make us friends?”
I’d like to ride with joetheelectrician around the SV loop (twice? Mining Country is coming up), or maybe to Crown King and back. What’s a little suffering amongst us friends.
I’m nearly 50 yo. Anybody can keep up.
Those unemployment rates for those socialist countries that seems so comparable to ours are average for them and horrible for us. Considering that so many people have dropped out of the job market they’re not even counted ny longer. How many of those country are on the verge of financial collapse…Greece, Ireland… Spain next.
Germany has taken the path of austerity and looks to be on the road to recovery….
I tried to read Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” when I was in college. That I was a student during the Reagan years may have had something to do with my response to the book. After struggling to hang in there with the threadbare plot for seventy-five pages or so I decided I could not bring myself to care WHO John Galt was, and gave up. She may have had a point to make but her writing was SO bad that I couldn’t find it in there.
So Germany is “on the road to recovery”? Fabulous. Someone throw them a party. Simiar measures will never work here, due in part to the American Psyche (which I alluded to earlier) and in large part to the fact that a shocking number of Americans own guns. If our government attempted to enforce “austerity” measures here there would be rioting in the streets, and worse.
If I have to choose between giving all the guns to the government or giving them to the people, I’ll trust the people.
“The Republicans want to fuck you in the ass… The Democrats want you to have plenty of lube, and health care to pay for a new sphintcter…” ~Me
“If it wasn’t so freaking cold, I’d move to Finland tomorrow… Assuming, of course, that they’d have me… Which, of course, they wouldn’t…” ~Me again
Dear DC readers,
The fact that the DC readership lives all over the political spectrum is a testimony to the fantastic job that Juan Grande and Gnome have done. They’ve given you a place where you can express anything you want about anything in the world, so listen up… #1- Be civil, #2- Be thankful, #3- Go ride your bike.
Punk rock is as punk rock does.
Hugs and big wet smooches with tongue,
Gypsy
great reading here thanks for posting.
I am all for “rights” but lets try to remember the difference in our rights.
‘Human right’ – noun (usu. human rights)
a right that is believed to belong justifiably to every person
Natural rights or Inalienable rights, I think, fall under Human rights.
Then there are just ‘Rights’ -a ‘legal’ entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way
We can go round and round on here as to where each of us sees this ‘right’ or that ‘right’ falling into this category or that. But maybe it would just be best not to do that. So, I will just suggest that there is a difference between the two. Maybe with that in mind I will re-read the article and post.
I would conjecture, however, that the ‘right’ someone has to breed this planet into extinction (with paid time off) does not trump my ‘Human right’ to live. –there I said it, hurl your stones. jimmy
@bgw and joe, enjoy the Stupor Bowl while you can boys, you might not have it next year:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2043784,00.html
…@el jefe…yes, i’ll be watching but my work schedule has me doing 14 hour nights on thurs, fri, saturdays…i typically walk in @ 5:00am-ish sunday mornings so on sunday afternoons, even the ‘winchester kennel club show’ would gain my attention for lack of better entertainment…
…maybe some day, the ‘9ers will come back & i’ll reinvest some real interest but you, i & even joe know that pro-sports & all the attendant hoopla, the salaries, the rabid fan attention, the gambling, blah, blah, blah is so way out of whack considering it’s just guys playing kids games for entertainment that personally i find it all a bit hard to reconcile…
…i can certainly enjoy & even be moved by that entertainment, hell, the giants won the world series & i’m still over the moon but i definitely find it easy to keep it all in perspective…
…just sayin’…
“even joe”? Yeah, I can barely post without drooling on the keyboard. Fuck you, eh.
…aren’t you just on a fucking role, mr dale ‘fucking’ carnegie ???…“how to win friends & influence people”…fuck me…
…you misinterpret shit, you start getting all defensive & amigo, the next thing you know, you’re pissing in your own soup…
…either settle down, have a drink n’ watch the game OR put the fucking bottle down for a month, clear the alcohol out a your system & ease back into it with a new perspective…
…just sayin’, amigo, just fucking sayin’…
Settle down boys. I think he meant it tounge-in-cheek.
el jefe gets it right for a change. I’m probably as surprised as he is.
Politics? Really? On DC?
Get a beer and a bike and shut the fuck up.
He started it. But for what it’s worth, I rode my fixed Crosscheck all over this stagnant little cesspool of inbreeding today. Then I bent the fuck out of my rear axle. (Damned Suzues, ratsa-fratsa.) Then I came home and checked on the chili I got simmerin’ for the houseful that’s here for the Superbowl. GO STEELERS!!! Then I went back out to get beer (in a car, gah!), then I came back home, had two beers and a couple glasses of Bourbon. Now I’m logging off because kickoff is in 15 minutes.
So how’s by you?
“He started it. But for what it’s worth, I rode my fixed Crosscheck all over this stagnant little cesspool of inbreeding today. Then I bent the fuck out of my rear axle. (Damned Suzues, ratsa-fratsa.) Then I came home and checked on the chili I got simmerin’ for the houseful that’s here for the Superbowl. GO STEELERS!!! Then I went back out to get beer (in a car, gah!), then I came back home, had two beers and a couple glasses of Bourbon. Now I’m logging off because kickoff is in 15 minutes.
So how’s by you?”
I woke up. Looked at my bike. Said “Fuck it, it’s too cold”. I then pounded one off a couple of times. Then I went for beer.
Just like the day you actually had.
We should bond.
…long way to go against a damn good team but i definitely prefer it saying 0 – 14, advantage green bay after one, right there on the television screen…
…just sayin’…
…i’m thinkin’ 10 – 21, green bay up at the half sez we’ve still got a good ball game going…
…too bad fox sports doesn’t realize that most of us prefer a clear solid screen while watching the play…
…commercials ???…been a couple a’ good ones (as far as commercials go) & they manage to show those without glitches but the actual broadcast quality during live play is shit…typical shitty fox sports broadcasts…
Fuck a commercial. And fuck the God damned blackeyed peedmypants. I’ll be back down in my living room when the game starts. It ain’t over yet.
And triplef? “Too cold”? I’ve ridden in single digits. Fuckin’ pussy…
The auto-tune must die, and the only good commercial (so far) was the Start Wars/VW ad. The halftime show is so bad it’s funny…
…so fucking UNIMPRESSED by the techy-robotic-y ‘peedmypants’ show…kinda dumb to do a half-assed techy live show when so many commercials are of that nature, considering what can be done with film & editing…
…the worst commercial was that early disgusting ‘doritos’ bullshit with the dweeb sucking off his coworkers…uh, finger…sorry…i’m betting pretty much every guy watching that shit felt a little uncomfortable, ya ???…
…skin crawler…
…part of the ‘super bowl’ broadcast shtick has become the new & expensive commercials but there’s been nothing absolutely ‘great’ at all…there’ve been a few interesting & amusing ones but that’s it…part of the supposed ‘appeal’ is that at no other time do we see as many new commercials in such a short time frame on tv…i’m so used to tuning ’em out that i’ve missed half of ’em anyway…
…stella artois old timey nightclub with whatshisname, the actor ???…guy looks like fabian cancellara…
…hey, lookit that…25 – 31 for the team i was cheering for (not “my team” but the team i was cheering for)…props to aaron rodgers & the coaching staff
…good game, lotta exploiting the other teams mistakes by both the packers & the steelers & despite leading the whole game, green bay knew it wasn’t sealed ’til the very end…
…@el jefe…i’m almost embarrassed by what the nfl has turned the super bowl into…the amazing amount of hype n’ hoopla & superfluous bullshit is so fucking over the top, it’s hard to watch but they’re happy as idiots with their “nfl experience”…
…the world series is definitely easier to handle…did i mention the san francisco giants won the world series ???…
What a monday. Hung over AND depressed.
To Kg,
Germany is NOT doing austerity, quite the oposite actually, it kept spending high but focused with the unions in the fold. This is why:
http://www.alternet.org/economy/149659/stop_the_austerity_craze!_massive_budget_slashing_can_lead_to_economic_disaster,_violence_and_repression/
More info – but bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2011-01-28/conservative-austerity-idea-is-failing-commentary-by-david-blanchflower.html
The UK is starting to feel it’s austerity plan…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8282354/Bank-of-England-chief-Mervyn-King-standard-of-living-to-plunge-at-fastest-rate-since-1920s.html
And the end result of austerity:
http://www.angrybearblog.com/2011/01/update-on-conditions-in-irelandanother.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/Hzoh+%28Angry+Bear%29
And on another subject, I’m going to die of oropharyngeal cancer, probably.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/27/20110127oral-sex-tied-to-neck-pain.html
…@gildas…just because your flexible enough to blow yourself doesn’t mean you’re gonna get cancer…
…some satisfaction & a crink in your neck maybe but that’s it…(smiley face thingy)…
…ohhh & stop bragging…
Somebody mentioned Republicans want to fuck you in the ass. No, the homo Democrats. baby killing Democrats, soldier hating Democrats and the Commie Crats like it in the ass.
^^^^^^
A mindless rant like that requires a Hitler reference or it just can’t be taken seriously.
TripleF, know you nothing of history? That Schicklegruber dude was the head of the National SOCIALIST party. The Gub’mint ran EVERYTHING. Jeeze, dude.
Oh, and isn’t there some Intardwebnettubes protocol where whoever first proves Godwin’s law is automatically the dumbest guy in the room? Congabulation on your Godwin, durrr.
The US is a lot of things, but what it shines at most is hypocrisy, on a grand scale. What do we have here that is so great? The right to carry guns? I’d gladly trade in my pistol for to live in a social system that cars at least *just a little bit* for families, as the above data eludes to. Most Americans are very unhappy with the gov… what’s new.
Welcome to the land of the free. Now get to work!
joe.
Some say you can’t take a joke. I say you can.
You can take a joke and suck the life out of it faster than anyone on the planet.
Suck what now? Listen here, bub. I’m getting fed up with your sexual innuendo and your gay-bashing. I’m sure there’s a place somewhere in this world where your schtick is appreciated. I’d rather think that such a place does not exist, but I’m sure it does. Why don’t you go there awhile and leave us alone?
I think someone’s pulling the piss here? Sparky Joe and Triple F are surely the same being talking back at it’s own echo? Anyway, that’s what it sounds like to me. But it’s reasonably well done anyway.
Oi.
I’ve been mistaken for joe ???
Oh the horror. The horror.
I’m as shocked as you are. Mmmm, Bourbon.
So who wants to talk aboot bikes for a change, eh?
Bikes ?
I have a bike. It’s orange.
What color bike do you ride ?
White, black, green, red…
black
black
green
blue
blue
blue
green
maroon
gray
…celeste X 2 w/ blue &/or red, shiny ti w/ red, yellow, black…
…loaner in turquoise greeny-blue w/ yellow…
@joe
You have 9 bikes ?
You trying to out do BJ ?
No one out does BJ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh wait. BJ has like 900 bikes.
Never mind.
green, green , brown, brown, colnago color vomit
Blue,
Blue,
Blue,
Blue,
and for a change, Blue,
Red,
Green,
Gloss Black,
Matt Black with a one less SUV sticker, (for the anarchist in me, you know, the guy who should go & get dinner on, feed the cats, iron a shirt for tomorrow, really living on the edge)..
And on a serious note who is worrying about everyone in Christchurch, fuck, this quake was a bad one, hit at lunchtime & there has been casualties.
Everyone that I checked in with has been fine but any DCers down there sing out.
I heard from one friend, who is fine, but no-one else yet. I think most of my contacts are on the North island.
SpecialNeedZ, you okay ?
Hurben, I’m in Nelson these days so I’m fine. But my sis and some good friends are down there, so far sounds like most people I know are ok, but there’s still a few people I haven’t heard from. My DC schwag finally arriving brightened my day, but seeing my home of 5 years completely destroyed and hearing about people trapped in buildings and cars around where I used to work is pretty heartbreaking. Had I applied for teacher’s college earlier I would be down there and could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Glad you’re okay mate.
My mate down there is okay as is his family but when I phoned him he was cycling across town to check on his mother because he couldn’t contact her & it’s gridlock..
Sounds like hell, wish them all the best down there.
Thanks,
they’re good, their home is totally trashed but they are alive.
Sadly, so far 65 reported fatalities.
…i don’t want to lose sight of the fact that a lotta folks down christchurch way need serious compassion & empathy right now, what with a 6.3 quake today & a 7.1 back in september, along with aftershocks in the months in between but hurben’s communication with his amigo gives one the opportunity to realize just how valuable a bicycle can be when there’s a major infrastructure breakdown…
…in a situation with buckled, broken up, debris filled roads n’ streets, a need to keep any workable transportation routes clear of normal traffic & with limited fuel supplies utilized for emergency vehicles, it makes it obvious just how valuable a good basic workable bicycle may prove to be…
…anyway, my heart goes out to those folks in christchurch…with earthquakes, there can be a continuing terror beyond the initial devastation simply because one never knows if that next little aftershock is actually going to be something major…
…sending good thoughts down that way…
Thanks BGW,
the shit about this one is that it occurred at a depth of 5KMS, the September one was at around 33KMs.
So there is a shit load more damage plus it occurred during daylight.
Australia & The USA have already offered aid which has been accepted, thank you & bless you.
Absolutely agree on the bicycle bit, it’s the only way my mate could have made it across town.
Just watched the news updates on Christchurch. Tragic to say the least. Thoughts of hope and healing going out to those affected…
Thanks LB,
I’ve caught up with all my friends & family, all good, one house unliveable but no loss of life.
Sadly, 75 confirmed dead & around 300 missing.
We got rescue teams, police & military on the ground from NZ, Australia, USA, Israel, Singapore, Japan.
Thank you all so much & bless you.
Hey Hurben,
Glad to hear that you’re OK. I can’t even begin to think how scary an earthquake must be.
Great blog, this could be the best blog I ever visited this month. Never stop to write something useful dude!