h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

ttfn

I would like to comment that as presidents go, ol' George Jr. is definitely below the average in terms of intelligence. Oddly enough, this actually helps him to function better. The less the president is allowed to run the country, the more smoothly things go. Jimmy Carter was one of our more intelligent presidents, but because he thought he could actually make a difference, he managed to alienate the House and Senate.

King of the Jews - or should I call you Jesu?
Americans know very little about world events and how they connect with our foreign policies. This doesn't mean that they're complacent and believe they're superior to people of other nations. This attitude was true thirty years ago, but it's a bit out-of-date now. Americans just have a lot of country to think about.

Gloom, despair, and agony on me,
deep dark depression, excessive misery,
if it weren't for bad luck,
I'd have no luck at all,
Gloom, despair, and agony on me.

Hey, isn't that Simon Bar Kochba's old nom de plume?

King is fine. The whole saviour of mankind gig didn't eally work out so well; this time around I think the focus should me more on the dance. Pointing out errors of a government should never be confused with not loving your country nor as a commentary on it's subjects. We are all adults here. We have to power, and yes, the right--even obligation to fix the improprieties. It is 2002, my friends--complacency is so 1998. The division of wealth in this country (and every other as well) needs to be redistributed. "Money isn't everything" and "money doesn't buy happiness" is what the rich tell us so we stay away from their's! I'm not much on rehashing failed peace movements--but there is right and there is wrong. Such terms may get labelled passe and trite--any mention of spirituality, unfotrunately, (all too often) gets confused with god or organized religions. That is not what it is about. It is about feeding a soul--it's a rally cry that although we may have to tolerate mediocrity, we will never champion it!

That'll be light-sabres all round then. Good thinking. I'd like a green one.

Can I have a red one? With a chrome "handle"?

I like the double-ended ones. They make you so attractively red in the face!

Are you talking about....


Oh light sabres - thank goodness for that.

The point, ladies and gentlemen, is that "the failure to communicate" excuse has got to go. I mean, what are we living on? Scrapes that they were going to get thrown out anyway? The main source of frustration, I believe, is the conflict that arises out of a temporal limitation--in short, the body is ill-equipt to handle the dreams the mind is capable of. I am not talking about ammenities; nor am I talking about accrued interest. (Skinny art school girls aside), I'd like to believe that there is a bond that can tie this (us) all together. Why does any talk about "self-actualization" need to be reduced to Lock Blocks, Playdough, & longing for a return to childhood and the days of carefree no responsibilites? I'm sure you can all recall that never-ending sunny day. Words like 'happy' and 'satisfied' just don't hold up under the scrutiny of what society dictates as the proper protocol for responsible adults. I have never been big on running naked through fields. I don't condone sporting a kitten on a string and pleading with passerbies for spare change. ("Spare change?, What's that? Money I don't need?) If you don't have a problem with lectures of moral servitude from rich white old men and if you can swallow the "compensation of an imaginary world beyond the grave"--if god, for you, isn't a crude answer--well then. good luck, go and pick your cotton and watch E News daily for a parade of the chosen few. Just remember, it is not you. The United Staes spent close to $400 billion on defense last yr. Welfare is less than 1% of our national budget. Politicians choose to lament on the later because having an excuse to hate peoples who are different than yourself provides validation. I am not trying to sound preachy, but what is the one thing human beings need for that validation? Feeling moral superiority justifies why it is we can walk over the homeless w/ our caramel double latte and not feel somehow guilty. See, if the powers that be can keep us occupied by me hating you and you hating him and him hating her then they have created a good enough diversion so we don't see all the toys and good times that are being had w/o us. Does this make any sense? Throughout the years, movements come and go. A rumbling from the disenfranchised every so often gets through (heard). To quiet the miscreants, the government sends a bag man--offers a BMW, 40 acres and a mule--whatever ro get them to shut up and back in line--so they can go back to watching their big screen TV, skinny dipping in a champagne fountain and "snorting (your police seized) coke off your wife's txx's" and having a good laugh at your expense--as you log in another 8 hrs. @ 2.36/hr. Hard work for the sake of hard work is stupid. There is no virtue in working hard unless it merits you something. They instill in us from day 1 this "work ethic"--grasshopper bad/ ant good. Well, grasshoppers die in the winter, anyway, bud. There is no point in working hard for a day that ain't ever gonna come.

Far from it. To comment on what is wrong--the desire to squash injustice, doesn't make (or mean)one (is) miserable. To be human is to feel, right? Isn't that what seperates us from the lower species?--That and a concious. "The world has got to come up with a whole new set of lies so people can go on living" Kurt Vonnegut said that. Do you really wish to be Billy Pilgrim in a zoo? Would that make you happy?--to perform tricks on demand--roll a ball through a toilet paper tube? I am here, as a messanger form an invisible guy in the sky to tell you to dance--dance until you can't stand--and eat ice cream--and don't lie or kick cats. Not lying and not kicking cats are good things. You don't need to tell the kids fairy tales about garbage men heroes and princess plumbers (that they can) be(ing) whatever it is they want to be just so you can go to sleep easier at night. Miserable? Naw, buddy, just another rehabilitated junkie w/ a messiah comples and schzoid tendencies. I just want to dance w/ you...

There are no lower species. We just do different things.

All this - the things that bug you (and me) - It's just static - humans making noise (who said that if people stopped talking their brains would start working. Anyone?). I wouldn't worry about it. They'll all be gone one day. You can't change them. You *can* move away from them and let them get on with whatever games they want to play though. It's all very much an illusion. Well, it might be. And if it is, why not choose your own?
Quite drunk now. Signing off.

"Snorting cocaine off your wife's t*ts."

Well really. Alright then...

How do I find you frogbit? I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said our little correspondence has provided me with one of the rare bright spots of an otherwise dismal day. Over the years, I suppose I've enjoyed the unfortunate reputation (with friends and family) as being somewhat of a pessimist. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I don't have much use for convention. I am guilty of trying to live my life in a dream. I will admit that. These improprites of which we speak--albeit governments imposing their will upon us or the bilateral trappings of luggage and bus despots--don't much change the fact that we have (roughly) 75 yrs. to make a stand. You know, in high school--even earlier, really, kids can sniff out the weak--the different--and, sure, some of the picked on runts go on the great things--maybe even one day find a cure for cancer. I don't know, I get so confused.
I don't believe in absolutes. I don't really believe in conspiracies of that level. George Bush, obviously, is an idiot--probably, truthfully, a harmless idiot who will leave his post in a couple years--only to be replaced by another harmless idiot. OK, here's what I am getting at: To be elected President of the United States, you need to be of the Judeo-Christion faith. This country would never elect an atheist. No, I am not trying to dis theology. Theology is all well and fine if you need to tell yourself that someone is pearched high up in the clouds and that they will never let anything (truly) bad happen to you--(If it does, there is always the convient "god's will"). My problem is I am "institutionalized". Most of my adult life has been spent in brick buildings. It all comes down to perspective, I suppose--walking that proverbial mile in another man's shoes. The greatest myth going in this country is: "you can be anything you want to be". As long as they get you to swallow that one, well, they got folks to pack cans full of fish. You see a better life paraded everyday in front of you. It is on billboards--in magazines--they broadcast hope of a better life via the lottery or "be a rock-star for a day foundation". I realize I am talking in circles and I am sorry. This is "What's wrong w/ Americans" and taking an extreme liberty, I am an "American". I am equally arrogant. I am just as confused. I just believe that I am right...

Should that be "... never *knowingly* elect an atheist." ?

Likewise, whatever a putative president actually believes, (or later does), they probably have to say they believe in lower taxes, more military spending, a balanced budget...

Yes, I suppose it is never knowingly elect an atheist. So much depends on the arena of public interest/perception. For instance, back in '88 before the declaration of the War on Drugs, a poll was taken on the #1 crisis facing America. Responants said the National Deficit (around 46% or so); only 3% said it was drugs. When Bush (who had no small hand in creating that deficit) declared the War on Drugs, a subsequent poll conviently fostered a fli-flop--after the media inudation that crack dealers would soon be coming down your chimney--36% (or so) now claimed American public enemy # 1 was drugs and only 6% said it was the deficit. Never underestimate the stupidy of the average man. Capitalism is held up to us like a virtue. Any criticism labels you less than patriotic, or even worse, a dreaded communist. Aw, to hell with it, I'm done preaching for the day. I'm going to go charge me a new television...

Hope you have a nice new tv now King. If you want to find anyone, just click on hte name above the message. See you soon,
Frogbit.

Frogbit, I am here. I am having a hard time still w/ this. I'm trying to contact you to let you know I am here. Is this the wrong forum to tell you I am @ my University to start work on a second book? Or should this be the space to complain more about "the Land of the Brave"? Just to be on the safe side: Do you know what the US did w/ all their left over amphetamines after WWII? Sold 'em to Germany & Japan. Why is Hepm illegal here? Has to do with the Rockefeller(sp?)holdings in the timber industry and not wanting any competition. Now to steer the conversation away from drugs: Do you that every species on Earth has found a way to inebriate itself--whether that is knocking itself out against a tree or Black and Tans...What is your feeling on Paul Kelly & the Messangers, Gun Club, Oscar Wilde & Jack Kerouac? Just to name a few...

Exsqueeze me! TBTPM, who appointed you judge of someone's fitness to live? It doesn't matter where someone was from, it doesn't matter what they didn't or did do... What matters is that no one has the right to kill anyone else - except in genuine self defence. (Your honor, he thrust his chest against my gun barrel), won't do!

I don't understand. Who is killing who? Who said it was OK?

Della skipped straight in from post #700, missing the intervening 30-odd...