The shadow army, the shadow government

How much do you know about government contractors? I suspect that it might not be all that much - hell, turns out the US government isn't all too sure how many government contractors there are, what they're doing, or how much they're getting paid. Doesn't sound too great now does it?

Before I cop out and post two links to some VERY informative and interesting podcasts on the topic, here's my two cents: A while back, I wrote about my experiences as a government employee. My job was to conduct background investigations on government employees and contractors in need of security clearance. Many contractors were also hired to conduct background investigations. They were doing the same job I was doing, only they got paid based on how many cases they closed. Do you really think that quantity over quality is a good thing in this scenario? And does it surprise you that this was happening under the Bush administration with all it's tough on terror, strong on security rhetoric? Oh, the hypocrisy.

Anyway, I'm running late this morning, so I shall leave you with two podcasts to which you absolutely must listen:

The Rise of Blackwater USA (the shadow army of the US)

Government Contractors (the shadow government of the US)

America the great and what's lurking in the shadows

Well howdy doody there cats and kittens, thiseehere blog might be a day late and a dollar short but hopefully its at least enough to get you all through a cup of coffee or whatever it is you drink over there in your own respective areas of the world. I had a lot of trouble getting up the nerve to actually admit all the things I love about America, but here I finally am, perhaps mostly because it is my turn to post the topic for this week as well and I don't want to keep you people waiting too long.

Letssssssseeeeee... America. Yup pretty much I like being in the mountians, in the ocean, or somewhere dodging bullets if I'm back in the states. The last part was a lie. I've never dodged a bullet in my life. By the way, I'm writing this on like 3 hours of sleep and not nearly enough coffee to sustain any kind of logical thought process. But as it were, I do like the fact that Americans generally don't beat around the bush as much as people living in some other countries *ahem* Japan *ahem*. I do miss my friends, family, and the openness of being able to walk up to some random people on the street and strike up a conversation, but the better my Japanese becomes the more opportunities I have to do just that and am able to make more friends here, so even that is perhaps only a matter of being accustomed. But I also miss smalltalk. Like little quips about whateverthehell when you're at work. But that might be something I love about English and not particularly America.

Anyway, thats about all I've got to say about that.

Now for the topic of the week, which can be taken as literally or as figuratively as you want. The topic is shadows. I'm going to post a longer blog about it later this week but I'm interested to see what everyone has to say about shadows, be it their own or the ones cast over them, the shadows of lingering memories, of love, the literal shade of an oak on a scorching summer day. Just write about shadows. And let it roll out of you like the nothing.

Peace.

why america is great...

anyone seen "thank you for smoking"? the kid in the movie has to write an essay about why america has the greatest government in the world. i don't remember what the essay ended up saying. i just remember the lesson that the dad (aaron eckhart) taught his kid - there is no wrong answer to that question.
i don't think they were talking about the current administration - or any specific administration. they meant the process of government. the united states' constitution provides a means for our government to evolve based on the needs (or voted wants) of the people. i think that's pretty incredible.
i also love america's landscape. can anyone believe that the white stuff cap'n jack wades through in the latest pirates installment is actually in a real place? the salt flats in utah - arguably one of the most incredible sights i have ever seen. right up there with the mountain goats romping over crags/glaciers up in the rockies, deception pass in washington state, the moss-covered hangy trees in south carolina, flowers blooming amidst the sand dunes in death valley, and full autumn colors in the appalachians. all of the above take my breath away. i don't have awesome photos like janes, but i'm glad to claim the locations as 1/300,000,000th mine.
i'm also a big fan of the rights we are guaranteed - freedom of speech, the press, of peaceful assembly, of fair trade and labor, and the right to sue the asses off anyone who violates any of our other rights. not that i've sued anyone, but i love the fact that power in the hands of the people helps keep our government from being totally corrupt. not that there aren't crooked politicians, but they're not even close to as bad as, say, mexico's corrupt system.
i also like the newness of our country. other places i've been have been pretty steeped in tradition, but here we are free to, in essence, shop around for which traditions and customs we'll carry on. that's cool.
i know this is going to sound weird, but i also like that we have all kinds of safety regulations. i like knowing that any food or drug i buy has been prepared in such a manner as to seriously reduce my risk of illness. i like knowing that i'm not going to get dyssentary from my water or anything like that (yes, i know that crazy things still happen sometimes, but the probability is so low here compared to other countries). the regulations make me feel safer.
finally, i love that we are so into humor here. there is so much in america that is, or can be, really funny. we make funny tv shows, movies, music, conversations, slogans on clothes, sayings, shoot, we have jib-jab and strongbad, beavis and butthead, team america, weird al, larry the cable guy, jerry seinfeld, bill cosby, bad cat, laughter is the best medicine (in readers' digest), dr. seuss, and so much more! i've never been to another country whose citizens spent so much time laughing out loud. how awesome is that?!?

This one's worth ten-thousand words!

Last year, when I was living in Russia, most of my students were adults (as opposed to this year, where all of my students are children). I was frequently asked questions about the US, and in every class, George Bush came up at least once. This is a pretty liberal blog, and you should all realize by now that I too am pretty liberal - I disagree with nearly everything that comes out of the mouth of our current President and I strongly dislike the man. That's not really the point of this post. The point is, when my Russian students would hear my strong, unapologetic expressions of disapproval for the Bush administration, they would grow quiet and exchange furtive glances. Then, inevitably, one would ask me something along the lines of, "Aren't you afraid to say that?" This happened in EVERY adult class that I taught. My students were all concerned that if I voiced my disapproval for Bush - even though I was far from home - something might happen to me. Granted, while some of these adult students were my age, many were far older, and had lived the bulk of their lives under the Soviet regime... but I rather suspect that this built in fear of speaking out against the government has a lot to do with the fact that Putin's popularity remains sky-high. (That and he has a black belt in judo AND looks like Dobby the house elf. Also... damn.) I *love* the fact that I feel perfectly at ease speaking out against the current US administration... and I think that very well may be my favorite thing about the US.

Second favorite? Just take a look at some of the places we own - and these are just from the few I've visited in my short life. It's such a HUGE country... and there's so much more out there for me to photograph - I love it!

Intracoastal Waterway, off the GA coast


Sapelo Island, GA



Satilla River, Ware County, GA



THE Grand Canyon. 'Nuff said.
(Sadly, due to pollution, it's hazy like this most days of the year.)


San Diego, CA



Balboa Park, San Diego, CA



Mt. Rainier, WA



My house!! :-)



Also, we're the land of Jack Daniel's!



Even our scary pollution can sometimes appear picturesque.
Rayonier Paper Mill, Jesup, GA

Freedom and the Best American Movie EVER

In the words of Bart Simpson, "Hey, America, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, America." Now as most of you may or may not know I'm usually an extremely a pretty contentious person. I spend a lot more time complaining about the ole U.S. of A. than I do singing her praises so I've decided to throw my hat into this week's discussion and take up the challenge of naming a few things I love about my country (patriotic music swells up here).

First and foremost (and I'm amazed Glenn didn't talk about this), I'd like to give a shout out to the Bill of Rights. That whole free speech thing--fucking brilliant. Considering how frequently it's attacked these days, particularly by morons who mysteriously think the ACLU is bad, I sometimes forget that we came up the whole idea of guaranteeing by law that people be allowed to voice their opinions, no matter how unpopular.

For example, when I googled "why America is great," I turned up this website. I disagree with at least half the items this schmoe's list (Wal-Mart? college football? Monopoly? I think not.), but I'm still all for his right to appreciate things that suck. And THAT's what's really great.

Changing direction a bit, let's acknowledge that it was Americans who invented the internets, allowing us to all be here today having this virtual discussion about why we're so damn great. I know that for many of us it's an addiction, but still, hats off to the internet.

Now, I don't want to name too many things here since there are a hell of a lot of people who will be posting after me, but I'd like to quickly celebrate one last thing, a person actually, or rather persons. That's right, I'm talking about the Coen Brothers. Honestly, I don't think I could survive without a minimum bi-monthly viewing of The Big Lebowski, and I think it's fair to say The Big L is a celebration of America in its own hilarious way. And because it makes me smile, I'll leave you with a clip from the movie. I chose this one because I saw John Tuturro in Union Square last week and that was awesome. He's MUCH taller than he looks in the movies.



PS - Sorry for going totally link crazy. I have way too much time on my hands.

America, Fuck Yeah!

By request, this week's theme is "America: Why We Think It's So Great." Maybe it should have been last week's theme, and this week we could've talked about France or something, since Bastille Day is Saturday. But you know. Hindsight. And who better to ring in the week of posting about America's greatness than the only non-American on BSG?

As many of you know, I moved to Florida from Nova Scotia when I was 13. It was a big change in a lot of ways. First, the town I lived in in Canada, Berwick, was puny. It had a population about 2000 people. There was no fast food restaurant (though I guess now they have a Tim Horton's), no movie theater (the nearest was 30 miles away. Or maybe it was 30 km away. I don't really remember the metric system), and no high school.

So when I moved to Lake City, Florida, it was a pretty big difference, because they had every fast food restaurant, a big fucking Wal-Mart, and a movie theater right there in town that had SEVEN WHOLE SCREENS! Can you imagine? They could show SEVEN movies at once! Though when I got there in 1993 I think six of them were still showing Jurassic Park. But this was still exciting to me. As a kid in Berwick I had to drive 30 minutes to get to a two screen movie theater in Kentville, a huge town that had like 5000 people. Although in my small Canadian town we could go to the drug store and buy comics, which you couldn't do in Lake City. So I had to stop collecting Darkhawk.

But those are all issues that I would have encountered had I moved to a larger Canadian town. The fact of the matter is (and I'm sure every Canadian will disagree with me), Canada and America are pretty much identical in every way, except politically Canada is like if the American Green Party won every election here for the past 30 years. And there's a woman on the money. And I'm not talking about the lame-o dollar coins you never see that Sacajawea and Susan B. Anthony tag team on. Also people like Hockey and delude themselves into thinking Canada is racism-free and has never had slavery.

I guess what I'm trying to say by drawing similarities between Canada and America is that I have a right to talk about America and what's good about it, even if some people might say "Ha ha, but you're from Canada, isn't that aboot right, eh? Ha ha." Yeah, that's been real fucking funny every time I've heard it for the past 14 years.

Now I'm really off topic. This is why it's not a good idea to ever let me introduce something. One thing I really love about America, and especially the American south (where I've lived for 14 years) is that a lot of different cultures come together. Sometimes it's a big train wreck of multiculturalism, and people start saying things like "Deport all illegal immigrants right NOW for GOD'S AMERICA" or something, but usually it's pretty beautiful. The university I teach at (I don't teach grammar) has the most diverse undergraduate body in America. And while most of them still believe everything the president says, it's still nice to have an ethnically diverse background in my classes. It makes me feel comfortable for some reason. It's always a little weird when I go up north (well, southern Illinois, not really north) to visit my parents and it's mainly just white people, with a small black population segregated to one part of town. Those kinds of places make me feel uncomfortable. But the south is this great hodgepodge of white culture, black culture, and Hispanic culture, (mostly, but in Houston there are huge Vietnamese, middle eastern, and south Asian populations, too). It really feels like a part of planet earth when it's not just a bunch of white people everywhere.

Also, American movies are the best. American television is the best. American music is the best. There are obviously some directors or musicians here and there from other countries that are great, but the vast majority of great films, shows, and music come from America. So America wins for pop culture, too.

As well as literature. American poetry is the best poetry there is right now, also. It's especially the best english language poetry. British poetry has been completely awful since Auden, and even he moved to America and never looked back. So sorry, England. Also, most Canadian poetry (I don't want to link any since I'll be applying to at least one Canadian creative writing PhD program [oh, that's "programme"]) is pretty terrible too. (I should note that my poetry is not good in any way, and gets consistently rejected by Canadian journals. So I don't have room to talk I guess. But this is America! Land of bitter complaints and sour grapes! I'll do what I want!) And if you want to get technical, most American poetry is really bad. That means I can't fault England and Canada too much. I just haven't seen too much great stuff from them. And who am I kidding by thinking you guys didn't just skip this paragraph as soon as you saw the word "poetry," anyway?

There's a lot of other great stuff about America, but this post is already kind of long, and I don't want to take away things from other people. So I'll save my other stuff for the comments field. And while I did recently claim to want to move back to Canada in my myspace blog, it is basically the same thing as the USA except colder, so it could just be my frustration with certain elements of America that led me to say that.

PS - Also, I don't want to hear from anybody about how the country I'm talking about is not called "America," but is really called "The United States Of America." Yeah, I know America is the continent. What am I, 15? Nobody is going to read this post and think I'm talking about the entire new world as one entity.