bring the noyz

and this is not America


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but also really freaking cool. . .

UPDATE 1-VeriChip shares jump after H1N1 patent license win
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I know you didn't forget.

Nor did I.

Now, please take a moment and think very deeply.

Good.

And from the bowels of Christ I beseech thee (and Lord knows I haven't done that in quite a long while) to spend freaking 20 moments asking yourself 20 freaking questions.

Ask yourself, "How?"

Ask yourself, "Who?"

Ask yourself, "Why?"

Don't take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.

. . . . . . . .

I am no more a right wing teabagging conservative conspiracy theorist hillbilly wingnut now than I was a dirty dope smoking FM radio-listening leftist liberal Birkenstock wearing tree-hugging hippie then.

Or maybe I am a little bit of both. Either way. . .

You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

While they are no longer made in this country, I still proudly sport my Chuck Taylor's and cherish the vintage pairs I own with the still barely if at all legible "Made in the U.S.A" slogan on the tag at the base of the heel.

And God dammit, I still drive a mutha-freaking Ford!

I love apple pie and I am way more American than baseball and Chevrolet are today.

I have questions searching for answers.

And I have the churning gravel in my gut sensation that something is horribly awry.

. . . . . . .

"The drinks flow
People forget
That big wheel spins, the hair thins
People forget
Forget they're hiding
The news slows
People forget
The shares crash, hopes are dashed
People forget
Forget they're hiding.

Behind an eminence front
An eminence front - it's a put-on"

- Pete

Yes. Yes it is.
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during the middle of this afternoon. I see from the caller ID it's my school. Curious. My Principal would be the only person calling from there on a Sunday afternoon. I wonder what's up? My hunch is she's putting in a couple hours working on assignments and issues for the upcoming school year, now less than a month away and she had a question or something to discuss.

I could tell from her tone when I answered that wasn't the reason.

Hello! What's going on?

- Lamiria died.

Wait. Who? What?

- Lamiria died, sometime during the night Friday. They found her Saturday morning. They think she died in her sleep.

Oh fuck.

She was only 12 years old.

As is typical of the students I work with, she had significant chronic complex health issues. I mean, that's the reason these kids come to my school.

She had been hospitalized a few weeks back, but by all appearances she was on the mend, on the upside of getting over another serious issue. She was back in class last week full of smiles and beginning to act like her music-loving happy wheelchair dancing self again.

Guess she wasn't over it.

She had only been in town and a student at my school for the past couple of years. Because she was younger and for the past several years I have been working with high school age students she wasn't one of my regular students during the school year. She was a student in my summer school class.

So I knew her, but I didn't know her all that well.

I was really just getting to know her, just beginning to understand the nuance of her expressions and her gestures, just starting to truly admire and appreciate all the gentle subtleties of her personality.

I was impressed with her spirit, her joy that shown so brightly despite her physical and cognitive obstacles.

She loved music. That was evident when I met her a couple of years back. It was a common thread that cut through disabilities and connected us as people, as human beings.

Just play something with a good rhythm, whether me on a guitar or some top-40 song on the radio. Play anything with a beat, and when she was feeling well it was like you wound her up just to watch her go, rocking and bopping in her wheelchair.


Ah cripes man, will it ever end? Three students in the past six months. So far this has been a tough year for me, my coworkers, my students, my school.

Tonight I just sat on the couch, hugging and cradling The Boy in my arms, counting my blessings. Yes, feeling the loss sorrow and sadness, but also feeling an almost numb hollowness because I did not know her better and some guilt at my selfishly thinking "there but for the Grace of God. . . " as I looked at The Boy.

Ah sweet little Lamiria, I hardly knew ye. . .

So please my dear reader, by now you know the drill. Raise your glass high and join me in a toast to another sista who ain't here.

Here's to another fallen angel sent to test our compassion.
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"I got a letter today from Tokyo
A little Japanese girl that I'll never know
She's eating pizza and singing 'Let My People Go'
On the other side of the world"

- The Rainmakers

Wow.

I got kind of the equivalent of that moments ago.

Really I did.

And oh, what a crazy feeling.

I logged into this humble ranthole a few minutes ago. I had been watching Olbermann, and Lordy can he sometimes get me riled up, for good or ill. My perspective seems to strangely shift at times.

But that is not the point of this. At least it is not the point of this anymore. It originally was going to be an arrow-shot accurate analysis of some current event as seen through the filter of a somewhat satirical if certainly cynical eye.

I mean, most likely.

I no longer remember the original intent, but I'm sure my dear reader, you will agree, that is typical of the type of thing you generally see on this humble page.

I logged in (blogged in?), and I saw this:

1 Follower

I have a follower? What is this?

Who?

Wow.

Please my dear reader, join me in welcoming another soul sharing a

Small Portion of a Life's Journey
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So I'm justa sitting on the couch, bidin' my time, ya know; because I gotsta turn the kid in about 30 minutes. Then to bed.

Channel surfing with chicken salad, a small midnight snack.

I sees this here thing come on the tube:

The Fox Nation

Freaky. What's that saying about repeating a lie so much it gets repeated as true?

Scary. What choir are they preaching to?

Well, the ad that followed answered the second question.

Hoveround.
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I mourn the loss of a friend. . .

Rebecca L. Craig

Death Notice

CRAIG, Rebecca L., 52, auditor, of Austin died Thursday. Survived by husband Steven. Visitation 5 p.m. Saturday, Cook-Walden/Capital Parks Funeral Home, Pflugerville.

Published in the Austin American-Statesman on 7/6/2009

She was the mother of a former student.

I first met the Craigs in the summer of '94. Their son was a student in my summer school class. His younger brother was in a class down the hall.

I worked with their eldest every year since, just in the summers at first, but then year around from Fall '99 until he graduated in what was it, 2004?

They are a truly remarkable family. Their two sons both shared the same undiagnosed syndrome causing significant physical and cognitive disabilities, leaving them nonverbal, mostly non-ambulatory and for the most part forever unable to individually meet their basic daily needs.

You couldn't tell it by looking at 'em.

The boys were both amazing. I have never seen such spirit, such enthusiasm, such zest for exploration and living.

Well it was easy to see where the boys got it.

Steve and Becky Craig are quite honestly the most amazing parents I have encountered thus far in my 17 year career. They bubble with positive energy and enthusiasm and are 110% balls-out committed to their two wonderful boys. At the same time, they possess a laid-back old-school Austin hippie vibe that at times seems almost zen. There wasn't a damn thing wrong with those boys, don't try to tell them otherwise. Anything you could do, they could do. They just did some things a little differently than most folks. This simply made them more unique and truly fascinating to be around.

They were and remain my role models for how to best parent a child with significant disabilities. They probably are not yet aware of this, but the Craigs persuaded me to take the plunge and try my hand as a parent. I saw the love they all shared for each other, I was blessed to be allowed a window into the world of an amazing family, awestruck and inspired by what I saw.

The moment came. I looked at the Not Yet Wife. I looked at the Not Yet Our Boy. The choice was clear.

And five years later here we are.

Sadly, this family has known grief before.

A few years back the youngest son suddenly got very ill and passed. Again I was awestruck and inspired by the strength of the family and the things that were said that day.

Sigh. . .

Here's to another fallen friend. . .

And to one helluv'an amazing mom.
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Ah, a dog! What a wonderful role model for today's youth. How frackin' cute is that?

PISD police force brings a new member to the team

"While he's excellent at sniffing out narcotics, and basic obedience, there's just one more thing his partner wishes he could do."

Hmm. . . .

"excellent at sniffing out narcotics"

Good, very good, it knows how to sniff out and take down other dogs.

A kid's gotta know how to do that.

That, and they gotta learn how to pick out the easy meat with their eyes closed.

"excellent at. . . basic obedience"

Just as our children will be train- er, um, taught, will learn to be.

Wait. What?

What was that last thing again?

"If I could get him to clean his kennel one time, he'd be a perfect dog," Soliz said.

Right, and if you could get him to dress up in a skimpy little Nazi costume and beat you with a warm squash he'd be a perfect woman.

This is sick.

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Dem Senators Open To Allow Innocent Chinese Detainees To Live In U.S.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had taken a hard line on detainees earlier last week, saying that none could be transferred to the United States, not even to prisons. He dialed that back a bit in a recent interview with the Las Vegas Sun.

But the best he would do is say the Uighurs "probably" don't belong in maximum security prison.

"There's no question that a number of these people who are there are not guilty of anything. The Uighurs, these are a group of Muslim Chinese who are guilty of nothing. They were arrested, put in there. They are there. They are doing nothing. We're going to have to find someplace to put them. We can't send them back to China. Should they go into a maximum-security prison? Probably not," he said.

There's no question that a number of these people who are there are not guilty of anything. The Uighurs, these are a group of Muslim Chinese who are guilty of nothing.

What the frack?

Guilty of nothing?

Well again, what the friggin' frack are they doing there in the first place?

Scary.

You think it's a:

"Oh I'm terribly sorry. Yes, yes, I know you've done absolutely nothing wrong. Yes, yes, innocent and all that. Hmm? Yes totally. But you see, now we rather have sort of a problem. We have reason to believe that despite of, or most probably because of, your innocence. . . um. . . You seem to be really, really pissed off. No, no, wait just one moment, sir. Those scatalogical references are completely inappropriate. But angry, um. . . yes, righteously so. And as such, so sorry to tell you this, but we can not now possibly ever let you go because we fear how you may someday vent your anger."

Sort of thing.

Or something like that.
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It was with much shock, sorrow and sadness that we learned this morning about the sudden and unexpected death of another student. He passed away sometime during the night, while he slept. Why? What happened? At present we do not know. We learned of this from his bus driver, who was told this by the staff at the group home when they stopped to pick him up this morning.

While Terrance was not currently in my class, he is a kid I have known for sixteen years. He was one of the first children with significant disabilities I met way back when I was still only considering a career in special education. He was one of the kids that drew me in, stole my heart and inspired me to become a teacher.


I've said it before and Lord knows I will say it again: this just plain fucking sucks.
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"I don't see (dancing and rock music) as immoral acts."

That being said. . .

Haven't we seen this movie? Wasn't Kevin Bacon in it?

Ohio Christian school tells student to skip prom
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If the swine flu doesn't kill me, all the endless inane discussion over it surely will.
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Swine flu is new flu virus combining strains of human, bird and swine flu.

- Swine Flu Fears Close Numerous Schools in Several States

The move indicates the world body has determined the virus is capable of significant human-to-human transmission. . .

. . . The outbreak is a particular concern because of who it is hitting hard, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday. "We are concerned that in Mexico, most of those who died were young and healthy adults," he said.

- WHO raises pandemic alert level; more swine flu cases feared


But Lezana said the presence of Eurasian swine flu genes in the H1N1 virus makes it unlikely that the disease originated in a Mexican pig farm.

- First Mexico fatal flu victim sought help for day


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Another one of the annual Rites of Spring has come and gone. As long as my fair city continues to hold this hedonistic holiday some hope remains for the future. All is not yet lost.

It was the usual scene of hipsters and hippies of all generations, in various stages of dress and undress. Some truly marvelous sights to behold. Others, not so much. Everyone dancing, drumming, drinking beer after beer after beer, surrounded in a fog of patchouli, sweat, and plenty of Mother Nature's finest.

Good times just like the old times.

But what struck me most, and has lingered the longest of the events of yesterday happened after the party.

Following the festivities, I donned my iPod, cranked up a U2 playlist ("Haven't seen you in quite a while / I was down the hold, just passing time") and trekked back to the bus stop on the edge of The University. Ain't nothing like riding the city bus on a Saturday night. I'm generally not the only passenger avoiding a DWI.

I checked the schedule and sat down on a low wall to wait. . . only about 15 - 20 minutes.

There was a homeless fella sittin' there, I mean I presumed from his dissheveled and dirty appearance that it was a homeless fella, but hey, I'm not judgemental or nuthin'.

Hey man, are you waitin' for the bus?
What?
Are you waitin' for the bus?
Oh, yeah. It should be along pretty soon.
Not me. I'm just hangin' out.
You're just hangin' out.
Yep. Saturday night and I'm just hangin' out. I'm not waitin' on a bus or nothin'.
Well, that's cool man.
Just hangin out. . .

He proceeded to tell me his version of the hard luck story that brought him here. His speech was animated although his demeanor calm, relaxed, sleepy. His fractured and incongruous thinking told me he'd been out there for quite a while. He was punch drunk from life if not literally so from liquor. We talked music and shared tales of our favorite bands. He saw the Stones play at the Detroit Lions old domed stadium in 1977. Cool. He was hopeful that he would get up early enough in the morning so that he could catch a bus to go to where he could use a phone. He was going to call his friend so that his friend could pick him up and take him to church. That is, if he could just get up early enough. He had a problem with getting up early enough.

For all the world he reminded me of a dog that's been beat.

My bus pulled up. I wished him well as I handed him my last three dollars and a handful of cigarettes.

To my new friend, fifty-one year old homeless Greg from Ann Arbor, Michigan. . .

I hope you made it to church on time.
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were an angry animated Texas man. . .


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. . . is what I've got for you. . .

or something like that.

Perhaps the reconnections via The Facebook have given cause for reminiscing, and dallying into the nostalgic arts.

Whatever the reason, I find myself enjoying this immensely. . .


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The sorry-flat-bummed globalistic tool bastard is out making a ruckus.

Freakin' hirsute hillbilly.

Texas could secede from the union, governor says

Great, he's out there stirring the pot to a boil. Don't be fooled. He's doing the bidding of his fascist masters. Setting you up for a fall.

People are going to get hurt, for some it will be worse.

Pointless.
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(from the "Nobody with the slightest semblance of a soul could possibly have written this with a straight face." sub-department. . . )

1984 (1984)
George Orwell envisioned a future dominated by a government organization called the Ministry of Love that intrusively monitors the actions of its citizens, political nonsense that spews forth from massive TVs, and songs that are written by computers. Instead we have the Department of Homeland Security, 24-hour cable news in high definition, and T-Pain. Thank God we dodged that bullet.

- from Yahoo! Movies Top 10 Inaccurate Movies About the Future
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goes to. . .



Betty Brown (R- Terrell) of the Texas State Legislature for her comments during a House Committee hearing on a voter ID bill:

Brown suggested that Asian-Americans should find a way to make their names more accessible.

"Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese - I understand it’s a rather difficult language - do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?" Brown said.

Brown later told Ko: "Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?"

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Okay, so I was headed straight to bed, right?

And then I found this:

Japan child robot mimicks infant learning

Uh, huh.

Wait.

There's a Japanese Society of Baby Science?

Cool. I think.

In coming decades, Asada expects science will come up with a "robo species" that has learning abilities somewhere between those of a human and other primate species such as the chimpanzee.

And he hopes that this little CB2 may lead the way into this brave new world, with the goal to have the robo-kid speaking in basic sentences within about two years, matching the intelligence of a two-year-old child.

By 2050, Asada wants a robotic team of football players to be able take on the human World Cup champions -- and win.

Scary.

Now good night. And sweet dreams.
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