Dowbrigade

One line in my recently posted essay "Approaching
Critical Mass" has
drawn some pointed responses. I wrote, "Would the developed world’s
ignorance of the million-man massacres going on right now in the Congo
continue if there were a blogger in every village in Central Africa?"

Keith Harmon Snow, owner of the beautifully designed site Allthingspass,
responds Socratically with another question, "Do you care? Or is your comment
merely incidental?"

Well, Keith, the answer it that I know I OUGHT to care, and as an aspiring
compassionate human being I WANT to care, but the news available on the
subject is so horrifying and impersonally presented that I am having
a hard time relating. To what degree my shameful ignorance is due to a
far reaching conspiracy of genocidal power-mongers and to what degree due
to my personal failings is an extrememly complex political and moral question
each of us will have to answer for him or herself.

Readers who want to learn more about this appaling situation would be
well advised to check out Keith’s article "Depopulation
as Policy". I
still think a more effective way to reach numbskulls like me would be
a direct-from-the-scene blog where we could experience the day-to-day realities
of people like us living in hell. Unfortunately, I guess the infrastructure
to make that possible isn’t there.  Does anyone know of any blogs
written by Africans in the countries affected by these horrors?

When magician David Blaine organized his latest feat
– six food-free weeks hanging in a plexiglass box beside London’s Tower
Bridge – he prepared for loneliness, hunger and boredom. He may not have
planned for Londoners.
Since he entered the dangling box on Sept. 5, Blaine has been jeered, pelted
with eggs and awakened by drummers.

"He looks really bored," said one young man watching the slow-motion
spectacle.

from AP

Its amazing the lenghts to which people will go to
obtain whatever they feel will solve their immediate problems. Yesterday
the Boston Globe featured a
story about pre-arranged auto accident insurance claims. A Lawerence, Mass grandmother was selling "seats"
in the soon-to-be smashed vehicles for $300, with the expectation that
each "victim" would collect up to $5,000 from insurance.

However it seems the mastermind, 64-year-old Altagracia Arias,
forgot to fasten her seat belt, and was killed in the September 4th set-up
smash-up. Globe article here.

Reminds me of Junkie Jake, our downstairs neighbor in the Blue Diamond
in Austin, Texas back in the 70′s, who shot off his big toe with a .38
in order to insure a supply of pharmaceutical pain pills. I watched him
milk that stump for two years, removing the dressing and messing with
the wound to prevent it from healing. Even worse, Jake was not into sharing.
"Shoot off your own fucking toe" were his exact sentiments.

Now word from Germany of two men staging a chainsaw accident in which
one of them cut off the other’s thumb and forefinger to claim 40,000
euros ($44,780) in insurance money, authorities said on Friday. "One man held onto a cutting board and the other sawed his fingers
off," presiding
judge Juergen Treu said at the court in the southern town of Wuerzburg.

from Reuters Europe

I admit, I love football. I think I love the atmosphere
as much as the game itself. Fall in the air, marching bands stepping
smartly in synch, scantily clad cheerleaders
strutting
their
stuff while men in armor and warpaint have at it on
fields of honor. Had
I been born in Rome 2000 years ago I would probably be camped out in
front of the will-call window at the Colisieum waiting for Lions playoff
tickets….

New England linebacker Tedy Bruschi rose in pursuit of Philadelphia
quarterback Donovan McNabb in the Patriots’ 31-10 victory over the Eagles
yesterday. The defense clamped a lid on McNabb while the Patriots’ Tom
Brady passed for 255 yards and three touchdowns. The win evened New England’s
record at 1-1.

from the Boston Globe