Category Archives: Uncategorized

So my “A” race of the year is the Fireweed 200. It’s a bike race for 200 miles (192…) across Alaska.

By my count, there are 29 men entered in the Solo 200 category this year. Impressive.

Anyhow, here’s an update on my training.

TSB/ATL/CTL graph for Mid-June. A little less than a month to go until my “A” race of the year, the Fireweed 200–a 200 mile solo TT across Alaska.

This also explains the lack of posts lately. I spend most of my free time on the bike.

I’m not the only one!  I welcome your thoughts and comments on this essay written by Penn Jillette.

That said, I suppose I should mention that I have no problem with a sense of community, a need for people to belong.  I really don’t even have an issue if you’ve never sat down and thought about why you believe what you believe.  If you have a void of the unknown that needs to be filled with something, that’s all well and good. More power to you. You can believe in your god, that’s all well and good.  But why are you angry and upset that I don’t?

I don’t believe in the tooth fairy, either, but I don’t see people getting their panties in a knot over that issue!  What’s the difference?  For every logical, rational argument that you can present for the existence of your god, I can use the same EXACT justification for the existence of the tooth fairy.

So, April in Alaska is much like March in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, at least when it comes to cycling weather.

So this has been my first 5 weeks of riding outside, following the training plan, and really doing all the things I know that I need to do.

Seriously, there’s nothing I’d rather do on my birthday than enjoy 70*F temps, bright blue skies, sunshine, and a couple hours on the bike.  I left the house, warmed up for a bit, then climbed up the second half Cripple Creek Hill at 230w for 10 minutes, stopped at the Parks Highway Monument for about a half hour and took this pictures of the bike, enjoyed the view, then took The Old Nenana back home. Then came home and ate a pizza.

I’m 37 years old today and I’m really, really happy.

More from the Christian-right that seem to have taken over my family. I know that a lot of you will find this offensive, shocking, or whatever. It’s not my intention to deliberately offend you. I will, however, try to invoke an emotional response in order to force you to think…. and thus challenge you to defend your opinion.

This might make more sense if you read this before reading the rest of the following:

——————————————————————————————————————————————

On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 4:23 PM, Barbara Herman <barb.herman@mbarqmail.com> wrote:
> For those of you following this email, Ken is my nephew who resides in
> Alaska. I Bcc those names that I sent it to originally and I will do that
> from now on. However this could be an  interesting forum of opinions. If not
> interested please delete it.

….and in doing so, pretty much ended the discussion, as well as eliminated people’s right to opt out of the discussion.  Hard to remove someone from a “Reply All” list when they are blind copied.

Very good way to get the last word, I’d say!

Anyway, I chose to add (name removed), as he took the time to (somewhat) offer his thoughts, thereby expressing some interest.

> I am a little surprised you would take this opportunity to discuss your
> political views and opinions on the “The Pledge of Allegiance”, however
> since you opened up an opportunity to discuss it let me give you my opinion.

Why would you be surprised?
You sent out inane statements that infer that “we” all agree, when in fact “we” don’t agree on much of anything at all.
Least of all, we don’t agree upon religion or what it means to be a patriot.

> “If you’re one of those crazy right-wing, bible thumping,
> brainwashed-by-Rush-Limbaugh people who thinks the planet is 6000
> years old, be forewarned that you’re probably not going to agree….”
>
> You may have insulted a lot of people who may hold those typical
> fundamentalist viewpoints. What right do you give yourself to do that?
>  Wouldn’t that be considered a very ego-centric attitude?

Insulted?  That’s a shame, for holding an opinion comes with the responsibility of defending that opinion, rather than just saying “this is what I believe because this is what I believe because this is what I was told.”  Regardless, I believe that stating an opinion shouldn’t be muted for fear of offending someone.  If I voice my opinion and if offends you, let’s discuss why it offended you. Perhaps we’ll both learn something from being offended–if not about the subject of what we’re discussing, then about ourselves, or our belief structures.
Are the belief structures of the general population so weak as to take offense and then crumble at the mere mention of the opinion of another?

You say those views are “typical”, which I find to be very disturbing.
For instance, science and math prove the earth to be 4.56 Billion years old.  Not 6000.  That’s easily proven by fission track geocronology.  But, whatever, if you want to believe the earth is 6000 years old because you read it in a novel called “The Bible”, then sure, go right ahead.  Also feel free to tell the grocery store that you only owe them $3.22 for a weeks’ worth of groceries.  (Oh, yeah, your god didn’t write your novel, by the way.  A bunch of upper crust men, in an attempt to retain their power and money, most importantly, control over the masses, did….)

> I think that our God is A God of Many People, many religions, and all
> nations. However this is our United States Pledge.  We are one nation under
> God, and we will stand indivisible.

No, “we” are most definitely not one nation under your “god”.
We are a nation that believes a great many different things. This is the principle that our Puritan founding fathers, fleeing religious persecution, founded our nation upon.  The right to religious freedom, including the freedom to not practice religion or pledge to any god.

>  I don’t believe it states that everyone
> in this country must hold the Judeo-Christian beliefs. Why would anyone have

You think that because you didn’t understand what I wrote, didn’t like what I wrote, and can’t (or won’t) challenge your worldview.
I’ll quote from what I wrote before:  “de facto monotheism”

> problems reciting those words, unless they are an atheist? And perhaps that
> is the true issue here.

An atheist, or a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Hindi, a Shinto, a Jain, or a Sikh?
None of those people believe in your god.
That’s a scant step away from the thought “They have dark skin and don’t believe in God, so surely they’re a terrorist out to blow something up!!”

And what is the “true issue” with atheism?  Atheism does not make an individual less than someone who believes in god.  Would you take away their right to their beliefs because they are not aligned with your own?  Is this an issue of fear of the unknown, discomfort with anyone who does not believe in miracles, talking snakes and bushes, and immaculate conception?

> Our Country was founded on spiritual values and a belief system that there
> was a higher power above all. Our fore fathers believed in something called
> “faith” and they relied on that faith to make decisions for this great
> country we live in. As President Eisenhower wrote:

That mistaken belief is a product of your education.  That’s not your fault, it’s a matter of you believing the things you were told and not questioning them after the fact.  So, research it a little bit.

The fact is, some of the 1787 delegates had no religious affiliation. Some of the more prominent Founding Fathers were anti-clerical and vocal about their opposition to organized religion, say, like,  Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

In regards to the formation of government, Jefferson said:
“Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.”

You can’t claim that this country was founded on religion and faith.
Most of the reason people came to this country was to escape religious persecution from the Church of England, so why would they immediately set up a system of government that allows for the very thing they were trying to escape?

>  “ These words [“under God”] will remind Americans that despite our great
> physical strength we must remain humble. They will help us to keep
> constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which
> alone give dignity to man, and upon which our way of life is founded.

Eisenhower wrote that the afternoon after hearing that exact phrase, word-for-word, in a church sermon.  Don’t try to pass off his writing as his thought–that’s one of the very things that was wrong with that entire situation–Eisenhower wasn’t able to keep his personal views out of government.

> By law no one is forced into saying the Pledge of Allegiance, those that
> object to saying “under God” can chose not to recite this promise of loyalty
> to our Country.

Oh, that’s just funny, in that you’ve just proven my point.
So, you’re saying that if someone objects to saying “under god”, that they shouldn’t recite the pledge of allegiance?
I guess that precludes anyone other than christians from becoming new citizens then, doesn’t it?
Yay!!  Government sponsored monotheism!!  Yay!

> If you think that this is a conflict to the first amendment, perhaps we
> should change our motto of “In God We Trust” to “We doom our own eternal
> future because of our lack of faith, so we can doom our county too”

That’s a little dramatic, but I wouldn’t mind “In our acceptance we trust”, “In logic we trust” or “In our intelligence we trust”

> As far as Sarah Palin, I reserve my opinion, but for others this is huge
> Republican country here in Central Florida.

Oh, she’s pretty.  She winks at the camera a lot.  That doesn’t make her a good representative of the people. She’s an idiot, has no idea what’s going on within her own state, and generally clueless about the bigger, longer term picture. Her viewpoints on the age of the planet are in direct contradiction to her oh-so-precious drill-baby-drill mantra.  (unless she’s another abiogenic oil crackpot, but I don’t think she’s that smart, based on my interactions with her) But, think what you’d like about her.   Just remember that she couldn’t name a single newspaper that she reads.

If your huge Republican country there in Central Florida wants to embrace this, more power to you.  Or more something to you, anyway.

kw

And yes, that’s a beer.  The hair’s going to Locks of Love so they can make wigs for cancer patients.  I’ve been growing my hair since 2005.  I had a choice:  I was either going to do dreadlocks or cut it off and help some little kid.

I think I chose well.

I think I’ve pretty much written myself out of any inheritance from any member of my family.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Ken Woods
Date: Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 7:04 PM
Subject: Re: FW: If you were born in 1930-1979…
To: Barbara Herman
Cc: aija.baltz@ahoo.com, browneyedbrunette2@erizon.net, Brian.Sabin@nitysystems.biz, Carol.olds@erizon.net, csabin23430@mail.com, dansabin@mithfield.com, vze3qw7w@erizon.net, gary.herman@mbarqmail.com, rockny@al.com, helena813@mbarqmail.com, woodyandjane1@mbarqmail.com,  jd0658@otmail.com, Danarmdel@etscape.net, joycemagic@mbarqmail.com, jlynn@heshelts.com, kaitlyn@heshelts.com,  ayb32162@ahoo.com, kitch428@sn.com, ringing@hevillages.net, mbaug13250@ol.com, kenkenandpam@mbarqmail.com, Pookish2@ol.com, raymondwoods@mbarqmail.com, shyrlburt@omcast.net, stephanie_sabin@ahoo.com, cutetes39@ahoo.com, tksjes@hevillages.net

On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 4:15 PM, Barbara Herman <barb.herman@mbarqmail.com> wrote:

> The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

> ‘With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding,

> severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another,

> and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a

> good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?’

My response was:

If you’re one of those crazy right-wing, bible thumping, brainwashed-by-Rush-Limbaugh people who thinks the planet is 6000 years old, be forewarned that you’re probably not going to agree with what I have to say.  Regardless, it’s my opinion.

With that warning, the phrase “under god” should be removed from the pledge. Essentially it says that Americans who don’t believe in the christian “god” should be excluded, not offered the same rights, and/or deported. As they can’t _truthfully_ recite the pledge of allegiance, they’re therefore not true citizens of this country.

In 1954 (at the height of the McCarthy era) the phrase “under god” was added to the pledge as a result of significant pressure from the pastor of President Eisenhower, as well as the Knights of Columbus (which is essentially a catholic old-boys-club).  The intent was to reflect what was described as the “….definitive factor in the American spirit and way of life…”[1]  and to justify and/or prove that by reciting the pledge, not only did people love the country, but also loved “god” and thereby provided some manner of separation from the “evil” communists. In his sermon, Rev. Docherty, in a blatant disregard for the separation of church and state, said:  “…….apart from the mention of the phrase, ‘the United States of America,’ it could be the pledge of any republic. In fact, I could hear little Muscovites repeat a similar pledge to their hammer-and-sickle flag in Moscow…”[1]

However, adding the phrase “under god” to the pledge was wholly unconstitutional, as it implies a de facto endorsement of monotheism –which is in direct conflict with the First Amendment. The US Supreme Court has since ruled (several times) that “…government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion…”[2]  In 2002, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance wording specified by the 1954 modification constituted a government endorsement of religion and was not neutral with respect to religion, as dictated by the First Amendment.

One cannot pick and choose what parts of the First Amendment are valid.  Specifically, one cannot say that we enjoy the right to free speech, but then ignore the establishment clause as related to the free exercise of religion.  Either we have a federally mandated religion and no freedom of speech, or we don’t have any endorsed religions and have free speech.  It’s white or black.  When dealing with constitutional law, there cannot be a gray area.

It simply does not matter that the majority of Americans are christian. Despite common belief, the United States is not a democracy–it’s a federal constitutional republic–in which the Constitution provides the basis for law, not democratic choice. As such, it doesn’t matter that the majority of Americans are christian. This is a discussion of fundamental constitutional rights and it doesn’t matter what the majority wants.  The Constitution can’t be bent to fit the needs of the majority while ignoring the needs of the minority.

So I ask this:  Is the US so incredibly narrow-minded, so stuck in the “US versus Them” mentality, so blinded by so-called-american exceptionalism,  so egocentric, and so incredibly xenophobic as to continue the need to believe that the Judeo-Christian view is the “….definitive factor in the American spirit and way of life…” ?

I invite your comments and/or questions.

And yes, for those of you wondering, most of us here in Alaska recognize how much of a dipshit the weathergirl-turned-governor Sarah Palin is.

Ken

[1] As printed in the congressional record.
[2]512 U.S. 687(1994) cited subsequently.

I was just out for a ride.  Nothing really all that exciting, just a recovery ride after doing four, four minute intervals (at 250watts each) yesterday.

The plan was to ride to Tom & Melissa’s to drop off a DVD I’d burned for Tom.

Bike, check.
Chain lubed, check.
Helmet, check.
iPhone……check.

So, off I go.  First climb, I’m feeling great.  Soreness from the intervals is draining out, and I’m feeling a little spunky.  It’s about 38*F, the roads are pretty dry, The iPhone was blaring tunes, and I’m out there just enjoying being on the bike.  Really just in a great mood.

Midway through this ride there’s a decent climb that has a couple of steps in it.  It’s a good climb, and over the years, I’ve come to really enjoy riding it. (Isberg toward Chena Ridge, for those of you from ‘banks.)

At the bottom of this hill, I pull out the phone, and put on my favorite “climbing” song.  Decent beat, I know all the words, and it’s just a fun song.

So I’m about three and a half minutes into the song, and I look 50ish yards in front of me, and (finally) notice a woman standing there. Mid30′s, fairly attractive, looking at me like I’m fucking nuts.  Now, keep in mind she’s heard me singing for probably the last minute or so.  I don’t sing.  I sound like a wounded wombat when I try to carry a tune.

So, at this point, I stop singing.

I look at her. (40 yards)
She looks at me, like I’m totally off my fucking rocker. (30 yards)
At this point, I decide that the damage is done, so when the next chorus comes up, I vow to keep singing. (20 yards)

So, about 15 yards out…..

“……..You are (breath) dancing queen, (breath) and sweet, only seventeen….”

Then I come even with her driveway.  I’m less than 10 feet from this chick…….
…………..and she starts to dance.  Now, I’m not just talking a little hip sway and toe tap.
This chick pulled out The Carlton.

“Dancing queen, (breath) the beat from (breath) ‘bourine….”

Yup. That’s right.  ABBA.  Yeah.  Seriously.
Dancing Queen.  It’s a techno remix, but still.  It’s ABBA.  And this chick never knew that it was a remix.

I saw her at 3:30ish.  I passed her at roughtly 3:55…..

I couldn’t hear her, but I’m sure she heard me laughing my ass off.
Perfect ride, I say.

Yes, my Momma was proud.

The online version has the entire article, but there’s also a PDF of the front page of the paper.

“CNN wants to talk to me?  Me?  About what?”

“@alaska_avo“

The article is rather cool.

It was even on the front page of cnn.com for a while.

pseudo-famous, I guess.  34 seconds of my 15 minutes of fame!

Penkapp,

Thanks for the compliment.  I’m not all that smart—I’m just an opinionated bastard.

I hear what you’re saying.  The borg has your information.  But, so what?  The borg already has that information. But really, why does that matter to you?

The perception is that when you’re sitting at your computer, that what you’re doing is “yours”. I guess I’ve been in the admin side of things too long, I’m too cynical, or I’m just getting fuckin’ old and crotchety.  Or a combination of all of those.  Regardless, I know that every time you sit down at a computer, what you’re doing is logged, tracked, and watched. It’s super easy to put on a tinfoil hat and sit inside our shielded rooms, comfortable in the incorrect perception that *they* are being kept at bay. But I’ve been here, here,  and here and have seen what they do.  They’re not being kept at bay, not even close.

I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not that I don’t care; it’s that having seen the things that are done inside those buildings, it’s just not worth it to fight the system, as the system is more powerful than we know.

OK, but moving on:–You’re pissed at Google, but really, that’s misplaced anger.  If we look at Google’s “disclaimer” about their ad stuff, we see the following:

Google is a participating member of the Network Advertising Initiative.
You can opt out of this cookie as well as other network advertising cookies from the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.

So, let’s take a look—who is this “Network Advertising Initiative”?

Looks like a bunch of companies that do targeting and demographic research, abandoned carts, contacts, and ……

Google and Yahoo.

But wait, digging deeper, we find that it’s run by Trevor Hughes.

Google him.  You shouldn’t be angry at Google, they’re just a participating member.  You should be angry at Trevor Hughes.  He’s the one that’s in charge of the rulesets that you’re unhappy about.

But wait, hold the fuser and toner cartridge, should you really?

Do you get spam in your gmail account?  No?  Thank Trevor Hughes.
Do you get txt spams?  No?  Thank Trevor Hughes.
Do you get phone calls from funeral homes if you order a sympathy bouquet online?  No?  Thank Trevor Hughes.
Do you get pushed to websites based on the website you’re currently browsing (porn doesn’t count!) No?  Thank Trevor, again.

But that doesn’t mean he wears a white hat though.  He’s spent most of his career working for advertisers, trying to come up with a way to market and advertise –effectively– to people via the internet.

It’s late, and I’m sure you have enough to chew on whilst coming up to Fairbanks this weekend.  My point is this:  You’re pissed at Google, but you’re treating them as a scapegoat to a larger issue, run by people other than Brin and the Boys.

Dear Penkapp:

I love it when you get pissed about this stuff. I can picture you, trying to form words to express your extreme displeasure at this latest (perceived) intrusion, so hopped up on your afternoon chocolate that you’re doing the “I’m-so-amazed-I-can’t-form-words” impression of a fish.

As you said, Google is now, and has been, :

“…..tracking, harvesting, and sharing your online behavior solely for the purpose of displaying specific information that will make them money…”

So ….. who cares?

What does it matter that google tracks what I do?  On a smaller scale, I can do the same thing with every single person that comes to the website that I run for work.  How is that different that what google’s doing?

The inital response is that it’s about privacy, sure.  But I say that it’s not about “hiding”, anonymity, or privacy at all.  It’s about the expected level of those things that someone has.  When I sit down at a computer, I assume (ie, know) that Big Brother is watching me. The difference is that you care, and I don’t.

I really don’t care if the entire world knows that I watch a couple minutes of porn before bed, that I spend the day looking at cycling news, and that I’ll utilize a search engine for information (I should already know) to do my job.

So google is going to sell that information.
To what end?

This isn’t a technical issue, it’s a sociological an ethical one.  What are the moral rights granted to an company/organization if you choose to shop at their store or visit their website?  Is there an expected right to privacy?  Should there be? Is that reasonable?

Most high end department stores have dedicated personnel whose job it is to do nothing other than observe customers…….to figure out what they’re interested in buying.  That information is then passed to their “personal shopper” (ie, required assigned, salesperson) How is that conceptually different than what Google’s doing?

That begs another question, however: Am I who I am online?  Is the “me” that Google will target with their advertising really me?

Let’s use my Dad–an “average” internet user.  He’s online every day, checks his email, pays some bills, and browses some recipes.  (Being retired, he doesn’t have the time to mess around online like we do.  Although it would be interesting to see him tweet.) Anyway, after days and days of looking at recipes,  Google will inundate him with ads for ranges and food that he’ll never buy.  OK?  What about the fact that Dad is active in various other things not involved with cooking?

My point is this:  Will google form a valid picture to target their demographic based on the information they’re harvesting?
Let’s assume that they will form that valid picture.  ……  Then what?

Your bitch with google isn’t about what they’re doing, it’s about the fact that you’re not in total control of the information.  If you were _really_ concerned about your privacy, you wouldn’t tweet, you wouldn’t have a blog/post to it, and you wouldn’t own your own domain name (which, btw, you need to update your address with your registrar).  I contend that your perception of your privacy is inaccurate.

That said, sure, it’s a little freaky that Google knows that I’m interested in a Zipp Sub9 with a Powertap.  I’m really OK with that, though.  Just as I’m OK with stretching in front of the picture window while turning up the volume on the stereo.  If my tubesteak’s swinging in the breeze and somebody sees it, then she will they will either be offended or not.  Either way, doesn’t matter to me.  It’s not going to change what I do, what I think, or how I behave.

Between the trainer in the server room, getting to experiment on new stuff that sometimes doesn’t go as planned, the leeway I get to do pretty much anything I want to, when I want to, get to spend money on whatever I want to,  unquestioned afternoons off to go ride for 3 hours whenever I want to, a boss that routinely drinks me under the table, and the lack of any manner of “dress code“,  I really do enjoy my job.
Sure, the money’s not as good as it would be in private industry, but really, is that why I work?  For the money?  No, not really.

Then there’s the emails I send to the staff.  Some of them are short and sweet, like the one I sent yesterday:

I’m taking the network down at 4:30.   Your VoIP phone will  not work.

Yes, seriously.

See how it shares a cable with your computer?

Yeah, I dig my job.

So I got my first hatemail of the season.  Year.  Whatever, it’s cool that I”m getting hatemail related to cycling.   But it does mean that people are (a) paying attention to my blog and (b) emotionally impacted enough by what I say/do to write an email.  Dig it.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Aaron Forclure <bigringaaron@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Subject: fatass dont break the bike
To: kenwoods@gmail.com

Dude, you’re a lazy fat guy.  Don’t try to keep riding, your to slow.
204 watts for 20 minutes?  Watch me laugh at U.  hahahahahaha.
I can do that by soft pedaling one leg on my oldass rain bike with a
square taper and rust.

And you think you stand a chance in the Fireweed 200?  Get real,
dumbass.  You’re going to suck this year as much as you did last year.

Keep up the diet though, then at least I wont be able to call you a
fatass.  But you’ll still be slow.

So, let’s not dissect the “U”, or the incorrect “your” immediately following the “you’re” that’s used correctly.  “Two, to, and too”, we’ll also leave alone.
What I want to concentrate on is the fact that this person is an obvious cyclist (the “square taper” reference means they’ve been around for a while), yet feels the need to behave this way……to a fellow cyclist.  Sure, talk some shit when we’re doing a hillclimb, or we’re 158 miles into a double.

But Aaron, don’t send me an email, for fuckssake.  Google doesn’t have anything on you, which means you probably don’t really exist.  Regardless,  you’ve made me realize that while I’ll never be pro, but I did aggravate you enough to send me a shitty email.  That feeds my attentionwhore quotient for the day, so, Thanks.

Oh, and also, Aaron, know that I’m going for a two hour trainer ride tmmw.  There’s no way that I’d let something like this change what I’m doing as far as training or dieting.

This is quite possibly the best bottle of wine that I’ve ever seen.

I have no idea what it tastes like, anything about the area where it’s from, or who bottled it.   But, with that label, who cares?

(From @fancycanoe)

Just thought I’d say  Happy Valentines Day to all of you in the geek world.

http://ping.fm/qgsHE

Wow. Is this good or bad?

The Sopranos

Watching the “Back to the Future” series tonight. Wow, the memories…..

Very much dig the iFrogz.

http://ping.fm/Litr6

is watching http://ping.fm/1fXr1

So, yeah, I’m moving to wordpress.

This is a big deal for me, having had total control over everything for the past, oh, um, 20 years.
But the new iPhone is really changing things for me, and I’m thinking that having ping.fm update the blog might be nice too.

Most likely, you’re here because you want to see what I’ve got to say.
Not much, as of late!

This is what I do and how I spend time now.

Although not like this, there’s snow on the ground now.

But I’m still riding.

If there’s one thing that’s universally true, it’s that Americans are fucking stupid.

This weekend, I heard a group of 5 active duty military boys discussing world policy and politics.

The bravado, stupidity, and testosterone that dripped off of them was shocking.
I had to remind myself that I was there to relax in the hot springs, so I didn’t say anything.

In talking with the people that I was with, I realized these kids don’t know any better. They’ve been force fed rhetoric and propaganda since they were 12 or 13 years old. One of their comments was something akin to: “Everybody in the US wanted retribution against ‘ragheaded sand niggers’, and if they didn’t they were just as bad as them.”

I’m sorry, what? I know I must have misheard you. Really. Not only do I not like what you just said, you’ve also proven yourself to be an idiot.

Make yourself smart.      Read this.