Naked Women and Political Dissent

The most challenging thing about attending a strip bar, for me, is my inability to ignore the musical choices of the dancers.  I went to Thee Southern Belle the other night in an attempt to traditionally "honor" my good friend being wed on Sunday.  It is difficult to watch a woman gyrating to the sounds of Rage Against the Machine or Tool and not feel conflicted.  It is not as if I do not see this form of art as something that can be empowering for the women.  It is troubling that while listening to such music that I am, along with the rest of the boys and men in the joint, exhibiting some of my most consumerist tendencies.  We each paid $20 to enter, the group threw loads of cash onto the stage, and we drank beer after beer, without so much as a thought regarding anything other than observing and reacting primordially to that which sinuously slid within inches of our eyes.  I am not sorry I went, and I am glad that our soon-to-be-wed friend enjoyed himself, but I couldn't help thinking how much more fun and leftover cash we could've had if we had all been camping and riding our bicycles.  Of course, there is a consumptive element to any such endeavor, but, if we had done something akin to the latter, I am sure we could've used fewer resources, had many more productive conversations and may have even learned a few things about ourselves other than that we all get sexually excited by beautiful, dancing women.  Hell, we may have even had our musical instruments, along, and come up with some art of our own.  So be it.  Hindsight is always crystal clear. 

 

On a fairly unrelated note, I received the first response to my "Open Letter to My Elected Officials."  It was from my Republican state senator, and, while somewhat formulaic, it seemed to directly address some of what I had written.  He wrote of his work toward a comprehensive energy policy for the state and mentioned reducing dependency on foreign sources.  I worry that comprehensive is now the code language for "clean" coal, domestic drilling, and nuclear power.  While I am no fan of any of the above, I can appreciate that they may ease our transition to other sources.  However, new facilities or subsidies to make them more efficient or more affordable will only divert money from more sustainable sources.  This is not to mention that such thinking will continue to reinforce the massive-scale thinking that has mired our energy policy in this country for far too long.  Micro-scale, truly renewable energy is the way to achieve the desired ends.  Though, to avoid the "base power" conundrum, we have got to demand efficiency in our vehicles and appliances and be more realistic about our personal grid-energy consumption and the number and necessity of trips we make (other than those by foot or bicycle).  Obviously, when we can afford solar arrays and micro-wind (among others) for each of our homes, this will be easier, but something must fill the gap, and voter pressure on elected officials will help us, tremendously.  Write something.

  

As for immigration, Senator McConnell took the initiative to form a study committee to develop new legislation for our state.  I cannot informatively comment on what that legislation means, at this point, but I appreciate that something is being done about this problem.  I do think illegal immigration is a problem, but I also grow weary of those that would turn this human rights issue into a purely economic one.  The age of scaring voters into action is better left to the 19th century, if you ask me, and we need to figure out how to solve this problem in a way that does not criminalize the effort to earn a living.  It seems ironic that we do so, while there are legal citizens of this country allowed to effectively "rob" others by offering them exceedingly dangerous loans, contrary to the borrowers' obvious inability to pay.  

The Senator remarks on how he was instrumental in property tax relief.  I cannot complain if my property taxes are reduced unless it means that our schools and other public services suffer...which they do...so I will.  I have a friend that was forced to move from his home of nearly thirty or more years because of property taxes, and I am sure there are plenty of stories like his.  However, if his burden had been shifted to those that build in unstable environments (read:  on barrier islands and next to salt marshes) or those that move business locations into our town, only to leave within a decade without penalty, he may have been able to stay put.  In other words, if there were a little personal responsibility built into our policy, things would be different, and many are not capable of regulating themselves.  I do not know enough about such matters to suggest how it could be fixed, but I seriously doubt that equitable tax burden exists in our county or state.  I also know that it is fairly easy for businesses to portray themselves in a positive light to politicians that made their careers in such fields as real estate and development and to manipulate local law to suit their financial ends.

He mentions that school funding is not being distributed equitably, which I appreciate.  It is unclear whether he means that more of that funding should be distributed to private schools, but I fear that is the route that most of his party is following.  I thoroughly support more accountability in education, but I also know that education has never been adequately funded in this nation, and I know that unions are a necessary component of our social structure.  I cringe at the thought of what unbridled competition among schools would look like.  I consider the end result of competition in media, shoes, computers, and the awful repercussions this competition has wrought.  So, one school out-competes all the others and, in turn, becomes a sort of Wal-Mart of education?  I just don't see how this could be a good thing, since the benefits of educating most in a less-than-stellar manner will always be better than wonderfully educating a handful of our citizens (the rest in prison and the military?).  There is a better way, and we merely need convince those that make decisions in our name that nothing else is more critical than this issue.  It is the one around which all others revolve.  

I must commend Senator McConnell for his response.  Nobody else has taken the time to send anything, yet, and his letter seemed much more thoughtful than those that I have received from other elected officials in the past.  Perhaps I'll publish my letter in my next entry, since this ain't the most mellifluous missive, and I don't expect those with seats up for grabs this November to be writing me anytime soon.  

Check out this link sent from L.A. Rob, hopefully soon to be the "new bastard."  Just cut and paste it into your search interface if it doesn't manifest click-ably.  I don't have the time or patience to make this instantly accessible.  Can you believe we once used dial-up internet connections?  Also, watch Manufacturing Consent, listen to Lungfish, already, and go ride your bicycle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4

Gettin' High at Edisto

I just finished up a ride of nearly 100 miles, and I feel a little tenderized.  I had not been out to Edisto Island since I worked for the County, many years ago, and it was just the right day for it. There were at least 4 road-killed raccoons, 1 bloated, buck white-tailed deer in a ditch, 3 or 4 heaps o' opossum, and a few smashed snakes along the way, but I was lucky enough to return in one piece (thanks, again, to my reflective vest and reflective triangle with which I always travel).   

I wish I could give more of the credit to the motorists I encountered, but most gas addicts are still moving around as if the fluid was being sold for $1 per gallon (lots of peeling out, revving-up, unnecessary trips, and related my-driving-style-represents-my-stunted-emotional-development antics), which leads me to my current consternation.  Why is domestic oil suddenly so acceptable to so many elected officials and others?  When it comes to domestic employment, they shove their heads into the very holes in our planet for which they are rallying.   It is dishonest for them to brandish the flag of energy independence in an attempt to seem patriotic at the same time they are making it easier for companies to eliminate or relocate jobs.  If you had the choice, would you vote for one more good job in your community that would support a family for a lifetime or cheaper gasoline for a few more years?

Meanwhile, I carted the kayak to a local landing the other day on the X-tra Cycle.  I used a couple of bricks for ballast on the opposite side, and it worked quite well.  The only couple of rubs were that there was no good place to lock the bicycle and I was paddling a whitewater boat in flat, tidal areas.  Such a boat has nearly no tracking ability, so I was only out for about an hour before I tired of the constant corrections required to move in a straight line.  It has me considering the purchase of a sit-on-top, which would not only provide a good track, but which is designed for bringing along fishing gear.  I've grown more and more convinced that I need to make the occasional fish a part of my diet, in order to replace some of the carbon excess associated with soy being my staple source of complete protein.  Besides, once the girls are here and onto solid foods, I want them to have some choice in the way their diets develop.  If they are going to eat animals, I want them to be aware of how food gets to their plates.  Hell, we may even do some hunting, though I'm still a little undecided on what species I/we may pursue.  I'm leaning toward Canada goose or some such other pestiferous species that is less likely to possess the sentient capacity of large mammals like deer that are so often targeted, but we've got some time to make this decision.

It feels a little weird to be writing of killing animals for food, but I've grown less and less convinced that an entirely plant-based diet is efficient and ecologically sound unless a large part of it is raised by the consumer.  Recent, light gardening efforts have helped me realize just how difficult it is to produce an appreciable amount of food without hornworms, aphids, or others tearing apart a harvest.  It makes organic food prices much more understandable, and it makes one wonder what sort of monitoring and maintenance (fossil fueled?) must be required when pesticides and herbicides are not employed.  Anyway, we'll still plant, and I hope to get at least 4 or 5 good crops in this year (some leafy greens, some peppers and tomatoes, some garlic, and others), but we may be using those crops to adorn a few fast-twitchers of the piscine variety, here and there.

Dave and I got in the ride that I was hopeful would happen last weekend.  We arrived just before hunting closed for the day and may have ruined somebody's shot, as we pedaled around a bend and noticed 4 or 5 deer milling about in the center of the road (a no-shoot zone, if I'm not mistaken), about 1/2 mile distant.  Perhaps they knew where to hang out to avoid their demise? 

It was a great ride, save for the many huge, fresh piles of horse dung we had to bob and weave to avoid.  Dave was on a new single-speed 29'er and, as usual, had no problem steaming up my tail, regardless of my use of 3 or 4 gears, but it wasn't a high stress ride.  We got in about a lap and a half, pushed a medium pace, for the most part, and finished up just in time for me to get back to work on time.  I signaled my satisfaction with the ride by smoothly rolling up to the car, failing to unclip my foot successfully, and falling squarely onto the wound on my shin that was barely starting to heal from a few days previous (regardless of having been riding clipless pedals for a few years, now).  Dave calmly inquired, "Are you done?"  I could only laugh.