…Whoopty friggin’ do.

Anyone in Pinellas County that wants to think we’re in the clear with drought conditions need only look at the official Pinellas county rain gauge on their web site. It feels sick and cruel that the tally through today (July 2nd) is 10.59 inches of rain for the year.

2007 is half way finished and we’re only about one fifth of the way to the average rainfall total (Clearwater, Florida’s average yearly rainfall total is 49 inches according to Florida Living Network. The St. Pete Chamber of Commerce lists the city of St. Petersburg’s annual rainfall total at 48+ Inches).

We haven’t hit the Fourth of July yet, nor the peak of the hurricane season (two sub-tropical storms and only a bit of rain from both) and I’m fearing how our water outlook will come November.

Yet, to those who actually believe Clinton was soft on terrorism or just plain didn’t do enough to fight terror — look at what Orrin Hatch, Trent Lott and others of the GOP were up to stopping President Clinton from having some of the very same issues that Congress now rubber-stamps for President Bush today.  That link and the following quote from CNN in July of 1996:

“We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue,” Clinton said during a White House news conference.

But while the president pushed for quick legislation, Republican lawmakers hardened their stance against some of the proposed anti-terrorism measures.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, doubted that the Senate would rush to action before they recess this weekend. The Senate needs to study all the options, he said, and trying to get it done in the next three days would be tough.

One key GOP senator was more critical, calling a proposed study of chemical markers in explosives “a phony issue.”

I wonder if old Orrin stood up and argued how the entire gels-and-liquids scare that has helped slow down the queue in airports for the last few weeks was phony… Or did he “wise up on the issue” where politicians who change stances today are known as flip-floppers?

But wait, it gets better.

Back in April of 1996 — the US House approved an anti-terror legislation that was severely watered down from what President Clinton had been proposing and the Senate had passed.  This was near the one-year anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and several months prior to TWA Flight 800′s crash (along with the Centennial Park bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta):

Republicans were divided on whether the legislation would be effective.

“We have a measure that will give us a strong upper hand in the battle to prevent and punish domestic and international terrorism,” Senate Majority Leader and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole said Wednesday.

But Sen. Don Nickles, R-Oklahoma, while praising the bill, said the country remains “very open” to terrorism. “Will it stop any acts of terrorism, domestic and international? No,” he said, adding, “We don’t want a police state.”

Some lawmakers took a more prudent view of the bill. “The balance between public safety and order and individual rights is always a difficult dilemma in a free society,” said Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-New York.

(emphasis added by me)

Now what’s my point in this and what constructive items can we take from it?

Ten years ago, there was a sensible conservatism out there that said individuals had rights, and it’s a thin line between individual rights and safety. The Republicans once knew that and they put the country’s civil liberties before the terrorism fight.

Now? Well, you should know…

The world didn’t change on 9-11 as the neoconservatives in control of the Republican party have worked very hard to make the country believe. It was our national courage that did. If you’re giving into your fear for the sake of safety and blaming all of this on the other guy in order to feel more secure at this very moment, you’re a coward and a fool who has become blinded from right-and-wrong with thanks to your party-of-choice in power.

I wasn’t going to write a blog post about this concern up until I put on Bay News 9 here in the Tampa Bay area and their nightly news anchor, Al Rueschel, presented the latest piece that broke the camels back for me.

9-1-1 calls from the World Trade Center on 9-11.

You have the terrorist bust in the UK and airline rule changes in the aftermath, you have suspected bombs showing up on airplanes, in airport terminals and in ports…

Is it a heightened sense of awareness by the public or is someone screwing with us?

Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) said in the first Lethal Weapon film that the evidence was “too thin” regarding the death of a hooker. Though I’d like to believe we’re just being more vigilant right now, with everyone trying to scare the shit out of each other every time you turn on the news – I just don’t see this as a case of vigilance. I see this as timing things appropriately for political gain. The 9-11 tapes sealed my suspicion… Playing a taped recording of a woman crying that she is going to die is just the last raw emphasis that tells the public “you should be afraid – this can happen to you unless you do what we say.”

At any rate, I told people about this story in an earlier entry… There is no title to it as it stands right now and it’s just a few hundred words… Let me know what you think if you think anything about it… Just click on more to view it.

Dontrell and Monica stood on the tiptoes of their flip-flop clad feet and peered into the white minivan. They had been on their way to the community pool to help beat the mid-summer heat when they were compelled to look in ominous white vehicle that was owned by a white lady who lived nearby. The car was parked just across the street from their own apartment and along the path to the pool. It was impossible for them not to look, knowing the white woman had big dogs that she put in there. They had seen her and the animals before and both intimidated them. There were a couple of large cages in the back of the minivan, where the woman sometimes put the dogs before she drove off to where ever white women go to.

“Ya’ll better watch out,” their mom’s boyfriend, Barry, spoke from behind them. “She gonna’ end up comin’ out and catchin’ you!” He was standing close to their apartment building and hauling a couple of trash bags in his arms. The kids liked Barry with his music and modified car that had a really loud speakers and could bounce too! He wore gold chains and looked like a rapper from TV.

“Ya’ll see those cages in there?” Barry asked, putting down his trash bags for a moment and approaching the kids. The cages had specifically caught their attention because of how big they were. “Ya’ll look at them real good ‘cause when she catches you she’s gonna’ put your asses in those cages and let the dogs eat you!”

The kids looked at Barry in disbelief. Would the woman really do that to them? Feed them to those monster hounds? Barry slowly nodded as if to stress the point before picking up the trash bags again and continuing on his trek to the trash bin. He let out a laugh on the way but the children didn’t hear him – they were too preoccupied on the frightening reality that stood before them.

Ever since Dontrell and Monica watched their friend Alisha be mauled by her family pit bull a few months earlier, the kids had been absolutely terrified of dogs. It could be their next-door neighbor, Mrs. Jackson, and her little terrier. It could also be any one of the neighborhoods other pit bulls, and there were many of them. Whatever size it was, whatever breed it was, the kids were certain the animal was ready to snap at them.

And of course some white lady’s dogs have got to be trained to go after the black folk, the kids thought. She was one of the only non-black people that lived in the apartment complex, and they had no idea why she didn’t live with the rest of her people and leave their neighborhood alone.

She seemed scary to them just because she was so alien – white people weren’t common in their community. Her hair was a deep red and she barely smiled. She wore glasses and was always bringing around other strange white folks: a scrawny man who walked around with the help of a stick, and there was another woman who stayed with her for a while who had a scab on one of her eyes. Maybe they were her friends but they were all so freaky!

The dogs that the lady had – they looked like the kind they had seen when Barry took them and their mom to the racetrack once in a while. The big, sleek, thin dogs would chase a mechanical rabbit around a track and they were hella’ quick too! That was another reason why the kids were so taken aback of the white woman’s dogs – they knew that they were too fast not to catch them!

It was terribly hot, but Dontrell and Monica had forgotten the pool for the moment, as they stood affixed to their fears.

In their silence, they imagined being locked in the cages and having those big dogs closing in on them. They would be slobbering and panting, barking and growling and showing their viciousness before closing in on the kill. It would be exactly like what happened to Alisha – having her skin ripped off and being made dead… There would be no escape. They’d scream and maybe Barry would try to save them from that mad white bitch’s dogs? Or maybe he’d let them die so he could have their mother to hi’self? He always wanted private time with her anyway and was always throwing them out of the apartment.

A voice from behind them broke the anxious silence, “Could you kindly not get handprints on my windows?”

It was the white lady – standing not 3 yards from them. Dontrell and Monica looked at each other and panicked. They heard not a word of what the woman said but had all of their fantasies come to life! Barry said she’d feed them to the dogs! Barry said she’d lock them in the cages before she did it! She was here now and at any moment now her dogs would be chasing after them down in frenzy!

They screamed and took off for the pool without looking back. If they had, they would have noticed the white lady watching them with an expression of bewilderment. The threat was only in their minds, the perception of imminent doom was just an innocent childhood misconception; one whose impression will not likely fade with away

I’m not a big fan of the separate-but-equal mass transit planning of the Bay area, that’s part of the reason why I call the plan slightly poor. I’m also not a fan of the idea that the current scheme basically ignores commuters in North Pinellas who have the farthest to travel.

But my opinions on Pinellas County Mass Transit and the proposal are better than my opinion on some of the comments coming from Pinellas County Commissioners who are against the concept. Let’s take Susan Latvala for example:

“I just think we’re too developed to integrate something into our system,” County Commissioner Susan Latvala said. “We’re way too far down the road for this.”

When things get built out – that’s when Mass Transit comes into play. Why doesn’t that logic register with Latvala? Has she ever been out of Pinellas County? What IS the solution if not a rail system? Wider roads? More roads?

I guess Susan is resigned to the idea that every commissioner from this point on should be convincing Pinellas County residents they can’t do shit about traffic…

This plan is part of a coordinated mass-transit effort that Karen Seel can’t quite grasp:

“In 95-degree weather, will someone really take the rail and walk the rest of the way?” said Seel, the MPO chairwoman.

I guess she doesn’t have much confidence in how well coordinated this will be with buses and trolleys as was stated in the MPO endorsement. Buses running in coordination with rail stations cut down on wait times. As it stands right now, Pinellas County buses are running in a non-coordinated effort and in poor run times. Seel’s statement gives blessing for this – not seeing mass transit improvements tied to the monorail system.

Either it’s a step forward or a step deeper into the back-water politics of Tampa Bay. Only time will tell if Pinellas will make the right call on mass transit instead of allowing further traffic fatalities and headaches because of commission indolence and fears of the unknown.

A time to every purpose
Except this ongoing circus
Of fear and fate, malignant deeds,
Sore for sight eyes and tumbleweeds

Been mislead in all directions
Vote’s been voided in all elections

Lacking course
Searching for a sign
Or a loving hand to help me by

And suppose my purpose never comes?
Or even worse — it never was?
Falling down a flight of stairs
Life’s reasons are never what they seem

Lonliness is what I fear
Reasonless is what draws near
…And a time to every purpose
Except my own

© 2005 John Fontana

The World Map has been changed by this earthquake, the globe has “wobbled” in it’s rotation because of it and 60 thousand are feared dead — many of them children. This time of year is supposed to be the time of hope and of giving – these people need it more than ever….

“I’m only sorta gimpy. I can get there by myself.” I told a curb side check in agent for American Airlines. He smirked and let out a laugh and I went on my way into Tampa International Airport to start my trip on Tuesday morning. I had my Eastman backpack swung over my shoulders, dress pants on and my “trusty” cane in hand as I navigated the terminal and made my way to the airside concourse.

American Airlines made it real easy on me and helped me out the entire way to and from Burbank. Being it lead onto the plane by a Stewardess in Tampa or the ticket-agent trying to get me a replacement flight to Tampa from Dallas if I didn’t make that conneciton flight (more on that later)… AA kicked ass in their service.

The big thing about this that upset my parents and extended family was I was going 2200 miles by my lonesome as my first trip solo. Not to mention I’m still a gimp to one extent or another, walking with and without a cane at times.

Not like I needed to care about being gimpy once I got on the streets of LA.

If there’s one difference that is night and day in La Cuidad de Angels compared to Tampa/St. Pete and the suburbs, it’s the fact that pedestrians have the right of way. Here in Florida, I’d get run down sooner than a car actually wait to turn during a green light. In Los Angeles? I got honked at for not walking and waving cars on at an intersection. That was the biggest adjustment, and the most pleasing.

The other thing that hits me hard every time I am out there is getting used to being surrounded by minorities. Mexicans, Japaneese, African Americans, etc…. One huge eclectic mix. Here in the south, people can only hold closed minded views and hold fear when thinking about situations like that. Me? I fucking LOVED it.

Sure, there is the idea you could get jumped by a gang here and there — that was before I did some thinking and observing. Grandma’s were out walking with canes, unmolested by teens hanging out and kids walking around with CD players weren’t being attacked… I think that gives you an idea it’s safe to be out and about during the daytime and not so intimidated…

At any rate, half the reason I was able to do this trip was my buddy out west, Mark Albracht who I know from SkyscraperPage.com. Me and Mark have known each other a while and have been friends for the past year +…. He had picked me up at the airport and we also spent some time in Hollywood looking around and stuff. It was fun to be out there and see some of the places that I have only heard about (the Kodak theater, the Egyptian….. The Walk of fame…).

Damn, there is so much to talk about and yet I am just rambling through it. And at the same time, there is little to talk about because I didn’t do much while out there. While I liked being on my own on a trip, I would have loved a peer with me (not a parent) to enjoy some of the things that I passed on or didn’t spend enough time with.

Of course, the trip did have it’s low point – my birthday . The day started off as it normally did in LA but I had an appointment that morning. A long overdue ABI checkup. What went so bad? Being forced into an MRI that i didn’t want to have done, having to sit around for four hours until I had the prodcedure, then being in physical and emotional pain with how I was dealt with by the staff… To summarize my birthday was to summarize my life: spent with me trying to look good, voyaging, meeting a friend, being duped by a faux ally, pain, humiliation and ultimately ending alone. Great attitude, wouldn’t you say?

Oh, I forgot to add the part about Burbank. Saturday morning I left my hotel (after barely getting any sleep) to encounter the worst fog I had seen first hand since I was a kid. The flight was grounded until almost 9 and could have made me miss my conneciton flight home… And like I said, a ticket agent stepped right up and arranged things for me if I did miss my connection. Luckily, once airborn, we made up time lost and actually came in ahead of schedule (but still not enough time for this guy to grab a meal while on the DFW International concourse.

I’m planning on getting away some more in coming weeks. A trip to NY for instance…. Who knows where else. Where I’m wanted and where I’m curious would most likely be it.

Q: Why would Al-Qaeda want Kerry, an unknown quantity, as president, when they already have Bush, who so blissfully plays into their hands at every turn?

A: Because Al Qaeda never said this. The Republicans are the only ones saying it. They always preface such statements with “It’s my opinion that…”, or “I believe that…”. Net result: the general public hears “Al Qaeda wants Kerry to win”, and God forbid we should do anything to appease Al Qaeda! Then the terr-rists win!

I think they should just cut out the middle man and start saying they believe if elected, Kerry himself will fly a plane into the Capitol.

In fact, that could be a great new angle: he’s one of those crazy Vietnam vets. They’re always having nervous breakdowns and flashbacks. Can we really trust him? He’s already delusional and believes that he was a hero who won some medals. Bush never went through that trauma, so he’s fresh and stable!

C’mon, Rove: are you reading this?

9-11-01… Never forget. And never forget how you’re fears have been manipulated.

We miss you Dennis “trane” Gomes

Int he last 4 years, it had seemed everything was simply going to be allowed and handed to the Bush administration – Congressional approval of whatever they want, Supreme Court rulings in their favor (from secret documents to the very ruling that put Bush into office), blind public support because of fear….

Yesterday’s Supreme Court Ruling gave me hope again that America isn’t so lost as it had seemed the last few years.

The right to due process has been given back to the people – be they scumbags or falsely accused citizens (or falsely accused citizens who are scumbags for that matter) – which means that no one can be held for undetermined lengths of time without legal counsel. One might assume this is a bad move because prospective terrorists might be able to get free again through the court system… But then again, how many innocent people have been held indefinitely, while falsely charged with a crime? Not only that, but it’s part of the justice departments job to build a case against people… Certainly there is compelling evidence against a suspect for him to be arrested in the first place right? There should also be enough evidence to try and convict the accused if the case is strong enough against them. The system and due process shouldn’t need to be circumvented in order to stop accused prisoners…

Or is John Ashcroft and the Bush administration that incompetent to need to just arrest people because they don’t know how to connect the dots and show a grand jury why someone is guilty?

Rob Lowe playing Ben Meares — I can live with that. Donald Sutherland as Richard Straker? Exact casting that I imagined reading the book. Rutger Hauer as Barlow? Another dead-on casting! James Cromwell as Father Donald Callahan?! Another dead on casting! It’s incredible…

Of course, casting alone won’t make this a great movie – if Mikael Saloman can’t work with the images and provoke fear inside the viewer much like King can do with words and images — this will turn into another King-book-come-movie dud to follow dozens of King books that were turned into movies and fell flat.

Reviews on Google have been mixed while reviews on IMDB sound hopeful. We’ll see just how this turns out tomorrow night on TNT.

But as it stands right now, I’m starting to feel I was right about Van Helsing with the thought it is going to tank. Or at least the reviews are starting to come in and no one is caring for it much besides Harry Knowles and the fan-boy Ain’t It Cool News crowd.

Yet I am sticking to my guns… More marketing than movie making. More play-toy designs than plot. More potential spin-offs than story. Marketing and the big studios is what kills film. You want a good monster movie? Go watch 28 Days Later which doesn’t use too much CGI to instill fear. If you want a good action/Sci Fi movie? Go watch Equilibrium which hasn’t gotten enough attention. Yes, both of those movies re-touch on subjects explored in other movies… But at least they aren’t films devoted to the almighty dollar and marketing before film-making and telling a story.

I said a few months ago on here that i thought I saw a light at the end of the tunnel with regards to rehabbing and getting better from previous operations – but it’s a deceptive light. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m still dependent on the walker and it’s making me fear going out and doing or attempting to do — or just flat out holding me back. Psychologically, that is…

Things gotta improve – they just gotta… I don’t know how much more of the down I can take without a blast of the UP, so to speak.

But that was 10th grade and High School… A long long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Or seven miles and almost 10 years.

At any rate, it got me to thinking about what you would say to someone you haven’t seen in such a long time? What would you talk about with them? Would you just come clean about things that happened last time you talked? Or old problems that might have been left unsolved between you?

Or would you start fresh like the three examples below?

“Hi, how’s it going?”
“Nice shoes, wanna fuck?”
“Excuse me, you look so familiar and I was wondering if you could tell me if this dress makes my ass look big?”

I came across this girl’s aunt online in 1999 and I had the opportunity to get in touch with her but passed on it. Why? Fear in part, and also because I didn’t want to rear my head back into her life while she certainly has a life of her own that I am not even a thought in. Time passes and things fade away — but memories and feelings aren’t so easily pushed into oblivion. I’m not planning on paying Classmates in order to get in touch with the girl for the same reasons… My interest is piqued though, for the moment.

Edit to Entry: Better question than the WHATTAYA SAY — How would you react if someone from High School suddenly dropped in on your life? SOmeone you ahven’t spoken to since then…?