:: 2005 29 January :: 12.38 am

7 favorite books:

1. Crashing The Party - Ralph Nader
   
2. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
   
3. A People's History Of The United States - Howard Zinn
   
4. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life - Jon Lee Anderson
   
5. Keep The Aphodistra Flying - George Orwell
   
6. Breakfast Of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
   
7. The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
   

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:: 2005 26 January :: 8.25 am

"those were the times i carried you"

bullshit, Jesus, those are obviously my footprints

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:: 2005 24 January :: 7.56 am

i'm going to try my hand at writing a book. should be an interesting experience. from what i've got planned out so far it'll be like the style of Vonnegut with lots of dumbed-down definitions of mundane things, but with a less humorous more Orwellian tone. all i really know so far is that none of the characters will have names.

in other news, as yesterday exemplified quite well, if you want to do anything with me it's better to call and wake my ass up rather than expecting me to do it on my own.

in other other news. my pseudo-birthday party will be on saturday at Ten Bells. we're going to check out Tony's band and party like dumb whores.

my birthday is sunday, sukbitch!

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:: 2005 23 January :: 8.17 pm

i've been sick an awful lot this winter

spent the day in bed

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:: 2005 21 January :: 9.51 pm

Matt and Kristina - this is for you
Ralph Nader will be joined by Matt Gonzalez and Peter Camejo in Davis (1/24), Santa Cruz (1/24), Berkeley (1/25), San Francisco (1/25), Sonoma State University (1/26), Healdsburg (1/26), and Willits (1/26).

yeah, he's on a short speaking tour. you guys should go. you can check out the official schedule if you want.

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:: 2005 21 January :: 9.50 pm

my cat ripped my bad religion poster

he's going to be out of my room for a long time

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:: 2005 16 January :: 6.38 pm

this is just hilarious...maybe i should do it with mine

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:: 2005 16 January :: 4.53 pm

We don't need a third party
- Mitch Armstrong (January 2005)

let's flash back to 1992...Ross Perot was running for president and he was addressing the fact that the national debt was in the trillions. neither of the two parties addressed this. perot went on the nationally televised debates and made them look like asshats. come november he pulled 18% (which is damn good considering you only need 34% to win in a three way race). now, let's flash back not nearly as far and notice that in 1996 the federal debt had been reduced substantially and now a major concern in the election was balancing the budget and making federal accounting accountable.

how about from 1900 to the 1940s when Eugene Debs and the Socialist party showed fairly respectably in every national election. this being the time when much of the standing legislation regarding organized labor was written.

how about the liberty party of the early 1800s, in a time when none of the parties in power were concerned with ending slavery they stood up as the sole entity regarding abolition.

you see, throughout american history "third" parties have stood up and brought attention to the issues that weren't being addressed by the major parties. as these parties grew their issues were absorbed by the major parties in fear that the smaller party may actually succeed.

and while mitch preaches that electoral reform is needed, the most common form of electoral reform that is proposed is "instant runoff voting" in which instead of placing one vote the voter ranks the candidates in order from most to least favorable. then in the tallying of votes the lowest vote getter is eliminated from the race, if my #1 vote had gone to that person my #2 vote will be tallied and so on and so on until one cadidate receives a majority (as opposed to a plurality). nevermind that this system relies on more than two candidates.

as for Nader being too extreme for the Green party. a simple knowledge of the Green party can be useful when noticing how much they've changed in the last 8 years. considering from their inception they were meant to be a grassroots party and not meant to run for national office. they were greatly overhauled just to figure out how to nominate Nader in 2000 and ultimately fell to corruption with a primary system that only tallied votes in 8 states in 2004 to nominate David Cobb in 2004 . Nevermind that Cobb failed to win in any of those 8 states, nor did he even get a majority of the primary votes in the whole primary season. Nader's platform never really changed from 2000 to 2004, it was the Green party that changed, and even then Nader was more highly regarded than Cobb among members of the party. his failing was the promise he made to his father that he would always remain an independent and thusly never joined the Green party.

as for Mitch's claim that he trusts the members of congress, we need to realize that the vast majority of them are prime for impeachment ever since they bypassed the constitution and voted to abandon their power in declaring war back in 2003. how can you trust a body that willingly says "we don't want this job anymore, we'll just vote to give it to the president." you see, that's how Hitler rose from taking a semi-do-nothing job like Chancellor and becoming dictator. the Reichstag voted to give him so many of their powers that he ultimately dissolved the body.

in the end. we need more than two parties so that single issues can be addressed, organized and ultimately absorbed into the larger bodies of american government. we cannot trust a body that doesn't want its constitutionally given power. you cannot initiate change by standing in the lines.

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:: 2005 15 January :: 11.06 pm

man, mitch sure set me straight. just think about it, there are 295,262,559 people in the united states and there are probably 295,262,559 different issues that concern them. but the beauty is, there are only two sides to these issues so no matter what there is a black and white solution. this means that, just like he said, we don't need any more than two parties because since everything is black and white it's just not necessary to try to address new viewpoints. apparently if i agree with one party's stance on an issue i will undoubtedly agree with all the other stances that particular party has on the millions of other issues. man, i was so naive. and it should be so easy since these parties would never agree on anything, they will never fail to hold up the black or the white solution. i mean, just look at two months ago, George Bush felt that more troops were needed in Iraq because it was a good cause, John Kerry felt that the war should've never happened but in the end he still felt more troops were needed. it's just not possible that anyone would think that enough people were already there or that perhaps there were too many people...no sir. the democrat and republican parties are as different as beer and teddy bears. one candidate came from a very rich family and went to college on his father's tab never having to hold down a job to make ends meet. another man came from an even richer family and went to the same school on his father's tab but then he went and killed some people who were fighting for the independence of their country. there sure seems to be a world of difference between the two parties, i don't know why i ever bothered trying to learn about everyone on the ballot, they were just filler. i mean, if they can't win it's just a waste. kind of like how the liberty party (the first abolitionist party) never won. man, their message never got heard, that's why people still own slaves.

jeez mitch, i wish i was able to be as smart as you.

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:: 2005 14 January :: 11.23 pm

thank you maddox
Someone recently sent me an email titled 26 things a perfect guy would do. I thought "hmm, nobody could possibly send me anything so stupid, it can't possibly be as dumb as it sounds." I stand corrected. The email was just as advertised: a wish list of how women supposedly want men to act, as if men in this country weren't already an episode of Friends away from turning into giant walking vaginas.

I never thought I'd ever read anything that would induce my gag reflex so quickly, and this is after having read the details of an anal prolapse that a friend sent me tonight. Here is the abridged list (because the full list might literally cause you to barf on your keyboard, and frankly, it's not worth reading), followed by my response to each "thing" that a "perfect guy would do:"

1. Know how to make you smile when you are down!
When will women realize that they don't live on the set of a romantic comedy? Unless making you smile involves me playing video games while you cook me a steak, you're in for a disappointment. You don't think guys ever feel "down?" The door swings both ways, bitch.

2. Try to secretly smell your hair, but you always notice.
What? Why the hell would I want to smell a woman's hair? It smells bad enough with all the sprays and perfume they use. Enough with the conditioners, sprays, and cream already; that shit makes my eyes water. What the hell is conditioner anyway?

3. Stick up for you, but still respects your independence.
Translation: bail you out when you fail at life, but never bring it up during conversations.

4. Give you the remote control during the game.
This one is inherently stupid because it implies that all guys like to watch "the game." Since I'd rather be shot in the chest with projectile diarrhea than watch "the game," I'll assume the author meant something worthy of watching, such as Ren & Stimpy, in which case you need to put the bitch down if she touches your remote.

5. Come up behind you and put his arms around you.
LAME. Who has time for this? Sounds like something out of a herpes commercial where some lady is rock climbing or doing something else which symbolizes her independence, then out of nowhere she blurts out "I HAVE HERPES." The music gets all serious and you hear a voice over "...there is no cure," cue inspirational music "but treatment is available." Then it cuts to a shot of the bitch on a beach and a guy runs up behind her and puts his arms around her. Good job dumbass, you're dating a skank with herpes.

6. Play with your hair.
Again with the hair? Women never play with the hair on my back, why the double standard?

7. His hands always find yours.
This is one of those things women read and say "AWW HOW ROMANTIC." I have news for you: holding hands is stupid. Women don't know the first thing about being romantic. Only lesbians hold hands anyway; allow me to explain. The only time it's acceptable to hold hands with anyone is if you're at a peace vigil. Guys don't go to peace vigils, period. If you do, you have to surrender your balls and get a sex transplant because you're a bitch; in either case, you're a woman, and when two women hold hands it can only lead to one thing as far as I'm concerned.

8. Be cute when he really wants something.
Bullshit. When I want something, I yell. If she can't hear me in the kitchen, sometimes I'll threaten beatings if I'm sober.

9. Offer you plenty of massages.
For your boobs maybe. I happen to have the uncanny ability to massage breasts. With my mouth.

10. Dance with you, even if he feels like a dork.
Let's face it: there are few things in this world more stupid than dancing. Except break dancing, which pirates and lumber jacks would agree is awesome. Other than that, dancing makes me envy cripples.

11. React so cutely when you hit him and it actually hurts.
See, this is what pisses me off about women: they expect special treatment at their discretion. They want equal rights, equal pay, and equal treatment for everything EXCEPT when it comes to shit like this, then they want you to "react cutely" instead of, say, putting them in a head lock and making them eat ants and/or spiders while you give them carpet burn. Why don't women react "cutely" when men hit them for a change? Oops, I forgot, that's domestic abuse.

12. Drive 5 hours just to see you for 1.
Any guy who would drive five hours just to see a chick for one is an asshole. If every guy drove around for five hours just to spend one with their girlfriend, we'd fill up the air with so much pollution that we'd all choke on the exhaust, get cancer, and then bake under the sun while our lungs rupture and we slowly die from internal bleeding.

13. Stare at you.
You stupid attention seeking whore, just buy the bitch a mirror, because apparently she thinks that you don't have anything better to do than to sit around and stare at her. If women ran the world, we'd still be searching for the wheel.

14. Call for no reason.
Oops, this one belongs on the list of "Twenty-six things women do that piss men off because they need to fill their otherwise vapid lives with something to make them feel like they have a purpose for existing as they eventually realize that they're pissing their youth away on stupid bullshit like fashion trends."

I can't go on, I'm going to go do something less painful like stick my dick in the oven.

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:: 2005 14 January :: 6.55 pm

:: 2005 13 January :: 7.25 pm

so, i was on my way to work the other night and this douchebag starts to pass me. but right when he gets ahead of me his douchebag passenger throws his lit cigarette out the window and into my windshield. now, i know my car isn't the nicest, but there's no reason to throw garbage at it, let alone lit garbage. anyway, they both turn around in their seats and start laughing away. so, i hang back calmly sipping on the slushie i had bought mere moments before. after a fair distance at which i'm sure they forgot about i start to pass them. as i slid in front of them i open my window and throw the remaining two thirds of my slushie straight up in the air causing it to arc ever so slightly over the roof of my car and then sail directly behind me into their windshield covering it with greenish/yellow mountain dew slushie goo.

i only hope it froze there

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:: 2005 9 January :: 7.28 pm

we need to face the fact that poverty is the american way of life. maybe not crushing poverty. but the kind of poverty where sacrifices are made just to get the essentials

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:: 2005 9 January :: 1.51 am

the clash were formed when joe strummer was playing with the 101ers and they opened for the sex pistols. when the pistols took the stage joe was like "damn, we're through" and that ended the 101ers. a few days later joe was in line to get his welfare check and mick and paul were staring at him because they had seen him play that night. so, when joe left he thought they were planning on robbing him of his check so he got ready to punch mick since he was smaller, but instead they asked if he wanted to join their band.

blah blah, 7 years later they're playing Shea Stadium

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:: 2005 6 January :: 5.22 pm

wheeee, Milary found someone who does drum lessons for me. wheeee, no more sucking it up for me. She's so super cool, even when she doesn't do stuff like this.

in other news, i think the water jacket on my car has become corroded and that's why it's missing and knocking like a bitch $$$$$

yeah, that's right, FIVE dollar signs

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:: 2005 1 January :: 1.17 pm

i decided that if i ever want to be taken seriously as a musician i need to swallow my pride and take some lessons. the trouble being there are only three listings in the yellow pages, one is for a guitar school, one is for the now defunct Z's Music, and the other is for Middleton's and as memory serves, the guy who did lessons there is a huge dick. i guess i'm just going to practice rudiments until i break my wrists.

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:: 2004 31 December :: 8.58 pm
:: Mood: just fuckin' ducky

so, for the second time in the last week my gramma's been taken to the hospital. her kidneys are failing, but since she's also got a bad ticker she's not a candidate for dialisys or surgery. on the upswing, she's getting a little better and they plan on discharging her on monday. on the down swing, they're only sending her home because there's nothing they can do so if she keeps getting better she'll have to have a visiting nurse in her home every day, if she stays the way she is she'll be going home in hospice care. so, i try to be positive about things but it's looking like i'm going to have to be a pallbearer again, just like i was for my grampa two years ago.

in other news, from my dad's side of the family, my grampa's cancer has come back and once again, the doctors say there's nothing they can do...2...3 years tops they say.

in other news, it is possible for me to get pec and bicep implants and get botox injections but when it comes to helping people heal, medical science remains largely helpless.

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:: 2004 28 December :: 7.28 pm

fun with college applications
so, since i plan on going back to school yet again i had to fill out something like my 50th application. good times

Work Experience:
i've worked in warehouses, restaurants, as a janitor and in construction. Obviously, after those jobs my desire to finish college is VERY high.

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:: 2004 28 December :: 7.22 pm

so, about three weeks ago I said to Larry, "Man, I have no idea when I'm getting Milary for Christmas." and Larry said, "Grow her a beard, then on Christmas she'll be all like 'where's my present' and you can say 'I grew you a beard' then if she doesn't like it, you can just shave it for her, either way you save a lot of dough."

sometimes I wonder how I ever kept her without Larry's guidance.

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:: 2004 26 December :: 2.16 pm

oh, hell yes

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:: 2004 22 December :: 8.27 pm

so, in my attempt to construct a readable definition of being a "progressive" i realize that the whole "left-right continuum" deal is a bunch of shit. how is it i go from voting for a presidential candidate who cites Upton Sinclair and Eugene Debs as his idols to voting for a party (Libertarian) that is the most fascist thing in this country since Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh for a handful of state positions?

as i'm understanding it, being progressive totally disregards being on the left or right and actually looks at things issue by issue in terms of how it will benefit the lower-working classes. while the major parties pander to the "middle" class, when you look at the distribution of wealth in this country it looks a lot like Marx's materialist theories where you have those who own everything and those who own nothing. so, i side with those of us who own nothing (i consider having a mortgage the same as owning nothing because if you don't make your payment to the bank they will essentially take everything you have) since there are a lot more of us than the others and by the simple rules of democracy, that's the way it should be.

not a centrist, more like a humanist

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:: 2004 21 December :: 8.25 pm

i never said we shouldn't have a standing army, but the reasons for having a standing army are pretty much summed up in the National Guard, they're meant to protect the populace in times of emergency such as in floods or an outside attack on our soil. the army we have now rarely "defends" our people and instead scoots around the world orchestrating coups and revolutions. and i believe that in terms of a revolution or civil war it's best left to the people of that nation alone to determine what form their government will take. by interfering in other nations' revolutions we're no better than mercenaries. we place a new government in power and then expect favors, creating nations dependent on us for their existence.

i will admit that i was misled on the causes of the korean war, however, when we stopped at the Yula river it was as good as invading China because the Chinese looked out and saw a shitload of American soldiers with guns and artillery standing in the street in front of their house and getting bigger by the day. they did what was called a "pre-emptive strike" and if you are going to defend today's army you cannot possibly say that the US won't do the same if the Zapatistas ever make it to the Rio Grande.

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:: 2004 19 December :: 11.29 pm

all i'm saying is how can you respect or even make a hero out of someone whose job is to break one of the ten commandments? granted, soldiers do many jobs, but their ultimate duty is to fight and kill. the common response is that "they needed the money for college" or to start their lives or something similar. their are lots of ways to make money, and killing is by no means the best way to go about it. don't give me this crap about "they never expected something like this to happen." when i was 16/17 i had my heart set on joining the marines, but then i actually thought about what i was getting into and realized that none of the conflicts we've entered in the last 60 years were ever fully resolved nor were the objectives that clear (i will furnish a short list at the end of this), and ultimately, conditions were ripe for another boy scout mission just itching to go awry. they knew what they were getting into and somehow they are made into heroes. i don't get it, a soldier breaks one of the TEN COMMANDMENTS and is commended for it while a prostitute just breaks a fairly minor sin and is treated like shit. prostitutes protect our way of life just like a soldier by providing an outlet for potential rapists. why aren't they vilified?

anyway, here are some of the great causes we've entered into that made me decide the military could deal without me...

Korea
Cuba (about a dozen times)
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Cambodia again
Grenada
Panama
Iraq
Haiti
Bosnia
Kosovo
Somalia

not to mention all the people our country has trained to kill from
Afghanistan
El Salvador
Colombia
Cuba
Peru
Chile
Iraq
Israel
Saudi Arabia

who can tell you why we were in half of these situations let alone how they were resolved?

also...where are the affluent white people? why do we only pick on poor brown people?

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:: 2004 19 December :: 12.39 pm

i prefer to treat members of the armed forces with a bit of indifferent sympathy, like you give to the retarded kid at school. sympathy for their lack of judgement in thinking that killing poor people who want nothing more than to be free and sovereign will somehow save the world.

what made vietnam end? was it the stalemate or the fact that everyone who came home got spit on and called a baby killer? we've been in the midst of a stalemate in iraq since before the war began so i guess the solution is obvious.

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:: 2004 18 December :: 12.43 pm
:: Music: propagandhi

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