Dirk's Hunt Continues....

Baseball Factoids

The World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals were more games over .500 in the postseason (11-5) than they were in the whole of the regular season (83-78).

They have the worst record of any team that has won the World Series.

Their combined wins regular and postseason were less than the regular season win total of four teams.

They had the 13th best record in baseball.

Five teams who did not make the playoffs had a better record than the Cardinals.

Of the seven series played in the post season only one favorite won, the Mets over the Dodgers. All the others had the perceived underdogs win. Every team with the home field advantage lost except the Mets in the previous mentioned series.

How weird the game of baseball is.

Why Are the Cops Outside Our Apartment Building?

I moved into Royal Court three months ago thinking I had found the ideal place to live, It's quiet, in a good neighborhood and has well groomed landscape. So, why is a visit from the cops a frequent event at the Royal Court?

I woke up around 9 O'clock this morning to get my coffee and newspaper. When I got back I noticed two cop cars hanging outside of the building next to the one I live in. I went to the recycling bin a few times and one of the cops was still there. I kept seeing him everything I went out to put yet more beer bottles in the recycling. I always get paranoid around cops. I wonder if he was scrutinizing my actions as I was putting stuff like garbage in the bin. I wasn't breaking the law but I still felt unnerved.

Anyway, I know it wasn't me that he was checking out, but I have been surprised at how my first impressions of apartments I move into gets squashed months later.

I worked with a neighbor at my previous job and she had mentioned how often cops came to her building to deal with domestic disturbances. She mentioned that the building across the way has many calls too. Now, mind you, this is an expensive town I live in, I felt fortunate to find this place where the price was right. I got scrutinized by the landlord on income and previous places I lived. So I get surprised knowing a possible criminal element lives here.

This reminds me of a previous place I lived at in Federal Way, Washington. I had a long relationship that went sour and was looking for a place to live I could afford in town. I wasn't making much money but I did not want to live in a scummy place. Actually I was kinda looking for a bachelor like pad to move on with my life.

I found an apartment complex that seemed to fit the bill. The apartments were all one bedrooms, two steps above the cheapest places available, and near easy transit to the city of Seattle. It seemed to fit the bill, it had a handball court and was near some pubs. Whoo boy did I misjudge. I think I was one of the few people who paid full rent with out any public assistance.

I was in the middle apartment of a three story building, whose upstairs neighbor was a sexually active grandmother on Social Security and my downstairs neighbor was a single mother with I dunno how many children in a ONE bedroom apartment.

I had a neighbor across the way who was a mentally challenged woman who was being exploited by her brother who wasn't all there himself. This was not the ideal place to start my life over as a single guy on the make. I moved out a year later to Seattle into a smaller, less nice apartment in a much better neighborhood.

So, I'm not sure how my life will be living here now. I am committed to be here until July of 2007. After that, who knows? If I finally get a good job in the city I will want to move closer than I am now. It's not too far from the city as the crow flies but unfortunately crows aren't public transportation. It takes at least an hour and a half.

So cops will you leave already, ya makin me nervous!

I Don't Know How To Enjoy Myself

I hate my job, despise it no less, so when I have a day off, I should make the most of it, right? Not me. I guess part of it is the fact I have a day off in the middle of the week. This could be a good thing because places are less crowded for fun during the week. I did enjoy myself last week when I went to Lambertville, New Jersey and by association New Hope, Pennsylvania. These towns are literally connected by an attractive bridge. It's an old town where many of the buildings were from the 18th and 19th century. They run along the Delaware River and they each have a canal that had to be source of income in its early heyday. It's attractive, especially in the fall. It's a tourist town filled with boutiques and trendy cafes. This is not a bad thing but it is a familiar thing these days.

I went there with Scangirl to seek out the Riverhorse Brewery. It's a converted factory that has tours and tastings. They had a great deal. One dollar got you a 4oz sampling of four of their beers. I enjoyed one and a half samples of their product. We then crossed into Pennsylvania where we stopped at some knick knack stores and I had yet more samples of beer at the Triumph Brewery brewpub. Very enjoyable for a fan of craft brewery. I love the area and would be happy to live there. It's artsy, reminds me of parts of Seattle and San Francisco, but alas may be too far away from New York to be practical.

I have only one day a week off, it seems to be a trend of New Jersey restaurants to work you less than 40 hours a week and six days a week. A legitimate reason to hate my job, second one in a row to pull that shit. I moved away form Seattle to get away form this and yet I come across worse situations. I guess that's the price you pay for living in an area whose economy is only strong for barely 3 months a year and now it's the other 9 months I have to get used to...

Yesterday was another day off, and I tried to get by on shopping. I bought needed shoes, unneeded pants, and a few other things. Scangirl joined me but it wasn't very fun. It was a nice day but I dunno, I bought my shoes at the Jackson Outlets but I find much of anything more depressing than an outlet mall. I don't know why. I dropped off some home made cards for my brothers son Sean at my Dad's place but did not see my parents at all.

I dunno. I guess I can make more visits to New York. It's a great time to go, but I get depressed knowing it ain't the same city I used to live in. I couldn't begin to imagine how I would ever live there again and if I want to.

I could go to the movies, but it is a weak time for movies and I live in a very weak area for movie venues. I got spoiled by my options living in Seattle. I always find it ironic that there are less options for movies in a 12plex than a 3plex in the city. Or maybe it's just a bad movie season.

I try to work on my cartooning but get stymied by my inability to draw basic things sometimes. Couches! eeesh. Pickup trucks! Don't get me started. Oh, well I could vent more, but I try to respect the privacy of those I want to write about. This is a blog not a diary.

Anyway, I'll try to figure things out the next time I write..


Or maybe I just can't have fun because the Mets are not in the World Series, maybe it bothers me more than I let on...

Who To Vote For...

As I stated in a previous post I am not registered to vote here in New Jersey. I have voted in every important election except one, 1994. That was the year the Republicans took over Congress after a long Democratic run. I am a liberal with who usually votes for Democrats (None of that 3rd, 4th, 5th party candidates for me).

A funny thing happened after 1994. Bill Clinton became a very effective president with the Republican congress keeping him honest as he kept Congress in check. Rudolph Giuliani was very popular mayor of liberal New York for 8 years. It's not always wrong to vote for the other guy every once in awhile.

So, what am I trying to say? I don't know, wait! I've been looking at the New Jersey senatorial race and I kinda want Tom Kean to win. I'm not a big fan of Robert Menendez and I think New Jersey needs a few Republicans to fix things in New Jersey. Does that make me a conservative? A little. Fiscally I am, but I am more for checks and balances. That's why I am iffy with Kean. He's a Republican, a moderate, but he's a person that can't be counted on to take on George Bush.

People say that the Democrats are only for being against Bush. Well, that's good enough for me. I have never despised any president in my life like I have Bush. He's reckless with our money and our soldiers lives. His words and actions have put Americans in grave danger around the world. He needs to be stopped. He ran in 2000 as a "uniter not a divider" and lost the popular vote. Yet, he ran his presidency as though he had a mandate from the majority of the American people. His actions and stubbornness to acknowledge any wrongdoing has divided this country in a way that hasn't been seen since the Vietnam War era.

I would be willing to vote for Kean if there was a certainty that the Democrats would be in charge. I doubt he would be an extreme partisan but I feel he would side with Bush too many times for the good of the country. Bush would get cocky if the Republicans gained seats and rightly so, me, I like to see at least one Democrat behind Bush when he has his State of the Union address, maybe he might even be a good the last two years of his presidency.

We'll see

Nice Fall!

So far, the fall weather has been ideal. Last year it was raining like a mother, but this year I'm enjoying watching the squirrels racing around leaping from tree to tree in beautiful crisp weather. I love walking in it. The wind makes it a little exciting.

New Pipe Dream Cartoon

Dirk sets up to go hunting.

Baseball Factoid...

The winner of the 2006 World Series, no matter who it is will be led by a manager for only the second time in history who will have won for two differnt teams in both the American League and the National League. Jim Leyland led the Natinal League's Florida Marlins to a title in 1997 and Tony LaRussa won for the American League's Athletics in 1989.

Sparky Anderson was the first with the NL's Cincinatti Reds of 1975,1976 and the AL's Detroit Tigers of 1984.

If Jim Leyland wins with the Tigers, look for Detroit to hire Jack McKeon and Bob Brenly after Leyland leaves.

Back to Cartoons

I was going to do more baseball jokes but since the Mets aren't in the World Series, I'm gonna start a storyline with my character Dirk going hunting. Enjoy

Oh Well, Maybe Next Year...

I am starting to write this as the bottom of the ninth gets going in game 7 of the NLCS. It appears the Mets will lose. The rain did not stop the game soon enough to prevent the Cardinals from scoring two runs in the top of the ninth. It was a tensely close game, a tie in fact, until the ninth. One of the Molina brothers hit a two run home run to put the Cards on top, and I now write this with Jose Valentin on first with Endy Chavez at bat.

Endy Chavez has not done squat at bat the whole series but man did he have a hell of a play in the sixth inning to rob Scott Rolen of a home run and made a double play of it.
Oh, wait Chavez got a hit and Cliff Floyd is at bat. I am not going to hope yet, I am not going to the TV I will merely listen until the proper moment. I will see the last out though.

Cliff Floyd is hanging in there, though it is a 2 and 2 count. Boy I hope he becomes the hero, NO! he struck out.

Reyes is up, not likely a double play. Ball 1. Strike 1. I saw THAT pitch. I want to see the final out. Strike 2 on Reyes. Crap! Fouled off, still 1 and 2. He flied out!

I watched LaDuca get a walk. Bases loaded two outs, Beltran at bat. HE Struck out!!!!


Shit! Time to watch Stephen Colbert. It was a good season and I AM looking forward to next season. The Mets unlike the Yankees have a good foundation for future titles. It's just the beginning Mets fans, we were short-handed in this series and it would have been great to see Orlando Hernandez pitch in the World Series, It's too bad that Endy Chavez's catch was all for naught. It was a hell of a play tough...



Sigh, HEAVY sigh.

Trying Out a New Logo

That's Better!

So the Mets win last night in a way that was typical of their season. It was a match-up of two unproven pitchers, Oliver Perez with his 3-13 record and 6.00+ ERA against Anthony Reyes with his 5.06 ERA and 5-8 record.

Oliver Perez is yet another pitcher that the Mets were forced to use with the injuries they had and after the disappointments of the last two games I wasn't expecting much. Perez did not pitch great but did two things that John Maine and Steve Trascel was not able to do, and that was to pitch enough innings to give the bullpen rest.

However, it was the Mets hitting that had been in a coma the previous 14 innings of play. I look for signs of how the game was going to go, and for the Mets it did not look good at first. They were able to get two men on base in the first two innings without being able to score. The Cardinals scored first, and I thought here we go again, but the Mets got a break when Ronnie Belliard got thrown out at third by Endy Chavez after Yadler Molina hit a line drive to left field to score Scott Rolen. This limited the damage and Perez had enough poise to get out of the inning.

The Mets took the lead by scoring twice the next inning on two solo home runs by Carlos Beltran and David Wright. The Cardinals came back to tie the game by taking advantage of Shawn Green's timid fielding.

The Mets went into the series sporting the best relief pitching Corp but have been out classed by the Cardinals who had only given up one hit in the previous three games. This time Tony LaRussa's gamble to take out Anthony Reyes after only four innings didn't pay off. An error by the Cardinals and a single by Beltran brought Carlos Delgado to the plate. This is Delgado's first playoff run in his career and he was taking full advantage of it by smashing the ball relentlessly. The fun part is seeing how many of his key hits have been hit to the opposite field. This was a guy who played most of the season facing an infield that had three men covering the right side of the infield. Anyway, Delgado hits the ball over the leftfield fence for a three run homer.

This meant that Oliver Perez had a three run lead and would get another turn at bat which he took the opportunity to appear very foolish. He struck out at the plate as many times as he struck out Cardinals.

Anyway, LaRussa brought in Hancock to keep them in the game but he was dreadful as he gave up 5 runs without getting anyone out. By the end of the sixth inning the Mets had a 12 to 3 lead and won it 12 to 5.


Anyway, I can publish this cartoon without it being dated...Yet.

It's Not Looking Good.....

So, the Mets are down to two games to one in the National League Championship. I was confident they would be up two to one, but alas here we are. When the Mets were rained out for their first game it basically would wreak havoc on its pitching rotation. Unfortunately, the Mets were not able to adjust their pitching staff to take in account that they may have to use 5 starters, or have Tom Glavine pitch with short rest.

However, this would be moot if the Mets would continue to play like they had all year. Tom Glavine did his job by pitching a shutout gem in game one. I conceded game two to the Cardinals because their ace Chris Carpenter was on the mound. It looked good at first when the Mets scored more runs in the first inning of game 2 than they did in the whole of the first game. John Maine could not hold the lead however. He's a rookie, pushed into this role because of the injuries to Orlando Hernandez and Pedro Martinez. All he had to do was pitch five innings and give up less than 4 runs. He couldn't do that. So the Mets continue to score some runs to have a 6 to 4 lead. All Mota had to do was hold them to one run. He couldn't do it.
so, the Mets were tied 6 to 6 going into the ninth, All Billy Wagner had to was hold it to that score. He couldn't do it. None of the pitchers did what they are capable of doing. So it was a tough loss.

So the third game comes and Steve Traschel needed to pitch a solid game to get a win. The Cardinals had their pitcher with a high ERA. Traschel pitched awful and Jeff Suppan pitched brilliant, so we are now down, two to one with an unproven pitcher starting game 4.



Hoo Boy.

You Don't "Pass Away" In A Plane Crash

Well, yesterday was a weird day. I was looking forward to my day off, reading about the Mets finally taking the Yankees off the back pages of the New York tabloids. When I looked outside and saw that the weather wasn't looking good for a day of bike riding. I took a chance anyway and rode my bike around to the library when the rain started falling. I was debating whether to get beer to watch the Mets first game in the NLCS. I didn't thinking that the game may get called off due to the rain.

Anyway, I get home, a little wet, and turned on the TV to see if anything was happening. That's when I saw the news that a plane had crashed into a building on the upper east side. Since it was Fox News I first had on, there was talk of terrorism, the other stations were more sober with the coverage basically acknowledging it was a small plane, and that it wasn't an act of terrorism. I speculated it might have been a suicide crash but after seeing the same footage over and over again on TV I turned it off to listen to sports radio.

I has happy that they were not talking about the crash, after all it's not a sports story right? Mike and the Mad Dog were on, getting ready to talk about the Mets for a change and not the drama that is the Yankees. They were talking to Darryl Strawberry, bringing back memories of 1986, Darryl was charming, I like hearing him these days talk about the current Mets. He was to throw out the first pitch for the first game.

Then, Chris "Mad Dog" Russo interrupted with the news that the plane that crashed into the apartment building was registered to the Yankee pitcher, Cory Lidle. Within a minute he had been identified as one of the deceased in the crash. Holy Crap! What is going on with the Yankees? Wow, this makes all the other Yankee drama irrelevant. It brought back memories of Thurman Munson, who died in a plane crash in August of 1979.

The weird thing was that Cory Lidle had a contentious interview the other day on the Mike and The Mad Dog show about some quotes he made about the Yankees not being "prepared" for the Tigers. Since it's confrontational radio, the hosts took it as a slam of Joe Torre and Cory Lidle struggled to defend his words. Anyway, it was weird, the rain fell, the Mets game was postponed, and my day off turned out to be a drag.

One of the tributes to Cory Lidle had him on a plane flying around California and the ironic thing was I felt a little jealous of his joy at being able to be in the air enjoying one of his favorite past times. Another tribute had highlights of every team he played for, including the Mets. He was a pretty good pitcher with a 82-72 record. He was on 7 teams over the years so many people including his former teammates on the A's, were affected by the tragedy.

Anyway, today there will be a Mets game, I will enjoy it (on radio) while I'm working but it will be with a bit of a heavy heart.

Oh Shit! I Can't Vote

It just dawned on me that I will not be able to vote in next month's mid term elections. I've been back in New Jersey for over a year and have yet to register to vote. I don't know why. I have been into all the races that are occurring in the US this year and am fascinated at the turn of events that may occur. Still, I made no effort to register, I don't know where to register, heck I don't even know who my Congressman is.

The last time I failed to vote was in 1994. That was the year the Republicans took over Congress for the first time in over 40 years, much to my chagrin. To add insult to injury I had just moved to Federal Way, WA and my congressman, a moderate Democrat named Mike Kriedler had lost to a right wing wacko, Randy Tate. It was a bummer that year so I wonder what kind of karma is gonna happen this year.

I, of course would like the Democrats to win back Congress and yes, it's mainly because I can't stand George Bush and I want the Bush agenda to be stopped. That should be reason enough. He lost the popular vote in 2000, and yet he took over the White House as though he had a Reagan84 like mandate to do whatever he wanted. In the first months of office he smeared the Clinton administration with lies like supposed vandalism on Air Force 1 and the White House. He ignored the Clinton administration's warnings about terrorism, Instead he wanted to revive the failed Star Wars missile programs from the 80's years after the Cold War ended. He eliminated history's largest surplus and replaced it with history's largest deficit. He caved in to the Chinese when they captured one of our spy planes. He allowed his campaign supporters to have a joy ride on a nuclear submarine that killed 9 Japanese tourists. All this was BEFORE September 11th...

After September 11th 2001, Bush had the opportunity to define himself but he squandered the goodwill of most Americans by trying to dismantle every social program that most Americans have relied on, just to appease the right wing neo-con artists whose whim George Bush seemed to obey. So yeah, I want the Democrats in control of Congress just to at the very least force Bush to use his veto pen.

I can't vote this time so I'll have to accept the consequences regardless of the outcome. I can't complain because I will not vote or can I?

A New Cartoon

Mets Win! Yanks Lose! It's A Good Day.

Baseball is the only sport I follow with any enthusiasm. On Saturdays in October most people turn their TVs on to College football. Not me, it's always baseball, especially when the Mets and/or Mariners are in it. I'm also a dedicated Yankee hater. So, I'm happy today.

First, let's talk about the Yankees. The Yankees lose the division series to the upstart Tigers, who everyone felt had no chance to even win a game against the mighty lineup of the Yankees. The Tigers were probably the weakest of the potential opponents the Yankees had to face. Even though everyone knew the Yankees had shaky pitching, surely it would be enough to allow their awesome lineup to take care of business. The problem was the Tigers pitching was deep but who da thunk that the Yankee bats would go so quiet, even against Kenny Rogers who never won a post season game and had a 8.85 in 20+ innings in post season play.

So what went wrong? Too many superstars and their egos. No one in the lineup other than Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon played situational baseball. They took their swings, hoping for the big hits that did not come by after Johnny Damon's home run in game two that gave the Yankees the last lead they would have. They also lacked in pitching between the time their starters were done and when Mario Rivera would come in to save the day. Rivera has to be used if the Yankees want to win. He was used in their only winning game but not in a save situation.

The Mets on the other hand took care of business and they did what they had to do, which was sweep the Dodgers. They didn't need to sweep them to prove they were the real deal but they had to sweep the Dodgers to hide the fact they were vulnerable with their starting pitching. The three starers averaged less than 5 innings per outing, with Glavine the only one to qualify for a win. This would be disastrous if it were the Yankees but the Mets have an incredible bullpen mix, and Willie Randolph was not afraid to take out his starters early. The bullpen performed well with two minor exceptions but hey there was always someone else in the bullpen, they carried 11 pitchers or was it twelve?

The Mets egos were more humble too, players who didn't get a chance to start a game came through when they did start. They played situational baseball, took advantage of Dodger mistakes and came back to score runs when they went behind or when the Dodgers tied things up.

So, now the Mets go to the next round and the Yankees go home. This is the first time the Yankees get to watch the Mets play after their season's over since 1988, the year the Dodgers beat the Mets in League Championships.

It's good to be a Mets fan, now bring on whoever wins the Divisional series between the Cardinals and the Padres.

Oh, Comma On!

We know George W Bush is not know for his ability for wordsmanship but a recent speech where he referred to our war in Iraq as a comma in historic sense. I was confused at what this meant. I read somewhere that the comma comment was a "shout out " to the Christian Right. It refers to a quote that is often repeated in modern Christian circles "Don't put a period where God puts a comma"

I really don't know what that means, so I'll interpret the "comma" comment my own way. when the war started no one was talking commas, even though I was against the war from the beginning I wasn't thinking commas. Why? Because in my mind the worst case scenario at the time I did not think the war would go on for three plus years, I didn't think terrorism would find a new home in Iraq, I did not think Bush would allow our military would be exposed to as much danger and I did not think we would lose more than a thousand soldiers in this war thus making a comma necessary when tallying up the death total in Iraq, 2,700+ and counting. George Bush, I don't think it would be possible to loathe you more...

So Far, so good...

I watched most of the Mets game yesterday and the good news is that they won, and in a way that was similar to many games they had won during the regular season. However, I missed the play of the game because of a habit I developed nearly twenty years ago when I exploded at a family gathering as I watched the Mets blow a game against the Phillies. Since I embarrassed myself that day, I have watch Mets games with apprehension sometimes.

So, during the second inning the Dodgers had two base runners on with no one out. I saw Russell Martin hit a ball against the wall, since I knew it was a hit I flipped the channels so I could calm down. I turned back a few minutes later to see that the Dodgers had only scored one run, whew! but I was confused at how it was only one run. The wrong man was on base, Where was Russell Martin? Surely, he must have been on base. He got the hit. And if Martin got out at second surely J.D Drew would have been at third. And how did Marlon Anderson get on base? I found out later what happened. Both base runners (Drew and Kent) were out at the plate on a bang bang double play. It was one of the weirdest plays in baseball history. If memory serves it only happened twice before, both involving the Yankees. One was done in 1985 involving Bobby Meachum and Dale Berra being tagged out by Carlton Fisk of the White Sox. Sure enough by the time the game was over, that play was aired over and over. The other time happened in the 30's involving Lou Gehrig of disease fame.

So I missed the play, I saw most of the rest of the game. I saw a move by Willie Randolph that didn't work out and I was wondering if the Dodgers were going to be the team of destiny this year like in 1988.

Anyway, it all worked out in the end. Billy Wagner had a one run save, and we play game 2 tonight.

I have not much to say today soooo.....

I'll just publish another strip one at a time. Enjoy!

Some more strips

Here's some more strips I have done recently featuring my characters of Pipe Dreams

Boycott Citgo?

Sometimes I think the world is topsy turvy. Case in point: Hugo Chavez. He's the leader of Venezuela who famously attacked George Bush a few weeks ago in what can be described as rather inelegant speech at the U.N. He referred to Bush as the devil and theatrically waved his hand in front of his face to wave the "stench" away. The New York tabloids had a field day with it and expressed their outrage. Politicians were livid! Me, I thought it was great theater.

The problem is i have more respect for what he says than what George Bush does. I wish I didn't feel that way but I do. All the stated reasons in going to Iraq in 2003 has been proven false. The continuous statements by the Bush Adminstration on how they always said the war would take a long time rings false. If Bush had said in 2003 the war would last more than three years no one would have supported it.

Hugo Chavez was also democratically elected, something George Bush could not claim in 2000. When a coup erupted in 2002 and the military installed the new government t George Bush quickly recognized that government that took over Venezuela rather than the democratic elected Chavez. Our reasons for being in Iraq may have been muddled over time, but one constant has been the call for a democratic government. If we don't support a democracy just because it's socialist, what happens if Iraq elects a terrorist-friendly government?

I know Hugo Chavez is a Socialist perhaps even a Communist. However, if that's how they want to run their country, that's their business, we can't really interfere if their actions don't extend beyond their borders.


Anyhow, there has been a call to boycott Citgo because they are a Venezuelan state run oil company that has committed atrocities like providing cheap heating oil to the citizens of Maine last winter when oil prices were high. Of course that's a typical commie tactic to help the poor, so I guess it makes sense to boycott Citgo. But when you compare Venezuela to every other country we buy oil from, Venezuela looks better in comparison. Remember, we still get oil from the countries that bred the terrorists that gave us 9-11.

Still, he is a thug, a clown. The country would be better without him. He was democratically elected and we should support that over military coups and dictatorships. We need to have the moral upper hand. Bush makes it hard with his actions.

Boycott Citgo?

Sometimes I think the world is topsy turvy. Case in point: Hugo Chavez. He's the leader of Venezuela who famously attacked George Bush a few weeks ago in what can be described as rather inelegant speech at the U.N. He referred to Bush as the devil and theatrically waved his hand in front of his face to wave the "stench" away. The New York tabloids had a field day with it and expressed their outrage. Politicians were livid! Me, I thought it was great theater.

The problem is i have more respect for what he says than what George Bush does. I wish I didn't feel that way but I do. All the stated reasons in going to Iraq in 2003 has been proven false. Hugo Chavez was democratically elected, something George Bush could not claim in 2000. When a coup erupted in 2002 and took over the country briefly, George Bush quickly recognized military leaders that took over Venezuela rather than the democratic elected Chavez.
Our role in Iraq has been muddled but one constant has been the call for a democratic government. If we don't support a democratic government that is socialist what happens if Iraq elects a terrorist-friendly government?

I know Hugo Chavez is a Socialist perhaps even a Communist. However, if that's how they want to run their country, that's their business, we really don't have a right to interfere if their problems don't extend beyond their borders.


Anyhow, there has been a call to boycott Citgo because they are a Venezuelan state run oil company that has committed atrocities like providing cheap heating oil to the citizens of Maine last winter when oil prices were high. Of course that's a typical commie tactic to help the poor, so I guess it makes sense to boycott Citgo. But when you compare Venezuela to every other country we buy oil from, Venezuela looks better in comparison. Remember, we still get oil from the countries that bred the terrorists that gave us 9-11.

Still, he is a thug, a clown. The country would be better without him. He was democratically elected and we should support that over military coups and dictatorships.

Heck the USA would be better without George Bush, I accept his election in 2004 was legitamate as apposed to 2000 and we have to wait until 2009 before we are rid of him. I am worried however that he may try to change the Constitution and put himself in as an emergency war leader after 2009.

Hired!

My time spent being unemployed lasted less than a week. That's the good news, I am working in a restaraunt again, that's the bad news. Well, not really bad news because that is what I need to do for the time being if I am going to catch up on my immediate financial situation and set up to improve my portfolio and try to get work in graphic design, examples of my work can be seen at http://www.freewebs.com/scanscorner/index.htm

Anyway, I can breathe easy for now, and that is good.