Sometimes this world can be such an eloquent place but most of the time it’s atrocious: we bumble about. Like what the detective from haggis’ crash says, we have lost the way to reach out to one another and instead we grab, push and shove. And our incapacity doesn’t shock us, doesn’t force us to re-examine ourselves. Rather we blame one another, we gossip, we dig our nails into each other’s weaknesses, we tear the skin searching for bone. I find it so difficult at times to resist the urge to pretend, to be compliant; any step out of character welcomes derision, ridicule, dismissal. I hear the thoughts and opinions from my aunts and uncles about the presidential campaign, the expectations of obama’s presidency, the choice of palin for vp, the disappointment of losing hillary and I am shocked, disappointed and sometimes even surprised. These are not stupid people but they are capable of saying very stupid things. These are not the most open minded people, but they can say things that transcend the bigotry they have grown up with. One uncle said tonight, ok a black president was elected I don’t need to see these people celebrating about it in my face. Mind you, he lives in a very, very white town: black people are not partying on his lawn, he’s talking about the media coverage of harlem. Another uncle, who has very plainly and openly expressed rather racist views, says, I didn’t vote for obama but I’m glad he won I think he would be good for this country.They can surprise you even when you expect otherwise; even when they have disappointed you countless times before.

From: Al
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2008 21:42:56
To: manny
Subject: Re: I should know better than to start this
I agree with you on the large companies- it’s always cheaper for them to pay someone in another country (lower wages, no health insurance, 401k)
The things that scare me are his lack of experience in foreign policy and radical liberal history. I’m not confident that he’s well prepared to be Commander in Chief. Much has been made about him looking to
enact “socialist” policies and while that may be an exaggeration, let’s not ignore his comments about spreading the wealth around. Now I’m hearing about him looking to make changes to 401k rules, limiting the amount you can contribute etc. and reducing choices. In reality, a lot of what he said in the campaign may not be feasible (not enough money thanks to the $700 billion bailout/can he really just start pulling troops out of Iraq/even a Democratic Congress isn’t stupid enough to pass through legislation that would enrage the masses- they are up for re-election in 2 years).
Also, fuck this equality thing. Government programs exist to help those who need it (good) but don’t sit there and say that there’s too much inequality among the people. You and I own homes and make a living because we work for it. We worked through college, have loans and are making our way without anyone helping us. I always remember what you said when I get these calls from people at home looking for contributions to various organizations. “You don’t see me asking for money for the S_______ fund. No one is donating any money to me to help pay my mortgage”. Word.

There’s quite a lot to parcel out here but what the heck, I’m feeling randy:
George Bush didn’t have any foreign experience either and the executive experience he did have, was running a couple of companies that I believed failed under his tenure. Neither did George Bush have any military experience, but we’ve had no problem with him leading us into a war that never needed to be fought.
Hence the reason for Cheney as VP btw, which if you remember was also the head of his VP committee. Kind of nice to nominate yourself for the position you’ve been asked to approve. Funny how Haliburton, of which Cheney was inimately involved with, has reaped the greatest amount of reward feeding and supplying our troops in iraq and afghanistan. Curious how they can’t account for about 300 million our government, our taxes, gave them, and when pressed, Haliburton threatend to cut off all supplies to our troops.
All this during republican controlled executive and legislative branches of government.
So, while I agree with you that a redistribution of middle class wealth is wrong, I’m not for the continuation of this type of corporate favoritism, bullying, panhandling and manipulation either. And I think this is what obama is referring to about the redistribution of wealth. (And btw, that joe the plumber guy owes back taxes, that fucker hasn’t been paying his fair share for years.)
But I digress.
Now back to the point: mccain’s military experience can be summed up as crashing his plane 3 or 4 times and being quite the drinking maverick while in the navy until he crashed again and was captured. His behavior then, as a pow, was exemplary and commendable. But it’s not indicative of a strategic or diplomatic mind, the kind of qualities you want in a commander and chief. It’s indicative of his stubbornness and pride.
Despite this, despite the fact he returned home a hero, despite the fact that his father and I think grandfather were admirals, the highest position he was told he would attain was rear admiral. Second best, not top: why do you think that is Al? After all the shit he’d been through, and strings that his family could pull for him, why did they tell him that? Because he was not the best soldier, he did not show the qualities to his superiors that the highest position in the Navy required.
And this type of stubbornness and pride cost him the election: it was stupid to pick palin. And the details behind that decision, how he barely knew her, she’d only been governor for 18 months (and don’t give me that shit that she was mayor before that: guiliani, in being mayor of new york city, managed a greater budget and more diverse population than the entire state of alaska-just being a new yorker gives us more foreign policy experience than palin maybe seeing russia on a clear day, but guiliani didn’t get anywhere bc his was pro-choice), that he literally sprung it on her less than a week before the convention, reflect, to me at least, a certain kind of disrespect for the vp position, and a lack of thoughtfulness, if not just plain rashness to do whatever it took to win. She is an evangelical right wing nutjob chosen to rally the neo-cons, the backward social conservatives that got bush elected twice.
Biden was brought on the ticket to balance it, just like cheney was brought on for bush. Mccain didn’t balance it, he tipped it over into the garbage.
Personally, I’m not worried about terrorism and this may sound really fucked up, but if should something happen in ny again, like a nuke, we’re dead on the island anyway. But really, what’s the likelihood of that happening? I mean, do you really feel safer with minimum wage workers checking your bags at the airport or shooing you away when you’re waiting to pick up someone? I don’t bc these people are not professionals, these guys couldn’t take me down if I went on a rampage, as a matter of fact, do they even have guns? So nothing has changed to make me feel safer. Nothing at all. Instead we’re spending 10 billion on a month in a country that’s got a 79 billion surplus. In a country that has reneged on the deal that gave first bids to american oil companies to its oil fields and is instead negotiating with russia and france.
My immediate concern is the economy bc that’s an immediate threat, that’s citigroup cutting 11000 jobs in one fell swoop in one day. that’s me losing my house, my kids losing their home. and on that mccain was not talking to me at all. Just corporate tax cuts and drill more, that’s it. Sure he eventually jumped on the green wagon, but did you watch the rnc? Did you see the signs, hear the chant? Even palin, that idiot who doesn’t know her elbow from her ass, cheering them on. That did nothing for me. Even the most liberal estimates forecast that the cost of finding and refining oil would become impossible to justify in 60 years time, even with drilling in anwr (most agree on the 40 year mark, we’d still be kicking). Sure, who gives a shit right, we’d be dead and our kids middle aged. But can you imagine what gas would cost by the time we get there? Did you see what happened this summer? It’s finally calmed down but that was sure as shit a wake up call.
So, for me, obama’s commitment to green technology and alternative fuels, as well as the need for greater transparency within the market, is what sold me. more government support for alternative fuels and energy leads to more companies, more companies, more offices, more offices, more networks… See where I am going with this for me personally? Both you and I and your wife, as well as mine have quite a hike to work: there has to be some sort of competition to oil, some sort of incentive to bring fuel costs down. We need to get off oil.
And, btw, I read this research paper, not article mind you, an economic research paper with footnotes and citations and everything that pointed out that corporations have been skirting paying their fair share of taxes for years through tax shelters and outsourcing EVEN AS CORPORATE TAXES WERE BEING CONSISTENTLY CUT FOR THE LAST 50 YEARS (from 50% after WW2 to 35% in 2003).
This leads back to my initial response to you, this government is in the pocket of big business while we’re caught in its fly and being zipped up right over its fat smelly dick.

From: Al
To: manny
Subject: I should know better than to start this
Sent: Nov 7, 2008 12:38 AM
So are you happy that Obama won but yet sad at the same time because he is going to spread your wealth around, i.e. raise your taxes?
Thanks for tuning in to our new segment, “What makes Al so fucking angry”:
Actual quote from someone who voted for Obama:
“I voted for him because what if John McCain catch a heart attack? Then we’d have to vote again”
(After I punch a few babies and get out my aggression, I laugh at that last part)
Don’t these people know that you get a heart attack shot with the flu shot now?

Well he’s not going to raise mine, we’re actually going to get a bump bc of him.
But I sure as shit am glad that some health insurance credit isn’t going to be taxed vis-a-vis the mccain health plan.
The ones that are really going to be screwed are small business owners but that has been the case for years now.
Al, I don’t mind talking about this stuff, and I am open to criticise any politician, dem or republican. I’m a registered independent: so both of these clowns were trying to appeal to me. For national and judicial candidates, I voted dem, for state and local, I went repub. Frankly, I think we need stronger 3rd parties, but that’s not going to happen bc it would disrupt the status quo and americans like keeping everything either/or, black or white: they’re too lazy to actually be involved.
Mccain made a huge mistake pandering to the religious right and putting palin on the ticket: the woman was a moron and the choice of her is indicative of a kind of brash arrogance on the part of mccain. He wanted to snub the gop’s nose in it bc he really wanted lieberman and they wouldn’t go for it. Mccain at the start of the campaign is radically and disappointedly different than the mccain that finished. That guy wouldve given me a run for my money, but not this guy who thought so little of the vp position and so overconfident in his own health, that he chose a moron, and I really think she’s a moron (have you ever even tried to work through some of her sentences? They are utter gibberish), someone he barely knew, as his running mate.
But here’s the rub, and this has always been my stance when we’ve talked about these kind of things: in the end, it doesn’t matter, there is too much money to be made abroad for large corporations to bother with americans. There are countries who lack a strong consumer class and it is in the interest of global capitalism to develop those countries so that they afford more products and services. And I say this as someone who has seen it within my own company: american profits only rose like 5%, where overseas (latin america and asia) went up 40%. Employees in these countries are being paid 40 to 60 % less than american counterparts.
It’s hard to make the argument against outsourcing with numbers like those. Clearly more employees are need ‘out there’ than here.
This is why the whole corporate tax thing, at least for large companies like citi, exxon-mobil, is meaningless. Lowering their tax burden will not give them incentive to stay: they were already planning leaving. Would you stay with your current employer for a 10% bump in salary when you could be making 8x the money you’re making now?
It’s the middle class and small business owners that’ll get fucked, regardless of who or what party is in control.

the first african american presidential candidate has been elected. celebrations as far as kenya, his father’s birthplace and even japan. i hold no hope, despite the historical moment: we are all entralled but miss the point. this is all show. this is all diversion. social reform will not heal the economy. a greener economy will meet great resistance. we are too entrenched, our politicians too corrupt, the system a sham. the global economy, or rather global capitalism has already found new territory to sow, reap and plunder. they have been planing to leave for decades, the impetus to stay long gone. too much potential in developing third world countries into a fresh consumer class. we’ve run out of money, it’s already gone. just speculators and strewn confetti left for us now.

watching sarah palin and completely losnig my shit on her stance on the “culture of life.”
did it ever occur to these republicans that pro-choice is more in-line with their conservative values?
here’s why: the vast majority of abortions are performed on women in their early teens to mid twenties living in metropolitain areas. they are not financially indepedent and most likely because of their lack of a college education will not be after they bring a baby to term.
here we go, child born into unwanted household to parents, or rather PARENT of limited means. even worse, child goes into foster care. who subsidizes foster care, the government. abortion gets outlawed, more kids into the system. but not unwanted rich babies. people of means would simply leave the country to have the procedure performed elsewhere.
so now we’re left with unwanted babies being born to poor, working class teen/early twenty year olds in metropolitain areas of limited means and limited education. how are they going to support these children? ah, they ask for help, help from whom? the government.
so now we got single parents on welfare, children in foster care, and the government determining where these children should stay, how they should live. children in foster care tend to remain institutionalized in one way or another: mental, juvenile, correctional, etc.
more government oversight, regulation and bureaucracy.
how the fuck is this in-line with the touted fiscal conservatism of the republicans?

We are constantly saying things we do not mean: I’m fine, we’re all fine, I hate you, I miss you, I love you. We say them to fill up space, we say them because we are afraid of the repercussions of piercing the veil, of looking behind the curtain. It’s the lies that hold this world together, that bind us into a false sense of security. Because we know there is no wizard, we’ve become too old to believe in magic, we’ve become snugly accustomed to not being ourselves.

If you make it a matter of inspiration, nothing ever gets done, you’ll get no where.
It needs to be a force of will, you to be disciplined, you meed to do.
And sometimes, after a line or two of utter garbage something will come: something wondrous, monstrous, something that will you inspire you.
But most of the time it will be nonsense, it will be incoherent and unsalvageable.
However, ever present, the gnawing still, “one chance each time.”

Nortiz
You need a 2.5″ gas pipe to be routes to this thing. About 1 min for water to get hot from tap. Cost is roughly in the $2000-4000 range.
HERE ARE TOP SIX REASONS FOR GOING TANKLESS
(NOTE: Noritz does not manufacture electric tankless water heaters.)
Endless Hot Water
No Storage, No Shortage
The most popular advantage of tankless water heaters is that you will never run out of hot water. This is because tankless water heaters heat water on demand, and that means no storage or shortage of hot water. Imagine the luxury of always having hot showers or filling up a Jacuzzi hot tub and still having endless supply of hot water for the rest of your household needs. It’s about time your home had equal supply of hot and cold water.
Higher Volume
Hot Water For Any Size Home
Tankless water heaters are capable of supplying more hot water than traditional tank-type water heaters. With Noritz features such as Quick-Connect and Multi-System, our tankless water heaters can meet any hot water demand of today’s homes.
Clean Water
No Dirty Tanks
With a tankless water heater, water is heated as it passes through the unit so you will never have to use hot water that has been stored in an old rusty tank. As the years pass by, traditional tank-type water heaters start to rust and build-up scale inside the tank, which is where your hot water is being stored for use.
Space Savings
Flexible Installation Options
Compact in design, Noritz tankless water heaters can be installed virtually anywhere. Compared to traditional water heaters, one of the most obvious differences is its small size. Our tankless water heaters come in models that mount on the wall, inside or outside. This eliminates the bulky tank that requires much more space.
Energy Savings
Lower Water Heating Costs
With a Noritz tankless water heater, you’ll save energy and thus, money. Our on-demand systems require no pilot light and can save about half the cost of your current water heating bill since there is no re-heating of water as with traditional water heaters.
Lasts Longer
Durability
Noritz tankless water heaters are extremely durable, lasting longer than traditional tank-type water heaters, and requiring little maintenance over its lifetime. Noritz wants you to feel comfortable with our tankless water heaters so we back them with one of the best warranties in the industry.

Top 10 Bizarre Body Modifications
Published on August 17, 2008
[This list contains text that some may not consider family friendly] Many of us have had piercing in the ears and probably quite a number of us have piercing in other less common parts of the body, but there are some people who have outright bizarre piercing and other body modifications. It was certainly not an easy task to find “safe” pictures for this list – but I have done my best!
10.Branding
Human branding is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or cold iron. It therefore uses the physical techniques of livestock branding on a human.
9.Subdermal Implant
A subdermal implant refers to a kind of body jewelry that is placed underneath the skin, therefore allowing the body to heal over the implant and creating a raised design. Many people who have these implants use them in conjunction with other types of body modification to create a desired, dramatic effect.
8.Earlobe Stretching
Most people can stretch to at least 2ga (1/4″) and still have the tissue return to normal when they remove the jewelry, but there really are no guarantees. Don’t stretch your ears unless you are certain you’ll be okay with it forever. Once the elastic limit of the skin has been passed, or a large amount of additional tissue has been built up, the hole will not close again completely. A person who is either obsessed with stretching their piercings, or with showing off their many stretched piercings, is known as a “Gauge Queen”. Some wear this term with pride, others use it derisively.
7.Tongue Splitting
Tongue bifurcation, or tongue splitting, is a type of body modification in which the tongue is cut centrally from its tip part of the way towards its base, forking the end. In most cases, the split is created through scalpeling or surgical laser. Self modifiers often choose to achieve a split by gradually tightening nylon bindings inserted through an existing tongue piercing over a long period of time. This method is long, arduous, and requires a high pain tolerance.
6.Tooth Filing
Tooth filing is a form of body modification in which people file their natural teeth to create a desired look or shape.
5.Tightlacing
Also called corset training and waist training, this is the practice of wearing a tightly-laced corset to achieve extreme modifications to the figure and posture and experience the sensations of a very tight corset. Those who practice tightlacing are called tightlacers. Some tightlacers call the corsets they wear training corsets.
4.Pearling
This is the practice of permanently inserting small beads made of various materials beneath the skin of the genitals–of the labia, or of the shaft or foreskin of the penis. As well as being an aesthetic practice, this is usually intended to enhance the sexual pleasure of partners during vaginal or anal intercourse. The practice seems to have been fairly common across world cultures and is still done today. You can see a VERY Not Safe For Work image here.
3.Corneal tattooing
Eyeball tattooing has been around for a long time; in the 19th century it was commonly used to correct cosmetic defects in blind eyes. The procedure can be performed with traditional tattoo needle or a syringe. The eye is simply held open while the pigment, which is the exact same type used in a regular tattoo, is injected into the eyeball.
2.Anal stretching
The process of anal stretching is a lot like earlobe stretching, except you don’t wear the “jewelry” around the clock. Like stretching a piercing, it involves slow and increasingly larger play over an extended period of time. The image above is for “tools” to aid in this modification.
1.Extraocular Implant
The implantation of jewelry in the outer layer of the eye, this is one I must admit I had not heard of. Apparently first done in the Netherlands, it has come to the US. According to Dr. Christopher Rapuano, a corneal surgeon at Philadelphia’s Wills Eye Hospital, “You can think of it as crazy. I mean this is invasive surgery where you are cutting the surface layer of the eye open to put a little piece of jewelry in. The first time I read about this I said, ‘Oh, my God, who is doing this?'” The safety of this procedure will have to prove itself over time, since it hasn’t been performed on many people, but the possibility for infection and complications is definitely there.
Bonus Pierced Glasses
James Sooy and Oliver Gibson have come up with Pierced Glasses – the most minimalist eyewear since the Pince-nez was invented in the 1840’s. I would not have believed this one if I had not seen it with my own bespectacled eyes.
Notable omissions: penis splitting (try finding a SFW image for that!)