I know my rants about the ever growing web of surveillance cameras and the “Big Brother” phenomenon tend to fall on deaf ears. I also know that most people out there could give a rat’s ass about a law that seems good on the surface but, in reality, strips yet another right or choice away from the public. But it’s hard not to think that people would be up in arms at the latest government invasion going on in Arizona. Not only is this invasion attempting to bring the citizens of the U.S. one step closer to the CCTV-laden world of Great Britain, but it’s also a blatant example of state government finding a way to fleece their populace and visitors to their state because they can’t reign in their own budgetary excesses. That’s right, Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano, wants to deploy photo radar and “other speed enforcement technology” on their state highways in order to capture people driving over the speed limit and send them tickets in the mail. (more…)

It becomes ever clearer to me that I just don’t understand. Somehow people have this insane notion that they’re entitled. Period. Entitled. To cars, to food, to a job, to a house, to everything that anyone else has. People seem to believe that these things are guaranteed to them, as opposed to things that have to be earned and paid for. For example, an eviction was postponed in Dorchester today. Why? Because people got together and protested the eviction with signs that read “housing is a human right“. That’s lovely and it would be heartwarming and meaningful if the woman was being chased off her property for some poorly implement Eminent Domain case, or because she refused kickbacks to the Mayor’s office. Problem is, the woman was being evicted because she defaulted on her loan and was no longer meeting her obligations or paying her bills. Since they weren’t being paid, the bank, which was unfortunate enough to pick up her mortgage, foreclosed on her home. She no longer owns that home, because she didn’t meet her responsibilities. She wouldn’t even pack because “God” was on her side. As far as I’m concerned, she’s squatting on the property and should be evicted. (more…)

Let me preface this little rant by stating that I know that I’m not the best driver in the world. I’ve had my share of dumb-ass moves and been in more than my share of accidents (I’d like to point out that 90% of these accidents were the fault of the other motorist(s), including the policemen with whose cars I collided, which is why my insurance is still low), and will certainly not claim to be holier than the unwashed masses. However, what I experience on a daily basis in this state boggles my mind. I just don’t understand what other people on the road are thinking and can only assume by their idiotic actions that they are, in fact, not. I assume it has to be like this in other states as well, but one thing that the Northeast has is a high density of cars on some outmoded roads. This means that our assclowns are worse than your assclowns only because they have much less space in which to perform their fuckery. What inspired me to tap out this little missive is the fact that my heart rate hit triple digits this morning on my commute into the office. Mind you, due to my recent heart issues I’m on drugs that keep my heart rate down so when I come close to my target exercise heart rate without actually moving, something’s amiss. (more…)

It’s obvious to anyone who reads anything I write or who has spoken with me for more than a few minutes: I’m a nerd. I’m just fine with that. Part of my nerdish nature revolves around horror, fantasy and sci-fi books and movies. With that in mind, try to imagine my horror when I first saw the trailer for the upcoming Will Smith vehicle, “I Am Legend.” “I Am Legend” is a book published in 1954 by Richard Matheson. When I first heard about the book back in the late Nineties, I had tracked down a copy on a fledgling Amazon.com (back when they still sold only books) and, after reading it, added it to my list of all-time-great horror stories. I won’t rehash the plot here (you can read it yourself), but suffice it to say that the idea of Will Smith in the lead role, having it set in a major city, and the fact that it’s directed by a guy who used to direct a lot of music videos for pop stars bodes ill for this project. I know Will Smith can, on occasion, expand his acting abilities beyond snappy one-lines in over-hyped, under-written action films, but the trailers for this adaptation lead me to believe that the studio is approaching this with less than reverence for the source material and more for the CG department. (more…)

I was catching up on the local news today and noticed that there is some grumbling about Deval Patrick’s foreclosure program. This got me thinking about the so-called “crisis” in the housing market where those people who took advantage of subprime loans and ARMs are discovering that they vastly overextended themselves and can no longer afford their mortgage after the rate adjusts. This is happening everywhere because the housing market was pretty hot a few years back, and Massachusetts (which has had an overpriced housing market for years before the housing boom) was right at the head of the pack. Now that the housing market has cooled and the realities of ARMs are hitting home for those who should never have bought a house in the first place, suddenly it’s a crisis. What’s more amazing to me is that both Federal and State governments are trying to find ways to bailout homeowners who can’t meet their financial responsibilities. Whatever happened to people taking responsibility for their own actions? (more…)

Having recently had a heart attack that required a week in the hospital, two catheterization procedures for both investigation and the placing of stents, and a need for prescription drugs for the rest of my life, I’ve discovered that I have a stronger interest in the health care system here in the United States. One of the concepts that keeps getting pushed out there by politicians is the concept of Socialized Health Care, or Universal Health Care. This would be an attempt to mimic the health care systems of countries like Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Cuba and so forth. I’ve been doing a little bit of research and while I agree that our system of health care has a lot of issues that need to be addressed, moving to Socialized Health Care seems like a giant step in the wrong direction. (more…)

A while back, I signed an online petition organized by a then-fledgling group called MoveOn.Org. The petition was in protest of abuses by the FCC. MoveOn.Org provided another outlet for me to express my frustration with the direction of the FCC, the other being the EFF. By signing this petition, I became a “member” of MoveOn, apparently. This was entertaining for me because my political views fall way outside MoveOn’s general spectrum. I’ve never donated money to any of their causes or ads, but I have signed the occasional petition for actions I believe to be legitimate and in the best interest of our country. I don’t support most of their actions, but neither will I decry their efforts as I find their passion to be inspiring. I may not agree with them all the time, but I wholeheartedly support their effort to involve the regular folks who often feel so disenfranchised. MoveOn.Org recently ran an ad that attacked General Petraeus’ report to Congress about the effectiveness of the troop surge in Iraq. They basically claimed that Petraeus was “cherry-picking” his facts to make the surge look effective when multiple reports from other sources indicated that the surge was not effective. As part of their ad they called him “General Betray Us”. Needless to say, some were not amused. (more…)

I realized last night that I couldn’t work on “The Daily Show“. Assuming, of course, that I even had the talent to write for this show, I don’t think I could handle the work. I enjoy the show and I enjoy the way they skewer politics/politicians, but I would lose my mind. They spend hours and hours watching the news, reading the wire services and reviewing speeches. Then they condense all the idiocy into a few minutes of on-topic comedy. I imagine that I would soon cease to find the comedy and just get angrier and angrier. Listening to those self-serving “public servants” spew their bullshit day after day would just drive me nuts. I couldn’t write comedy, I could only write anger. That’s why I have a ton of respect for the staffers on “The Daily Show”. I may not agree with all their political viewpoints, but I admire their ability to point out the ridiculous in our political process. They somehow manage to find the comedic center of all the idiocy in which they immerse themselves. That’s hard work.

The other night, Bob Weir and RatDog performed at Boarding House Park, home of the Lowell Summer Music series. As expected, the place was packed (over-packed, really) with a crowd made up primarily of that group loosely defined as “hippies”. Now, I don’t know what happened to the romantic vision of hippies that once flourished in the youth of the baby boomer generation, but the last thing I experienced from this large crowd was peace and love. (more…)

It’s not secret that I’m not a big fan of giving up our civil liberties or the rights afforded us by the Constitution for a sense of security, often a false sense of a security. But one of the biggest problems arguing against the various abuses of our privacy by the current Bush administration has been the belief many people have that “only the bad people will be affected”. It’s this willful ignorance and willingness to turn a blind eye that allows governments to take advantage of their citizenry. For those of you who believe this way, I urge you to watch the recent Frontline show entitled: Spying on the Home Front. You can even watch it online at PBS.org. After you’re done and you’ve got that sick feeling in your gut that occurs when you realize that you’ve been betraying the ideals, indeed the very foundations of your nation out of sheer laziness and fear, take a moment to do something simple: join the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that is fighting to protect our privacy in this new, digital age where the old rules are being ignored and new ones have not yet been made.