:: Ray's Periodic Rantings ::

:: Monday, September 30, 2002 ::

I just sent this email to Henry Hyde, my representative in the 6th district of Illinois:

"Please let Mr Hyde know that I am opposed to *any* unilateral authorization for military action against Iraq. Until weapons inspectors can determine the true state of affairs there as relates to weapons of mass destruction, or the UN Security Council passes a new measure directing international forces to act for a specified purpose, we have no business attacking a sovereign nation, no matter what the administration alleges is going on there.

"Frankly, I believe that this whole Iraq thing is an election year ploy by the President and the Republicans to distract us all from their miserable handling of the economy and the war on terror. I will continue to believe this until presented with adequate evidence otherwise, which simply hasn't happened yet.

"There are plenty of issues right here at home that are far more important to the everyday lives of Americans than the exploits of a crank dictator on the other side of the planet, who has been watched and contained for a decade. Forget Saddam, and let's get on with the stuff that really matters."

Many house members now use web forms that request the land address of people wanting to write, in order to verify their constituency. One would hope that this means they are no longer just discarding these messages like they did in the early days. Want to contact your representative? Look him or her up.
:: Ray 10:14 AM [+] ::
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Lest you think I am all serious and no fun, let me just say that I really enjoy the term "saber rattling." It conjures for me images of Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animated films with skeletons brandishing swords. Makes me grin every time.
:: Ray 12:26 PM [+] ::
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Al Gore made quite a speech on Monday. He touched a nerve for me about what Prez Bush has managed to accomplish in a year. Read my Rantings and you will know I am no fan of the president, but if you haven't thought much about it, take a moment to do so now. Do you feel safer in the world than you did in, say, January? What good is all the saber rattling against Iraq doing? It has completely squandered the good will the world felt toward us after 9/11, and distracted the American public from what was supposed to be our primary focus, the war on terrorism. Whatever happened to Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar? (Oh yeah, those guys!) Are a few aluminum tubes the best evidence the Bush Administration can offer that Iraq is close to developing nuclear weapons? Is Saddam really in any kind of position to hurt us or anyone else in the forseeable future that could possible justify us invading a sovereign nation? I have a hard time believing so, and I think that dealing with him is best done through the U.N.

I am frustrated and anxious about events as they are unfolding. I think that American unilateral action against Iraq is an astonishingly bad idea, and for the first time in a long time I feel powerless to stop it. It's too bad the majority of Americans weren't able to stop it either, in the 2000 election. Ray's wild conjecture: if the roles had been reversed and Bush had won the popular vote but Gore had been inaugurated president, I would put big money on it that the Republicans would be screaming for the abolishment of the Electoral College right now. Instead we have a situation where a president that we didn't vote for wants take us into a potentially catastrophic blunder of a war, seemingly to distract us from his other failings and to avenge those of his father as well. It makes me ill, really ill.
:: Ray 7:40 PM [+] ::
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Illinois' governor's race is awfully depressing this year. We have been handed a choice between Rod Blagojavich, a Democrat whom I consider to be a Chicago machine hack and weasel, and Jim Ryan, a frighteningly conservative (read: anti-choice) Republican. The man I supported in the primary, Paul Vallas, made a good showing, but was a more independent Democrat and thus unpalatable to Mayor Daley, who didn't let him win.

I am a passionate liberal, and as a result I usually vote Democratic. This choice for governor isn't so clear. I think Mayor Daley has too much power. Putting Blagojavich, whose father-in-law is a Chicago machine Alderman, in office would give him even more. This makes me uncomfortable. But what has precipitated things for me is that today I read in the Tribune that Blagojavich wants to close Meigs Field. Despite the cheesy web page, I have to agree that it is the "Coolest Little Airport on the Planet," and I think that closing it would be terribly short-sighted. Ryan, the Republican, wants to keep it open. For that, he may just have won my vote. We'll see.

On a more frivolous note, trains are cool. On Mondays I usually take the 4:39 Union Pacific Northwest Line train from Chicago to Des Plaines. It arrives at 5:09, and right after it departs, an express thunders through the station on the center track. If I have time, I like to stand there and watch it go by before I turn and start walking home. That's just the kind of geek I am.
:: Ray 5:54 PM [+] ::
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I am still not operating at 100% since returning from the Burning Man trip. I think several things are going on. Among them are that, surprise, I miss Mary. But I also haven't been feeling particularly fulfilled at work. The people there are nice enough, but my job hasn't been very challenging for a long time now. To be honest I am a bit bored with it. Yet, the hours and vacation time are great, and the money is good enough, so I don't have any incentive to leave. I keep wanting to think it is a self motivation problem -- that I could make it challenging by being diligent about working on long term projects. Is it? Could I? Is it my job to do things I have not specifically been asked to do, when little other than abstract interest in them has been expressed by the powers that be? More about this to come as I ponder it.

For now my big excitement is that this Saturday I will once again harness Betty and Bam Bam and take them to Wisconsin for a Burning Man decompression party. I am going alone, hoping to meet other Chicago burners in anticipation of next year. Will post my experience here. And in this vein, let me say that more Burning Man stories and pictures are forthcoming.
:: Ray 5:49 PM [+] ::
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On August 24, Mike K and I began our Burning Man adventure by heading West with Bam Bam the Bronco towing Betty. Bam Bam rocks! He handled Betty just fine, albeit at 8 miles per gallon. We made it to Black Rock City on Tuesday, the 27th, and parked at 225 degrees & Fantail with three other Airstreams owned by people we had met on my Burnstream email list. Chris was there from Texas, with his 1959 Caravel (I think) that he had been feverishly restoring for two months. Monte was there from Northern California with his 1972 Overlander, similar to mine, but tricked out with solar power, among other things. Stan was there with his newer 2000 model, very slick. Wednesday, Molly and James & Ingrid arrived. Mike's friends Lucy and Julie & Craig camped with us. We all had a wonderful week of seeing the sights and being neighborly, amid perfect weather, sunny but not absurdly hot, with just one dust storm.

The drive home was long, with Mike and I leaving Black Rock on Monday morning and arriving in Chicago Wednesday night. I am still tired and recovering from the whole thing, as well as trying to discern what it was all about for me. I missed Mary almost constantly, being surrounded by reminders of what a good time I had had with her there two years ago. Yet if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have been there enjoying myself the way that I was, injected into a neat little social world of Airstream owners among others. I don't feel guilty, just sad yet grateful.

I just have to point you to yesterday's Tom the Dancing Bug again, this time titled The Top-Secret Plan for Iraq. Diabolical!
:: Ray 12:22 PM [+] ::
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