1. Taboo Plaza 

Cursing is a valid form of expression if utilized properly.  The biggest danger involved with using "bad" language isn't the prospect of burning in hell, but the possibility of being viewed as stupid.
If someone constantly says "fucking" instead of "really" (as in fucking cool) there is a distinct possibility that person has a rather limited vocabulary.  "Fuck" as a measure of anger is only intelligible if you don't say "fuck" every time your angry.  The scale has to have gradients to make sense.
If at the level of annoyance you always say "come on now" and then at the level of irritation you say "this is making me mad" then when you've escalated to "fuck" it really means something.
My kids from time to time will use a foul word.  I don't generally freak out, but I do sit them down for essentially the same conversation each time.  When you possess a large vocabulary you can use foul language in my presence, if you are my child.  Until that time arrives, keep it clean and use your vocabulary words as much as possible.
As long as I've been posting on this site, I've restrained myself in the tone of my language.  I'll get creative.  I still throw around insults and I'll even make judgment calls that are none of my business to make, but I've tried to keep it relatively clean.
Today I break that pattern.  As I've stated before, there are times when a person's anger level must be interpreted correctly.  Foul language works wonders in these scenarios.  Outright indignation is difficult to decipher from incensed rage on the white page.
There is a difference though. 
As you read my blog post today, please keep this in mind.  You may find fuck or shit offensive, but they are not in the Bible and there is no definitive evidence to show that language is anything more than a tool to be used by sentient beings.
Besides which, if you're offended by fuck and shit then it's time for you to grow up.


2. Current Affairs

More than likely, at some point this week, you fell into the buzz.  You fell into the buzz of the work week and you got caught up in it all. 
You did. 
You stopped thinking and you stopped being.  You became a part of the machine.
Where does that come from? 
The buzz I mean. 
Where you wake up in the morning and you just have a schedule to fill.  Your body needed to be somewhere.  
That buzz is a son of a bitch.
You stop thinking about things.  You stop thinking about life.  Just get your body somewhere and make it happen.  And hopefully, you made it happen.  If you did you probably felt pretty good.  If you didn't you might be unemployed, but even then you don't escape the buzz.  The buzz is always with you.
Or is it? 
There are some people who discuss things.  Things other than having your body somewhere in order to arrive at some emotional conclusion.  Take the emotion out and you have even less to offer in the work week that structures your buzz.
Falling into the buzz happened in many places this week.  Hopefully next week more people will figure out how to escape the buzz.

3. Then Humans Discovered...

   And the beat goes on....   

4. Getting to Know Your Government
The last batch of Senators averaged 10.5 years in public office as U.S. Senators. This week's batch of Senators average 10.5 years as U.S. Senators.

Judd Gregg (Republican, New Hampshire)
Religion: Congregationalist
1969: Columbia University, B.A.
1972: Boston University, J.D.
1975: Boston University, LL.M.
1981 to 1989: U.S. House of Representatives
1989 to 1993: Governor of New Hampshire
1993 to present: U.S. Senator

John Sununu (Republican, New Hampshire)
   Only U.S. Senator of Arabic descent as well as the youngest Senator in office
Religion: Roman Catholic
1987: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S. & M.S.
1991: Harvard Graduate School of Business, M.B.A.
1997 to 2003: U.S. House of Representatives
2003 to present: U.S. Senator

Frank Lautenberg (Democrat, New Jersey)
Religion: Jewish
1942 to 1946: U.S. Army Signal Corps.
1949: Columbia University Business School graduate in economics
1978 to 1982: Executive Commissioner of NY and NJ Port Authority
1982 to 2001: U.S. Senator
   He did not run for reelection in 2000
2003 to present: U.S. Senator

Robert Menendez (Democrat, New Jersey)
Religion: Roman Catholic
1974 to 1978: Union City, N.J. Board of Education member
1976: Saint Peter's College, B.A.
1978 to 1982: Chief Financial Officer of Union City, N.J. Board of Education
1979: Rutger's University School of Law, J.D.
1986 to 1992: Mayor of Union City, N.J.
   1987 to 1991: Member of New Jersey State General Assembly
1991 to 1993: New Jersey State Senator
1993 to 2006: U.S. House of Representatives
2006 to present: U.S. Senate
  

5. Our Nation is Dumber for This...Thank You for Your Participation!

The French are in the midst of their election season and what is happening there clearly illustrates some of the problems we have here in the States.  The French have a pretty cool system for running elections that seems a hell of a lot more democratic than what is going on here.
For one thing, there are 12 people running in the first round for President.  There isn't a primary system that is controlled by two parties.  They've got a guy running on a hunting platform for god's sake.  You might think this sounds ridiculous, but think of the range of conversation this must offer.
Rather than Democrats on one side fighting to define the extreme side of the "liberal" debate and Republicans on the other side fighting to define the extreme side of the "conservative" debate, the French have something like 12 unique positions from which to choose.  They've got at least one socialist, some union chaps, some Trotskyists, a Green Party hopeful, an anti-globalization activist, a communist, an anti-EU nationalist and a guy that hunts.
The good stuff about France's presidential election doesn't stop there. 
They have a political blackout period on campaign ads and election polls a day prior to the polls opening.  They offer political silence to the citizenry for the opportunity to think and digest.
In addition to this they also closely monitor air time to ensure that it is even for each candidate and they limit the amount of money that can be spent during campaigns.
All of these measures give a greater assurance to on-going democracy.  What we have in the U.S. is really a pale comparison of anything resembling a democracy.  Our campaigns are measured in the amount of money that can be collected.  Our airwaves are littered with campaign ads that are misleading and filled with half truths.  The Republicans and Democrats ensure that no other discussions have any real chance of gaining momentum in the United States of America.
We are the prisoners of a two-party money-based oligarchy.  What little vestiges of democracy the Fore Fathers left in place in the Constitution has been undermined and eroded by 20th Century pushes for greater federal control over state authority.  The elections in France this year serve as a sharp reminder.
We are not the spreaders of democracy, because we barely have a democracy of our own.

6. Down On Rage Street

   "Lame," "inept" and "pathetic."  These words have been used to describe Alberto Gonzales' testimony in front of the United States Senate last week.
   Let me see if I can expand this debate.
   A mockery of the democratic method.  Elitist bullshit.  A fucking travesty.
   Call it what you want, but Alberto Gonzales' flagrant disregard for due process and any type of accountability to the people of this country is by far a worse tragedy than anything taking place in Virginia this month.
   It's not that I don't feel empathy for those of you who have to live with the death of a loved one, but that is a very localized event.  Alberto Gonzales might as well have ripped down his trousers in front of the CSPAN cameras and told America to kiss his ass.
   Now that's what George W. is doing.  He supports his longtime buddy.  (Heh, heh, Berto's a good guy and use to be able to hit a mean beer bong without puking ten years after college, heh, heh.)
   If there is going to continue to be an illusion that this is a democracy eventually the people of the country need to have a say in their own government.  That is after all what democracy means.  What took place on Capitol Hill last week clearly illustrates though, why the U.S. isn't- and never has been- a democracy.
   You see, we live in a Republic.  (There are those who will try to say it is the same thing and to those people I would say, "Shut the fuck up.  They are not the same thing.")
   A Republic is democracy for elites who don't trust poor people.  That's why people like Senator Sam Brownback get invited to play Grand Inquisitor to Gonzales rather than you or me.  Brownback is "in" the inner circle of elites.  He can be trusted.
   You, more than likely, are part of the unwashed masses like me.
   The thing that pisses me off more than anything else about this is that Gonzales would use such lame excuses as he doesn't recall remembering.  This shit all took place less than a year ago.  He fired people at the time in question and he doesn't recall remembering anything about any of these situations?
   This leaves only a couple of conclusions that can be reached about Gonzales.  One, he's fucking retarded and has a memory problem.  Two, he's a callus prick who can fire eight people without it riding his conscience enough to stand out in his memory six months later.  Three, he's a piss poor manager who doesn't really pay attention to anything he does even when it involves the livelihood of people on his team.  Or four, he's a fucking liar.
   I don't really care which one of the four conclusions is true, there is nobody on this planet that can convince me you couldn't randomly pick an American citizen to do that job and have it be done at least as well as Gonzales portrayed himself in front of the Senate last week.  
   Ultimately, I apologize for the vulgar language in this column but it is appropriate for the insult Alberto Gonzales (and by default George W.) have heaped upon the people of this country.  There are Americans that like to speak of the high ideals of our country.  Last week, Gonzales squatted and pissed on that idealism.  There are those who would speak of American ingenuity.  Alberto wiped a fresh booger on that bit of sentiment.  There are some of us who still hope democracy is still possible in this country.  Gonzales cast a shitty fart cloud over the rainbow's end of that dream.  
   For all of the dreams you've killed this week by making just one appearance: go fuck yourself Alberto Gonzales.  If you can remember how.

7. I Sure Do Hate It for You

In the vein of the great debate about O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson, Americans now seem to have a new topic to debate. 
Is Alec Baldwin a bad parent or a horrible parent? 
This is a ridiculous conversation and it is real short and sweet to arrive at a conclusion.  When I heard he called his daughter a pig, the vehement anger in the voice of the one telling me led me to believe that "fat" proceeded the insult.  After having listened to the voicemail all I can say is: it happens.
Before you condemn Alec Baldwin let us first give you children and then train a camera on you.  Kids are stupid.  That's their job.  Once they've learned not to be stupid then they are approaching that coveted title of adult.  A teenager seems like an adult and sometimes we parents like to think they are adults, but they're not.
Teenagers will disappoint you.  Your kids will break your heart.  You will say things to your children that you wish you could take back, but once the words hit the atmosphere they are out there.  These are the times in which we learn what restraint means, but that doesn't change the fact that most of us cannot restrain ourselves as much as we might like.
The one thing that is clear, in Alec Baldwin's tirade, is that he is upset.  It is also abundantly clear that there is some history behind his remarks.
If you think you can put yourself on a pedestal in order to judge Alec Baldwin I might first suggest that you examine your own history with your children.  Was there never a time when you said something to your children you wished you could revise?  If you don't have children you cannot speak to this issue!
In the end, Alec Baldwin did not call his daughter a fat pig or a disgusting sow or a fucking bitch.  If you choose to cast your stone in his direction, then sign a release to train a camera on you and let us see how you behave with your own children.

8. Tip of the week

If you've got a habit that you would like to break, I might suggest that you figure out what that habit is.  How often daily do you do it?  How long does it take you?  What do you do while you do it?  Time it!  Then carry a timer around with you for how long it takes until you normally do it. 
Whatever it is.
Take a timer and have it go off at the normal time of it.  It is the habit you want to break.  At the normal time, go and do whatever it is you would normally do but don't do it.  Time how long it usually lasts.  Set the timer.  When the alloted amount of time has passed stop and go back to your life.  Just don't do it.  Think this way and maybe you can stop doing it.
I may try this myself. 
I may let you know how it works.

9. Birthday Shout Outs (4-15 to 4-21)

   And the beat goes on....