Democracy

If I may, I've got some thoughts and my old blog might be the best catharsis for me...

Democracy, as I understand it, is a political system in which majorities of populace elect leaders to represent them in a centralized government. Majority voice equals majority rule. In a system like this, there are always going to be people who feel left out and ignored, but the system we have in place allows those people to come together every so often to change the majority in control. Do I have this right?

For eight years, the Republican party held majority control of America, and depending on where you stand, this was either a great thing or a terrible thing. Either way, history will be written without any violent revolutions or coups having occurred. The people who didn't agree with the people in power did what our forefathers gave them the right to do; they took to the streets and raised their voices in protest of what they believed was unfair. When they felt they had had enough, they banded together and, when given the chance to do so, changed the majority in a fair a legal matter.

Sarah Palin, with a growing number of people, now fronts a movement called the Tea Party, running around the country with the phrase "Take back our country" as a headliner. My question is this: How can a group with so much concern for a healthy working America be so carelessly anti-democracy without realizing it?

In a working democracy, the party system is in place to give the American people two or more people to choose from. We do not have a king put there by birthright. We do not have a dictator who took his power by killing the last man of power. We have a president who was elected by the majority of our population, who took his position via an oath, after shaking the hand of the man he was replacing.

YOU CANNOT TAKE BACK WHAT WAS NOT TAKEN FROM YOU. If I steal my neighbors television, he can take back his television. If I overdraw my bank account, they can take back their money. If I participate in a four year voting cycle and you lose, you are taking away my voice and right by 'taking back' your country.

Sarah Palin and her Tea Baggers: You are not lobbying to save a democracy. Through the vicious acts tied to your party, you are becoming a people more vile and disgusting than that of any stereotype you keep in your mind. You are so concerned with keeping America away from what you see as socialism that you are blind to what you are trying to turn in into: a dictatorship, a country in which people will not have the freedom to disagree or argue. You are letting working class Americans die from lack of healthcare, so as to ensure the extreme cases that do not deserve it do not get it.

You are not helping America move forward. You are not even trying to keep America where it is. You are killing us. You are keeping us diseased. You are ridiculing us for choices you supposedly fight to let us make. You are robbing us of the freedoms you believe we should all have.

I do not feel better.

bth

Thursday - Current Events : Everything

Everything. It encompasses everything because it is everything. It's you and I, it's the sky, the ground and everything in between. Everyone has views on it, so do I. Nobody likes to be told what is right, but everyone likes to tell everybody else what is right. Not what they feel is right, but what is right. That's wrong, but that's my opinion. Here are other things that are my opinion.

• Some people believe in a higher power while some people do not. I do not have the right to persecute anybody for any belief system they hold, nor do I reserve the right to share mine with them on the grounds that I want them to open their eyes to my way of life.
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• Everyone holds a personal belief system that is wholly unique unto them. I do not have the right to persecute them for anything they believe in. You do not have the right to tell me that I am wrong about mine.
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• It is much better to be happy than sad. Some people find joy in things that others do not. As long as nobody else is being put in danger, I do not have the right to judge anyone else for making themselves happy. As long as I am not endangering anybody else, I have the freedom to make my own decisions.
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• As long as no human being is put in danger, it is okay for everyone to be exactly who they are. It is okay for any person to want to change who they are if they are not happy about it. It is okay for any person to remain who they are, even if they are not happy with it.

I can't understand how anybody anywhere could disagree with those points. I'm not trying to preach, I'm the worst person to hold these to as an example. Maybe now that I've gotten them down on "paper", I can begin to work on being a much better person to the people around me. They deserve it.

There's someone in my life that fills me with happiness everyday. I wish I had a way to show it to the entire world. Everyone deserves to feel what I do when I look at my computer wallpaper!

bth

Sunday - Sandbox: Sarah's Notebook Plot

Today, I'm taking the time to write about my girlfriend Sarah, because it's about time. I suppose this isn't going to be just about her in general, but about an idea she and I have come up with that I think is fairly fantastic.

There are a number of activities that we enjoy together, as does any couple. I feel our range of interests is a fairly varied one, but I'm sure there are plenty of people that have us trumped. I'd most certainly have to say, however, that our favorite thing to do together is find and sample Pittsburgh cuisine options that are new to either one or both of us. That being, we're always looking for new places, finding them, getting really excited about them and, almost every time, forgetting about them.

Genii that we are, we've devised a hitherto unknown way to remember things that we might otherwise forget. Folks, we're going to be writing this crap down. After some lengthy email discussion, we decided that a notebook was the best course of action to take. Sarah and her brilliant mind started devising ways to properly organize a book, and we think we're going to go with it as follows: Organize first by type of faire, then alphabetically within the category. There's also going to be a rating system, up to five stars. We'll probably each rate, then combine to get an average rating.

This is why I am fat, but I love it. What better to do than spend an evening on the town with a girl you love, right?

Right.

bth

Saturday - Viewer's Choice: GoodTaste! Pittsburgh Food Expo

For today's viewer's choice blog, the lovely Sarah has asked me to write a bit about the GoodTaste! Food Expo we attended today. Far be it from me to ever critique any event that pretty much offers to shovel food (and drink) down my throat for a small fee, but this ain't gonna be a pretty one.

First and foremost, let's get the small stuff out of the way. I can be kind of fickle, and I'll often have some rather petty complaints about any mass event I'm attending, but this was sort of a bomb from the start. The first wall we ran up against was parking. It wasn't so much that there wasn't enough parking. In fact, quite the opposite. We had our choice of four or five lots to park in. What there wasn't was any sort of helpful sign telling us or anybody else where to go. We had to watch and follow crowds to even figure out what side of the building we were supposed to enter on.

Upon finding the front of the building, we were faced with problem number 2. We, like so many other people attending, had taken the time to purchase tickets online to skip the hassle of waiting in line. No such luck. It actually turned out that there were two separate lines, one to get tickets you had purchased online and another for cash tickets. The largest issue with this was that almost everybody there has purchased them ahead of time, so the line was easily 40-50 people strong, while any straggler who wanted to pay cash could grab a ticket and waltz on in.

Before launching into my biggest tirade, let me just take a second to dump all over the event itself. It was like lining up to take a walking tour of the insides of a living elephant. It was hot, there was no room to turn around or even move forward, there was hardly anything to drink and, while there was definitely an abundance of things to eat, I probably wouldn't recommend sampling much of it in retrospect.

Now, the biggest thing; the cupcake contest. My friend Joanna entered a cupcake contest upwards of a month ago and, out of the many entries in the Pittsburgh area, hers received enough votes to land her in the top five. That meant that today she was given the chance to compete in round two, in which the top 5 bakers got to all Iron Chef all over one anothers asses. I am not sure of the exact restraints of time and contents, but here's what I can tell you: Joanna broke no rules, made the most wonderfully decorated cupcakes imaginable and yet...

It's my understanding that the 5 ladies were told not to have anything outside of the cupcakes themselves pre-made. The lady next to Joanna arrived with pre-made figures. Joanna was told that no one was allowed to lend her aid. The lady next to her had (needed?) help finishing her cake. Joanna was told to make cupcakes that celebrated the holidays. The lady next to Joanna decided to make a cupcake worthy of celebrating the rear end of a pig.

Perhaps to anyone stumbling upon this, it seems a little contrived and biased, but let me assure you, this was the Kerry/Bush election all over again. Had Joanna had the popular vote going for her, she'd have won in a landslide. Let me put it like this... If Joanna had won, people would have walked by saying "Oh! This is the one that won!". Instead, most people ended up walking by the winning entry saying "Oh. This is the one that won?".

Bologna. Rubbish. Bull Honky. Horseshit. Call it what you will. I'm not a culinary expert by any stretch of the imagination, but anyone selling me a belt will tell you that I'm a man who knows him some cake.

Bad form, Pittsburgh.

bth

Tuesday - Music: My Epiphone Goth G-400

For my second entry on my collection of instruments, I'll get the other electric out of the way, as I've been jamming on and recording with it tonight.

The Epiphone Goth G-400. Let me start by defending myself and explaining the Robert Smith-like name. It's called the 'Goth' G-400 because everything is a jet black mostly matte finish. Everything from the pickups to the hardware to the pickguard. Oh right, the neck also has no fret markers to speak of, just this mother of pearl inlay of 'XII' on the (can you guess?) 12th fret. All of this is super dumb.

What isn't dumb is how this baby plays. The pickups it comes stocked with are pretty hot sounding. It's almost like a single coil sound from two humbuckers. The neck on this beast is one of the chunkiest I've ever wrapped my left hand around. Seriously, holding this guitar feels more like holding a baseball bat. It's heavy too, I can't let go of the neck without it taking a dive for the floor, but that's ok. I rarely want to let go of it once I've picked it up.

This neck is so thick that I normally keep the thickest strings I can find on it. I say, if I can keep one guitar tuned to a drop-B for the occasional metal chug-fest, why not right? The main idea you should be taking away from this is that with some of my guitars, I could play you songs until you're blue in the face. With this guitar, I will pummel your face until it's blue anyhow. I'm tired. Goodnight. This was the worst entry ever. You should probably check back once I come back to edit it out of embarrassment.

bth

Thursday - Current Events : I don't know

Thursday... What is it I do these days again? Current events you say? Nothing is going on in the world that is of much interest to me. The Phillies are going to the World Series again, so there's that. I really didn't ever want to resort to bland generic entries, but a foreshadowing of what's to come... Hmm...

PREVIEW PREVIEW PREVIEW!!!!

This FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!!!, Sarah and I will attending a PARTY for our friend ANTHONY!!!! AT A RESTAURANT!!!

There. Did that excite you enough? Capital letters get you going right? Stay tuned this weekend for a double entry, about both the party and my day spent with the lovely Sarah at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium!

bth

Wednesday: Games and Sports - Philly Sports

So chances are, if you're reading this it's because you know me. Personally, man-to-man, cordially, sexually, whatever. If you do, you know what's coming. If not, look out mate...

I live in Pittsburgh, PA, and I love it. In so many ways, it's home. Anything I want to do/eat/see/hear/buy is easily less than twenty minutes from my door, and that's not always drive time either. The thing is... it can't ever be HOME home. I am from the half of this fair state that the sun chooses to shine on first, and boy freaking howdy do I enjoy letting people know that. Like, to the point that people think I'm your typical Eastern PA rude sonofabitch, even though... Anyhow, I have a few ways of pointing this out, but none come up quite as much as my constant undying love for anything Philly sports. Let me try to explain here...

I have no idea what it feels like to be a fan of a team from another city. The logical side of my brain wants me to believe that it's the same everywhere you go. Then, we have the side of my brain that was raised an hour outside of Philadelphia. I can tell you, and I'm right, that it's different from anything I've personally seen. We don't have a team like the Steelers that we don't worry about because there's no question they'll be good. We don't have a Detroit Red Wings that nearly our entire population have seen hoisting a trophy more than once. There are flipsides as well. We don't have an LA Clippers who are so bad that we have given up on them. We don't have a Phoenix Coyotes who are such a bad draw that we might end up losing them altogether. No, until last year, almost exactly, all we had to go on were hopes and somedays.

The thrill of seeing our Fightin' Phils win that World Series last year was so great that the entire city practically shut down. Seriously, for one day, a victory parade brought more people to Philly than the Olympics would. I could never contend that we are better fans or better people or anything like that. It's just that we're stuck in this odd limbo that I'm not sure any other North American pro-sports city knows the likes of. For years, almost every year, our big four teams have been good, even great. They've taken us to the playoffs consistently, and even occasionally to the big game. The '97 Flyers, the '01 Sixers, the '04 Eagles. All huge games, and all huge letdowns.

We're not as rabid or loyal as Pittsburgh. We're not as storied or worthy as Detroit. We're not as numerous as LA or as proud as NY. Hell, we're not even as scrappy as New Jersey. We're just Philly fans, and nothing is ever going to take that out of us.