sandorthegreat's blog

In a rather roundabout manner, I have been introduced to an alternative fuel source which is quietly growing in popularity.

Recently, due to some rather unfortunate circumstances detailed in a previous blog (my work car got wiped out by an uninsured drunk driver), I had to sell my beloved "commuter" car.  It was a '98 Mustang GT, 5-speed manual, 4.6L V8.... God, that car was a blast.  Anywho, I sold it because I need a small pickup to fill in for the duties of the now-defunct 1980 Bobcat, which by now is in cube form in a wrecking yard. 

So, it's time to elect some new representatives.  And while the Presidential race is always heavily publicized, I hope everyone reading this knows that the president doesn't "make" laws.  It's the legislators, the Congressmen who do the actual democratic dirty work.  We live in a republic, a representative democracy, not a "true" democracy.  If we did... all we would ever do is vote!  So we elect representatives to, well, represent us, in the state and federal governments.  This is not something to be taken lightly!  I try to think of voting not as a right, but rather as a duty.  This is a government for the people, by the people.  So while Senator John Doe might be casting "his" vote, he's really casting YOUR vote because you voted for him to do just that.  This is precisely why as Americans, we must carefully choose our elected officials.  Those who vote irresponsibly are just as bad, if not worse, than those who refuse to vote (and then complain about the results). 

Bill O'Reilly, the neo-con talkshow host, is in a lot of hot water right now.  Apparently he had said that San Francisco should be bombed by terrorists.  As a CA Bay Area native and resident, I have an awful lot to say about this.  But first, let me provide you with the full quote (this is courtesy of the SF Chronicle). 

O'Reilly was responding to the Nov. 8 elections and two measures which passed in SF, one which discourages military recruitment in public schools and a ban on handgun ownership.  His words were:

"Fine. You want to be your own country?  Go right ahead...And if al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it.  We're going  to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you except San Francisco.  You want to blow up the Coit Tower?  Go ahead." 

I was watching the McLaughlin Group the other day (and by the way, there is nothing more entertaining than watching that guy McLaughlin yell at people, especially Pat Buchanan!), and something occurred to me.  They were talking about possible impeachment of Dubya, and the grounds for it.... one question was, can the Democrat party weasel their way out of earlier (like 2002,2003) support for the war in Iraq?  Pat Buchanan was basically saying that the Democrats didn't force Bush into making a proper case for the war (how funny is that, huh?).  Well, I thought about this for a while....  Bush, his Neo-Con cronies and the Republican party in general is on my sh*tlist, and a the same time I have seen a complete lack of leadership on the part of the Democrats. 

Well hey there to everyone on this site! This is my first blog entry and actually first time using the site, period! Anyway the subject of this blog is merely a thought I had in passing.

I live in the CA Peninsula like some of the other members of this site. Recently, the housing market has been hot, and a lot of people have been... well, gouged on mediocre housing/apartments/condos/etc. simply because living here is so desirable. This I understand-- it's the invisible hand at work, which is fine by me.