I live in Fairfax, VA. Zipcode 22031. Look it up. If I threw a rock hard enough, I can almost hit DC. It's not way the hell out in the country. Not redneck-ville or anything. Pretty suburban. Every now and then, you come across something that makes you think your view of your little world has been clouded by some rosy-ass colored glasses. Case in point:

Driving home from work today, I drove past a road-kill dear. Pretty big beast. Not too strange around here (unfortunately), but this one was special. Somebody had taken the time to pull over and surgically remove the fucking head! Who the hell does that? In the suburbs? Is this thing now adorning some fool's living room wall? Sheesh. Just when you think you've seen everything.

So back in April (for my legions of fans keeping track), I mentioned that I got a fancy new digital camera. Well, the mediocre results of my first couple of months have finally been posted up where people can see them. The site was created, designed, coded and is hosted by a friend (and fellow photographer), I'm just freeloading. So big ups (if you will) to Ben of the Paved Earth Worldwide Radio Network for all the work. The photosite (which is still a work-in-progress) can be seen here: www.eighteenpercent.net. It showcases both of our work. My stuff is attributed to Gary, his is to Ben. Go figure. I believe we're trying to incorporate a comment system on the site, but until then, feel free to comment on the photos here (on the blog).


Oh, and for the record, both of the above URLs will remain in my "Links" list on the right side of the main Blog page until I remove them. Which could be any minute...so bookmark now!

NEWS FLASH:

"Montgomery County MD Teen's Beating Death Ruled a Homicide

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) - The death of a 16-year-old who was beaten by a group of other teens has been ruled a homicide, according to the state medical examiner."

http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=211189

From m-w.com:

Main Entry: ho·mi·cide
Function: noun
1 : a person who kills another
2 : a killing of one human being by another

So this kid was beaten to death by other people? No shit? What a novel idea. I suppose this is in direct contridiction to all of the people who beat themselves to death in suicide each year. Do they even need to say this shit out loud? I'm tired of the stupid media. Next thing they'll be telling us is "Man who ingested 2 gallons of water through nose while swimming probably drowned". Save a tree. Fuck, save an electron. Don't print this shit. Gah.

First new post since the new format. Dunno if I'm impressed yet or not. Didn't realize Google owned this thing either. Surprise! On with the rant...

I saw a report the other day about how my geographic area (Washington DC Metro region) was "cracking down on aggressive drivers". According to the news broadcast, "Aggressive Driving" consisted of:

-speeding
-changing lanes without signaling
-tailgaiting
-driving aggressively(??)

No kidding...aggressive driving = "driving aggressively". Who'd have guessed. The dumbass newscast even put up a little graphic ("Kyron" or something) that outlined this revalation.

Now I'm not saying that there are "aggressive drivers" that should be busted, but in my opinion, a much larger driving group should be targeted long before worrying about "aggressive drivers": the DWS.

While I'm on my soapbox, I'd like to propose a new class of felonies: DWS. Driving While Stupid. You know how many time's I've been in fear for my life due to a speeder? None...ok, maybe once, but I can't remember the specifics now, so it must not have been too bad. You know how many times I've been nearly destroyed by assholes in an Escallade (and similar behemoths) meandering into my lane while they're trying to dial their stupid fucking cell phones to talk to their stupid fucking brokers? About 50 since I started counting (last week). Tools who drive 55 in the far left "fast lane"? DWS. How about the people who are driving 55 mph when they come upon a police speed trap. What do they do? Slam on their brakes and drop to about 35 MPH *on the highway*. Sorry, you're fired from being allowed to drive. DWS. Dumbass.

Ok, I'm posting this now, since it's been in perpetual draft mode since 5/20/04. I'm just that lazy.

So I've been ignoring this blog thing for a few weeks. Seemed like fun at first, then the shiny newness of it wore away. Oh well...the price I pay for having the attention span of a housefly.

Anyway...I got a fancy new digital camera last month, so I've been trying to do some cool art-photography (as opposed to pix of grandma and the cats that most tools tend to focus their attention on). It's going pretty well thus far. Hopefully I'll have some stuff up online soon. And then I'll be able to start selling prints. Which will lead me to getting an even cooler dSLR camera. Since this one is no longer shiny enough.

This won't matter to anyone outside of VA, but it pisses me off enough to rant about it anyway:

Overview: Basically, here in Virginia, we have a "personal property tax" (aka "car tax) which we pay yearly. Basically if you own cars/boats/houses/stuff you get to pay tax on it every year. This is in addition to the initial sales tax you paid, and in addition to any homeowners taxes you may have to pay.

Back in 1998, a bunch of Republicans used this tax as a tool to get themselves elected. Basically, they said "vote for us Republicans, and we'll abolish the "car tax". Sweet. They managed to fool a ton of morons into voting them in. About 3 minuts after moving into their new offices in Richmond they noticed that if they did in fact get rid of the "car tax" the state of Virginia would immediately go broke. Hee hee...woops.

Then they changed thier tune: "Ok, we won't abolish it outright like we promised, we'll phase it out over a bunch of years (10? I forget).

So they managed to phase things out for the last few years (thanks, asses). Now they're noticing that if they go through the final phase out, the state of VIrginia will go broke (sound familiar?). Now they're capping the amount of the "car tax refund". Basically, a roundabout way of saying "err...thanks for electing us, but we really can't unfuck this car tax thing. But we'll enjoy our offices just the same!".

So, my proposal is that any politician that got elected with the help of that bullshit platform must:
1) leave office today. don't even pack your shit.
2) pay back whatever salary they earned while holding a job based on a bullshit premise and
3) stop by my house for a swift kick in the nuts, on the way back to whatever shithole they came from.

http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=193162

Assholes.

From Newsday.com

"UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT:
Fetus 2nd victim of violence"

Third, if you count a woman's rights regarding her own body.