It's just a Ride

• Apparently, instead of looking for the next Ronald Reagan, someone's looking for the next Richard Nixon. Somebody have this man brought in for questioning.
• For years now, I've been concerned about whether or not I wanted a Democrat to follow George W. Bush or not. Bush has botched just about everything so badly that I don't want everything to come crashing down into chaos when a Democrat is in the office. But it appears that Bush is going to do his best to push any major fixes until after he's out off office, and he knows it.
• The GAO just does not like George W. Bush.
• Jazz legend Joe Zawinul is dead.
  

Six years ago, something pretty bad happened. Since then a lot of bad things have happened to our country, and a lot of bad things have happened to other countries because of us, and because of what was started on four airplanes in 2001. Some people still know what it's supposed to be about. But some people have gotten a lot harder, and people have gotten scared, and people have gotten angry. In your eyes, this passage may or may not be applicable, and those of you who know me will have seen this before, but it's become a guidepost for me and it bears repeating.

The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride...” But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus - murdered; Martin Luther King - murdered; Malcolm X - murdered; Gandhi - murdered; John Lennon - murdered; Reagan... wounded. But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.

--Bill Hicks

Think about that, and think about what Colin Powell said, and think about the past six years of global history. Then make your choice.