11:00 am and no new topic?!?!

[matthew]

It's not so much that the Canadian dollar is doing so well, it is more that the myth of the strong U.S. dollar is coming to light.

I do believe we are coming up to an inevitable crash as the smoke and mirrors illusion that kept American hegemony (economic and otherwise) the norm since the country seized power following World War II. Wasn't it A.J.P Taylor who said that the Second World War was essentially a European Civil War that was won by two non-European nations (Soviet Union and the United States of America)? The U.S. came out a TAD stronger than the Soviet Union as it was entirely separated from the conflict by the Atlantic...12,000 civilian deaths (mostly aboard ships and living/working abroad - some killed at the Imperial Holding known as Pearl Harbor) vs. 12,000,000 civilian deaths (~25 million deaths total when combined with military comapred to less than half a million deaths total for the U.S.) ...plus, the Soviet Union was all but destroyed (the Japanese floated on bomb attached to a weather balloon inland and killed a schoolteacher and some children - the only mainland deaths in the U.S. during WWII).

While the idea of the U.S. as the "world's safest bank" (for foreign investment, etc.) has been in question for quite a while, I do believe that the Bush administration has done much to show how fragile the "democratic system" (U.S. not really a democracy, but a constitutional republic) really is...and how a leader so inclined could easily seize power and drive the nation any damn which way he pleased, and there is virtually no way to stop him (beside a coup - seriously look into that one. Historically a military officer of good standing and charisma has been used - I am looking at you Captain Bringdown).

[Mister Chaddy]

You ain't got NOTHIN', on Senator Thompson.

I am sorry, but what you are sayin' is DUMB!

You all need to get yourselves better educated.

That a damn LIE!

I went to that bar to get me some SOUP!

[JET]

Ms. Broach - they ain't enough blood.

I caint' eat!  My doctor done told me to eat, but I caint' eat nothin'

Ms. Broach, Ms. Broach - you could come to my hotel room for dat interview.  I would not drink yo blood.  What these people sayin' about me drinkin' blood, dat is jess a lie.  It is jess plain DUMB!

[bebopbalogna]

so K__ and i took a tubin' trip down blackwater river sunday. it was an all day thing. dragged a couple extra tubes behind us with a little $10 walmart grill, some hot dogs and stuff and a cooler full of beer.  it was awesome but i am burnt the fuck up.  i had to take a cold shower today. the hot water hurt too bad.  still, i want to do it like every two weeks or so. if anybody ever goes through NW florida, fuck the beaches. i would recommend tubing/canoeing blackwater instead.   tubing is better cause there is absolutely no effort involved.  you just float.

[attachment deleted by admin... had to make some room, kids]

[bebopbalogna]

did i ever tell ya'll about the time i got strip searched on the side of the road near mendenhall, ms?   well, here goes.

it was novemberish '92.  i was going to school at USM in hattiesburg, ms. i had this hippie roommate named gavin deauville. he convinced me to go to jackson with him and some friends to see some band called widespread panic. (i had never heard of them at the time.  wish i never had)  so we are about halfway there, and we see traffic backed up for ever up ahead.  way off in the distance we see flashing lights.  everyone of us has weed on us.  we're thinking either a really bad wreck or a road block.  to be safe, we assumed road block.  the guy driving said he didn't have his license on him, so the guy in the passenger seat offers to drive.  we pull over and switch. gavin, who was 17 at the time, about to turn 18  suggests that since he is under age, we should all give our weed to him, and if we got caught, he would be a minor and it would be off his record in a month.  we all agreed it would be a great idea. after about 45 minutes of bumper to bumper we reach the roadblock.  they were stopping every single car.  redneck cop shines his light in the car. "you boys don't have any alcohol in the car, do ya?"
"no."
"and i guess you haven't been drinkin' either then, have ya?"
"uh, no."
"why don't you all jus' get out of the car."
"what for?"
"we need to see if you're telling the truth about the alcohol.  you won't mind if we take a look."

so we all get out and they search the car and find nothing.  then they ask us to empty our pockets on the hood of the car.  nothing.  then they make us stand there for what seems like forever  before gavin asks, "hey, how much longer do we have to sit here?"
"until we find what we're lookin' for."
"what makes you think we have anything on us?  you already searched us."
"you see that?" (points to deadhead sticker on windshield) "that's a 'dead' giveaway." (chuckles amongst redneck cops) "and you ain't gonna be singin' 'sugar magnolias' when we find it." (even louder chuckles) why dont ya'll come around here and line up."
the four of us line up on the passenger side of the car.  here comes dude putting exam gloves on.  at this we point, we are freaking the fuck out.  one by one, they make us drop our pants. the one with gloved hand starts feeling up under our balls and around our assholes to make sure there is nothing hanging out.  gavin is last.  when its his turn, he drops his jeans, but not his boxers.  dude reaches down there and pulls out 3 bags and a wooden 'dugout'.  he says, "what's this boy?  i thought you had a hard-on."
long story longer, they book us all for misdemeanor possession.  they actually had booking tables set up on the side of the highway.  we all go to jail.  they said they booked us all because he had four separate bags, BUT  would let the three of us go if we would say that gavin was selling weed, therefore the separate bags. they even tried to convince us that gavin had a set of scales on him.(lies) (even added up, there was less than an ounce, so it would be misdemeanor possession. regardless)  we all had the same story. that we didn't know he had it.  and that we all knew him pretty well, and never knew him to sell any kind of drugs.  we had to spend the night in jail.  my then-girlfriends mom paid my bail.....we all got off on account of no probable cause (dead giveaway or not, that ain't probable cause)...illegal search and seizure (no, officer, you are not allowed to make 4 dudes, one of them a minor, drop their pants in front of 500 passing vehicles)....did not read us our rights (miranda rule is still in effect, even in mississippi).  

point of this whole story.  after that semester,  gavin and i both left USM.  we stayed in touch for a couple months, but i never saw him again. haven't heard from hoim in fifteen years. apparantly, he did a google search and found my name on the pensacola museum of art website.  he just emailed me.  weird.  he was living here at the time on a green card(scottish born).   he is now living in england.  

[Tripp]

Good rule of thumb: Never go to Mississippi.

[bebopbalogna]

don't even go through mississippi.  unless you abso-motherfucking-lutely have to.  i hate that state. i lived there for four years.  nothing to show for it but VD.  (remembering saturday night live skit)

[bebopbalogna]

i did see a few good shows in jackson (corner bar, midnight sun, w.c. dons) and hattiesburg (tal's dart bar).