America is the last great hope of the world, because in America a person can be free. Free, but not absolutely free. The constraints upon their freedom under which Americans live are unique in the history of the world. They are not the arbitrary dictats of a hereditary Monarch. They are not the equally arbitrary, but historically far bloodier and more destructive, dictats of an ideologically driven elite (though the Democrats, and never was there a more bitter irony than the naming of that pa...

I got the letter I'd been waiting for today. The first paragraph reads: "Congratulations! Your request for the removal of the conditional basis of your permanent resident status has been approved. You are deemed to be a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States as of the date of your original admission or adjustment of status." The rest tells me when to expect my new Green Card (within 60 days) and various other bits of useful trivia. But the above is the paragraph that counts. ...

Something that has impressed me in the worst possible way is this nation's preoccupation with what can only be called 'getalongness'. So long as everyone likes each other, so long as everyone gets along with each other, so long as everyone feels part of the team (no matter how utterly incompetent any given part of the team is), American employers would rather hire the getalong guy rather than the guy who knows how to get the job done. "Despite a labor shortage in many sectors, some employe...

James River City. There’s something old here, old and bloody. And it’s so stinking hot most of the time that you Fail to notice the white chill of the air The kind of white that’s best seen Stained with blood. There are houses in England that are older than America But there’s nothing in England that’s older than what’s here. This is a place accustomed to hate, and those of us that Live here know how to manage it. We hate each other Discreetly. Joyously killing our own kin...

Boredom. No word more laconically conveys anguish. And I suffer it in its most extreme form at work. Every job I've ever had has bored me to tears, and beyond, within a month or two. Except one. But that's another blog for another day. From my observation of the rest of you, boredom seems, for most people, to be a minor annoyance. Something you take in your stride, with which you cope admirably if not always easily. Not so for me. It's a torment that poisons my life. I leave work feelin...

Renaissance - when not referring to a revival of the arts and learning the word means, generally: a renewal of life, vigor, interest, etc.; rebirth. A major factor in my recent rejuvenation has to do with the fact that I'm no longer addicted to Vicodin, as I have been for the last several months. This isn't the first time I've come close to losing myself to that wonderful, pernicious drug. This is my second go-round with it. And I'm now completely certain that taking even one pill, ever...

A warning in advance. This article deals with issues of deviant sex and deviant sexuality and discusses them graphically, with no consideration (other than this warning) given to the more tender sensibilities of some among us. If you're offended or disturbed by such things - read no further. Since I've recently had cause and inspiration (I wish the two always came together so easily, but they rarely do), I've been writing on the topic of Sado-Masochism. I've never really liked the ...

A warning in advance. This article deals with issues of deviant sex and deviant sexuality and discusses them graphically , with no consideration (other than this warning) given to the more tender sensibilities of some among us. If you're offended or disturbed by such things - read no further. Dylan Zimmerman recently wrote an article to whichich I responded a couple of times. Her original article and my responses can be found here. ( Link ) The comment in Ms Z's aricle I wa...

'300', which I saw for the first time last night via On Demand TV, is visually one of the most impressive movies I've seen in a very long time. There is an epic, mythological feel to the imagery that goes a long way toward compensating for deficiencies in dialogue and acting. Not that the dialogue is particularly stiff or wooden (or no more so than in many other action-flicks -Arnie's work springs to mind) but it suffers from the imposition of an alien political message. This message is ...

I recently bought a new game. Buying a new game is a Big Issue for me - because I hate, hate, hate being disappointed by a new game. And I tend to stick close to what I know, for that reason. So generally I buy updates to either the Doom or Quake franchises. I have only two reasons for buying a game at all: 1) it's full of blood, carnage, horror, and graphically realised monstrosities (hence my love for Doom and Quake ). And 2): it has some quality that I find completely absorbing, ...

I'm an immigrant. I'll never be an American in the way that someone born, raised, educated here is an American. That's OK. There are pubs in Britain I know where you can have lived in the same locality for twenty years and you'll never be a 'local'. It seems to me that immigrants to a country have a perspective that the native-born will never, can never, possess. It may not be a more accurate perspective. It may not be a more detailed or comprehensive perspective. But it must, of necessit...

Happy birthday, America. And thank you.

I make no claims for this article beforehand. I don't claim that it's coherent or consistent, or that it's particularly well thought out. Given the chaotic nature of my thoughts on love, there's no reason why it should have any of the above-mentioned qualities. C'est la vie c'est la guerre. What is love? How do you love others? Can you, and should you if you can, love yourself? We say we love many things. We love our cars, our wives/husbands/children. We love our pets and our jobs. we s...

After fourteen days of unemployment I'm working again. Whereas I recently worked for D now I work for T. T is a large civil engineering company here in Richmond - the office I work in downtown is less than twelve minutes away on a route that has little traffic. I liked the office as soon as I got into it on Wednesday, when I attended the interview. It occupies three floors in a very large historic building downtown - but without being a part of the business area. The area the building occ...