All Animals Are Created Equal

the country is caught up in primary fever. for whatever reason - iraq, the economy stupid or maybe just bad reality tv - people are ready for a change. and so, in record numbers, people have registered and actually go out to vote. i am not sure what record numbers really means, since the united states has a reputation for low voter turnout. it doesn't help much that if you have been convicted of a felony you can go to jail, serve your time and yet eternally lose the right to vote.

but i digress - as i have been known to do. but so we are going through the primary elections - someone wins here, someone else wins there and yet the tallies don't agree with the wins and then, just to make things even more confusing, the numbers are different depending on which news source you go to. but then people stopped and said, hey! what's going on? how can it be so complicated? don't the people go and vote and elect their representative?

turns, out, no, not really. it turns out that we the people, all created equal, go out and vote for the candidate we like or at least prefer over the others. but it doesn't end there. there are those who have been created more equal. they get an extra vote and their vote is worth a lot of votes. how more equal? well, we the people count for 80% of the vote. 796 super-people count for 20% of the vote. what does that mean? well in a nation of about 300 million people, let's say that a third are democrats - 100 million. of these maybe half are eligible to vote, that's 50 million. and half turn up to vote - we are now at 25 million. 25 million vs 796? that's a heck of a lot of more equal, in anyone's book.

what really kicks is that people are sitting around debating how superdelegates can be part of a democratic process and there are people that sit and talk and blow a WHOLE LOT OF HOT AIR and somehow thinks this makes sense. they throw out phrases like - dedication to the party, party activists, those loyal to the party. and i am not sure what that is supposed to mean. is there a test, to determine more-equality? why didn't i get the memo?

superdelegates in the democratic party as part of the democratic process. yes. no irony at all in that phrase.

Everything's Relative

i was tagged by the ever fascinating world traveller fb and so i shall take this expose of the unimportant very seriously. for what doesn't matter to me, may in fact be the be all and end all for someone who stumbles upon my soul-baring...

The Rules:
- Link to the person that tagged you.
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
- Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
- Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1. I have left/right issues (and almost no sense of direction). i find it amazing that there are people out there that do not have to think about it when someone says "raise your right hand." it is something i remember more these days because, in my yoga class, left and right are very important to the teachers. so there i am, trying to twist myself like a pretzel and then i hear, "okay now take your right hand and wrap it around your left thigh" and i can't see my foot to figure out if i am holding the scarred left one or not and i check for a watch because my hands are behind me holding me up and i just want to scream - hey, toward the mirror or away from the mirror would help so much right now. but, there's no screaming in yoga. screaming is not zen.
   
2. since my surgery a few months back, i have a scar at the bottom of my stomach that looks like a big smile. so remember, if we ever fall out and i look all mad at you, know that always, a part of me is still sunnily smiling right at you. while still giving me street cred.
   
3. despite my many threats to kick people's butts, i consider myself to be a pacifist. some refer to me as an idealist. others use the term "silly fool." i suppose this might make me strong enough to be president of switzerland. they don't go to war, right? and they have great chocolate. i'm thinking the president might qualify for some free chocolate.
4. i am allergic to mangoes. not epi-pen allergic. but more irritating rash allergic. do you know what i am drinking now? mango nectar. that is how good mangoes taste.
5. i can't throw away a book. even one that i have not enjoyed reading. i find it far easier to find space in my new york apartment (known in other cities as a walk in closet) and install yet another bookshelf. i think i am currently at 5 shelves. maybe i should have a book giveaway/exchange party. that shouldn't be too painful.
   
6. i have a terrible internal thermostat. as a result, i tend to have horribly cold hands and feet. sometimes i meet people and shake their hands and they hold on for longer, rubbing a hand between two of theirs - almost without thinking about it. to these kind souls, thank you. it makes such a difference.

the people i have chosen to tag are very super important. their views on the world, well...
dodos - everytime i go and there are a few words, and a picture that makes me go hmm...
tunga - always you make me giggle.
prettylyf - always positive, always poetic
carla - you take a lens and well, see what you did with snow and a bikini?
skyelarke - it seems you see so much and your soul remains beautiful.
tjidzani - so wonderfully lyrical.

Rarified Air

i recently did a spot of travelling and i don't think i'll get used to it. i mean not until the travel industry starts behaving in a logical manner. i mean as though they realise that it is people, mostly paying people, travelling in their system, not their worst enemies, being pushed to their limits until they finally break and beg for mercy - if they can still be coherent at that point.

first, before you go anywhere - the restrooms? so you are at a place where you are probably lugging luggage around with you - even if it is just your carry-on, it still a substantial addition to your girth. and what do they give you? restrooms with door that open INWARDS so you have to squeeze yourself, your luggage AND THE DOOR into the tiny space that is already half full of lavatory.

i suppose it is to get you ready for you are going to spend the next two to twenty hours. in a seat designed for a twelve-year old aneorexic with leg room that is ample only if you are three feet tall. two people can't pass each other in the aisle and god forbid you need to go to the bathroom during the flight; it seems as though the whole plane has to stand up and get out of your way. so what was the thinking? let's create a wonderful invention that helps us travel long distances in little time. then, let's do everything we legally can to make it the worst experience of their lives. short of putting pins in the seats, the sky's the limit. and then, for a while, let's give them little things that make the experience almost bearable - such as minuscule pillows and blankets and meals and beverages. and just as the travellers become accustomed to this, let's take it all away and charge them $5 for a tiny packet of potato chips and another $5 for a drink to wash away the bitterness at being taken for a ride. and i can't even try to bring a free drink from home. no... security takes that away from me - it must be a conspiracy.

finally, those airlines that do not have in seat tv screens must be put on notice. seriously, giving people those neck-cramp and eye-strain inducing screens in the middle of the aisle that you can't focus on due to all the aisle traffic, the incredible distance you are from the tiny screen and the impractical placement of the screen, is just cruel and unusual punishment. and for all of that, as you creak your way out of the plane at the end of the ordeal the smiling stewards and air hostesses chirp "thank you for flying with us! come again soon!"

i say this - sadists of the world, do you wish to truly satisfy the need to bring pain and suffering? start an airline. all you need to do is waltz up and down the aisles and i guarantee the plight of the travellers will bring you satisfaction. guaranteed.

Cutting Edge Fashion

i don't get it? where have i been? when did the machete make it as the weapon accessory of choice? i tell you, it's like i blink and i miss ten trends. back in school i learnt about machetes, as the instrument sugar cane growers used to cut down the cane. but that was back in the day before combine harvesters and stuff. machetes were a part of history and good riddance too. that word flummoxed me; was it a mah-shet or a ma-shet-tee? thank goodness i only had to read and write the word in class - it had no use in everyday conversation.

but i should have known that if bell-bottoms could make a comeback, so could the machete. first, in rwanda, people were massacred using machetes. and i wondered - where did they get so many? was someone planning on starting a massive plantation?

then recently a football player was shot and killed in his home in south florida. apparently he heard people breaking into his home, so he dove under his bed, grabbed his machete and tried to go out to investigate. machete? under his bed? really?

a couple of weeks later, i am watching a documentary about skinheads. 4 youths went out in search of a black drug dealer to beat down and instead came across a drug user in an alley. when they stepped forward to beat him with the baseball bats they were holding, he pulled out a machete. on the streets, machete beats baseball bat. isn't a machete kinda large? when ambling around dark alleys, how does one casually holster a machete?

and now in kenya, the machete is all over the place, and not in a good way either. reporters all over the world are having to learn how to pronounce the word. machete has entered everyday conversation. along with non-sensical phrases like ethnic cleansing - used in sentences by world leaders in sentences like "there is a lot of violence, but we will not go as far as to call it ethnic cleansing."

well now in kenya they are in the middle of "hard" talks. i am not sure if that means that talking will be difficult in between the tea and sandwiches and committee-forming that comes with talks or that the talks will be hard on the exploding new fashion trend. but i am recommending that the chadian rebels hold out on their action for a few days - they may be able to get a great deal on used machetes - more money for campaign phone calls and pamphlets.