i need help with the definition...

of what it means for something to be 'grassroots'.

my conception of it is something like this...(and i'll put this in terms of bike races, because that's what i understand) let's say i want to put on a cross race (for those of you who are not familiar with the cycling terms i use...tough, look them up yourself or check out my other blog); so i pick out a possible course, i talk to the appropriate people that i need to get the o.k. from to do the race; usually this would consist of city people. set the date. maybe get support, endorsements and such. print up flyers/websites. legal stuff. entry fees...so forth and so on.

if all goes well, the race would be a success. and do it again next year. and it would grow in popularity, and i would still do it. simply. this would be grassroots.

now let's it became so big that a corporate sponsor wanted to buy the rights to it. let's say...trek (since we all are familiar with them as a bike company), and they took it to a mass marketed type of thing. tv. ads in world wide magazines. pretty lights. to the point where it becomes more of a show than a race. this would not be grassroots.

however; this is the word i'm hearing being thrown about at the dnc...it's grassroots. no it's not. it's in a freaking stadium. nationally televised. it seems to me more romanist (visions of caesar flash through my mind). more of a show than a grassroots presentation. entertainment over the issue/argument/future of my country.

i haven't heard one thing why i should vote for obama...other than he's not mccain. fuck i could run on that platform.

it has been my experience in life, when the show becomes bigger than the event...there isn't much to the event. it's like going to a magic show. what happens? they distract you from what they are doing to give you some sort of awe of what's going on. but when you really look at it...the magic is gone.

what's sad...people are falling for it. the show...

amitabha...

let's talk...

politics for just one post.

it's a hot year for the election. obama or mccain? the dnc has started. and from what i've just been informed by my wife that is a wonderful acronym for a female procedure that i don't even want to really know.

other questions...are the hillary supporters going to sign into the obama camp? did you see how hot chelsea is? i mean...really...she's hot.


what are the hot topics? healthcare? the war? the economy? what ever else you may think is important.

now...that being said one question remains in my mind when voting time comes...do i really want to align myself with this guy?...

this little midget of a politician. a rejected leprechaun. what the hell has he done for cleveland? nothing. all he has done is raise a lot of money from a lot of rich actors, and keep it. there has been no political spending of that money...ever wonder why you never hear or see one of his ads? it's because he keeps the money, and i believe that once he retires then he will have access to it. i believe so.

i regret that i have done you a major disservice. i saw him once in public. it was at a church festival. and i'm not much of a church going guy, so it would not have bothered me, but i should have 'what for'. and told him to f-himself.

so the moral and ethical issue that is the real question...are you able, in good conscious, to align yourself with him? i mean really...are you? if it could be guaranteed that he would be voted out of office, i really don't think i would care as much...i mean really...we're f'd no matter who gets in.

how about that for a 'too much beer' post? you'll never believe how many times i had to hit the spell check or re-type something.

amitabha...

so i've been...

hanging around on flickr recently, and i've noticed that i have let a hobby of mine to go the waist side (is that the correct term/phrase?)...anyway; i haven't been doing one of my hobbies recently.  and because of my playing around on flickr...i'm going to get back into it.

the yo-yo.

the world's greatest toy, next to the ball.

about a year and a half ago, i really got into it.  picking up yo-yo after yo-yo.  and my collection is quite extensive, at least for the amount of time i don't spend playing.  butterfly, spinning, one's with counter-weights, trying yo-yo's that were not attached to the string (yeah, watch out cat's); just all sorts of different things.

i would sit down and try to learn a trick a  week.  and i was having a good time with it.  and when i get into a hobby i get into a hobby.  understanding string (different styles of string will allow you to do different things), bearings, weight of the yo, thickness, size.

so here i am, stating publicly (or at least to those who read this); i'm going to pick up the yo again, and begin to re-learn what it is i know, and by next week get back to learning a trick a week, or become better at the tricks i already know.  and maybe start taking some pics of the yo, and doing some tricks.

amitabha...

Blogged with the Flock Browser

so when...

will society implode on itself?

it is early evening, and i'm trying to do some school work for the up coming semester, and all i hear out my office window is parents bitching at their kids. i was hanging out saturday late morning and i hear the 'f' bomb being dropped like water drops from niagara falls. so i listen closer, and it's the kids across the street. talking to their mother. and the mother talking back to the kids. these kids are under ten. i almost cried.

how are people 'o.k.' with their moral choices today? and i will say moral. you are able to say that it's just a word, but the relationship that that word is dealing with...child to parent...parent to child. it really becomes a lost of respect. now who is that child going to respect?

and the cycle of ignorance continues.

nobody tries. nobody tries to make it better. to make themselves better. they just bitch. and bitch. and the problems are still there. and they wonder why.

the cycle continues.

[amitabha...]