pantoum's Diaryland Diary

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DATA MINING WHILE RULING WITHOUT RESTRAINT

294.

You said you wanted to see this.

Did I? When? We haven�t even talked since the summer of 2004 and now this is what you send as correspondence?

Receiving one of her random e-mails is just so weird. They�re still startling, since so much was never resolved about our break-up, and I find myself second-guessing her intentions, trying to interpret her actions, even after all this time. Is she testing the waters to see if I�ll talk with her or does she really believe that I�m interested in seeing the 2003 version of her outdated resume that still lists our old address on it? Is she trolling for a reaction? What does this MEAN (because we INTPs need to understand cause and effect, you know, and random messages such as this just baffle me). If what she really wants is to talk to me, then I wish she would just come right out and say so.

Or maybe she really was simply updating her resume because graduation looms and it�s time to start applying for one of those infamous big-government data-mining projects that make her salivate. (And isn�t it nice to know that my long-term ex could be up in Washington soon helping W spy on US citizens?)

And, while we�re asking questions, inquiring minds want to know the story about sleezeslug Nathan. Are he and the Ginger together? I�ve seen them in his car at least once and also saw his beautiful (ex?) wife walking her dog in a different neighborhood, so I assume they�re divorced now�or have at least moved. And I can see the Ginger�s car when I drive by her apartment complex right now because there are few leaves on the tress, but I never see his car there. Dickboy always parked at his frat house though, so maybe they take his car to campus and she�s just another frat-boy groupie now, barfing cheap beer into the bushes.

And, who knows, if he really is divorced, then maybe the boy actually got off his ass (now that his wife is no longer supporting him) and wrote his dissertation that�s something like, what, nine years late now and is even job hunting. Or maybe they�re still living the student life�that I would love to live too, frankly�supported by the Ginger's new trust fund.

Pottergrrrl says the Ginger probably really misses me and I know I sometimes miss her (damn it all), especially when some once-familiar routine or phrase crosses my mind. Those just vanish when you leave someone, leave a gaping hole you can fall into if you�re not careful.

But who really knows the answer to these questions? Certainly not this befuddled poet. All I know is that all this talk about NSA�s illegal data mining exploits keeps reminding me of the Ginger�s bright yellow textbook that had the words �DATA MINING� splashed across it in huge block letters, because every time I saw the thing or came across the phrase in the news, I inevitably started humming

we are miners, hard rock miners. To the shaft house we must go ...

and I feel like I�m dying from mining for gold. Yes I feel like I�m dying from...�

But hey! Let's turn lemons into lemonade, shall we, and make this West Virginia�s new theme song, now that Reagan and those other Republicans have deregulated everything and those miners seem to be getting trapped or killed on a damn daily basis these days.

So I came across a job today that I'm apply to, even though it�s in Washington DC and not that other Washington where I would much rather live. It pays a minimum of 17 thousand more than my current salary though and a maximum of 40 thousand more, so I bet I could afford more trips to Washington State if I made the move.

Other pros: Good meaningful work for a good cause. A good match with my skill set and a step up careerwise (which is tricky to find, given my title and ripe young age). Also, I lived in DC and know the area and my office would probably be in a museum on the Mall. And my former way-cool colleague Paula lives there. And DC has a vibrant dyke community. And the Eastern Market. And museums. And the Kennedy Center. And Rock Creek Park.

But there are cons: Those goddamn near-constant parades and marches. Getting stuck in traffic for hours every time the president decides to eat out. Those ubiquitous embassy tags and annoying limos. An eighteen-month probationary period that could mean they want someone to come in and set up the program, then they�d lay me off and bring in some low-paid lackey to keep the thing crawling along. Leaving state government before I�m vested. Selling a house I only purchased in 2004. Public speaking. Having to move. AGAIN. Rush hour(s). No money to pay for the move (and none offered).

Nevertheless, I�ll at least apply. Who knows, if I got an offer and stayed here, I could at least negotiate a raise.

�

In other news, I find it really odd that President Bush has suddenly discovered science and wants to recruit thirty thousand math and science professionals into our public classrooms. Hasn�t he made the connection between scientists leaving public education and his party�s Dark-Ages attempts to force scientists to teach myth-based bullshit under the guise of science? And why does he refer to Social Security as a so-called entitlement program when I�ve paid into it every month since I was sixteen years old?

The man talks about our nation falling behind in technology and scientific knowledge, then refers to the federal student loan program as an entitlement program (as opposed to an intelligent investment in the future�one that, by the way, gets paid back with interest, as I know all too well). And does it strike anyone else as, well, depressingly humorous that he actually bragged about his party�s �spending restraint� with a straight face yesterday?

Anyone with a brain can see that taking another scalpel to already lean social programs while hemorrhaging money in a war fought on false evidence (I guess while operating under the faith-based notion that the dollar will remain the exchange rate) and handing even more money to the super-rich is not exactly showing fiscal restraint. Maybe he meant to say the Republicans are restraining from paying home health-care providers who care for the elderly (which seems more like ethical restraint to me).

And, after yesterday�s policy (written by special interest lobbyists from the insurance and drug industries) passed, even members of the Republican party are acknowledging that Bush�s money-hemorrhaging, reverse-Robin-Hood approach is unsustainable (although they get the reasons wrong): Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) said, for example, (referring to so-called entitlement programs that work as a social safety net, natch, and not to Republican policies designed to give even more money to the super-rich) that �the present course is unsustainable.

We can�t keep cutting taxes and cutting revenues, while cutting programs to protect the most vulnerable in society.� John Dingell (D-MI), on the other hand, said �the stench of special interests hangs over the chamber.� Are they just oblivious to the burgeoning lobbying scandal or do they think no one will make the connection to this special-interest butt-kissing and the civil and criminal complaints that have just been announced against former insurance executives for apparent financial inproprieties?

Meanwhile, NPR ran an interesting show last night about health savings accounts, during which a guy from the Wall St. Journal said that each GM car has about 18 hundred dollars in health-care costs rolled into its cost, which makes it hard for US corporations to compete with overseas sweatshop businesses. The Republican solution is, of course, to let businesses get out of the practice of offering health-care benefits to employees. Why doesn�t it occur to these people that we can refuse to do business with overseas sweatshops instead, force human rights issues onto the table?

Remember that bumpersticker: The Labor Movement. We�re the folks who brought you the weekend? Well, corporations are raking in big bucks and tax breaks hand over fist right now�for instance, if you want to get really pissed, take a look at record oil company profits occurring as we pay outrageous gas and heating bills. I guess the climate is right for them to shit on laborers now though. I mean with the president and Senate and House supporting reverse-Robin-Hood-ism, why not?

Here�s another quote that references yesterday�s bill (that passed): �A vote for this bill is a vote, literally, to take away health care from our children so we can give more money to the super-rich� (Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-NY).

Where�s the goddamn outrage?

Tom at tomdispatch.com talks about �This disconnect between the garnering of potentially staggering powers to rule without restraint and the incapacity to use them for the well-being of just about anyone on the planet (other than a few friends and cronies) is now a major part of our domestic landscape.�

But maybe I�m just jaded. I mean, I hear tell that one sick senior eventually did figure out how to get her drugs through Bush�s revamped drug plan ... and after only a few months of trying.

READING: tax documents.

LISTENING TO: someone�s stupid car alarm

SANG IN SHOWER: Why should I keep loving you when I know that you are not true? And why should I call your name when you�re to blame for making me bluuuuuuue? (who sang that anyway? I want to say Freddie Fender....)

BEST OF SPAM: Before i wrote you,i prayed that you will be a honest and reliable person whom i can work with to achieve this deal of our life.From my section in the bank, I discovered an abandoned sum of EIGHTEEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS...

11:09 a.m. - 2006-02-02

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