A Pause for Reflection and a Moment of Gratitude

This may come as a bit of a shock to all ten of my readers, but I haven't been posting very much lately. I've been thinking of changing the look of this blog and that leads me to the gratitude part of the title of this post.

There's a little green frog named Kvatch who runs a magnificent blog called Blognonymous. One day Kvatch noticed that there were some inconsistencies with the layout of my blog; namely, that when you clicked on an individual post, the comment section looked like a train wreck. This was due to an error on my part while trying to install a site meter.

To make a long story short, my web-footed friend graciously offered to make the necessary repairs to my mistreated blog and I happily accepted. Being very happy with the results, I started thinking of ways I could change the look of the blog to more closely represent my current political leanings toward revolutionary communism.

As you can see, my exhaustive efforts have led to what you see here....a concrete wall. I still haven't decided if i like it, so if it doesn't appeal to your eye, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'm not too savvy with this kind of thing, and I don't want to create another disaster that I may have to ask my friend Kvatch to fix, so it's been pretty slow going.

I plan on changing the banner across the top. The title and subtitle will be the same although I'd like to change the font, colors, add some images, etc.

For those of you who don't know, I started this blog not as a tribute to that sad-looking Chrysler answer to the AMC Pacer, but for documenting my adventures while travelling on Public Transportation. I thought PTCruiser with the PT short for Public Transportation would be a great title. Not my most creative moment, but I do get a lot of hits on this blog from car enthusiasts. Of course, once they realize what this site is about, they quickly click back to where they came from.

After only one post about riding public transportation, it dawned on me that if it was boring me to tears, it might end up killing someone else. I then started shifting towards a more political angle in my posts and eventually ended up where we are today, with a guy who's not happy at all with his government and trying to learn as much as he can about how to make a change.

It seems wrong to think about changing the name of the blog at this point. Not that I'm some famous blogger who's making money off of his blog or anything, but I guess the name has kind of grown on me. It's so much a part of me now that even when I talk to Scarlet on the phone about our latest freewayblogging adventure, he'll pick up the phone and say, "Hey, PT!". It's kind of become a sort of alter-ego.

Not that I hide my political feelings. I love talking politics to people, especially at work. I'm not always met with open arms or minds when it comes to my political views. In this me, me, me society my political stance is more often than not given a look of bewilderment and then an attempt at a change of subject. So I do my best to keep the conversation going and trying to get that other person or people to take a moment and think about what I'm trying to get across. It's hit or miss. I devour books the way an alchoholic devours cheap vodka in order to expand my understanding of politics and their effect on society. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

I don't think I've ever written this much in one post (or several posts for that matter) since I've started this blog. Hope I haven't bored you. I just felt like letting all of you in on some of my personal feelings.

Take care, and thank you for taking the time to read my blog. It really means a lot to me.

Weekend Music Video

Garbage - Push It

Free Aung San Suu Kyi !

Myanmar extends Suu Kyi detention
- Al Jazeera

Myanmar's military regime has extended the detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, police sources have said."We issued an order of further detention," the sources said on Friday.The latest period of her detention began in May 2003 and was due to expire this weekend.

On Wednesday, Laura Bush, the US first lady, and female US senators added their voice to international demands that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate be freed.

That call was echoed by the US state department, which also condemned the detention of other Myanmar activists, saying it showed the military government had "renewed its assault on human rights".

"The situation in Burma is not just about one woman. It's also about the treatment of a people who live under the fist of repression."
-U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

Full story here.

Being married to a Burmese woman and having visited the beautiful country of Burma, I have very strong feelings about what takes place over there. If ever there was a government that needed to be overthrown, this is it. The people of Burma have put up with this fascist crap for far too long.

If you want to do something to help the people of Burma, you can start by clicking here.





Myanmar timeline:

1988: Military crackdown on pro-democracy protests, est. 3,000 killed

1989: Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to house arrest for allegedly endangering the state

1990: NLD wins landslide in national election, military refuses to recognise result

1991: Suu Kyi awarded Nobel Peace Prize

1995: Suu Kyi freed, but movements restricted

1997: Myanmar admitted to ASEAN

2000: Suu Kyi sentenced to house arrest for defying travel restrictions

2002: Suu Kyi released following UN-facilitated secret talks with govt

2003: Govt unveils "road map" to democracy; Suu Kyi returned to house arrest after her convoy is attacked in north of country

2005: Govt announces shift to new capital Naypidaw

2007: Nearly 3,000 prisoners released in amnesty to mark independence anniversary, no key political figures freed

Weekend Music Video

You know, the '90's were a great time for music. I never tired of listening to this song back then. In fact, I still enjoy it to this day.

The only thing greater than the music of the nineties was the fact that, back then, nobody outside of the state of Texas really knew who George W. Bush was or what a madman and threat to the world he would eventually become.

Spacehog - Mungo City

Portrait of a Black Panther

I'm currently studying the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which I found has a new chapter, and came across this video. I thought I'd share it with all of you.



Brief biography on Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defense

Jerry Falwell 1933 - 2007

Image courtesy of Larry Flynt

(Click photo to enlarge)

Will They Fly a Plane into Our House?

This is an actual book that you can purchase to help reinforce your own fears and scare the bejesus out of your kids while you're at it.

One customer at Amazon.com gave this helpful tome a glowing review:

OH NOES!!!!!!!!111, April 21, 2006
Reviewer:
bungholes "bungholio" (with carmen sandiago) - See all my reviews

"My kids kept asking me redundant questions about if terrorits are going to attack us, to which I comfortingly tell them "Of course they will. And not only will they capture you alive, but they will boil you alive and eat you as well. If you ever see a plane, run. Just run." Its pretty fun to see them scream and run away under their beds after telling them this. This is indeed, a fine piece of literature."

By far, one of the most helpful parts of this book is the section,"Answers to Parents' Questions".

They even have an answer for that worried parent whose biggest concern is that their child may not be showing the same level of patriotic fear and paranoia that the rest of the family is displaying...

Q: My 8-year-old child doesn’t seem to be affected at all by the terrorist attack even though it is constantly on television and everyone in the family is talking about it. Is this a problem?

A: There are different reasons why a child may not want deal with his feelings. You should not force your child to talk about his feelings, but you should make it clear that you have feelings about what has happened and you are available to talk when he is ready. Reading the questions and answers in Part II of this book and doing the activities in Part III may help.

I think the question would have been better phrased in this manner...

Q: Should I contact the Department of Homeland Security and make them aware of the glaring fact that my child is harboring sympathy for the terrorists and doesn't care that they are trying to destroy our way of life? Huh? Should I?

We can all thank our lucky stars that we have good, patriotic men like Dr. Shapiro in this country doing their part to ensure that our next generation maintains the high level of panic this nation has come to stand for.

Weekend Music Video

Wolfmother - Joker & The Thief

Impeach the Liars

Two for Tuesday

(Click pictures to enlarge)
The best part of all is that one of these signs is not mine...

I spotted this "Impeach the Liars" sign as I was travelling South on Highway 101 in the San Mateo area today. I was so ecstatic about seeing another freewayblogger's sign on one of my overpasses that I headed back home, grabbed the camera and headed back to take a picture of it and post one of my own signs pointing toward the North-bound traffic on the same overpass.


I don't know who put this sign up, but, if you're reading this, please don't stop! What you've done here is nothing short of outstanding. And it was fun as hell too, wasn't it?

Weekend Music Video

Rush - YYZ

More proof that Canadians are great at everything they do.

Finally...A Day Off

I've been busy lately, putting in a lot of hours at work, trying to learn as much about my job as possible. I decided that after working for over a month without a day off, I was long overdue for a break. I did a little freewayblogging to relax and unwind...
(Click pictures to enlarge.)



You know, some days I set out to put signs up on the freeway and I think to myself, "Why bother? You're just beating your head against a brick wall. The signs are going to get taken down and nobody's gonna give a crap about them."

It's on those days that I remember Scarlet saying something in this post; something that really struck a chord in me...

I am the most widely read political commentator in San Francisco that hasn't been bought and paid for and that makes me "The Voice of the People".

Quite a responsibility, wouldn't you say?

Cake - War Pigs

Hat-tip to Liberality for the video. I originally viewed it on her site.