far too much writing, far too many photos Tuesday, October 02, 2001 T-shirt seen on the street here today: WARNING – THIS BITCH BITES And according to my Simpsons calendar, today is the birthday of: Mahatma Gandhi, born 1869 and Groucho Marx, born 1890 Talk about a double-bill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've been having some trouble marshalling the focus and concentration to write recently. No one's fault but my own. My first mistake was reading the news -- the second was letting it get inside my head. Even now, right here, writing this simple, silly bugger of a journal entry, it's taking nearly everything I've got to keep going. In fact, right after the last sentence in the previous paragraph -- "My first mistake blahblahblah" -- I had to get up, distract myself with other things for a while. There are those who might say, well then, just stop writing, twit. And many times I might agree. This time, though, I want to write. Really and honestly, cross my heart and hope to croak. So I'm staying with it, but letting myself do it in my own time. 'Cause if I force myself to sit my butt down and hammer the alleged prose out, I'll hate it. And if I'm hating it, there's no point in doing it. Some might not agree with that. My response would be to make rude noises in their general direction. So. The news. Yesterday morning: went out and got the Sunday paper -- El País, the lefty daily. The headline: The Americans Ask For Military Action At Any Price -- 90% of Americans Support the War and 67% Accept That Innocent People Will Die. In more detail, according to a poll (for what it's worth) conducted by The Washington Post, "9 out of every 10 Americans are in favor of a military action of grand proportions. And of those supporting the war, they would support it even if there were to be innocent victims." In other words, they would support the slaughter of civilians who have endured 20 years of misery inflicted on them by the Soviet Army and the various Afghan fundamentalist fighting groups (trained and supported by the U.S. government, including Osama bin Laden) that first drove out the Soviets then carried on a long, protracted civil war, resulting in the current rule of the Taliban, in all its well-documented pomp and squalor. I've read that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of half a million crippled, orphaned children in that dirt-poor corner of the planet, along with a couple million widows. There are land mines strewn all over the countryside, an arid, barren landscape that produces little in the way of crops, apart from poppies. The idea that 70% of the Americans responding to this poll would have no problem inflicting terror and suffering on these people boggles and saddens my feeble mind, especially considering that they know the people in questioni bear no responsibility for the recent attacks on U.S. soil. Ah, well. I'll get over it. rws 4:44 PM [+] BLATHERINGS August 2001 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001 January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 June 2009 July 2009 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . MORE FOCUSED BLATHERINGS Travels: London '01 Pamplona Italy '03 U.K. '03 Sevilla Casablanca Stoke-on-Trent Barcelona Québec/Ottawa Boston/Lisbon/Madrid Italy '04 Montréal La Sierra Events: Madrid -- arrival 9/11 Emergency Room I Holidays 2001 Holidays 2002 Holidays 2003 Holidays 2004 Holidays 2005 A neighbor's passing Madrid -- March 11 bombings   and aftermath Emergency Room II Israeli friend/Madrid Marathon Madrid -- Royal Wedding The DELE exam GONE, a novel: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 THE BASTARD CHILDREN OF JOE ROCCO, a novella: -- Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3 BURBANK SHRUGGED, a screenplay: -- Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3 -- Part 4 Short stories: Murphy's Wife Another Autumn La Queja de Una   Hermanastra Muy Conocida Autobiography -- Personal History -- Hormones On Parade -- Accidents, Random Mishaps,     Personal Problems .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . OTHER SOURCES OF WHOLESOME ENTERTAINMENT People/Weblogs: dooce foxvox fudge it fear not rebekka bookslut 802online idle words madhaiku wockerjabby grow-a-brain rebel market letting me be out and about kung fu grippe fanatical apathy baghdad burning wfuv's music blog kexp's music blog mimi smartypants between the miles just a hippie gypsy the impossible cool tomato can brushes vermont homestead sugar mountain farm Good Clean Fun: gizmodo futurismic postsecret dave barry human clock mcsweeney's spaceweather book-a-minute internet archive self-portrait day my cat hates you out of context quotes surrealist compliment   generator strindberg and helium Makin' Musical Whoopee: last fm stereo8 pandora soma fm .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . ABOUT RWS/CONTACT This page and all its contents copyright © 2001-2011 by runswithscissors unless otherwise noted. runswithscissors would like to thank everyone who's ever lived for everything they've ever done. 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