Waco, Texas - 1993. Mt. Carmel Center. The Branch Davidians.

I don’t care how you feel about David Koresh. I don’t care whether he was right or wrong. There were eighty-five other people who lost their lives - including four federal agents and seventeen children under the age of twelve.This is America. We have trials for the accused. We do not surround their homes with military personnel and equipment and open fire. We do not fill churches and schools with volatile gasses in the name of “protecting” the children inside. We do not ram CEVs - Combat Engineering Vehicles - through the walls of a building full of women and children.

Except… we did.

Remember back in ‘93, when the siege was on the news all day, every day, for fifty-one days? Remember how they told you, David Koresh is a madman, and the people inside with him are hostages? Of course you do. That is why you still believe the Davidians deserved what happened to them.

Except… think about it. If they were hostages, why did the authorities treat them like criminals? Why is it their fault for not coming out of the building, if they were really hostages?

Did you ever consider, that you were lied to? Because you were. Regardless of who was right and wrong in the entire situation - you were lied to about what was really taking place outside of Waco during that time.

You were told - for fifty-one days - that these people were hostages. And then… when they all died in a tragic fire that erupted and their home was destroyed - you were told that they were crazy cult members who committed suicide. Does that really add up? Can both statements really be true? Or is it possible that your government and media blatantly lied to you?

Every story has two sides. You’ve seen the governments’ side for fourteen years. Now you can see the other side, as told by the people who lived this horror, as recorded by the home video they made inside their home during the seige at the request of negotiators.

*** Click here for the video ***

Page… Channel… Startle… Hollywood… would all be getting their learners’ permits this year. Bobbie Lane… the twins… Maynah… would all be celebrating their “sweet sixteen” this year. Serenity… Crystal… Isaiah…. Dayland… would all be graduating high school this year.

But they never had a chance to grow up. They never had a chance to get their learners’ permits, or turn sweet sixteen, or graduate high school.

Because the government said their parents were bad. The government said they needed to be protected. And the government fired shots at their home… drove CEVs through the walls… filled the building with volatile gas. The government cut off their electricity, destroyed their water supply, and surrounded the building with razor wire. The government drove millitary vehicles around the property… blasted loud music and bright lights at the building… cut off their phone service… and subjected these children to sights and sounds no child should see for fifty-one days.

And the government told you, that this was done in the name of protecting the children. Children that Childrens’ Protective Services had visited a few months prior, and found to be completely healthy, happy, and safe.

And now, they are all dead.

*** click here to learn more ***

Get off the internet. Stop what you’re doing and hug someone you love. If you’re a parent, hug your kids. And when you go to church this week, get down on your knees and give thanks to God that you at least still have the freedom to do so in safety

1. Ask a clerk, “So how do I get your job?”
2. When asked why you want to work at said place, reply with, “Well, I looked at your business and said to myself, ‘How hard can it be?”
3. Show them a concealed weapon permit and give no less than four reasons why the store would be safer with you and your vigilante style justice there.
4. Bring lemonade in a small cup and after the interview say you took the liberty of preparing this for a drug test and hand it to the interviewer.
5. While waiting to talk with another manager see how many personal questions you can ask the interviewer before they get weirded out.
6. Stare blankly at anything that isn’t sexual. (Note: drakonskyr, you might want to skip this one or close your eyes.)
7. Either start doing aerobics during the interview or do them to the point of heavy, smelly sweat beforehand. Nothing beats the musky odor of sweat in a small room that already makes you nervous.
8. Start smoking.
9. Invite them to church.
10. Pause half way through the interview and ask if can you take your medication and do it in front of them. Do not reveal what said medication is for. Potential employers love nothing more than a mysterious employee.
11. Ask if they close on snow days or when their summer break is. (Note this works best if you are either really young or very old).
12. Dress better than the interviewer and make every opportunity to point it out to him in a roundabout way.
13. “Accidentally” replace your resume with an essay on how corporate capitalism is destroying america.
14. Bring a list of five immediate changes to the company you would make were you in charge. (This is actually a good one I got from a book, but still kind of risky in my opinion especially at interviewing stage. It is extremely risky when the words, “fire the GM” are included.)
15. Make all of your experience references into stories about some guy you know. (Example: I’ve never actually used a forklift, but I know a guy in my neighborhood who told me everything I need to know, so it’s all good.)
16. Bring a bluetooth earpiece and wear it but carry no phone. Every time you are bored, apologize, saying, “I’m sorry I have to take this.” And then start a fake conversation on the bluetooth about tonights dinner or something else boring to the interviewer.
17. Say you are in witness protection and that any paperwork on you needs to stay on the DL.
18. Pretend you are actually a secret identity for a superhero like spiderman. Ask about their ventilation system, ceiling windows, and how often DANGER STRIKES.
19. Act like you are obsessed with a celebrity. Bring back the conversation back to him or her like the worst game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
20. Act like you have a cold and have a large hanky and place it on various spots on the table as close to the interviewer, without allowing them to catch on.

Our story begins when I was foolish enough to purchase a 4-gigabyte no-name mp3 player on eBay from a merchant in Hong Kong. The merchant had dozens of identical mp3 players listed on eBay, and his seller feedback was 100% positive at the time I made my purchase, with 98 sales to his credit at that time. His ad oozed with unctuous concern for my customer satisfaction. And best of all, the ad proclaimed that I was protected by PayPal Buyer Protection, free coverage up to 500 British pounds! When I won the item for a price of 26 British pounds (a little over $52.00), I was pretty happy. Even when the item took almost a month to arrive, my enthusiasm was relatively undiminished.

Then I opened the package. All of the parts were there. But the manual, while technically in English, was utterly incomprehensible. Here’s an example from one of the introductory bullet points:

• Break to order to sow continuously: Broadcast the stop hour remembers to broadcast the position, the some song orders to a time while broadcast the some catalogue up is shut down, switch on after then park the last time of time order, Play after order to start broadcast from now on.

As you can see, I was left very much on my own.

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First things first, just like anything else worth having there is no magical, wiggle your nose, rub on a bottle, special answer to a lasting relationship. What works for one couple may or may not work for the next. Relationships are perhaps one of the most mystical things since Adam and Eve. This would explain the massive quantities of information available on this topic. So why am I writing about this? I really couldn’t say: maybe because I value my relationship over anything in my life. Maybe it is because of the countless times I have spent with a good friend, male or female, drinking a cold beverage, over barely touched chips, and slowly burning cigarette butts trying to console or just make sense of the relationship that friend is in… in the end I have decided that I am at least a good listener and I have certainly given out my fair share of advice. They say teaching is the best way to learn in the end I have decided that I might actually be good now enough to share. I will start with my own experiences.

Early Days: What I know from experience

Like many from the late 70’s on, I am the child of a divorced couple. DIVORCE before that time was almost unthinkable. I really think as a nation we need to get back to that time, but that bridge has already been burned. At seventeen I married my high school sweetheart in a courthouse, justice of the peace, wedding because my mother couldn’t fathom the idea of her little girl living in sin. My very jaded, but loving father, on the other hand, thought that I should live in sin and see just what all this relationship business was about. He didn’t learn about the courthouse wedding until a year later after he paid for the church, flowers, bridesmaids, dinners, etc. A year later when my high school sweetheart and I could no longer bear the sight of our once too sexy selves, my father imbibed large amounts of cheap beer as I announced my intentions to file for divorce and head for the city of Angels (the magical cure which remember doesn’t exist).

After a year of LA, I humbly drug myself home on a Greyhound bus and pitifully ask pops for a job. He cautiously agreed and all was well, until… until my work mate decided to hook me up with this really cute foreign guy. NO, two simple letters, was never good enough for Bijan, because I said “NO”, emphatically. Yet, he slyly arranged a date, and with the same craftiness somehow weaseled his way into my life, and before I knew it we were shacking up, as the old folks called it. We had some sort of marriage ceremony that is recognized in his culture, but basically amounted to nothing. He was abusive, controlling, mentally unbalanced, a drug user, and almost impossible to escape. Two years of counseling later he lost his grip, and I slowly regained mine. There were a couple of bumps along the way. One resulted in my beautiful, wonderful son, so it is all good.

Today, marks nearly 18 years of harmonious, yet realistic years of fun, frolicking and fighting with my Skooter. When I look back, I am not sure how it happened, but I think I have some ideas. These ideas along with those of my dear friends on Xanga I am going to share with you.

Before I give my advice:

These are the things that you said were most important to a relationship. I think you will find these to be characteristics we all agree on. It is amazing that no matter what walk of life we come from we all believe the same things to be true… Here they are in no particular order.

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Did I mention they are also psychic? As I am writing this and generally every time I am writing or thinking intensely about him he calls… Jesus Christ! My phone is ringing and it is him – I swear to god! See! I am upgrading men to psychic aliens.

“What are ya doing?” he said in a very curious tone. Somehow he knows I am talking about him! Oh well.

What’s the big attraction to these aliens? Well we all know the answer to that. Their wallets and what ever else in their pants we find interesting and/or exciting. Yeah I know, there is much more to a relationship than that! If J and I never did anything but touch each other life would be perfect. I can picture it in my head so clearly. Candle’s, rose petal’s, bubble bath’s, massage’s, romantic dinner’s, jewelry. But who thinks of these things most of the time? How many of you have had to plant one or more of these ideas in your man’s head? Whether it was via an advertisement you left lying around, a vague comment added in the middle of a sentence for subliminal affect, having a friend mention something to him when it is getting close to a special occasion…

You get the picture. We do it – but every once in awhile these mysterious aliens take us off guard and actually surprise us with an idea that was all their own.

Actually J is really good about the romantic stuff. Loves candle’s, offers massage’s, poetry etc. He is also a great communicator when he wants to be. This is key. Our relationship rule is to always spill your guts. Keep the other person informed. Throughout our relationship his communication skills have been sporadic. Not coming home for dinner the other night and calling me at midnight to see if it is still ok to come home is one example. This is inconsiderate and just WRONG! This is not what has me ranting about him and men in general though. It gets worse!

So here is what happened…

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Every day we’re bombarded with advertisements for diets. Warnings about getting fat. Inspirational stories from women who went from a size 4 to a size 0. Take these pills, eat this special diet food, buy this expensive exercise gadget. Of course, these commercials are interspersed with McDonald’s commercials. I’m lovin’ it, aren’t you?

Now, I’ve been fat all my life. I was doing Slim-Fast at age 12 (and again at 25 and 30), Weight Watchers at 16, Dexatrim at 17. My most recent thing has been one of those online calorie counting sites, SparkPeople. It’s a great site because not only do you get to count calories, they provide a personalized exercise plan and all the support you could ask for via message boards. They also have articles on different health and diet issues, as well as recipes. I highly recommed this site. It helped me lose 20 pounds. But those pounds are back. Time for a new approach.

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They kingpin multiple groups and crimes. Some are internal within the prison system, taking out members of their own gang and others. Many gang wars lead to heinous acts such as death by beheading. They may also include the dismemberment of the victims’ genitalia which are then fed to the dogs. Guess which one comes first. Gangs have become so plentiful that they extend through out the continental contiguous states but into Washington. Viva La Raza, loosely translated, long-live the Race has become more than a rallying call for racial pride but a virtual war cry. Many believe that the southwest was stolen from Mexico and actually belongs to them.

Not only do the bosses control drugs and life and death from prison cells, but they operate with impunity all across this country. One informant, now dead, claimed that no one in these gangs is safe from retribution if the leaders think that they are acting against their considerable powers. This girl was killed on orders from these gangsters. She was led to a riverbank on the pretest of fishing by her compadres. It is this corruption of morality, this organized crime community which is the greatest fear of the illegal aliens. These are many of the border infiltrators, not families looking for a better life. They are often men who have left their families behind.
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My mother showed me the papers, red marks all over them. I just shrugged my shoulders and got tears in my eyes. I wasn’t getting teary because I thought I was in trouble, though – I felt helpless. I just wasn’t getting it. She hugged me and told me to brush my teeth and get ready for bed.

The next day after school I was given my usual snack and then my mother told me we were going to sit down and talk. She sat down next to me and said, “I know you might feel like you’re stupid because you don’t know how to write or read very well right now, but you’re not stupid. I used to have the same thing happen to me when I was your age, and we’re going to work on this until you can do it with confidence.” I was pleased. I had no reason to doubt her - - much - - I mean I knew she was smart, but I just wasn’t sure how I was going to pull this off. It did seem impossible. (more…)