Sunday July 23, 2000
12:00 a.m.
A Rant In Three Parts:
I Get E-Mail!
BNSF/Canadian National Unpropse Their Merger
I Hate God. (And I’m Not Too Fond Of The Democrats Either!)
I GET E-MAIL!
This one goes out to the lonely slob reading this site at 2:23 on some forsaken Monday morning, to the mother or father up in the middle of the night with a teething child, to the high school kid who should be studying for a test, to the chat room veteran who has chewed through the leather straps yet another time, to the crackheads, the critics, the cynics and all my heroes at the methadone clinics…
Sorry. Listening to a little Kid Rock as I write this. I was thinking earlier today about this whole Internet thing. I was wondering if people said the same things at the time of the invention of the telephone that they say about this. Both allow people to come into or home as invited guests when in reality, we may not want a damn thing to do with them. A phone book allows anyone and everyone the opportunity to get your number, call you while you’re eating dinner and ask you if you’re happy with your phone service.
Hell no, I’m not happy with my phone service! Not when I have some minimum wage whore calling me at all times of the day asking me if I’m happy with my phone service. Also, if I want to subscribe to your newspaper or magazine, guess what! I’ll find out how to do that on my own. No need to waste my time or your time by calling me when all that is going to do is piss me the hell off and make me NOT want to subscribe.
OK. Sorry. I got a little carried away there. The point was that there are some very real similarities out there between having a phone and having Internet service. But once you get a web site and voluntarily list your e-mail address and ICQ number, that’s when the fun really starts. Then, anyone and everyone can click a button, write down anything they want, click another button and be certain that you will get it. Unless you’re on AOL. Then you’re just SOL.
The vast majority of the e-mail I get from my web site is very good, very welcome. Most of it comes from the railroad side of my site, telling me their L&C Railway stories (riding it in the past, seeing it on their way through the area, etc.) or asking for information about South Carolina railroading. I enjoy these e-mails and could not get enough of them. ICQ messages or often a little more, well, out there. Many people message me asking about my claim to be both a flaming liberal and a Southern Baptist. Others try to turn me on to Christ. (“He’s the real thing!”)
Then there are the e-mails from long lost family and friends. These can be grouped into two categories. However, I’m not telling you what these categories are. And then you get e-mails from people you wish never to see again, people who have been to your web site and mention in some detail that shot of you in pig tails. Oh, and don’t forget the e-mails that come in from people who aren’t even who they say they are.
I still remember you, Christine. I hope you’re very happy with the house full of cats and your garden out in the back. Oh, and Kelly, don’t think I’ve forgotten you. How could I? I mean, your grammar is so good and I like how you don’t even capitalize your name. How very cool.
I guess we’re still learning how to cope in this information age like how to weed out the bullshit from the complete and utter bullshit, how much of ourselves we really want out there for public consumption and whether we really want to deal with an ISP that sucks so bad, you refer to it as “the information one lane dirt road.” Anyway, this was just something I was thinking of tonight.
BNSF/CANADIAN NATIONAL UNPROPOSE THEIR MERGER
And now for the loose ends part of the rant. For those of you who have not heard, Burlington Northern Satan Fe and Canadian National have called off the proposed merger that would have created the largest, most unruly railroad in the history of large and unruly railroads. The DC Court of Appeals upheld a fifteen month moratorium imposed by the Surface Transportation Board in March, just before BNSF and CN were to make official their plans to merge.
Robert Krebs and Paul Tellier, CEOs of BNSF and CN respectively, said it was not in the best interest of their shareholders to proceed with the merger. Those in the know, however, are aware that both men made a deal with the Devil for this merger and the Devil backed out.
And now, forgive me for a moment as I talk directly to BobE, the name of someone who posts regularly to Trainorders. Mr. E., I know you have a job that makes you feel all big and important. It may even be on Wall Street. I have no way of knowing and frankly, I don’t give a rat’s ass. But while you were in the hilltops singing the praises of this merger and belittling anyone who even suggested that maybe – just maybe – this was an ill conceived, ill advised, badly timed proposal, myself and a few others in the trenches were yelling for sanity and rational thinking. Imagine that. Me: a voice of reason! And guess what! I was right!
Allow me to dance the jig in celebration of the fact that BobE was wrong! Oh, and that I was right!
I HATE GOD! (AND I’M NOT TOO FOND OF THE DEMOCRATS EITHER!)
I don’t actually hate God. I just hate how God’s name gets used as the defense for a lot of bigotry and hatred and down right intolerance in this country. On my ICQ information, I list myself as a “flaming liberal and a Southern Baptist.” When I wrote that, I did so mainly because of how at odds each seems with the other. The church I went to basically from the time I was seven until I was able to make up my own mind as to whether I wanted to go or not was, and as far as I know, are still part of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptists, in my humble opinion, have repeatedly shown themselves to be, well, ignorant and in danger of passing the Catholics in the race for most out of date religion.
I’m not here to damn the Southern Baptists. I know for a fact that the majority of the ones I have come into contact with are nothing more than God-fearing people looking to do right by Him. But I am here to damn the Southern Baptist Convention as a whole. The next church I am a member of will not belong to these people as long as the SBC keep wearing their ignorance on their shoulder like a merit badge in the Boy Scouts.
Now on to the Democrats. On my front page of this site, at the very bottom, mind you, I have placed the words, “Always vote Democrat: Gore 2000.” I remember well in 1992 when my vote was one of the 43% that put Bill Clinton and Al Gore into office. In 1996, I again helped elect the Dems to the White House, the first time a Democratic president had served two terms since FDR. This, of course, includes Kennedy, who very likely would have served a second term had he not lost his head in Dallas.
In truth, if Bill Clinton could run for a third term under our Constitution, I would vote for him again. I think he has done a lot of good for this country, in spite of repeated attempts by men in power who wish to see him pulling a Nixon, stepping onto that helicopter on the front lawn of the White House for one last time.
But it is my observation that the two party system over the course of many years has devolved into a one party system. In other words, there are not now enough major differences between the Republicrats and Demoicans to tell a difference. I guess the main exception to this statement would be over the question of a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion or not.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not about to vote for George W. or any other Republican. Likewise, I am also not about to decide to not vote. And no, I’m not one of these idiots who call into talk radio wanting the chance to vote for “none of the above” in general elections.
I am, however, giving serious thought and review to the Libertarians. Any party that is good enough for Peter McWilliams is good enough for me. I have not yet reached a decision as to whether I will vote Democrat or Libertarian. I guess it comes down to whether I think a vote for anyone other than Al Gore (Harry Browne is running for the libs.) acts only as a vote For George W. Bush or not. I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts about this at another time.
Meanwhile, it’s off to the couch. And in the immortal words of Gerry V,: “love, live and laugh, people, ‘cos it’s a short pony ride.”
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