Three consecutive days of drunken fun has left me...well, charged with the task of vacuuming the remaining cake off the living room floor, bedroom floor, couch cushions, chair cushion, and, dear god, how did it get there? I haven't been drunk Brian like this in a long time. Good fun, all around, with random margarita fiesta, Hoop-Dee-Doo, and Kitty O'Shea's. And now, what to do tonight?


I just finished writing out my schedule for the next couple of weeks. Nine programs left (and none of them are DPAS). What a quick internship. Pretty disturbing, if you ask me. It seems like just last week, I was waiting in line at the Commons for nonexistent information about my Y.E.S. training schedule, and now I'm leaving (by the way, I have two boxes packed already). I'm looking forward to free laundry (at least as much as one can look forward to laundry).

Here are a few things that I feel like saying.


First, I love the state of Vermont. I've never been there, mind you, but from what I saw of it in the intro to "Newhart" and now that I've learned that Vermont has only FOUR Wal*Mart stores, I want to go (I can think of at least 2 in the Iowa City area and about at least 5 in the greater Orlando area--Disgusting). Wal*Mart is the devil. I have to think that by shopping at the local grocery store, I've spent well over $100 more than I would have spent had I gone to Wal*Mart this past year, but it's worth it. Wal*Mart could not be any more of a filthy company. What started as a triumph of a small businessman has turned into the end of the American dream, especially in rural areas. Wal*Mart comes into town, and, using its amazing buying power, vast variety of products, and shady business practices, it drives small businesses out of town. The family store becomes that one place that we USED to go to. We used to buy our groceries there, but Wal*Mart will sell us a can of green beans for $0.42, and that's about 8 cents cheaper than Mom and Pop. Why go to the hardware store for a lightbulb or a hammer when Wal*Mart will practically give it away AND they have groceries! Wow. Screw you, hardware store owner. Wait, AND Wal*Mart has gasoline $0.02 cheaper than the other gas stations! Let's go there! My god. Now, all of the people who lose their livelihoods to Wal*Mart have to eat still. Oh, and when the light burns out, they need a lightbulb. And where do they have to go to get what they need? Wal*FREAKIN*Mart, that's where.

Congratulations to the communities that have begun to realize that Wal*Mart isn't that friendly cheap place. Congratulations to those communities that will forsake $0.08 for a can a green beans to maintain what truly is America. Wal*Mart has been sucking the life out of communities and countrysides for too long. It's time to stop.


Next. Now that I have less than three week's time left here at Walt Disney World, I've been wanting to visit some of the attractions that I've missed out on over the past few years. Yesterday, prior to watching Paul Revere and the Raiders at the Flower Power concert series of the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, I made my way to the World Showcase with a friend. We watched O Canada in Circlevision 360, and, at least 20 times during that 18 minute show, I said "I must go there." Seriously, I don't care how outdated that film is, I want to go to Canada. I want to LIVE in Canada (for many reasons, reasons that should be obvious by my contempt for the state of the United States, the world, and the direction that both seem to be heading). O Canada. Also, I've decided that I want to learn French. Perhaps I can use my free time at camp each day to enhance my Portuguese and then learn French, which could come in handy in Europe and then of course, when I live in Vermont, which is SO close to Quebec.....


Then. Those of you who know me well will find appropriate skepticism in this bit. Sunday, I facilitated an American Story program at the Magic Kingdom, which involved going onstage with the Audio-Animatronic Presidents. We discuss only the first 18, leaving Hayes to the current "president" for the show. After having introduced the first 18, I asked if anyone had any questions, and immediately, one of the chaperone's hands shot up. He asked me why the American flag lapel pin on W.'s suit coat was upside down (I swear I didn't do it). He then started asking me what it meant, to which I replied, "I know what it means quite well, actually. It means 'in distress.'" Then, I turned the pin back rightside up (meaning I had to touch that [expletive deleted]'s effigy). When I did that, I noticed that the pin back was missing, so I assured the chaperone that the upside down flag was purely accidental. Or at least I think it was accidental, but maybe someone in maintenance is fighting the good fight with us.

On my way to work this morning, I heard a Vietnam-era veteran call into a radio show, stating that the abuse pictures from Iraq and the whole scandal was "being blown way out of proportion," and that "Americans have been abused in wars before, too, so it's not like this is anything new." Holy crap. I will defer to Philip Zimbardo and Stanley Milgram as to why these horrific abuses occur, but as far as the situation being overblown, get off it. What happened at that prison is unexcusable, and, as the people who pay for W.'s phony war, we MUST make a big deal out of this abuse. We must demand to see how bad it really was, and must judge best then how to deal with it. It's a shame that it took showing the really ugly side of the U.S. occupation (as though blowing Baghdad and a score of other Iraqi cities to bits, being told that WMDs were abundant, acting without the support of the United Nations and our allies weren't bad enough) finally to have people thinking beyond the "war on terror" and thinking about acts of war.

The truth shall set you free. Realizing that history books are written by those who are alive to tell the tales, and often that means the vanquished are not, might make some of us not so quick to jump on the blind patriotism bandwagon. Do I support John Kerry for President? Only because Dennis Kucinich isn't going anywhere. Will I vote for Kerry? Sure. Why? I'll vote for him because he, even in admitting war atrocities that he witnessed and so at least some degree participated in, recognizes that war is not always right, even if, in a reactionary time, it is originally supported (Vietnam was supported as a war against the spread of the "evils" of Communism) and that war crimes are crimes against humanity. Bush doesn't see that. Of course, he doesn't seem to care, either.

Resolved: George W. Bush is the worst president in the history of the United States.

Let's look at the evidence, shall we? Where to start? Should I start with the most innocuous atrocities of the current administration or should I focus more on the trail of deceit that directed Americans to sit at home and ponder the great "is it really patriotic to shop at the Gap?" question. Oh, what the hell... let's start with the environmental record of Bush-Cheney and their amazing energy plans.

Nah... maybe I'm being too hard on the man who jokes about not finding weapons of mass destruction while hundreds of American/coalition soldiers and thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians die. Maybe I should focus on the positive things this man, whose Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents speech contains statements about equality in the workforce and goverment, which is only important in that Bush has sought a constitutional amendment to prevent equality in the workforce and government. Or perhaps it's just easiest to point out the Freudian concept in the first line of the aforementioned speech..."When we look back on the history of this country, we see a record of almost unbelievable energy..." I wonder if the Saudis were controlling the success of that speech, too.