Rage Against The Machine

Some of those that wear forces 
Are the same that burn crosses. 

So the Christopher Dorner story finally ended last night after the cabin he was believed to be hiding in was burned to the ground but San Bernardino deputies that engaged him in an earlier gunfight.  I, for one do not agree with Dorner's murderous rampage to prove his point of a system that had gone way out of control.  The only question, I think sociologists will be struggling with for a while is why are there so many law-abiding citizens who are rooting for Dorner?  I'm sure the academics have access to the long, colored history of the LAPD and police brutality so if anyone wants an easy doctorate in sociology, this dissertation is easy to defend.

Killing in the name of! 
Killing in the name of! 

So in the process of trying to hunt down Dorner, law enforcement agencies in particular, LAPD, Torrance PD and San Bernardino Sheriffs basically reinforced the claims that Dorner made in his published online manifesto, that law enforcement will do anything to protect their own.  Even if only a quarter of Dorner's claims were even true, one can truly understand why he snapped.

And now you do what they told ya 

I do not know to what extent police tactics will be investigated in this manhunt but 3 particular incidents just prove Dorner's points.  Shooting over 100 rounds at 2 women delivering the LA Times, ramming a white guy's truck and shooting at him in a case of mistaken identity and the burning of the cabin where Dorner was holed up in the San Bernardino mountains.  Does anyone ever doubt they want this guy dead? For the first 2 incidents, if everything gets settled out of court, then of course, it's business as usual.  Police payout to civilians is probably included in every law enforcement agency budget in the LA basin.  On the last event, which ended the manhunt, sadly, it's just another data that proves Dorner's point of out-of-control police tactics.

And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control 
And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control 

Which brings me to my main point.  As long as there is abuse of power in this world that we live in, the song "Killing In The Name" by the band Rage Against The Machine will be as relevant as ever.  The country had never seen anyone go up against the machine with such anger as we've seen in the last 7 days.  Until changes are made, it won't be the last.


Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me. 
FUCK YOU, I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!!

When Is This Gonna End?

Today, the UCI, cycling's governing body stripped Lance of his 7 tour victories.  Now, I can sympathize how African Americans vigorously defended OJ Simpson when he was tried and acquitted of murder years ago.  Lance is one of our own -- not American we, but cycling community we.  There was Boyer, Lemond, Hampsten, Phinney before him.  Americans who paved the way for gringos to race as pro bike racers in Europe.  Those who followed the tour knew all along that it is a hard race and there is a reason PEDs are used mostly for recovery.  Pro cycling is dirty and everyone knows it.  I suppose the thing that bothers me is that those who jumped on the Lance bandwagon are getting off just as fast now.  Shit, should have never stopped to pick them up in the first place.  Most of them didn't give a damn when Lemond was betrayed and almost beat by his own French teammate in 1986.  The didn't care about Andy Hampsten riding the Gavia Pass in the Giro.  So like a bleeding cut, there seems to be no end to people getting off the Lance train -- no matter how much money he made them in the past.

The Demographic of the 909 Alpha Male

There's had got to be a name sociologists would attach to this particular demographic.  I've lived in the 909 for over three years and tonight I put all the pieces together.  The kids and I ate dinner at the Yard House tonight at Victoria Gardens and I was quietly watching Sunday night football and it all came together.  Three ladies sat at the bar and their male partners/husbands/boyfriends stood about drinking beer.  What I saw in front of me was something I've never seen living in the South Bay, Westside or in Pasadena.  These guys are what I would call representative of the 909 Alpha Male demographic.  I've seen them at the Ralph's parking lot driving their crew cab 8-cylinder trucks.  I've seen the 909 A.M. walking at the mall wearing their Tapout or Metal Mulisha t-shirt.  The 3 men at the bar were all wearing short crew cut haircuts and on average stood about 6 ft tall.  Probably played football for Rancho Cucamonga High School.  Hell, I've seen them at the 24-hr Fitness as well, bench pressing 250 as I ran on the treadmill.  I go to the gym to work on my cardio to supplement my cycling.  They press to get big.  Work in construction? Maybe.  Law enforcement or fire department? Maybe.  Republican?  Definitely.  I'm sure they all head to Lake Havasu as their prime summer vacation spot.  Half of them listen to country and the other half listen to KCAL 96.7 for some Metallica.  100% football fan from the months of September through January and they watch MMA the other 7 months.  The fact that I only see them at the Yard House and at Lucille's BBQ and not at King's Fish House could only mean one thing -- their diet consists mostly meat and burgers and little fish.  And when they procreate with their bleach blonde ladies, the produce baseball-loving little clones of themselves and drive Suburbans when their crew cab trucks cannot fit their 909 families.  Come think of it, I've had close calls with these Suburbans on Banyan while on my bike.  My only fear bigger than getting run over by the 909 A.M. is one or both of my kids joining this interesting demographic.  

I Need To State This

I'm still torn on this whole Lance Armstrong business.  The whole deal is an attack on my sport -- cycling and the best sporting event in the world, the Tour de France.  It really pisses me off that Nike pulled sponsorship from Lance and they didn't treat Tiger Woods, Kobe, Michael Vick and other disgraced athletes the same.  I'm pissed off because the whole sport of professional cycling is dirty for a very long time now.  Pro cyclists are dying in their sleep in their mid 30s, dying of liver disease and cancer in their 40s and 50s.  I'm pissed off because the USADA does not go after the entire fucking National Football League -- which is full of roid users.  Incidentally, NFL players live an average of 51 years.  I'm pissed because Trek made a ton of money on Lance Armstrong's accomplishments.  I'm pissed because someone wanted Lance Armstrong's head on a platter and they finally got it.  I'm pissed at this country's holier-than-thou attitude.

We're Screwed

I had never been in a Coach store until today.  Even after today, I've only been to an outlet Coach store. Drove all the way to the desert outlet in Cabazon to look for a few things and the experience of being in an outlet Coach store was a 15-min realization that civilization is pretty screwed.  It was as if a Boeing 747 landed on Interstate 10 and unloaded its passengers from some Asian country just in front of this desert outlet.  Women in their 30s buying ten $159-handbags, husbands six $120 purses, middle-aged women opening store drawers looking for a particular color purse.  What fucking recession? At least 100 people were shopping in an average sized store front.  A checkout line for people purchasing 3 items or less and a separate one if you're buying 25 handbags.  It was also a rare sight to see people buying $1200 worth of leather good and paying cold, hard cash!  Plastic accepted, of course but they brought a planeload of cash across the Pacific.  Thing I couldn't figure out is whether these people are reselling them or giving them away to family and friends.  I've walked by other Coach stores before and didn't really see more than a dozen or so clients in there but I suppose an outlet is a special place -- even if it's in the middle of the California desert.

(Not) A Fair Fight

I've always been on the fence when it comes to Lance Armstrong.  Until yesterday.  Let me explain.  When he won his 5th Tour de France title, I wasn't sure I would put him up there with 2 other cyclists I admire -- the great Eddy Merckx and the ferocious Bernard Hinault, who each had won 5 tour titles during their careers.  When he won #6 and #7, I was resigned to the fact that ok, he's at least as good at Merckx and Hinault.  The total number of tour wins is really relative to the competition of the era.  For example, Hinault had to fight with Greg Lemond and Laurent Fignon, both great cyclists, for a couple tour wins during his reign.  So yes, Lance, in my mind joined Merckx and Hinault.  Whether he used performance enhancing drugs is a different issue.  Never tested positive on hundreds of tests during his career so at the very least, I consider every one of Lance's wins legitimate.  I've always suspected his use of EPO -- but I thought every other pro cyclist of his generation did too so it was a wash.  Nonetheless, he was tested and passed.  Case closed.  Then comes the US Anti Doping Agency in 2012.  Why they are investigating him seven years after his last tour, who the hell knows.  Then yesterday, Lance basically said he will stop fighting the USADA.  No mas.  From all accounts I've read, this is not a fair fight.  Two other news items this week made me thinks this world is pretty rampant with people who abuse the powers they're given and consequently, the people they preside over never get a fair fight. The skateboarder in Venice who got beat up by four LAPD officers for allegedly resisting arrest for skateboarding in the wrong direction.  The high school principal in Oklahoma who refused to give the valedictorian her diploma because she uttered the word "hell" in her speech.  Armstrong has never backed away from a fair fight and he thought this USADA process was not fair.  Hence his decision.  Hence, my decision.  From this point forward, I am rooting for Lance.  I'm rooting for every victim out there who had suffered unnecessarily because of this social epidemic called abuse of power.

Just When I Thought...

...that is was going to be a boring election cycle, Chick-Fil-A president opened his trap in opposition to gay marriage.  Nothing like a catalyst for progressives to get off their asses and work this election to keep social conservatives and the religious right out of our bedroom and our personal lives.

It Was Good While It Lasted

Amazon will start charging sales tax in September and for the last 10 years, I had bought most of these art books from them at a much discounted price.  Normally, I would thumb through a book associated with a museum exhibition and I am really just too cheap to pay $70 for a book, so I get it online for $35.  In addition to the free shipping, the fact that I have to pay no sales tax got me sold on the deal.  Well, I have literally a month and a half to buy from them before I get taxed as if I'm going to the local bookstore.  And sometime last year, I started buying household items like shoe polish, bike parts, clothing, etc from Amazon as well.  For me, a bulk of my Amazon purchases are really not necessities -- more like impulse buys or luxury items.  A few dollars of taxes won't break me but it's the damn principle of having to pay more taxes.  Screw 'em all.

I Like The Music But...

In Los Angeles, anyone can see a good concert just about any day of the week.  The Wiltern Theater happened to be the venue.  And I've been there sometime in the 90s to see K.D. Lang and the acoustics, the music, the audience was excellent.  Typical LA crowd.  My crowd.  Also in the 90s, I saw Creed, the rock band at the Palladium and it was a great show.  They had just released the "Human Clay" album and the audience was typical Hollywood.  That show rocked and of course, I had always liked Creed since their first album release.  I've always known about their somewhat "Christian" tendencies but had largely ignored it.  After all, lead singer Scott Stapp did a porn video with Kid Rock, right?  So why would the Christian Jihad music fans not dump the band.  Of course, I underestimated these "people".  Last night's concert opened with a Kiwi band, Like A Storm followed by a NY act, Eve To Adam.  Both openers just rocked the Wiltern as well.  In my opinion, that is.  My first clue should have been, the audience who mostly had come to see Creed didn't really welcome the two bands.  Applause was mediocre at best.  Half the seats in my section were unoccupied.  As Creed finally took the stage, everyone was going crazy of course, yelling and screaming through most of the tracks on the Human Clay CD -- which the band played from start to finish.  But as they proceeded to play their other hits (One, Torn, My Own Prison), I started noticing several people in the audience who where just standing and singing like they would in fucking church.  Disgust is too mild a word for how I felt.  Of course they could embrace any band these people feel like but my discomfort being around these "people" was borderline to the point where I actually considered walking out.  I came to see Mark Tremonti's guitar playing.  Hell, I even appreciate Stapp's soaring vocals.  However, I don't appreciate sitting in the same concert with people who do not remotely share my views on social issues (abortion, gay marriage, women's right, etc).  They say music is supposed to bring people together.  Maybe but it's really hard to me to tolerate the religious intolerance of these bastards.  I vow to never go to another Creed concert.  Ever.

Alternative Food Shopping

Alternatives to the big three grocery chains, that is.  Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons.  At one point, I didn't care about how much they were overcharging me.  Ralphs is a mile down the hill and Vons is about 2.5 miles to the east but in the same plaza as a Subway and Del Taco. Convenience has a price, right? But when I spent something on the order of $48 on a simple Friday night emergency trip at Ralphs a couple months ago, I said "Enough".  I will (and I did) find a way to go elsewhere but these overpriced ripoff joints.  So I don't mind driving the extra mile or two to go the Fresh N Easy for basic supplies like OJ or pasta or even some meats.  Once I got over the fact that I had to scan and bag my own grocery -- it was a simple choice.  The other thing that pissed me off about Vons and Ralphs is the self-checkout never works as efficiently as Fresh N Easy.  For produce, I hit the Sprouts Market on Day Creek Blvd and Baseline Road.  (It somewhat reminds me of a poor-man's Whole Foods, which I absolutely adored in Pasadena but no chance of getting one anytime soon in Rancho C.)  And to complete my three-legged food source, I hit the Trader Joe's on Haven, just north of the 210 freeway.  I've always gone there for nuts, wine, salads and some meats and some prepackaged Indian food which my kids eat as meals.  I probably don't save a whole lot of money but I think it's the principle of not going to these corporate grocery giants, Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons that drives me.  (Hey, if Netflix subscribers can make a corporate giant look like an idiot for overcharging, I might as well start my own protest.)

No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Some notes I wrote on my Moleskine book while eating lunch at the Claim Jumper last Sunday. There is no such thing as a free lunch.  A year ago when he was still going to Golden Elementary, JJ got a Claim Jumper gift certificate for a free item on the kid's menu as part of some student award.  I know for a fact I had not been to a Claim Jumper restaurant since 2007 -- and really had no desire to go.  Super-size meals of at least 2500 calories ain't just my thang.  But that gift certificate had been sitting there and I thought JJ would enjoy getting a free meal for some of his academic effort.  So off we went to the CJ in Fontana, just on the other side of I-15 off Foothill Blvd.  My first clue should have been the fact that Claim Jumper AND WalMart share the same parking lot.
1) Tattooed dude at the salad bar putting together a 6-inch heap of vegetables and dressing
2) A 350 lb guy wearing tank tops at the salad bar
3) Tall guy in a suit with a lady in a nice dress.  Either they just got out of church or are real estate agents
4) Guy in orange shirt wearing what looks like size 30-inch waist pants but has a 50-inch beer belly.  How on earth does he do that?
5) Why are we eating here?  I could be enjoying a wild mushroom pizza at CPK.
6) Man in party of ten has what looks like an 8-in hole on shirt sleeve around his right armpit
7) Why on earth do they put mayo on the lettuce in my sandwich which is filled with a cashew chicken salad that is mostly mayo to begin with?
8) Ever heard of People of WalMart?  Well, I think there's a sister web site called CJ Clientele.
9) Do these people go to WalMart before or after they hit the Claim Jumper?
10) Why are we here?
11) Waitress seemed surprised we didn't order a 1200-calories dessert after eating our lunch
12) JJ's lunch may be free but I'm paying for it when I lost my appetite watching gluttons consume thousands and thousands of calories.  I didn't finish my cashew chicken sandwich.

Some Thoughts On Online Taxation

One of the attractions of using Amazon.com to purchase anywhere from books, videos, office supplies to sporting goods, clothing and music is the fact that I don't have to pay any sales tax on any online purchase and if the total exceeds $25, shipping is free as well.  There is this ugly fight in the State of California over Amazon customers and sales tax collection.  Where this showdown is headed, who knows but I did look today on my Amazon account activity and I find it hard to believe that it's been at least 11 years since I made my first online purchase.  In 2000, when I'm just starting to get comfortable with the concept of online shopping, here's what I ordered:


1) 7/19/00 - "Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever" - Ok, to me it's obvious, Sam just turned two and Richard Scarry was a well-worn videotape by the time we donated it to Goodwill a couple years back.
2) 8/18/00 - "The US Intelligence Community" by Jeffrey Richelson - This was a good, fun read for anyone in the aerospace industry.  Richelson was the author of another popular book that a co-worker recommended at the time.
3) 10/5/00 - "The Red Violin" DVD - I saw the movie at the theater but decided that I should get a copy for my birthday.  I had seen the movie at least a dozen times and at some point, I think I ordered the soundtrack as well.


Fast forward to last month when I placed my latest Amazon order and obviously, the kids are now 11 and 13 and I've already bought several art books online.  Gone is the VHS videotape format, DVD is now the predominant movie format and mp3 is the audio format of choice.  However, the printed book is still king, despite electronic books and such.  My last 3 orders are as follows:


1) 8/8/11 - "Art In The Streets"  by Jeffrey Deitch - I had to get this book discounted at Amazon after seeing the MOCA Geffen Contemporary exhibit of the same name.
2) 8/13/11 - "Geek Wisdom" by N.K. Jemisin - Some things don't change, ok.
3) 8/13/11 - "The Complete Twilight Zone Collection" DVD Box Set - Sometime between 2000 and 2011, we got the entire X-Files TV series on DVD.  The kids are just beginning to appreciate the simplicity of the Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone.  Each episode is a bite size 20min of TV that the kids and I can watch.


As some point, I should probably calculate the overall taxes I would have paid in the last 11 years based on all these Amazon purchases.  And I can see why Amazon is fighting this sales tax law because, I for one will think twice about online purchases if I'm taxed for every item.  However, I can also see why the mom-and-pop stores are for the sales tax in order to level the playing field. Only time will tell who wins but I have a hunch, it's not the consumer.

Accelerated Natural Selection (My Wish)

Sometimes I wish natural selection works faster than it does.  Yesterday, while driving to the Rhino Records in Claremont, around 8pm, some guy crossed Bonita while yakking away at his f***ing cell phone without even looking to his right or left.  I had to slow down my f***ing car just to avoid this bastard, whose genes obviously will not propagate if he continues on this habit of disregard for his safety.  A thousand or more years is just way too long for these idiots to be filtered out of the gene pool.  Is it too much to ask for natural selection to be a bit more accelerated?

Closing Borders

I've always lived in cities that have more than 4 bookstores -- Los Angeles and Pasadena.  When I moved to Rancho Cucamonga, I was not too happy with the limited selection of having the Borders at Victoria Garden Mall and the Barnes & Noble on Foothill -- but decided that two corporate bookstores is better than no bookstore at all.  So when Borders announced they were closing all stores last week (while we were in Hawaii), I know I'm down to the Barnes & Noble.  Sad.  The whole friggin' city of Rancho Cucamonga will have a single bookstore in about a month.  Ok, I can still but books at Target and Walmart, one might argue.  Please.  Amazon? Maybe, but the concept of a bookstore is to have a place where members of the community can interact.  Virtual community, I'm sorry, is not what I have in mind.  Since the announcement of the closing, I've been to Borders twice last week in Honolulu and twice this week at home to start buying up some of the bargains but I'm really at a lost where to get books by the end of next month.  Vroman's in Pasadena is 37 miles away.  MOCA and LACMA bookstores are at least 50 miles from the 909.  Maybe in the ashes of these corporate giants, the independents can make their way back.  One can only hope.