The Rear in Pictures
Today we were given a date--an actual, official date--for when our office would be moving to the medical campus. Because of the amount of data we're storing, we're not moving into the newly erected Drachman Hall like most of the department, but we're still moving onto the medical campus--into an older building (the name of which I'm not certain).
Our move date is Friday, March 10--the day before solcell arrives at the airport. solcell is arriving late enough on Saturday that I can work Friday evening to unpack boxes and put our file cabinets back in order. I could also work most of the day on Saturday, too.
I had to take a package to FedEx Kinko's after work to send it to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Parking there is never easy, since the lot is so small. When I arrived, there was only one space available, and I could barely fit into it, since the giant SUV in the next space was so poorly parked. Its driver's-side tires were over the line and inside the space I wanted to use.
I decided to antagonize the owner of the SUV by parking as close to it as possible. But I recently had my car repainted, so before I went into FedEx Kinko's, I walked behind the SUV so that I could read and memorize its license plate number, just in case I came back to find a dent or a scratch in my car.
My timing wasn't very good. Just as I was finished reading the number, the owner appeared, returning to her giant Earth-destroyer. But as soon as I recognized the owner, I really didn't give a shit. locakitty might remember her; she and I were making fun of her after a Voices of Opposition forum last year. The forum that night was about the wall being built between Israel and Palestine. Anytime there's any critical discussion of Israel, apologists for Israeli fascism will inevitably show up to start an ugly debate, often stifling any intelligent discussion of the topic. They never know the art of respectfully disagreeing. They just argue. And that night their arguments were particularly ridiculous. The owner of the giant Earth-destroyer was sitting with a couple of guys, and the three of them were taking turns loudly and venomously proclaiming the virtues of Israeli fascism. At one point--and this was the point when locakitty and I couldn't help but roll our eyes--they decided to use 7th-century Islamic expansionism to justify modern Israel's violations of international law and basic human rights.
This probably goes without saying, but I think using injustices from fourteen centuries ago to justify the bulldozing of innocent people's homes today has roughly the same logical merits as using make-believe weapons of mass destruction to justify the mass slaughter of thousands of Iraqi people. (Perhaps the fact that people can nod in agreement to both of those is a testament to how masterful our mainstream media are at brainwashing the masses.)
I suppose I shouldn't expect someone who drives a giant SUV to have very enlightened views about the rights of Palestinians--nor should I expect anyone who disregards human rights and international law to make socially responsible decisions about their choice of transportation. It was revealing, but not surprising, to find out who owned that SUV.
Now I wish I would have parked even closer to it.
Our move date is Friday, March 10--the day before solcell arrives at the airport. solcell is arriving late enough on Saturday that I can work Friday evening to unpack boxes and put our file cabinets back in order. I could also work most of the day on Saturday, too.
I had to take a package to FedEx Kinko's after work to send it to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Parking there is never easy, since the lot is so small. When I arrived, there was only one space available, and I could barely fit into it, since the giant SUV in the next space was so poorly parked. Its driver's-side tires were over the line and inside the space I wanted to use.
I decided to antagonize the owner of the SUV by parking as close to it as possible. But I recently had my car repainted, so before I went into FedEx Kinko's, I walked behind the SUV so that I could read and memorize its license plate number, just in case I came back to find a dent or a scratch in my car.
My timing wasn't very good. Just as I was finished reading the number, the owner appeared, returning to her giant Earth-destroyer. But as soon as I recognized the owner, I really didn't give a shit. locakitty might remember her; she and I were making fun of her after a Voices of Opposition forum last year. The forum that night was about the wall being built between Israel and Palestine. Anytime there's any critical discussion of Israel, apologists for Israeli fascism will inevitably show up to start an ugly debate, often stifling any intelligent discussion of the topic. They never know the art of respectfully disagreeing. They just argue. And that night their arguments were particularly ridiculous. The owner of the giant Earth-destroyer was sitting with a couple of guys, and the three of them were taking turns loudly and venomously proclaiming the virtues of Israeli fascism. At one point--and this was the point when locakitty and I couldn't help but roll our eyes--they decided to use 7th-century Islamic expansionism to justify modern Israel's violations of international law and basic human rights.
This probably goes without saying, but I think using injustices from fourteen centuries ago to justify the bulldozing of innocent people's homes today has roughly the same logical merits as using make-believe weapons of mass destruction to justify the mass slaughter of thousands of Iraqi people. (Perhaps the fact that people can nod in agreement to both of those is a testament to how masterful our mainstream media are at brainwashing the masses.)
I suppose I shouldn't expect someone who drives a giant SUV to have very enlightened views about the rights of Palestinians--nor should I expect anyone who disregards human rights and international law to make socially responsible decisions about their choice of transportation. It was revealing, but not surprising, to find out who owned that SUV.
Now I wish I would have parked even closer to it.