Testing the boundaries of freakingoutedness.

Runaway oil prices, runaway rice inflation and runaway housing deflation. Oh yeah, and isn't there a war going on?

If the new strategy for distracting our attention from Iraq is to focus us on the dismal state of our economy, then my hat's off to the administration. People are so freaked out -- and rightly so -- about the fact that their wallets and their buying power are shrinking like cheap cotton pajamas, you can barely conjure up a healthy debate about what's going on in the least popular war since the bad old days of Vietnam.

I never would have guessed these fellows could drop all the balls at once. I guess it must be something like multi-tasking. Who knew you couldn't spend like drunken advertising executives on a war without breaking something? You honestly don't know what you should be more freaked out about; the economy, the environment, the people who were just getting by as it is, or a war that's not even front page news anymore.

Maybe it'll all be better in November. I'm sure Hillary, Barack or McCain must have some handy-dandy-Swiss-Army-knifelike all-purpose solution up their sleeves. That's if they can find the time to think of one while they're busy pointing out who's chosen to use the occasional ill-conceived phrase, drinking shots and beers, bowling or apologizing for smear campaigns run in their name that they claim to have no control over.

I honestly don't know who has the answers, I'm sure not claiming to, but with all the crap out there let's hope someone does.

Not preaching, just freaking a little.

cnchnz

Water water everywhere and nothing to drink it from. (with apologies to the English majors)

Here's the deal. We can't all keep drinking bottled water because if nothing else we're filling up the landfills with the plastic bottles.

Unfortunately, now we also find out that we can't drink from all of those nifty sports bottles everyone's now sporting. The nice, hard, shiny, colorful, clear, ones are made from a chemical, bisphenol, that leaches into the water you're drinking. Look on the bottom of your sports bottle. You'll see a triangle with a number in it. If that number is a 7 they say you really shouldn't drink from it. The same is true of the hard plastic baby bottles, so you might want to switch to glass.

As a little side bonus, if you're drinking from a glass water glass and getting your water from a cooler at the office or even home, check the big bottle the water comes in. Chances are it's got a little 7 in its little triangle.

I guess it's city water for me.

cnchnz

People, politics and the Olympics game.

I find it difficult to write about human rights.

I think it's because it's so hard for me to believe that anyone doesn't believe in the concept of equal rights for all human life. But, every day I'm slapped in the face with the ugly evidence that an alarming number of people just don't seem to give a crap about their fellow human beings. Particularly if those fellow human beings look different, sound different, have different customs, belong to different parties, belong to the same party, have long legs, short legs, facial hair, no facial hair, blue eyes, brown eyes, believe in different gods, believe in the same God, prefer Coke over Pepsi 0r Pepsi over Coke. 

I am now convinced that even if race, religion and sexual orientation didn't exist, people would still find ways to distance themselves from one another. I don't know if it's because we can't literally feel each other's pain, walk in each others shoes, see through others eyes or any other cliche you'd like to plug in here.  Maybe we all secretly believe in the whole "I'm the center of the universe" junk.

Well, I've got news, I am not the center of the universe and neither are you. Bill Gates may be but that's a possibility I choose not to consider.

Which leads me elsewhere. 

I've been watching the coverage of the Olympic torch relay. Couldn't avoid it.  Violent protests in the streets over China's human rights record, their support for Sudan and their hold on Tibet.

I can certainly understand the protest. It's people's voices that can ultimately change the course of governments, but violence against people in the name of anti-violence against people, is an oxymoron. Violence is violence no matter who's doing it and to whom.

See, that sounds preachy doesn't it. I don't mean it to be. I just wish people would think about this stuff.

cnchnz

I'll be back.

If you've tried to go to cnchnz.com lately you've been disappointed. We're actually going to be out of commission for a few days while we fix some stuff.

I'd love to tell you some really glamourous and exciting tale about compact fluorescent lighting toughs storming in to shut us down or the military industrial complex doing whatever it is that they do. But the simple truth is we needed to make some changes. 

In the mean time, don't forget what we're all about. Sure we're selling shirts and giving 10% of our revenues to causes like homlessness, hunger, global warming, conservation, human rights and peace and nonviolence; but the cnchnz brand is really about standing up, being seen and showing the world we care about and support things bigger than ourselves. Passive activism if you will. Not confrontational, sensational or in your face. Just mass (someday) visiblity. 

Anyway, really sorry for any inconvenience. We'll see you in a few days.