Blue States

I'm making preparations to do the trek of treks--the Mt. Everest Base Camp trek in January. No mountaineering involved. As far as Everest adventures go, it's a 2.5 on a scale of 5 (one being a flyover. 4.5 trying to climb and getting killed along the way, 5 making it to the top).

I don't climb. But I do know how to walk up a flight of stairs, and basically, that's what the Everest Base Camp trek is--walking up stairs (actually rocks cut into the sides of hills)--a whole lot of them over two wintry Himalayan weeks. Sounds like a great calorie burner. No pharmacies. No semi-pro conjugal surrogates. Maybe some black tar temmple balls and the occasional snifter of raksi. But mostly good clean exhilirating fun complete with bragging rights. (and might be able to rip that maple leaf off my backpack by then).

Anyway, until it is decided for me which package best suits our budget, I've not much more to say about it. Stay tuned.

I received an amusing mass forwarded Email this morning, and like all mass forwarded Emails, I suspect I may be one of the last persons to have seen it. But just in case--here it t'is. A letter from the Blue states to the Red states.

"Dear Red States:

If you manage to steal this election too, we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us.

In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get Walmart. We get Harvard. You get L.S.U.

We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.

You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up after all, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks, Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia. We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then us lefties. Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico"