(no subject)

I am very angry about people who think that it's okay to kill other people because the other people work for the US Federal Government. I am very angry because one day a nice older man went to work one day and never came home.

I didn't work for the USDA when two federal inspectors and one state inspector were gunned down execution-style because they were official representatives of the government and they wanted to stop a factory owner from breaking the law. But I've been to the memorial garden and I've heard from people who knew the inspectors. They were trying to do their jobs and protect the public. And they were murdered for it.

I didn't work for the federal government in 1995, when a few people decided to strike a blow against their oppressors by blowing up people who were at work. And their kids; don't forget that. Nineteen children died. And another one hundred and forty-nine other people left for work that day and never came home, ninty-nine of whom were federal employees. What were they doing? I don't know. But they were going to work, and trying to serve the public, and they died for it.

I do work for the government now. I don't know that I make a lot of difference, but I know I make some. My job is a little easier to justify than others: I do the scientific tests that show if foods and drugs are safe or are contaminated. It's easy to tell that to people, and (IMO) easy for them to grasp exactly what impact I have on their lives. (Generally beneficial, one hopes.) But that doesn't make me safe. We have guards. We have procedures. We have people making sure that the guy cutting through the parking lot is cutting through to get to his office building from the bus stop, as opposed to stopping in front of our building with a gun.

Vernon Hunter went to work on February 19, 2010. His job was probably one of the most hated in America, but he did it for 15 years. I can't say why he did it, but I think that he wanted to keep serving his country, and this was a way to do it. Vernon Hunter died because his murderer didn't think that there was a person sitting at Mr. Hunter's desk, but that The Other was there. The nameless, faceless, uncaring, unresponsive Federal Bureaucrat. But the murderer was wrong. Vernon Hunter was there. He had a wife. He had four older brothers. He played the bass. He had at least one child, a son. He served in the military for 22 years, including two tours in Vietnam. And he was strong enough to take every single sling and arrow, every nasty look and terrible joke, and be an IRS agent for 15 years.

The federal government is a labyrinthine bureaucracy. But so are most giant corporations. Dealing with the federal government can be annoying and frustrating. Again, so can dealing with most giant corporations. And the people who work for the federal government are pretty much like the people you work with. Average, ordinary people.

They are not nameless. They are not faceless. They are not The Other. And they sure as [bleep] aren't pawns on a gameboard to be knocked over to prove a political point.

F you, murderer. There's a name that we gave to the last people to fly planes into buildings, and it applies to you too. Because that's exactly what you wanted. You wanted to make a point, to show the world that you were right and they were wrong, and you would prove it in blood. And you would make all the other IRS agents wonder, "Is this person going to kill me? What about this one?"

Terrorist. That's what you are, Joe Stack. You're a terrorist. You wanted people to be scared of you. F you. Just...f you.

And just like they did today, and will do tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, Americans will wake up, and they will go to their duty stations, and their federal buildings, and their rented office areas, and they will do their jobs to serve the American people, Joe Stack. You don't win. Mr. Hunter does.

May Mr. Hunter's family find some peace in the memory of his good name.

Where Am I?

I am finished with The Battle of the Labyrinth and am moving forward into the last of the Percy Jackson books, The Last Olympian. Thank you, KCLS, for getting BotL to me before my time ran out on tLO, and I would have had to accrue fines on it. tBotL was pretty good, although I'd like Rachel more if she'd stop being Rachel Elizabeth Dare all over the place. I wish there was a little more meat on the bones in these books, but I'm not the target audience. Really, they're very well realized books.

I might be enjoying the PJ&tO books more if I didn't have a character that makes me constantly re-assess mythology in my head. Which makes getting through the second volume of JMS's run on Thor an interesting time. There were a lot of things that made me shake the book just in terms of actual Norse mythology. (Are Odin and Frigga not married? What do you mean Loki was raised as Odin's son? WHYINH*LL IS HEL A SMOKING HOT WOMAN WITHOUT ANY FACIAL DISFIGUREMENT?) But JMS is (once again) a truly awesome storyteller, and despite Skavi and research ringing in my ears, I actually enjoyed the stories. Mostly.

Which is a lot more than I can say for Rob Rodi's Loki. The premise is actually one I can be interested in: Loki has defeated Odin and become lord of Asgard. And I can totally see him wanting to keep Thor around for gratuitous humiliation. But Loki is whiny, bitchy, seems to have do freaking clue what he wants, and just in general acts like a bitchy jerk, as opposed to a smooth charmer who can talk his way in and out of everything. I gave up when Hela, Ice Queen of the Dead and Phenomenal Cosmic Power That Freaks Odin Out showed up in a skimpy leotard that would have shown hair had the lady not gotten an extra-fine Brazilian. Um, no. My Loki and my Hel are not like that, KTHXBYE. I am not cut out for mediocre Marvel-verse Thor, apparently.

I am a few chapters into Goddess of the Markets: Ayn Rand and the American Right. I almost think I should feel sorry for Rand. As a girl, she didn't get social cues and couldn't communicate with her peers except through arguing (it sounds a bit like a very mild Asperger's) and her family went from wealthy to nothing during the Russian Revolution. But dear heavens, the woman really, truly couldn't conceive that maybe some things are better done in groups, and really, truly believed that only a very few people are worthy human beings. I'd love to say that she considers 99% of humanity to be sub-human, but she doesn't seem to have stated things quite that baldly...yet. I just can't get behind her way of thinking. But it's an interesting a well-written book. Not hagiographic, but not shying away from the good stuff either.

I have finished Good Night, Mr. Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas. I picked this up years and years ago, and couldn't even get into it, but this time, I found it amusing and engaging, and I have the sequel on hold right now. The only thing I really disliked was the author's insistence on Irene not having any sex at all in the time frame given by the book. Yes, it makes sense for the times, except the book keeps placing Irene into situations where it would make sense for her to have sex with someone to the point where it reminded me of some dreadful fiction I wrote in high school where people did not have sex until marriage for the most ridiculous reasons. And no published work ought to remind me of my own attempts at fiction. Other than that, though, I loved Penelope and Irene, and Geoffrey is absolutely my kind of man.