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	<title>Standards and Grudges</title>
	<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com</link>
	<description>Politics, punk rock and defamation of character, from Madison, Wisconsin.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:57:03 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>This New Cowardly Era</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One thing desperately missing in this era are the genius inventors.  In the past century, the brilliant and often eccentric minds have been lured away from their small workshops with a handful of assistants, in favor of corporate think tanks, university laboratories and government agencies.  That is the real legacy of Thomas Edison. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/11/23/this-new-cowardly-era</link>
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		<title>Counting Down the Days</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The dawn of my time in Iraq is fast approaching. The administrative tasks, such as filling out forms detailing the physical and psychological injuries I may have suffered, start next week. The highlight is a briefing called Right Finish. It&#8217;s not the least bit informative or helpful. It&#8217;s often referred to as the Don&#8217;t Go [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/11/19/counting-down-the-days</link>
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		<title>Ides of November</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It may be impossible to avoid election news or perhaps just highly improbable. The only big surprise was Proposition 8 in California. I remember in 2006 when the gay marriage ban passed in Wisconsin there were many transplants I knew that took that opportunity to call Wisconsin a bunch of ignorant backwoods hicks. Several of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/11/12/ides-of-november</link>
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		<title>The Blood Moon, The Next Four Years</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The past few days my thoughts have been occupied by a stellar phenomenon of sorts.  Well, not stellar at all, but an object in space.  Last night as I was sitting outside contemplating how I would go about avoiding ridiculous speculation, unconfirmed reports and all-around bad journalism related to the election and I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/11/05/the-blood-moon-the-next-four-years</link>
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		<title>Time and the Four Letter Word</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s raining again.  A lazy drizzle falling slightly east.  Strange wet designs have formed on the west facing concrete barriers.  Dots elongated into vertical lines.  We don&#8217;t need any more rain, but it suits my mood, idle and dispirited.  I enjoyed watching the rain draw designs on the walls.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/10/29/time-and-the-four-letter-word</link>
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		<title>Babylon Flooding</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My environment has drastically changed in the past week.  Summer, the dry season, is over.  The rain came sudden and heavy.  It started as a smoky specter on the horizon and quickly became a menacing poltergeist.  The soil here has no memory—unable and unwilling to address this biblical increase in moisture. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/10/28/babylon-flooding</link>
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		<title>I am Steve&#8217;s Moral Decay</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If I were to judge myself harshly, I would have to say that my greatest fault is this strict moral code I seemed to have developed—others would likely say otherwise, but they lack either the capacity or perspective to properly judge me.  I&#8217;ve always believed that it&#8217;s completely unnecessary to stab a person in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/10/19/i-am-steves-moral-decay</link>
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		<title>Politics, Artillery and Tea (Not the Boston Tea Party)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been reading articles written during past Presidential elections and I&#8217;ve come to a depressing conclusion. I do seriously hope that my supposition is flawed. It seems that each election in the past 50 years has been a variation of a few scripts. The cast of characters change to a limited degree. The political parties [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/10/16/politics-artillery-and-tea-not-the-boston-tea-party</link>
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		<title>My Last Dance in Mexico</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I despise Mexico. Perhaps I should take more care when expressing that around strangers. I know most will presume I&#8217;m prejudice or some kind of racist. It&#8217;s not Mexicans as a whole that I hate, it&#8217;s the nation. I will never go there again, for a variety of reasons. The good people in Mexico are [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/10/07/my-last-dance-in-mexico</link>
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		<title>A Lifetime Ago</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There is not enough time available in one lifetime to read all the books, articles and poems necessary to reasonably contend with the tragedy, carnage and savage corruption we inflict upon each other.  Sometimes the reading comes too late to be much help.  Bukowski&#8217;s tales of hard living, hard loving and hard drinking [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.standardsandgrudges.com/2008/10/06/a-lifetime-ago</link>
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