Monday, January 31, 2005

Tomorrow belongs to THEM.

Pack. It. Up.

I'm trying to figure out whether what I'm feeling right now is more like a gut punch or a knee to the head. Perhaps it is a combo and right now the screen is flashing FINISH HIM!

Yes. That's it.

Something is on the march, folks, but it ain't freedom.

Friday, January 28, 2005

Way back in the 03 I mentioned that "Jay Leno" was a "butt plug" There were were 17 hits on Google for that search, and I wasn't one. I did creep in at some point, but since I mentioned it in my comments box the information no longer exists. Furthermore, I no longer appear, but there are tons of new hits.

Similarly, I became, briefly, the #1 answer to a Googling of "robot planes" and "hussein". I am no longer mentioned, although there are lots of others.

My understanding is that Google works in terms of how often a page is linked or something. I guess I don't get enough traffic to show up, or something. Ah well.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

I've read and heard that conservatives are being all "nyah nyah!" that "Fahrenheit 911" didn't get an Oscar nomination, but what I haven't seen mentioned in this regard is something I recall from a couple of months ago.

If my recollection is correct, the Oscar rules regarding documentaries stipulate that it can't have aired on television and still be eligible. Moore wanted F911 shown on tv before the election, and so he knowingly took the film out of the running. He wrote, at the time, something about how he already had an Oscar anyway and there were tons of good docs out there and so on.

In other words, it is a non-story.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

The Senators for whom I have at least a bit of respect:

Daniel Akaka (D, Lost)
Evan Bayh (D, Mellencamp)
Robert C. Byrd Memorial Robert C. Byrd (D, Another Era)
plain ‘ole Mark Dayton (D, Lake Woebegone)
Dick Durbin (D, WhereTheFuckWasObama?)
Tom Harkin (D, Corny)
Jim “the ‘t’ain’t” Jeffords (I, Robot)
Teddy “the Killer” Kennedy (D, Gaymarrystan)
John Firetruck Kerry (D, Gaymarrystan)
Frank Lautenberg (D, Fuhgeddaboudit)
Carl Levin (D, Michaelmoorica)
Jack Reed (D, WhoIsHe?)

and, of course,

THE BOXER (D, Austria). A fighter by her trade.

(apparently no Sec St nominee has ever gotten this many Nays. Kissenger got 7 and Haig 6, according to the America-hating Times of London)

And by the way, McCainiacs of the Left: "So I wonder why we are starting this new Congress with a protracted debate about a foregone conclusion," McCain said. Since Rice is qualified for the job, he said, "I can only conclude that we are doing this for no other reason than because of lingering bitterness over the outcome of the election."

No other reason? Not, perhaps, as a way to discuss the war? Or as a way to air issues relating to the trainwreck that is US foreign policy?

Sucks to John McCain!

Sucks to Hillary Clinton, too.


And now its on to Alberto Gonzales, and let’s win there!

Also, read this.


(edited because I noticed two biggish mistakes)

I was just checking the news and a song came into my head (two, acutally):

"Pigs in Zen" and "Idiot's Rule" by Jane's Addiction (for good measure I ripped "Mountain Song" and "Ocean Size").

Now I don't know if that newish JA album is any good, as I have heard none of it, but anyone who refuses to admit that "Nothing's Shocking" and "Ritual de lo Habitual" rocked almost as hard as it is possible to rock must taste my steel.

I think I'm going to have to listen to some Tenacious D now.


You know, I think I have finally stumbled upon a New Year's resolution:

I RESOLVE TO ROCK.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

The Boxer (who will likely carry the reminders of every glove that will soon hit her till she cries out) is at it again. I'm liking the Boxer more as the days go by.

Also, the Robert C. Byrd Memorial Robert C. Byrd (that's a West Virginia joke, cuz everything is named after him) is breathing fire again, too.

Condiloser, Condiloser, Bush has named you.
But you lie so often that we cannot know,
are you dumb, are you blind Condiloser,
or just a cold and lonely, lovely token tart?

One of the few positives to come out of the adventures of Dubyah is that a broader selection of center/left readers have come to realize what some of us have long known/suspected: Thomas Friedman is a bag of wind, at best, and a dangerous "moderate" imperialist at worst. Here's his latest pile of poo: Divided We Stand.

One of the things I like least about his style is his "telling anecdote". So, if I were T.F. and wanted to explain why I think the New York Times sucks, I might say "Tuesday morning, just after midnight, I stumbled across an op/ed piece by a middle-aged writer who specializes, allegedly, in the Middle East and yet was taken in by Dubyah's claims of noble intentions for the region. It sucked. Ironically, this is the same paper that publishes Paul Krugman."

In the latest article, T.F.'s "telling anecdote" is the shocking discovery that, in Paris (PARIS!), there are Muslim girls for whom religion is self-identity #1. Good LORD! Can it be?!?!

Just as a heads up to Tom: there are Christians all over the world (even in PARIS!), and Jews (even in PARIS!), and Hindus (not so much in Paris, I reckon, but LONDON!), and so on who would pull that same amazing stunt for you. En garde! And watch who you talk to in Brooklyn or Houston.

There are oh so many things I would like to have Tom Friedman do, but I would be happy if he would just avoid EITHER writing about such topics until he has done a bit of reading on the sociology and history of immigrant minority clusters throughout history OR writing at all (assuming he isn't as dumb as he appears to be and is just a liar).

Sigh.


"By the Time I Get to Arizona" by Public Enemy is up on the iTunes, so I've got that going for me.

Monday, January 24, 2005

I guess I should mention the tragic death of Carson.

79? I would never have guessed older than 40. Hmm.

I don't know what the big deal about him was, though. I mean, he was NO Alan Hunter.

The Hidden Passages in Bush's Inaugural Address

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Doubleplus Clusterfuck.

Chinese Woman Sought in Boston Threat Is Already in Custody

S'lemmie githis straight: an anon tipster says a bunch of CHINESE folks are traveling in a group from Mexico to Boston so as to blow up a dirty bomb and everyone gets their panties in a twist, despite the fact that . . .

- those sought are CHINESE (famed as a hotbed of anti-Amuhrkin Terrah?)
- between Mexico and Boston there are, um, THOUSANDS of targets, yet for some reason these folks had their sights set on Beantown? And no one sees this as odd?
- dirty bombs sound sexy, but from what I understand they are unlikely to do all that much damage, and are therefore more useful for
Terrah as the thing under your bed than as an actual weapon
- (and this is the best part) one of the "suspects" was already in custody! Great googly woogly! I shall never pretend to be afraid of the big, bad FBI again, as they are clearly fucking idiots.

So. In case the FBI (as a group) stumbles upon this page, I'm going to lay out an anonymous tip.

I have heard that a group of people (at least two, but possibly more) are AT THIS VERY MOMENT traveling between two large cities in the northeast of the US. At least one of them is from Asia (or maybe Africa or South America) and has military training. One or more of the members of the group has been known to openly discuss the Iraq war in the context of it being a bad thing, and one or more members of the group has made jokes about Jenna Bush but secretly thinks she's kinda hot.

Get on the case, coppers!

Thursday, January 20, 2005

World Fears New Bush Era.

Doods. The WORLD is afraid!

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Russ Feingold?

Barack Obama?

The Fuck is their problem?

Fucking cowards.

Somebody snuck up on John Fucking Kerry and rammed a spine up his ass! Wow.

So he is against Condiloser, too.

Biden, on the other hand, after much hubub (including a nice swipe at Rumsfeld), has decided to vote for her even though, by his own admission, she has never shown any indication that she'll be any good. He's a twit. Someone once told him he was clever, I reckon.

In the clearing stands Boxer, and Firetruck.

I haven't begun looking at the whynots, but is it possible that Barbara Boxer's (spectacular and justified) savaging of Condiloser Rice -- particularly coming so close on the heels of her lonesome stand with the House members -- is the start of her campaign for the presidency in 2006?

I mean, DAMN! She's on fire lately. She's also just been reelected to her Senate seat, I believe, and doesn't have that to muddy her thinking.

(I'm ruling out the notion that she is acting noble just for the hell of it, since she's a Senator and they rarely do that).

Anyway, she's a country mile ahead of John Fucking Kerry in my book right now.

I'm Pretty Sure I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

I think she took my Western Civ course, too.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

More on the Bible, by the way.


GENESIS 6

Verse 4: WEIRDNESS. First of all “there were giants” back then. Ummm. And then there is the line “the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” Do what? Who are the sons of God in this line? CHRIS has suggested that they are aliens. Could the writers have meant angels? Who else?

And then there is the whole bit about how God decided that he’d made a mistake in creating mankind. So much for perfection. Self doubt, alone, is an imperfection, much less fucking up with your creation.

GENESIS 7

In chapter 6 God told Noah to get TWO of everything, but in chapter 7 he says get SEVEN of some. Do over? Did this thing not have an editor?

By the way, God apparently determined that all sorts of earthly critters and plants were due for a wipeout: did he have a soft spot for swimming things? They must have been without sin.

GENESIS 8

I’ll just not comment on the idea of what flooding the entire surface of the earth, over the top of Everest, would do to the way the whole weather thing and orbit thing would work. Not to mention the impact on plate tectonics of the added weight of the water.

GENESIS 9

Essentially, this is God’s third try in 3 chapters to populate the earth. Note that in verses 5 and 6 God seems to be telling folks not to kill one another. This is important, because later he changes his mind a few times. The case for imperfection mounts.

And by the way, Shem’s crime was seeing his drunk dad naked? Wow. I’ve seen my sober dad naked. Perhaps if he was drunk I’d be in trouble, too.

My smoking book (the one I read when I go out on the balcony for a cigarette) at the moment is "War -- What for?" (1910, 1912) by George R. Kirkpatrick (an American socialist). It's a really neat old book for all sorts of reasons.

The current chapter is about the economics of war and preparation for war, and while the numbers he tosses out are clearly out of date (if anything it has gotten much worse), there are interesting tidbits. One example is the following little poem, apparently written by P.F. McCarthy and originally published in the New York World:

Whether your shell hits the target or not,
Your cost is six hundred dollars a shot.
You thing of noise and flame and power,
We feed you a hundred barrels of flour
Each time you roar. Your flame is red
With twenty thousand loaves of bread.
Silence! A million hungry men
Seek bread to fill their mouths again.

Particularly poignant in the current world situation, I reckon.


Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Lots of folks are making a big damned deal about Armstrong Williams getting money to shill for No Child Left Behind. Well. Here's what I say to that:

The Education Department, for years, has been doling out tens of thousands of dollars to the self-important and delusional in return for their going out and dressing up bullshit for the ignorant and impressionable so as to reinforce the exisiting societal power arrangements.

But you don't need Matthew Lesko to get your hands on this money: just get accepted to graduate school and wait for the checks to roll in!

I myself am into them for around $30-40 grand (I'm not sure, in fact, exactly how much) and they wants it , precious, yessssss.


I hear "Modern Things" by Björk.

Friday, January 07, 2005

I am thrilled to see that a Democratic Senator actually stood up for something.

If I were an optimist, I would say this could be the start of the long march.

But I'm a pessimist (although I think of myself as a realist when I'm feeling particularly unrealistic), and so

FUCK THE DEMOCRATS!!! Most of the Dems in Congress and ALL BUT ONE in the Senate, including shit bags like Ted Fucking Kennedy and Robert Fucking Bird who have NOTHING to lose, rolled over YET AGAIN.

I'm curious. How many more times must these cats fuck the average liberal/lefty over before they finally wise up? One more? Ten more? I mean, in running Carrie Edwards they all but stabbed you in the ear, but you just kept on. Is this, finally, enough? At long last, have we no sense of pride?

Of course, I'm overreacting. You have to go along to get along, right? Baby steps. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are like jungle cats: crouching in the underbrush waiting for the Republican tapirs to come to the stream. And just as the tapirs turn their snuffling little quasi-snouts to the water BAM! Harry and Nancy will jump out and drink with them.

Ugh.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

As “Moving in Stereo” (the Cars) fades into “Les Prénoms Effacés” (Jean Trachant), I find myself compelled to put finger to key for a sweeping and pointless blog entry.

The earthqua/tsunami is, I reckon, the most important issue facing the world today, and so I begin there. Clearly it is a terrible tragedy, and I feel all the more impotent in the face of it. It does seem, however, that nastier forces than Mother Nature are behind the enormous loss of life and limb. I see no reason why the vast majority of those in the effected regions could not have been warned. The governments of the area (and the Brits, Americans, and Australians, who all monitor the region closely) should have picked up the fucking phone and called India and Sri Lanka, at least, to warn them. India and Sri Lanka (particularly India) should also have had sufficient knowledge as to prepare their coastal populaces. That they did not is a crime.

“Just my Imagination (Running Away with Me)” by the Temptations

A few minutes ago it hit me that today I received . . .

*a post card from an Englishman I got to know in West Virginia who is on vacation in Switzerland
* an email from my former Spanish teacher, who lives in Mexico and also teaches French and
* an email from my friend and former roommate in West Virginia.

I also wrote an email to a friend from Alabama who lives in South Korea and spoke via internet telephone to a friend from Mississippi (who I last saw in Germany and England) who now lives in Utah.

I, of course, am in Germany.

Oh, brave new world.

I live with a “Cinnamon Girl” (Neil Young & Crazy Horse), by the way. Mah, send me money now. I’m gonna make it somehow.

We kicked up a “Wang Dang Doodle” (which isn’t playing right now, but is a Koko Taylor song) on New Year’s Eve. Birgit (my Cinnamon Girl) had a hundred year flood. Fortunately I alternated between real and near beer, so as to be a good and capable host, and was able to put her safely to bed.

What IS playing now is “Sgt Baker” by Primus. Which reminds me: the US seems to get worse with each passing day. I had hoped that I was the root of all evil, but it seems there is something worse afoot.

I’ve said it before, sorta, but I’ll say it again: If you think things are going well, or that the administration is going to make things better, you are either an idiot or my enemy. You may also be both. I reckon you may also be a victim of propaganda, too, but ignorance of the world is no excuse. Basic morality must come into play at some point.

I said RIGHT! LEFT!

Just as I start feeling dreary, however, I hear “Shambala” by Three Dog Night. Aaaahhh Ooooohh Ooooh Oooooooh Ooooh Yeah. Everyone is helpful. Everyone is kind. You know, my dad used to creep me out by making a scary face and groweling SHAMBALA when this song came on the radio.

I can tell my brother by the flowers in his eyes.

Christmas, since you asked, was hunky dory. Not only did we have a gathering at Birgit’s parents’ house (always nice) but we were joined by a former colleague of mine from Tec de Monterrey. Javier was on a European tour. It consisted of Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam . . . and Ruethen. Funny. He enjoyed himself, I think.

“It’s hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky just to surrender”, says Leonard Cohen (in the song “The Stranger Song”) and I agree. I’m off to surrender to a cigarette.