Feingold In the News

I haven't decided yet if I'm bothered by the Feingold searchers coming by but not saying anything. I understand you want to see what your "buzz" is if you're going to run for president. But lurking about... I don't know what I think of that. I decided I'm going to keep posting about Russ Feingold. To make it worthwhile though, I'll actually highlight something of significance about Russ Feingold.

So here it is. You're daily dose of Russ Feingold:

WASHINGTON - Sen. Russ Feingold said Thursday he will introduce an amendment to a spending bill requiring that U.S. troops leave Iraq by the end of the year.

AP Wire

No doubt, someone thinking to the MAX! would say this is "cutting and running" or being "soft on terror." I'm not thinking to the MAX! so it seems more to me that our presence with no srategy for leaving creates an inertia that allows occupation to be the status quo, it creates a dynamic that feeds an insurgency, and prevents us from thinking creatively about how we might more constructively address the can of worms we opened in Iraq.

Plus we'll need those battle hardened troops for our war with Iran next Spring.

If It Walks Like a Duck Maybe It's Just Goose Stepping

It's easy to end discussion by invoking the monsters of history or drawing comparisons. Playing the Nazi card in general or the HItler card specifically ends things because both sides figure there's nothing more to say. It's a bit like saying God is on your side. How do you respond to that? How do you defend Nazis or argue against God? You can't. Maybe at one time it was a watertight argument but now it's become silly. Even if it's an apt comparison or something we should be concerned about it it still smacks of hyperbole and makes it appear you have exhausted the argument.

That's too bad. Some things are Nazi-like. It's silly to call OC sheriff's deputies or the Glendora PD fascists because you got a ticket. But it's important to see there are white supremacist sub-cultures and gangs (or "brotherhoods") in police departments. That's Nazi-like and important to know about. It's inappropriate to throw Nazi around but that doesn't mean there aren't Nazis around.

So what do you do when something really is Nazi-like?

There's a group called Save Our State holding rallies to get people fired up about protecting us from the Brown Menace making our country great. Joe Turner, the leader of SOS, says he is not a Nazi. He just cares about saving our state. So he says stuff like, "Years of inculcation by the doctrines of political correctness have left you emasculated and impotent, silenced by the thunderous chants of "racist" and "bigot." And there you stand and watch, paralyzed by fear, as your community is ravaged by the illegal alien invasion and turned into a Third World cesspool." That's cool. The thing is, the words he uses are attractive to Nazis. So attractive in fact, they are frequently identical. They fear the same things and come to the same conclusions. Neo-Nazis go to his rallies and support him. I don't know if Joe Turner is or isn't a Nazi. He just says and wants the same things that Neo-Nazis do.

Now see what that does? It ties Joe Turner's ideas to Nazis. It makes it seem like on his side of the fence are the Nazis. It seems like you shouldn't be on his side of the fence if you don't want to be with Nazis. Well, it seems that way because it is that way. But don't worry, there are more than two sides of the fence. You may want to build a big wall along the border, be afraid of immigrants, and think they are stealing jobs, driving down wages, exhausting resources, and ruining the country but that doesn't mean you are a Nazi. You could just be ignorant, isolated, unaware of history, selfish, an AM radio listener, or any number of other things besides a Nazi.

The important thing is to be able to distinguish between what is really Nazi-like or racist and what is just plain stupid.

Spanish Bombs
Smokestack Lightnin'- Howlin' Wolf
Top of the World- Shonen Knife
Complicacion- Tito Puente
Here Comes the Sun- The Beatles
Son Abajeno- Mexican Mariachi
1812 Overture: Finale-
I'm Through With Lovve- Sarah Vaughan
Holidays in the Sun- Sex Pistols
My Pen and Pad- Blackalicious

Well, He Did Hijack an Airplane

Iraqi-born actor, Lewis Alsamari was denied entry into the US to attend the premier of United 93 in which he plays the lead hijacker.

Gatsbies and the Wannabes

The roving Xenii parties give members who pay to play a chance to rub shoulders with celebrities, or at least to catch a glimpse.

LA Times

So this article is about people who pay up to $4500 a month to be part of this "A-list" scene. Interesting title, no?

Isn't Gatsby a wannabe himself? Doesn't he lie about who he is and create this fictitious entity so that he is ultimately alien to himself and never quite what he wants to be? Isn't the point that he invents this character to get Daisy who is herself known to Jay only as an idealized shell? They're lonely, insincere, and incapable of love.

Is the Times tipping its hand or unaware of what The Great Gatsby's all about?

Godzilla versus King Gyanendra

I don't have any commentary on the democratic movement going on in Nepal.

Here though, is the second time in my blogging career when Photoshop would have been helpful.
You see, this is funny because King Gyanendra is the king of Nepal but his name sounds like the name of a monster.

Frau Blucher!

I keep getting "inquiries" about Russ Feingold. So is this someone's job or is it an automated search?

Hey, Russ Feingold searcher, leave a comment to let me know what you're doing.

No wait. Russ Feingold searcher, leave a comment telling me why I titled the post as I did?

Britney Spears Pregnant Again

Britney Spears has apparently announced that she is pregnant with her second child.

Shoppers in Malibu were stunned when the former pop princess grabbed her belly and announced to the entire centre "That's right, number two!".

Digital Spy

Don't look to me for regular breaking updates on celebrity gossip. Cyndi, now she could tell you what you need to know, but she hates the interblog. But I don't mention the breaking news because I figure you can't go a day without hearing about celebrity doings. I have another purpose.

You know how I go on sometimes about meaning and how we interpret things for said meaning? I ramble about how who we are moves us to see what matters and how it matters to us. I want you to understand that it's about more than just cats understanding everything in terms of meow.

Aaron knows what's up. He said something or other about what it would be like if we could understand animals. It wouldn't be very interesting, or at least it wouldn't be the stuff of SciFi. It would be more like: Food, not food, sleeping, food, maybe food, eliminating waste, steals food, sleep, maybe food, gives food, sleep.

Maybe the "gives food" assumes too much. I don't know, neither does anyone else. My cat can't tell me how they sense the world. I would think anyone who says they "know" what my cat understands is crazy. I don't know how my cats see the bland sensory phenomena of the world. They eat, sleep, kill stuff, pee and poop. My dog eats, sleeps, chases stuff I throw, pees, poops, and humps his bed.

Anyway...

Britney Spears is having another baby. That's a pretty quick turnaround. Her first baby doesn't ride in a car seat and falls out of his high chair to fracture his skull. His dad is Kevin Federline.

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise just had a baby and named her Suri. Tom Cruise is part of a secretive religious organization that distrusts psychiatry and psychoactive drugs and says that anger, sadness or other "negative" feelings can be controlled with biofeedback and fighting with space aliens. Tom Cruise has a history of divorcing wives. He's not married to Katie Holmes.

At any time of the night or early morning you can go to the 24 hour Wal Mart in Glendora and find moms and dads there with their newborns and toddlers shopping for all manner of things.

Research has shown that depriving developing brains of sleep can lead to increased serotonin levels that makes violent and aggressive behavior more likely and some types of learning difficult.

Cyndi and I can't get pregnant. We have miscarriages or no pregnancies at all. No doctors can explain why this is so. Some non-doctors think they can.

Aural Sensations
Overture- Le Nozze di Figaro
Winterlong- The Pixies
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize- Pete Seeger
I Got a Girl- Tripping Daisy
One Road to Freedom- Ben Harper
No Way- Pearl Jam
Heartbreak Stroll- The Raveonettes
Dear Prudence- The Beatles
Through Being Cool- Devo
Gaite Parisienne- Offenbach
I Got the Feeling- James Brown

Shout Out To My Senate Staff Homies

So I mentioned my burgeoning affection for Russ Feingold and interestingly enough I got a visit from someone doing a blog search for Senator Russ Feingold. Actually I got a couple of visits from someones looking for Russ Feingold. This particular someone was looking for Senator Russ Feingold from a senate.gov. Interesting huh?

It's true. IP address 156.33.97.... (U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms) stopped on by after doing a blogsearch for Feingold.

Feingold has a special place in his heart for bloggers. He in fact had a special lunch with bloggers this past weekend. I wasn't invited. I don't know why... Who are these people that have time to write half a dozen thousand word posts everyday?

If this visit was from a staffer purposed with getting a feel for what people are saying about Russ Feingold, thanks for stopping by and that certainly is a unique way of getting college credits.

Speak English or Die

Sacramento County health officials are trying to positively determine whether mushroom poisoning was behind an illness that put five members of a Sacramento family in the hospital this week.

Investigators believe the family may have eaten Amanita mushrooms, better known as "death-cap" mushrooms, during a Sunday meal, Sacramento County Health Officer Dr. Glennah Trochet said.

Trochet said three members of the family, who do not speak English, remain hospitalized suffering the effects of liver failure at an undisclosed area hospital. Two other family members were treated and released.

Cases of mushroom poisoning occur most often among recent immigrants who can mistake toxic mushrooms for more harmless varieties found in their home countries. Symptoms after eating poisonous mushrooms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and severe cramps, usually within six to 12 hours after consumption.
ABC News

You might be saying, what a drag, or wondering what kind of life you're living if you're foraging for food for your family from the countryside

Well try thinking to the MAX! hippy.

Then you'd see that immigrants are supposed to get their food by foraging and rooting around the countryside. It's in the Bible, people. So we're good on that count. But poison mushrooms? That's a problem.

If these immigrants, we'll assume illegal, could read English or stayed in their own' country everything would've been fine. But as it is, they're...
a.) Eating OUR mushrooms. They're eating mushrooms that could've been eaten by Americans.

b.) Taking up space in our hospitals. How many Americans were turned away from the emergency room because these immigrants, we'll assume illegal, couldn't keep their livers working?

c.) Making life more difficult for the rest of us. Now I'm sure we'll have to name our mushrooms in English and Spanish, we'll assume they were illegal immigrants from a Spanish speaking country. If they could read or speak English they would've known WE call these "Death-Cap" mushrooms. Who eats "Death-Cap" mushrooms? ILLEGAL ALIENS, that's who.

And now we reward them with healthcare and a voyage home. We'll ship them home all fixed up and you and I pay for it.

These people were trespassing, stealing, not speaking English and what do we do? Reward them.

No one pays for my doctor visits. No one pays for me to go to Latin America. Where's my reward for NOT breaking the law. Our rewards for being good are going to people who are being bad. They're taking what should be mine and yours.

Taking our mushrooms indeed.

Ugh... I don't like thinking to the MAX! anymore. It makes me feel ugly inside.

The Title of This Post Ought to Test Your Music Bona Fides
I Started Something I Couldn't Finish- The Smiths
Who Knows- Jimi Hendrix
Two Reelers- Frank Black
Pass Me By- Pete Yorn
I Just Don't KNow What to Do- White Stripes
One Flight Down- Nora Jones
She Says It's Alright- The Rentals
Climbing to The Moon- The Eels
She Belongs To Me- Bob Dylan
Say You Love Me- Fleetwood Mac
Kiss Off- Violent Femmes
I Feel the Earth Move- Carole King
Piss On The Youth- The Briefs

Meet the New Boss...

A lot of people... well I approach politicians with the whole "lesser of two evils" mentality. I see it like looking for the best turd out of a porta-potty. I guess I could be happier if I saw them as Jesus. I don't mean seeing them as Jesus might see them. I mean I could be happier if I saw politicians as anointed messiahs who were strong deciders and governed to the MAX!

But I don't. I am the sadder but wiser girl. I have expectations and am hopeful, but within a certain range of possibilities.

So I say this tentatively: I am really digging Russ Feingold more and more. I especially enjoy the way he has little regard for the cowardice and duplicity of members of his own party. I really like that he seems to reject the Democratic Matrix. I like his voting record, and I like that he was able to somehow escape from the clutches of underworld crime boss Arlen Specter. But don't take my word for it.

Is it possible for me to like him to the MAX!? I might have to ditch some of my critical thinking for that and I wonder if that would mean I would no longer like him.

I'll try and then let you know what happens.

Privatized Health Care, To The MAX!

"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."

My President said that back in September of 2004. I didn't understand what it meant then, but those were the days when I wasn't trying to the MAX! I thought he was trying to make a case for his special brand of malpractice reform. Now I think I get what he really meant.

According to The Smoking Gun, "76-year-old Philip Winikoff was arrested this morning and charged with sexual battery after he posed as a doctor and went door-to-door--black doctor's bag in hand--offering women free breast exams."

You might say, "What?!" But you're not trying to the MAX!. Think about what My President said. Think about it to the MAX!

He meant exactly what he said. "Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women."

If you read the police report you might be grossed out and wonder how in the hell anyone lets someone in their house after they offered to touch their bathing suit areas. Maybe it happens all the time in Florida- I don't know. But it doesn't matter. Read it to the MAX!

Now you can see it's about an OB/GYN practicing his love. If you just read it, it seems like a crime. But if you read it to the MAX! you can see the love. If you read it to the MAX! you can see big government interfering with Philip Winikoff's game.

Breakfast To The MAX

Wonderful News!

To those of you concerned about how my pastry situation has been progressing, a solution has developed- a very tasty solution.

I discovered Trader Joe's Lady Fingers. That, with a cup of coffee, is now my breakfast of choice. I still need to find a way to force myself out of bed early though.

That's tough.

I forgot to list my playlist last post (that's not blogging to the MAX) so I went back to my Last Played in iTunes to post it here.

Playlist to the MAX
New Genius (Brother)- Gorillaz
Your Redneck Past- Ben Folds Five
Say You Love Me- Fleetwood Mac
Don't Get Me Wrong- The Pretenders
Come on Feet- Quasimoto
Welcome to the Jungle- Guns N' Roses
Teach Your Children- CSNY
El Jarbe Tapatio- Mexican Mariachi
We Shall Overcome- Pete Seeger

Diplomatically- To The MAX!!

NEW YORK- President Bush today said he had tried to avoid war with Iraq "diplomatically to the max."

Speaking to a business group in Irvine, Ca., he admitted mistakes were made in planning for the Iraq invasion, but he defended the troop level, saying "it was the troop level necessary to do the job," and he would commit the same number if given a second chance.

Editor and Publisher

Tried to avoid war to the max he did. Well, there you go. That pretty much settles everything doesn't it? The PNAC and the Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century papers suggest a pre-existing motive. The 60 Minutes Drumheller interview says something else about the intelligence "cherry picking." And you can take that Downing Street Memo however you'd like... hippy. But "to the max" oozes integrity, sincerity, a man of the peopleness that speaks clearly. When W said he had "no war plans on his desk" you know he meant that in more than just the most meaningless literal sense. He was diplomatic to the max.

When Hans Blix says the US chose to ignore UN weapons inspectors' evidence, we don't know how to gauge that. Maybe that's true, from a certain perspective. But how do we know if we can trust that perspective? The president, for all his shortcomings, at least tells us the degree to which he tried something: to the MAX!

Hans Blix, "I think they chose to ignore us."

But to what degree, Hans? To the max? I don't think so.

Tyler Drumheller: "The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy."

How do I know I can believe you, Tyler? Could you say that to the max? If you could, why didn't you?

And El Presidente (for his visit to California W will be El Presidente) says he would be willing to do the same thing again. Would Hans or Tyler do the same things again? These two seem to be conceding some type of mistakes. Can't trust mistake makers.

El Presidente says he would make the same choices all over again.

Well how can you argue with that? I mean other than by resigning your "generalship" and saying it was a mistake, how could you argue with that?

My President is trying things to the max. I don't even try things to the max... maybe to the extreme, but not the max. I think I'm begining to see the light. Maybe I can be one of the 33% who approve.

Yes... I see it. I just want someone who will try... try to the max. That doesn't jibe with my teaching philosophy though. I can't just pass a kid 'cos they try- Whoops, I'm not trying to the max.

Soul Searching Disappointment

Astute readers of this blog will notice a couple of changes. Now, you needn't register with blogger to leave a comment. You can even be anonymous... but I'll know who you are. And to make Jon Shoe happy, a new window opens for comments. Slow to make the change but how 'bout that for being connected to my readers?

Also, now you can email your favorite Through A Glass Dimly posts to your friends- or enemies... probably your enemies. And that's good, what better way to love your enemies than sending them posts?

It's the least you can do.

Considering these changes and what they portend for the future, perhaps it's a good time to look at history... Ah forget the conceit. I'm reviewing some of the search criteria for random visits. Either people have learned there's not much here in the way of porn, or my post content has become less perverted.

At one time I was getting people looking for all manner of porn. Though a couple of the searches seem particularly prurient, with the rest I now seem to have an appeal for the especially mundane.

Perfect

life through a glass dimly
men wearing women's panties
song used for Kay jewelers diamond commercial
truth as through a glass dimly
recipe for starbucks reduced fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake
Gay Catholic Priest
identity marker values and ideologies
through a dark glass dimly
gay fraternity sex
They might be Giants
megaphone hat (thrice)
glendora
glendora high school
labia majora size contest

If I may add to this list things that haven't been sought but I offer-
References to:
Soccer Hooliganism
Recipes
Pictures of birds and kitties
Pastry updates

Banality is my niche. I love it.

Triumph of The Swill

"Harry Potter has a new foe -- a Gwinnett County parent who wants the popular boy wizard books banned from Gwinnett County books."

Via Huffington Post

Georgia mom, Laura Mallory says, “I want to protect my kids, children and others from evil, not fill their minds with it.” Hence, no Harry Potter for her or her kids. I can dig it. People want to protect their kids from the things they think are scary or evil: witchcraft, science, people who aren't good enough to be white. I get it, you want to pass your values on to your kids. But why bother with other people's kids. Why take Harry away from everyone...

Wait a second- Laura Mallory?!

Keep the phoneme Lor and add a D- Lord. Reverse the vowel sounds in Mallory to Mollary. Remove the parallel vertical lines in the capital M so you have Vollary. Since we've set the precedent of adding Ds to the first syllable, we have Volldary. Let's lose the second L. Voldary. You can't just take away an L. We'll put it at the end. Voldaryl. So we're not confused with the pronunciation we'll change the A to E. Volderyl. RYL, as we all know, is Risk Your Life, an immersive MMORPG. (That's a Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game for those of you with a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse). And someone who risks their life can become dead or mortuus- Voldemortuus. Lord Voldemort, and after it is UUS.

Laura Mallory is Lord Voldemort is after you and us.

For those of you with a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, that's the bad guy in the Harry Potter series.

If You Hate America So Much, Why Don't You Go Live in China?

MIAMI - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left it to a lower court to decide the case of two Chinese Muslim Uighurs held indefinitely at Guantanamo while the Bush administration seeks a nation to shelter them as religious refugees.

Knight Ridder via Kansas City Star

A.) If you ever use the expression "begging the question" to mean, "well that demands we ask the question..." you have used it incorrectly. That's probably not a big deal. Why, only today I misused the word "her" in a post- twice at that. But I would guess you still knew what I meant.

In the article linked above though, the expression is used correctly. See if you can guess how it is really supposed to be used.

There is no prize for guessing correctly. Only Danny and Bob play my reindeer games. The rest of you... what, cash prizes aren't good enough for you? No more games until someone wins the last Red Letter Headline Game!

This is absurd, I'm giving away 55 cents and all you have to do is guess where the quote came from. What apathy! What laziness! What utter lack of initiative!

Oh how can I stay mad at you? There'll be more games.

B.) I am surprised that someone has not yet picked up on this story to say how silly we are to worry about the goings on in Guantanamo. People are saying how silly it is to worry about the goings on in Guantanamo, but no one has yet said something like, "See, these guys would rather be in Guantanamo than China- how bad can it be?"

I've been shaking things up today, so let me be the first to say it:

See, these guys would rather be in Guantanamo than China- how bad can it be? They get to "kick a soccer ball around a tiny field and watch videos." That's more than I get to do these days... If I were a right wing jerk would I now say something about the "system" working or would I complain that these guys have it too good? No, I think I would attack liberals for hating America and these Chinese guys so much that they would demand they be freed and returned to their home countries where they would likely be tortured and killed. No one has said that, but no matter, it feels like a good sucker punch. So there it is.

Guantanamo is good. The System is working. Liberals want to destroy life and freedom.

Sounds Like Fun

Does someone like this exist simply to make money for himself? Does it matter why he does it if he continues to gain listeners? Does it worry you at all that this is attractive to 10,000,000+ people?

An RDDB is a Red Diaper Doper Baby. The host is Michael Savage. You are a vacuous shell if you are one of his listeners.

Media Matters audio clip via AlterNet.

"I Want to Spend More Time Not Commenting on Things with My Family"

WASHINGTON -- White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove gave up some of his responsibilities and White House press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation today, continuing a shakeup in President Bush's administration that has already yielded a new chief of staff.

AP via LA Times

I guess all this time I've misunderstood the term "shakeup."

In this sense, my wife has really shaken things up around here by putting away the holiday decorations. I'm going to go shake things up outside and dig up an old dying rosebush so we can replace it with another.

I like this usage. I'm going to try to use it at least once a day for the next week and see how it changes my outlook on things.

High School Me would've been the perfect replacement for Scott McClellan. Back then I could not comment on ongoing investigations with the best of them... unless of course it benefited me to do otherwise. I could easily pretend to take offense at legitimate questions regarding my actions or character. I was great at deflecting attention from what I did or participated in. And boy, could I give misleading and confusing answers to direct questions- over, and over, and over again.

If only I hadn't found that unused conscience and tried it on. It fits to well to get rid of it now. Oh well, two paths in a yellowed wood and all that.

And I Think It's Gonna Be a Long Long Time

I am sitting in a doctor's waiting room right now. I am waiting for my mother. She's having a "procedure" done- a procedure one would probably not want to follow with a drive home. Oh, she wouldn't mind my telling you, she's having a colonoscopy.

We've all got that coming. We being those of us in the industrialized world... well I guess those of us in the industrialized world for whom preventative healthcare will not become prohibitively expensive have it coming. Maybe it's not just heart disease that will wipe us out. Maybe our diets will kill us with polyps and impacted stools that go undetected because we can't afford to have our anuses checked out. Maybe I should have it done while it's still affordable. Eh, well, I gotta die from something.

In any case, here I sit. I am definitely not the oldest person in the room but taking your mother to the doctor for a routine exam can certainly make one feel older. Even as... especially as I think of the future, my youth suddenly seems like something far behind me.

I'm sure this won't be the last time I take my mother to the doctor. But there will be a last time, maybe in 20 or 30 years time. That's not the point though. The point is, this first time, is just that. I see a series of trips to the doctor before me, and this is the first. I'm just driving this time. But soon enough the doctors will tell me as much as her what's going on. Soon after that, I'll be taking care of the paperwork. Later, I'll be the one making appointments for her. I'll talk to the doctors on her behalf. I'll know more than her, what medications she's taking when. What seems to be working, what doesn't. Then there will come a time when I'll have to guess what she's saying. What she would want to say if she could. And then I won't do it anymore.

Good times.

The Sandwich That Hunger Built

I normally try to eat a bit healthier than this but I was very hungry when I got home from school yesterday. I was more than hungry. I was cold, tired, hungry, a little light headed, blah blah blah. All I had consumed was a cup of coffee, a bagel, and a handful of walnuts. Here's what came of that.

Now I offer you the recipe because it was a delicious sandwich.

Potato, peeled, boiled and whipped with butter, heavy cream, salt, white pepper, mustard and garlic

French bread sliced lengthwise and trimmed flat
French toast batter:
one egg
a couple tablespoons of milk
a tsp or so of vanilla
some nutmeg, mace, cloves, and cinnamon
Beat it all together
And... uh... make the French bread into French toast

Slices o' ham
Spread the potatoes on your slices o' ham and fry them

Slices o' cheddar cheese

Place the cheese on your bread, place the ham and potatoes on top of the bread and cheese, then cover it with warm maple syrup.

The Replacement Pastries

Apple Fritter
Cinnamon Crisp
Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake
Old Fashioned Doughnut
Chocolate Scone

Mary J. Blige Is Mary J. Blige

So here comes a waste of time.

For being such a huge market, there are few choices for music in the greater Los Angeles area. As it is, a single station frequently represents an entire programming sensibility. If you want to hear "Top 40," KIIS is your option. If you want to hear the crap-pile genre known as "Adult Contemporary" you could listen to Star. Even if two or more stations play some of the same songs, the stations will have a different approach to how and why these same songs might be played. You might hear the same No Doubt song on KROQ, Star, KIIS, and KOST, but then what follows would be a different song that broadens the picture of what kind of station you are listening to.

You could also hear the same band, but different songs on different stations. You would more likely hear Don't Speak on KOST or Star but another No Doubt song on KROQ and then yet another on KIIS. I guess you could hear Trapped in a Box on Indie, but this isn't about the same artists, it's about the songs... so back to songs.

At any moment I might hear a song that I find agreeable on any number of stations. But when it comes to a stream of songs- the playlist- I have fewer options. Some stations will play agreeable songs more often, some less often, and some not at all. Then there are stations that will play songs that I could not even describe. There are stations that I know exist, but find nothing in common with me. So as the playlists emerge I have a sense of whether there is a whole in common with me.

Someone might say, I love this station but hate that other station because of the music they play and the sensibility they represent by there playlist. I like Indie for those reasons. I don't like KIIS for those reasons. I might like an individual song, but have to say no to the station because of the whole.

So here's "the thing" with that. Say I represent a playlist. I have something in common with another playlist, and another, and another ad infinitum until we get to a playlist with which I have nothing in common. You and I will have The Clash and Beck in common. You and someone else will have Beck and Madonna in common. Someone else and someone else will have Madonna and Cisqo in common. Someone else and someone else will have Cisqo and The Pussycat Dolls in common. I apparently have nothing in common with someone else who's playing Cisqo and The Pussycat Dolls. If we follow it further to things I can't even describe or know, I have even less in common with another playlist. You could say we have the idea of music in common, but that's not much. That doesn't preclude me or an other from saying somebody else's playlist is garbage. And it certainly doesn't mean that this overarching idea of music can reveal much to me about the particulars of music.

This is just about playlists of course, but say it were about actions. I think A and B are good. You think B and C are good. Someone else says C and D are good. I cannot see that C and D are good even if I know they fit under the larger umbrella of "actions said to be good." It is especially problematic if D is "Kill someone who does A." What a drag.

Now suppose that I do and understand A as A sub 1 and you do understand it as A sub 2. The way I know A makes it sub 1 and similarly the way you know A makes it sub 2. Even if our broader "series" matches from A to F, we are doing different things. I do A because of my love for cats. You do A because you hope your mother will die from it. Yeesh, you're awful.

Sooooo... Mary J. Blige said this: "My God is a God who wants me to have things. He wants me to bling. He wants me to be the hottest thing on the block."

Link via Salon.com. You have to watch a commercial to read it.

I bet you thought I was going to talk about W or Pat Robertson again. Not this time. Mary J. Blige helped out.

I understand the words. I bet we both even pray. We talk about God. But no common playlist here. So what have we learned today?

I really like Indie.

Musical genres are a weird thing.

The same artists that created Trapped In a Box created Don't Speak

Similar actions are in fact very different.

Oh and you're alone. All alone.

What's a Segue?

Hey, if you're like me, and enjoy things that rule or if you'd just like to be happy, check out the They Might Be Giants podcast available at iTunes or at their website.

If you enjoy the podcast, listen to AND WATCH! their venue songs at their site. While you're there, consider what you might get me for my upcoming birthday.

If nothing strikes your fancy there, how about getting me either a red sleeved "baseball T" (as it is called) with "Mexico" printed on the chest in green, or a blue sleeved baseball T with "USA" printed in red on the chest? Both would be suitable for me watching my favorite (though not favored) World Cup '06 teams and are available via the boing boing store.

If you're not the type to get me something, maybe you can drop these hints to someone who is.

Barca 0- Galaxy 7

The Los Angeles Galaxy beat FC Barcelona in a friendly match at Camp Nou. Impressive by any standard, but even more so considering this was the crappy '03 Galaxy line up.

I rule at FIFA.

Happy Easter, Mommy

I was a social worker for some time after college. I did case management for adolescents and children with mulitple psychiatric hospitalizations. There were many frustrating and depressing things about the job. One was how much blame fell on the shoulders of a kid becasue they were diagnosed with a mental illness though it was the whole family that was screwed up. The most chaotic, destructive, abusive dynamics of a whole family could be focused on the one who conveniently had a label attached to them by a professional.

No no no I don't want you to
If you come down here I'm not going with you I'm serious
I don't have nothing more to say
I have nothing- no no no
I'm serious
I'll just go with Mary Jo on Monday
Anyway it doesn't matter to me
Like I said the only reason I was going tomorrow was to make you and Jean happy
No I always listen to you
Well there's nothing more to say
Just go tomorrow
Whatever your reason is it don;t matter
What? What?
Not really
I've done things to make you unhappy? Oh yeah right.
I don't want you to Joanne
You don't get it
I'll wait 'til Monday
That was Needa's idea for me to come early
I don't care if you're happy or not that's what I'm gonna do
Don't blame her it's not her fault... Needa's
I'm just telling you I just found out about it
She said I'm too sick to go tomorrow
I dunno a cold
But that's the way it is now
Well how far away is Norco from here? It's not that far
Yeah but I could meet you at the grocery store here or something
I don't want to go though all that drama Joanne it's not that important
I'll talk to you later
I don't care... I don't even care. I'm going to church
We could just meet here we don't have to meet at the church. What do you know about Glendora? Do you know where Carrow's restaurant is? Well there you go, we'll meet there
You don't really have to do this Joanne
Okay pick me up there

So I listen to people's cell phone conversations in Starbucks. You should be warned that's what I do. If I'm trying to do homework and you're talking so loud I have to read the same sentence two or three times, I'm going to start typing what you're saying.

If Anyone Would Come After Me...

I grew up Catholic. I went to Catholic schools. I have an aunt that's a nun. I am familiar with Catholic culture. I will still sometimes say "we" when referring to something Catholic. I don't know how legitimate that last one is but I can speak with some confidence about some things Catholic with a bit of an insider's perspective and as a theologian in pupal form... I think that last bit would work better spoken. Anyway, things Catholic: Catholics know death.

When I was making the transition from one church community to another, even sometimes now, I am surprised by the Protestant leap to Easter Sunday. Maybe it comes from not having a liturgical calendar. Maybe it comes from knowing an empty cross versus a crucifix. Maybe it's Luther's fault. Maybe it's a function of being a modern post-industrial economic superpower that death seems so far from us in general. Maybe it's a back and forth, round and round web of all these things and more. Catholics know death, Protestants know the resurrection. How's that for a sweeping generalization that misses the particulars and diversity of those traditions?

It's sometimes a strange thing when there's a move to recover the crucifixion in a Protestant context. The Gospel according to Mel was a gorefest especially popular among Evangelicals. Every year at this time, the alumni magazine put out by a local Evangelical university reprints a medical examination of the crucifixion. There's a desire to know just how much Jesus went through. It seems as if there is a need to know how much pain Jesus would have endured so we can feel sorry for him, or say, "How sad that is." "How awful, he was such a good guy." "Isn't it just horrible?"

There's a brief glance at death then a leap to an empty tomb. But do an empty cross and an empty tomb have us simply say, "My goodness, that death was so awful. Thank God that's been done for me."? It seems that it would be difficult, when it's a once a year novelty or an infrequent observation, to take the next step- to say, "I did this," and then to say, "This is mine, as well."

We're still busy dying. We're still sand in a sieve. Jesus doesn't answer "Are you not the Christ!? Save yourself and us." But bearing our own cross, he says, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

An empty cross and an empty tomb only mean something when we know both were used exactly as they were meant to be.

And Now, Young Jedi, You Will Die
The Thing-Pixies
F**k the System- System of a Down
Livin' Thing- ELO
Daria- Cake
Similau- Esquivel
Clint Eastwood- Gorillaz
Lullabye- Ben Folds Five
O Mio Babbino Caro- Schicchi
I Ain't Marchin' Anymore- Phil Ochs
City of Blinding Lights- U2
Luna- Smashing Pumpkins
Shrink- Dead Kennedys

The End of an Era

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this. I'm finding it difficult to wake up these mornings. I need to get up and out of the house early, otherwise my days are too short, but Starbucks has stopped selling my favorite pastry: the Cinnamon Twist.
Now, when my alarm goes off, I lie in bed and actually think, "Why should I get up... there are no Cinnamon Twists waiting for me?"

I go to bed about midnight and wake up around 5 AM. The Cinnamon Twists sold out fast, so if I wanted that perfect combination of flakey pastry, frosting, sugar and cinnamon, I had to get there early. When people heard about the hours I kept, they thought I was very dedicated and disciplined. It was really only the thought of an Americano paired with the greatest pastry ever baked that made it possible for me to face the dark and cold. I used to always be up before the sun, now... why do anything? I still stay up late working, but in the morning, I struggle against sleep. It's taking a little more time every day.

How Long Will You Lie There, Oh Sluggard?
Tame- Pixies
Ed Is Dead- Pixies
Low LIght- Pearl Jam
Stay Away- Nirvana
Gaite Pariseienne- Offenbach
Chameleon- Herbie Hancock

Nic Harcourt's Got Nothing On Me

If you ever happen to glance down at my random playlists you may notice that I rock. I rock hard. I don't mean all the music I listen to is "Rock." I mean I rule musically, and to rule musically is to rock. I rule musically hard. I'm like a genuinely eclectic Morning Becomes Eclectic, or a Jack radio that doesn't suck. Bowie, Holst, X, Queen, Air, Chemical Brothers, Autolux, Madlib, Rossini, Wilco, Miles Davis, Tito Puente, Neil Young, Public Enemy, Devo, Kings of Leon, but no Warrant, Damn Yankees or Petra- you never know what's gonna play next but you know it's not going to suck.

I'm glad to rock. I'm glad to rock in public with headphones as I read or type away. But I don't want to be the guy that nods his head or taps his feet because he thinks he rocks. I know I rock without having to make too public a display about it. This post notwithstanding, you won't find me making a public display of my rocking. You won't see me closing my eyes, biting my lower lip, tapping my feet, playing air drums, bobbing my head, or chair dancing. Any of those things do not correspond to rocking hard.

Eat It Like This
Rage Against The Machine- Testify
Brick House- The Commodores
Red Rain- The White Stripes
Can't Get Enough of Your Love- Barry White
The National Anthem- Radiohead
Warning Sign- Talking Heads

I'm Sure It's Only an Accident They're Called Representatives

You know, with all the bribery and money laundering scandals, the overwhelming evidence that too many see public office as a means of self-service and wealth building, with all the lobbying, lying, and hypocrisy, one might easily lose faith in our politicians.

But thankfully we have an incredibly self-correcting system. The Constitution allows Congress to make its own rules and decide any punishments for its own members. We have a brilliant two party system wherein the party in control is always held in check by the other. And no matter how bad things seem, no matter how outnumbered the good guys are, someone is always willing to take a stand for what is right. As more and more Republicans are lining up for their indictments, I'm so glad there are Democrats on the ethics committee who can pipe up and make sure justice is done. Take Alan Mollohan for example. In response to the toothless response Republicans offered to all the nasty doings in Congress Alan, the top Democrat on the Ethics Committee, said, "If we're going to have an ethics committee, we have to do it right," He said the current rules would "defeat the very purpose of the ethics committee, and that's to have credible investigations." Excellent. Keep fighting for what's right, make a good showw of it.

Well done, Alan.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things!

This is a good bird. That's why I feed it. It makes me happy to feed and watch good birds.


This is a bad bird. In fact, this dead bird was very bad. It probably made fun of other birds and ate more than its share. It's good that it's dead.

It's okay to put out bird feeders and have cats.

I tell my cats they may only kill bad birds. If my cat kills a bird, I know it must've deserved it. My cats are good.

It makes me happy to be right. I feel good about myself.

I love Christmas.

The Life of a Rodeo Clown is a Sad and Solitary Existence

To anyone with even a passing familiarity with this blog, it should be easy to discern I think politicians tend to use religion cynically.

I may have softened in my view. I used to think no one pursuing political power could be trusted, they couldn't possibly be a Christian. Now, I can conceive of someone who sees public office as a legitimate way of serving others. I still distrust religious rhetoric. I am still suspicious of people who confidently claim God is on their side. I still think it's a horrible mistake to confuse nationalism with one's faith. I still see those with the most to say about religion in public life generally have a very ugly conception of what religion is. But now I can believe it is possible for someone to be a Christian politician. I think if that someone cared at all about the condition of their soul, they would be better off going into porn than public office. But hey, there but for the grace of God or whatever.

Anyway, I was hanging out with some Muslim folks from one of my classes last night and I learned something interesting. At least one Muslim person in America does not think W is a Christian. The God bless our bombs Crusaders on a divine mission to rid the world of evil imagery does not seem real to her. From what she knows of Christianity and Jesus, she thinks it a bit silly to think of the religious rhetoric as anything more than that. To her, it's just a whole lot of 3rd Commandment breaking from someone for whom the 10 Commandments aren't all that important. She directly asked me, "You really think he's a Christian?"

Crap, I don't know. I know people like to hear pretty things about Jesus, especially if the pretty words make them feel good and righteous. I know there are criteria for separating sheep from goats. I know I don't do the separating. I know not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of heaven." I know the eye can't say to the hand, "You're worthless to me." I know I am moving towards something that will make who I am in the future different from who I am today- different in a way that makes today seem shallow and vain though it means everything now- as different as crawling is from walking. In know others are doing the same. But do I think W is a Christian? Do I think he is Christ-like? Do I say that Christianity is in fact more and better than its loudest advocates? Do I say it doesn't matter because anyone can claim to be a Christian regardless of what they do? Do I say one can look at the love he has for others and know he is a disciple of Jesus? Will she know by my answer the same of me?

4th and 18 on my own 20.

I say, "Well I think he thinks he is."

Man, what a jerk. I should've just shared the "Four Spiritual Laws" with her and taken her down the "Roman Road." Then I could wash my hands of the whole thing.

I Should Know, I am a Rodeo Clown
Take, Take, Take- The White Stripes
Cancer for the Cure- The Eels
La Negra- Mariachi del Norte
No Shelter- Rage Against The Machine
River Euphrates -The Pixies
What's Going On- Marvin Gaye
Stay Away- Nirvana
The Wizard- Black Sababth
Add It Up- Violent Femmes
Number Three- They Might be Giants

Okay- One More On the Train

I mentioned Antonio Banderas was on SNL. My wife likes Antonio Banderas so that partially explains why we sat through an exceptionally unfunny episode. But she said something very revealing... horrible but revealing... absolutely horrible.

She typically watches TV with the remote control in her hand, only setting it down when she's found something that completely has her attention. She was iffy on SNL until she saw Antonio Banderas was the host. She promptly put down the remote control and I teasingly called her on that.

Skybalon's Wife- What can I say- he's brown.
Skybalon- No, he's not! He's white!
Skybalon's Wife- Whatever- he's brown enough.
Skybalon- He's Spanish
Skybalon's Wife- Eh- That's Mexican

She's right. As far as most people care, he's Mexican. And when I grow out my beard, I'm Arab.

I Am Twisting My Handlebar Moustache Between My Thumb and Index Finger

This weekend's Saturday Night Live was a real garbage dump. I know a lot of people think that's always the case, but I still like watching it... generally.

It's hit or miss but I find two bits worth mentioning. The last one was funny in its mocking of vinophile pretensions. But it was a weak payoff for everything else I sat through. Oh well. There was another skit, that wasn't so much funny as it was poignant. Horatio Sans, Fred Armisen, and Antonio Banderas spoke to the audience to address their fears or concerns about immigration. They basically said there is no solution to the "problem." There is only the "plan." The vast Latino conspiracy to deal drugs, take American jobs, and steal white women.

That is the Latino Trifecta.

My dad's dad came here from Mexico as a bracero and now here I am. I haven't dealt drugs, but I have shared my prescription medications with people that weren't me. Plenty of my family members have sold drugs in a more traditional way, so that's on track. I stole a woman. And I am certainly hoping to take someone's job- and not just any job. I'm getting into the very cornerstone of The Man's foundation- Evangelical Theology-

Muaahaaahhaaaaaa- I takes jor wheemens, I takes jor gold, and poyson jor minds wit the madijuana.

Dublin, Dundee, Humberside

Immigrant Crusades Enlist Few Blacks

That's the cover headline of today's print edition of the LA Times

When was the last time you heard the LA Times refer to African Americans as "Blacks?" -on an above the fold headline no less. Maybe it's an issue of space. Maybe they defied their own conventions because there isn't enough room for "African Americans" on the front page of the Times but there's room for "Blacks."

I don't happen to think "Black" is a pejorative term, but given their usage, that's not what the Times seems to think. They don't generally use that term. They typically use the term "African American." When they use "Blacks," they're deliberately not using "African Americans." When they use "Blacks," it seems jarring. What an odd choice for them to make. What an odd decision for an editor, to say- "We're going with 'Blacks'- We don't use that to refer to people anywhere else in our paper- but let's make it the front page."

How curious. It certainly has the potential to be an emotionally charged headline. At least one could argue, that someone might want to charge emotions by using the anomalous (at least for The Times) term "Blacks" rather than "African Americans."

Immigrants Enlist Few Blacks. Latinos enlist few Blacks. Latinos Cannot Reach Out to Blacks in Struggle. Few Blacks Want to Join in Fight. Remember The Blacks- Remember They Finished the Work of Getting Civil Rights for Everyone Already- They Don't Support Mexicans. Our Civil Rights Conscience Does Not Endorse Mexicans.

What are we being told here? If the usual narrative is sold as "Blacks and Latinos Fight"- they fight in underfunded schools, they fight on the streets, they fight in overcrowded jails, if that's the story we always hear- how is this a news story? We've already been told over and over that these two groups hate and kill each other wherever and whenever they can. Wouldn't the "news" be "Blacks Join Immigrants in Struggle?" We can even keep the negative imagery of a crusade- "Blacks Join Immigrants in Crusade." Isn't the story that these supposedly hostile groups are not killing each other in the streets? Isn't the story that these groups that hate each other have found any common ground at all in this? Where's that story? It's certainly not on the front page. What a strange choice. The news- the plane crash, if you will- is, there are African Americans joining Latinos on this issue. That's what goes against the typical narrative. That's the story. But that's not what we're getting.

What reason would the plantation owners have for dividing the people they rule by ethnic or color lines... I'm sorry, what was I saying? I meant to say, "It's like the people are being taught to fight each other so they don't turn attention to their economic masters." Wait... no... where's that coming from? I meant to say, "What reason would the Times have for going this route?" It's like they're using Black people and immigrants as convenient foils.

But that couldn't be the case. That would imply media outlets are corporate entities with economic interests to protect, that there is a benefit to maintaining a large, unprotected labor pool, that it's easier to turn disenfranchised people on each other than to change what disenfranchises them, that words are carefully chosen for newspaper headlines.

I know it's absurd. I know I'm crazy for even suggesting that a headline is anything more than a series of letters in a particular order with spaces here and there.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear...

When I was in college, we had a couple of bomb "scares." People found suspicious packages on campus and the police were called to blow them up. One turned out to be a duct tape ball left in a one of the "cubbies" at the bookstore. Another was an unattended book bag left outside of the library. Both required that huge section of campus be cordoned off so the bomb squad could come in and blow up the suspicious objects. I still wonder if some poor schlep had his dissertation blown up

Our campus experienced some bomb activity in the 70's but I can't remember exactly why we were suddenly afraid of found objects again in the 90's. If anybody reading this was at UCSB in the late 90's, remind me what we were so afraid of.

Anyway I don't think I'm appropriately fearful. When I was a kid I wasn't afraid of monsters. To be clear, I wasn't afraid of monsters that required special techniques to be killed. Why do you need a silver bullet to kill a werewolf, can't you just blow it up? And wouldn't a vampire die if you crushed it with a steamroller? I was afraid of ghosts and el cucuy but not monsters qua monsters. And now pfffttt- I'm not afraid of ghosts since Ghostbusters showed me they were susceptible to nuclear accelerators and now that I know El Cucuy is a diminutive radio host on 97.9 I'm not really afraid of him either.

I also didn't have... or maybe listen to, that little voice that says, "This could kill you." My best friend and I used to tie each other up and push each other into the pool to see if we could escape. We'd do the same thing in boxes. I also tried to make blank rounds using pliers and a screwdriver. I exploded bullets in the garage with a vice and hammer. My brother and I blew a glass fireplace enclosure from the hearth by throwing lighters in it. I made a water rocket using gasoline instead of water so I could ignite it at lift off. What else... I don't remember. Point being I should've been afraid of a lot more stuff than I was or am.

I may have gotten this far in my life not being a big baby, but I don't think I'll last much longer like that. Consider stories like these:

Anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said on Wednesday

Reuters

Five teenage girls from Portage County face potential criminal charges after attempting to play a real-life version of Super Mario Bros.

Beacon Journal

The times they are a'changin.' It might be time to start being more afraid. I'm not going to enter into this fear willy-nilly though. I want to be thoughtfully fearful. My fears need to be terrorism related but topical. It won't do to just be afraid of actual terrorists so I'm compiling a list of things to fear and notify the authorities about.

1. Clearly I should be afraid of people singing songs by the Clash, but I wonder if that fear should be transfered to English bands from the late 70's in general. You can't be too careful- If someone has "become comfortably numb," they're probably not keeping a sharp enough eye out for terrorists. Okay I'm over-thinking this- that's not gonna work if I'm trying to be afraid. It's all suspect: Pink Floyd, Queen, Styx, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Sex Pistols, The Who, whatever - even AC/DC, they're close enough to English. If "I'm sailing away..." comes out of your mouth, I'm calling the cops.

2. Video game power ups. That was a smart move by those Portage County authorities. If terrorists are going to strike anywhere and with anything, it's Ravenna Ohio with shiny boxes marked with question marks. With that in mind, I'll be afraid of chickens, helium balloons, floating coins, glowing orbs, pills, multi-hit combos, mushrooms, flowers, wooden chests, and question marks.

3. With all the talk about our leaky borders I figure I'm supposed to be afraid of Mexicans these days. That's going to be tough for me. I guess Mexicans represent how permeable our borders are. Every Mexican we do see is a bomb or terrorist we don't, but I'm still not afraid of them. I know all the talk these days is about "immigrants," but I think we know that means Latin American immigrants. And even though Latin America is a diverse land of different languages, ethnicities, cultures, and colors, everyone just thinks "Mexican." I'm probably not going to be afraid of Mexicans so I'll be afraid of Reggaeton instead. That should be easy, I don't understand it all. If I hear Reggaeton I'm calling DHS

4. Muslims... obviously.

5. Sikhs, because they don't do enough to not look Muslim.

6. Prince, because his new album title looks Arabic.

Dave's Not Here, Man

Remember how I said if I take my hernia pain medication I'm worthless for school? I actually said, "perfect" but I used it ironically. Anyway, here's an example of what the drugs do to me at school:

The beanroy what disciples would I use ti examine an aefcaikit just trying to undertsand th and theyh movr to the voogg og her e, O am d .the questions themselves don’t make any sense – to reqad asam fallkinf asllee omn calasl

Seriously, these are my notes from my "Knowledge and Culture" class. What is it?

I think, if I can make any claim to remembering correctly at all, we were talking about how we might categorize certain statements. I have no idea why the word "disciples" would be in there unless I meant disciplines. And what's "beanroy"? Google asks if I might mean beanery. But that doesn't help. Beanery? In Foucault? Maybe.

I guess I could take some more Vicodin and see if I can get back to that state of mind, but then I would only understand me while I was high. Not only does it make no sense, I have no access to the me that wrote that. My drug induced ramblings might as well be a series of eeks and okks for all the sense they make.

I wonder if this is why I can't understand Rush Limbaugh.

Remember

I like metal stuff. I like loud noises. I like gadgets. I grew up with guns and shooting. Put all that together and you come up with a hippy that's probably more comfortable with guns than you might otherwise think.

Sometimes I forget, weapons are meant to harm people.

Chopping Down a Cherry Tree

You know the story about protesters spitting on Vietnam vets at a San Francisco airport when they came home? It's not true. This isn't to say there weren't confrontations between some people against the American war in Vietnam and others. But there is no record of any such event actually occurring. At least there is no such record in any publicly available archive. I'm not saying no protester ever confronted any veteran, but the story's ubiquity is not from its actually having occurred in Airports around the country back in the 70's. It came to be told in movies about Vietnam, like Hamburger Hill and First Blood, but it is not an actual event.

To be clearer, it's not a story told to represent what generally occurred to veteran's returning from Vietnam. Like I said, some veterans were harassed by some people, both for and against the war, but the story is not a type for the general experience of returning soldiers of the era. I don't know that there is a "general" story that represent what occurred but the idea that war protesters and veterans represented two opposing forces is silly. Many veterans and active duty personnel were a part of the anti-war movement. In fact, prior to the "Anti-War Movement" you might think of, The Ten Soldiers and Nixon's Coming-Draft Card Burning-Hippy Movement, there was an anti-war movement in the military. The point being, protesters fighting with veterans was not the typical experience post-Vietnam. There's actually a documentary coming out in May about this very subject. You should see it.

Why do I mention this? Well, what do you suppose the point of a collective "memory" like protesters spitting on GI's is for? What do you suppose it means if the story, in its kernel is also traced to Nazi Brownshirts in post WWI Germany? What do you suppose it means if a people use one narrative to describe their history and suppress another?

The stories we tell and hear give us insight into who we are and want to be. A lot of stuff happens, what we choose to remember and how we remember it is important.

If you'd like to learn more about the Vietnam War, visit your local library. Ask your librarian to help you find a book like Spitting Image. Or just watch an hour of The History Channel.

That's How Kids Learn

A youth minister was charged with assault for allegedly knocking a 16-year-old boy down and kicking him in the groin after taking a head shot from the teen in a dodgeball game.

AP News

C'mon, which of us in youth ministry haven't kicked a student in the groin so hard they peed blood?

Oh Well Of Course That Makes Perfect sense

Indian Director Hopes to Cast Paris Hilton as Mother Teresa

Hilton's prior movie experience includes appearing in a home-made sex video made by a former boyfriend that appeared on the Internet, and parts in several Hollywood B-films.

The blond socialite, who is often the focus of US celebrity gossip columns, also starred in the US reality television show "The Simple Life".

Yahoo News

Perhaps these women represent different things to different cultures. Or maybe not. If people in America can unironically compare Tom Delay to Jesus, then who's to say this isn't an apt comparison?

How Wrong Can I Be?

I wasn't sure if I would mention this, but I can't seem to stop thinking about it. I need to get it over with because if I don't, it may keep stewing and I'll wind up posting about it on The Daily Journal instead of here. I'm afraid I might say something "indelicate" there. Oh I know, that's not keeping it real. But I don't want to seem crazy; so how to put it gently...?

Some people seem to think Tom Delay is Jesus, or at least very much like Jesus. That's stupid. Now, I know I'm a Quaker and for some that means I'm supposed to be all, "Well if that's how the Spirit leads you, man, that's cool. Right on, Tom Delay is just like Jesus." The Spirit leads me to say, "Fu- uh I mean- Forget that."

"A" spirit may be leading someone to say Tom Delay is just like Jesus, but it's not the Holy Spirit. Oh I know I'm putting myself out an a pneumatalogical limb here; to some I'm claiming to know things that are allegedly unknowable. To them I say, "You say red is blue because you are blind."

I think I'm venturing into jerkland. So I'll leave it at that for now...

Hmm, that "for now" makes me think I'm not done.

If I Had a Hammer

So Tom Delay announced he will not be seeking reelection for his Texas District. This seems like good news to honest and decent people both here and abroad. In addition to the shady levers of power and money Delay created to control who gets into Congress and what they do when they get there, he is personally responsible for keeping legislation preventing child and slave labor in US territories from making it to the House floor. Who knows how likely it was Congress would have done anything about it, but Delay made sure we wouldn't find out. I'm sure somebody that hates America less than I do could explain why these things are actually good and how we are worse off without Tom in Congress, but I don't know any better.

I do worry a little though. It seems strange that someone as... passionate as Delay would withdraw from his campaign. He seemed to have no sense of weakness, equivocation, or uncertainty about his right to rule. Even though scandal led straight to his doorstep and he pushed the barriers of decency within the law, he saw no reason he should not run and win. He does not seem like the guy that would yield to either shame or the possibility of not winning so I have a little trouble taking this move at face value.

This seems like the moment he goes off to meet with the chief priests and we think nothing of it. It seems innocuous enough now, then we're blindsided with what he's really up to. Less any public contrition, I think we can expect some pretty nefarious things from him in the future still. I'm not saying, "Mark my words..." or anything like that. What I'm saying is Tom Delay doesn't, at this point in his public life, strike me as a gracious loser, or someone that will give up the screws all that happily. Either they have more on him than we know about, he's got his eyes on a bigger pie, or he is very privately changed but hasn't figured out how or whether to express this publicly.

My own Congressman, the 50 something, confirmed bachelor, Republican, David Dreier, will likely win handily when his time comes to run, but I'll probably vote for Dan Harden... if he runs. Funny thing about David Dreier, he was next in line for Delay's position. When Delay stepped down to deal with his scandal plagued life, Dreier was logically and traditionally expected to fill the void. But he didn't. Weird huh? Oh it's not that weird. Dreier prefers the company of men, he can't have such a prominent role in the party without trading his assistant for a wife and kids. Considering that, he has done quite well for himself in his party of choice. Which is, to be honest, my biggest problem with him. My problem is not that he prefers the company of men, I mean- who doesn't, but he seems content to say, "I got mine, the rest of you take care of yourselves." I take issue with his fiscal priorities too... sometimes. But even those seem to stem from the same mentality. He keeps winning because that seems to be most people's mentality here; if there's a more "I got mine" region than these Foothills I don't know what it is. Well, that's not everyone here of course, but like I said before, you'd probably only find more Hummers in a rap video.

C'mon! Someone Needs to Win Those Coins
Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine- White Stripes
Hurricane- Bob Dylan
Master Blaster (Jammin')- Stevie Wonder
Shelter From the Storm- Bob Dylan
The Boy With the Thorn in His Side- The Smiths
Mambo King- Tito Puente
Paranoid Android- Radiohead
Oh My Golly!- The Pixies
Problems- Sex PIstols
Ain't It The Truth- The Briefs
Hummer- The Smashing Pumpkins
Livin' Thing- ELO
Wild Honey Pie- The Beatles

Three In One Day!

Speaking of changing who you are, you can tell me if it seems like I'm doing any of that these next two weeks. I am writing the Daily Journal for Barclay Press. It'll be a little bit diffferent from this but I don't know by how much or in what measure. So you can tell me ifn' I'm "keepin' it real" or not over there.

He Mooned the Flag My Grandaddy Rebelled Against

I know I'm supposed to be a one-dimensional America-hating hippy; I do what I can in that regard but don't always succeed. However, where I fail on my own, others do their part to push me more and more into caricature. If you didn't see Jon McCain's appearance on Meet the Press this Sunday, you missed a doosie. I sometimes think I could support Jon McCain. I know that doesn't fit who I'm supposed to be but there it is. Luckily he's been letting his presidential aspirations get to him lately and this past Sunday he helped me flatten my thinking into a smaller point.

Conveniently, Farhad Manjoo of Salon wrote a bit about this appearance. (You have to watch a commercial to read the article for "free.") reflecting some of how I feel about Jon McCain and what his statements might mean. He doesn't say exactly what I would say, but provides some background and reflection I would and now don't have to. In case you don't know what was said and don't want to read the link, the gist of it is this: back in 2000 McCain called the likes of Falwell, Roberstson, Sharpton,and Farrakhan, agents of intolerance and said no party should pander to the views of these extremists.

McCain called Falwell an agent of intolerance and said they weren't good for the Republican party back in the day. Since that day, when he was an agent of intolerance, Falwell has said "that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped [9/11] happen.'" That's what he said. McCain no longer thinks that type of thinking has no place in politics.

Well... in his defense Falwell did apologize... sort of, for saying that, revising his position to saying the terrorists are to blame but secularists "created an environment which possibly has caused God to lift the veil of protection which has allowed no one to attack America on our soil since 1812." I'm not sure how that's different, but to Jon McCain, they are not the words of an agent of intolerance. McCain now thinks there is a place for Falweel in mianstream Republican leadership and policymaking. I guess Robertson's call for murder, Farrakhan's Anti-Semitism, and Sharpton's general insanity somehow work for McCain too.

I may be disheartened by this for different reasons than Farhad. He says it depresses him because it makes McCain look less straight-shootery and diminishes any chance McCain had. The fringe won't be convinced he's real and any base he did have might be frightened away by his pandering or appearing crazy.

While I did think (I no longer know- correctly or not) McCain was more honest than other politicians- now... not so much, this is not what concerns me. Being kissed on the forehead by Bush aside, what bothers me is that Falwell and Robertson represent a constituency that McCain thinks must be catered to to win. Rather than saying, "That's crazy, dishonest, bad for America, and not the Christianity I know" He embraces them. Maybe they are maninstream, maybe they must be catered to to win, but I thought McCain represented something else. Now he thinks the fringe is good.

If he does so cynically, that's bad enough. But if he does so because this is what has emerged as Christianity, and it really is what he believes to be true, then you'll have to excuse me while I crap.

Okay

Did you know the Post Office has an APC? That's an Automated Postal Center. If you need to send a package you can do so easily with the APC. It weighs it, gives you delivery options and prints the postage so you can send a package without ever seeing a clerk. It even takes ATM cards. If you only need stamps- individually or in a book- you can also get those without seeing a clerk from a stamp vending machine. I mean it doesn't make sense to wait in a long, slow moving line if all you need is 3 stamps, maybe a book of stamps, or to send a package and you haven't any questions about it. So you go to the APC, or the stamp vending machine. What wonderful machines. They even save on labor costs, so the more you use them, the more likely you are to take someone's job.

Uniformed Postal Worker On a Cell Phone Standing in Front of an Open Stamp Vending Machine to Replace Product and Remove Money, With Her Cart of Postal Accoutrements Placed in Front of the APC, Rendering Both Unusable-
... I don't know yet... No, I don't know... You need to tell her you won't be there... Yeah... Okay... Okay... That should be fine... Oh you're going to pick it up... Okay... That'll be fine... Oh while I have you, Mike Andrews died... Heart attack... Probably... No... I know... I know... Hold on a minute...

Uniformed Postal Worker On a Cell Phone Still Standing in Front of an Open Stamp Vending Machine to Replace Product and Remove Money That She Hasn't Made Any Changes to Since She's Been On the Phone, With Her Cart of Postal Accoutrements Still Placed in Front of the APC, Rendering Both Unusable, Now Directing Her Attention to Me-
This machine won't be available for a while. You'll have to get stamps inside.