no mystery solved...

John Seery pretty much nails the thinking:

Consider, for a moment, that [Bush] might be pursuing an agenda beyond mere ego and arrogance and idiocy.

I attended a private art sale in McLean back in '02. Refreshments were served around an elegant dining room table. People milled about, chatting about the works and what-not. The conversations meandered, but the issue in most minds was the imminent invasion of Iraq by the U.S. One man suggested it had everything to do with 9/11 and was therefore just. I remember meeting resistance, and some condescension, when I suggested it had everything to do with the oil in Iraq, and, for that matter, so did 9/11.

Why do they hate us so? Because we're greedy oil addicts who value and respect their lives not at all -- that's why!

At the time, that was decidedly not a popular view; deemed cynical on an intellectual level, unpatriotic on the visceral. But what the hell, I never liked being agreeable for the sake of harmony. And I never had any respect for lemmings, particularly when they came in human form.

But the cat's out of the bag now: We're there because it's the oil, stupid! Always were.

But will we always be?

ah yes, the testimonial...

Air America plays the Avacor commercial repeatedly. They must because I've heard that elderly goofball so many times now, I want to set his hair aflame.

I paraphrase (I think): "Well I'm 72 years of age and I gotta tell you I have a fuller, thicker head of hair than when I was 18. Avacor really works!"

You know, it's great the old man loves his shag. But, dude, you're 72 years old! Who gives a flyin' flatulent fig whether your hair's thicker'n your skull or your middle?? YOU ain't gettin' any anymore!! Now get offa yer hi-chair and goda bed!!

Hadda get that out...

wakey wakey, good people...

Bob Koehler agrees with me:

Rangel's proposal forces us to stop being in denial about what we know. It forces us to put words to it. And as we do so, the ache of awakening only intensifies. And the more we look at what we're really asking of our kids - or other people's kids - the more we realize that the draft is a bad idea because the military itself, down to its core principles, is a deeply flawed institution that needs rethinking as we confront the requirements of the 21st century.

I wonder, for instance, what sense it makes that an institution that manifests the worst of human nature and is premised on blatant moral relativism - it's acceptable to kill, might makes right - commands half the federal budget? Pageantry and parade rhetoric aside, this is an institution that dehumanizes not only "the enemy" but, all too often, its own children.

Koehler, of course, says it better.

Also of course, Nancy Pelosi would do the entire world a favor by allowing this debate to proceed.

a voice in the wilderness...

Sam Harris in a tidy summary:

As an atheist, I am angry that we live in a society in which the plain truth cannot be spoken without offending 90% of the population. The plain truth is this: There is no good reason to believe in a personal God; there is no good reason to believe that the Bible, the Koran, or any other book was dictated by an omniscient being; we do not, in any important sense, get our morality from religion; the Bible and the Koran are not, even remotely, the best sources of guidance we have for living in the 21st century; and the belief in God and in the divine provenance of scripture is getting a lot of people killed unnecessarily.

I'm not one who subscribes to "atheism" any more than I do "theism" because I adhere to the principle of not knowing: "I Don't Know!" And while not presuming wisdom here, I have heard said the path toward it begins with that phrase.

I don't know if there is a God or if there is not. But like Harris, I do applaud those who seek truth through empirical methodologies and, short of that, logic. Lowest on the totem pole ought be the so-called faithful who are anything but. I don't mean thoughtful people who are able to acknowledge their intellectual inconsistencies as to their respective conclusions, I'm talking about the desperate and the grasping sorts in need for spiritual security and insist on calling it "the truth." Would that that could satisfy them, let alone inspiring their taking it to the Nth degree and imposing this "truth" on others.

Best that type just piss off and down wind.

the questions are begged...

Chances are if one hauls off and belts the POTUS, one gets some time behind bars. But what if one's soon2be a U.S. Senator?

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon.

More questions: 1) How much time would Webb get, and 2) After he's done his time, would he be carried out of the slammer on the shoulders of thousands or millions?

h/t to TPM via Kos

go find a job...

My mantra post holiday of navel-gazing...

Liquidated the 401K, not a whole helluva lot for 6 months. The bastards that lay a body off without adjusting top-end benefits are why a lot of people voted for the Democrats this time around. Guess the gay-abortions thing didn't have its usual zest.

Okay, the employment agencies have been buzzed; online applications via Careerbuilder: in progress; sent out emails with MP3s and resumes to Boston/Springfield/Hartford radio stations - nary a nibble. Experience dictates proactive follow-up, but that can't happen until I finish my business here, tie up the proverbial loose ends. After that, and if I'm ready to actually move to a new city, only then can I put on the full-court press.

But then what? Sucks being broke. Gotta sell the comics & the baseball cards. I'd estimated $10K's worth and would settle for $5K. Was thinking out loud to the sister'n law yesterday: "I'd like to chuck it all and go back-pack across Europe." She thought it a swell idea, but then anywhere outside her house might sound right smart after a long wknd of catering to this family, eh?

Could get back into Realty. The licenses are in referral, and it wouldn't take much to reactivate. Of course, the Realty board would want its cut, then the NAR, and, of course, the insurance companies... the bastards will all want their respective pounds of flesh. Jesus! It's such a racket. Everybody gets a cut. And you wonder why the Realty lobby is so strong on Capitol Hill?

Of course there's the Great American Novel. Lotsa money there. Just gotta go write it. Mebbe while I'm backpacking my way to the... brothels of Amsterdam.

Yeahhhh! That's the ticket.

t-day (observed) - early morning...

The boys were deliberating on trekking out to Amherst to catch the 1st round playoff game between the #3 seed Minutemen and Lafayette. The lady of the household, however, put the kaibash on that notion right quick: "Oh yeah! I got time," in a tone implying she didn't.

Even so, we're waiting on the bulk of the kin to arrive later: older brother with the mum; sisters and husbands, etc. Guess we'll catch it on the tube, i.e., if anybody's showing it. NESN, maybe? No chance we won't catch Notre Dame/USC tonight.

The Pats & the Bears tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I need s'more Z's.

enjoy... !

outlet pass along the left side of the beltway, a fast break to PA in the morning...

the holiday awaits...

slam dunk to MA for the weekend...

a day or two extra in beantown and then back to VA the middle of next week...

may blog in betwixt... or not... time & space being yet another relative...

and speaking of relatives: my family rocks... ! looking forward...

happy thanksgiving... !

(this thing on?)...

law'n order...

Laugh-line of the day:

Hot Babe: (pissed) He's dead?? Stupid! Stupid! You think a guy like that'd put a ring on my finger before now. "Pre-engaged" -- What the hell is that??

Det. Brisco: Don't ask me. All I know is "Post-married."

2nded...

Bob Cesca at HuffPo:

Congressman Charlie Rangel plans to reintroduce a bill calling for the reinstating of the draft under the banner statement: if you're prone to knee-jerking America into war again, you had better be prepared to put your hawk-ass where you hawk-beak is. Otherwise, think twice before you rah-rah another misguided armed conflict because Uncle Sam will be asking you for help. And that help will involve a bit more than slapping a yellow-ribbon magnet on your SUV before waddling downstairs to play SOCOM.

bush under the couch...

Paul Levy offers a little new age diagnosis:

Malignant egophrenia forces upon us the responsibility to come to terms with the evil inside our own hearts. If we solidify Bush as being evil and react with righteous indignation, we are guilty of the very same thing we're accusing Bush of (i.e, projecting the shadow). We then become a conduit for the very evil we're reacting to. Who among us has not been guilty of being a channel for ME disease at one time or another? If, when we see this virulent pathogen, we contract against it and react in any way, be it in judgment, hatred, anger or revulsion, we're helping to perpetuate the diabolical polarization that is the signature of the disease. Our reacting in this way, which is typical of many political activists, is itself an expression that we ourselves have the disease, or to say it more clearly, the disease has us.

So remember, kiddies: When you finally get to kickin' Dubya's sorry butt to the curb, y'gotta do it with a smile!

"kramer" totally loses it...

Michael Richards, a.k.a., Cosmo Kramer from the Seinfeld series, went off on a racial tirade this weekend on stage!! You might recall TMZ.com (via RawStory) had the scoop on Mel Gibson's anti-semitic rant a few months back. Here they have Richards, and on videotape. Needless to say, it's a shocker to the senses.

Say g'bye, Cosmo. It's all over for you, dude. You'll be lucky if you get a job washing dishes now.

ever notice how trek marathons are almost as frequent as mccain appearances on meet the press... ?

TV Land is going nuts with the original Star Trek series, of which they recently obtained the rights and feel they must therefore stack every episode end2end over one sorry-assed wknd, and are. Just surfed in & out of the most popular episode, i.e., as historically voted by Trekkers & Trekkies alike -- and remind me to go off on the insipidity of self-styled "Trekkers" who take offense at being called "Trekkies," as though there was a distinction perceived or cared about by the rest of the waking public.

"The Trouble with Tribbles," where the hand-muff props as alien kitty cats, they of the headless/tailless/limbless variety of species, do nothing but purr. The "trouble" with them, of course, is their propensity to breed like rabbits on crack, along with a corresponding appetite for eating one out of starship & home. On the other hand they have a profound and requited dislike of Klingons, a good thing... that is, up until the Next Generation series was launched.

The episode falls in the genre of "camp," a creativity-challenged fetish of which I prefer all future Trek writers steer clear as it almost guarantees inherent laziness in the production and for tedious viewing. Too many franchise episodes (ST, Next Gen, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and the movies) are just so cloyingly campy (And who ever told Shatner he could improvise?), a stark contrast to, say, the reincarnated Battlestar Galactica. "Tribbles," for example, ends with the obligatory group-chuckle, this time on the bridge, when Scotty declares he's beamed all the little beasties over to the Klingon ship.

Problem solved? Not if you're a tribble. You see how Klingons eat? Imagine the carnage then... although the writers don't go there.

Chuckle chuckle...

in search of an alternative universe...

Al Gore on how Bush handled the 9/11 warnings:

[I]t's almost too easy to say, "I would have heeded the warnings." In fact, I think I would have, I know I would have. We had several instances when the CIA's alarm bells went off, and what we did when that happened was, we had emergency meetings and called everybody together and made sure that all systems were go and every agency was hitting on all cylinders, and we made them bring more information, and go into the second and third and fourth level of detail. And made suggestions on how we could respond in a more coordinated, more effective way.

It is inconceivable to me that Bush would read a warning as stark and as clear [voice angry now] as the one he received on August 6th of 2001, and, according to some of the new histories, he turned to the briefer and said, "Well, you've covered your ass." And never called a follow up meeting. Never made an inquiry. Never asked a single question. To this day, I don't understand it. And, I think it's fair to say that he personally does in fact bear a measure of blame for not doing his job at a time when we really needed him to do his job.

And now the Woodward book has this episode that has been confirmed by the record that George Tenet, who was much abused by this administration, went over to the White House for the purpose of calling an emergency meeting and warning as clearly as possible about the extremely dangerous situation with Osama bin Laden, and was brushed off!

And I don't know why--honestly--I mean, I understand how horrible this Congressman Foley situation with the instant messaging is, okay? I understand that. But, why didn't these kinds of things produce a similar outrage?

And you know, I'm even reluctant to talk about it in these terms because it's so easy for people to hear this or read this as sort of cheap political game-playing. I understand how it could sound that way. [Practically screaming now] But dammit, whatever happened to the concept of accountability for catastrophic failure? This administration has been by far the most incompetent, inept, and with more moral cowardice, and obsequiousness to their wealthy contributors, and obliviousness to the public interest of any administration in modern history, and probably in the entire history of the country!

And... and... Amen.

just suppose we juxtapose

You've seen that smarmy commercial where Tiki Barber nearly humps this rotund Dish Network installation guy? To get him "to feel" the moment?

Jesus, it's embarrassing!

Just now saw it again, plugged in during a commercial break on the AMC channel.

The movie?

"Deliverance"

botticelli

the birth of venus...

i've been sayin'...

Waldman at Tom Paine gets it:

Democrats, Don't Wimp Out
1. Investigate -- But Smartly
2. Don't Be Afraid to Pick Fights
3. Boycott Fox
4. Attack Conservatism

I've a degree in Communications and have studied broadcast media for some 30 years. As such, I'm especially enamored of #3 and hope it'll get more play in the run-up to the Dem takeover in January. Although 1, 2 & 4 work for me too.

Gotta take it to the bastards!!

what fools we mortals be...

While Dubya tours Vietnam out of uniform and 35 years too late, here's at least one difference between the two wars:

Minnesota beauty queen trades sash for fatigues as her Guard unit deploys to Iraq

"It really wasn't a decision that was mine to be made," said Gaulke. "My unit's going. I've accepted it. It's part of the whole scope of why I joined; I'll be there for all of us over here."

Not yet part of the new 20,000 "final push," I'm guessing. Still, I knock wood hoping she doesn't come home in a body-bag.

you think you know somebody...

Billy B., you dog you:

In August, a Morristown family court judge ordered the gridiron genius to make himself available for questioning by attorneys for Shenocca, who wants to know if Belichick is financing his estranged wife’s “extravagant lifestyle.”

Could be platonic. The man could be as altruistic as they come, financing a woman's "extravagant lifestyle" and not be schnooking her...

Nahhhh...

james webb: fekkin' hippie...

Webb's op-ed in... yesterday's Wall Street Journal??

America's top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars. They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people. The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980. The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes.

Incestuous corporate boards regularly approve compensation packages for chief executives and others that are out of logic's range. As this newspaper has reported, the average CEO of a sizable corporation makes more than $10 million a year, while the minimum wage for workers amounts to about $10,000 a year, and has not been raised in nearly a decade. When I graduated from college in the 1960s, the average CEO made 20 times what the average worker made. Today, that CEO makes 400 times as much.

In the age of globalization and outsourcing, and with a vast underground labor pool from illegal immigration, the average American worker is seeing a different life and a troubling future. Trickle-down economics didn't happen.

Or more simply -- Class Warfare: Bitched about by the lower classes, perpetrated by the upper class.

Proud to say Virginia has definitely upgraded from Mr. "Macaca."

feelin' feverish, are ya'... ?

Zirin at The Nation got me pondering:

Ohio State, Michigan! Michigan, Ohio State! The most storied rivalry in college football comes to Columbus on Saturday.

"Most storied"? I thought that was Harvard/Yale.

Army/Navy?

Notre Dame/USC?

UMass/New Hampshire?

Hello?

expect major turnover on k street...

... and no redeploy in Iraq for at least another year...

Hoyer Wins Majority Leader 149-86

Reports of massive oil slicks slathering down Capitol Hill are as yet unconfirmed, but if you're a betting soul...

coolest name in congress...

Zack Space, newly elected Dem to OH-18 district. (There y'go, D.J.! Another Ohio boy made good.)

Now if Jerry Brown goes for another presidential run, tabs ol' Zack here as VP, and they win, you get President Moonbeam and Vice President Space.

hockey tock...

J. of the previously mentioned J&J called to invite me to the Caps game at Verizon last night. Sure! Heck yeah! Ain't nothin' goin' on otherwise.

He's a good guy, J.; bought himself a pair of season's tickets. And even though he comes into hockey a historical strippling, he's as avid a rooter as I've seen of late; dressed in the full Caps regalia: shirt, cap, everything but the pads. He's vociferous. Relative, of course, as I'm downright spasmodic when the Pats are on a 2-game skid or when the Sox break the bank on a foreign pitcher w/great buzz but is as yet unfamiliar.

The surprise was the opponent, the Boston Bruins. Back in the day, 70s-early 80s, I could rattle on about even Hockey, that kind of sports nut I. In the early 70s, you had the Big Bad Bruins with Esposito, Orr and Sanderson. Later that decade there were the Don Cherry perennial Stanley Cup finalists who always would lose to les Habitants de Montreal (and fuck Mario Trembley while yer at it, eh?): Jean Ratelle, Brad Park, Terry O'Reilly, Rick Middleton, Wayne Cashman, Stan Jonathan, Gerry Cheevers, et al.

Loved those guys.

The 80s? Some guy named Bourque... Word is he was good. But I had started to fade. Then it was just the Celtics, Red Sox, Patriots -- in that order. I retired as a Celtic fan right around when Larry Bird left the scene.

The 90s? I think I remember a Bruin team early in the decade getting swept by Edmonton in the finals. That right?

Last night? I couldn't name a single freakin' Bruin. They'd post the players' pics on the jumbo-tron while announcing the lineups. Pic: "Never heard of 'im." Pic: "Never heard of 'im." Pic: "Never heard... " etc. Joe Thornton's gone, right? They won, at least, 3-2 on a Shootout in overtime. Never had Shootouts back in the, uhm, day.

Yo, D.J.! Help me out here!

Where has the time gone?

Update (11/17/06): Wow! 3-game win streak for the Bs...

disturbing...

Browsing my links, I noted I hadn't checked out the Ostroy Report for a while. And this hit me in the face:

As many of you now know, my wife, the beautiful, lovely, talented Adrienne Shelly, was brutally murdered in NYC on Nov 1.

You may have seen Adrienne Shelly on various television programs, like Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, and Oz. I didn't know about this until just now. It staggers the soul and the spirit.

My heart goes out to Andy Ostroy.

The story published a week ago...

donny, we hardly knew ye...

When "anonymous" and "unanimous" are synonymous:

One former senior aide to the National Security Council, who wished to remain anonymous, offered a different perspective, saying "They are doing cartwheels in the E ring and could not care who was nominated so long as Rumsfeld resigned. They would not care if Satan replaced him."

Hmm, Bob Gates: the devil you do know but pretend you don't.

one mighty righteous ripple...

Tsunami Reaches Japan

fox news aids terrorists...

Not hyperbole:

The terror leader, from the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, said his organization's share of the money was used to purchase weapons, which he said would be utilized "to hit the Zionists."

He said he expects the payments for Centanni and Wiig's freedom will encourage Palestinian groups to carry out further kidnappings.

And here I thought all the reporters had to say was "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet!"

Once again, the Almighty Dollar trumps the Almighty... even among fanatics...

... theirs and ours.

political intrigue in the occupied capital...

Lest anybody tell you differently, lefty bloggers are not lemmings. All ye need show one casting the aspersion is the disparity in certitude as it involves the current battle for House Majority Leader.

Armstrong at MyDD says it's gonna be Murtha:

I've heard from a couple of different Hill sources that Murtha is ahead; that newly elected Democrats favor Hoyer by a 2:1 margin, but that Murtha is ahead by about 25 votes overall, which has come about from the standing members after Nancy Pelosi's letter. The vote is Thursday. Let's hope that sticks and Murtha becomes the Majority Leader.

while Kurtz at TPM says it'll be Hoyer:

With the dynamics of the race suddenly shifted from simply Hoyer v. Murtha to a larger question of Pelosi's political strength and capabilities, she shifted her support for Murtha into overdrive, starting to make phone calls and twist arms. The problem is that it was probably too little, too late. (Actually, there are indications, as the Observer article suggests, that Murtha's candidacy had been a lost cause from the very beginning.)

Did Pelosi make a misjudgment?

I reckon we'll find out tomorrow. Meanwhile, viva la difference of opinions. And when have you ever heard the rightists say that?

This page endorses Murtha as he pretty much became the sole, legitimate voice of opposition to the boy king and his castle guard, without which the Corporate/Repo facist movement would well have metastasized. Now, with the Dems looking to rein in the captains of industry run-amok, one has reason to dare hope again.

Steny Hoyer? He wants to establish another K-Street Project. Even if it's for the Dems, it still stinks of Tom Delay. It's corrupt, and I don't want to be like them. At best Hoyer's proven he doesn't play nice with Nancy Pelosi, and since she'll be getting a disproportionate share of flak & resistance from the Repos and the stooge-M$M, she ought to be able to choose her allies. She's taking a chance in endorsing Murtha, he with his own apparent ethical sidebars. It is encouraging nonetheless, Pelosi going the extra mile; not so much her wanting Murtha, but the mere fact she's not adverse to taking chances.

Nancy Pelosi is showing she has guts, something that's been in short supply 'round here and for some time.

my day is complete...

Sox hi-bid $51M just to negotiate with the heir apparent to Jesus H. Christ-san:

"Coming over from Japan where he threw a lot of innings and had 13 complete games, I would think this would seem like a vacation to him. It's a lot of money, but if you have it, why not use it on a kid like this? The Yankees have to be sick about this."

And a sick Yankee is a good Yankee, eh?

Meanwhile I haven't been to a game in Boston since '99 and I never developed a taste for plunking down $70 for a Fenway box seat, satisfied with catching the Hose at Camden Yahds in Bal'mer a coupla times a year, say buy a nosebleed for $15-25, and sneak down to the boxes in the 5th or 6th inning. (Beware! Those stadium yabbos at Oriole Park get pretty agitated w/the sneaks. Fortunately they're usually older gents, who can only bark at you; not like those BC footballers you see in the Fens, and who'll hoist you by the ear if you look at 'em cross-eyed.) But crikey! -- I remember when bleacher seats were three bucks... as recently as, uhm, '77, which, ahh, d'be my senior year at Somerville High. In a galaxy far far away...

Ah ah ah ah, stayin' alive... stayin' alive...

heavynews lives... !

Heavynews was a regular on KIA and once spoke with a progressive, though quite sardonic, voice. He attributes Bill Clinton's getting serviced in the Oval Office pantry as having done serious damage to his populist good ol' boy's idealism. Now he's true bl... er, Red, as in "Better dead than... "

Still he almost resembled his old self when he recently waxed on post-Decision '06 via email. Almost brought a tear to my eye:

Personally, I think two years of Speaker Pelosi will be energizing for the Republican Party. I think it will be relatively easy to take back the House in two years -- Do you really think Tom Delay and Mark Foley's old districts suddenly got all blue? Nah, just a punishment thing. I can understand that.

Glad Chaffee is gone -- if this had been a 50-50 Senate, he would have probably gone all Jeffords on us.

Disappointed, really, that Harold Ford Jr. (and Michael Steele, too) lost.

Glad to see that, at best, the Kos Kids went 1-for-3-- losing the one that really mattered to them, in Connecticut.

Glad to see George Allen off the table as a national candidate. Knucklehead.

(BTW, if you had told me before this fall that I could take Mark Warner off the table as a Democraticnational candidate and all it was going to cost me was taking Allen off the table, I would have made that deal in a second. And you'll throw in John Kerry for free? Hmmmm, I'll have to think about that.)

The Big Picture item, from my standpoint, is that the Democrats had to run more conservative-sounding candidates in order to win in most situations. Actually more conservative? We'll see. That had to be the first step in becoming a mainstream party again. And one night, as much fun as it has been for them, doesn't accomplish that.

To the contrary, the election of these more moderate Democrats has the effect of pushing to the forefront some of the most liberal Dems who are in leadership positions. There's a disconnect there that will have to be reconciled at some point. Probably in the 2008 primary smackdown.

Folks are tired of the war. The English were exhausted at the end of World War II -- voted out Churchill. Truman, who won the freaking war, was largely reviled by the end of his full term. Folks are tired of the war, but the real war has barely begun.

The surrender monkeys are ascendant for a brief moment. We'll hope for the best.

What 1 for 3?? Webb & Tester both were Netroots candidates not wanted in the beginning by Schumer, Reid, Rahm, et al., and there's a slew of House rookies owing their new digs to the Blogarythmic Function.

Meanwhile, why don't we let's strangle this baby in the crib, Heavy m'boy: George Bush is NO Winny Churchill or Give 'em Hell Harry! And he will never find redemption in history's eyes. Gotta come up w/a better comparison -- say, Hitler or Stalin.

Well, hey, they're a lot closer!

giuliani v. mccain v. hillary...

The three big enchiladas, now with Rudy joining the fray. Okay, Hillary hasn't declared yet, but oh c'mon... !!

In any event, it says here the fight is between Mitt Romney and Al Gore with Gore in a walk.

kim jong il would be proud...

This reminds me of a phrase Cap Weinberger once used in referring to Iran -- "a fanatical, virtually insane nation":

Wolfson, Moore and thousands of mothers like them call themselves and their belief system "Quiverfull." They borrow their name from Psalm 127: "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate." Quiverfull mothers think of their children as no mere movement but as an army they're building for God.

Quiverfull parents try to have upwards of six children. They home-school their families, attend fundamentalist churches and follow biblical guidelines of male headship--"Father knows best"--and female submissiveness. They refuse any attempt to regulate pregnancy. Quiverfull began with the publication of Rick and Jan Hess's 1989 book, A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ, which argues that God, as the "Great Physician" and sole "Birth Controller," opens and closes the womb on a case-by-case basis. Women's attempts to control their own bodies--the Lord's temple--are a seizure of divine power.

Child abuse, by any other name...

recurring theme...

Another set of lights that need punching out:

Today on Fox News Sunday, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the federal government does not need to negotiate lower prices for seniors. Bartlett said that prices have “come down” and drugs are already cheap enough. He concluded, “the proof is in the pudding.”

Right! Somebody spike his pudding!

hanging curve balls for xmas...

Headline City:

Likely House committee chairman outlines Wall Street agenda
If Rep. Barney Frank leads the House Financial Services Committee, he intends to tackle the issue of overpaid executives.

Gee! What a GREAT idea!

bumper sticker of the day...

"Involve yourself not in the affairs of the Dragon...

... for you are crunchy and go good with ketchup!"

a tidy summary...

Henry Farrell, at the Boston Review, makes me feel better about myself (for I have friends who are Repos, who are always trying to undermine my self-esteem):

And while many netroots bloggers describe themselves as progressive, they are generally not leftists in the conventional sense. Certainly they aren’t committed to any program of fundamental political and economic reform. . . [T]he netroots aren’t complaining that the Democratic Party isn’t radical enough; they’re complaining that it’s losing elections. Netroots bloggers don’t share a common ideology. If they are united by anything, it is their harsh criticism of the Republican Party, their shared anger at the Democratic Party’s failures, and their rough analysis of how it could do better.

Coming up: Heavynews pontificates via email on the hows & whys the Repos will take back Congress in '08.

No, really!

remind me never to give to the fireman's fund in CT...

Will somebody please punch his lights out?

expectations losing altitude...

I had the good fortune of getting to cover the Boston Celtics on their championship run, during the NBA season of '83-84, for Community Radio at MIT (yes, that MIT), and which culminated in maybe the best 7-game series in the league's history. Of course the Celts triumphed over the Kareem & Magic Lakers four games to three; the fans' rallying cry of "Henderson stole the ball!"

Some of my greatest memories involve sitting in the press-box high above courtside at the old Boston Gahden, hob-knobbing and bantering with the likes of Johnny Most, Marv Albert and Will McDonough; a favorite memory being inside the Celtic locker-room after they had soundly beat the Milwaukee Bucks in an earlier playoff game. Danny Ainge's locker stall was next to Larry Bird's. Ainge had already left, but Bird was always the last to leave due to a usual throng of reporters that would surround him for yet another soundbite. And Bird always towered over the lesser mortals, a scene reminiscent of Gulliver and the Lilliputians.

That night, I couldn't get near him through the humanity, so I circumnavigated over to Ainge's stall, and, using his metal folding chair, stood up beside the 6'9" Larry Legend, who was, at that moment, turned away. When I threw out my question, he jumped, startled to see a reporter eyeball to eyeball. His reaction drew chortles from the reporters and he shook his head in bemused relief. I still have a tape of the exchange. Thinking of posting it... as soon as I, uhm, figure out the podcast process here.

I remember this in reflection of yesterday's truly mediocre performance by Tom Brady and the lackluster Patriots against the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets, I'm still in a bit of a sports-induced malaise this monday morning. The sports pages are no fun to read when your team sucks the pipe the day before. Be it as it may, there will be no armchair quarterbacking for me here; Brady has earned at least a full season of mediocrity before I even think of barking up his tree.

And I mention the Celtics prior for they too had a nice run of championships during the 80s (as well as the 70s & 60s), whose ride I most certainly enjoyed. Consequently, I'm a fellow who has developed the proper perspective. After decades of cultivating a vociferous fanaticism for the Sox, Pats & Celtics, I'm now rather sanguine in simply watching and enjoying, and not getting so purple with appolexia whenever events trend awry. In short, it's been sweet.

I wonder, however, if I'd feel that way if my appetite were never sated by those championships never experienced by, say, a living Cubs fan.

This is not to say, of course, that Belichick won't snap out of his gloom, and that Rodney Harrison won't be back to kick some secondary tail in time for a decent, if not great, playoff run, but a two-game losing streak by these N.E.Pats is a splash of cold water to this Boston sports kibitzer's face.

Something Bob Ryan wrote recently about fearing a Pats' decline, after a kick-butt first half, resembling this past season's Red Sox debacle. Could be worse, I suppose: Chontos, for example, says "I'm liberated!" from any further concern for his precious 'Skins, who totally shat the bed once again, and this time yesterday against the hated Eagles. Good to get out on a Sunday afternoon, eh? And while the gettin's good.

But -- Oh hey! -- Are the Sox actually going to get Matsuzaka??

Hot Stove Hot Stove Hot Stove... *cough*... !

why denis leary'll never keep his job in broadcasting...

or ever be cast in a mel gibson movie... i originally heard this on espn's "mike & mike" while driving to work a coupla months ago:

hysterical stuff... especially since it's so damned near the edge... and maybe a little over...

the latest conspiracy theory...

Love a good conspiracy theory (from Attytood via Raw). The latest:

The exit polls that leaked out in the late afternoon ended up matching the final results almost exactly -- nothing like what happened in those other Bush-era elections. The razor-close races all broke late for the Democrats, unlike Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004...and when that happened, there were no major charges of fraud, no "Brooks Brothers Riot," and no demand for a recount. The last two losers -- Conrad Burns of Montana and George Allen of Virginia -- went quietly into the autumn night, despite relatively close vote tallies. There appear to be no other Rovian stunts, like calling in the GOP's chits with Joe Lieberman to get him to caucus with the Senate Republicans. And there was no October surprise, not in Iran and not back home.

he asked me why... i'm just a hairy guy...

In the wake of the Democratic "wave" not deemed a "revolution" by the corporate media, emails have been flying back and forth between Brotherman the Younger, a financial analyst, and me. I won't clog the server here by posting all of it. Suffice it to say we agree on some things, but there is a yawning gap between our perceptions of what constitutes economic justice. Here, in his most recent missive on the subject, a tidbit left unanswered... until now:

"[I]t is Democratic rhetoric that reducing the tax percentage is a benefit only for the rich.… Why should I have to pay a greater percentage of my income than you? Further, if I spend money not taxed, or invest in the stock market that is capital created to generate more jobs that can be further taxed.… In economics that is called the "multiplier effect". Generating wealth creates more tax revenue."

Let me confess here to an overall ignorance of economics, market capital, taxes, etc., and I bow to his superior knowledge on the matter. I'm just a news junkie and political animal with an interest in a great many issues, though professing little expertise on any one other than my navel. But I'll give this a try.

First, I stipulate to the premise that spending money not taxed stimulates the economy. Bully! That's what greases the wheels of civilization, generates jobs, etc. That is the lifeblood of the free market, apple pie and Chevrolet. It's what makes things Go! It's what's made us great in the traditional sense of the word.

But that's money that's ultimately ending up in fewer and fewer hands. Taxes, on the other hand, is what a government Of The People uses to better the lives of those people. It pays for our military, our law enforcement, environmental cleanup, healthcare, public education, consumer protection, and on and on. Money not taxed is inevitibly earmarked up, not down, such that a corporate CEO earns 1,435 times that of his lowliest employee, say, a coal-miner, while the miner, when not working in dangerously under-regulated conditions, sees his promised retirement & health benefits rescinded by fiat and not out of necessity. Why do you think the first order of business in the 110th is to raise the minimum wage?

And what of jobs these days? You mean the ones being outsourced to India, Indonesia or to Mexico? Or the ones still to be had stateside: the ones in manufacturing-turned-hamburger-flipping? And let me squash the "generating wealth creates more tax revenue" myth: Maybe it did in a bygone era, but I think I'd very much like to hear what a Henry Waxman/Barney Frank/John Conyers-chaired committee can come up with regarding this thing called "off-shore accounts," or, say, the massive redistribution of wealth in this brave new world of Bush-brand tax cuts. I'm betting that jury will be out for some time.

Again, I don't pretend to know a whole lot about all this as I'm not paid handsomely to analyze finance, nor do I have to contend with the harsh reality of high-overhead personal finance, so I'm hoping you can educate me: The reduction of the tax percentage means, I think, what Steve Forbes has championed and what you're advocating: A flat tax, yes?

And why should you have to pay a greater percentage? Well, maybe you shouldn't. Maybe we all should pay 30 cents to the government for every dollar we earn. Why not eliminate the income tax altogether and go with a national sales tax?

For the sake of argument then, perhaps you should because you reap a greater reward, just as the upper class earns an even greater reward -- rewards not necessarily bestowed by the government but by life itself. You have a lovely, large home. You drive a snazzy car. You can afford to pay a monthly stipend to ensure your family's health coverage. You've travelled the world. You play golf and fart a lot!

I say this knowing you are one who does indeed count your blessings. You value your good fortune and your family and friends. So why, then, should you be made to pay a greater percentage when it may not be empirically justifiable? Bottom line? Because that's where the money is, the money to make life palatable for the rest of us. We who are without health insurance; we who live in the ramshackle, and/or drive same, while we toil and spin and can barely afford to go to the beach for a weekend and call it a vacation; we who aren't asking for welfare but do expect a decent subsidy and -- yes, Goddamit! -- health benefits for our hard work; we who hear "Let them eat cake!" and want only to respond with "Off with their heads!"

"Hey, life's a bitch!" you say? (Or as Naahm put it recently: "Too effin bad!"). Well mebbe so. Consider it protection money then. Peace of mind. The great unwashed can be made angry and they can be motivated to do things that also trickle up. If done in an orderly manner, we have an electoral "wave." When it's disorderly... well, you're enough of a historian to have heard of riots and revolution? But if that's too abstract, know this: without the workers' efforts -- their LABOR -- none of us owns squat! There y'go! Consider your taxes a gratuity!

And smile, my Brother! Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, as will I (albeit at a significantly lower rate), and I will see you and the family at Thanksgiving, eh?

And U 2, Brotherman the Elder! Happy Birthday!

we now return you to our regular programming...

Temping at a non-profit means you still gotta get up early on a federal holiday.

Yesterday was a little too warm to adequately be called November, and today's shaping up as same. Personally I don't want to be robbed of my Autumns, just as I don't particularly enjoy exceptionally warm Aprils. I like my transitional seasons cool & crisp and not without wild splashes of color. Winter makes me appreciate Spring; and Summer, Autumn. But if Spring and Autumn continue to insist on emulating Summer, then there's gonna be Hell to pay!

At least the traffic into town can be beat. Would that everyday traffic were like the holidays' 'round here.

Be all this as it may, I'm supposed to be working and I don't want to be. My mind is everywhere but here. Was hoping this would help me to focus. It isn't.

But if there are such things: Happy Vets to you all!

Go John Murtha!!

wave bye bye, gop... !

i surrender...

Have now added M$M links to my Morning Coffee. I held out this long as they had rendered themselves indigestible with their reflexive bending of knee toward obsequiousness, irrelevance, and before the GOP in the post-9/11 universe.

But now the American people have made it clear that the Emperor is indeed without clothes, and I therefore expect a good deal of coverage to that effect. Moreover, I am anxious to see if the media's veil of self-suppression will be lifted over the course of the new political season.

And I hope I don't have to change my mind again tomorrow.

raw knows cnn better than cnn... ?

Headline atop RawStory's homepage: "CNN: RUMSFELD TO RESIGN" w/no link.

Went over to CNN -- Nada!

WTF?

Update: Now it's up!

live-blogging decision 2006

12:28 a.m. - okay, shutting down... g'night... !

12:25 a.m. - Shutting down in 5; will listen on the radio on the way home...

12:23 a.m. - RawStory: "Recount city: Webb (R) 49.44 edges Allen (D) 49.42 in VA"

12:17 a.m. - packin' it up in 13 minutes... boy needs his sleep too...

12:13 a.m. - chontos has gone to bed... he always was smarter...

12:12 a.m. - there it is again: webb UP... jesus!

12:10 a.m. - okay, i'm confused: the last graphic shows webb UP 2376 w/99%...

12:07 a.m. - olberman says webb is within 2376 votes with 99% reporting...

12:05 a.m. - heard on msnbc: "northern virginia could determine the next president of the united states -- they're doing their best to secede from the confederacy"... to which i say: GODDAMNED RIGHT!!

11:57 p.m. tucker the fucker makes a good point, the stem cell issue is losing in MO, perhaps an indicator on the senate race (which, has provided NO NUMBERS!!)...

11:55 p.m. - virginia tennessee montana missouri... boils down to...

11:52 p.m. - Chontos is talkin' bed... Not until we find out about the Senate, pal... !! Gonna be drowsy tomorrow...

11:48 p.m. Andrea Mitchell cringes on all the investigations anticipated in the house, "short of impeachment"... that include when dick cheney refuses to comply w/a subpoena, uhhhhhhh andrea... ??

11:41 p.m. - Hawaii, Senator Akaka reelected... Chontos says he misheard: "macaca?"

11:31 p.m. david schuster with an interesting tidbit: the VA loser who loses by less than 1.5% can have the state pay for the recount... more than 1.5%, he (or presumably the DNC) has to pay... currently 98% reporting: webb only 7K behind... nail biter...

11:27 p.m. - Dems now projected at +32; and -- whaaaaaa? -- denny hastert was reelected... ?? what ONE idiot MF voted for that old enabling goat... ?? i don't know america...

11:04 p.m. - kyl in AZ projected... remaining ops, and dems need 3 of 4: VA, MT, MO, TN... best chances MT & MO... VA & TN look... enh... !!

11:03 p.m. - msnbc: 231 dems (29 pickup) 203 repos projected...

10:58 - what if, they ask, if the admin doesn't respond to subpoenas... ah, what a sweet word...

10:55 - msnbc (i lost the remote, damn it!) projects the dems to take over the house w/29 pickups... no word yet on the senate...

10:51 p.m. - two dems elected: heath schuler, former QB and "zack space": chontos says, "GREAT NAME!!"

10:46 p.m. - heyyy, man-on-dog's catching up... to 41%, that is...

10:42 p.m. - states not yet declared: VA, TN, MT, MO, AZ... ken mehlman now on the tube... hasn't he been purged yet in the mark foley imbroglio... ? again: WTF?

10:33 p.m. - gov. goodhair (thank u molly ivins) projected for reelect - adios, kinky friedman; chris matthews repo brother loses in PA...

10:31 p.m. - orrin snatch, projected...

10:29 p.m. - ah, there he is... st. john the mccain... mr. straight talk... or he was... awfully hard to talk straight when your mouth is full of bushian cock...

10:18 p.m. - olberman with a graphic: "allen respects minorities: Yes 56% No 43%"... which makes me query WTF... Chontos says allen respects beaners...

10:15 p.m. - lamont's concession... didn't want to see that... just told chontos i'd've been happy to lose both houses to the repos if only we could've gotten rid of lieberlips...

10:12 p.m. - now chontos is watching his syriana dvd... whadda distraction...

10:04 p.m. - nancy johnson, ct, prescription-drug reform (pro-pharma) bitch LOSES!!! YAH YAH... by the by, it occurs that lieberlips sucking the oxygen money in CT doesn't hurt the dems, but the repos...

10:02 p.m. - thanking his family, man-on-dog says, "for 16 years... " whereupon Chontos interjects in a way only he can get away with: "... they put up with my dope-smoking and my whoring... !!" wine almost comes out my nose...

10:00 p.m. - Man-on-Dog's concession speech - Woo Hoo Hoo!

9:56 p.m. - Keith Ellison, Minnesota, first Muslim elected to Congress! Mazeltov!

9:51 p.m. - Oh! And lest I forget: Deval Patrick will be the first African-American governor of Massachusetts... Way2Go, BayState!

9:50 p.m. - ABC News: +3 Rep to Dem; 0 Dem to Rep... Cokie Roberts, w/eyes way too far apart, looks like a teradactyl...

9:48 p.m. - TPM Cafe: "VA-SEN Webb (D): 49.19% Allen (R): 49.61% n/a n/a 85% 09:42 pm EST

9:41 - RawStory headline: "Allen (R) leads slims in VA 49.6, Webb (D) 49.2; 84% counted"...

9:38 p.m. - chontos, a savvy chap, though no wonk, is youtubing borat exerpts... annoying while i'm cringing at the prospect george allen is still leading jim webb... feh... !

9:35 p.m. - ok, back online... a little system crash... msnbc now projects sheldon whitehouse a winner of lincoln chafee -- another turnover, apple, thank you very much...

9:18 p.m. - msnbc, with 0% (yes - zero!) reporting, projects ben cardin the winner over michael steele the man who claims he was pelted with oreo cookies at UMD... wasn't there...

9:16 pm.. - Jonathan Singer at MYDD: "NBC is also calling CT-Sen for Joe Lieberman. However, it should be noted that just 2 percent of ballots are in." Any port in a storm.

Meanwhile, Chontos predicts Webb will win.

9:10 p.m. - OH FUCK! msnbc projects lieberlips the winner in CT... Was hoping the 70% turnout would make a sig diff...

9:04 p.m. - Bowers at MYDD: "Webb won the Virginia exit poll 52-48, so expect a close race there, with Webb slightly favotred. The early voting is coming in primarily from the heavy Republican areas of the state." -- Phew! C'mon Webbie...

9:00 p.m. - C&L says Katherine Harris has melted...

8:54 p.m. - Loving this headline from TPM Cafe: "Associated Press Exit Polls: A Third Of Evangelicals Vote For Dems"...

8:53 p.m. - Prog Websites are playing up the exit polls, most of which are very good news... Lovin' the wave... !!

8:50 p.m. - Okay! DKos had those previous two, *and* Menendez of NJ keeping his seat, around 5:30 p.m... Catching up here...

8:47 p.m. - Just heard MSNBC had already projected Casey over Man-on-Dog; that's two (2) turnovers to the Dems. Sweet!

8:45 p.m. - Harold Ford getting stomped 56-43%. Douche-bag Frist, currently cracking my television screen, is on his way out, denying the Corker add with the white chick saying, "Harold, call me!" is racist.

8:39 p.m. - Currently watching Howard Dean on MSNBC. Was wondering if they'd use Olbermann when they had Tweety Matthews "in control here." Some preliminary info here: Virginia passed the Gay Marriage ban, despite NoVA and its best efforts to the contrary; Ted Strickland, I think I heard correctly, beat out the evil demon Kenneth Blackwell...

Breaking: MSNBC just projected Sherrod Brown as the winner in Ohio. This would be the first handover from Republican to Democrat. In the words of Freddie Prinze: "Loooooking Goooood!"

8:37 p.m. - Have only now arrived at the Chontos household and am getting my bearings.

billmon again...

I say, he doth speaketh to me:

If, by some fluke, the Democrats were to recapture the White House, they would be well advised to go after the Rovian machine in roughly the same manner that the Russian government went after the old Communist Party after the failed '91 coup. Personally, if it were up to me, I would declare the GOP an illegal organization (as the CPUSSR was) and let honest Republicans go regroup under a new, hopefully non-criminalized brand name -- like, say, the Detox Party.

Of course, we're way ahead of ourselves. If we can't take Congress back tonight, that's it. Game over, man! Revolution would be the only recourse, and I have little faith in the Stepford-American appetite for such.

If Jefferson was having a beer today, he'd be crying in it.

live-blogging the returns 2nite...

Hangin' w/C&G in Alexandria for the Returns this evening. Just saw that George Allen voted in Alexandria as well. Hope they fumigated.

Live-blog to start when I get there. ETA 8 p.m...

how they('ll) (do) did it...

Greg Palast enumerates how the thugs will keep power:

Theft #1: Registrations gone with the wind
Theft #2: Turned Away - the ID game
Theft #3: Votes Spoiled Rotten

Add it all up — all those Democratic-leaning votes rejected, barred and spoiled — and the Republican Party begins Election Day with a 4.5 million-vote thumb on the vote-tally scale.

I've been scanning the links (at right), primarily DKos, TPM, MyDD and C&L, throughout the day. Reports of myriad irregularties in precincts around the country keep coming in...

"The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Religion, 1776. Papers 1:548

prediction...

Lieberlips will lose again to Lamont.

Update: Like, oh well... !

yet another reason to root for a dem takeover...

David Sirota with a superb overall analysis on what a Dem takeover could mean for the Dems, adds this little tidbit that got my progressive tastebuds a'salivatin':

Hoyer's behavior has been simultaneously ideological and tactical. The antithesis of a conviction politician, he is the quintessential backroom dealer -- a lawmaker who in an earlier era would have had a snappy, all-too-friendly nickname among the smoky back room crowd. His political moves have clearly made Big Business happy, and they have also positioned him to make a renewed case for his own promotion after a mid-term election loss. In short, his constant pecking at Pelosi is all about his being able to argue "I told you so" if Democrats lose -- and then making a run against her for minority leader with the full backing of the Wall Street wing of the party. In all likelihood, this is the very scenario Hoyer privately dreams of, because if Democrats win the House, he's going to have his hands full with Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) who has already announced his intention to run against Hoyer for Majority Leader.

Steny Hoyer, your classic DINO, represents one of the three richest counties in the country, i.e., Montgomery. He's true to his constituency in a red enclave in one of bluest states, Maryland. I'll be particularly pleased, then, and with sugar on top, to see the Progressives wrest control of the Dems away from the Clintonistas, the DLC, and other assorted Liebershits come the reckoning.

Oh wait! I forgot about my previous post...

elections eve...

The myriad headlines touting a GOP comeback are both depressing and predictable. Predictable because they're the only way Karl Rove can pull off his "October cum November surprise," i.e., loose Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia techies to flip the switches somewhere between 8 p.m. eastern and 8 p.m. pacific, effectively nullifying Bush's jury of approximately 120 million American voters. And the only way they could get away with it is to establish the perception the Repos are within spitting distance and closing. A "wave" beaten back -- so soon after Katrina, you see -- just wouldn't have the credibility of the American people haven spoken. And given the anticipated scrutiny placed on voting integrity, or the lack of same, who knows what the public's reaction could be if they're told, say within 24 hours, that they've been saddled with these bastards yet again?

Another Ukraine maybe? Mexico?

So all the noise by the Repos and their sycophantic corporate media is merely preparation, foreplay if you will, for the almost certain theft of another mid-term election. So bend over, grab your ankles and vote! Fat lotta good.

It says here there's no way in Hell the Dems will take the Senate, and I don't believe the facist plutocracy will even let 'em have the House. It simply isn't cost effective.

And that, ladies & gentlemen, will be the de facto, if not official, end of democracy in America.

Live-blogging the election returns tomorrow night.

Yes, "Chaatoes," definitely insane.

is bush gay... ?

It would explain a lot, and Wolcott sure has me wondering:

The magnetic hold that the born-again Bush has on certain susceptible men (Tony Blair) is a man crush masquerading as spiritual affinity. Consider the opening graf of Alan Wolfe's brilliant dissection in The New Republic of David Kuo's naive, noodly memoir Tempting Faith:

Tempting Faith is the story of how David Kuo, an unassuming if ambitious young man, discovered the wonder-filled joy flowing from devotion to a force more powerful than himself. I don't mean that he found God, although Kuo, by his own account, first encountered Jesus in high school. When Kuo tells us how he got "hooked," the object of his reverence lived not in Nazareth, but in Austin.

"He seemed not just charming, but weighty, seductive yet pure, likeable but mysterious," he writes of his first meeting with then-governor George W. Bush. "I couldn't tell whether his disclosures were private revelations to someone he liked or just part of a pitch to someone he might need. I didn't much care. I loved him."

"Seductive yet pure"--such a potent combo, a heady, musky perfume for evangelical men suffering a cognitive disorder about the nature of their own sexuality. Kuo's love of Bush was just his love of Jesus given a deeper tan.

Tune in next week when we ask the historic question, "Was Jesus Himself Gay?" (Bet you didn't know the H. stood for "Himself.")

live-blogging pats/colts...

11:37 - Game. Indy takes it 27-20.

11:35 - And Kevin Faulk flubs another pass, possibly due to his head being far up his tukas. Intercepted! Fucked!

11:33 - Oh my Christ! Vinny misses another!

11:12 - I modify w/prejudice NBC's Promo for their hot new show "Heroes": Fuck the cheerleader! Fuck the world!

11:10 - Vinny. Indy 27-17.

11:02 - CRAP! Indy picks in turn. Heavy sigh!

10:58 - PICK!! CHAD SCOTT!! YAHHHHHH!!

10:55 - Well there's Troy Brown as a defender finally stepping on his own johnson (and face-masking the tight-end) 4th down becomes 1st down.

10:50 - Ach! Gostkowski slices one! Ewww, that was ugly!

10:46 - Saadam sentenced to death. Wanna know something? We send 3,000 of our bravest to die, and tens of thousands more to sacrifice body parts, and we can't get live coverage of Saadam's trial like he was O.J... ?? That's just messed up.

10:43 - FUMMMMMMBLE!!!! PATRIOTS RECOVAH!!!

10:41 - 4th down. Gostkowski coming in for a critical kick. And iiiiiiiit's GOOD!!! 24-17 Indy.

10:39 - Why are they going into spread formation? It's 1st & 10, plow the field ferchrissakes!!

10:37 - Feeling a litle agitated, the kind where you're very very nervous as to the outcome. Gonna surf thw web a little.

10:33 - NO! Harrison *did* get his feet in but still did *not* haul the ball to his chest. And, WHAT? No challenge? Awwww jeeez!!

10:24 - Pats flub a double-reverse-fake screen. Madden gets it right when he wonders aloud why the Pats don't simply run over the smaller Colt D. Of course, many's the time when I've seen the Weisian razzle-dazzle for big gains. 'Sides, foobawl is entertainment, and I like my nuts (& bolts) sprinkled w/a little razmatazz.

10:20 - Love the insurace commercial where the shark-diver misfires his speargun and blows up his boat and subsequently gets dragged to the depths of the sea in his shark cage. Very tragic! Very funny!

10:19 - First punt of the game. D-I I I I (fence)... !!

10:18 - SACK BABEEEEEE!!! Rosie Colvin - MY LINEBACKERS!!!

10:16 - Right! No TD, but Indy ball. Argh!

10:15 - At least no TD by the myriad replays: the Indy defender was down on contact IF he gets the fumble recovery... PLEASE STAND BY... !!

10:12 - Oh word! Dillon's "fumble" is returned for a TD by Indy. Belichick to challenge. I'm not sanguine. It looks like the ground caused the fumble but it was already ruled a fumble and to reverse the call requires incontrovertable evidence, which I don't think the video provides. I fear play is ruled a TD for Indy.

10:09 - Oh shit! He's my fantasy football kicker. BOOOOOO!!!

10:08 - Vinny in for another kick and iiiiiiiiiiits NO GOOD!!!! AWWWWWWW!!!

10:05 - Madness. Another illegal contact converts a 4th into a 1st down. Replay shows the Refs either blew the call or the number.

10:02 - Gotta know if Rodney's coming back...

10:00 - Bill Clinton endorses Martin O'Malley for Governor in Maryland. Nuts & bolts head & shoulders 30 seconds. But it's the Big Dawg. I'm impressed.

END OF 1ST HALF

9:47 p.m. - Gah! Brady throws another pick. Not his fault; ball was diverted w/a tip by Watson.

9:42 p.m. - To be clear, Indy would have to be the hoop team in the analogy... OH WOW! The Pats keep the 1st down call after review. These refs are AWFUL! Bless their hearts! Hey, the NFL has it in for midwest teams in small markets, what's so wrong with that?

9:39 p.m. - Shades of the '72 USA basketball team getting it in the chute: Brady doesn't get the 1st down, but the refs call it anyway. Oh rats! The fuckers upstairs are reviewing it. Pats can't win this. Indy to take it down for another score(?) going into the locker room, get the 2nd half kickoff.... Ewwwww...

9:37 p.m. - Oh wow! Pats call a timeout on a 4th & 1 at midfield. Can they really be considering going for it? Less than a minute left. Wait! Indy called the T.

9:35 p.m. - Mauroney brings it back to the 38. Lotsa time for Brady and, if necessary, Adam V... Uhh... Never mind!

9:34 p.m. - Vinny gets his first FG against the good guys. Can't boo him. Never boo Adam Vinny!!

9:29 p.m. - Illegal contact supplemental: What is it with TV announcers, in this case Madden, who argue a case that's controverted by the video? The ball, John, was not in the air when Scott held the receiver. Shaddap!! Refs actually got it right. Tired of Madden, whose been around longer than God.

9:26 p.m. - Illegal contact call makes we want to go in the other room and beat off.

9:25 p.m. - Manning calls a timeout. Flipping over to Law & Order in rerun. Oop! Commercial! Surf! Surf!

9:24 p.m. - SACK BABEEEE!! Seau & Vrabel. Love my linebackers!!

9:22 p.m. - Was just loggin' in again to say, okay, here's the kickoff, and this guy Wilkens runs it back for 65 yards. Argh! And now a pass-interference call against Scott. Red Zone for the colts al-fucking-ready!!

9:20 p.m. - Ach! Coors Lite again! Mute! Mute!!

9:19 p.m. - Score tied 14-14 w/4:14 left in the half. Louis Farrakahn, and other numerologists, call yer offices.

9:17 p.m. - Pats knockin' on the door in the Red Zone. Brady sneaks for a first & goal. Looks like it'll be a shootout, which is what I am told the Pats DON'T want. But DILLON SCORES AGAIN!!! YAHHHHHHH!!!

9:16 p.m. - Troy Brown just broke the record for most receptions by a Patriot receiver. Earlier he got screwed with a bogus unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, negated by a righteous Brady to Gabriel bomb.

9:12 p.m. - Reche Caldwell, who looks like a woman anyway -- what, with this big batty eyes -- just took a hip, i.e., vs. taking a knee, rather than let himself get hit after making a catch. Whatever happened to extra yardage after the catch, you pansy?

9:07 p.m. - Colts waltz downfield and in for the score AGAIN. Christ! Boos for Vinatieri. Word on Harrison, whom it looks as though they already desperately miss, is injury to the shoulder but return deemed "probable." We'll see. Need him to put a hurtin' on one of these receivers.

Hate the Coors Lite commercials where NFL footage of post game interviews are B-rolled with jerk-offs in the faux pressroom throwing him questions where his responses, made long ago, seem responsive. Was annoyed with that last month. Move on!

Meanwhile, the Peyton Manning commercial where he dons a mustache and flacks for some speedstick. On the field he doesn't look so big, but here -- Holeee!! And look at that giraffe's neck, the guy is huge.

8:56 p.m. - Corey Dillon just scored the Pats' first score, with Gostkowski tieing it just as the 2nd quarter gets underway. Was a little nervous w/Indy getting the first score, especially off a bad turnover -- WTF was Brady thinking, throwing the jumpball in the endzone?? Pats D looked good for a 3&out except for the hail mary Manning threw the tight-end where Rodney got hurt; then -- boom! -- Colts score. Freak me out.

Okay, thought I'd give this a try as I plan on live-blogging Election night Tuesday.

"spaceman" the documentary...

Imagine my surprise when I came across "Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey" at the video store, a documentary on Bill "Spaceman" Lee, former major league pitcher known well by me & the brothers, one of whom lives nearby in Vermont. The documentary was shown at the SilverDocs festival in Silver Spring this past June, an event I covered for Channel 10 and still have the raw footage of on the supplemental drive. (And yes, Sundloff, I'll get around to it! It'll definitely be ready by the 5th annual.)

I had wanted to see "Spaceman" at the AFI Theater, but it was scheduled during work hours back when.

Only reason I'm telling you this right now at 2 f'in' a.m. is because Lee provokes thoughts, you see, iconoclast that he is. One of which was this gem:

"Laws are like spider webs: They entrap the weak and are broken by the strong."

I've always loved the Spaceman, particularly as he was a Yankee killer in his day and during my youth, but more importantly -- and here's how he put it: "I provide an alternative." And which comports with my credo as interrogative: "Why be the same when you can be different?"

Recommending the video. Lotsa footage of this 58 year-old Earth-lovin' spaceman barnstorming in Cuba.

http://spacemanincuba.com/

Fun stuff!

the brady-manning debate...

Voting's Tuesday night. The matchup, however, is Sunday night: Indy at New England for mid-season bragging rights and a likely home-field advantage in the AFC championship in January; Denver, and not San Diego, having something to say about that notwithstanding.

Most likely it is out of sentiment I believe Tom Brady to be the better quarterback than is Peyton Manning. In fact, an argument I made over a decade ago applies here:

I was on a plane to or from Boston, I don't remember so well. Sitting beside me was a very tall black man -- or I could put it the way Carlin would disdainfully have it: a man who happens to be black. Sadly, I cannot remember his name either. I do recall, however, he was handsome and well dressed, as though he just stepped off the cover of GQ. It turned out he was a retired NFL lineman, who played for the Denver Broncos for all of, what, three, four years? I had never heard of him, but then what non-Phoenician has heard of any non-skilled player on the current Arizona Cardinals roster? Sit the fuck down, Bob Costas!

So we, the GQ lineman & I, debated over who the best QBs in the NFL were, and who, at the time, happened to be John Elway and Joe Montana. He was understandably partial to his former teammate Elway, whom he rated over Montana as a leader. I acknowledged his point but countered that, yes, Elway has the cajones but Montana has the bling, i.e., the jewelry, i.e., several Superbowl titles under his belt with corresponding rings on his fingers. End of debate, eh? Well, no. Elway had since won two Superbowls. All things being equal, then, I'd have to take him over Montana were I to start a team today.

Of course, if Peyton Manning had had Adam Vinatieri kicking against Pittsburgh last January instead of Mike Vanderchoke (who happens to be Bill Parcell's headache right now), he'd likely have that ring today. But he doesn't and Brady has three. Ring-a-Ding Ding!

Meanwhile, Manning's performance against the Pats in the playoffs two years ago, where Teddy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison, et al., put a hurtin' on the vaunted Colt offense to the tune of 21-3 (and whereupon the Pats fans righteously and hysterically chanted at Manning: "Cut that meat! Cut that meat!), gave cause for me to wonder how Brady might perform against Bill Belichick's myriad defensive schemes. Now that would be an interesting match-up.

As it is, I suspect Brady's is the greater analytical acumen to Manning's, and maybe -- just maybe -- his cajones are a size larger.

Footnote: I'm on the record here & now that Tom Brady will one day be President of the United States. Word is he has political ambitions, and his aura is such that anything less than POTUS would seem uncharacteristic of the story arc. My profound fear, though, is of the likelihood he's Republican.

billmon's not alone...

And he speaketh to me:

Mostly what that makes me, I suppose, is politically irrelevant and -- in today's environment -- something of a borderline nihilist. Also a fairly complete sell out, since I get up each day and go to work for an enormous corporation that stands for just about everything I claim to oppose.