quote of the millenium...

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
--Bertrand Russell (accumbens)

[provided by Bill in Portland, ME, via DailyKos]

george bush hates us for our freedoms...

Keep reading...

america to declare martial law...

From Amnesty Int'l via Art Levine at HuffPo:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/democrats-cave-on-torture_b_30420.html

"Tell your elected officials no compromise on torture. Last Thursday, President Bush and several members of the Senate struck a deal on human rights. In the process, they dealt away America's commitment to fundamental human rights principles.

"Make no mistake about it, this deal is a betrayal of the America we believe in. No human rights activist can remain on the sidelines in the days ahead. Call on your Senator to oppose these dangerous provisions.

"We are literally days away from action in Congress on a proposal to:

"Abandon the rule of law and give the President the freedom to interpret the Geneva Conventions any way he sees fit.

"Provide immunity to those responsible for past human rights abuses.

"Exempt from prosecution those who authorize treatment traditionally considered torture.

"Strip detainees of access to US courts.

"The soul of our nation is in jeopardy. Everything we believe in is on the line. If America renounces the Geneva Conventions like President Bush wants to do, nations all over the world will follow. American soldiers will be placed in greater threat of torture and cruel treatment when captured, not just by one or two rogue nations, but by many nations that follow America's lead.

"Call 1-800-AMNESTY and our operators will connect you or call the Congressional switch board directly at 202-224-3121 (or look up your officials info). Let the person on the phone know that you are a constituent, and tell them that the deal President Bush has struck is a betrayal of the America you believe in. Ask your Senator and representative to stand firm in defense of human rights."

he ain't heavy, he's my brother...

and he sent this:


"Hey blog boy...this you?"

Well, le'see... trees, check... up, check... barking, okayyyy check...

I guess it is.

cheeriooooo...

Here's a new take on an old trick (courtesy of Ken Levine)...

Feel free to watch it again and again...

and again...

one "FORE!" the brothers...

photo via Donald James Simpson/Unbalanced...

the addicted american...

An op-ed comic in this morning's Richmond Times Dispatch shows a man hugging a gas-pump while exclaiming "I can guzzle again!" -- noted mentally as I filled up before driving back to D.C. just after noon, and gas was indeed down to $2.05 for the regular. Transitory relief though it may be, I am nonetheless dismayed by the prospect of our having learned nothing from the last five years.

Sidebar: Pretty damned convenient the timing of the price-drop too, don't you think?

Meanwhile, Al Franken replayed in its entirity Barack Obama's energy speech given at The George Washington University last week. In it he pointedly uses the phrase "Americans addicted to oil."

And last night, Bravo replayed NBC's series pilot "Studio 60," the opening scene of which Judd Hirsch goes on, Howard Beale-like, about the vast television wasteland, likening the TV remote to a crack pipe. I saw this as my 85 year-old father was flipping around and away from my program of choice, the New England Patriots playing flat against the Broncos.

I appreciate there is longevity in my genes, but my father with a remote in hand is a monumental pain in the ass.

Good to escape, even on a Monday, but as I write this I can't help but remember my last visit with my physician, who, although informally, diagnosed me with having "I T addiction."

At least the television is off.

Fox News!!

... because one Cartoon Network isn't enough...

best song & dance...

sorry, fred... !

know it all...

The 90s were good t'me...

edward hopper...

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)

"Edward Hopper, the best-known American realist of the inter-war period, once said: 'The man's the work. Something doesn't come out of nothing.' This offers a clue to interpreting the work of an artist who was not only intensely private, but who made solitude and introspection important themes in his painting."

Thought I'd take a step back from the anger today and enjoy a favorite painter. Please note Elvis is not the soda-jerk here. The link has more of Hopper's work.

fine... ! bring back the draft...

This is what I know:

1) Jack Murtha says we either redeploy or reinstitute the draft, because Dubya's slowly decimating our Army;

2) Assuming, then, we bring back the draft because Dubya is -- Oh, how can I put this? -- a fucking idiot!! -- then here's what we do:

a) instead of a lottery, we *means-test* the draft from the top-down, starting with the Bush twins. Oh yes, girls go too! The next phase, of course, we send induction notices to the upper one percent pro-Iraq war families, induct their silver-spittle prick offspring wherever in the world they are - and NO EXCEPTIONS!! No waivers, no deferments! Ya' get me?!!

b) Follow them with the limousine lib upper 1%-ers, and work your way down through the upper middle class, registered Republicans first, of course. Bottom line: the draft is applied and prioritized by parental income;

c) And we just GOT t'send these little Jesus-camp fuckers, i.e., the Bush Youth, as the first wave into Iran:

"I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are in Palestine, Pakistan and all those different places," Fisher said. "Because, excuse me, we have the truth."

"A lot of people die for God," one camper said, "and they're not afraid."

Sorta reminds me of something George Carlin once said was the good news about "the soft and fruity baby-boomers raising soft and fruity kids": The kid who swallows marbles doesn't grow up to have kids of his own!

i very much regret you're having a psychotic episode...

The Nazi-symp Pope's not sorry he said Mohammed was "evil and inhuman," but he's very very sorry so many people are going bonkers over it:

“I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address,” the pope told pilgrims at the summer papal palace of Castel Gandolfo, “which were considered offensive. . .

"The true meaning of my address,” he [added], “in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect."

Faithful readers of this site may be surprised I'm a hundred percent behind Herr Benedict XVI on this one. Not so much for the content of his put-down -- I don't know jack about Mo -- but that he doesn't apologize for it; just for the fanatics' reaction.

Nobody should ever have to apologize for speaking what they believe to be a truth, least of all when some dope decides to get offended by a perceived affront to his or her nebulous belief system, faith or religion. Better the dope apologize to you for being such a tight-ass in expecting you to believe as he does.

sunday football...

What a woman would never believe of her man, the one addicted to the NFL and his team thereabouts, is he'd like to be outside on his day off too. But when your team is playing the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets on local TV, what're ya' gonna do on a beautiful day like today?

And when you're team isn't on local TV, you're where? Why, at the Shark Club (N.E. Pats-centric sports pub here in NoVA) of course.

Hey, well, at least I cleaned up this mess; washed the clothes, did the dishes, removed the rubbish and recycled the bottles & cans. Would've saved time with a steam shovel.

And I put in an hour walk before the late aft kick-off. So there y'go!

Ooo! Skins/Cowboys in 1/2-hour!!

and now for something completely different...

Mrs. Nuff Nuff honors mine (and per her request: image courtesy of Joe-KS).

precognitive idiot savants (ok, skip the "savants" part; and i'm not so sure an insider's knowledge constitutes precognition either), et al...

One ought get this confirmed with Nancy Reagan's astrologer:

In arguing for legislation that would define US interpretation of the Geneva Conventions in a way that many would argue would allow certain forms of torture, Bush said, "I wish I could tell the American people, 'Don't worry about it. They're not coming again.' But they are coming again."

"Time is running out," the President concluded.

No word as to whether what should have been the inevitable next question was asked: "Do you know if they'll hit before November 7th?"

And for my next trick question: "In the absence of any act of terrorism conveniently conforming with our Congressional elections and your agenda's time-table, Mr. President, is your administration planning any contingency to destroy another American city in order to prove your point?"

But then I'd never get past the loyalty oath.

yahoo! chess...

1304 wins...
748 losses...

any takers... ?

update: make that 1305...

sometimes one must bow to the absurd...

okayyy, this made me fall outta my chair...

educating america the hard way...

One good thing from all this: No one refers to them as "MOSLEMS" anymore...

conspiracy, like natural selection, is not a theory...

Brotherman the Elder turned me onto the 9/11 conspiracy video Loose Change when I was up in Massachusetts on Labor Day. It's about an hour-and-a-half long, is highly compelling, and carries with it the implication the Bush administration had more to do with the attacks on September 11th than the corporate media would be willing to have us believe... that is, until Paula Zahn's producers at CNN put together a profile of the film and its producers:

ZAHN: Well, the nation remembered the victims of 9/11 yesterday. This rally took place near the site of what was the World Trade Center. A group of conspiracy theorists gathered to demand an investigation of who was really behind the terror attacks. It's all because of an Internet film called "Loose Change" that is challenging the official version of 9/11. Deborah Feyerick set out to find out more about the people behind it.

Brotherman, Sisterwoman, Nephew (different one from my California vaycay), and I sat and watched the thing Labor Day night. Each of us, jaws dropped, were simply blown away, such that a half-hour into the video, the computer crashed, requiring us to reboot and watch the thing from the start all over again. And so we did.

Do check it out!

The producers make assertions of events even I didn't know about; e.g., Osama actually denied involvement with 9/11. Did anybody else know this? I was always under the impression he was proud of his handiwork; must be that video the Loose Change producers show was likely phonied. Another very important point, also of which I was unaware: the airplanes that crashed in Pennsylvania and into the Pentagon left behind no wreckage!! Usually -- okay, always!! -- airplanes that crash leave behind tons of metal debris. So I have to ask: Is it true about there being no wreckage? And where in Hell is the corporate media not asking these questions? Maybe Jon Benet Ramsey could tell us.

This documentary, which was created amazingly on a laptop and w/but $2,000 in, uhm, loose change, is comprehensive in its detail on the events and how they allegedly did or did not transpire. Every assertion is plausibly backed-up and is on-point.

And now I am made to wonder if ABC has plans to air it anytime soon before this November's elections.

Actually, I'm not.

Sidebar... Here's another conspiracy, not so much a theory as a gut hunch, of which I would be loathe to dismiss: The Bin Laden and Bush families, having such a well-documented and chummy relationship, have agreed not to disagree anymore; or more simply: Why haven't they attacked inside the United States since 9/11, and why haven't we gone and gotten Osama in that province in Pakistan as if we didn't know precisely where he cops a squat?

Quid pro quo? You think I'm nuts? Ask yourself this, then: Is Karl Rove or Dick Cheney, in any way, not capable of this kind of carnage? (Editor's note: Beware!)

One imagines the Dems, should they win back the House in November, must thoroughly investigate how the administration conducted itself in the run-up to 9/11 and also in their subsequent rush to war in all the wrong places -- as though it's never been done before... because, y'know? -- it hasn't.

Aww jeez, I forgot about my other conspiracy theory: the Dems won't win because the fix is in!

bummin' or something like it...

Naahm de Plume and I were supposed to take in the UMass/Villanova game this weekend, but betwixt family duties and a boss-on-wheels, welllll... But I am cheered to see his foray back into the commentariate.

Welcome back, old boot.

is it basketball season yet, and is larry bird still playing... ??

Tom Brady, on the first play from scrimmage for the N.E.Pats of '06, is sacked, fumbles; Buffalo recovers, takes it into the end zone for a touchdown: BILLS!!

You can file that one under "Jeeeeeeezus Christ!!"

Don't know why this reminds me of the '86 Sox season, except that on the first pitch from Jack Morris of Detroit (and that was the very first game of that season for all of MLB), Dwight Evans parked it into the left field seats. Sox went on to win the '86 Series -- oop! except for Bill Buckner...

So maybe this inauspicious beginning can be, like, a "good" luck charm? Like when a seagull drops a plop on your shoulder?

UPDATE: Laurence Maroney: two carries, one for 27 yards, another for 22. Jeeeezus Christ!!

please, oh please, can't someone impeach this fucker... ?

Kevin Drum makes a fine point to illustrate the Bushies aren't incompetent... but they are criminally depraved:

"However, this is the clearest evidence I've seen yet. The guy who was actually in charge of logistics has now directly confirmed that Rumsfeld not only didn't intend to rebuild Iraq in any serious way, but threatened to fire anyone who wasted time on the idea. Needless to say, he wouldn't have done this unless it reflected the wishes of the president.

"And this also means that all of Bush's talk about democracy was nothing but hot air. If you're serious about planting democracy after a war, you don't plan to simply topple a government and then leave.

"So: the lack of postwar planning wasn't merely the result of incompetence. It was deliberate policy. There was never any intention of rebuilding Iraq and there was never any intention of wasting time on democracy promotion. That was merely a post hoc explanation after we failed to find the promised WMD. Either that or [Brigadier General Mark] Scheid [chief of the Logistics War Plans Division after 9/11, and one of the people with primary responsibility for war planning] is lying."

And so, may I propose to all you SUV drivers, vehicles festooned with "Bush/Cheney '04" and "My SUV [Heart] Iraqi Oil" bumper stickers, and, of course, with "Support Our Troops" ribbons: please procede to the nearest precipice... and give 'er the gun.

you can't handle the truth... !!

Dateline: Somewhere in Florida, September 11, 2001...



"Well Goddamn! They tol' me it'd be different when I became Prez'nit. Those Sonsabitches!! Ah'd get t'call the shots, they said. And now lookah me: sittin' on my ass, sayin' squat about Karl & Dick's dopey plan to 'stir up serious shit' -- whatever the hell that means . . . Waehl as long as we can blame it on Saadam, that's all Ah care about . . . But why couldn't they tell me what the freakin' plan was? . . . Goddamn! Ah hate when they talk down t'me!! . . . Heyyyy, wait a minute! This book's a snooze. Must be one o'them Shakespeares."

dig it... !

For all you rednecks who abhor Natalie Maines and have predicted her professional demise due to her quite proper and very public aversion to W=War Criminal, she was just spotted on NBC's NFL opening night tease singing a hard rock variation of ABC's Hank Williams Jr "R U Ready 4 Some Foooooobaaawllll.. ??!!"

Oh that liberal media, tsk... !

KIAFFL'06 - Wk1

I must be verrrry confident the Pats will handle the Bills, er, handily, this Sunday at Gillette. I pick 'em for my Survivor League, and I've activated Laurence Maroney and Ben Watson in place of Jamal Lewis and Hines Ward, the latter pair with injury concerns, as does Maroney, except he isn't even on the injury list. So, late switch on the bulletin board -- 7:07 p.m. that -- and my Wk1 active line-up in the Know It All Fantasy Football League 2006 is as follows:

Boston & Maine
Tom Brady, NE
Drew Brees, NO
Cadillac Williams, TB
Reggie Bush, NO ®
Laurence Maroney, NE ®
Terrel Owens, Dal
Ben Watson, NE
Joe Horn, NO
Adam Vinatieri, Indy
Ryan Longwell, Min
New England Patriots
Baltimore Ravens

Of course, I'll be back on with a scream or three if Hines Ward runs it up against a resurgent Dolphin D tonight while dealing with the Steeler's back-up QB. I still say Roethlesberger looks like a drag-queen.

mark twain reincarnated...

Garrison Keillor:

"I think we must bite the bullet and say no more health care for card-carrying Republicans. It just doesn't make sense to invest in longevity for people who don't believe in the future. Let them try faith-based medicine, let them pray for their arteries to be reamed and their hips to be restored, and leave science to the rest of us.

"Cutting out health care to one-third of the population - the folks with Bush-Cheney bumper stickers, who still believe the man is doing a heckuva job - will save enough money to pay off the national debt, not a bad legacy for Republicans. As Scrooge said, let them die and reduce the surplus population. In return, we can offer them a reduction in the estate tax. All in favor, blow your nose."

is it football season yet... ?

In case you missed it, my brothers, Anibal Sanchez, the Marlins rookie pitcher was one of the prospects the Red Sox gave to Florida in the Beckett/Lowell trade last winter. He, uhm, just pitched a no-hitter:

"This is the best moment of my life," an exuberant Sanchez said after turning in the 127th all-time National League no-hitter, and 233rd in Major League history. "I don't know what I think now, because you never think that is going to happen for you. But that happened, and I'm happy right now."

they don't call it labor day for nothin'...

Brother made a right fine breakfast and he keeps a tidy house. Vermont is a strange land and yet so familiar to me, having spent the lion's share of my 80s in western Massachusetts just south of the border.

And speaking of Mass., we're off to younger Brother's later today, that is after we have a stroll downtown in this continued drizzle, and thank you for that Ernesto. Brotherman the Younger recently installed a pool and has expressed an interest in putting his elders to work in the yard. Right, I drive 365 miles to roto-till. So I'm fine with a steady rain that would preclude extended yard work.

But another cup of coffee, in town then, if you please, and before we trundle off to the Bay State.

on the road again...

DC beltway to 95 north...
past Baltimore and up to the Delaware Bridge...
Jersey Turnpike to the Garden State Parkway...
into New York to 287 east...
to 684 north...
to 84 northeast...
into Connecticut...
to Hartford and 91 north...
along the Connecticut River into Massachusetts...
past UMass...

Vermont or Bust!

estimated time: 9 hours...

start yer clocks... nnnnnnnnow!!

and the weather sucks too...

Hurricane Whozit's purportedly hitting up the coast and the rain is coming down but good today. A little annoyed am I that I left my car windows open a crack, which is all the elements needed to make for an uncomfortable ride into work this morning - grrr... !

And now the HAMster, good man he, irrespective of his politics and a passing resemblance to Newt Gingrich, sent me an update that Laurence Maroney may have a boo boo on his knee, which'll freak-up his chances of playing week-1. The HAMster also told me about Adam Vinny's ankle being fechacked (or however you spell it).

Not a great way to start a Fantasy season.

Sigh! At least we've got another week to mend.

the wknd...

Tooling to Vermont early in the morning. Gotta rather enjoy an extended weekend fresh off a vacation in California; the comparison of having New Year's so soon after Christmas. Heck, let's just have a four-day weekend every other -- at least once a month!

Seeing the Brother in VT, and then we both drive to the Brother in MA; seeing there as well the Mom and the Sister in PA, although Sister in VA won't be joining. Brother in MA just installed a pool, so it's gonna be a party.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Fantasy Football Draft the other night... my team:

QBs
Tom Brady, NE
Drew Brees, NO
Mark Brunell, Wash

RBs
Cadillac Williams, TB
Reggie Bush, NO ®
Jamal Lewis, Bal
Laurence Maroney, NE ®

Recs
Terrel Owens, Dal
Hines Ward, Pit
Joe Horn, NO
Jeremy Shockey, NYG
Deion Branch, NE
Ben Watson, NE

Ks
Adam Vinatieri, Indy
Ryan Longwell, Min

Defenses
New England Patriots
Baltimore Ravens
Denver Broncos

Looks pretty good, except it's only an 8-team league and some of the other teams look good too. I drafted best player available, or so from my perspective, to stock my starting lineup, then loaded up on Pats players for my bench; gotta wanna root for my team as I root for my fantasy team, eh?

My number one pick was Cadillac Williams at #6. Could have had any number of the 2nd-tier runners not named Alexander, Tomlinson or Johnson. Cadillac, before he got hurt mid-way last season, was well on his way to a monster rookie year, so I liked him of that lot. Reggie Bush was my #2, and Tom Brady (who, mark my words, will be President of the U.S. one day, albeit a likely Repo) at #3.

When it came time to take a receiver, the best available made me cringe: T.O. Guess I can't root for him to cleat his johnson this season -- unless he can still catch & run that way, then by all means.

back to the grind...

Had an interesting interim flight from Reno to San Francisco, before my red-eye back to Dulles on Saturday/Sunday. A very attractive woman sat down beside me in the lounge at United's Gate C-4 at Reno/Tahoe Int'l, apparently to wait for the same plane as I.

The impetus for starting a conversation, or chatting her up as it were, was a cell-phone conversation carried out by a blonde late-20s adolescent across the way, describing in no uncertain terms her sexual habits and her weekend's events, which, as it happens, conjoined. Needless to say, her half of the conversation was highly entertaining. And the woman next to me looked at me, grinning, particularly when the adolescent started cursing a blue-streak as if she was all alone in the universe. The woman whispered, "I think I know all I need to about her."

"And yet I still wonder if that isn't enough information," I said stoically, which prompted a charming giggle from, again, this very attractive woman.

Her name was Shari, and she was a TV news anchor and general assignment reporter out of California, and she was in every way the classic California girl: late 30s, slim, fair of face and hair, and most engaging. She was fresh off a job interview with a Reno affiliate, a stint she'd been pushed into by her agent, whom, she later confided, was going to get a "heart-to-heart." Suffice it to say she didn't like Reno, a rapidly aging smallish-to-midsized western city which lay bare in a dreary Sierra desert basin. Heck, I'd rather do California by the coast any day myself, and I did only a coupla days before.

As it happened, her seat aboard the plane was directly across from mine (as was the adolescent's beside her's - small world, etc.). In days gone by, I might've made a play, disregarding my limitations, in time and league, with the knowledge we'd never see each other again anyway, i.e., if it didn't work out (When I was younger, say... and prettier!). But today I hung back and busted out the book I'm still reading: Noam Chomsky's Imperial Ambitions - Conversations in a Post 9/11 World. She was reading a Joel Osteen self-help door-stop and wasn't enjoying the religious undertones with which, she concluded, it began. I offered to trade. She scanned at the cover of mine, and, handing it back, said no thanks.

It was only an hour flight to San Francisco Int'l, although she thought it was longer. She was kneeding her brow and looked agitated. I offered her some ibuprofin tabs I keep handy. The thought brightened her some. She kept them in hand until she could get some water inside the terminal, whereupon she invited me to join her for dinner at the food court. I suggested she twist my arm first.

She had chowder, I had chinese.

And we both have broadcast journalist backgrounds, which I thought meant I could get into current events during our conversation. It wasn't long before I found our politics didn't mesh -- at all! Of course, those of you who know me would be willing to bet that wouldn't stop me from going on about the world's problems, or my problems with the world. And you'd be right.

To summarize: she believes that pile of dog-droppings we call President can do no wrong. She's quite pleased with the phone-tapping and and the internet-monitoring and the warrentless searches; the decimation of habeus corpus, and the ends justifying the means. She thinks the press is too liberal, even as I found that ironic coming from her. I tried to have her entertain the notion our problems with terrorism may have to do with that which goes around is now coming around, but she would have none of it.

What disturbs me about this experience is, here is this certainly intelligent woman, who, while at the same time, could aptly be the poster child of the modern day American TV journalist: politically incurious and parochial as to what constitutes news, (or what might as well have been faxed over from corporate), as, i suppose, any local newsfolk would have it -- though perfectly satisfied in never having to report on the real news in these times: America's inevitable backslide into 1984.

But hey, why not? She's beautiful, lives an imagineably comfortable life-style, and, in the meantime, is most likely smart enough not to excrete where she eats. Which, by the way, is no mean feat.

Maybe mine is just envy. And maybe I'm being unfair. After all, what is the Washington Post or the New York Times or CNN reporting on these days?

Did Edward R. Murrow even exist?

We shook hands and smiled, wished each other well and went our separate ways. I guess I managed to contain myself from indulging in the really loose rhetoric. (What can I say, it's a gift.)

No hard feelings then? Cool!

Flew home, no hitches getting thru security - yay!

But, ach! It's Tuesday again.

Turn the screw on the crank.

partners in climb...

Today was about rock climbing, river swimming, cliffside dwelling, and, Man! -- did i get pictures:


Casey...


Nephew...



Partners in Climb...

There are considerably more shots from this adventure, but I'd like to see if Life magazine might want to buy the copyright.

Gonna be sad flying back to the east coast tomorrow...

roadtrip '06 - days 4 & 5

DAY FIVE:

Nephew woke me with the news it was 9:30. I was annoyed. We were supposed to get up no later than 7:30 and those two hours would make the difference between making it to Bug Sur, seeing one of the more unique beaches in the U.S., and spending the morning surfside in Santa Cruz. Which would have been fine, except we did that last night and thus the purpose of this roadtrip would've been defeated. We'd been there and done that, proverbially and literally, and we, the Nephew & I, swore to make every moment of his "weekend" a new adventure in a new place. All that would've been ruined had we overslept -- RUINED, I tell you!!

But when I looked at my watch, it read 7:30. Apparently we woke up on-time, irrespective, it would seem, to Nephew resetting the time and not setting the alarm last night. I said a prayer, thanking Poseidon for our internal clocks kicking in.

And so we made the Santa Cruz to Big Sur roll after all. It took an hour and a half, as we anticipated, but did not include the stop we made for breakfast at a quaint, rustic roadside inn. Afterward we alotted ourselves two hours to spend on the beach before having to make the 5-hour return trek back up into the mountains and in time for his 6 p.m. gig.

The world out here, I am told, often begins overcast and depressing, and this morning was no different. Nephew reassured me that Pacific coast mornings may start out like this, but the fog usually lifts before noon and the view of the sea will once again be there and will most certainly be stunning. He was right:

Getting started on the road...



and an hour later:



with a look behind us:



Finally got to Pfeiffer State Park and its beach:



Sunny as you can see, and yet the clouds insisted on revisiting, touching earth & sea again...



and again:



Like I said, we spent two hours at Pfeiffer Beach, although I had no intention of getting in the water. It was cold and windy and I knew it would be excruciating... and the sand was kinda warm, thank you very much.

As I pondered all this, Nephew went into one of his spells:



Finally I screwed up the courage (or was it insanity?) to take the dive. What, you think I'd come all this way to the western edge of America like some modern-day Balboa and not jump in? This Maine boy?? Gi'me a break!

I was right, of course. The water was exceptionally cold. I imagined I went into convulsions, but then I remembered I've done the waters Downeast, and don't be such a big baby!!

I might've taken a tip from the locals, who would have none of it. No one was in the water except a surfer, and he had a wet suit on.

But believe it! I stayed in and learned to love it, bobbing with the waves for about three-quarters of an hour. Nephew will confirm I didn't want to leave. He will also confirm he thought me half nuts. But after he snapped out of his trance, he took a dive too. He also got out again about 30 seconds later.

New Englanders rule, baby!!

But I'm moving to California anyway.

Some day!


DAY FOUR

Quick summary, no pics -- very sorry!

Woke up in a beautiful hillside Berkeley home (Nephew's friend Katrin and her mother's house) with a vista of Oakland and San Francisco. A guy could get very used to this level of comfort.

Drove to the Berkeley campus and strolled the hallowed pathways of the free speech movement of the 60s. School's back in session.

Co'eds... uhm, co'eds... co'eds... (sigh)... co'eds...

Stopped for a buffet lunch at an Indian sidewalk cafe -- the food was excellent!

Then we drove to Santa Cruz to meet up with Holly & Paulo for dinner at the Crow's Nest at Twin Lakes Beach. Quite striking that this beach is reminiscent of Craigville Beach in Hyannis on Cape Cod. Both face southerly to the sea, and in either case the setting sun is to the west and to the right. The light is eriely similar. Would have to give the nod to Santa Cruz, however, on the overall appeal.

On the other hand, the grilled salmon in New England is far superior.

Later, Nephew and I rented "The Graduate" to watch back at the inn, if for no other reason than to see if we would recognize the terrain of our walking earlier in the day.

We didn't! But we did agree on Katherine Ross.

----------

DAY FIVE UPDATE: It is approaching midnight and we're back at the billets, what Yosemite employees call home; part ramshackle army base barricks, part trailer park community. Nephew got to work with five minutes to spare, and is now meditating again. I think he's turning pro. So I'm taking the time to edit and rewrite this post. Later we'll pop Seinfeld's most recent performance into the DVD player, catch some laughs, and crash.

Tomorrow we sleep in.

roadtrip '06 - days 2 & 3

Before I get so totally behind by actually living a life on vacation, I'll ignore the Yankee 5-game sweep over the Pink Sox and throw out the days' events:

Day Two:

Had breakfast at the Loft...

Took a swim in the Merced River (f'ing cold mountain water)...

Reconnoitered back at the billets, rested before the afternoon activity...


Afternoon activity: drove to "El Capitan" (see above), walked to a shady area of the meadow across the way, sat and meditated for 1/2 hour before the most daunting of facades in Yosemite Valley; J. using a variant of Buddism, and me reprising my 70s daliance with TM... Beats the 12-8 shift any day...

Drove the nephew to the Ahwanee Hotel for his 6-10 gig in the main lounge; went back to the billet to get cleaned up before heading back to the Ahwanee in time for the previous posting...

Day Three:


Drove to San Francisco...


Hung out at Fisherman's Wharf...


Apparently these guys like to hang out at Fisherman's Wharf as well.....


Drove atop Knob Hill and looked back...


Drove to Haight/Ashbury, had a microbrew in a pub a block away at the corner of Haight & Masonic...

Climbed the freakin' hill (which J. says was steeper than "Half Dome" back in Yosemite) and back to the car... sucked wind...

Drove to Berkeley to stay with Nephew J.'s lady friend...

Went out to dinner at the Cha-Ya, had the Vege-Tofu Curry w/Buckwheat Noodles -- w/Sake, of course...

Home again home again, jiggity jig...

Tomorrow: Berkely College campus, and then off to Santa Cruz for dinner w/an old college friend...

The day after: the beaches of Big Sur, and then back to Yosemite...

It's been a day...

It's being a week...

----------

UPDATE: Two more pics of SF, viewed from Fisherman's Wharf:


Alcatraz...


and, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance...

roadtrip '06 - hitting the road (day 1)...

So I'm driving south on 395, a two-lane highway from the get-go and starts from the end of Virginia Street and takes me through what seems to be every rinky-dink town, including Carson City and Gardenerville. As a kid growing up in and around Reno, I thought I knew the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I was wrong. For example, here's Peavine Mountain, just outside of Stead:


[click on pictures to enlarge]

Not bad, not a hill, not Everest, but a mountain. But check out the view from the road, that is 395 South, and see how it looks the further you go:



This one was just south of Carson City, I'm just getting started. I noticed the sky was getting a bit dark as I drove:



and here...



and here...



What's more, the mountains started moving closer to the road:



And then the weather relented:



and the mountains started getting bigger:



I understood later that it was about this time I crossed over into California, although I didn't see any welcoming sign, and I began to see what the big t'do about the Sierra Nevadas was; you drive around any curve or for a mile and a half, and you'd meet up with spectacle:



after spectacle:



Of course, this was before I turned on the Tioga Pass Road, the road that would take me to Yosemite National Park. And as you can see, the view from this road wasn't too shabby either:



and here...



and here:



You see by the last one that I was high up into the mountains. Nephew J. says Yosemite Valley is at about 4,000 feet above sea level, but during the drive I was as high up as 9,000 feet.

From DC to Yosemite in 24 hours, a long and glorious day.

roadtrip '06 - day 2

8:37 p.m., Pacific time...

I am sitting in The Grand Lounge of The Ahwnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley. This is a lovely, large room with hardwood floors, high ceilings and walk-in fireplaces. The walls are adorned with portrait etchings of civil war and native individuals, along with native designed wall rugs -- or those throw-rugs you hang on the wall. A mix of stone and mahogany wood, and multiple chandeliers harken the old west and the classic cigar smoking lounge meant for the bigwigs and nobody else. Now this is a vacation.

Nephew J. is playing piano in the bar down the hall, and I'd be there to cheer him on except my internet connectivity doesn't work in the lounge -- ergo... He understands for I have heard him perform often and he is very, but very good. The tourists agree, they're too caught up in their conversations to applaud each number, but, as the song goes, they throw bread in his jar.

I monitor the Red Sox/Yankess game 4 as I write this -- Big Papi at the plate with Mark Loretta at 1st. What, you think I'd totally forget that which drives my passion: the Yankees at Fenway? C'monnn...

Like I said, this is most definitely a vacation. Today was a day for recovery, from jet lag and hours of driving. I was up 24 hours from Saturday & Sunday early a.m. You got the bit about my flying from Dulles to Denver. I got to Reno at 10:44 local time, but I was still three hours ahead of myself, and it felt like it was coming up on 2 p.m., close to twelve hours after waking, because, well, it was!

I rented a car from Hertz (10% discount w/my AAA, yay!). And so I got to see The Biggest Little City in the World for the first time in 37 years:



Approaching the city, and driving through it before heading south.



It took me about 3-1/2 hours to get a read on all the childhood houses, neighborhoods and schools (which I'll spare you of here), how they may have changed or remained the same, to see if I would remember something I'd long forgotten while driving to and around Stead, the erstwhile suburban air force base, the place of my earliest memories, and back to the city, all before I set off on my 4-1/2 hour trek to Yosemite, America's greatest known national park not named Yellowstone.

roadtrip '06 - day 1

Day 2, 9:06 a.m.: I will have more later, but the nephew came out of his meditative state and we're to breakfast. Suffice it to say I made it safely to Yosemite via Denver (see below) and Reno (see above). And by the way, this place, Yosemite, is everything it's cracked up to be.

Day 1 (unedited from airport terminal):

Greetings from Denver… my watch reads 10:30 a.m., my flight to reno is scheduled for 9:30 a.m., so I calculate I’ve got about an hour before boarding… confused.. ? I was for a second, -- eastern time, that is…

I Left dulles around 6:30, requiring my rousing myself at 3:30, and driving to the economy parking many furlongs from the terminal… what the hell, it’’s $9 a day to keep it there and I am on a budget…

Denver’s airport is decidedly newer and more vast than dulles – emphasis on the “dull”, not unlike a shiny, art deco style mall with lots of natural light… it’s overcast here, and the fog, I now understand are actually clouds – we’re in the freakin’ mountains here, not that I can see them with all the cumulosity about… pity, I well remember the sierra nevadas and not so much the rockies…

I dig the flat moving treads that run the length of the terminals, people either pretend, or not, to be george jetson walking astro, or whatever they call their rolling travel bags (jane – stop this crazy thing!!)… I avail myself of the treads, I don’t know my way around here and expediting to my gate first thing is deemed wise, and then, if I have any time to kill, I can either mosey about and goof on the girls or sit here and say hello to all you fine people…

I discovered dulles doesn’t have interenet wireless, although Denver does, but it costs through the nose, and again I’m on a budget.... so I’m keying this on a word file and will transfer when I get my next connection…

But back to those girls…

As I traveled from concoursea B to A, I watched in passing several grown men in what I can only describe as cowboy hats… I dunno maybe you could call ‘em Stetsons or some other brand, but they -- the cowboys, not the hats (and don’t get me started on the etymology of “cowpoke”) -- looked fresh off the rodeo or out of some oil co. boardroom,… at first I was amused, but grew to appreciate the look.; and after all, I am in Denver – they wear those things a lot around here, or so I see when watching the broncos on a given Sunday…

But it was only a few moments later when a gaggle of young, pretty co-eds – had t’be – flocked past, each of them quite charming, and each of them wearing cowboy hats… think debra winger in urban cowboy… definitely works for me…

Oop.. ! we’re boarding… gotta fly… !

deja vu all over again...

marshall's quiet, thoughtful, and very thorough analyses always gets me thinking:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/009461.php

"Anyway, the Joe cult aside, I'm more and more getting the sense that Ned Lamont just didn't get, coming off last Tuesday's win, that he was still very much the underdog and had maybe a week to thoroughly dispatch Joe from the race. But he didn't. From what I can tell he went on vacation to Maine right after the primary. And he was scarce for like a week after the primary.

"Lieberman, on the hand, went basically beserk right after the vote, which of course he had to do, to make absolutely sure that everyone realized that, as far as he was concerned, his primary loss meant nothing more than a difference in the way he'd be identified on the ballot in November. He was still the senator, still running for reelection. News of his demise had been greatly exaggerated, and so forth."

for a local radio reporter who covered the dukakis campaign in '88 from a vantage of the UMass-amherst campus, this rings serious alarm bells... the massachusetts governor had a 16% lead immediately following the democratic convention and then went on a little vaycay...

and lee atwater went to work to "strip the bark off the bastard!"...

does anybody remember george senior uttering the phrase: "what is it about the pledge of allegiance that bothers him so?"

how 'bout the allusions that dukakis had issues with depression and had seen a therapist about it... ?

of course the american people wouldn't be taken in with so shallow a hook, i thought -- and wrongly... ! when the duke came out of his summer hibernation, his response (to his signing a law that prohibited mandating the pledge in public schools) was lame and utterly forgettable, and i refuse to google it, i'm still so disgusted... more famous, of course, was dukakis' robotic response to bernard gibson of CNN at the last debate about what he'd do if kitty dukakis was raped and murdered -- would he *then* favor the death penalty... ? nope... but if you like the feeling of your eyes glazing over, he said *something*...

in hindsight, dukakis had it coming, but lamont should know better than to take a break right after the primary... especially with the republican machine, headed by atwater's acolyte karl rove, is running lieberman's campaign now and they're geting especially scummy:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/detective-story-has-rov_b_26908.html

if lamont doesn't get on the offensive, *and* get some help from the party leadership (my eyes well up with tears)... aww, what the hell can i be thinking... ?

lieberman is vichy and a weasal (which my dictionary describes as "a deceitful and treacherous person", so i'd say that's spot-on); he needs to get kicked to the curb and then kicked repeatedly...

not very "progressive" of me, i grant you, but these are desperate times...

grrrrr...

scarborough gets a clue...

joe scarborough is par for the MSNBC course, the unctuous, self-satisfied repo-bot with the slanted, fact-challenged talking points always at the ready... but in his case, i curiously find i'm willing to cut him more slack, whereas i cannot abide the likes of, say, chris matthews, who sold out his mentor tip o'neill a long time ago in a galaxy far far away... scarborough, at least, came by his scaliwag worldview more honestly, i.e., he was bred into the dark side...

but when he analyzed john kerry's '04 debate performances vs. dubya as superior, which, of course, was the correct conclusion (who knew?), and he was effusive in his praise of kerry, i sat up, thinking i must've dropped acid and had somehow forgotten...

and now he comes up with this:

Friends and foes alike agree that George W. Bush is one political figure who gets worse with age. Look back at his performance as Texas governor and you will see a funny, self-assured public figure who inspires confidence. But these days, the mere opening of Mr. Bush’s mouth makes many GOP loyalists shake in their tasseled loafers.

So does it matter in the end whether our president is articulate and intelligent?

You bet your life, it does. I’m not saying we need to elect a dork like Michael Dukakis, who famously spent vacations at the beach reading books on Swedish land use or was so overwhelmed with the details of the old SALT treaties that he would sulk off to bed
depressed.

But when America is fighting a global war on terror where the battle is for hearts and minds instead of beachheads and landing strips, we need a leader who can explain to friend and foe alike why America is in Iraq, why we keep sending arms to Israel and why liberal democracy really is preferable to Islamic fascism.

Right now, George W. Bush is not that leader.

of course, the point not addressed here is what took the republicans referenced so long in figuring this out... ?

rampin' up on the eve of the eve of the big fly...

long day at work, relaxing w/a yeungling (lite, my brothers) and groovin' on the eagles farewell tour (roman numeral I, as apparently they plan on saying farewell more'n once) on the bravo network... great production, and glenn frey can still hit the high notes...

what strikes me most as i write this is when the cameras pan the crowd, close-ups of the women... these aren't girls, most of 'em are at least in their 30s -- for you young'uns, the eagles were BIG in the 70s -- and most of 'em are babes...

i KNEW i shoulda been a rock star...

meanwhile, back at the ranch...

fans of this site (all 3 of you) will be glad to know naahm deplume shot me an email this aft, recalling my attention to the big buzz of the day (i.e., for those of you who thought jon benet ramsey was dead):

"In enacting FISA, Congress made numerous concessions to stated executive needs. They include delaying the applications for warrants . . . for several types of exigencies, reducing the probable cause requirement . . . and extension of . . . approved wiretaps from thirty days to a ninety day term. All of the above Congressional concessions to Executive need and to the exigencies of our present situation . . . have been futile. The wiretapping program here in litigation has undisputably been continued for at least five years, it has undisputably been implemented without regard to FISA . . . and obviously in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

"The President of the United States is himself created by that Constitution."

so say da' judge...

i've brought this up previously, but it applies again: the president, upon taking the oath of office, so swears that he (or she) will protect and defend the constitution against all enemies...

so who's the enemy now... ?

golden bear with me...

prepping to go on vacation... flying to nevada, driving to california, this wknd...

rather am enjoying the contretemps in the comments and will do my level best to egg you on, i.e., prompt whatever vitriols needing venting...

but in the meantime, i must i must...

no really, it's not funny...

so why does this give me a giggle... ?

A poll conducted by what bills itself as "the world's most visited Christian website" indicates a surprising number of Christians are addicted to pornography[.]

fresh air...

when asked if lieberlips should get the hell out, russ feingold said:

Well, you know, I think that’s his own decision. It would be better for the Democratic Party, I think it would be better for the people of Connecticut, it would be better for the country if he did it. Not because he hasn’t been a good Senator, not because he isn’t a good man, but this is a critical time. And we have to change course. We have to focus on those that attacked us on 9/11 and get away from this very mistaken policy in Iraq. So it would be helpful if he would do it, but obviously Joe will have to make that decision for himself.

meanwhile, i am left to wonder, henry higgins-like, and ask, "why, oh why, can't chuck schumer (or bill clinton for that matter) be more like... a man... ?"

details...

takin' a vacation...
soon...
walkin' away...
excited...
flyin' to reno...
drivin' to yosemite...
& SF...
down the pacific coast...
gettin' outta dodge...
forgettin' about it all...
not comin' back...
vaya con dios...

there, i said it... !

so the guy asks me, "what's the difference between michelle malkin and ann coulter?"

i thought about it for a moment...

"well," i began, "michelle malkin's at least boneable"...

pause...

"... and ann coulter's just bone"...

if u believe, clap yer hands...

talk about bipartisanship, i think i could root for the repos this far:

If the state GOP can shove Schlesinger aside and get Orchulli in -- which of course is easier said than done -- it would be an extraordinary development that could hand the race to Lamont. That's because Orchulli would be a credible enough candidate who'd likely pull enough GOP votes to ensure Lieberman's loss. More on this later.

couple this with the prediction by the credible lawrence o'donnell that lieberlips won't last beyond september, and i think i shall take particular delight in watching him fade to ignominy, not with a bang but certainly a whimper... i'd throw out words like unctuous and smarmy too, but i'm beginning to feel like that'd be piling on... that and the fact my brother, the one w/the MBA (and who keeps calling out for smaller gov't to anybody who'll listen), emailed me the other day telling me i'm smarmy...

he also suggested i should call my blog "peeing on trees"...

i'll deal w/him later...

and again...

loving this a lot:

TPM Reader PB on Joe: "I imagine Joe wishes Ken, Tony, Dick, Karl and all the other Republicans heaping praise on him right now would just shut up. They are not going to help him with the Independent voters he needs to keep on his side in order to prevail in a three-way race. I'm sure that Karl Rove and company recognize this fact as well as anyone; they know they are not doing Lieberman any favors with their effusive praise. The fact is Joe has outlived his usefulness for them, and they're happy to throw him overboard in the hope that having a "weak-on-defense-extremist" boogeyman to kick around will minimize the electoral onslaught they are facing in November. That kiss Bush gave Lieberman is looking more and more like a Michael Corleone moment."

with friends like these...

drop anchor... !

marshall at tpm again:

Minnesota Republican senate candidate Mark Kennedy, a dozen points behind Democrat Amy Klobuchar in latest poll (Rasmussen, 8/1), endorses Lieberman.

So does McGavick in Washington state. He's down 11 points (Rasmussen, 7/17). It's an avalanche. All the GOP senate contenders who are sinking in the polls are endorsing Joe.

drowning repos, clamoring for a life-preservor, get a chunk of iron dropped on their heads...

wheeeeee... !!

"extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice"...

sampling the republican rhetoric on the heels of lieberlips getting the gate harkens chicken little's shriek about the sky...

to wit, josh marshall cites mike allen citing the usual and very suspect repo talking points:

The piece runs down each of the key GOP players -- Mehlman, Cheney, Snow -- each bellowing out RNC talking points claiming that Lieberman's defeat means the Democratic party is beholden to the hard-left and ostrich-like isolationists.

Lieberman, as Mike explains, is now slated to become the martyr to isolationism whom Republicans will laud at every turn. "On television and in speeches in coming days," writes Allen, "party officials and strategists plan to talk about their respect for Lieberman as a distinguished public servant and argue that Lamont's victory represents the end of the long tradition of strong-on-national-defense Democratic leaders in the mold of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy."

speaking of harry truman, ronald reagan said back in '88 that, were he alive today, truman would be a republican... funny how that was what finally set mike dukakis off, and only about two days before the election... dukakis, pathetically anemic throughout his campaign, reacted strongly to reagan's tweak and shouted during a speech, "i AM a liberal!", which, of course, roused his base from its slumber, enough to shrink his polling-deficit to g.h.w.bush from roughly 7-8 pts to 3-4, too little too late of course...

and if i recall correctly, the nytimes did an election post-mortum showing that had dukakis campaigned just a little bit harder in 10 of the swing states that eventually went bush, a switch of as few as 10,000 votes total, across those same states, could've turned america blue in '88 (and, in hindsight, one might say, "indeed, blue!")...

but back to my point about truman: i remember reagan's comment and thinking as a counter, "well, if abraham lincoln were alive today, he'd be a democrat!" -- which, i contend, holds today, and perhaps more so...

i would now argue you could bring barry goldwater into the big D camp, again were he still kickin', for it grows plainer for even the modest reactionary to see: the extremism that exists in america this day is on the right, and it's not in liberty's defense but rather in its assault...

the good news, however, is that in its defense, it is ours to be made... and connecticut has shown us the way...

and if i can give reagan a little tweak: lieberman's defeat represents morning in america again...

and that is definitely no vice...

"sociopath"...

"a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience... "

whoooooo coulditbeeeee... ?

sports surrealism...

papelbon blows 2 in as many appearences...

bruschi out until game 2(?)...

lieberlips did lose, didn't he... ?

>pant< >pant<...

i, ramble

check it out in the "coffee" section of my links...

quite possibly the most erotic blogger on the sphere...

we are experiencing technical difficulties... please stand by...

blogger.com annoys blogger...

miss the days of the vertical & horizontal hold adjustments... or was that The Outer Limits?

please stand by...

10:36 p.m.

Raw calls Lamont victor in Connecticut primary

With Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) trailing by 4 percent with more than 80 percent of the votes counted in Tuesday's Democratic primary in Connecticut, RAW STORY has declared anti-war challenger Ned Lamont victor.

Lieberman has said he may run as an independent in the November's general election. Democratic insiders say the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will back the winner of tonight's primary, potentially handing Lamont a hefty campaign war chest.

and here, less than a week before my birthday -- thank you, connecticut...

can one hate america...

and love maine... ?

Verizon customers in Maine have asked the state's Public Utilities Commission to investigate whether the telecom giant violated privacy laws by cooperating with a domestic surveillance program. The PUC is expected to decide Monday whether to open such a probe.

In a July 28 letter to the PUC, the U.S. Department of Justice cites national security as a key reason for its opposition to a state investigation. The seven-page letter suggests a lawsuit is likely if Maine regulators decide to investigate.

how about this... ? maybe maine should prohibit verizon from conducting any business in the state until it cleans up it's patently unconstitutional, civil rights-violative practices...

and isn't maine the state that's aggressively minimizing the impact for consumers the pharmaceutical industry's penchant for price gouging... ?

and while we're in the neighborhood, isn't massachusetts the first state to establish universal health coverage... ?

and -- oh! -- isn't connecticut about to kick the swine lieberman to the curb... ?

damn, but i'm proud to be from new england... !

meanwhile, isn't it TEXAS that keeps getting us into these damned wars... ?

life immitates art

gary hart has an interesting take on what he believes'll be dubya's attempt at the cliched "october surprise," esentially by redeploying the troops in iraq and calling it a withdrawal... not so much a surprise over here, but hart's tagline nonetheless amused:

It was all forecast years ago in the final scene of the movie Three Days of the Condor when the CIA official Higgins explains to the naive CIA research character portrayed by Robert Redford: "Of course it's about the oil. Do you think the American people care how we get it? They just want us to get it."

now i know i used three days of the condor as an analogy in a previous post, but i'll be damned if i can find it... awesome movie, by the by (cliff robertson plays the CIA official higgins, fyi)...

but there's another movie, a made-for-tv one, back in the 80s, starring rock hudson as the president, who has to go nuclear in response to a soviet invasion of alaska, which occurs because the russians are running low on oil... i remember thinking at the time what an outrage it'd be if we were invaded for reasons pertaining to oil...

oh wait, i googled it, the movie made in 1982... get this, it's called world war iii...

dunno how i'd've forgotten that...

say anything...

i am taking particular delight in the expectation of joe lieberman getting kicked to the curb in less than a week... and it says here his prospect for continuing beyond next tuesday as a quasi-dem/independant will be next to nil after ned lamont scores at least 55% and bounces joementum's wrinkly butt from his soon-to-be erstwhile democrat's seat...

reading the new york observer, you can smell the desperation:

“What’s most unfortunate about [the New York Times endorsement editorial] is, most of the criticism of Lieberman in it is premised on a myth,” [former aid Dan] Gerstein said. “They were willing to cast aside a national leader with 18 years of experience and all his qualifications, and endorsed a cipher who’s not qualified to be a U.S. Senator, on the assumption that Joe Lieberman has not stood up to the Bush administration on a number of key issues. And it’s just not the case.”

first of all, calling joe lieberman "a leader" is like calling tony blair a leader, i.e., they're not... both have sold their reason for being in government to become dubya's sidekicks, and for little more than a nibble at some illusory apple called power... and what, it not being the case then, has joe lieberman ever done to inflict even a modicum of discomfort on george bush... ?

goddamned right we're willing to cast that aside... !

and "a cipher," dan... ? "not qualified"... ? are you, like, stupid... ?? the guy's worth $300 million, reportedly self-made... you call that a cipher not qualified... ?

desperation, i say unto you, is like napalm in the morning...

it smells like... victory... !!

neo hitler youth...

i always thought brown was an ugly color for a shirt...

Headed for what she called 'conservative boot camp,' [she] grabbed the essentials: dress sandals, her Bible and The Politics of Prudence by Russell Kirk, the celebrated writer who a half-century ago gave the conservative movement its name.

republican as mammal

california republican pete mcloskey:

It has been difficult, nevertheless, to conclude as I have, that the Republican House leadership has been so unalterably corrupted by power and money that reasonable Republicans should support Democrats against DeLay-type Republican incumbents in 2006.

sauce for the goose and the gander...

arianna has a paragraph that got me thinking:

Friedman's assertion about the pervasiveness of modern weaponry is born out by the Israeli general who told the New York Times that Hezbollah has "some of the best weapons systems that Iran and Syria have" -- including medium-range rockets, laser-guided antitank missiles, and well-designed explosive mines that can cripple an advance tank. The group has more than 10,000 rockets, including Iranian-made long range missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv.

of course, that we're the world's biggest dealer in arms and advanced weaponry, our getting hoisted by our own petard as russia & china return the favor of the cold war is, on an imperical if not patriotic level, poetic justice... we armed osama to the teeth with SAM technology in the early 80s to neutralize the soviet air-superiority in and around kabul, allowing the mujahadeen to bleed the red army, just as the iraqi insurgency is bleeding g.i. joe in baghdad and the hezbollah will bleed the israelis in lebanon... and now moscow & beijing are fast-forwarding the means for all of islam to resist the great satan and its zionist proxy... tit for tat...

or did you actually think the soviet incursion into afghanistan in 1980 was unjust while our invasion of iraq, or the israeli collateral infliction on lebanese civilians, as just... ? see, that's why i'm agnostic: that kind of nationalist "logic" escapes me...

meanwhile, did you notice the soviets were at least smart enough to get the hell out... ?

heh heh...

gene mccarthy via garrison keillor:

"One thing about a pig, he thinks he's warm if his nose is warm. I saw a bunch of pigs one time that had frozen together in a rosette, each one's nose tucked under the rump of the one in front. We have a lot of pigs in politics."

sheep's clothing...

[REPUBLISHED FROM MY DEFUNCT BLOG "THE MAINEIAC" (12/14/04) never more timely than from now until August 8th, i'd say... ]

David Corn speculates on the scurvy Joe Lieberman as the next bet for DHS Sec'y. I say scurvy for two reasons: one political, the other personal.

Politically he's Vichy, a collaborator with the Bush Nazis. It's why he was early toast in the democratic presidential primaries (in an era when loathing that which is Bush was, and still is, a healthy and human purging of the phlegm brought on by Red State Spongeform Ensephylopathy), that and his smarmy, hypocritical, holier-than-thou personna given voice with an insufferably adenoidal flint, facilitating little more than the tightening of his listener's colon.

Personally, Lieberman got up my wazoo just after Operation Desert Storm reached its conclusion. Lieberman and Sam Nunn, a better example of conservative Dem who could do it without sacrificing his integrity, went to Kuwait for clean-up oversight. It was 1991 and I was a weekend news anchor at WELI Radio in New Haven (made famous during John Kusack's victory speech in *True Colors* - interesting movie).

Lieberman's press secretary organized a phone conference among six stations across Connecticut from Bridgeport to Hartford. I had the first question.

"Senator, this police action has resulted in the deaths of dozens of coalition forces, the deaths of thousands, if not tens of thousands of Iraqis. Meanwhile Saadam is still on his throne in Baghdad even as we've [returned] the Emir of Kuwait, the deflowerer of virgins, back on his; you and your colleagues are now over there patting yourselves on the back; so maybe you can tell our listeners why it is we went to war in the Persian Gulf in the first place." The interview was pre-recorded and the question, as was, would never go on the air. I was in no mood to receive flack from a Lieberman apologist calling in.

But it may help add context to my attitude by recalling the beloved Donald Rumsfeld, working at the time for Ronald Reagan, being photographed carrying a shit-eating grin and a handshake to Saadam, while only a few years later, George Bush the 1st's ambassador enabled Saadam with the assurance the United States had no position on his imminent invasion of Kuwait -- that is, until Maggie "Attila the Hen" Thatcher scolded Poppy after the fact, "Now don't go wobbly on us, George!"

This was, of course, a few years before Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney (before he dicks you!) pushed for overriding sanctions against Saadam, that is before vice president Dick Cheney (again, before he dicks you!) pushed to override the override.

I don't recall Lieberman's mealy-mouthed response to my question, or maybe it was hearing that fingernail & chalkboard gargle in my headphones that caused my eyes to glaze and my brain to seize.

The next day, after my apparent blackout, I was called into my news director's office. The Senator's press secretary had called and was livid. "Who's that 'Geraldo Rivera' you had working yesterday?!"

"Jesus Christ!" I protested. "I didn't ask him about his sex life."

The news director laughed and sent me back to work.

But I had had it with Mr. Mashed Potatoface ever since.

another day...

alright, enough of the nonsense... i'm at a loss for anything relevant to say about the madness that has descended upon the world... america is no longer what it was publically related to be for the last hundred some-odd years -- you know, "land of the free, home of the brave," that shit; setting the world on fire and itching for more isn't brave, and the bushians never gave a good goddamn about freeing the sand niggers... all rather quite the opposite...

aw, what the hell... ? whaddu I know, i'm just a solitary entitity with an attitude who can type 75 words a minute...

i know comparing bush to hitler isn't acceptable in polite company, but i can't help but think on the parallels: the invading of other countries, the wholesale degradation, torture, and slaughter of other races with all the usual and very suspect rationales; also, the runty personnae comprising the corresponding chiefs of state, forever compelling both to overcompensate with hairy oratory and a contemptuous disrespect for the never-ending supply of people who aim nothing other than to please...

come to think of it, i disrespect them too...

but it's easier to despair our lot while middle-aged, figuring i won't live long enough to see the shit spiral a whole lot further... witnessing this hand-basket's ride to hades as a youngster, however, would have to be a greater disconcertion i can only now imagine... i fear i'm at a point of not caring whether the human race survives another century as a species... we don't deserve to... and everybody i care about won't be around in a hundred years...

on the other hand...

if we, say, clean ourselves up, and the space around us... if we rid ourselves of religion (at the risk of sounding like john lennon), because let's see it, religion, for what it is: a means of control, of the many by the few... the many are complicit as they are peopled by the simple, the needy, and the desperate, all grasping a thin reed called "god"... and in the end, this "control" somehow ceases to be... the shit gets out of hand, and we get, what, world war x... ?

fuck that... and fuck them... !!

as for the few calling the shots... ? they're evil... they are the true misanthropes... they don't believe a hint of the pablum they dispense, but they shovel it like drug dealers to the many, who are only too eager to lap it up... and why not, it's so fucking profitable... and there you have it, the many clutch their almighty; and the few clutch their almighty dollar...

not me, babe... i weary of everbody's deity..

i'd rather sip some bourbon... spank a pretty's bum... and bark up some trees...

friday nite fart...

had t'be...

one of dubya's ancestors was deaf & dumb -- and they've been getting dumber ever since, wacca wacca, but nevermind that... the ancestor as toddler always misheard his name when his mama came a callin' 'im in for supper...

it was really george douche...

more ironic than syria putting the clamp on hezbollah - eh, georgie?

it just occurred: dubya vetos the stem cell bill when his mental infirmities might otherwise benefit -- and you know he'd be first in line -- from its enactment...

coulda had another "flowers for algernon" there...

er... without the backslide...

too early for the islamists to wage this fight...

an easy bluff to call - today:

"Iran warns of 'fierce response' should Israel strike at Syria

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response", state television reported."

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738315.html

in this case: the enemy of my enemy is not my friend...

go figure...

spent on the earliest friday...

the vote was 390 to 33, lopsided by even congressional standards... and so we won't fuck with the civil rights act this day... i'm so proud of this house of representatives, i could just shit...

flag draped coffins - let me get this straight: if republicans use the image, that's okay... (and by the way, the etymology of "OK" = zero (0) killed, OK!!) but the dems are sleazy manipulators when they use the image or dare invoke the numbers 9/11... ?

the middle east, or at least beirut and baghdad, is on fire again... let me know when it spreads to syria and iran, that'll be the line, crossed, that's been drawn since '67... and why, by the by, is saudi arabia spared a conflagration.... ? i mean i WANNA see humvee & SUV drivers paying $10 a gallon for gas... fuckers... !! (jesus christ! and just as i type that, a commercial on olbermann's program for the humvee -- fuck them... fuck them all... !!)

what... !? red buttons was still alive until today... ?? wasn't he on the original *poseiden adventure*... ?? i thought everybody died since then...

i am NOT that old... !!

surfing by "5 easy pieces," one of the most underratedly intrigueing films... as jack nicholson, perceived to be "a star" vs. "an actor," is one of the most underrated talents, at least he was in his prime... i mean, DO check out "carnal knowledge"... he was sublime...

and begging the sidebar question: how scary hideous must karen black, goggle-eyes and all, be today -- eh, julie newmar... ?

okay, that was uncalled for... i blame the syrah...

having a cognitive disconnect...

okay, fresh off of watching eugene jarecki's "why we fight" documentary on dvd, a brilliant -- yes! -- summary of what eisenhower dubbed the military industrial complex, and what it has morphed into, i.e, a modern orwellian oligarchical cheney/bush/halliburton/carlysle corruptocracy...

i'm left to conclude that after the republicans steal the elections of '06 (and the american sheep passively accept it yet again), we will proceed to bomb iran -- and i sadly admit to that as having taken only 28 years after i wanted them to...

but what did i know in 1979... ? i was a snot-nosed 19 year-old full of hormones and viscera -- not a bad sensation, that, especially with teenage girls wandering about... but as an imprimatur for gunboat diplomacy in these times: i think i'd rather not...

now is hindsight, you see, and i'm left with an odd sense of irony: the same culture that wants a gun in every classroom -- complete with a pocket bible and fireproof heterosexual flag (the logic being there'd be fewer shootings in pulpits and brothels, and, uhm, i'd like to spare the brothels) -- also want to prohibit tehran and pyongyang the right to arm bears, them being fucking sub-human heathens and all (persians, koreans & bears -- oh my!)...

personally, i'm all in favor of their possessing nukes... because i'm thoroughly convinced they'd never be foolish enough to use them on us, unless, of course, we used our daisy-cutters on them... or more simply, if they were to possess the requisite armament, WE would be prohibited to make war against them...

hey now, *there's* a concept...

i'll buy that for a dollar...

cenk uygar (yup!), by way of favored link "eat the press," pretty much summarizes it as succinctly as it can be:

"We are not against Joe Lieberman because we are leftists who require ideological purity. We are against him because he aids and abets an out of control Republican Party."

The deal of course is maintaining a consistent mantra when dispensing talking points -- just ask the repos -- and this works for me, and ought to for each and all left-of-center talking heads answering to the more dimly-witted of the political press corps...

UPDATE:

whoa! uygar's summation of all that is wrong with joe lieberman is brilliant... ! and i'll link to it as soon as i figure out how via my mac... in the meantime, do read it!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/note-to-dense-mainstream-_b_24654.html

cup *this*....

just read online the guineas beat the frogs (oh sorry, un-PC? tsk!)...

living in boston in the middle 80s, i seem to recall the italians winning the world cup then, if for no other reason then the habitants of beantown's north end came spilling out into the streets, down tremont past city hall and toward the common, all the while waving the italian flag, honking their horns, yelling their asses off and, well, just plain looking like a celtics parade in reverse (where it starts in back bay and ends up at city hall)... moreover, the city prepares a day or two in advance for when one of the boston teams wins all the marbles...

i suspect now the north-enders are once again going bonkers, but with the rest of the city just sorta lookin' on, as i write this...

(and just as i note papelbon blows the save w/2 out in the bottom of the 9th on a dye homer - aww fuck!!)

no thanks...

one of the links on the right has an ad for "bush toilet paper," essentially a roll of t.p. with the smiling mug of one george w. bush on each and every sheet...

i must object...

this is offensive...

not, of course, because anybody might rightfully equate and thus marry-up this war criminal's weasally, inbred puss with cleansing their backside of remnant feces... but the mere site of that >gah!< face MAKES ME CLAMP... !

kinda defeats the purpose for making the scene, eh... ?

educating g...

internet nomenclature, i.e., an acronym i've been seeing a lot of lately and had to look it up...

'WATB - Blog abbreviation for Whiney Ass Titty Baby; "new one from Atrios -- coined for Harris of the WaPo and Keller of NY Times," i.e. someone who makes excuses instead of doing the courageous thing.'

just a thought...

stream of conciousness stuff, i grant u...

pondering those types you see at the mall, in the food court areas - you know, the ones fussin' on their laptops w/the wireless connectivity... ? well it dawned on me: my new macbook pro is too goddamned expensive for me to be sitting there, browsing the net, getting up to go get a hummas wrap or some-such, walk back and find somebody's swiped the damned thing... i mean, setting aside the sense of having been invaded, i'm just supposin' on the clinical and legal level that'd be "grand theft," i.e., given the cost of it...

"grand theft" i thought again... like "grand theft... auto," although my laptop's not an auto, but nevermind... then i thought about the video game "grand theft auto" and all the sick fucks who love to cyber-blow images that represent people, small animals and cops apart, by way of crankin' their joy-sticks and pushing the arrow keys, etc., all the while doing their best not to let the foam at the mouths dribble down their chins...

and then it hit me: they should call the thing "grand theft auto-erotica"... which, by the way, i plan on using as the title of a short-story i'll write somewhen, so don't think of plagerizing it, ann coulter, you hag, okay... ?

ah, the things u muse on while takin' a leak...